State's Rights?

I was kind of pleased that CA is thinking of legalizing marijuana and taxing it. Get rid of debt, lower the criminal element and kick a whole bunch of dudes out of prison. State's rights in action. Then I see this. and wonder about state's rights. maybe I should just be wondering about the rights of dumb-asses.

rojo

Hey Moogs, Would You Buy That for a Quarter?!

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Bernie Madoff is accused of fleecing his clients out of billions, but he said Monday he shouldn't be forced into the poorhouse.

His lawyers are arguing that Madoff should be entitled to keep the $7 million apartment he's currently being held in while under house arrest and $62 million, including $45 million in municipal bonds.

Court papers filed on Monday state that Madoff and his lawyer say the Manhattan penthouse and the millions held in accounts of Madoff's wife, Ruth, are not subject to seizure.

The court papers say Madoff claims the apartment and the money are unrelated to a $50 billion fraud Madoff has been accused of carrying out.

Yes, this is money he made honestly. He says it so it must be true. The $50 billion? He must have blown on fast women and cars. Yet another case of how stupid do you think we are.

If he only bought his house in Florida, it would have been untouchable.

rojo

Rant O' the Day

From The Complete Social History of LSD...

This quotation concerns the internal testing of LSD on CIA agents and the unexpected results.

"...there were times when CIA agents found themselves propelled into a visionary world and they were deeply moved by the experience. One MK-ULTRA agent wept in front of his colleagues at the end of his first trip. 'I didn't want to leave it,' he explained. 'I felt I would where I wouldn't be able to hold on to this kind of beauty.' His colleagues assumed he was having a bad trip and wrote a report stating the drug had made him psychotic."(p. 30, Lee and Shlain)

Here a man has what for him was a mystical experience. He saw beauty in the world. Later, he admits to feeling oneness with the universe so he is labeled psychotic. GRRRR. What kind of small minded pissant ( I am being polite here!) Religion may have been defined as the opiate of the masses and spiritualism and New Age pursuits as hoaxes. Meditation as a means of sleeping wakefully. Sweat lodges as a means of purification and altered perception are pure evil. yeah, sure.

How sick a shithead must the person be to judge that as psychotic while he justifies his experiments and the invasion of Vietnam (substitute Iraq if you would like) as normal and great achievements. I definitely would never want to be normal if that type of judgment and achievement are normal. It is twisted. It is perverse!!!! If I ever felt a relaxed and continuous oneness with the universe, don't label me as psychotic. What more could you want? Universal love and creation. Can't have that, need killing and death. Move on nothing to see here.

I wonder when it may ever dawn on many of these overachievers that they are partaking in a death cult the likes of which this world has never seen. Yes, the Funky Western Civilization is a death cult (aside from a dance hit), where the foundations are the ground bones and dried blood of those sacrificed to build power structures. And how many think they are really spiritual? Sad, how spiritual oneness is condemned as psychotic.

rojo

Why Does Bill Kristol Hate America?

from Americablog-

"Greg Sargeant over at The Plum Line has gotten his hands on a memo Bill Kristol wrote to his party in 1993, urging them to oppose Bill Clinton's health care plan because - well - it might work. And then all the newly healthy people might like government and see that it could actually do something good for them. Ben Smith summarizes the long memo:

The memo warns that a successful Clinton plan could badly damage the GOP by improving Americans' relationship with government, and makes the case for total, uncompromising opposition based on what would become the "Harry and Louise" campaign, focused on the damage the changes could do to citizens' relationships with their doctors.

The only way that the plan would improve America's relationship with government would be if it worked. Think about that. The GOP ultimately opposed major legislation that would have benefited every American because the legislation might have actually worked. You don't just see parallels to today's Republican party, they're doing exactly the same thing. The GOP is terrified that Obama agenda, from the stimulus plan to health care reform, might actually work. Then Americans would see that - surprise - government can work for the people. And where would we be then, if our government actually started making a positive difference in our lives? Better to vote Republican and ensure that never happens."

