by Diane Tate

The Divine Vida

What if Dante Alighieri had chosen to write Cantos of Heaven instead of Hell?

“You will not need any money for the next two days.” — Tia Dora’s first words to me after we disembarked from the ferry to dine an the ‘getaway isle’ of Itaparica, Day 2 of trip.

“La vida dura.” — summary of life with the Lillios Brasilian clan which consists the above, along with a run on the beach, a dip in the bathwater ocean located about 1/4 a mile away from the house, naps in the hammock, churrascado grilled meat off the skewer, mouth-watering fresh mangoes gathered from the yard, and other freshly-made cuisine at our disposal on an ongoing basis.

“We have 5 computers for 4 people.” — Paulo, walking us through his swank urban Rio 4-bedroom pad left at the disposal of Tony and myself after he treated us to inordinate amounts of Brasilian beef and laughter before whisking out of town to be with his family.

These increasingly intense Cantos of Heaven scratch the surface of Brazil, December 2008.

Brasil, Dec 2008: Pelo to Itaparica

Mint | Free, Simple Personal Finance Software
by Diane Tate

I beg your…

“Extraordinary.” — former Justice Department Attorney
“Quite remarkable.” — (I’m lost as to whether this would be an offense or defense) attorney

This story just gets better and better as it unfolds:

Pardon Lasts Just One Day for Developer in Fraud Case

Administration officials and experts in pardon law said they were not aware of a prior instance of a president’s withdrawing a pardon after it was announced. “This is extraordinary,” said Margaret Colgate Love, who served as pardon attorney at the Justice Department in the 1990s.

The Justice Department official maintained that Mr. Toussie would have no grounds to argue that the president could not take back a pardon….

The Toussie episode comes as more lawyers appear to be going directly to the White House for consideration of pardons, rather than through Justice Department channels, according to people involved in the process. The most notorious recent instance came in 2001, when President Bill Clinton pardoned the fugitive financier Marc Rich, even though the Justice Department had not offered a formal recommendation.

Which, of course, preceded the other pardon Bill had to ask for.


It’s heart-warming to know that even partisanship can be trumped by special interests.

Mint | Free, Simple Personal Finance Software
by Diane Tate

Overdrive

If the symphony of forces colluding to create our current economic meltdown isn’t enough to get you down, throw in some gubnatorial malfeasance, medical misrepresentation and overt fiduciary egregiousness and (if you’re anything close to human), you’ll soon be in the same place of despair as me.

But the best antidote to despair: The Motor City! Where all things real become surreal.

“It’s the Cadillac of mini-vans.”
— Chili Palmer

Mint | Free, Simple Personal Finance Software