Rich white people's problems

In the wake of rapidly plummeting oil prices, Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm is appealing his divorce settlement after previously describing it as "fair and equitable." 

Hamm now says the November ruling ordering him to pay ex-wife Sue Ann Arnall $995.5 million was "erroneous and inequitable." 

At the time the ruling was considered a major victory for the Oklahoma oil man, who was then worth over $30 billion. But since the first divorce filings the price of crude hit a five-year low, dropping shares of Continental 30 percent and cutting Hamm's personal wealth to $10.6 billion, $12 billion less than he worth when proceedings began. 

"The dramatic drop in oil price post-trial and the corresponding drop in the CLR stock price demonstrate the overriding impact of the oil price on the value of the stock," Hamm argues in the December 16 filing reports the Wall Street Journal. 

Arnall, meanwhile, is also appealing the decision, saying she was shortchanged in her slice of the fortune the two had built together.

"[Arnall] has apparently not kept up with the facts regarding the falling price of oil and its impact on Hamm's wealth," argue Hamm's lawyers according to Bloomberg Businessweek. 

"Never before in Oklahoma history has a litigant claimed to need almost $300 million just to get by while an appeal is pending." 

Source: UPI

Not surprisingly, while Mr. (I use the word very reluctantly, since it implies a level of maturity lacking in this case) Hamm thought that a billion dollars was enough for the little lady, he now realizes that ten times that amount is hardly sufficient for his own needs.

Fascinating!

Love your enemies

Proverbs 25: 21-22

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
         And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 

For you will heap burning coals on his head,
         And the LORD will reward you. 

St. Paul quotes this passage in a section about not seeking vengeance in Romans 12:19-20.

Verse 19 reads, Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

Recently when Damien and I were at a holiday arts and crafts show, I saw a t-shirt that read, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, but Bob still wanted a piece of the action."

Artistic freedom

I for one will be more impressed by Seth Rogen and James Franco's commitment to bold creative freedom when they make a movie ridiculing the Republican National Committee or Pam Bondi or Ted Cruz. 

It must be pretty easy to sit over here behind the power of the United States, poking jabs at people on the other side of the world. Doesn't matter whether those people are huge jerks who deserve jabs. There are plenty of folks closer to home who need to be called on their crap. Why not use the millions you can get your hands on to do something useful here instead of ranting about another country where your words and movies are meaningless to real reform?

Tomorrow I will try to make nice. 

A long winter's nap

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Because the best response is humor ... and it really pisses people off!

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Some people would ignore it, other might be intimidated, but homophobia wasn't going to ruin the holidays for the tenacious gays of Apt. 611, who posted the above right message after their front door was vandalized with the word "faggots."

WhoVille happens!

from Daniel, Damien, Spot and Rover

Wintry Wishes!

May this season bring the world

the gifts of peace, hope and joy.

FSM forever!

If you don't know about the Flying Spaghetti Monster, click here.

If you do, enjoy this holiday carol:

 

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Calvin and Right Wing Anti-Marriage Equality Politicians and Lobbyists

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Why you never know ...

So the Republicans wiped the floor with the Democrats in the last election. In their hubris -- thy name is Ted Cruz -- they then allowed President Obama to get his Surgeon General appointment because the Democrats in the Senate rushed to do what they can before losing the majority. Now it looks like the President has grown a pair as a lame duck and has established diplomatic relations with Cuba -- something decades overdue. Who knows what other progressive things may actually get off the board and into the books?

So, thanks, Republicans! Ye knew not what ye did!

Back into the fray -- calmly.

I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.

The challenge will be to do so with respect, calm and patience.

A wise friend told me that accepting the things I cannot change may well mean accepting the task to change things. And that just because I need to change things about myself does not mean I do not need to work to make changes in the world to benefit others.

Reflecting 4

Just as a mother would guard her child, 

her only child,

with her own life,

even so let me cultivate a boundless mind

for all beings in the world.

Let me cultivate a boundless love for all beings

in the world, above, below, and across,

unhindered, without ill will or enmity.

~ from the Metta Sutta

Reflecting 3

Let me not do the slightest thing for which the wise might rebuke me. 

Instead let me think:

“May all beings be well and safe,

 may they be at ease.

