Wednesday snark

I now have evidence that Famous Ray's does not serve feet. No chicken feet, pigs feet or any other manner of feet are served. I did however discover what Ray's does with the discarded feet. The question remains just how does Ray get the feet to this location for disposal?
A man's right foot found on Gabriola Island in August 2007 remains unidentified.
Two feet found on Valdez and Westham islands in July 2008 belonged to the same man.
And two female feet found in Richmond, B.C., in December 2008 belonged to the same woman.


There's a new Matt Damon movie coming out shortly that I'd like to see. It's about a mysterious virus that spreads rapidly and mutates with no cure. As I have some personal training in that area I'll be interested in picking the movie apart much like the movie Outbreak with Dustin Huffman which took poetic license with the subject.

Exxon is going to climb in bed with Russia over drilling in the arctic. Can you say plausible deny ability? I thought you could. It's bad enough to deal with a gusher a mile deep in the ocean but at sub zero temps solid steel can break very easily. This once again will be bad for the arctic and environment and good for their bottom lines.

That all for Wednesday snark
Be careful out there (people on cell phones behind the wheel and all)

Meant to post this earlier but blogger screwed up and erased most of it.

Disaster preparedness

This is going to open up a can of (and I don't mean corn).
Most of the problems faced in a disaster aren't from the event itself but from the aftermath. Dealing with the clean up, insurance people and contractors is probably more stressful than any huricane. And many of the injuries aren't from the event itself but from a temporary lack of common sense. In Haz Mat every year they show us videos of people getting injured or killed. Nearly all of the fatalities are the result of stupid mistakes made by well intended people.
The very first thing I learned is never rush into a situation without first stopping to analyze the problems. With a bit of pride I can say that I've never been seriously injured on the job from any workplace danger or at home either.
The problem arises from the media who must hype an event for ratings. One can assume the worst from them but you should never loose common sense in the process. Looking at Irene as it moved up the coast made me realize that it was going to peter out by the time it hit NY. Even the meteorologists said as much if you were paying attention. But everybody just loves a disaster.

In cruising the grocery aisles the other day I came upon some survival food. Five dollars for a 4 oz. dinner with a shelf life of five years. In thinking about that I stopped to consider that with all the preservatives in it they wouldn't have to embalm when I died. That's a bit pricey for nearly starving to death.

I have at least two neighbors who bought generators (just in case) that have sat collecting dust for the last 20 years. I wonder if they even work at all having sat so long.

So where you might ask am I in all this? I don't take disasters lightly but I never assume the worst until it happens. I've lived through some tough times but never with the fear that problems can't be overcome. I suspect that should we get a massive earthquake here which has a high degree of probability I'll be called upon to assist in any clean up which I'll gladly do. It's just that I won't be overly fearful and retain a years' supply of food with a bunker mentality. You'd be amazed at how resourceful you can be with very little.

As for loosing my possessions in such an event, other that some ID, important papers, and old photos the rest of it can be replaced. Not a bad idea to clear out 30 years of collected stuff most of which is nearly worn out anyway.

DO NOT panic (okay so everybody panics)

