What's that smell?

It was back in the early 70s that I noticed water spots on the glass of my trusty Dodge Dart I had just washed and waxed. Thought I had dried it well before waxing. Oh well I'll get out the alcohol and water and hit the windows again. But no these water spots don't want to go away. "Hey what's going on here", I asked my brother. "Acid rain" he said. This was back when the EPA was just coming into existance. Nobody thought much about air pollution back then because the mills and factories had cleaned up their act and you could actually see blue sky. Little did I know that even tiny amounts of sulfur from the coal plants and mills were mixing with water vapor to make acid rain. Any form of sulfur can do that. As for the co2 produced that's another story.
With that little background info under your belt I come upon Chinese drywall. Used extensively in the Gulf Coast area after Katrina people started noticing a rotten egg smell as the rainy weather started. After some investigation it was determined that the drywall contained fly ash which is the waste product from smoke stacks of the factories and mills in China. That is no great revelation we use gypsum made from fly ash in this country but it is made from the waste after it goes through the stacks scrubbers. And we know China's record on quality control from the toys and dogfood we've imported from them so you could just imagine the consistancy of their products, in this case, what was in the drywall and how much? Then there's the issue of exposures. You can take 10 people and 9 of them may have no effects while the tenth will become violently ill. Government agencies won't make a determination as to the hazards until they have studied the problem. Homeowners warranties won't cover the problem because they don't cover materials. That's a manufacturer liability issue. Good luck trying to sue the Chinese.
Now for the real kicker. If you try to get your insurance company to help in this matter they'll drop your coverage because you now have a possible liability to them. Once your home insurance is dropped the mortgage company will call your loan meaning you'll have to pay the balance of your mortgage. And try getting the builder to do something and they'll refer you the the Chinese manufacturer. The perfect Catch 22.

Chinese drywall

Beat me again

I can only assume that the majority of people in North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama either don't read newspapers or have no internet access. In the worst economic times since the great depression the senate today set out to get something done about unemployment that's about to run out for millions of Americans. The "No" party has held up this bill for over three weeks now with the threat of a filibuster. Today however senate democrats got a vote for cloture which simply puts an end to the "No" partys' nonsense. The vote was 87 to 13 meaning that the debate is over something that shouldn't have been in the first place. The 13 were of course from those you'd expect, our wonderful obstructionist "No" party. Sessions, Demint, and Grahm voted against. How can these people live with themselves? I'm certain that if you went boating with one of these guys and you fell overboard they'd throw you an anchor rather that have to perform CPR. But I really wonder about the people who put these guys in office. These are states that have some of the worst unemployment, the worst healthcare and refused federal funds to help their economies. Do the people of these states like getting beaten or what? Vote for me and I'll screw you over, steal your money and when you dead on the street I'll complain about your corpse cluttering up the sidewalk.


Photo by Robert Rouse

Then there's Joe LIEberman who's threatening to hold up healthcare reform. If the people of Conn. don't wise up and throw that bum out of office the next election cycle then the Dems should strip him of any power. Let him sit with the "Nos" and he can sink on their Titantic.

Collapse - the post Bush years

Like spitting in the ocean the problems we face are insurmountable or at least appear that way. Where to begin? What area wasn't touched by the Bush cabel the last eight years and turned to poop?

