It just doesn't get any more obvious than this. From today's Hardball:Matthews: Here it is. A new CNN poll shows President Obama approval rating among moderates rose five points since last month and it dropped eight points [among liberals.] Fair enough. It looks like the moderates were watching and the liberals were watching. He moved to the center....That amazing analysis was based on the fact that Obama lost 8% of liberals and only gained 5% of moderates. How that adds up to a big win I don't know. I guess liberals are only worth three fifths of a moderate in American politics.
...The Tea Party has shown that successful primaries against stalwart conservatives gives them power. Do the Villagers think the left didn't notice that? Do they think that the liberals in congress didn't notice it either?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Digby, teh Funny!
She makes me laugh:
Miscellany Of Mexican Pictures
When I went on the Mexican cruise at the end of November, I sometimes drove my primary digital Samsung camera to power exhaustion, so I had to rely on backup digital cameras (the old Olympus camera with the damaged CCD and my i-Phone's camera) in order to take photos. I'm just uploading those pictures now, and I hope to update previous posts incorporating these photos....
'El Tio Sam' - A store in Puerto Vallarta capitalizing on the imagery of Uncle Sam. Particularly since the modern symbol came into use in World War I, Uncle Sam has become a patriotic symbol in the United States, but in Mexico it has no such status and thus has apparently become a commercial symbol.
These rooftop water units on an apartment building in Ixtapa -manufactured by Rotoplas - maintain steady water pressure for household use. This part of Mexico doesn't necessarily require rooftop rainwater tanks for drinking water like they have in Queensland, Australia - it rains enough here - but water pressure is apparently a problem. And water purification too, of course.
A big Mexican prison near Ixtapa. This is apparently the CEINJURE (Centro Integral de Justicia Costa Norte) jail (800 male, 100 female capacity).
Mazatlan's 'Zona Dorada' (Golden Zone) as seen across the older downtown district from the distance of the docked cruise ship.
Not sure what this structure in Mazatlan is - a church? - but it looks nice!
Royal Caribbean's "Mariner of the Seas" as seen looking aft from the Sapphire Princess at Mazatlan.
Mazatlan's Cerro del Creston at sunset, with a Baja Ferries ship firing its engines up.
This gold-painted actor posed mannequin-style at the Cabo San Lucas marina, for tips (sadly, I forgot to tip, but he seemed to be doing well, nonetheless).
Mazatlan's Cerro del Creston.
A map of the trip.
Map in closer detail - north
Map in closer detail - middle
Map in closer detail - south
Left: Detail of map in the Punta Eugenia area.
In a display case on the Sapphire Princess a Wikipedia article was reproduced describing the distance to the horizon. This is a useful approximation: given a distance h (in feet) above the surface of the Earth of the human eye, the distance to the horizon (in miles) is about: d (miles) = SQRT(1.5 * h (ft)). The Sapphire Princess height is about 54 meters (nearly 18 floors tall). So that means pictures from the Sport Deck (floor 15?) will be about 149 feet above the surface, so the horizon will be about 14.9 miles away!
Here is a Web Page describing basic facts about the Sapphire Princess. The Princess Theater can seat 705 people!
Wikipedia describes the source of the propulsion power:
Regarding the power plant in Mazatlan with the amazingly-dirty exhaust, here is some encouraging news:
'El Tio Sam' - A store in Puerto Vallarta capitalizing on the imagery of Uncle Sam. Particularly since the modern symbol came into use in World War I, Uncle Sam has become a patriotic symbol in the United States, but in Mexico it has no such status and thus has apparently become a commercial symbol.
These rooftop water units on an apartment building in Ixtapa -manufactured by Rotoplas - maintain steady water pressure for household use. This part of Mexico doesn't necessarily require rooftop rainwater tanks for drinking water like they have in Queensland, Australia - it rains enough here - but water pressure is apparently a problem. And water purification too, of course.
A big Mexican prison near Ixtapa. This is apparently the CEINJURE (Centro Integral de Justicia Costa Norte) jail (800 male, 100 female capacity).
Mazatlan's 'Zona Dorada' (Golden Zone) as seen across the older downtown district from the distance of the docked cruise ship.
