The audacity of no hope

Wondering what the end is like. No, not the end of life. That's something left for another post. We start out with a bit of education thinking we can conquer the world only to be told that our lack of experience precludes us from the job. Somehow we manage to get that experience and then some along life's journey. But low somewhere along the way the years catch up and we become over experienced. Our usefulness has somehow been erased by a birthdate. Why hire a 50+ worker with 30 years experience when we could hire two 20 somethings at less than half the price or even better outsource the whole operation to China or India?
Like Charlie Brown we fell for it. Lucy held the football (hope) up there and didn't crack a smile. Hope for whom I must ask? Was this for our grandkids if our kids can even afford to get to that point?

Four and a half million people are quietly eating through their life's savings. They can't spend money of frivolous things like Chia pets and Clappers. It makes me wonder if it's better to have been born poor with no hope from the beginning or have to endure the slow loss of the current economy. It also makes me wonder if all of that Christmas spending by those who were working wasn't just some ruse. Come and get it because today it's 50, 60, 75% off our regular store price. It sure was great. All wrapped in a red bow under the tree and it was all mine to do with whatever I wanted. And it will usually land up somewhere in the back of the closet gathering dust until the summer garage sale. And yes the Charlie Browns fell for it one more time. They translated joy into pretty wrapped things. After all the retailers had to make room for the Presidents' Day Sales. And the process continues but will the consummate consumers have the funds to keep the game going? There's the 64.99 dollar question. They're not quite as dumb as they were the last time around. They kept the credit cards tucked into their wallets and used cash. You think maybe they're starting to catch on to the master and slave game going on here? Or should I say indentured servant?

Never before in this nations' history have we witnessed such greed as we see now. In the past we've had to spend to get out of hard economic times. There was the New Deal and WWII. That money was borrowed but it was also paid back by those at the top who had more than enough money to spare. So I just have to ask those at the top of this heap what are you going to do with all your loot? Seems you won this great game of Monopoly and came out with all the hotels and the railroads and the utilities. What are you going to do when nobody can afford these services? What are you going to do when profits keep shrinking? Oh that's right just sell the whole operation to some overseas investment company and walk away. But may I remind them that they are never satisfied with the bounty. Like a drug it's never enough. But may I also remind them that every bubble breaks. What will happen when they have nobody left to sell to? We saw that in the housing market and with the dot com bust.

As I've said once before it's all a matter of balance. Too much power or money or rain or snow makes the whole system out of balance. Maybe what this country needs is a corporate enema. It sure looks bloated to me.

End of an Error

Last of the combat troops coming home from Iraq. Good their mission was done years ago. We don't need to be in the nation building business. We need to rebuild this country. Bush used the country credit card and we get stuck with the bill. I say we send the bill to the Bush family and the republican party who let him get away with it.
Had a bunch of other ideas for a post when this came on as a news alert. They have a couple of weeks to go through all the paperwork and other military BS before they get back here. Wait till they get home and find out there are no jobs to fill. They'll wonder what the hell they were fighting for. I give it a couple of weeks and we'll see the effects of PTSD. No job no challenges and no future prospects.
I see the convience store up the street is giving up. It's been there since I moved here some 30 years ago. A new oil change place moved in nearby. I see them standing there throwing a football around because they have no customers just like the last place. I give them a few more months and they'll be gone.
I called the boss yesterday because he said there'd be work soon. He lied. He's laying everybody off because there's no work yet. So I looked through all the job search engines only to find stuff that I'm not qualified for like systems anaylist, electrical engineer or production supervisor with 5 years experience. Even looked through Craig's list. There's a lot of scams there. Wanted worker with own box truck and tools. If I had a box truck and tools why would I need them expecially when they were only going to pay minimum wage? I've seen too many scams like that over the years. I should have sold lemonade when the weather was hot.