Isn't it nice to know people actually get their rocks off by staying in power, damned the consequences to others. Is Bill Kristol and American? or something else?

I'll get back to water issues tomorrow morning.

rojo

Today had a great front page article on the California water problems and its impact on the Central Valley, in terms of farming and unemployment, which is up to 40% in farming communities now. This state is in the third year of a drought and even if it gets lots of late season snow and rain, the reservoirs will be at less then 40% Currently Folsom Lake is at 25%. This is the largest dam on the American River and feeds many cities with raw water for the potable system, as well as controls the flow to the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. Keep in mind, this is the same Delta where this year there is so little water, the State Water Resources Control Board is trying to decide if the smelt (the main feed fish in the Delta for larger species such as bass and salmon) should have a spring water flow allowing them to spawn, or an autumn flow allowing salmon to spawn. Which species needs to be pushed close to extinction (no joke, that is how bad it is)? Glad I do not have to play God myself with that decision. In the interim, the population has grown by 3,000,000 since the last drought and many acres of land have been placed into fruit and nut trees, or vineyards, which require annual water and cannot be allowed to go fallow, as they will die. So the State has to balance pumping water from the Delta to San Diego, LA and the Central Valley for farming, as well as keeping water for the fish and a flow to the sea. Except there is no water. Everyone needs to read Cadillac Desert to see how California and particularly LA have overstressed any natural system in CA in an attempt to urbanize, feed the country and grow economically in a desert. Unbelievable read and it really shows how overbuilt this fake paradise is.

My wife got to see the big canals for the first time last weekend as we drove to scenic Bakersfield (home of the Drillers, honest, that is the high school nickname and has more to do with oil than teen age hormonal pursuits). The canals have more flow than most rivers on the Front Range of Colorado. Yes, they pull more water out of a delta system than CO relies for life. I am not naive enough not to realize that Boulder, Ft. Collins, Greeley et al could exist oin their present form without taking water from the western slope and bringing it through the Rockies (there is one hell of tunnel under Rocky Mountain National Park from Grand Lake to Estes Park) to bring water to the front range.

We wil be having a fresh water crisis in America soon if global weather patterns continue to change. Just last year, Georgia tried to move its State line just a little north into Tennessee to grab river water as Atalata was going dry. Then they tried to divert Great Lake water through the Misssissippi drainage to Georgia. Israel tried to buy water from the Great Lakes to ship to Israel (they use immense baggies to ship fresh water over the ocean. google it, honest).The Aral Sea in Russia has been drained for cotton farming. This has led to health problems as the desert has grown with sea levels dropping, and the resultant dust storms have caused numerous health problems. Fishing boats there are so far out of the sea, they cannot be salvaged. That is how fast it has dropped.

Now turning sewage into drinking water is a big issue. You have to find water somewhere. This is not really a bad idea, and is much cheaper than turning salt water into fresh. Reverse osmosis is just an expensive process usiing lots of electricity to pump water through semi-permeable membranes using high pressure pumps. Now water laws in many states will have to catch up to this practice. In CO, I think that you may own water rights, but it is expected that you will return at least 85% of the water in your area back to streams, after first turning into drinking water and then processing the sewage. CA has no such laws.

There will be the problems of pollution if this is to become a common process (and it will, believe me--it is one of the reasons I really love my field, the alchemy of turning shit into clean water is really, really cool.) Coomon pollutants such as ammonia and phosphorus are tightly regulated in some states. CA is at least twenty years behind the curve because they believe in the economic benefit of communities and that the solution to pollution is dilution, the old engineers' chant. In other words, they will force higher treatment because it costs too much. And their water law would allow Sacramento to sell its treated sewage to the highest bidder, whether it leaves the Sacramento drainage or not. Time is short right now, but the Scaramento Bee has a great article on this today. I don't have time to find the link.

In fact, work is calling so I will continue this later...

rojo

Car Stuff

Toyota Prius has won an award for Consumer Reports magazine for a new award, Best Car Value. I have driven them. I own a Honda Hydrid. The Prius is a wonderful car, even better than mine. I just couldn't afford a Prius with no money down at the time.