Not sure what this structure in Mazatlan is - a church? - but it looks nice!
Royal Caribbean's "Mariner of the Seas" as seen looking aft from the Sapphire Princess at Mazatlan.Mazatlan's Cerro del Creston at sunset, with a Baja Ferries ship firing its engines up.
This gold-painted actor posed mannequin-style at the Cabo San Lucas marina, for tips (sadly, I forgot to tip, but he seemed to be doing well, nonetheless).
Mazatlan's Cerro del Creston.
A map of the trip.
Map in closer detail - north
Map in closer detail - middle
Map in closer detail - south
Left: Detail of map in the Punta Eugenia area.
In a display case on the Sapphire Princess a Wikipedia article was reproduced describing the distance to the horizon. This is a useful approximation: given a distance h (in feet) above the surface of the Earth of the human eye, the distance to the horizon (in miles) is about: d (miles) = SQRT(1.5 * h (ft)). The Sapphire Princess height is about 54 meters (nearly 18 floors tall). So that means pictures from the Sport Deck (floor 15?) will be about 149 feet above the surface, so the horizon will be about 14.9 miles away!
Here is a Web Page describing basic facts about the Sapphire Princess. The Princess Theater can seat 705 people!
Wikipedia describes the source of the propulsion power:
The diesel-electric plant consists of 4 diesel generators and a gas turbine generator. The diesel generators are Wartsilla 46 series common rail engines, two of the straight 9 cylinder configuration, and two of the straight 8 cylinder configuration. The 8 and 9 cylinder engines can produce approximately 8 1/2 and 9 1/2 MW of power respectively. These engines are fueled with Heavy Fuel oil (HFO or bunker c) and Marine Gas Oil (MGO) depending on the local regulations regarding emissions, as MGO produces much lower emissions but is much more expensive. The gas turbine generator is a GE 2500, producing a peak of 25 MW of power and being fueled my MGO. This generator is much more expensive to run than the Wartsilla generators, and is used mostly in areas, such as Alaska, where the emissions regulations are strict. It is also used when top speed is required to make it to a port in a short time period.
Regarding the power plant in Mazatlan with the amazingly-dirty exhaust, here is some encouraging news:
In the late summer of 2009 the oil-fired power plant near Mazatlan operated by Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) awarded a contract to Altrom Power to install air quality control systems. Alstrom is a Swiss based company that specializes in power development and clean air technology around the world. The work began with design and engineering to install electrostatic precipitator technology to capture and remove the larger particulate emissions (much of the “black stuff”) that is so readily visible from Estrella del Mar. The equipment installation is planned to be finished in 2011. The precipitators will filter the plant’s flue gas, greatly reducing particulate output to about one tenth of the current emissions.
"A Gift Of Music" - Woodland Chamber Singers' 35th Annual Christmas Concert
Sunday evening, Sally invited me to see "A Gift Of Music" - Woodland Chamber Singers' 35th Annual Christmas Concert, at the Woodland Opera House.Lots of people began lining up early. This is what the line looked like at 6:50 p.m. At 7 p.m., it began raining, but the doors weren't quite open yet. Open, open, open!
It was very pleasant concert (marred a bit by vociferous tots, but whatcha-gonna-do?) The song I liked the best was "The Hands of Winter", in part because I don't believe I've ever heard it before.
Left: Bob Edmondson prepares to lead the audience in a Christmas sing-a-long.The woman next to me leaned over and said, "that man singing behind us sure has a nice voice!" And she was right! The voice was rich and beautiful. But who was the mysterious man with the great voice?
Turns out, the mysterious man was Ryan Favorite, on holiday from school in Boston! Ryan's serving at the Cheesecake Factory while he's here, and preparing for an opera-singing education in NYC when he returns to the East Coast.
Lenore Turner-Heinson and the 2010's Woodland Chamber Singers.
Porch Update
Nothing like using the wrong caulking! It dissolved away like cream in the falling rain! I've got a tarp over the area now, and just as soon as it dries out - oh, say June - it will be time to take another stab.