More random things

Taxes
They want to put a state income tax in place on those making $200K or more. And the rate goes up on higher incomes. They expect to get over $11 billion in tax revenues. I've got a better idea. Let's find all those bank CEOs and take away about 2/3s of their investments like they did to our retirement plans. But seriously I know this won't pass because it has an increase in the bussiness and occupation tax (that's a % bussiness pays on sales). Plus as we all know when the tax man gets his foot in the door the $200K figure lands up going down while loopholes for the rich somehow make it into the tax codes.
The taxman

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A Flaming Radioactive Russian?
Vladimir Putin sure knows how to take advantage of a photo op. Today he was seen copiloting a plane putting out the fires in Russia. You'd never see a U.S. president doing that. There has been great concern that the fires have reached the area around Chernobyl creating radioactive smoke. When I first heard that I was alarmed until I did a little research. In a comparison of fallout from a nuclear bomb and the Chernobyl accident scientists have determined that there is very little in the way of radiation.
Here's a comparison of the radiation of a Hiroshima type A bomb compaired to Chernobyl accident.


This was from a study done by Russian, Japanese, and South Korean scientists. They've been studying this accident since it happened in 1986. (Note on the graph that it's just over 10 cSv. By comparison a chest xray is 50 cSv. At 300 cSv 50% exposed die. At 750 Csv death is certain). Let's just hope the fires don't burn up to and inside the containment dome of the plant.

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Superbugs
First there was MRSA then SARS, West Nile, and Swine Flu and now there's NDM (New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase) a wonderful drug resistant bacteria. Only a few cases have been found in the UK but this could spread with international travel. I've been waiting for the next Black Plague and this could be it. We'll see how this works out. I also think they're fighting all these bacteria the wrong way. Rather than using antibiotics they should be developing other bacteria to fight it. That's how our bodies work. We have over 1000 different types of bacteria living on and in our bodies. Some are good and fight off the badies while others are the badies. Now doesn't that just make you want to itch?

Left over mixed nuts

Gulf oil spill or do we call it a gusher?
There are numberous silly reports that the last ditch effort to contain this runaway well would be for the military to set off a nuke at the well head. That's not going to happen for several reasons. I may have mentioned the first a while back. When setting off a nuclear device underwater or underground like they did in the 1950s the force of the blast creates a bubble. In the underground tests the land rose up then slammed down so hard it created a creator. The sea floor in the well area is made of mud and sand. Setting off a device would cause the sea floor to glassify for about a few seconds then the force of the bubble would shatter that glass layer. End result would be that the shale below the mud and sand could fracture even more making the flow worse and possibly radio active. Remember there's a mile of water that would be slamming down on it. Each gallon weighing 8 pounds more or less.

Evacuation plan
And now the tin foil hat crowd thinks that there is a secret plan to move 50 million people from the gulf coast region and house them in detention camps in FEMA trailers in Missouri and elsewhere. Once again these nut jobs haven't done their homework. There is a plan that's been in the works for what to do in the event of another large hurricane like Katrina. Exactly what do you do with even a couple of million people or even a couple hundred thousand people for that matter when there is that much destruction? We saw what happened with Katrina. It could happen in other places as well with a flood or earthquake. I think that's why they call it "emergency management".

Gold what not to invest in
Seems everywhere you turn there an ad to buy gold. Gold that safe place to invest. Gold is going higher every day. Gold coins, gold bars, gold futures, gold jewlery, buy gold, sell your gold.
I say bunk!
I saw the exact same thing happen in the late 1970s and early 80s. Gold prior to that time was fixed at $35 an oz. It went as high as just under $900 an oz. And back then you couldn't own gold other than gold coins. Remember we went off the gold standard which backed our currency until it was discovered that Russia had a large stash and was about to flood the market. And of course our government wanted to make currency fluctuate enabling us to print money. That's a good and a bad story but I won't go into that now. Just like the housing bubble the gold prices have gone up and up but really. Stop for a moment and think. Is gold really worth what they say it is? In the 80s a two bedroom apartment in downtown Tokyo went for $2 million. That figure has since fallen to a more realistic level. We always think that our stuff is more valuable than it really is but the truth is it's only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it and if by some chance that gold rush fever takes hold then the price climbs creating the next bubble. Those unlucky enough not to notice get crushed when the sell off begins.
So like the kitty I think I'll just forgo the ride and keep my feet on the ground.

Sometimes the stories just write themselves.

