Many things to opine about today--

Sunday's can be fun, when you actually have time to think...

1)

meridym

and I finally watched Iron Man two nights ago, got tired and shut it off at the credits. Today, I watched one of my favorite movies (hey, it combines good music, good food, pretty women and a romance. All its missing is American football and death and destruction and makes me realize I still can't make a good mole), Tortilla Soup, and saw in a later show a scene of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. I guess his scene in Iron Man came after the credits and I missed it. Well, time to rent it again, just to see that scene. And I am glad that Marvel is now working on their own movies. I can justify being a geeky kid who bought Marvel comics since they were 10 cents an issue. Quite unlike the $2.99 I paid yesterday for Wolverine, the Geriatric (or something like that. hey, it is definitely amusing and fun to read). Makes me wish I still had my 20,000 comics. Now I can be an informed geek, look cool in my intellectual knowledge of Thanos and Pipp the Troll. Or does that make just me an AARP nerd? At least I don't use pocket protectors anymore.

2) Government report out today showing that the government, when it could not prove how splendiforous things were in Iraq (aka Biggest Foreign Policy Blunder Ever That May Make America a Second-Class Debtor Country for At Least a Century), pulled shit out of its ass to make everything look great. Nice to know some people never get past being high school seniors. One Highlight--

The document has former secretary of state Colin Powell complaining that after the 2003 invasion, the Defense Department "kept inventing numbers of Iraqi security forces -- the number would jump 20,000 a week! We now have 80,000, we now have 100,000, we now have 120,000.'"

or

Not Even $1 Billion For Iraq's Reconstruction?

To oversee post-war relief efforts, the Pentagon created the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, a brand-new agency put in charge only two months before the war began. While ORHA's troubles have long been known, the inspector general's report provides new details on the depth of disagreements between the Pentagon and ORHA's director, retired general Jay Garner.

“

Garner also approached Rumsfeld for reconstruction funding, but the Secretary similarly was not persuaded by Garner's list. Garner presented Rumsfeld with four rebuilding scenarios, from "do what absolutely needs to be done and no more" to "redo the whole country of Iraq."

"What do you think that'll cost?" Rumsfeld asked, regarding the fourth scenario.

"I think it's going to cost billions of dollars," Garner said.

"My friend," Rumsfeld replied, "if you think we're going to spend a billion dollars of our money over there, you are sadly mistaken."

In the five years following that remark, the United States appropriated nearly $50 billion for Iraq's relief and reconstruction."

Maybe this is the CEO Presidency after all. And to get rid of The Shrub, maybe all we need to do is offer him a legacy and a bonus. We can dream, can't we?

3) Sarah Palin's church is burnt by arson. You know, I don't care how little I think of fundamentalist churches, that just isn't right. Would i like it if a Wiccan or Buddhist or Muslim place of worship were destroyed? No, No, No.

4) Bosnia and Hezegovina are poised to erupt again because of economic hard times. Nothing like a little hard times and lack of food and shelter for people to start blaming again. see number 3.

5) great little article in the Sacramento Bee (the best paper I have subscribed to in years!!! more news that both Denver papers put together) about how right-wing talk show hosts are scared that the fairness doctrine, if it is reenacted, may put them out of business. What happens if progressive voices had as much air time as regressive? They now control over 90% of the air time.

6) another good article in the paper today about Green Industry. Best Quotation:

"Smart companies, investors and policymakers know that this is hardly so. Consider this: Several studies verify that equivalent investments in renewable energy sources generate jobs at a 4-1 or even 6-1 ratio if compared with those created by industries exploiting fossil fuels such as natural gas."

because most green jobs are labor and the money stays in the State or local region as opposed to buying coal or gas or fuel oil, where it goes to another state or another country.

7) Finally, a great 8-page article on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and future plans there. Keep in mind, without water exports to the Central Valley there would be little food for America and people in SoCal would be without water, but if it is managed the same way it is now, it is probable many fisheries will die. period. Now, what to do? For background, it would be wonderful to read Cadillac Desert, as the ramifications of western water policy are laid bare and they are not pretty, but the question always remains, now what do we do? You can't undo what has been done and LA and San Diego need the water. Do you want to tell 6,000,000 people to move to the Midwest? There is more water law in Colorado than there is civil or criminal law. What to do rationally?

8) and you have to love the auto industry one more time. honest. Congress screws you over, turn to god.

rojo

Cars and Chemistry!

I see today that VP Lutz of GM is saying okay to the car czar. Tacit approval to have an overseer. How bizarre has this story become? We piss away money at banks and insurance companies, they continue to get bonuses for failing and auto makers have to walk over hot coals on their knees to get a loan. And southern states are pissed (Thanks, Senator Shelby of Alabama) because their non-union auto workers for foreign companies must be protected. In the 60s and 70s the mandate (no Jeffrey Gannon jokes, honest) to buy American was a conservative dictum. Nowadays, not so much. I think we have proven that fiscal conservatism really is not about free market economy, but free money for the upper class. The bailout has proved that. A real free marketer would say let the banks and economy go down! But get a chance to bust the unions and the chops of the car companies, just to show you can't push around money men and power brokers, and they will grind down those industries. Makes no sense. Except if you look at it as a power play. and it avoids the real issue of health care adding to the expense of every car. It will be resolved when a real President takes over. Will everyone like the resolution? Probably not, but at least some Adult will make a decision! The elephant in the room is health care costs borne by every employer, but no one wants to say it yet. The auto industry is asking for a LOAN for pity's sake. and are willing to accept strings. But that is not obsequeious enough for right-wingers who want to bust the UAW. Or for Democrats who feel the industry must be punished for piss-poor vision. Time to get over our petty squabbles and realize we need the industrial base.

On another subject completely--

The fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta/San Francisco estuary are disappearing. So much so that salmon fishing had to be stopped this year in hopes of possibly repopulating the salmon run, which dropped from hundreds of thousand salmon to less than 40,000 fish.

Surprise, surprise. Pollution is a cause, as is the continual diversion of water to Southern CA, where it used for drinking water and crop irrigation (take away the water and America goes hungry, period). Heck, the canals are larger than any river in CO and WY, except the Colorado River. In the long run, the water is getting so salty, eventually it will kill the land in the long run (my dire prediction, no references and this is based on salinity results I see at water and wastewater plants extrapolated over 100 years). Of note in an article in today's Sacramento Bee:

"If the fish living in this water are not healthy and are passing contaminants to their young, what is happening to the people who use the water, are exposed to the same chemicals or eat the fish," Ostrach said in a news release Monday.

These contaminants are PCBs, which have been outlawed for 30+ years and are still influencing the food chain, pesticides (which are continually being aerial sprayed over fields in CA--can't imagine aerial sprayers ever missing the crops and getting it in the water, not from flooded rice fields next to the rivers, or that pilots may overspray just to charge more. I am sure they are major environmentalists who just make their living spraying poison.) and fire retardants! Yes, those chemicals we use to keep babies clothes and furniture from burning are now in the food chain. and in such large numbers that it is showing up in breast milk routinely in SF. Better living through chemistry, eh!

The complete article is very interestig and can be found here.

rojo

These ads are running on TV now in CA. Thankfully!

Maybe someone will listen. If there was more diligence when it came to tracking down the criminals of Iran-Contra, instead of concerning ourselves with looking forward and healing--this administration would not have had a free pass. Or at least hired the same dudes. They would have been disgraced and behind bars.



rojo

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Okay, GM execs took a private plane to go to Washington to beg for money. Stoopid! with a capital S. GM leases its planes and had seven planes. They dropped two in December and are planning on cutting two more, leaving their fleet at three. Compare to Intel, where execs are mandated by policy to take coach. Which company makes money, or at least is not in line for a bail out? Hmmm. Let me see. Just so's ya know--OMG Palin-speech, language must be a virus! Ford exec Alan Mulally had a compensation of $22.8M and $750,000 of that was the use of the company jet by him, his wife and kids and guests. It was hard for him and his family to move to Michigan from Seattle.

My heart effin' bleeds. I got moved for my job and I still own my house in Denver because I could not sell it in the current economic environment. My kids rent it. I lose money on it. Notice the ambition of my son and his dog in the icon. (apologies to Jesse) Can I get a job where I can run the company into almost bankruptcy and make $22.8M? and fly in the company jet to see my kids and wife when I want? Oy!