Petroleum Explosions And Fire In Mexico
Amazing, and amazingly-stupid too: A powerful pre-dawn pipeline explosion in a central Mexican state left at least 28 people dead on Sunday. The chief suspected cause of the blast is an illegal tap, possibly by the drug group the Zetas, as cartels increasingly attempt to steal crude and gas from state-owned oil lines.
Dozens were injured and 115 homes were damaged in what was described as a series of blasts at a pumping station in San Martin Texmelucan, a town on the main road between Mexico City and the city of Puebla, capital of Puebla state. The smoke plume that rose after the destruction was visible for much of Sunday from neighboring communities as well as in other states.
Witnesses said "rivers of fire" consumed the town's streets.
...The state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said in a statement that a rapid drop in pressure on the 30-inch pipeline suggested a "clandestine tap" (link in Spanish). The line, named Nuevo Teapa, carries fuel from its origin at a port in Tabasco state on the Gulf of Mexico and heads to a refinery in Hidalgo, northeast of Mexico City, Bloomberg reported.
Pemex loses millions of barrels a year to drug groups -- primarily, the Gulf Coast-based Zetas gang -- in thefts that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The stolen fuel is believed to be trafficked by the Zetas and sold in the United States as cartels seek to diversify their criminal enterprises. The Pemex chief said Sunday that the section of pipeline that erupted in San Martin Texmelucan had been tapped at least 60 times before, and 550 cases of illegal tapping have been reported nationwide.
Yet More Diet Advice - Get Rid Of Carbs, Not Fat
But maybe not-so-bad advice:
"Fat is not the problem," says Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. "If Americans could eliminate sugary beverages, potatoes, white bread, pasta, white rice and sugary snacks, we would wipe out almost all the problems we have with weight and diabetes and other metabolic diseases."
...All carbohydrates (a category including sugars) convert to sugar in the blood, and the more refined the carbs are, the quicker the conversion goes. When you eat a glazed doughnut or a serving of mashed potatoes, it turns into blood sugar very quickly. To manage the blood sugar, the pancreas produces insulin, which moves sugar into cells, where it's stored as fuel in the form of glycogen.
...The first sign of insulin resistance is a condition called metabolic syndrome — a red flag that diabetes, and possibly heart disease, is just around the corner. People are said to have the syndrome when they have three or more of the following: high blood triglycerides (more than 150 mg); high blood pressure (over 135/85); central obesity (a waist circumference in men of more than 40 inches and in women, more than 35 inches); low HDL cholesterol (under 40 in men, under 50 in women); or elevated fasting glucose.
About one-fourth of adults has three or more of these symptoms.
"Put these people on a low-carb diet and they'll not only lose weight, which always helps these conditions, but their blood levels will improve," Phinney says.
..."Carbohydrates are a metabolic bully," Phinney says. "They cut in front of fat as a fuel source and insist on being burned first. What isn't burned gets stored as fat, and doesn't come out of storage as long as carbs are available. And in the average American diet, they always are."
Here's how Phinney explains it: When you cut carbs, your body first uses available glycogen as fuel. When that's gone, the body turns to fat and the pancreas gets a break. Blood sugar stabilizes, insulin levels drop, fat burns. That's why the diet works for diabetics and for weight loss.
When the body switches to burning fat instead of glycogen, it goes into a process called nutritional ketosis. If a person eats 50 or fewer grams of carbs, his body will go there, Phinney says.
"The Runaways"
Late at night on Sunday, November 28th, when I was quarantined on the Sapphire Princess cruise ship because of intestinal rebellion, I happened to catch another kind of rebellion while changing TV channels: "The Runaways", starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie. I missed the beginning of the movie, and I missed the end, but decided I had to see more. I mentioned the movie to Ben Wormeli, and he said he had already seen it and liked it.
Finally saw the whole movie. I really liked it too.
I think the reason I find the movie so affecting is that it describes events very-nearly of my generation (the band members have birthdates in the age range of my younger sisters). Plus, certain events placed on film are just intrinsically-interesting (like the innovative heckling training they underwent). Add in good acting and writing and cinematography, and there you are!