Indian mystic claims not to eat or drink anything for 70 Years. If he's older than 70 then we know what he's full of.

'Zombie satellite' threatens other craft. I'll leave that one to the Randal of Graves. Sounds like it's right up his alley.

Michelle Obama has recomendations on childhood obesity. I've got a solution. Send all the obese kids over to Africa and bring their starving kids here for a while. Problem solved!

Earth near the tipping point. And it looks like we're giving her a big shove if you ask me.

Lastly there's the British elections, a comedian's dream. Why you might ask? Because the guy who may land up at 10 Downing Street is named Ed Balls. I leave you to write your own jokes on that one. There's just too many.

Later and keep your drums upright.

Another bag of nuts and bolts

The kitteh in the post below reminds me of a night we were having cheezburgers. Somebody left their plate on the coffee table and went to the bathroom. I got up to go to the kitchen for some condiments. On my return I peered down at the plate to see a burger sans the meat. Looking around I see kitteh sitting in the corner licking her chops. :-)

With steel blades flashing and costumes a glitter with more sequins than a Liberace outfit mens skating took to the ice. Is it me or is this getting down right creepy? Then there's the two man luge. Who the hell thought of that one? Only time I'd consider that is if someone were removing me severely injured from a battlefield. Can you say tres gay?

Barrack Obama may finally be growing a pair. Frustrated by the lack of progress in congress he may resort to executive orders. Good on him just wonder what took him so long. He's bent over backwards for the other side of the isle and when they got everything they wanted they still voted against all the bills.

A few random things

Not much to post the last few days. I did skip the Friday pussy as I had posted several during the week. More to come later. I also usually post the bank failures on Friday but I guess due to the holiday there were none.

Once again we are reactive on security measures of airport security. I knew this was a sham when they put armed national guard at the airport after 911. No way they were going to open fire in a crowded airport. It was all for show. The real issue is that there are 500,000 people on the watch list with 4000 on the no fly list. Then I'm sure there are those that are on no list who would do us harm. Interesting to note that the security people in other countries aren't doing the full body scans. The people won't put up with it. If the airlines go too far people will just not bother to fly.

A nephew of mine was just sent to Afghanistan. He's a pilot. I wonder if he'll have to go toe to toe with the Taliban air force? I guess the biggest fear there is getting to the airport. I hear the road is not too safe.

I like it. A lawyer says he may sue Bank of America. They jacked his rate to 28% and lowered his debt limit meaning fees and penalties. He wants a jury trial. His contention is that the bank got a loan from the taxpayers at 1% and now want to squeeze him with a usery rate. Sound familiar? Have you checked your rate lately?

My stuff and your s#@t

Rodger Green got me to thinking about all the stuff we collect. I know I have things in a closet or bin that I haven't even looked at in well over ten years and yet there it will remain until for some reason (usually remodeling) it will get moved or donated or thrown out. I truly believe that we throw out enough junk to start another country. Maybe that would be a good way to get out of Afghanistan. We'll empty out our closets and send them all of our junk. Since they have almost nothing now it would be a windfall for them. In doing so we could quickly Americanize them to our materialistic way of thinking. Imagine them walking around in Nikes carrying ipods. And this would be far cheaper than using drones and expensive military hardware.

I used to have enough room for my stuff until somebody put their s#@t in the way. Now it's a constant task to move or throw things out. The never ending battle against clutter. This is now a never ending battle. A war that can not be won. A quagmire worse than any guerilla war.
And now we come to that time of year when stuff is what it's all about. How much loot did you get from Santa? Maybe I'll just be bad this year. I could use the coal to keep warm.

Now for something different

What has dissapeared due to tech advances or changes? This inspired by an article about 50 changes due to the internet. I'll call them gone or almost gone.

Telegraph - gone
Rotary dial telephone - gone
Wired telephone - almost gone
CRT TV - almost gone
Passbook savings accounts - gone
Eight track tapes - gone (except the ones collecting mold in somebodys' basement)
Record stores - almost gone
Record players - almost gone (but making a brief come back as a retro thing) new ones connect to the computer
Video rental stores - almost gone
Lead paint - gone
Distributor cap - gone (except the blogger by that name)
Innertubes for tires - gone
Vent windows for cars - gone
Space Shuttle - almost gone
Pagers - gone

So see if you can add to the list and see how much of our not too distant past is gone or nearly gone.