And, yes, the auto companies need bailed out. Yesterday I mentioned that 2,000,000 American jobs depend on it. Today in the press they are saying 3,000,000 and I am glad that congress is asking for controls, a business plan and so on before they hand over the money. Management has made bad decisions. It needs to be changed. And when you ask for $25B, tough shit if you don't like having strings attached. I hope they can make them a world-wide industry leader again. BTW, link on Forbes.com states Detroit lacks salemanship. Isn't sales their business? D'oh!

One more auto-related item--GMAC, the financial arm of GM (mortgages, car loans, credit cards, etc.) has asked for bank status so it can get bank bailout money. and in the SacBee this morning they were stating that GMAC holds a controlling interest in Cerebrus Capital Management. That is incorrect. GMAC sold 49% of its holdings to Cerebrus earlier this year so it would have liquidity. This is important because Cerebrus owns 51% of Chrysler LLC. So, GM and Chrysler do have a connection through a management firm. That management firm holds Chrysler and GMAC, so with common management...

rojo

Now What?

Before I begin talking about the American Auto Industry, I need to say I am sad they need bankruptcy protection.

Why? Labor costs, pension plans, medical costs, bad strategy, bad marketing, lack of foresight. I mean how many Cadillac Cimarrons are out there right now as classic cars? Oh wait, you mean the Chevy Cavalier with wide whites and wire rim wheel covers and Iron Duke 4-bangers. Yes, those POSs. And why has Ford had "Build Bigger trucks" as their business plan for ever? They are lumbering giants of bumbling companies who make bad decisions. They are nor responsive to market demands. They are more like Refrigerator Perry running the ball, rather than Barry Sanders--go in one direction and not be able to change speeds or directions well. Strictly vertical management schemes. Peer review is unknown there. and bonuses are given to the most failed management. They are used to it. and broke because of it.

and worse yet, we need them. It may cost $50 billion to bail them out, but over $250 billion if they fail. and up to 2,000,000 lost jobs. Kaiser, Willys, American Motors didi not have enough capital to keep up.

The whole industry needs to be retooled. I wish I was smart enough to know how. Yes, you need trucks, you need profit, you need industry, you need electric cars, you need flex fule, you need hybrids (and I looked at a Malibu hybrid--got all of 30 mpg, big whoop). How do we make the bailout and then remake the companies. The executives who drove it in to the ground certainly can't (proving how stupid they are asking for bailouts in corporate jets).

Now what?

rojo

"When Bremer started issuing legal decrees in Baghdad, Joseph Stiglitz, the former World Bank chief economist, warned that Iraq was getting 'an even more radical form of shock therapy than was pursued in the former Soviet world.' That was quite true. In the original Washington plan, Iraq was going to become (an economic) frontier just as Russia had been in the early nineties, but this time it would be American firms--not the local ones or Eurpoean, Russia or Chinese competitors--that would first in line for the easy billions. And nothing would deter even the most painful economic changes...the transformation would not involve a mannnered dance between the IMF and quixotic local politicians while the U.S. Treasury called the shots from down the hall. In Iraq, Washington cut out the middlemen: the IMF and the World Bank were relegated to supprting roles, and the U.S. was front and center. Paul Bremer was the government...there was no point in negotiating with the local government because 'at this point, we'd be negotiating with ourselves.'

...All the careful efforts during the nineties to present 'free trade' as something other than an imperial project were abondoned...seizing new markets directly for Western multinationals on the battlefields of preemptive wars."

The Shock Doctrine, p. 434, Naomi Klein

Three things this brings to mind:
1) Is it any wonder the U.S. is so loved across the world in its current administration and incarnation? Start a war so we can take over. simple. The catharsis across the world of seeing Barack as the country's new leader will bring large crowds, because we are so disliked in our current form.
2) Free market should not even be a debate anymore, it has worked so well for us over the past 16 years (NAFTA and CAFTA come to mind)--through the Enron debacle, the energy market bubble, the dotcom bubble, the housing bubble. This has all worked well for the middle and lower classes. Trickle down is such BULLSHIT!!!! It can't work, won't work and is not even worthy of discussion. So get proponents of it off of my TV. Oh, wait, the station owners want us to hear more about its virtues. I wonder why? The deregulation of the airwave ownership and the deregulation and submergence of news into "fair and balanced" profit centers (keep in mind that for every 300 hours of Republican or further right commentary, there is one minute of left wing commentary--but, let's not go there in this post) has provided propoganda to fuel that fire for over twenty years. Iran-Contra headed by Saint Reagan never received honest coverage (hell, Ollie North and G. Gordon Liddy are commentators on news channels instead of being Bubba's cell wife). All it has done is redistribute the money to the upper 0.5% of the population and those that won it, love it and will fight for their right to party while you don't. and they have the funding.
3) This administration is the most important administration in my lifetime. Maybe the most important since the New Deal. The WORLD'S economy is kind of crumbling and who Barack picks as economic advisors will tell us whether it can recover and recreate itself as a possible paradise. Or will it continue as a free market Stygian thievery? I hear Albright being part of the transition team and that scares me. The world will need a hybrid economic theory (not free market, not socialism, not communism--but something withhheart that recognizes the failures of all the systems and put in place safeguards so human nature and ethics cannot get in the way of what is fair) and practice if it is to survive as something other than a class structure.

As an aside, I have read many stories of Prop 8 maybe being the base of a right wing revolution, or maybe having a Black President. I have been in Kern County CA and talked to men at a gas station driving to Bumfuck rural nowhere to buy the parts to convert their weapons to fully automatic weapons because they feel the need to defend themselves from the gays and the blacks. The need for revolution is near the surface to them and they have guns. This will be a very tense time in our country's history. I don't feel these guys were aberrations. What they believed the country to be, based on God-fearing bible-toting white folks is changing. Add in home repossessions and economic crunches and we are sitting on a tinder keg.

Prayers, good vibes, reiki, whatever are needed at this crucial time.

rojo

Send Lawyers, Cars and Money, The Shit Has Hit the Fan!

In the celebratory atmosphere many of us are feeling after the election (some exceptions are...), I am waiting to see who is the most trusted advisor on the economy. Will it be someone with a free market bent, a Friedmanite or a Keynsian? or some mixture in between. If you have not read The Shock Doctrine, read it. For me, it puts into an understandable context Confessions of an Economic Hitman and fills out so much of the background of South American politics I was just too stupid or naive to understand when I was younger. It makes listening to Thom Hartmann easier too. It is hard to drive, listen to him on the car radio and have your brain hurt. and it also helps put into perspective Rush Limbaugh's comments of the necessity of rolling back the New Deal.

Speaking of New Deals, I see the US auto industry may become part of the bailout. GM was looking at purchasing Chrysler LLC, but has no money with which to do it. GM needs $19.4 billion to meet commitments to retirees, payroll, benefits and suppliers. They are about out. They have already cut 401k matching payments. The industry is needed for an American economic recovery. There is no doubt about it. They are meeting with Pelosi to see what can be done.

But how should these industrial giants retrench? And can their administrations which have made so many STUPID decisions (just last week Ford, for the third time in ten years, is placing hopes of recovery on big pick ups and SUVs - do they know more than one note?) Ford could not figure out how to make small cars profitable earlier in this decade and now has problems. The November 2008 issue of Automobile magazine lists 10 cars that are needed for today's world and three of them are are already existing Fords, one GM (Opal/Saturn). They are out there and will be needed.

I often wonder if we are not in a situation now where you need to make a product and break even, just to keep the doors open. I am sure that will get you no bonuses (at that level are bonuses really tied to economic metrics or are they just expected. evidence recently shows the latter option as the way it is done.) You may even lose your job as investors take no dividends for a while. Aren't we in a situation where country needs to come before return on investment. Maybe keeping the doors open and lowering ROI is a necessary step.

rojo

Krugman is Kool, But...