And GM has lost $82 billion in the past four years. OW!!!!! It burned through $6.4 billion in the 4th quarter 2008 alone, including $4B from the bail out. What a conumdrum. They deserve to fail, but if they do, 3,000,000 become unemployed. They expect to burn through $14B this year, the losses are staggering and will need more governement assistance.

Yeesh. What do you do? Who wants Hummer? Who wants Saturn? I actually went to purchase a Chevy Malibu when I purchased my Honda. I drove both. The Malibu Hybrid had fold down rear seats, more power and was roomier. But it just felt cheesy. and the mileage was 30 mpg! I get 45 in my Honda. What a drag. I even had a GM employee discount and it still did not make it worth it. and the sales staff sucked. Here, wait and my manager can make you a better deal. Then the sales manager may sweeten the deal. Oh but that has to approved by the bigger manager. Fire some of the fucking managers, make the cost lower and you might have a deal, idiots. I bought my Honda at the dealership, but did most of the heavy lifting, including pricing and credit approval in line at home drinking tea. Probably in my sweats or shorts. Comfy and easy.

rojo

The Kiddie Table

After seeing Bobby Jindahl last night I almost felt sorry for him. Kind of like a little leaguer facing Randy Johnson in his prime. Except, I had to remember he exorcised the eeveel spirits out of his college sweetie. Just what we need is an exorcist in the White House, or any level of government. "Throw her in the water and if she floats, she is a witch and we will kill her. If she sinks and drowns..." Great, huh. And he had to follow someone who gave one of the best speeches since Kennedy. Go back to the kiddies table, the adults are here.

Also, Media matters put out a list of congress members who voted against the jobs bill. Maybe it is time for area activists to pull out recall petitions for these lucky guys, or anyone who voted against jobs. That might put the fear into some of the more provincial types.

rojo

It's A DayQuil Kind od Day!

After a fun-filled three days in Las Vegas, the most unreal town in America, I have have to do routine work. I did have a desultory epiphany or two there. 1) As much fun as the water show was to observe at the Bellagio, I had to wonder how the nature spirits of the desert really like having such egregious disregard for their home. I mean a water wonderland in the desert? How fitting! and I observed this with fellow water and wastewater operators, so we all walked away going "ooh" and later realized we were all thinking how many psi the pumps had to develop to get that height, what type of solenoid valves are being used to withstand the pressure and such. In fact, I was relieved that I was not the only nerd/geek wondering that. The questions came up as we relaxed in the bar afterwards.

2) Had dinner and drinks in Margaritaville. It is amazing that flip flops, shorts and hawaiian shirts (oh yes, and booze--no one mentions weed, or other drugs even though there are LOUD videos of Buffet and other jambands being pumped out continually. No one smokes weed at a String Ceese show) have been turned into a glorified life style, which attracts so many people for a brief drunken break into their routine lives. combine that with mediocre food and more booze and a floor show with men on stilts, a pirate captain and a bikini clad babe whose arms were better developed than mine--the show repeats every X amount of minutes and the babe changes her bikini, fake blonde hair still the same. Part of the floor show is to raise your drinks and chug. Imagine a bar that features ritualized drinking. what a great business plan.

More honest than Hooters, home the great wings! and I read Penthouse for the articles.

Well, I dive through life today in a Dayquil haze and try my best at mitigating the fines of a sewage overflow my firm had nothing to do with--a city broke a sewer line and fixed it themselves, did not tell us and the County and EPA found out about it and asked us. Boy, did we look honest when we said "What?" We really did not know.

Before I go through that maze, I have to comment on the Swiss Bank and the scandal brewing there. They had code words for country of currency origin, animal names for denominations, really cool superspy stuff. But now the FBI wants them to turn over to the IRS the names of investors to see who was evading taxes in fake corporations that they set up. They made no bones about setting up fake corporations for tax-free investment for offshore profits.