The American nightmare ( a random rant )

It's all lies I tell you. The American dream of studying hard and working hard so that you can live in a big house in a nice neighborhood and have two cars in every garage. There's enough lies to go around. Something for everyone if you will. The migrant thinks the streets are lined with gold. That if he can just get here by some magical fate he'll be living in a middle class neighborhood in short order. He sees the minimum wage like a pot of gold making more in one hour than he did all day in his country. Then the reality sets in. He can't speak the language and must rely on friends for work. He's the last hired and the first fired and always gets the worst jobs the company has to offer.
Then there's the teens who with optimistic eyes head into the workforce thinking that they'll step into a top spot and be making six figures before they're 25. They get an offer of $14 an hour and think they've made the big time until the first check comes with all the deductions. Suddenly that Xbox will have to wait and forget that new car he'd been drooling over since freshmen year.
Then there's those who have been in the workforce for some years and are beginning to realize that those at the top of the ladder have cut the rungs below their high positions. They now know that they may make a sideways move or worse move down on the ladder but getting to a higher position is out of the question. Those at the top know that as long as they play by the groups rules and not step on toes that even if they fail their brothers the good ole boys that they are will pick them up, dust them off and get them going again.
And with the current economic correction was it starting to get too crowded up there at the top? Can't have an abundance of rich people you know that would just water down the value of old money. Nothing worse than the newly rich moving into the neighborhood. They have such gawdy tastes you know. Not to forget to get the word out that change is bad. It will kill your grandmother and your children (but the real issue is that it will kill the corporate bottom line and limit bonuses).
So you work all your life and your body's starting to give out and you think you've saved enough to at least afford a studio apartment and not have to live off of cat food, but no matter what you've socked away there's that nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you didn't save enough. The thought comes to mind that what if an emergency comes up and takes even a third of your nest egg. You might think of some type of insurance but can you afford those monthly costs and would the insurance company really pay out or find some loophole in the fine print? And you're still at the mercy of the economy where costs go up while your income is fixed. And the retiree lay dead in the living room wrapped in a carpet with frozen burst pipes, the electricity shut off for non payment but the bank account was full of cash.
Maybe if I'm lucky I'll just develop alzheimers and forget all of this. Do I hear the alarm clock? Is it time to go to work? That's right there is no work...back to sleep.
Ah yes this is the American Dream... er nightmare.

Topless protest

As the news is rather depressing today thought I'd switch gears and post something on the lighter side. Hey and don't shoot the messenger here. I only report on what somebody else is doing.

Far be it from me to prevent a woman from her rights and getting in the way of this protest.

A quick disclaimer though: The woman in this photo is wearing pasties so she's not really bare on top.














Wonder if this will now put my blog in the R rated category?

Sarah Palin doesn't understand cap and trade?

(The other title for this post should be "Mixed nuts".)

Why of course she does. That's were you put on your cap and trade fish. You can trade salmon for halibit don't you know.

What Sarah fails to realize with cap and trade is that it makes it more difficult and expensive for a company to pollute. By putting a tax on polluters and using that money to reduce pollution it forces the polluters to either clean up their act or get out of business. It should create quite a few jobs in renewable energy and pollution reduction fields. But why bother to try and explain that to a woman with deep ties to the oil and gas industry who's only answers are "cut taxes and drill baby drill!"

Steny Hoyer wants to extend unemployment benefits. Here's a novel idea Steny how about using that money to actually create jobs rather than have us sit here on our butts calling companies that don't have work or are going out of business? Nah, that'd make too much sense couldn't do that.

New condo projects cutting prices - Gee didn't we see the same thing happen in south Florida? People bought into the overpriced dream only to watch as prices fell and they became upside down in their mortgages. The market collapsed and developers did as well. Who could afford a $900K condo anyway? And that's after the price cut! Note to developers: prices are still going down here and financing is nearly impossible to get.