There is a great read by Paul Krugman today. he states that the Monster Years are over. I have thought of this a lot over the past few years and I hope the following is a coherent encapsulation of many and various trains of thoughts I have had. In my not-too humble opinion, the cultural war against mon sters has posted a small victory this past election, but....for years, I have never understood why the Monstrous Ideas spouted as truth by ninnies and feebs was given any serious thought at all. As a child, I would visit downtown Cleveland with my grandmother and be amazed at how streetcorner preachers ranting about the upcoming "end of the world as we know it" could generate some listeners, but how most reasonable people shook their heads and walked away, paying it no more attention. why, when teaching evolution was challenged as a source of the violence of Columbine, or when 3 presidentail candidates stated they did not believe it, there was not more of a shrug and dismissal of fools who said something like that, still amazes me. just that DeLay was not exiscerated by the news and was not an embarrassment followed by recall to his District lets me know the fool quotient in his District.

Just yesterday I had breakfast with a man from Houston who said now America is in for problems because we now have a President who will deal with terroroists rather than a strong leader like Bush who will slap them down all the time. I reminded him that Clinton bombed Al Qeada sites and wanted to bomb more until Lewinski, as he was then accused of "wag the dog" by very serious people. his rejoinder was that at least Bush bombed the Iraqis who funded and housed Al Qeada and that Rush just spoke of that yesterday. People still get information from fools and tools and do not think or read critically. there is not much of a broad opinion and fact palate among people, or time taken to develop one as they strive to achieve the american dream. or in the recession, pay for housing.

maybe it is time for progressives to realize that the victory over monsters is short-lived if there are still a preponderance of propagandists out there speaking foolish things in large markets, that the work of debunking fools still needs to be continuously done. I will use Houston as an example. Basic cable in a few motels I have stayed in on business has no MSNBC, but 4 Fox channels. Air America or NovaM is not heard, but Rush, Medved, Beck et al are omnipresent. In North Texas, at one time, you had America Freedom Network and the America Family Network as radio choices once you drove west of Amarillo. If there are no choices, people will still think monsters are real serious people.

one of the problems is who can fund a choice for Truth to Power, as hate sells. And deprogramming the message of propagandists takes time and money. In a short-term profit-driven world, even Sacramento could not support progressive radio, let alone North Texas. This is where the culture war against monsters needs to happen.I want no short-term pyrrhic victories, but there needs to be more public discourse, more Truth in the public air waves. Maybe PBS can start to be non-biased again. But I feel there needs to be more in the mass market for people to hear. my problem is how do you start that? In my hometown of Sacramento, what does it take to start an AM radio station, willing to generate living wages and small profits and how can funding be obtained?

rojo

Very Sad

I was semi-joking about the American car industry and how there might only be one standing yesterday, but this came out today. I was bummed years ago when reading the history of the American auto industry that Studebaker, Packard, Auburn and Duesenberg disappeared. You, see, I love cars and some of those were classics. Engineering, design and performance classics that could not compete with mass production at Ford. I really felt sorry for Kaiser when he proudly stated Kaiser-Willys (pre-American Motors) had millions for R&D when GM had billions. You make one mistake when that underfunded and bye-bye company. Haven't seen many Kaiser-Willys or Kaiser Nashes lately, or heard "Hey Javelin" either. Yet they were unique and had a place in history. They were placed out of business because while their products were good, they were underfunded for business development and R&D.

So here we have a situation where Chrysler is going down. Daimler has given them a cash value of zero. If GM picks them up, that is basically a life preserver. They had the best 4-wheel drive technology (which is why they bought Jeep). They still have market niche with their hemi engines (even though in the world of high gas prices, it seems out of step, says the hybrid owner). A moment of silence for a company that really had "hot" cars during the 60s and 70s and never really recovered in the emissions era. They tried to downsize and still have fun cars--the Omni GLH by Carrol Shelby comes to mind, but the product line at that time Cordova, Aspen/Volare followed by the Kcar shows what happened. The minivan genre was their idea and is so copied that they deserve a cut of the profit and theirs is still the standard of the American industry. Their marriage with Daimler never worked and they lost, in a purge, the designers who brought you the Prowler and the small retro wagon whose name escapes me now. Ah yes, the PT Cruiser. Their brand niche was changed and identity lost and not quite recovered. I mean, who can point out an Aspen, Sebring or Pacifica in traffic? The Crossfire, yes, but the others--computer sez no.

On the other hand, VW is doing well. Puegot and Renault had their credit ratings cut. As an aside, in one of the biggest blunders in auto history, Ford turned down owning VW as reparations for WWII because "no one would buy a car like that." and then they had to rush out the Falcon to compete.

rojo

enjoy







rojo

Is That Yellow Cake? For me? on my birthday?

Remember, Nukular power is safe.

The lynch pin of McCain's energy policy is safe.

rojo

I ran across this story this morning at Americablog. The same group was at the local Safeway with many, many sign in please petitions. The ranked from "No Gay Marriage", to "No Abortion" to voter registration to "Protect Children from Cruelty" to "Stop the Endangered Specie Act" to I don't remember what. There were eight sign in sheets. I know this is where I registered to vote in CA. I signed up to vote and registered to the workers dismay as a Democrat and bandied with him back and forth on the others, asking where the gun control petitions were. Yes, they tried to make me sign in as a Republican, but I refused and then refused the other ones.

There are times you need to read what you sign and know some basic rights.

rojo

Too Stupid to Breed

It takes election season for me to see how stupid many Americans are.

On the October 15 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Bob Grant said: "[W]hat is that flag that Obama's been standing in front of that looks like an American flag, but instead of having the field of 50 stars representing the 50 states, there's a circle?" He then said: "Is the circle the 'O' for Obama? Is that what it is?" Grant later said: "[D]id you notice Obama is not content with just having several American flags, plain old American flags with the 50 states represented by 50 stars? He has the 'O' flag. And that's what that 'O' is. That's what that 'O' is. Just like he did with the plane he was using. He had the flag painted over, and the 'O' for Obama. Now, these are symptom -- these things are symptomatic of a person who would like to be a potentate -- a dictator." '

Grant did not further elaborate on what he meant by the " 'O' flag." However, conservative blogger Michelle Malkin stated on October 13 that she had "received several e-mails today from readers complaining about Barack Obama's backdrop in Toledo today. Apparently, some talk show hosts have also gone ballistic over what they think is an 'Obama flag.' " But, as Malkin noted, the flag appearing behind Obama during his October 13 speech was actually the Ohio state flag.

From Malkin's blog post:

I received several e-mails today from readers complaining about Barack Obama's backdrop in Toledo today. Apparently, some talk show hosts have also gone ballistic over what they think is an "Obama flag:"

Relax, folks.

That's not an "Obama flag."

It's the state flag of Ohio:

source--www.mediamatters.com

Any school kid who had to learn the flag, back when civics was actually taught would know the State flag of Ohio.

god help me.

I am beginning to think that there needs to be a citizenship to allow voters to vote. Maybe voting should be seen as a privilege instead of a right. I would prefer the latter when you realize the slippery slope the former choice opens up, but allow me a moment of disgust. Just like yesterday I saw a video claiming Obama was raised in a Unitarian Universalist Church making him a communist Wiccan using black magic to mesmerize the crowd in his speeches. I will post that later.

time for work.

rojo

What? No Rapture? Damn!

Here we hoped that Christ Dude had come back to perform more miracles and battle the Anti-Christ in a match that would put Mixed martial Arts to shame. maybe even a cage or ladder match. But sadly, no. No Apocalypse, No Rapture. Nothing.

Just human error.

rojo

Election Thoughts

I watched some of the debate. Enough to see Grampy say "That One" and variations of "He did it." You could hear his disdain for the junior senator. There are times I could see him in my head at family reunions leering at younger women, drinking and saying pull my finger. It may be me, but I swear you could almost hear the n word in his brain. I was waiting for him to break into "Get off my lawn!" He did come across as a curmudgeon.

That said, he got his ass handed to him in what was supposed to be his forum, with a sycophant as a moderator (Oh, he was better then Gwen Awful, but has anyone seen the real Tom Brokaw lately). Town Hall meetings are very different if they don't vet the town first and only allow regressives in. OMG, he sounded like an old fart last night. He reminded me of great-grandmother giving me $2 one night after I was married and telling me to take my wife out on the town. She was well over 90 at the time and $2 for her was a lot of money. I cherished it, but in 1976 that wouldn't even buy popcorn at a theater. Time had passed her by.