Reviews seem to be mixed, but I think many reviewers miss the care that has been devoted to creating the details and atmosphere of the mid-70's. Here's the trailer:
Finally saw the whole movie. I really liked it too.
I think the reason I find the movie so affecting is that it describes events very-nearly of my generation (the band members have birthdates in the age range of my younger sisters). Plus, certain events placed on film are just intrinsically-interesting (like the innovative heckling training they underwent). Add in good acting and writing and cinematography, and there you are!
Reviews seem to be mixed, but I think many reviewers miss the care that has been devoted to creating the details and atmosphere of the mid-70's. Here's the trailer:
Friday, December 17, 2010
Kaiser Emergency Room
Out of an abundance of caution, I've brought E. over for a checkup, and to create a formal record.
E. Has A Very Bad Day
Shortly before noontime, E. headed home to deep-fry the lumpia for a Christmas Party at the Smythe Academy where she works. Christmas break starts today for teachers and students alike, and everyone was looking forward to the party, and her lumpia.
On the drive back to school, about 12:30 p.m. PST, she was travelling in the left-hand lane on 16th Street (a one-way street, travelling north) when the car in the middle lane (on her right) decided to turn left onto C Street (an illegal movement) across her path with no warning whatsoever. A collision resulted.....
Here is the car of the driver who crossed E.'s path, showing the collision point on the left fender.
Upon collision, E. swerved to the left, smashed through the fence of John Muir Park at 16th and C Streets, and plowed deep into the park. Because it took her fifty feet, or more, to come to a rest, the violence of the collision was greatly mitigated. Surprisingly, her air bag did not deploy.
The collision point on her right fender, together with demolished wheel.
The iron fence snapped free upon collision and got wedged under the front end.
Not much lumpia was left in the container she had placed on the front seat for the trip back to school.
Lumpia everywhere on the dashboard and on the floor!
Left turns onto C Street are permitted from the left lane. The option to continue straight is also permitted. What is not permitted is to turn left from the middle lane: an option the dumbass driver in the red car decided to exercise, and without warning either.
Demolished landscaping.
E., looking forlorn.
Wheel thrashed.
Looking SSE towards the intersection. Fortunately, E. did not hit any park benches, or the park sign, or anything else besides the fence and the landscaping.
Lumpia everywhere, behind shattered glass!
The car was a bit awkward to hoist upon the tow truck.
I don't know how she did it, but E. managed to thread the narrow space in-between the cement sign, and the metal traffic light post, without hitting either obstacle, and thus averted much of the violence of the collision.
On the drive back to school, about 12:30 p.m. PST, she was travelling in the left-hand lane on 16th Street (a one-way street, travelling north) when the car in the middle lane (on her right) decided to turn left onto C Street (an illegal movement) across her path with no warning whatsoever. A collision resulted.....
Here is the car of the driver who crossed E.'s path, showing the collision point on the left fender.
Upon collision, E. swerved to the left, smashed through the fence of John Muir Park at 16th and C Streets, and plowed deep into the park. Because it took her fifty feet, or more, to come to a rest, the violence of the collision was greatly mitigated. Surprisingly, her air bag did not deploy.
The collision point on her right fender, together with demolished wheel.
The iron fence snapped free upon collision and got wedged under the front end.
Not much lumpia was left in the container she had placed on the front seat for the trip back to school.
Lumpia everywhere on the dashboard and on the floor!
Left turns onto C Street are permitted from the left lane. The option to continue straight is also permitted. What is not permitted is to turn left from the middle lane: an option the dumbass driver in the red car decided to exercise, and without warning either.
Demolished landscaping.
E., looking forlorn.
Wheel thrashed.
Looking SSE towards the intersection. Fortunately, E. did not hit any park benches, or the park sign, or anything else besides the fence and the landscaping.
Lumpia everywhere, behind shattered glass!
The car was a bit awkward to hoist upon the tow truck.