Wait, wasn't that Phil Gramm's (McCain's economic advisor) bank and employer?

Kind of makes you wonder who invested in off shore accounts and tried to dodge taxes? Democrats or Republicans? Middle class (I know everyone in my family has a swiss bank account, how about yours?) How many of each? Upper class, lower class or Bush's base (upper 0.5 of 1%, as he joked). So who is using what are called the commons (defense, roads, subsidy for Post Office, etc.) in a disproportionate way as they try to escape taxes that pay for them? Another way of putting it more bluntly, who hates America and really is unpatriotic by being a greedy bastard and not paying their fair share? the lower classes or the mega rich? Yes, these are class generalizations and many in lower classes would do this if they could and many rich folk set up great trusts and things, but....

I hope they make the unpatriotic bastards serve time for tax evasion during a time of war!!!!!!!!!!

rojo

Is This Car News or a Management Rant?

"There was anger today as BMW confirmed that 850 jobs were being cut by ending weekend working at its Mini car plant near Oxford.

The cuts will mostly affect agency workers when they come into force from 2 March when the plant begins operating five days a week, instead of the current seven.

Union sources said workers booed and threw apples and oranges at managers after being told they were losing their jobs.

Agency workers leaving Cowley this morning expressed their fury at being given just one hour's notice of the redundancies.

"It's a disgrace. I feel as though I've been used," said one worker. "We should have been given one month's notice, not one hour."

Axed agency staff were given the grim news in meetings at the factory following weekend speculation that hundreds of jobs were to go.

Almost a third of the Cowley workforce are agency staff and some complained today they would not receive any redundancy pay.

The contract staff, who have few employment rights, were brought in to work alongside full-time employees on the production lines, which built 230,000 vehicles last year."

This story bothers for a number of reasons. The first and foremost is my business experience and my past bosses. I had one that in a managers' meeting, stated "Hire more women, they will work for 15% and raise our margins." another always wanted us to hire temps so we did not have to pay benefits, or at least delay the payment of benefits. and here we have contract labor (temps) working alongside full-time employees. This story does not give enough details. Were they hired to make Minis while the market was hot, soon to be discarded? Were they paid more than full-time workers to make up for no benefits? What were the promises made to them as they were hired?

Temporary workers should not be used as "scabs" to fill labor needs, and raise profit margins because they are paid less. That is unethical and shows no integrity of character. They are a viable labor alternative for short-term from a management stand point. Still, they need respect. Contract labor has become a predominant cheaper labor source because they seldom get benefits and can be discarded like "things". Workers are people and as such deserve a level of treatment that you would provide to a family member. Management wonders why morale is down. Because workers are treated as things. not people. They can sense this. The subconscious is an amazing organ of perception. (I won't go off on this today, but many drug and alcohol problems are brain chemistry, but others are an attempt at shielding and self-medication because subconsciously people can feel how vicious others really are.)

What is wrong with management that people are treated as disposable things? and why is this taught as a viable alternative to offering full-time jobs with benefits to workers? I can think of many "Joe" jobs my daughter has had that offer full-time employment when available, but employment often stays with 10 people working 24 hours/week so they don't have to offer benefits. And then employers wonder why they get ripped off by ungrateful employees!

Many companies now offer benefits after 90 days of employment, but if you hire an employee as a temp, or less than full time, that time does not go towards the 90 days. Bend over and spread them, we want to use you.

Sometimes management training and policies in this country just offend me.

rojo

Well, there will be no car czar, but a Presidential commission. Yep, to oversee the bailed out GM and Chrysler a committee oversee some of the worst run businesses in the world. Well, Wall Street is so poorly run that they deserve complete nationalization and firing of all the yahoos who ran it into the ground. I am sure there are plenty of talented business grads who could do no worse for a lot less money. Here is hoping the committee has LABOR representation. Otherwise the workers will be screwed and the unions broken. If that happens, kiss the vestiges of a middle class good bye!