Face it. He was the best candidate for the Republicans in 2000 and Bush kicked his ass and he has been waiting since then to come back out on a reunion tour. Except he had to sell his soul to keep whatever chops he had left. It is sad to see someone so past his prime still go to the Crossroads and make a deal with the devil to keep his chops, but his body won't do it anymore. No offense, but even guitar and banjo heroes normally aren't as nimble at 70 or 80 (see Earl Scruggs) as they were at 50.

So how dirty will they get??? to win? I swear, Sarah Palin's (aka Governor Gidget) boy bringing back Osama from Iraq himself may not help at this time.

and if either Grampy or Vampy do not tell their crowds that calling a Senator a terrorist or saying "Kill him." is absolutely inappropriate and not fitting, if not downright repulsive to the American ideal in their whistle stops, they are contributing to the problem. Fomenting hate to win is a last ditch campaign strategy and at best gets you an office where people will expect you to be a pugnacious, mean son of a bitch and anything less is not good enough. At worst, fomenting hate gets people killed. That is truly unacceptable.

rojo

About Time Someone Talked About It!

Since Sarah Palin has been calling Obama the radical's best friend, Obama is fighting back. At noon today, he will have a full 13 minute video available on the Keating Five scandal showing how McCain, the reformer, really is doing some of the same things that led to the Savings and Loan bailout. About time some of this shit hit the fan. 

rojo

Hee!

"Ever mindful of the danger that George Bush will lead us down the road to socialism, we will be monitoring this closely," Barnie Frank told the House today after the rescue heist vote.

rojo

Joe Biden was talking too much about McCain. I know it is his job. He was very specific and knows his shit. I have confidence that he could make a knowledgeable, sensible decision. And when he choked about maybe his sons not making it was great.

Sarah Palin came out and looked good and chipper. Then she opened her mouth. She refused to answer questions that were asked but told everyone what she wanted them to hear. Sorry, the rules of a debate are to answer the effin" question asked.

What is your Achilles Heel? Why it is that I am a hockey mom and like soccer moms and joe six pack we work together to find solutions and blah, blah, blah. Okay, your achilles heel is you don't listen and twitter on endlessly with the social skills you learned by fluttering eyebrows and having joe six pack's penis do his thinking for him.

Just answer the god-damned question. and let's move the Israeli embassy. and as VP I want more power.

Why the hell did not the moderator slap her silly and say answer the damned question. drill baby drill and many more answers to catenations that were not relevant to the question? So it tells me she has no discipline, thinks she is great and does not need to listen and really, really reminds of someone who has been pampered her whole life like a star athlete. I mean why play by rules if I can flutter my eyes or wink and get what I want.

Christ, save me from assholes like this.

rojo

Short and Sweet!

It is amazing to see this. Wow!
It is amazing to see this! Wow!

It is amazing to see this! Wow!





nothing more needs to be said, does it?

rojo

nothing more needs to be said, does it? really presidential.

rojo





nothing more needs to be said, does it?

rojo


nothing more needs to be said, does it?

rojo

I Want This Job!!!!@!!!!

Anyone who has ever read my ramblings knows, I want a job where I can make umpteen million for taking a company to the ground. Rather than write what I read in the paper today, here is Chris from Americablog.

Kinda like being a failed CEO of Merrill Lynch ($161 million O'Neal and 9-months-for-$200 million Thain) or Citi ($40 million for Chuck Prince) or Bear Stearns (James Cayne for $61 million) or Countrywide (Angelo Mozilo for $110 million) or Lehman Brothers ($2.5 BILLION bonus fund after failing) or AIG (Maurice Greenberg selling $1 BILLION in AIG stock after the bailout). The latest prime example of Washington Mutual (WaMu) CEO who worked a whopping THREE WEEKS who is entitled to $18 million. Since when did being a failure become a recipe for financial success in America? This is what the Republicans have done to our system that used to reward hard work and success but now only rewards failures at the top. Some kind of message we're sending to everyone.

Washington Mutual Chief Executive Alan Fishman could walk away with more than $18 million in salary, bonuses and severance after less than three weeks on the job, according to the terms of his employment agreement.

But will Fishman follow the lead of another troubled financial firm and turn his severance package down?

JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) grabbed up the banking assets of WaMu on Thursday after federal regulators seized the company, making it the largest bank failure in history.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in a conference call with reporters Friday that no decisions have been made about the fates of WaMu senior executives.

Back again, I normally rather do my own research, but as I was compiling links, I found this.

rojo

Class, Today's Assignment Is...

I am just thinking that this bail out may determine the direction of the next Presidency. So I am attaching a letter I have written for my Senators and Congresswoman anyone can copy, crib off of or whatever. The links above are the contact your Senator and Representatives.

Have fun.

September 25, 2008

It is very apparent that the manner in which we, as a country, handle the current economic crisis will determine the ability of the next President to govern our country. If there is too high of a debt, there will be no flexibility in the manner in which he or she will be able to make long-term policy decisions based upon need and not economics.

I feel that there does need to be a bailout package, but the bailout package needs specific provisions. They are:

1) Give a specific amount of money for a quick fix. This may be $100,000,000,000 or $150,000,000,000. This can be reapplied for by the Executive Branch through the Treasury Department and approved by Congress. I would hope this amount may be enough to keep the economy moving until the next president can start to make policy determinations and place specific limits into a coherent long-term economic plan.

2) Give aggrieved homeowners who may be facing foreclosure a hearing with a judge to see if their home loan can be restructured, or perhaps their property revalued to keep it off of the foreclosure lists. Then let banks show the revalued assets so that some may be written off as “goodwill”. This may lower the actual property values as they are reassessed, but should keep the properties off of foreclosure lists, where the property will really plummet. It will also lower the desperation of those who are in this condition and increase consumer confidence.

3) Place limits on the salary and bonuses of CEOs that may be involved in the bailout. Also, place limitations on the amount of dividends that financial institutions may pay out to their shareholders unless they hit specific agreed-upon benchmarks. It is partially their responsibility that the economy has been so overvalued in the first place. Prospective homeowners could not have purchased homes unless some one said they had enough credit to buy them. Due diligence really is a function of the investor.

Thank you for your time and service in these difficult situations.

Respectfully,

rojo

Something Stinks

Website worth visiting--www.buymyshitpile.com.

and here is what Sarkozy said today--

"Those responsible for the crisis that has swept global financial markets should be punished, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said overnight in his first reaction to the latest bout of economic turmoil.

In an acceptance speech at an award ceremony attended by U.S. and French business leaders, Sarkozy called for the "truth" on the crisis to be uncovered.

'Today, millions of people across the world fear for their savings, for their apartment, for the funds they have put in banks. It is our duty to give them clear answers,' he said.

'Who is responsible for this disaster? May those who are responsible be punished and held accountable," he said hours before he was due to give a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.' "

I agree. We need to find a cause, place blame, devise laws to stop it from happening again and all that. Not just write a blank check. If the administration had this plan sitting around in case, one wonders what in case was. In case of losing election, let's fuck the American people. If this is a real emergency then let's approve what we need today and then next week and then the week after.

This is from the administration that told us Iraq had suitcase nukes. Don't piss on my head and say it the economy trickling down on me.

and who gets the assets, who gets to keep their jobs? Mr. I-loaned-way-more-money-than-we-have? or Mr. I-lied-about how-much-my-assets-are-worth. Isn't that fraud well above felony charges? just kind of wondering. where does mismanagement stop and criminal fraud start? honestly.

McCain yesterday was talking about not placing blame or finding causes, but making sure this never happens again. well, another notch in the proof of dementia belt is scored as logically, unless you know the cause and place blame, you can't prevent it from happening again. Mr. Keating Five should know something about fraud, but then appointed Phil Gramm as his adviser. Mr. Gramm opened the door for commodity speculation that was close to the S&L scandal. Connect the dots, Johnny Boy and I don't mean your liver spots.

Fraud was perpetrated on the world population and specifically the American people and right now we need to prevent people walking away like Neil Bush. Where are these tough law and order dudes now? worst economic crime in years.

could it be that people are trying to get this money appropriated because this election can't be fixed like the last two? Otherwise, why not put fingers in the dike until after the election and let the transition teams handle it. This stinks worse than the selling job of the war in Iraq.

rojo

Same Old Song

This from today's Washington Post:

"They have distorted the science to such an extent that they can justify not regulating" the chemical, said Robert Zoeller, a University of Massachusetts professor who specializes in thyroid hormone and brain development and has a copy of the EPA proposal. "Infants and children will continue to be damaged, and that damage is significant."