Whatever living beings there may be,

whether moving or standing still,

without exception,

whether large, great, middling, or small, whether tiny or substantial,

whether seen or unseen,

whether living near or far,

may all beings be happy.

Let none deceive or despise another anywhere.

Let none wish harm to another, in anger or in hate.”

~ from the Metta Sutta

Reflecting 2

Let me be contented, easily satisfied, 
having few duties, living simply, 
of controlled senses, 
prudent, without pride 
and without attachment 
to nation, race, or other groups.

~ from the Metta Sutta

Reflecting

In order that I may be skilled in discerning what is good, 
in order that I may understand the path to peace,
Let me be able, upright, and straightforward, 
of good speech, gentle, and free from pride.

~ from the Metta Sutta

A pause

Recent events in this country have given me much to ponder. So I am taking a short break to give them some thought. Hope you are all well in the interim and that your holiday preparations and celebrations are filled with joy and free from undue stress.

The lawyer in me put in that "undue" because I think some stress is inevitable this time of year.

Ideas

"We have nothing against ideas. We're against people spreading them." 

~ General Augusto Pinochet of Chile 

He's not the only one ... 

Earlier this year, a Harvard economist’s jaw-dropping study of American’s beliefs about the distribution of American wealth became a viral video.  

According to the Harvard study, most people believe that the top 20 percent of the country owns about half the nation’s wealth, and that the lower 60 percent combined, including the 20 percent in the middle, have only about 20 percent of the wealth.  

A whopping 92 percent of Americans think this is out of whack; in the ideal distribution, they said, the lower 60 percent would have about half of the wealth, with the middle 20 percent of the people owning 20 percent of the wealth.

What’s astonishing about this is how wrong Americans are about reality.  In fact, the bottom 80 percent owns only 7 percent of the nation’s wealth, and the top 1 percent hold more of the country’s wealth – 40 percent – than 9 out of 10 people think the top 20 percent should have.  The top 10 percent of earners take home half the income of the country; in 2012, the top 1 percent earned more than a fifth of U.S. income – the highest share since the government began collecting the data a century ago.

Discussions of {fill in the blank} in contemporary America

Apology

I had posted something here about what seems to be the overexposure of Nick Jonas in the media -- especially the gay media. 

While I still wonder about the end result of all this on Mr. Jonas himself, I want to apologize for drawing a connection in that post with another actor who has been in the news lately for a(n unsubstantiated) claim about being raped. I had not seen those news stories at the time of my earlier post and have withdrawn that post because it is now not funny, completely inappropriate and open to misunderstanding. 

If you are one of the few people who may have read it, I apologize to you and to Mr. Jonas. May his life and career unfold in a positive way.

Black Friday is all bunkum

I have noticed that every year there are predictions that holiday shopping is going to reach epic proportions. Then the news leaks out that Black Friday was not quite as big as expected. Then around the middle of December, people start blaming the weather for lagging sales. Then ... so what's the dealio?

According to Barry Ritholz over at Bloomberg [I have added some emphasis],

The manipulators at the National Retail Federation and elsewhere work hard to create a sense of consumer frenzy. Thus, I have dubbed the season between Thanksgiving and Dec. 25, "Shopmas."

Almost every year, the NRF forecasts a huge increase in holiday retail sales. Each year, the forecast is way off target. Aside from the terrible track record, there are other reasons to ignore the survey. As we noted earlier:

The methodology employed by the NRF survey is defective . . . The surveys bear no correlation relative to actual future retail sales. The conclusions reached (and repeated ad nauseam) are not supported by the data.
There are several reasons for this: First, people have no idea what they spent last year. No clue whatsoever. A surveyor stops someone on the way into a mall or other retail locale, asks them a few questions, the answers to which range between wild guesses and complete fabrications.

The annual event has devolved even further than the usual smoke and mirrors we discussed last year. As we said then, the NRF survey, bad methodology and all, is usually what the NRF pushes out to the media. However, in 2013, the people the NRF surveyed said they would spend 2 percent less than in 2012. Unhappy with those results, the NRF de-emphasized the survey, substituting an internal forecast of an increase. Note this wasn't because the survey is always wrong, but because it was negative. Instead, the NRF pushed its own holiday forecast of a 3.9 percent increase in sales.

