A BIRTHDAY DINNER FOR TWO

Their birth dates crossed. Don and Jennifer. Don 60, Jennifer 30.

A birthday dinner took place last night. To celebrate the occasion for both. Some two dozen people. At Benihana. Don and Jennifer both enjoy Benihana.

A good time!

Tonight, another birthday party. For Don alone. Sixty is sort of milestone. Starting at 6 at the outside bar.

Larry and Christine will be entertaining. Together with the wonderful Kathleen Peace. A voice! I suspect Ray will be there also playing a wicked guitar.

A huge crowd is expected. Should be a great party!

I spent a lot of time yesterday working on next week’s KONK Life column. It discusses the loss of the American dream. I still have about four hours more writing ahead of me today or tomorrow.

Pope Francis did it again! He tolerates little disagreement. He fired the head of the Swiss Guard. The Pope considered him too Teutonic. That’s calling it as you see it!

This Pope continues to impress. He goes out of his way to help the poor.

Rome’s homeless have few places to bathe. The Pope ordered three showers built in the heart of historic St. Peter’s Square for them.

The saying that cleanliness is next to Godliness has to play in here somewhere.

Enjoy your day!

THE DAY…..FINALLY

This is the day. Election day. Presidential election day.

After years and months of campaigning, it is over. Fortuantely! It can and does get to be a bit too much.

I am an Obama supporter. I early voted for him last week. I am not sure he will win. For the past months, I have had doubts. On the other hand, it is incomprehensible to me why people would vote for Romney. His political affiliation has nothing to do with it. The man is basically a liar. He is also a non supporter of women’s rights. If he wins, it will be because of the economy. Things are still tough. People desperate. The desperation will drive the Romney vote.

I think Romney would make an inept President. Although of some concern, it does not bother me that much. We have survived incompetent Presidents before. My concern is whether we can survive the people who will have elected Romney. I refer to the 2 per cent and the corporations. I fear they will rape the governmental process to satisfy their own economic ends.

Whatever. We shall see.

I have been invited to an election evening party. Should be fun. I am looking forward to it.

I spent a couple of hours at the Chart Rome last night. It was Monday. Mary’s night to bartend.

Fortune befell me. I met Jennifer. We had a stimulating political conversation.

Jennifer is visiting. She is a Parrothead who came to Key West for this past weekend’s festivities. She is staying a few extera days. Jennifer is from outside Philadelphia. Bucks County. She is employed by Bucks County. Its Health Department. She is a Preparedness Planner. Her job is to deal with a disaster, if one occurs.

Sandy, New Jersey and the Presdidential election all came into the conversation. She is a Democrat who plans on voting for Romney if she gets home in time tonight. I asked why. She skirted the issue a bit. When it came to push, it was the economy.

I learned a lot about FEMA and how disasters should be handled from her perspective. Jennifer believes the federal government’s involvement should be limited to providing funds. Money. Her County and State she said are ready and trained to handle disasters. However with a major disaster, more monies are required than are available at the State level.

I learned from her. I raised the issue concerning the firemen who came in from out of state to help New Jersey. The Jersey firemen would not let them participate unless they signed a paper which in effect made them a part of the Jersey firefighter’s union. I thought that sucked.

Jennifer corrected me. The reason for the signing was to protect the out of staters in the event they were hurt. Their home states had no responsinility if an injury occurred. New Jersey had none either unless they signed up to be covered by New Jersey. The out of state helpers were volunteers. Jennifer told me this problem reared its ugly head during 9/11. Many came to help from outside New York and were injured. Many of those are still waiting for compensation.

Jennifer was proud of her job and the state of readiness she and her co workers were in. She was also proud of an additional item. Her 15 year old daughter. Her daughter frequently was mentioned.

The balance of this week is big! The Power Boat Races aka Super Boat Races. The World Championships here in Key West. The races will be Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Big expensive boats. Whole teams here. Racers and crews, wives and girl friends. The races are spine chilling to watch.

My new TV show this friday at 10 in the morning my time. The Key West Lou Legal Hour. Comcast Channel 87. Available world wide via the internet. www.tvchannel19.com. The internet connection for world wide viewing is important since the show is now watched in 38 countries.

I worked a bit yesterday on the show. Two additional topics have been prepared.

One has to do with the Greek vote next week to approve further austerity cuts. The people are pissed big time. The unions have called for two days of strike before the Greek legislature votes. No one works. Not even medical staff. People have already started protesting. The demonstrations are averaging 10,000-15,000 persons a day. Tens of thousands more are expected next week.

The other topic involves Pakistan. A Muslim father threw acid in the face of his 15 year old daughter because she looked at a boy on a cycle. The thrust of the discussion involves the fact that the Quaran does not provide for such a punishment. The acid thing is the result of man made law / custom which has developed in a male dominant society that considers women possessions.

Enjoy your day!