Let me get this straight. The EPA is forced to change their proposed attempt at regulating a carcinogen because the Bush Administration has redacted some of the scientific statements in an attempt to make the cancer risk seem lower. Have we ever heard of the administration pushing around the EPA before? Isn't that why a basic conservative, Ms. Whitman, finally quit.

And why--because the military has actually spilled percholate (aka rocket fuel) into many aquifers in the United States and no one wants to pay for the clean up costs. This is a chemical that will migrate in an aquifer. It will spread contamination and does cost money to treat. But in the best Defense Department tradition (see fires at Rocky Flats in Colorado), it is not responsible. Yup, that plutonium, grew legs and walked. and we all know plutonium can just appear in FT. Collins, 60 mile north of Rocky Flats. Nope, no fires, never got airborne.

Percholate never leaked from rocket silos. Never got in the ground water.

What it comes down to is that the Defense Department is and has always been granted freedom to do whatever the hell it wants and dispose of waste however it can and then maybe later after enough public outcry kind of clean up. This includes accidental spills, too. I am not saying that they are just mean and cruel bastards with no regard for public health and intentionally pollute. Accidental things happen, but the Defense Department does not deal well with that either. It will fight cleaning up percholate, because finding rocket fuel in ground water may give you an idea where ICBM silos were hidden. Just follow the trail of percholate as it wanders through basins and aquifers and you may find where our national defense was at one time. Some rocket fuel manufacturers and some storage areas have contaminated groundwater and percholate is expensive to clean up. Some of the clean up levels cannot even begin to touch the proposed EPA level of 1 microgram per liter, or 1 part per billion (one drop per billion drops or one drop per 132,100 gallons--one person uses about 100 gallons per day so one drop per 3.5 years of your water consumption, including laundry and irrigation). Gives you an idea of how expensive this may be and why the military is pushing clean up into never never land. They may be hoping for a new treatment technique discovery.

If the next administration is a public service administration there will be such a backlog of everything and such a large debt, it will be incredibly difficult to deal with such expensive matters as percholate treatment of water. As citizens, it is just another thing we will be stuck with and all we can say is this is the worst administration ever.

rojo

Hey, Why Not?

I want to add my 2 mortgages to this mortgage mess. If we can pay millions in bonuses as we bail out failed CEO policy, can my mortgages be bought out by the federal government so I can retire and do reiki full time?

how do I get in line? Also, I would like a $1,000,000 bonus for stupid life decisions.

hey, when you are talking $1,000,000,000,000, it would only be .0001%. No one would notice. Less than the guy got for running Home Depot nowhere. 98% cheap at half the cost. see, I could be a republican.

rojo

Now What?, with a side of guilt

guess I did understand some of the world and US market banking crisis. But here is a great explanation. and don't be embarrassed if your eyes glaze over and you have to reread things.

So what it seems we are doing with the bailout is paying for everyone's duplicitous profits along the way. makes me feel good about life, knowing my great-great grand children will be paying for someone else's champagne on expense account bought at the turn of the 21st century. and they will never be able to retire. you know, I can take responsibility for my share of it. Did I become a political activist when I was told Reagan's trickle-down economics was not really someone pissing on my head, or when NAFTA and CAFTA took more jobs offshore or when the S&L scandal rocked the US (and Neil Bush walked away with Billions) or when ... No, I chose to live separated from the world in a commune. I did not believe the system could be saved. I did not think that it would all my kidlets and grand kidlets their lives to pay for choices.

Maybe the bailout should have consequences for those who stole the money. but how. I pose this question now, because how do we get back stolen money, or at least a portion of it. There needs to be some justice. If Clinton had pursued some of the wrongs of the previous administration, looking for justice in the name of country unity, there could not have been the atrocities of the current group of scheming power addicts, who are given rule by the oil companies.

rojo

Why Am I So Suspicious?

The economic meltdown happened before the election. about 40 days before the election. maybe McCain can get over the Republican failure. Or is this the last big money grab by the invisible ruling class because they knew they will lose control before the election. Might as well grab all the money we can and stick the normal Americans and move our accounts offshore before the election type of grab. because we know we are going to lose the election, grab the money and run! like any mere average mortal could track the trillion dollar recovery money and who ultimately benefits.

what are the chances?

there already is telecom immunity, if any market immunity things start floating around either branch of the legislative bodies, I will know I am right.

rojo

This Morning's Pre-Work Ramblings

1) Didn't credit card companies, with the help of Congress, pass a very restrictive and punitive bankruptcy bill a few years ago? I you look at the link, you see who was compassionate then. and how was the reformer. If this is McCain's style of reform, he is a mean old bastard. "Get off of my lawn" doesn't encompass his lack of compassion. Part of that bill was YOU HAD TO PAY BACK YOUR DEBTS. Now as a taxpayer, we bail out banks and credit companies and executives walk out with bonuses, in a few cases having the taxpayers pay their taxes (Their hiring packages were for the employer to pay their taxes, so...) I have some credit card debts, do you think the taxpayers will bail me out? I mean, don't you want to pay my bills? or you? or maybe you? We don't even have a say in bailing out firms who have shown the limits of free market capitalism. Thanks, Phil Gramm. I am very glad my Social Security money never got put into Lehman Brothers. Oh yes, who was for that? Could it be McCain? Heck, I was transferred and I still own my old house (a money-losing proposition, for sure) because the market is flooded with foreclosures. It would only be another $230,000 into a $1-2,000,000,000,000 debt we just were given. Remember, that money went into someone's pocket. It just didn't fade away. and I am sure the lower and middle classes did not get to see it.

2) Interesting article from the LA Times. It appears as though not only are conservative and liberal brains wired very differently. It seems as though one of the primary difference is the way we respond to fear. Conservatives are three times more fearful than liberals. Could it be the flexing of muscle and military might is a glorified adrenaline rush flight or fight response? I am betting it is in many cases. Great for the head of a military branch, or better yet a platoon leader, but for a federal government... That actually should lower my emotional response to many conservatives, but then there are those who are just motivated by lust for power and kingdoms. and a unitary executive. These guys are really creepy...

3) After hearing Caribou Barbie's response about oil being a fungible commodity and the goobledeegook that followed, I was reminded of another beauty queen.

have a good Friday. Music later.

rojo

Integrity and Honest and Judgment Matter

One thing I have always wondered--what good can come out of the economic meltdown?

I am hoping that this will kick start the Obama campaign and get him in to the Presidency. Truth be told, he was not my guy, but a necessary breath of fresh air over John "Keating Five" McSame. Honesty, integrity and good judgment count. Really. You would think that the stench of Neil Bush would have prevented any other Bush from being elected. Yes, the billion dollar bail outs continue. Seems like the free market really has no consequences to the leaders of industry. When a company looses billions it has to go somewhere and it seems as though much of the losses are going into the compensation package of business leaders. I have stated before that I want a job where I can run a company into the ground and then collect millions for doing it. Kind of like demolition derby with people's hopes, dreams, aspirations and lives at stake instead of '67 Chevy wagons and for more money. I wonder how they can sleep at night? I used to stay awake when I had 20 employees to make sure we had a good compliance record and higher prices, trying to market quality. Or if we had a problem, how to solve it and rather than write up and fire employees, try to train them. I still had to fire people and I hated it. I can't think of week, until I changed jobs where I slept more than 40 hours per week.

One item of note is Chevrolet if coming out with the Chevy Volt. A plug-in electric car option. The price is probably $5000 higher than a competitive market will sell easily. But, there are idiots out there like me who, when I lived in Colorado, paid the premium for wind power. By the end of my stay in Colorado, after seven years of doing it, that came out cheaper than regular electricity. Long live New Belgium Brewing, not only for their good beers, but all their power purchases are wind power and all waste is 100% recycled. Drink beer, help the planet. hee.