I don't know how she did it, but E. managed to thread the narrow space in-between the cement sign, and the metal traffic light post, without hitting either obstacle, and thus averted much of the violence of the collision. Falling Short
The best newspaper reporting on the troubles with Civic Theatre West have been in the Granite Bay View:
I have my own view about the problems at Civic Theatre West. It doesn't seem to me the Board of Directors wants to surrender their current operational structure, whereby certain people involved in the theater get paid. I can certainly understand their reluctance to fire everyone and start over with a different operational structure with fewer paid positions, but unfortunately that may be what they have to do to save the theater. In other words, the Board of Directors would prefer to commit suicide rather than get sufficiently-ruthless and do what they HAVE TO DO to save the theater. Even more than the debt, it's the payroll that's killing them.
The folks in Roseville can save Civic Theatre West if they want to - there is scarcely any wealthier community in all of California, and the audiences there are large and the acting community is vibrant. There is no more inviting climate anywhere else I know of. But there has to exist the WILL to do so!
Community theaters live within a web of community support that hums with numerous unspoken and unwritten pledges of trust and support. My worry is that Civic Theatre West chased away their supporters by surprising them with news of the theater's closure: supporters were scarcely aware that there was even a decline. People naturally resist sinking money into declining enterprises, particularly when they are surprised by the decline. Surprises make people wary. And as for not being able to "find 350 people to donate $1,000": I'm sorry, that is simply an unrealistic expectation even in a wealthy community like Roseville. 350 people is a lot of people! Reality can be hard....
After nearly a month of trying to save Civic Theatre West, the defunct theater group fell short of its goal Wednesday.
The nonprofit organization, and formerly the second-largest community theater in California, needed to raise $350,000 by Dec. 15 to become financially solvent, but only ended up receiving about $57,000, said board of directors President Calvin Stevens.
...“When we started the pledge drive, I was naively optimistic,” Stevens said Thursday. “Now, I’m just exhausted. I feel empty.”
Although about 150 donors, including individuals, families and local businesses, contributed to the cause, much-needed big-ticket donors failed to manifest with large companies choosing not to open their checkbooks and the City of Roseville declining to help monetarily.
But Stevens said the high number of donors signaled to him that people wanted to save the theater company, but couldn’t afford to give large amounts of money.
...Pounds said he understands people are struggling to make ends meet in the current economic recession, but wishes more people would have stepped up to the plate.
“We’re probably the wealthiest community in the region,” he said. “It’s sad we couldn’t find 350 people to donate $1,000. If I had significant wealth, I would have funded the whole thing myself, I feel it’s so worthwhile.”
I have my own view about the problems at Civic Theatre West. It doesn't seem to me the Board of Directors wants to surrender their current operational structure, whereby certain people involved in the theater get paid. I can certainly understand their reluctance to fire everyone and start over with a different operational structure with fewer paid positions, but unfortunately that may be what they have to do to save the theater. In other words, the Board of Directors would prefer to commit suicide rather than get sufficiently-ruthless and do what they HAVE TO DO to save the theater. Even more than the debt, it's the payroll that's killing them.
The folks in Roseville can save Civic Theatre West if they want to - there is scarcely any wealthier community in all of California, and the audiences there are large and the acting community is vibrant. There is no more inviting climate anywhere else I know of. But there has to exist the WILL to do so!
Community theaters live within a web of community support that hums with numerous unspoken and unwritten pledges of trust and support. My worry is that Civic Theatre West chased away their supporters by surprising them with news of the theater's closure: supporters were scarcely aware that there was even a decline. People naturally resist sinking money into declining enterprises, particularly when they are surprised by the decline. Surprises make people wary. And as for not being able to "find 350 people to donate $1,000": I'm sorry, that is simply an unrealistic expectation even in a wealthy community like Roseville. 350 people is a lot of people! Reality can be hard....
Holiday Spending Debate
I like this map feature on the Granite Bay News. Today's hot question is:
Meanwhile, Granite Bay is currently undecided about today's hot question, with zero saying "More!" and zero saying "Less!"
Will you spend more or less on holiday shopping this year?Votes as of 12:07 PM, 12/17/10 show 1,158 saying "More!" (mostly in the northern Great Plains) and 3,507 saying "Less!" (just about everywhere else).
Meanwhile, Granite Bay is currently undecided about today's hot question, with zero saying "More!" and zero saying "Less!"