This year, the NRF’s Holiday Consumer Spending Survey forecast is for an increase of 4.8 percent. Somehow, the NRF’s own holiday sales forecast wasn't mentioned.
Why was that? When the holiday survey suggests a sales increase, that becomes the screaming headline we see everywhere. When the survey is weak, as it has been the past few years, the organization pushes an entirely separate, never-negative, NRF forecast. Thus, the NRF uses whichever data source generates the desired forecast.

The NRF doesn't make it easy to find the results of its past predictions. Many of the links on the site that point to past surveys are broken, missing or simply not available. There is no historical data available in an easily accessible spreadsheet such as one might find at sites such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics or the Commerce Department. It took a bit of sleuthing, but we managed to put together the past decade of NRF holiday surveys:

The abysmal track record is why every year, I exhort investors to ignore this data series. It has no correlation to actual retail sales, tells us nothing about retail profits and gives us no insight into the holiday season.

I have become a curmudgeon on this. The NRF's methods are as intellectually dishonest as anything you will find in finance. As you gather with friends and family for the holidays, be present in the moment. Focus on your blessings and ignore the retail industry's attempts to generate a holiday shopping frenzy.

You will be much better off for it.

Think thankful!

Mrreoww!

Now I know why my friends spend so much money on iPads. Totally worth it.

Hmmm.

Not really funny

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch describes it, the events of Friday evening sound tragic but unremarkable: Police responded to a call of a woman shot in the head in a car around 11:45pm; 26-year-old Becca Campbell was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

But police sources close to the investigation tell CNN that Campbell and her 33-year-old boyfriend, who was driving at the time, had purchased the gun to protect themselves from any Ferguson-related unrest. The unidentified boyfriend says that Campbell was brandishing the gun as they drove, joking that they were prepared for Ferguson. He reportedly told police that he ducked to avoid the gun and rear-ended a car as a result. In the accident, the gun went off, he says, and a bullet hit Campbell in the head. CNN reports that police are digging into his story to make sure it checks out and are waiting on gun residue tests. 

Recent reports show that gun sales have rocketed during the Obama administration, largely due to the insistence of the NRA and gun dealers that Obama is going to take away people's guns. As a result, each year has brought record gun sales for the dealers who subsidize the NRA's lobby that makes sure there are no restrictions on gun sales to the people who are afraid that Obama will take their guns or that the blacks are coming in the night to rob them blind and the blacks will have guns and they won't have guns and now they ...

And, of course, Obama has yet to knock on anyone's door demanding their weapons. 

You do the math.

Ran across this today ...

and thought I would share it because it reminded me of yesterday's post.

Judgment Day

Jonathan Lee Riches is a former federal prisoner (inmate #40948-018) known for the many lawsuits he has filed in various United States district courts. Riches was incarcerated at Federal Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, for wire fraud under the terms of a plea bargain. His release date was April 30, 2012. He was arrested for violating his federal probation in December 2012, when he left the Eastern District of the state of Pennsylvania without permission. He allegedly drove to Connecticut and impersonated the uncle of Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Sandy Hook Elementary School incident.


Since January 8, 2006, he has filed over 2600 lawsuits in federal district courts across the country, some of which have received considerable press attention. Among the more famous defendants of his lawsuits are former President of the United States George W. Bush, Martha Stewart, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, Somali pirates, and pop star Britney Spears. 

On April 9, 2008, Riches filed a request for a temporary restraining order in a US District Court against Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, developer Rockstar Games, FCI Williamsburg, and Grand Theft Auto itself, claiming that the defendants "put me in prison." The inmate stated, "Defendants contributed to Plaintiff committing identity theft. Defendant's games show sex, drugs and violence which offends me." Riches continued, "Defendants put me in prison. I face imminent danger from violent inmates who played Grand Theft Auto who will knock me out and take my gold Jesus cross."

In May 2009, Riches filed for an injunction against the Guinness Book of World Records, seeking to stop them from naming him as the most litigious individual in the history of mankind.

One lawsuit, which includes George Bush, also includes another 783 defendants that cover 57 pages. They include Plato, Nostradamus, Che Guevara, James Hoffa, "Various Buddhist Monks," all survivors of the Holocaust, the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, the USS Cole, the book Mein Kampf, the Garden of Eden, the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages, the Appalachian Trail, Plymouth Rock, the Holy Grail, Nordic gods, the dwarf planet Pluto, and the entire Three Mile Island.