Finally, in today's Sacramento Bee comes a story that switching to renewable energy actually saves the consumer money every year. In CA, it is about $400-500. It will open up markets and is the best defense we have against having our energy consumption testicles gripped by foreign oil markets. Gee, you think if we quit pissing money into foreign markets the dollar may be stronger, more money would stay in the country and in terms of national defense, we might be less at the mercy of those who would steer our foreign policy so we can stay addicted to oil.

Would we be in this shape toady if Carter's plan towards renewables had not been completely stopped by St. Reagan?

until later,

rojo

The Free Market is FUN!!!

This one takes the cake. Let a mine put untreated water into the river and then let the town pay for the clean up. Great plan. So good that the mining firm, Exelon, is looking for more mine wastes to dump into the river. and we all know that mine wastes are consistent and will only have iron and manganese. They would never have cyanide or acid mine wastes or any of the other fun things dump into the river. Nobody might forget and dump waste oil, or acid or anything, because mines never use chemicals. And mining companies are basically honest. Look at the way they take care of their workers.

Want to buy a bridge? or beach front property in Florida? or a garden paradise in Nevada?

rojo

More Poo

This can happen. Your water, if you are in a city, or what is defined as a community water system by the EPA, is tested at specific points for bacteriological contamination. A community of 10,000 is sampled 10 times per month at selected sites. Let's say a contractor crosses a sewage line to a drinking water line and the system uses lots of chlorine. And let's say the sample point is about one mile from where the poo water mixes in with the drinking water. The chlorine may disinfect the water one that one mile journey. But let's say you live one-quarter mile (a little more than one-half a kilometer) away from the mixed lines. They may not be disinfected there. Ow.

This brings up a complaint about my field. I really like sewage treatment. Making almost drinking water out of sewage to me is an accomplishment. and fun--even if it gives me a somewhat twisted sense of humor. This field has one of the highest hazard rates of any field tracked by OSHA. When you enter the field you are normally sick within the first three weeks, until you build up enough antibodies as you come in contact with every disease that is infecting your community. One in every ten workers (it is down from one in every three about twenty years ago) has a parasitic organism in their lower intestinal tract. (I go through routine cleanses with wormwood and other such things annually, just to be sure.) You have very real possibility of blood-borne contamination from sharps (cleaning bar screens and fixing sewer lines puts you near used hypodermic needles, razors, broken glass, etc.) or from just getting splashed. I am experienced and still every now and then get a face full of goo. Ask my wife, my eye has turned red and swollen on more than one occasion from an inadvertent splash. Lord help you if you are a mouth breather. If you fall into an A-Basin, you normally drown and if not, the infections kill you.

The field cannot attract new workers. Can't imagine why after my description last paragraph. Most of us with skills are over 50. I mean look at all the fringe benefits. all the corn you can eat. and the pay is way less than a good salesman or an auto mechanic. and we all have experienced how easy it is to pick up chicks when you smell like a manly cesspit. The biggest issue is pay. A master treatment operator in Texas gets $14.50/hour, in CA $28/hour. Not much when you have the health of a community in your hands.

rojo

Three Posts in One

Ireland

The above line sounds much better when Van Morrison sings it then it does in print. The linked article makes you wonder about swimming on Irish beaches, or fishing in their streams. I know our firm actually almost went into a contract with Ireland on their waste water plants until we found out they had no or very low effluent standards and therefore did not want to pay for good treatment.

So here is what that article means. Ireland has few secondary treatment facilities. That is technospeak (yes, even turd herders have their own language). Primary treatment means raw sewage comes in and has a settling chamber and/or a bar screen to remove solids in sewage. You know, poop, toilet paper, credit cards, rings, false teeth, prophylactics (if you're lucky--I know it sounds silly but we used to have bets on manual bar creens, yes, you clean the gunk off with a rake, on the colors of prophylactics. Bright orange, striped, psychedelic, white. Some suburbs must have had a lime green rubber factory in town. Okay, doing this job gives you a twisted sense of humor. We in the field know this. I won't go into nicknames of common waste products, but I will say prophylactics somehow inflate like balloons in aeration basins and unlike the fear caused by the leech creature under the foam in the X-Files episode, it gets rather comedic to see orange and other brightly colored almost-balloons floating, but I digress). Primary treatment is settling solids, maybe some chlorine for disinfection, maybe not and discharge. Solids then get landfilled, compossted or spread on farmer's fields for grain crops only. In the States, there are few primary plants anymore. Anchorage and maybe San Diego come to mind.

Normally, there is secondary treatment where lagoons hold the solids and nature's processes (grow algae, oxygenate that way) help lower Biochemical Oxygen Demand and ammonia. There are advanced secondary treatment methods where blowers provide extra oxygen where ammonia is converted to nitrate, which is less toxic. There is even more advanced treatment where you force starve the bugs (bacterial floc) and they actually then take up extra phosphorus and the nitrate converts to nitrogen gas and oxygen. The bugs use the O2 for food and nitrogen gas goes to the air. The phosphorus stays in the bug-bodies and are disposed of in compost or again used for fertilizer. The effluent is generally clean and disinfected.

So what is in Ireland is a bunch of primary treatment. It beats cesspits, but not by much. Yuck!

Combined Sewer Systems

Sorry, but it seems as though today is a bad sewage pun day. There was an article in a trade journal last Friday that caught my eye. Most people don't realize that many older wastewater systems have what are called combined collection systems. That means the storm sewer flows into the sanitary sewer. In the west where there is newer construction, for example Denver and Tucson, most sewerage systems are separated and storm drains go directly to creeks and rivers. In the Midwest and the East the storm sewers go to the wastewater plant. Why is this an issue? Let's say it takes 3 days to adequately treat sewage. You have tankage for 4 days. You get a big rain and your normal flow of 2 Million gallons per day (MGD) goes to 3 or 4 MGD. Remember you have tankage for 8 million gallons. So at three million gallons per day means you are short tankage for treatment after 2.3 days of higher flows. Most plants do not have one or two days extra tankage. They may have one-half day if you are lucky, if not right at maximum tankage. I have seen big rain events take flows of what is normally a 1 MGD plant to 10 MGD. The untreated sewage then just goes right through the plant and out into the rivers and lakes. and if you are in a built up area it costs a lot more to separate the lines. I don't know what Chicago is like, but after seeing all the rain they had, you have to hope they have separated sewerage systems. Cleveland has many combined sewer systems so if they get heavy rain, Lake Erie may take a hit. Heavy rain in Iowa goes to the Mississippi, washing out wastewater plants on the way.

Okay, it is diluted, but remember it is a drinking water source for someone downstream. In this year of elections, also know that most infrastructure repair estimates nationally are for roads and bridges and do not take into account water and sewer systems. Towns, cities and counties have to take the expense hit. The expense mentioned in the article is not an uncommon cost.

More Combined Sewer Systems

Over the weekend, I mentioned the problems with combined sewer systems and what could happen if a large rainfall occurs. Here is one such occurrence. Someone had asked (and I am grateful for questions because it means that people actually read some of these things) if consumers and environmentalists are rallying around these necessary repairs or if this is even an action item. Sadly, replacing combined sewers with separate storm and sanitary sewers is so far down the infrastructure repair list, it is not even an issue. Many small and large communities can barely make the financial commitment to make wastewater plants meet tighter specifications which come out with almost every plant permit renewal (5 year cycle). The funding is almost unavailable to upgrade sewerage systems.

The first article in my last post about Keokuk, IA stated it would take maybe 17 years to upgrade the sewer system. That is a long time and a very expensive process. One would hope that City planners can at least make new development have separate systems and then as areas are redesigned and upgraded with new roads, power lines, etc. then be made current at that time, but that requires long-term planning. I hate to sound cynical, but even local political cycles require reelection and if rates and costs go up too much, you won't get reelected. Most residents are not really proud of a brand sewage collection line, as opposed to a park. You see a park and ooh an ahh over it and the trees and flowers and wildlife. But a sewer line, big deal.

so much for the optimism and trusting human nature report for the day.

rojo

First Rant o' the Day

In today's paper--

People in Yuba County, CA are looking for the McCain economic plan to get them out of their recession. This the kind of thing you can't make up. McCain's two chief economic advisors have helped grease the skids into this recession. Yes, I know Bill Clinton helped deregulate the markets and in one sense this collapse is the free market at work. More on this later. But Phil Gramm helped by getting energy deregulated (remember Enron and how Enron bled CA of its budget surplus) and also by sponsoring legislation that allowed mortgages to be traded like securities even if they were bad mortgages. The other, Douglas Holtz-Eakins, is writing:

“It’s arithmetic.” Federal revenue today is 18.8 percent of GDP and federal spending is 20 percent. Holtz-Eakin observes that “the pressure are there” to lift spending [on entitlement programs, mostly] and taxes to 23 or 24 percent of GDP by around 2020, and to as much as 27 percent if health costs remain out of control.