Trouble In Provo
Spiritual heart of the community:
Firefighters are battling a blaze at the historic Provo Tabernacle in Utah.
Fire Battalion Chief Gary Jolley tells the Daily Herald of Provo that crews have the fire, which broke out early Friday, contained but not controlled.
The fire collapsed the roof of the gabled landmark. Fire Marshal Lynn Schofield says there is serious structural damage to walls, peaks and gables of the building.
The history of the Mormon building dates to the 1880s. It was renovated in the 1980s.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, church spokesman Scott Trotter calls the fire tragic. He says the damage appears severe and that it's unclear whether the building can be saved.
Snowfall Totals For Recent Lake-Effect Event
Jerry sends this astonishing map!As he has mentioned, when winds are from the north, and you have the entire fetch of Lake Michigan from which winds can gather moisture, breath-taking totals are possible!
Kylie Minogue - Confide In Me (North America Tour : Aphrodite Deluxe DVD)
I recently purchased Kylie's "Aphrodite" CD/DVD, and her rendition of 'Confide In Me' here is an acting highlight. Every city had its own cityscape backdrop (I saw the Las Vegas and Oakland shows on the 2009 North American Tour, but the skytower in the backdrop identifies this clip as being from the Toronto show).
Thursday, December 16, 2010
A Plethora Of Pineapples!
Wow! This is going to be a wet week!
Two discrete storms will pass through California by Tuesday, but there is also a long, long train of moisture out there over the Pacific that will pass through afterwards, generating lots and lots of orographically-induced precipitation in the Sierra Nevada. And the moisture will come from tropical latitudes too, from just east of Hawaii.... Christmas might be clear, but the process could repeat before New Year's Eve....
In other words, in addition to two significant storms, we will also experience a classic Pineapple Express! Remember 1997? Here we go again! Time to gather the animals, two by two....
Two discrete storms will pass through California by Tuesday, but there is also a long, long train of moisture out there over the Pacific that will pass through afterwards, generating lots and lots of orographically-induced precipitation in the Sierra Nevada. And the moisture will come from tropical latitudes too, from just east of Hawaii.... Christmas might be clear, but the process could repeat before New Year's Eve....
In other words, in addition to two significant storms, we will also experience a classic Pineapple Express! Remember 1997? Here we go again! Time to gather the animals, two by two....
Joe The Plumber Agonistes
Joe is a Plumber, but I enlisted him (and co-worker) to construct my new front porch back in September (yes, the recession has ensnared Joe The Plumber too, and work is light for him these days).
Nevertheless, the porch has been retaining rainwater at the western end (Joe's feud with his co-worker just before starting work on the western end may have undermined porch-repair planning), so several weeks ago he made an effort to correct it. (The effort was not sufficient for success.)
So, today, with vast flooding rains right around the corner, I stayed home from work and we made a third, and last, and hopefully-successful effort to correct the porch's drainage deficiencies.
Work got off to a slow start (a little less yada-yada-yada would have helped, but whaddya gonna do? - I mean, it's Joe the Freakin' Plumber!), so, by nightfall, he was hurriedly rushing to finish the job. Joe the Plumber was under stress.
Joe had his black Labrador Retriever, Bella, beside him when he worked. Bella did not have a leash on. A lady was walking her two dogs past the house when Bella came bounding down the porch steps to greet the two dogs with a hearty canine hello. The lady over-reacted to the abrupt approach of Bella, and freaked....
A minute later, Joe called me from the back yard, where I was busy raking leaves. "She raised her hand to hit my dog! I told her 'don't hit my dog!' Then we started yelling at each other. She threatened to call the police. I gave her my cell phone and told her to go ahead and call the police: I have nothing to hide!"
I thought: "Uh, oh! Diplomacy is not Joe's strong suit." So I headed out front to see what was going on....
The irate lady on the sidewalk was holding Joe's cell phone. I identified myself as the property owner. The lady said "911 suggested I call Animal Control, and I'm on hold with them at the moment." Joe said: "MY dog did NOT threaten YOUR dogs!" The lady said: "The law REQUIRES you to have your dog on a leash!" I said, "everyone, please CALM DOWN!"
