the rix mix

Automated phone call from PSE&G today a reminder I hadn't paid my electric bill in couple of months. The cumulative charges are less than what homeowners run up every month, but the utility cuts off service on length of nonpayment, not on the amount. The rates have gone up over the past year. The little bar graph in the bill shows that my usage is consistent - rises a lot during summer & a little during winter, falls in spring & fall. So I paid it along with an overdue phone bill, which is always the minimum charge since I use phone cards for long distance. I switched to phone cards a few years ago when a dial up ISP, without my realizing it, added a number to the list that incurred a low but continuous AT&T long distance charge that knocked me over when I got the bill. So I canceled the long distance service, switched to phone cards, & never went back. It's annoying to dial all those numbers, but at least I know who & where I'm calling, & I make few distance calls anyway. My $20 cards expire before I use them up.
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I watched the video of the Florida student getting tasered when he wouldn't relinquish the microphone at a John Kerry Q&A. Yeah, I'd say it's excessive use of force by campus police. But on the other hand, it's damned foolish to put up any kind of resistance to cops carrying tasers & loaded guns (note tattoo on cop's forearm), even in a lecture hall that John Kerry couldn't generate enough student interest to fill. It was different than the sorry Rodney King beating, where a bunch of thug L.A. cops assaulted a man laying on the ground & when he squirmed & rolled in pain they yelled at him to stay still & beat him some more because he didn't conveniently become unconscious. I'm certain Andy's lawyer is already mulling over the long-term possibilities & I hope he wins enough money for graduate degree tuition at a more respectable university. The large number of drunken &/or criminally-inclined students in the University of Florida student body & on its athletic teams certainly demands a well-armed campus police force, but it's doubtful any of them would have attended the Kerry function.