Of course, this is in his book that will come out after the election. Imagine that. So nice to know that his beliefs are being subsumed by a lying campaign to make sure power is grabbed. Integrity in actions. nice. God, I hate being cynical and sarcastic, but sometimes the truth hurts too much to see trampled.

What this article in the Sacramento Bee proved to me is that The Conservative Noise Machine, led by talk radio, has defined the debate in peoples' brains. They don't hear opposing views, so this is all they are familiar with. Sacramento recently had a progressive talk radio station that went by the wayside (bad management). So all you hear here is Rush, Hannity, Michael Medved, Michael "hand grenade up their butts" Reagan (good thing he didn't talk about nappy-headed whores, he may have lost his job!!!), Larry "hard-hitting interviews" King and Glenn Beck. I know there are others, but I avoid them like the plague--the doofus in Cincinnati for one. In fact, I went and bought an internet radio so I don't have to just listen to streams all day long. I am well aware not everyone can afford that and are stuck with their local cable TV news. (I was just in Houston and they had the choice of Bloomberg, CNN and Fox on local cable. When Bloomberg is the farthest left coverage, your dialogue is very one-sided!!!!!!) Many people I have talked to have identified Obama as a Muslim, a Jew or a radical Black Supremacist Christian. or an amalgam of all three, yes that is right-a black supremacist muslim christian jew--the worst kind. that is all they hear, don't go to snopes.com and therefore that it the meme in their heads. All they know is talking points.

Me, I am still wondering why St. Reagan isn't in jail for arms for money for contra aid and drug deals. why isn't Ollie North in jail or executed as a national traitor, let alone as a tv commentator and news dude (how discredited do you have to be for your reputation to go in the shitter); let alone rely on him a good source for Afghanistan news?

Why is this even an issue? I am glad this was cleared up by experts.

rojo

As an amateur big-mouth with a keyboard, everyone is waiting with bated breath for my words of wisdom after last night's speech.

Just go read it or watch it. and cry tears of joy.

rojo

It's Good to Be the King


Today, Exxon agreed to pay $383,000,000 in settlement for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Let's see--hire a drunk captain, wreck a ship, spill oil, cause $7B in damages. The original suit placed by fishermen was $2.5 B in settlement costs for lost livelihood. That was in 1989. So fishermen have waited for 21 years for money that they lost because of dead fish, lack of work, etc. In those 21 years Exxon has been able to stonewall the people until they could get a Supreme Court that would kiss their ass, ooops, I mean say that they were being charged too much. 21years to wait for lost income and interest and here Exxon-Mobil settles for 1.534451 days of profits, given their current income stream. This does not include legal costs, I am sure. These probably were in the $230M range, for a 21 year legal fight. These are rolled into their general budget and guess who pays for those? Consumers at the pump. So as they roll up record profits, we pay for them and their legal fees.

Another item--U.S. angry at Russia backing breakaway republics in Georgia. Seems to me we backed the dissolution of the USSR easily enough. What are two more countries. Even though, if Ossetia wants to be a country, why doesn't Russia offer to join North and South Ossetia? Yes, both countries foreign policies suck on this issue. Seems like Chechnya wanted independence, too and no one granted them that. Is it any wonder these smaller countries and provinces feel powerless? This can break the will of a country, ruin their creative spirit and give them the terrorist option as a means of being heard. Larger countries have determined what should be their borders for years. The Kurdish Republic was supposed to have its own country, as was Armenia after WW1. We forgot to create them. and as a result millions of Armenians were slaughtered or sent to Siberia during Stalin's reign. Always need someone to blame and fear. and we have a Kurdish problem now. Is terrorism hard to understand? Think of the creation of Israel and the Palestinian problem.

O yes, North Korea is now starting a weapons grade uranium enrichment program again because America forgot to take them off of the terrorist nations watch list as promised after they dismantled the program the first time.

and Dennis Kucinich makes me proud to be from Ohio, after last night's speech.

rojo

Texas and God

From today's Sacramento Bee:

Texas District lets teachers carry guns

from the Superintendent David Thweatt--
"When you let outlaws carry guns in a certain area, the only people who follow are the law-abiding citizens, and everybody else ignores it."

This is a rural high school of 110 students!? There are 50 staff, including janitors and lunch ladies, administrators and teachers. and they can't control 110 students without concealed weapons. What?

I can't comment on how stupid that is. What I want to know is the town that lawless, or has the depth of fear burned so deep into the souls of the adults that they can't help themselves. The former sounds like Deadwood. The latter sounds like demonic possession or just emotions run so out of control that counseling is necessary. How can adults be so afraid. Knowing where the town of Howard is, it is Christian country. Don't these citizens trust their God? I am appalled.


rojo

Scottish Love Fest

They love us in Scotland, honest.

rojo

I Love the Free Market

Here we are in the middle class being pressed by high gas prices. Anyone else ever have a problem with gas prices that in CA reached a high of about $4.75? Or organic-free range eggs at $4.59/dozen? Yes, we are being pressed by increasing costs and salaries don't keep up. So explain this one to me. Gas prices need to come down so we need offshore drilling to increase supply so we can export more oil, because Lord knows we don't need any more on the supply side to lower prices. The next time anyone ever mentions the blessings of free market economy, please kick them in the privates for me and say thanks, but no. We have a glut of oil on the supply side. The problem is that company's are making record profits at your expense. And then still get massive tax breaks and want more tax breaks. Anyone ever hear of Exxon/Mobil needing massive tax breaks to make money? Didn't think so.

Does anyone have the time to compare raw oil prices to gas prices? Oil prices are coming down to levels of February 2008, and gas prices then were $3.00/gallon. Have our prices dropped to that level yet, or is there profiteering going on now? Naomi Kline is probably correct, a crisis was created and costs went up, crisis may be lessened but price control was achieved. This is free market economy at its worst.

Speaking of free market economy, the Big Three automakers need a $50,000,000 bail out. I am really torn on this. It would be good to keep the auto industry in America. But, we're talking Ford (our business plan is to make money on gas-guzzling pickups and SUVs), GM (we proudly bring you the Nova and the Cadillac Cimarron and Hummers) and Chrysler (even Mercedes couldn't help us). These are companies so bloated and poorly run, so out of touch with labor and ways to make niche cars for profit it is amazing. It was easy when they were the only game in town. Now they have competition from others that make good products. that have better health care plans in their home countries that lower the cost of their product. You think the Big Three would be all over single-payer or socialized medicine, but they have sold their souls to Republicans. (How many progressive MBAs and business leaders do you know?) We need the jobs, but in America we need new business leaders!!! We need less Chainsaw Als, we need people who can make money, but not maximize profits by gutting the workforce, benefits and by outsourcing everything. This just drives away jobs and lowers the quality of life, the average salary, etc. This in turn lowers the purchasing power, people buy less and the spiral continues. In order to keep the standard of living close, more, cheaper products from overseas have to be bought and the spiral continues.

I can remember when Buy American was the conservative by-word. Who can afford to anymore? When was the last time you purchased an American TV? Nowadays, it is hard to find American products as American companies manufacture less here, do it overseas and then bring them back here to make money. and the American workforce gets screwed. In the long run, this cuts American purchasing power, too. And companies now need bailouts. Maybe they should be nationalized!!!!!! all I know is there are no easy solutions and bailouts prolong the process of necessary change by propping up a business system that cannot work as they exist now.

rojo

Man of the People!!!

More than 60 present and former telecom lobbyists work for McCain's campaign as staffers and volunteers, some in high-echelon posts while on leave from their firms.

Bounds said McCain "has never taken legislative action on behalf of any special interest," including the Bells.

from today's SacBee.

