What Does A Life Sentence Mean?

Came across this little ditty in the news today. There's a guy serving a life sentence in Iowa. He's arguing for release after this happened.

In 2015 this prisoner fell unconscious in his cell after his heart stopped beating. The prison staff took him to the hospital. Where doctors were able to bring him back to life after getting his heart beating again after the fifth try. He is now claiming he's being held illegally because his "life sentence" should have been up four years ago. So far the court disagrees with him.

The judge reasoned dying doesn't earn someone a get out of jail free card. I agree this makes sense, but what does the law say specifically?

Seems to me the law should define exactly what it considers to be a "life sentence". Oft times a judge will require someone convicted to remain behind bars throughout his or her "natural life". This should be clearly defined. If one or neither is not this case deserves additional consideration

I think law should specify whether prison staff is required or not to revive a prisoner serving life. Whether or not be compelled to take such a person to a hospital if their heart stops beating. In my opinion such absence in law (clearly defining such things) needlessly opens up a state to expensive prolonged litigations.

Little Mermaid LIVE (IMO)

Off and on (between NCIS commercials) I took a peek at ABC's 'Little Mermaid' LIVE. Here's a few observations I made. The runtime for the film itself is 85 minutes. The network scheduled 120 minutes to air it. That leaves 35 minutes for intros, end credits and ads. If they had the usual number they would not have enough time. So the way I figure it they sped it up. Some of the streaming services are already known for doing this. Most never notice. Well I did. The characters were moving faster then in the original film. You can check this out for yourself via a YouTube search for sped up clips. It easy to do without changing the pitch of the voices going up. In fact I have software on this computer that can do this very thing.

Secondly I noticed the whole thing was lip synced by a previously recorded studio soundtrack. Faking audience screaming doesn't excite me either :-(

Being the film was released in1989 (30 years ago) it meant, most of the younger viewers watching never saw it before. This explains how it came in #1 with the highly desired 18-49 year old audience (about 2 million less then NCIS among all age groups). This was a positive for Disney.

For an old codger like myself, I'm not impressed. I like my singers to actually sing live. Speeding up the film and vocals takes away from what the original directors and music arrangers intended. It also makes me nervous with the characters zooming around faster then they should. Too much hype for my tastes.

That said.. I do see it as smart marketing since it captured the ratings. It was a winner for the younger crowd who may otherwise never see it. I suspect with this success Disney may consider dusting off some of the others in their archive. Nothing wrong with that. It just isn't for me.

Thoughts Regarding Allentown Election

After going over THE LEHIGH COUNT ELECTION RESULTS I have a couple of quick thoughts. Especially to those wards in downtown center city Allentown.

Politicians live and breath for vote counts. There's no point in busting their ass for people who won't bother voting. Some accuse city hall not giving a crap about them. Well apparently the feelings are mutual. My God you mean to tell me the people affected the most (in the densest parts of the city) can't be bothered to spend one or two hours of their time every few years to vote?

My district registered almost 4x's as many voters as those in some of center city. I noticed in a number of western parts of Allentown the ratio was even higher. I want to know, what is their excuse for not voting.

Who Made God?

Simple question it is not. Scientist and theologians pretty much agree on this explanation which falls short. They both point out creation was formed containing both time, matter and energy. The problem is we get bogged down with this word existence. Existence is where we live. Existence itself is a product of this intelligent force. Not the other way around. Hence why labeled the creator of all "things".

Imagine if you will someone creates the most intelligent computer in the world. One that never existed before. It then sets out to discover it's creator by whatever limited means were given to it. Would it one day be able to become coequal. Perhaps it's possible over time it might be able to somewhat comprehend it's maker. Even become a close companion, but it's impossible for me to imagine it becoming human. Look, I enjoy the Story of Pinocchio as much as anybody, but really?

I think realistically this is the fix us humans find ourselves in. Just perhaps even the "creator" itself. Could it be possible this creator found itself wondering the very same thing. "Where did I come from"? Since the "eye cannot see itself" just suppose he/she/it set all this in motion hoping we'll come up with an answer. Could this be the motivation behind all of this?

It's been said "God" is complete and has all the answers. Does he/she/it? Hellva assumption from how little we understand. Lonely alone not knowing would be a hellva motivating factor for going to all this fuss. Perhaps we have a lot more in common then anyone's willing to believe. Not just curiosity but possible vulnerability as well in the not knowing.

We can safely assume is there's not a old grey bearded guy sitting on a throne fretting over every little detail of some 7 billion peoples' lives currently living on Earth. The proof lies in the fact millions upon millions have killed each other since leaving the womb... NOTHING. Governments and their leaders find no favor (despite what you heard). Storms, fire, earthquakes meteor impacts... NADA either.

We need to take a logical approach. One which assumes God isn't coming in a flaming chariot with a booming voice. If indeed this intelligence lies beyond "our existence" we need to focus on it's goals. If our purpose is for the creatior to greater understand itself it's seems to me we best align ourselves with that if we wish to remain useful.

If U Enjoy Good Old Fashion Country Music....

Check out COUNTRY ROAD TV on YouTube. Here's their official website: COUNTRY ROAD TV.COM

Here's a few tunes I thought you might enjoy.






With Riders in the Sky and Jimmy Capps

That's some darn fine music, ain't it?

A Plea For Humanity

TED Talks
In this powerful, personal talk, author and academic Juan Enriquez shares stories from inside the immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border...



If this doesn't punch you in the gut nothing will.