!. Banking - It's now easier to walk on water than it is to get a new mortgage even if your credit is A 1. Unless you already have a line of credit forget trying to tap into your home in the event of emergency. Comforting news should you need open heart surgery. In other credit news banks and credit unions have been jacking up their rates to near finance company levels. Sorry Christopher Dodd you were too late with your freeze on credit card interest rates.
2. Forclosures - Goes hand in hand with banking, continues but may or may not be slowing. I feel bad for those that live in Detroit where 9000 homes were put on the auction block yet the forclosure vultures didn't bite even with $500 minimum bid. Hey that guy on late night "Lazy man's way to wealth" told me I could make a killing in real estate right now. He forgot to mention that I'd need an AK47 and pitbull guard dog even to fix the place once I kicked out the squatters.
3. Wars - No immediate end in sight on those fronts (pardon the pun) as we continue to dump billions more cash and lost soldiers lives that we don't have. And there's Dracula Cheney wanting us to stay there 100 years or more. He must awaken to the smell of napalm. Just wonder how much he gets from his Haliburton retirement plan. Loves blood and guts as long as they're not his.
4 Jobs - What jobs? Worst employment numbers it 26 years. Senate is voting on an extension tomorrow. I'd gladly have a job rather than an extension any day yet I have no choice but to hope this passes because there is no alternative. This would make the 5th extension for those counting.
5. Wall Street - I laugh when I look at the figures. The Dow hits 10,000+ and all the financial talking heads say how rosey things are for them. It's all an illusion boys and girls. The market at one time was at over 14,000 before people woke up and realized that it was all an illusion. Like my home being worth 1/4 million ha ha ha yea right.
6. Health care - We have the best health care in the world. Yeah if you're a senator or congressmen. For the rest of us it's getting close to the worst. We rank 50th on the world scale and one person dies every 12 minutes for lack of insurance. Those with insurance are finding the rates going up and what they get going down, higher premiums and less coverage. And yet insurance companies say they aren't making enough profits while they're spending $1.4 million in lobbying efforts, per day!

I could go on and on and on but you get the idea.

Random things

The facination with Sarah Palin continues but at least now the left can capitalize on her notarity with a new book out. The Nation writers sure did a nice job of parity at least what I can see by the cover.

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Another seven banks bite the dust Friday. Here's a list in case you wanted to see if your's is on there.

First DuPage Bank Westmont IL 35038 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009
Riverview Community Bank Otsego MN 57525 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009
Bank of Elmwood Racine WI 18321 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009
Flagship National Bank Bradenton FL 35044 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009
Hillcrest Bank Florida Naples FL 58336 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009
American United Bank Lawrenceville GA 57794 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009
Partners Bank Naples FL 57959 October 23, 2009 October 23, 2009

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John McCain wants to slow up free speech by preventing net neutrality It's called the first ammendment John
This from a guy who admits to knowing nothing about the internet. Even one of the creators of the net is against this bill.
Time to snatch the remote from grandpa and have him retire.
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Time to get the hell out of Afghanistan
From a Canadian blogger Cathie: Contractors are paying the Taliban not to attack

Friday beaver as usual

What would Friday be without a beaver shot?

Twenty years or so down the road

Image a nursing home with white haired wrinkled skinned old folk sitting around the tube watching their Lawrence Welk, some in wheel chairs while others have their walkers and then fast forward to the future and there you sit white haired and wrinkled. What will you be watching? Will a Pink Floyd concert be blaring across the rec room? Makes you think doesn't it? Will you have to worry about having your Depends changed or will science have fixed that? Maybe you'll be able to stay up late enought to catch a Stones concert live. Mick strutting around the stage... in his wheel chair and Keith Richards being propped up with a body brace looking like a mummy.
Will our grandchildren have surpassed us in the quest to be irritating with the melodic tunes of circular saws, angle grinders and a pile driver bass beat? Or maybe they'll be able to synthisize the sound of a bunker buster bomb into something resembling music so harsh to the auditory nerves that just one concert would be the end of hearing as they once knew it. Or maybe as cycles go they'll go back to some ethereal stuff that we'll find as disgusting as Welk. A cross between disco, muzac and Barney songs that will make Disney on Ice sound like grunge by comparison. Ah the tortures of the younger generations.

Blog remodel

Just ran into Robert Rouse of Left of Centrist over at Jim's at Average American Patriot who reported that he's back to bloging at his new digs freeze dried gray matter Robert always has something interesting over there and I especially like his videos. If he gets much better he just might become the new Monty Python. With any luck one of the networks could pick him up. Go pop over and experience that new bloggy smell.

Too bad I didn't keep up on my film skills from college or I'd give him a hand.