Everybody takes a break and I was listening to a tape of the world’s worst pickup lines. Some were indeed pretty bad, but the winner by far was “Can I stand here until its safe to go back where I farted?” No doubt imported from Hialeah. As if the locals have a mission to prove they are total morons, there is a new kick about allowing restaurants to park tables and chairs out on the sidewalks.
No, not just in front, but right across the pathway blocking pedestrian traffic. You are not walking down those sidewalks carrying two bags of groceries. This plan is apparently some goobers idea of fine dining. Out in the Florida heat or rain, in the diesel fumes. Don’t plan on teaching them a lesson by, say, walking past and pretending you are having a coughing fit all over their food. With our proximity to Miami, it is unlikely they would even notice.
The Thrift was busier than usual although there were no buyers until past noon. That’s okay, since I was late opening due to a 7 mph headwind this morning, making my trip almost twenty minutes longer. That was good exercise. The quietude gave me time to download a series of new tunes, since I may have little choice but to team up with Brian, the guy who has the G’s PA system. If I get a positive response, we could be ready for something within the month. I picked music he could chord through the lead breaks, such as “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend”, by Don Williams and “These Boots”, by Nancy Sinatra. Who made one hit and cleared out of the business in a fast hurry.
There were a few interesting customers. Don’t misread me on that one. I could never run a shop because 99% of the customers would drive me crazy after a while, they have got to be some of the stupidest and most uniformed people in creation. I’ll work with them and take their money, but a steady diet of that crap is not in my stars. I had one who pretended not understand that the Ingraham cathedral clock was only $50 because it did not work; you can just imagine how the conversation went. I humor them but being nice to retards is exhausting, thankless work.
I relisted everything that was still in the store on the Internet plus a few new consignment items. The preacher’s wife is, I think, out of luck. Neither Dickens nor I can find that Bavarian creamer, but I went over the whole store. I found two near matches but they were not part of the original set. One each of a Chinese and Japanese imitation just close enough to mistake for the real thing.
JP never did show y’day and is not answering his phone today. I hope everything is okay at home. It is. I just talked to him and he has another toothache. With all the doctors in his family, there is not one dentist. Now, he has left it too long and that one tooth requires $3,000 worth of work unless he decides to have it pulled. I will never comprehend why Florida dentists can get away with charging such outrageous fees. It is clear that the majority of them are flunkies who couldn’t make it elsewhere. Who else would put up with the type of patient you are likely to get in Miami. (Exhausting, thankless.)
Then comes quitting time and I get on my bike and ride. Fifteen miles and not even tired in the least. I am planning a seven hour trip, with regular breaks, for next Saturday. JP will be left behind if he does not show this time. I’ll Internet for an off road bike trail but if not, a tour through Redlands or Homestead sounds good. I’m interested in traveling at least fifty-five miles as the mild winter weather has arrived. Just remember if you read the cycling charts [which are a complete set of stats on my usage] that the averages are only for days I actually ride. For clarity, taking a week off would not change my daily averages.
So you’ll know, I’ve only missed five days since I got the bike, four due to rain squalls. Ordinary rain I go right on through. Question, and I would like if anybody could supply me the technical explanation. Sometimes you buy a batch of cola that does not taste right, it has a brackish flavor. It can happen right after you’ve used mouthwash but that is probably because you’ve depleted certain taste chemicals. This is not what happened this time. Over several days I’ve certainly bought a bad dozen. Flavoring it with vanilla or lemon does not help. It tastes acidic and not sweet at all, but adding sweetness does not improve the taste.
In the early morning I was able to put in another few hours on the business cards. I see I need at least two templates because some businesses, like real estate agents, don’t have formal business hours. Speaking of properties, I still do not know how a browser lets you search the database that brings up the picture of the candidate houses. I do know two things instead. One is that I’m not going to bother with it until I know I can make money with a simpler system, and two, the effort involved is justified by a house but not a business card. Searchable databases, the Internet and I go back many years. I cannot find anyone who will give me straight answers on what is involved, including expensive books and other research.
I’ve toyed with several schemes to make the data searchable. None of them are worth much and are all a brute force approach. All the business cards for a county, or a town, or all the tool sharpeners in Key Biscayne. These systems are not workable in a large scale because very few people know what county, say, that is around Hayti, South Dakota.
Last, I listen to the news when I’m in the shop (as opposed to reading newspapers). This is out of the blue, but I do have an opinion I’m going to record here for lack of any other venue. Witnesses. I am against subpoenas. I do not believe the state, or any party, should have power to compel anyone to testify against their will. That situation offends logic and the only real defense you have is to remain anonymous. They can’t subpoena you if they don’t know your name and address.
This is not negotiable, I will always be against any law that punishes people who have done no wrong. That is exactly what a subpoena does if you are an unwilling witness to anything. First of all, if you do not show, you are automatically guilty of contempt of court. That is just sick, and an example of escalating law, where breaking a minor rule makes you guilty of something far more serious. Truly, utterly so sick that only lawyers could believe such a concept has merit. No, I do not buy the argument that the courts cannot function without this “right”. Thousands of cases, if not millions, have been tried without shanghaiing witnesses.
Secondly, you are required to give a statement under oath, but there is nothing built into this “deposition” to protect you if, say months later when the trial finally happens, you misremember some details. They will sic a lawyer on you to try to trip you up over words you may not have wanted to say in the first place. You will be called a liar by somebody who you cannot sue for defamation. There is something so wrong with calling such a situation a legal system.
Thirdly, you are not even accorded the same respect as the accused, who has the right to remain silent. You could be in hot water over your mere choice of words, and there is no opportunity for you to practice anything to defend yourself against this verbal attack. You could land yourself in serious trouble if, like most people, you remember things slightly differently after the sheer passage of time.
I define illegal punishment as anything the court requires an innocent or un-accused person to do under threat of a worse punishment. That makes a good definition of a subpoena. Don’t give us the crap that they are only after the truth. Trials regularly are swayed by rich clients, leggy blondes, slick presentations and obscure jury-baiting techniques far in excess of what you are likely to understand. Be very careful of escalating law, where you are not the accused, but still have to do what they demand or get arrested. That is called blackmail in my books. If the system was fair, no matter how difficult life would get for your accusers, you should be able to enter a default plea of not guilty by simply not showing up. (Remember, I am talking about criminal law only, not civil law except in the situation where the only witnesses against you are police.)
This relates to what I said earlier about the system, not the truth, making it difficult to defend yourself. The current system is deliberately designed to stomp on anybody who tries just that, all for the financial gain of the legal profession. Unless you can think of any other believable reason for it being so, that statement stands. I believe that the right of the state to override an individual’s rights is a primitive holdover from medieval torture chambers.
Yes, I realize that this means occasionally somebody who dislikes a defendant may refuse, out of revenge, to give evidence that proves innocence. That argument shrivels away by the fact that the opposite situation already exists and has been far more damaging to far more people. In reality, grubs willing to stick their noses into other’s business just to get involved are never in short supply. The court will allow such people testify against you, and to do so with impunity. Again, a legacy of trial by torture, and my position seeks to put a stop to it now and forever.
How would I begin to accomplish all that I’ve said? The answer is deceptive at first. Make trials public in one important aspect. Enact a law that requires that the full costs of the trial be published daily as the matter progresses. It requires deep thought to see how this would work, far deeper than many lawyers are capable. If the system is using a million dollar crime lab to prove you guilty, let them and not you spend the same amount on your defense, dollar for dollar. Hell, most people would settle for five cents on that dollar. I know I’ve addressed two issues here, the subpoena and what happens if you are charged for not obeying, but the two go hand in hand to the docket, folks.