I'm really starting to think that we're reaching a new level of stupid. The masses have been dumbed down from too many years of non thinkery (as Randal would call it). When danger rears it's ugly head the rubes are unable to hear those two magical words that just might extend their life cycle a few more years. Do Not means just that but somehow the understanding of those words has been bred out of the species. Like children hearing the phrase it means just the opposite. Do not touch means touch. But for adults it may be that an overexposure to warnings has resulted in their becoming meaningless. Much like the repetition of any word or phrase results in the mind creating a blank at it's repetition.
Warning labels - The paper industry must take delight in the latest requirements. A simple bottle of aspirin now seems to demand more precautions than a space launch. Soon the packaging will far outweigh the product or require instructions of Britannic proportions. And at that rate then, hell I'll just wait till the headache goes away on it's own. Then there's the other drugs who's side effects far outweigh even the smallest of benefits.
Warning announcements - Weather warnings are given on a daily basis around the globe. For the most part nothing serious happens and these events never make headline news. But it seems everybody loves a disaster. Especially those that think it will never happen to them. They are the idiots who think nothing of trying to ride a bicycle off a roof and wonder why they've broken both legs and an arm as their reward. But I guess in their minds it makes for good Youtube.
Then there's the poor schmuck who's assignment desk has sent him out to cover the "Big Storm". Nothing worse than having to load up and drive to the beach to get buffeted by high winds and soaked by torrential rains. And if you've seen one news guy knocked over by the wind you've seen them all.
Have I become jaded by these events? Maybe so because the focus is on the fear and the anticipation of disaster and not the real human events. Never or rarely do we see what became of the little old lady who's house was leveled. Or how she was going to make it financially. No, for the news it's on to the next (fill in the next devastating event here). I think we've developed too high a tolerance for destruction and mayhem. We've bought into the myth that the news must be spectacular and entertaining. Isn't that what the Romans did just before their downfall?

It's Friday Beaver time already

Time just flies when you're having so much fun (snark!). Once again the week flew by. Have I mentioned that most of us working stiffs are now doing the work of three people because the cheap bastards at the top are too cheap to hire additional help? And then of course we have the beavers who need no motivation. They're naturally good workers because it's in their very nature. For them it's either do or die. And as an added benefit they have no boss barking orders and demanding deadlines. Lucky beavers.

Bank fails later.

How about that no bank fails this week. Wonder if FDIC was on vacation.

Stupid News

It's the news you can't use that's meant to divert your attention from the real news.

Here's a sampling of yesterday's news curtosy of Yahoo news ( and I thought you were better than that).

Heart attack kills Philly cheesesteak stand owner
(That'll teach you what cholesterol is all about bud)

Girls Gone Wild creator charged with assault
(self explanatory)

Earthquake gives Rochester a mild nudge
(Yeah I think that's what earthquakes do)

Biz Kids to sell Own Fruit Products at
( You have a manufacturers license for that kids?)

And my very own addition that I see on nearly a daily basis

The dress that (fill in actress name here) wore to last nights' (fill in event)
(Like who cares unless it was your dress design getting panned)

THE RATH OF GOD (or whatever thingy in the sky is wrecking havoc on red states)

Coincidence or is this a metaphysical plan to thin the heard of the Palin set?

Humm? Earthquake in Virginia - check
Drought in Texas (longest in decades and predicted to last into next year) - check
Dust storms in Arizona - check
Tornadoes in Alabama (On April 27, 2011, the state of Alabama suffered one of the deadliest and most devastating tornado outbreaks in history. By the end of the day, more than 60 tornadoes had struck Alabama, killing more than 240 people, injuring thousands, and destroying tens of thousands of homes.) - check
Then there was the floods which went through ND SD Neb. and Kansas - check

Anybody see a pattern here?

I'll give you a clue. If you're red you might soon be dead from the fiery hand from above.

We'll pray for rain says the Gov. How'd that work out for you when the guys in the know (real scientists) said this will last well into next year? "We'd need hurricane rains just to get back to normal" says one farmer. Sorry Mr. Brown the storm you want is headed to do damage to NC another red state.

And let us not forget that you just "hate" those checks from the federal government when you're on your knees begging for help.

Repent boys before it's too late and a plague of locusts or frogs hits. The reservoir has already turned to blood.