Here's the latest batch of candidates for the upper management position. They're the only ones who could afford one of those condos anyway.


Somebody said Boeing was hiring. Psyche!

Hole in US plane forces landing - Let me think. The airlines are running about halfway through their life cycle on aircraft so this is an unusual event. Planes run for about 20 years on cycles of compression and decompression. After a certain point they start to show metal fatigue and must be retired. But even with such events they're still pretty safe. Remember the Hawiian air flight of some years back that had a good part of the body ripped off and still landed safely.

Here's a shot of a Quantas aircraft that made a safe landing. A rare event for Quantas.

Update:Here's a new level of wierd. Cybugs - Cyborg insects used to spy and detect explosives. Nothing worse than a pesky spy moth in the bedroom when you're feeling romantic. Leave it to the military to come up with: Cyborbugs

Bits and pieces

Looks like Rupert Murdock is in a bit of hot water. One of his "news" guys was caught tapping cell phones of politicans and celebs. The Brits unlike the U.S. seem to take their privacy a bit more serious and don't put up with this nonsense.
Snoopers

CIA gets caught lying. Can't say exactly what this is all about but I can make a pretty good guess. This came out suposedly in May of 2001 even before 911. My guess is that the Shrub in chief or his minions gave them the power to spy on U.S. citizens with no oversight. This is only a guess but it would make sense as it wasn't about torture or renderings as 911 happened in Sept and the Unpatriot Act wasn't even a thought at that time.

Climate change - If the republicans had their way we'd be riding around in horse drawn carriages and they'd be selling buggy whips and hay. Their money comes from coal gas and oil as we all know.

S.A.L.T. talks - Seems the initial target for limiting nukes to 1500 is a good start except that's enough to blow the earth up nine times over. The detonation of just 24 of today's weapons would eliminate life on earth as we know it.

Warren Buffet says we need a second stimilus bill. Well Duh! Considering our infractructure is falling apart, healthcare, auto cos., airline cos, and who knows what else. $787billion is a spit in the bucket.

300 remains found at cemetary in Ill. workers charged. Greed plain and simple. How they kept someone from visiting grandma and not having them notice that her headstone was moved is baffeling and beyond me.

Mixed bag

Not a whole lot going on around casa Demeur right now. Planted my veggies the other day and the radishes are starting to come up and if all goes well the others should start peeking through the soil in the next few days. I'm going to bet that we'll have a cool summer as I love good tomatoes and they take hot sunny weather. Here's a little trick that I learned some years back on a first attempt. This is for all you northwest gardeners. Don't plant your seeds as deep as the package recommends. With our lack of sun they don't germinate as fast as other parts of the country.

Jobless rate skewed by temp work - Well Duh! Not only that but the bean counters don't count people who have run out of unemployment. What do the workers all of a sudden become non people? They (there's that word again) say the unemployment rate is at 9.7%. Got news for them it's more like 13% or better right now and we're still loosing over 1/2 million jobs each month. Just got an increase in my unemployment a whopping $25. Yea like I'm going right out and blow that at the nearest Wal Mart. Nope that will be tucked away in savings for when the unemployment runs out completly.
And temp work? There's not even day laborer work to be had. I hear Mexicans who used to hang out at Home Depot are going home. Didn't see any when I went for seeds and potting mix.

Education - We went from Head Start to No Child Left Behind. The problem as I see it is that the educational system is still based on an 18th century agricultural economy. With factory farms kids don't need to be wasting three months of the summer goofing off on the premise that they need to work on the farm to bring in the crops. It's become so mechanized that even in the last ten years it takes about 1/2 the people to do hand picking. And on the family farms that are left a columbine can do in a few hours what used to take days. There in lies a big problem. What to do with a population of skilled and semi skilled workers. We're becoming so efficient that fewer and fewer workers are needed to produce and service our needs. I remember in my own profession a big job would involve thirty or forty guys. Now that number is down to fifteen or twenty. So I'm thinking where will the jobs be now and in the near future? Many of the "green" jobs don't require a lot of workers. Solar panels do require a great deal of labor to build but I'm sure someone will automate the process cutting the number of workers needed.