Okay, he never has taken legislative action on behalf of any special interest. If all your advisors come from special interest groups and you work from their advice what the hell do you think you are doing? maybe, just maybe working on behalf of special interests. Just a guess. and even better these advisors are on leave from their regular posts. You think maybe it is a paid leave? Be fun to find out.

and this from the couple who is not an elitist, but can't remember how many homes they have--

"When I bought the first one, my husband, who is not a beach person, said, 'Oh, this is such a waste of money; the kids will never go,'” she told Vogue. “Then it got to the point where they used it so much I couldn't get in the place. So I bought another one.”

and

The McCains increased their budget for household employees from $184,000 in 2006 to $273,000 in 2007, according to John McCain’s tax returns.

That's right. The McCains pay $270,000 per year for butlers and maids--that's $50,000 more than the median value of an American home.

from http://nitpicker.blogspot.com/2008/08/who-says-john-mccain-is-out-of-touch.html

Yes, a man of the people. Gotta love it.

Hey, I needed an excuse to use my new icon.

rojo

Gene Upshaw died today. It happened suddenly:

"in a posting regarding the passing of Executive Director Gene Upshaw, the NFL Players Association discloses that Upshaw first became aware of his illness on Sunday, August 17.

It was only two days after his 63rd birthday.

Four days later, he was gone.

Upshaw had been fighting pancreatic cancer, a disease that often develops silently, producing no symptoms until the final stages of the illness.

The news has sent shock waves throughout the league, and many executives and agents are still stunned by the news."

from profootballtalk.com great website, plenty of talk on the Bengals, for those of that persuasion. Chris Henry is back. when is the next arrest. Okay, I'll shut up waiting for Marshall's next arrest in Denver.

I bring this up because he has been Gene Upshaw has been vilified for not getting the players enough, unlike baseball or basketball. Which league is healthier? and some of it is because there are no no-cut, must pay contracts in football, unlike baseball or the NBA. Sorry, I am a football junkie and was a Browns fan until Modell moved the team to Baltimore. asshole. I was a Brown's fan the whole time I lived in denver watching John Elway kill the team until his announcement. Now a Broncos fan.

Other things--

stupidest things I have heard lately:
1) McCain doesn't know how many houses he has. It must be the pain of not being able to sell all his houses. I know I own two houses (okay, the bank does, but let's not mince words) because I cannot sell one in the recession. Poor man can't sell his houses and can't admit it.

2) Gingrich telling everyone Obama is in the pocket of Big Oil because Big Oil checks your tire pressure so you have to buy more gas. Anyone have a service station jockey check your tire pressure lately? Or do I go to the wrong service stations?

books I have read while on the road over the past eight months:
1) all the Dresden Chronicles. fun, fun, fun.
2) Justine Musks' Bloodangel and Lord of Bones. These are excellent and well worth the read if you like horror/fantasy/X Files.
3) Archer's Rogue Angel series. An archeoligist who is hte reincarnation of Joan of Arc. Dude, can't beat it. It will be a graphic novel. I want to read it.
4) Iron Hunt--needed another rewrite
5) Delia Sherman's first story in Salon Fantastique.

rojo

I read in the paper that LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band died yesterday. It made me sad. He was too young. Under the Table and Dreaming was a magnificent album that got me listening to (new) music again, much as Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello and the Clash did in the late 70s. I was wondering who would be playing sax for the DMB on the upcoming tour and thought maybe Jeff Coffin of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and found that sure enough he is sitting in for last night's LA show. I know Jeff Coffin plays in a lot of pick up and jam bands, but here is hoping he does not leave the Flecktones.

On the environmental side, there has been a link found between low levels of arsenic and the development of Type 2 diabetes. What is new in this study is that diabetes may be caused by lower levels of arsenic than thought possible before. I searched about 20 articles today and not one listed what the low levels of inorganic arsenic levels were that were tested. The best I could find was the urine of those with type 2 diabetes had at a minimum of 2 micrograms per liter (that is a really small amount, maybe a little less than 1/4 of an ounce in 1,000,000 gallons. ) Drinking water limits were just lowered to 5 times that amount after much discussion. I could find no listing of what levels of aqueous arsenic were tested. So there is no way of postulating the correlation to the levels of arsenic found in drinking water to urine. Public water systems have to be tested every three years for arsenic. Private wells are not tested at all. This could be a problem. Simple sampling can be done if you are on a well by contacting a well. If arsenic is present, you would have to go to reverse osmosis to get rid of it.

rojo

Confession time--I sit around at night to watch Keith and Rachel every night so I can hear intelligent commentary (and yes, I have been stuck on the road in hotel rooms in CA and TX where they are not on TV, and the best news is CNN). They laughed at John McCain tonight almost asking his wife to "show us your tits" at the annual biker fest in South Dakota. They said he blew up today. I am sorry to disagree, because today he won at 30,000 votes, showing he is one of the guys. Is this intellectual? Hell no, knuckle dragging to the nth degree. But I know these guys. I have worked with them all my life. McCain is now their buddy. Obama uses too many big words, speaks in measured tones (and real thoughtful sentences.) These guys want sloganeering. They want one sentence solutions whether they work or not. This is his majority and maybe a secondary base. His ads have appealed to this level of intellectual and critical thinking and it scares the hell out me he could be the worst candidate, but have a better PR firm that knows how to target the market he needs and goes after it. The electorate he is going after knows what words follow uppity and don't care if it is wrong if it gets them power. No moral dilemmas at all. This is what the campaign has devolved to.

He shows up at a nuke plant and he shows oneness with people that need gas money. They don't care or know the reactor melted down and was the basis for the movie the China Syndrome. They won't read the fine print. They will see the cultural hero at a Nuke Plant. They want relief now and a one sentence plan.

Call it dumb. Undisciplined, Immediate gratification. Whatever. This is the way more people in America are than we would care to admit. My great hope is that there will be huge bump after Denver at Mile High and from there it may be conversation about issues. The GOP has the answer if the campaign is to be one line slogans. Don't underestimate the guys who want their wife to show others her tits. They vote and would love to vote for a buddy.

rojo

More evidence the military culture is completely screwed.

rojo

A while ago I railed about men's sexual identity and politics, going so far as to question whether many instances of torture and violence were caused by sublimation of sexual insecurities. Then I read this. 41% percent of women serving in the military that were in the veteran's hospital have been sexually assaulted! Stop, take a deep breath. And then look at that again. 4 in 10 women who are in the veteran's hospital have been sexually assaulted.

These are women who are trying to defend our country. To serve it with their lives. They are betrayed by a culture that really has no concern for their well-being. I will take it as a given that 99.9% of the men in the military have not read such texts as Refusing to be a Man by John Stoltenberg, or Women's Response to the Men's Movement (compilation of essays) or The Stronger Women Get, the More Men Watch Football By I don't remember. Or even less enlightened texts of the Men's Movement such as Iron John by Robert Bly. The male enlistees are probably not college grads or trust fund kids or kids of left wing parents. Most of the military comes from male dominated cultures and the military culture is strong male, Old Testament Christian vengeful god orientation. If you want proof of that google the Air Force Academy scandals, etc.

The women came to serve, expected camaraderie and got raped. Just like the Air Force Academy young men had their medals pinned directly to their chests. Yes, that is right, to their chest muscles. Pressed through their skin. While these are not anywhere equivalent acts, it points to how twisted this culture is. Rape, torture and hazing are expected. Just like a fist fight in a buddy movie.

These are the people that are making decisions on how we spend money, how the military is run, how it interfaces with government, how paranoid we need to be and what are foreign policy is. If they do not make the decisions, they certainly have a controlling interest into the input that helps form foreign policy decisions.

and now Blackwater is taking their group of unregulated mercenaries (you know, guys who are real good at war, can't get enough of it and revel in that culture) and are forming private espionage groups for industry. Or as they are known in many speculative fiction novels as corporate states. Unregulated entities doing undercover work for self-interested multi-national corporations. Yeow! That is a recipe for disaster.

Then I hear Obama state that the generals serve at the pleasure of the President. This is correct. It makes me very afraid for his life. He is not part of the aforementioned culture. While I am certainly far left of his stances at times, he is far from the stances of the current power structure. I fear for his life. The last time I saw a candidate with this much charisma and "outside the box" appeal, their last names were Kennedy.

Blessed be, Obama. Via con dios.

rojo