A number of Riches's lawsuits have been dismissed as being "frivolous, malicious" or for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. Willis Hunt, the U.S. District Court Judge who dismissed one of Riches' suits as "farcical," opined that his lawsuits were clearly self-promotional. As per 28 U.S. Code § 1915(g), he is barred from proceeding in forma pauperis.

The world, it is a-changin'

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And to think that Massachusetts was the first state to change just 10 years ago.

Five years ago, I attended the marriage of two male friends in Iowa. This year Damien and I were able to get married as the barriers began to fall in state after state.

Did you hear the one ... ?

As you peruse the following story, remember that some lawyer presumably has filed suit on behalf of these people. Makes me proud to be a lawyer!

This is a peculiar case about Emerald White, owner of pit bulls who is suing the owner of Bailey, the 10-year-old beagle that was killed in an attack on October 27.  Emerald White filed charges amounting to $1 million for the damages.

In a usual case, the owner of the victim -- in this case the dog -- will be filing a complaint against the attacker.  But this time, Emerald White, the owner of four pit bulls that killed a beagle is the one filing charges against the victim!

How could this happen?

On Oct. 27, as the four pit bulls got freed from their own fence, had entered into the backyard of Steve Baker, the owner of a 10-year-old beagle.  In no time, the four pit bulls attacked the beagle

Emerald White claims "she was 'seriously injured' after she was 'unexpectedly and viciously attacked' when she entered the Baker's backyard to retrieve her dogs, which had entered through a hole in the mutual fence separating the two properties," according to INQUISITR.

In a statement filed by Emerald White, pit bulls' owner in Galveston County District Court this week, she states that she had numerous serious bites and scratches sustained because of Bailey.  She also filed charges against the owner of Bailey pertaining to their failure to confine the dog.

This time, the Bakers can't believe that the case was twisted around and now they are the one being charged.

Steve Baker told to The Galveston County Daily News that even though he has the right to file charges against Emerald White, the pit bulls' owner, he chose not to do it because he claimed Bailey won't come back anymore.

Today, the Texas City Authorities declared Emerald White pit bulls dangerous, and that they must be confined in at least six feet high enclosed with a mechanical locking device. The pit bulls must also have a minimum $100,000 liability protection and must be registered yearly in the city.

Sound like anyone -- person, group, nation, political party or other institution -- you know?

Narcissistic Traits

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

• Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
• Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
• Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
• Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
• Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
• Requires excessive admiration
• Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
• Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
• Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

Labor and capital

When a man tells you he got rich through hard work, ask him, "Whose?"

~ Don Marquis

Ain't it the truth?

But I have discovered that it is better for my own peace of mind to stop listening to people who habitually lie. I do not need to go to their web page, I do not need to listen to their radio programs or podcasts, I do not need to tune into their television news programs. Since they have proven to provide wildly useless information -- that is, misinformation -- in the past, I see no reason to expect them to be the only source of important accurate information in the future.

Since there seem to be plenty of people willing to attend to them -- friends and foes alike --, they will not miss me.

A word to the wise

Post-election reflection

Some of my friends reacted to the election results the way other folks reacted to the prophecy of the Mayan Apocalypse: despair and gloom. There are many reasons to be disappointed and concerned by the outcome. But let's not make things worse by the foolish things we run around in our heads. The Republican victory, in fact, is already history. Just the way past Democratic victories and Whig victories and Tory victories are history. What comes next is the issue at hand. 

The somewhat surprising and always annoying thing is that there is always something at hand on the other side of predicted ends-of-the-world, whether the feared end is the election of Barack Obama or that of Ted Cruz. We all wake up the next day, rub our eyes and look around. Back to work.

Get out there and vote!

All indications are that the Republicans are about to seize control of Congress. While this does not make me happy, neither does it make me panic. Tides go out, tides come in. The party that controls Congress seldom manages to accomplish much, and the Republicans seem particularly divided.

Nonetheless, and whatever your party preferences, do vote. It's a good thing.

Best online headline of the day

"FOX cancels 'Utopia', effective immediately."

So someone finally leaked their news department's agenda.

Tasty leftover Halloween treats