David Carradine is dead - I liked the characters David played over the years. Most of them were calm calculated types. My first thought was that he had chosen his own demise in some type of ritualistic thought. I guess it could have been worse. He could have been found with an inflatable a jar of mayo and a sheep dog. But that would be going too far and disrespectful.

Health care - Our health care system is about to collapse. Yep you heard it here first. How so you ask? 600K people are out of work each month. That rate has been going on for some months now and is expected to continue. Assuming that 80% of those workers had some healthcare plan that's nearly 1/2 million people without health insurance which usually runs out 60 days after a layoff. In six months that would be 3 million people. That would be an addition to the already 50 million people without insurance right now. At some point the number without insurance comes close to over half of the working population of the U.S. With no alternative insurance companies will be forced to raise premiums causing employers to drop coverage or raise co-pays and premiums on workers. My guess is that they'll drop it all together both employers and workers. This will put a major strain on hospitals as the out of work seek emergency room medical.
I'd say that in six months or less we'll see a situation much like Wall Street and the banks experienced last October. Much like overleveraging sucked the life blood out of banks the lack of insurance money will suck the life out of our medical system. Remember you heard it here first.

Pardom my French

But ahhh shit. I just heard yesterday that the Brightwater project will be down for months. For those of you not from around here it's a large sewage treatment plant being built here with a tunnel (17 feet in diameter) discharge pipe 300+ feet below ground that goes from Woodinville, Wa out a mile into the Puget Sound. That's about six or seven miles. They've been working on it for a while now. The bore head has some type of damage so they had to shut down. I have a little understanding of boring having done core drills in various buildings here. There's only a few things that can go wrong in the process. Either the drill bit goes dull and you have to change it or the clutch gets screwed up and needs repaired or there's a power problem. Most of these problems in doing core drills can be fixed in less than a day. In doing a boring operation it's a different story. It probably took them a couple of weeks to set up the machine and now that it's in place it will take even longer to dismantle and have remanufactured. Even with doing simple core drills it takes 2/3 of the time just to do set up.
So how does this effect me directly? I do haz mat work, but I also happen to be in the same union as these tunnel rats and now 60 of them are out of work. Usually by this time of year the union hall is nearly empty of workers. All out on jobs. Not this year. There's been three to four hundred of us on the bench waiting for any scrap of work to come up. In fact in the last four weeks only five guys were called out on some short clean up jobs. Now there's 60 more on the list. But you would think that they would go to the back of the line which is usually the case. It doesn't always work that way. It also goes by certifications as well. If you have what an employer needs you get to go to the head of the line. It's happened to me a couple of times but not this year or last.
I've looked through every job board on the internet. The only things out there would take another four year degree and a half dozen years experience. Most of what's left are RN / LPNs, homecare worker, newspaper subscription sales, or table dancer. If I even considered healthcare I'd be like Dr. House. Sorry lady you're going to die get over it. Homecare worker? Nope, I have enough taking care of what I have. Subscriptions? Nope get my news from the internet thank you very much as does everyone else. Yep buy a subscription and get a free buggy whip or pet rock.
Table dancer? Nope too boney to give lap dances and besides I lost my rythm years ago.
So I keep thinking. What do people need? Food, clothing, and entertainment seem to top the list. Food? Costco has that one covered. Where else can you buy a years supply of popcorn for such a cheap price? Clothing? Nope the holes in the back of the underwear haven't joined yet to make for easy mooning. Sell the clothes in my closet? Nope they wouldn't even make good car wash rags. Entertainment? Sell dirty pictures of myself on the internet as rodent repellent. Use one of these in the basment and rats are sure to leave. Counting cars in the neighborhood to see who's been laid off lately. Or watching my car grow moss from having sat so long. Can't make any money doing that.
I can only hope that some day I'll be able to look back on this as some silly memory.

Am I missing something here?