and in other news, the Associated Press has stated that there is a whole bunch of life under the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans and ice caps that were unknown. Thousands of species. One specializes in eating snails. How slow must a snail move in that cold of water, one dares to ask? and if they get in your plankton garden, how do you place a saucer of beer there? Here is a link from the Canadian Press. and one with some pictures.

rojo

Too good a story not to be true-



rojo

The Two Americas

Honestly, I read the news today and wonder why there are two sets of rules for Americans based upon the economic class that they are from. I wondered this a long time ago during the Jon Benet Ramsey murder investigation. What would have happened to me if I said I would not respond to the police or "come downtown". The Ramsey's have said no and were honored. Try this as an Hispanic in East LA. Think it would work?

And now we have a clown,(sorry, no makeup) on the Falafel King's show stating that if the truth of the Bush administration and if the laws they broke were released for the public to know, it would be deadly. Huh? But they should be honored as heroes. Hello, they committed genital mutilation on at least one person. Genital mutilation--such a nice way of saying slicing up someone's dick and nuts with a knife. It sounds so less coarse because it was done with a scalpel, obviously making it professional. Oh My God!!!!! How do you get out of bed in the morning.

And now Conyers subpoenas Rove for the THIRD time through his lawyer, but his lawyer and the lawyer's assistant just can't reached until after the date of the subpoena. How convenient. Try that with your local court. Given the size of the game they are playing, there must be something to hide.

So, who has the stones to find the arrogant son of a bitch and let him meet Bubba in a dark cell somewhere? Or in Rove's case (and I firmly believe this), a woman. It is still a pet theory that the past administration had many sexual identity dysfunctions that came out in torture and bullying as a means of satisfaction, gratification and really was an expression of sublimation.

and on the other end of the spectrum, you can't pay for the cost of your registration, you lose your car, that was doubling as your house because you lost your roommate to cancer and can't afford the rent by yourself.

There is a large disconnect in America today!

rojo

And I quit writing for a while about the auto industry--There has been so much news. Toyota lost 30% of its sales, GM 49+%, Chrysler over 50% and GM is laying off 20,000. OW! An average worker makes $70,000-$80,000 with bennies. An average bonus on Wall Street is over $1,000,000 or about 15 workers.

Why Getting things Done Quickly Matters

This is part of a stream of comments that came from my other blog--

It is just maddening. as with any new boss, Obama had a 2-4 week window to get most of his new programs passed and in place. Then public opinion maybe could help push for more. His insistence on bipartisanship instead of civic duty is ridiculous. The lackeys who are obstructionist need to be called out in public by name, as well as defining the consequences of their action in a way even the village idiot can understand. The republicans are just gettting to grind everything to a halt because if these reforms and public works projects do help stimulate the economy; Reagan, free markets, Ayn Rand and Friedman are no longer saints, but discredited philosophers who just spout off. They cannot afford that as it discredits their party and its dubious achievements over the past 30 years.

Yes, we are living in bizarro world, except they don't speak backwards. Joe the Plumber, fresh from his stint as a reporter, where he said reporters should not have access is now political consultant to the GOP and Sarah "Caribou Barbie" Palin is a leader. And Rush is the de facto propagandizer.

Goldwater and Buckley must be shitting in their graves! It has come to this, an airport named after St. "Get Rid of Government" Reagan, who broke the air traffic controllers union (to hell with safety, seems like the kind of job for OJT). Making burgers is now manufacturing jobs in labor counts.

And I thought my acid dreams from the 60s were unbelievable.

I did not include the links. look up this sorry state of existence for yourself.

On another issue, I went to see the orthopaedist today and he said no more injections on my left knee. Replace it when my pain tolerance has hit its limit. I already moved to a one foor house becasue stairs were too much and walking 0.5 miles requires icing and a beer ot three. My boss asked for 6 more months. We'll see.

rojo

I Have a High School Hall Pass

Will that work? Can I get a pass to go anywhere and do anything with that?

To me the biggest story of the day was not the legislation that allows more than 180 days before you sue your employer for being underpaid because of gender, or the stimulus package, but this load of crap.