Joe said: "Lady, you're crazy; you need psychiatric help! You're going to be sorry!" The lady replied, "are you threatening me?" Joe repeated, "you're going to be sorry!" The lady repeated, "are you threatening me?"
I intervened, and said, "Joe, PLEASE, this doesn't help! Please! Both of you!" Then more calmly to the lady, I said, "it seems to me that there has been no harm here: the dogs didn't fight, and no one's been hurt."
Mollified that she had made her point regarding leash laws and that, true enough, there had been no harm to anyone (so far, anyway), the lady handed over Joe's phone and continued on with her walk.
Whew!
(If there ever was a romantic phase to this porch-repair project, it's definitely over now. Let it rain! I don't care anymore....)
Nevertheless, the porch has been retaining rainwater at the western end (Joe's feud with his co-worker just before starting work on the western end may have undermined porch-repair planning), so several weeks ago he made an effort to correct it. (The effort was not sufficient for success.)
So, today, with vast flooding rains right around the corner, I stayed home from work and we made a third, and last, and hopefully-successful effort to correct the porch's drainage deficiencies.
Work got off to a slow start (a little less yada-yada-yada would have helped, but whaddya gonna do? - I mean, it's Joe the Freakin' Plumber!), so, by nightfall, he was hurriedly rushing to finish the job. Joe the Plumber was under stress.
Joe had his black Labrador Retriever, Bella, beside him when he worked. Bella did not have a leash on. A lady was walking her two dogs past the house when Bella came bounding down the porch steps to greet the two dogs with a hearty canine hello. The lady over-reacted to the abrupt approach of Bella, and freaked....
A minute later, Joe called me from the back yard, where I was busy raking leaves. "She raised her hand to hit my dog! I told her 'don't hit my dog!' Then we started yelling at each other. She threatened to call the police. I gave her my cell phone and told her to go ahead and call the police: I have nothing to hide!"
I thought: "Uh, oh! Diplomacy is not Joe's strong suit." So I headed out front to see what was going on....
The irate lady on the sidewalk was holding Joe's cell phone. I identified myself as the property owner. The lady said "911 suggested I call Animal Control, and I'm on hold with them at the moment." Joe said: "MY dog did NOT threaten YOUR dogs!" The lady said: "The law REQUIRES you to have your dog on a leash!" I said, "everyone, please CALM DOWN!"
Joe said: "Lady, you're crazy; you need psychiatric help! You're going to be sorry!" The lady replied, "are you threatening me?" Joe repeated, "you're going to be sorry!" The lady repeated, "are you threatening me?"
I intervened, and said, "Joe, PLEASE, this doesn't help! Please! Both of you!" Then more calmly to the lady, I said, "it seems to me that there has been no harm here: the dogs didn't fight, and no one's been hurt."
Mollified that she had made her point regarding leash laws and that, true enough, there had been no harm to anyone (so far, anyway), the lady handed over Joe's phone and continued on with her walk.
Whew!
(If there ever was a romantic phase to this porch-repair project, it's definitely over now. Let it rain! I don't care anymore....)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
A Clean Getaway!
Wow! Crimes committed and the law closing in, Republicans have decided to blame a Patsy for the entire Mortgage Crisis!:
The Mortgage Crisis exposed how the Entire. Freakin'. Economy. was being run as a Ponzi scheme. Picture the role of RCRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac as being like Street Kids ushering the sappiest rubes of the neighborhood (Hispanics like myself) into a great, big meeting hall, where they would hear a Spellbinder (the Real Estate Industry) say things like "paying rent is like throwing your money down the toilet (with appropriate glug-glug sound effects), so why not buy-to-own?" The Spellbinder created mortgages from the saps' money and sent the mortgages to Wall Street. Wall Street, in turn, bundled the mortgages into investments that were then sold as safer than they really were to Clueless Investors, and made a killing. And truth be told, they'd like to do it again!