GM tries to make a deal with the bondholders but the bondholders turn it down. Maybe I'm not following or understanding the bankruptcy laws. If GM goes to bankruptcy won't the bondholders be stuck with worthless paper? They were after all offered a 10% stake in the company which sounds far better than walking away with nothing. The workers were offered a 17.5% stake which they took. If you ask me the worker should have gotten a bigger piece because nothing turns a company around faster than workers who have a vested interest in making a profit for the company.
For GM to cut it's dealer base made no sense to me. The dealers were indepentant of GM so why would GM care? If a dealer wasn't doing well he'd go out of business anyway.
And what ever happened to Lee Iacoca the great savior of Chrysler?

Random news

Update:
A GOP jet fighter was seen over Wasilla just moments before Sarah Palin's church caught fire. The whereabouts of John McCain could not be determined over the last week and he has only said in a recent comment that he would not support Palin in her presidential run.


The egg on face award
goes to Felix Batista an American kidnapping expert who while in Mexico to give talks on kidnap prevention was himself kidnapped.

Bernie Madoff has made off with a large amount of money $50 billion from investors in a very large Ponzi scheme. Hmm does Ken Lay ring in your mind? You remember Enron. Madoff looks like Lay on steroids. Was the fox guarding the hen house on this one or is this just the good ole boy network?

How about a Bill Engval "sign" for this guy
An Anacortes auto dealer has hired back one of two employees who was convicted of embezzling $1.2 million from the dealership.

The owner of Frontier Ford, Ron Rennebohm, says Kevin Dean was good at his job as general manager and rehiring him is just a business decision.

The owner says the dealership has changed accounting practices since 2002 when Dean and the comptroller were accused of stealing from the company over a period of six years.

Ah Ron can I have you go and clean out the lions cage? They haven't biten anyone this week, honest.


More items later when I get the chance

Almost back to normal

After all the overload of politics and bad economic news of late Britney is back in the news. I'm guessing getting into trouble because I don't read that nonsense. Makes you wonder how her kids will land up but then again I really don't care.

Obama plans to put all of his speeches on the internet. I'm sure he won't get as many hits as the kitty diving into the box but I think it's good thing in terms of access now if we could just make it interactive democracy would take on new meaning. Speaking of the virtual world that's getting weirder by the day:

For those who can't handle First Life: A London woman has filed for divorce because she caught her husband's online "Second Life" avatar -- a computer-generated character -- cavorting on a sofa with another, sexier avatar. He's getting off easy. Word is his estranged wife has found a new love in the cyber- universe of "World of Warcraft," a Death Knight with a low opinion of cheating husbands.
I have an idea where this is all going in the future. With the right brain implants entire lives might be lived in some virtual world. I think that that would be just another step toward the extinction of the human race. Any more I think we're becoming virtual people. Our interactions are becoming a sum of text messages, ims, emails and posts. Our kids are overweight and have arteries of adults in their forties. I used to be a photographer many years back. Now you'd think I would have tons of photos of all the places I've been but after 8 or 9 hours of looking through a viewfinder I wanted to experience life first hand. It's a different experience that's for sure. This is what I was trying to get to in an earlier post about information and how we process it. You can read an article or post or even see a video but it's not the same as being in the same room. We miss the body language and subtle aspects that make up a person's personality. And people are never themselves when they know they are being filmed.

This will become commonplace shortly

A father drops off his nine children at a hospital in Omaha. I have a feeling he had no other choice. I know what you're thinking he shouldn't have had nine children to start with but things like that happen. Maybe he had a thriving business until everything went to hell we don't know. There are at present almost no safety nets in place for families hitting hard times. Here in the northwest there's a six month waiting list for housing and the food banks here are nearly empty. One women's shelter almost closed last week and the rest are running short of food and funds.

Sad for Dad

The more I look at the current economic situation the more I think it may be worse than 1929 and the 30s.

Okay I've been tagged - god I hate these things

1. Where was I ten years ago?
Crawling through tunnels at Boeing cleaning up chemical spills.
2. What was on my To Do list today?
Threw it out. I had company.
3. What would I do if I were a billionaire?
How many billion? I've got big plans and a couple of billion wouldn't do it.
4. Five places I've lived:
Like the guy who tagged me I've lived all over the U.S. Used to be a traveling photographer.
5. Bad habits:
Smoke. I don't drink or do drugs. But if you do that's your business.

Thanks Mrmacrum I'll remember you when I come across one of these meme things.