How can Karl Rove, the Kingpin of Crime, aka "doughboy" or one of the Gucker and Gannon butt boys (no proof, just conjecture), be given executive immunity on things he said he was not involved in? And after he no longer works for the Executive? If he knew nothjing and was not involved why would the President make sure his counsel gave Doughboy a hall pass. He was just covering his ass. this is not hard to see. If Rove ever had to testify, we would know how illegal everything was, including the rigged 2004 election. Anyone with any street smarts knows this.

Perhaps the bigger question is if that hall pass is seen as not applicable, what country will protect Rove or will he meet Kenny-boy Lay? (I know this is insensitive to the Lay family, but I have had questions about his untimely demise and if he really was depressed enough to commit suicide, I sincerely apologize to his family.)

rojo

A song about a van



rojo

The first is that Obama is going to let CA have stricter emissions standards and that will impact the US car market by making manufacturers meet them. This is in many news sources so I really have not added a link. But, In a few of the stories i have read, it states that this is using existing technology to reduce emission standards (narrower tires at higher pressures, variable valve timing, 4/6/8 engine run options). It also states that this will add $1400 to the cost of each car, make US cars non-competitive and end the world as we know it. Okay, I made the last part up.

I have to question that if this is existing technology, why it would add so much to the price of a car. Okay, the 4/6/8 option would becasue of the controls. Variable valve timing is only used in premium models and many foreign cars. Or is it this just more of the same news details leaked by manufacturers and lobbyists to back the regressive position that has gotten Amerian car manufacturers where they are today, with two of the Big Three needing government handout.

The other story is that American Honda is moving some jobs to China. It is the end of the world as we know it tone that bothers me, If you were making something at point A and they were not selling and you had to ship the product to point B 14,000 miles away, yet you could make them there at existing factories by expanding them, what is the smart and prudent business choice? This is not rocket science. There is an expanding market in China. Why should this surprise me that manufacturing is moving there?

This is the same principle as sustainable agriculture. Buy local. Because we were buying cars from Japan, they came here to build factories. It is not our right as god-fearing Americans that all factories be built here. What really should be the question is how to get the American economy rolling again to make sure we have people who can afford to buy a car.

rojo

New Energy in Spain

I'll take a day away from the auto manufacturing and sales news to look at solar power in Spain. This looks interesting and wonder what Nevada could provide, other than a bomb testing site for the military. Combine this with increased wind power and we have better national security, because we become less reliant on purchasing energy for our life style. As Americans, we use lots of energy per capita.

On a personal note, it is time for me to try vermiculture and see if it is a useful household methodology. I am going to buy the parts for the bins this weekend, I hope.

rojo

Why Not?



rojo

this was a comment I received from a friend to an earlier post--

Ironically, although gas prices are down, propane prices haven't dropped significantly - at least not in Wisconsin that I've noticed. So, although you can take that trip to Grandma's house in your new SUV out here, she could be freezing if she doesn't have any alternative to propane, because she can't afford to turn the thermostat up.

I wish someone was giving more thought to vehicles for farmers. Out here, trucks are tools and every farmer needs them or something like them to haul stuff. It seems to me that no one is serious about designing fuel efficient, much less alternative fuel vehicles for rural use. We have practical transportation problems in winter rural climates that make 4WD a necessity, for clearance as well as traction. We used to own a Toyota Tercel Hatchback that got excellent mileage and had to put it on blocks from November until April because it was totally useless on snowy back country roads. If we owned something like the little Smart Car we saw buzzing around in Milwaukee yesterday we'd have to do the same thing - store it until it was practical again. Let's hope Obama and Co. wake up where rural transportation is concerned.

How true is this? I was involved in a job where I was driving in the mountains in very rural areas every day and I drove a 4-wheel drive pickup every day. It was a necessary tool. I had to have a bed haul weight of 1,000 pounds so that put me over small pickups. I know, I tried a 4 cylinder ranger. Not an option for what I did.

rojo