I am fairly certain I observed a B-17 over Bakersfield this morning!  Time was about 8:35 Am and the aircraft had a blue tail.  I was too far away to see what subtype it was.

Anyone have any more information?

What a treat!

On a recent blog our of our community asked about the concept of an eye for an eye for criminals.

An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind --Gandhi.

An eye for an eye justice comes from the law code of Hammurabi, and was itself a legal reform, replacing mandatory death penalties for most offenses.  However, it is punitive draconian justice, and when the innocent is accused and convicted, the results can be horrific.  For example, if a builder constructs a house and it collapses and kills the inhabitant's son, the builder's son is also killed!  This is not the system we ought to aspire to.

It may appear satisfying to kill killers, rape rapists, and steal from thieves.  There must be such a comforting release of negative energy when these things happen, catharsis, if you will, that it is a tempting perspective.  But if we do these things, we become no better than the people who do these deeds to others.  After all, we condemn these acts because of their heinous nature in the first place.  If we engage in the same behavior, we lose all authority to regulate it, as we become the killers, rapists, and thieves ourselves. 

I would strongly encourage a civilized view when it comes to justice.  We left barbarian ways behind millenia ago for good reason!

I believe we will be/are judged by how we treat the least people in our society.  This means the worst of the worst have to be treated better than they did their victims. Not as satisfying (for some), but righteous nonetheless and a noble protection for the innocent.

With bad weather in Florida and a determination to land the shuttle today, there is a very good chance shuttle Discovery will land at Edwards today.  Landing should be just at 5:53 PM PDT, if I did the math right.

As someone who did not initially support Obama, I must give the man credit for genuinely trying to reform what I believe is an incredibly dysfunctional part of our economy, which is healthcare. 

I think it "pie in the sky" that it can be paid for with "waste reductions" (nothing is ever waste to the politicos) and cuts, but it is a noble ideal.

It has become increasingly clear that private industry cannot provide healthcare because in my understanding, quality healthcare requires a non-profit approach, since the only way to earn a return in the industry is to compel your customers to pay for services which they will not receive.  If customers took advantage of any for-profit healthcare program without benefit caps, the providers would lose money and go out of business without the profit motive.  This is the reason why I feel healthcare provision (not innovation) must become a non-profit industry whether it is provided by the government or private insurers.  I heard Obama touch on this point himself last night, which is the first time I heard anyone make the argument.

That said, I am disgusted at the continued partisan posturing and bickering that equates to denying even basic healthcare coverage to all Americans because an illegal alien might get access to a hospital bed or because, "we don't want the government to be involved." 

If we follow that insane logic then we may as well close the schools, the prisons, and the host of other programs where we find illegal aliens and government involvement acceptable.

Our government has a duty to reasonably safeguard American lives.  It's time we do our duty for all Americans.

A friend recently shared a story of how in her previous job she was expected to work "off the clock" in order to keep her store's numbers, and manager looking good. (This was an out-of-town restaurant).  I personally know of a lot of folks being asked to handle much larger workloads than normal and receiving the same pay as before, being denied raises, all as layoffs continue. 

I understand the economy is tough and it's hard for business owners to make ends meet, but the number of "over the top" stories I'm hearing makes me wonder if businesses are really struggling that much or if some companies are just taking advantage of the perception that things are bad and pushing their employees for all they've got. 

Do any of you have experience or insight to offer?  Naturally, the fear is once the economy improves, workloads and conditions will not since the businesses in question stayed afloat with fewer people doing more work for less pay, so why go back...

Naturally, this affects customer service as well as the greater economy!