And now that blame is circling, looking for a place to land, instead of being pointed at Wall Street, or even the Spellbinder, Republicans are aiming the sole blame at the Street Kids. Now RCRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac weren't blameless, but they certainly don't carry a majority of the blame. Come on, they were the Street Kids! Patsies!
Most of the big-money action wasn't even with the banks, but with the mortgage companies, like Countrywide, who aren't even subject to RCRA! I mean, just how stupid do they think we are? And trying to ban use of the term "Wall Street"! Ban the term! As Orwell understood long ago, the words you are permitted to use govern the thoughts you are permitted to have. Talk about thought control! Truly Orwellian!
The four Republicans appointed to the commission investigating the root causes of the financial crisis plan to bypass the bipartisan panel and release their own report Wednesday, according to people familiar with the commission's work.First, it's important to note that the Mortgage Crisis was international in scope, affecting primarily coastal areas, in the U.S., the Meditteranean, South Africa, and Australia, among many diverse locations where the U.S. Government's reach is weak (but where Wall Street's reach is strong). Second, commercial real estate was affected just as bad, or sometimes worse, than residential real estate in the Mortgage Crisis. How could that be if RCRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac bore sole responsibility?
The Republicans, led by the commission's vice chairman, former congressman and chair of the House Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas, will likely focus their report on the explosive growth of subprime mortgages and the heavy role played by the federal government in pushing mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase and insure them. They'll also likely focus on the Community Reinvestment Act, a 1977 law that encourages banks to lend to underserved communities, these people said.
The Republicans' report is expected to conclude that government policy helped inflate the housing bubble and that prices weren't expected to crash because the government pushed homeownership so aggressively. They say that the report will note that once the bubble burst, a financial panic followed because firms weren't adequately prepared.
...During a private commission meeting last week, all four Republicans voted in favor of banning the phrases "Wall Street" and "shadow banking" and the words "interconnection" and "deregulation" from the panel's final report, according to a person familiar with the matter and confirmed by Brooksley E. Born, one of the six commissioners who voted against the proposal.
...The shadow banking system refers to the part of the financial system in which investors and other nonbanks like hedge funds and investment firms provide credit to borrowers, as opposed to more traditional banks. Interconnection refers to the links that bind financial institutions to one another, like derivatives, borrowings, and investments.
"I certainly felt, and I think the majority of the commission felt, that deleting those phrases would impair the commissioners' ability to give a full and fair and understandable report to the American people about the causes of the financial crisis," Born said.
"Certainly, it's hard to imagine Wall Street wasn't involved," she added.
...Experts agree that while Fannie and Freddie and the federal government's push to encourage homeownership played a significant role in causing the crisis, actions by Wall Street magnified the fallout and caused a crisis that led to the Great Recession. Economists from the Federal Reserve, as well as bank regulators first appointed by Republicans, agree that the Community Reinvestment Act played virtually no role in causing the financial crisis.
The Mortgage Crisis exposed how the Entire. Freakin'. Economy. was being run as a Ponzi scheme. Picture the role of RCRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac as being like Street Kids ushering the sappiest rubes of the neighborhood (Hispanics like myself) into a great, big meeting hall, where they would hear a Spellbinder (the Real Estate Industry) say things like "paying rent is like throwing your money down the toilet (with appropriate glug-glug sound effects), so why not buy-to-own?" The Spellbinder created mortgages from the saps' money and sent the mortgages to Wall Street. Wall Street, in turn, bundled the mortgages into investments that were then sold as safer than they really were to Clueless Investors, and made a killing. And truth be told, they'd like to do it again!
And now that blame is circling, looking for a place to land, instead of being pointed at Wall Street, or even the Spellbinder, Republicans are aiming the sole blame at the Street Kids. Now RCRA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac weren't blameless, but they certainly don't carry a majority of the blame. Come on, they were the Street Kids! Patsies!
Most of the big-money action wasn't even with the banks, but with the mortgage companies, like Countrywide, who aren't even subject to RCRA! I mean, just how stupid do they think we are? And trying to ban use of the term "Wall Street"! Ban the term! As Orwell understood long ago, the words you are permitted to use govern the thoughts you are permitted to have. Talk about thought control! Truly Orwellian!
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