How banks are at it again. They'll get the elevator and we get the shaft

Trying to unravel the onion of the recession and the banking crisis. It is at best difficult to peel back the layers on this beast. But I'm beginning to see what happened and is happening. Banks although appearing to have boatloads of profits aren't in as good a shape as they might appear. Yes we did bail them out even though some refused the money. The biggest faux pas made which was the start of the great economic melt down was when banks were permitted to meld with investment houses. That's like trying to mix oil and water. They were split up way back in the last century for a reason. Because that system didn't work. Modern doesn't mean better when it's an idea from a failed past.
So in digging through the bank fails I did a bit more research as to what exactly happens when a bank fails. We've all seen the images of the closed sign on the doors while the folks from the FDIC march in and start going through the books. And we know that the FDIC already had the next big bank all lined up so that it would be business as usual with a different name on Monday morning. But what of the assets and what of the debts? Ah, here's the part that's not mentioned. In looking into some of the agreements Big Bank agrees to take over the assets of little community bank with an exception. At the end of the agreement is that little phrase "with the exception of some brokered assets". And I think you can guess what those assets are. That would be all the crap loans neatly packaged as CDs and sold to millions. They were sliced and diced to the point that nobody knew what they were invested in but it's pretty obvious that these were all the sub prime and lesser tier mortgages.
Exactly what is going on here one might ask? Simply put the big banks are willing to take all of a failed banks' good assets and dump the bad on the taxpayer (in this case the FDIC which is really us). That is why you see more home for sale signs with HUD on them. But then there's a few more problems in all this. What to do with an asset when there's no set market value. We know that values have gone down because they were inflated to begin with but in a bad economy exactly how do you set a current value?
The only way I can see to set a realistic value would be to take the price of the home when it was first sold and factor in inflation. That is assuming it was not first sold at the height of the housing bubble.

We are now at a turning point in our economic and mortgage crisis. Two things are about to happen or are in process as I writ this. The Alt-A loans those less than prime loans are about to peak. The insurance companies that backed these worthless loans are in the process of suing the big banks that created the mess in the first place. Investors who were told this paper was solid gold want their money back as well. You see a perfect storm brewing here? An Alt-A loan for those that don't know is:An Alt-A mortgage, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of U.S. mortgage that, for various reasons, is considered riskier than A-paper, or "prime", and less risky than "subprime," the riskiest category. These were the bulk of the garbage loans that you saw advertised on TV. You know "no income verification", "borrow 125% of the homes value",etc. And most people who got these loans were doing so to buy investment property. They're the ones most likely to walk away when inside down in that mortgage.

So from looking at the charts and graphs the storm should hit any time now. I'd say between now and November would be my guess. And you just know congress will be sitting on their thumbs watching the shit storm in progress with no clue as to what to do. The past legislation that was meant to stem this tide will do little to help as bankers have been fighting tooth and nail against the changes (see Dodd Frank bill).

It's sometimes hard

It's difficult to tie a beaver image to the days' news. Beavers aren't into politics. They don't carry weapons. They don't have to worry about work or traffic. They don't need cell phones or cars or computers. Hey I'm a bit envious of these little critters. But even still they have one problem most creature in the wild face today and always - man. Can't get a good dam built without some government engineer wanting to wreck the log structure you just built. All because you blocked off the creek getting ready for winter. And with that in mind:

Dear Mr. Price,

Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20;
Montcalm County

Reference your certified letter dated 12/17/2000 has been referred to me
to respond to. First of all, Mr. Ryan De Vries is not the legal
landowner and/or contractor at 2088 Dagget, Pierson, Michigan.

I am the legal owner and a couple of beavers are in the (State
unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood "debris"
dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond.

While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I
think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of
natural building materials "debris." I would like to challenge your
department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any
place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could
ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam
ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their
dam work ethic.

As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must
first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam
activity. My first dam question to you is:
(1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers? or,
(2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said
dam request?

If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through
the Freedom of Information Act I request completed copies of all those
other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. Perhaps we
will see if there really is a dam violation of P! art 301, Inland Lakes
and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act,
Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.3010,1 to
324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws, annotated. I have several
concerns. My first concern is aren't the beavers entitled to legal
representation?

The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay
for said representation - so the State will have to provide them with a
lawyer.

The Department's dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed
during a recent rain event causing flooding is proof that this is a
natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In
other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than
harrass them and call their dam names. If you want the stream "restored"
to a dam free-flow condition - please contact the beavers - but if you
are going to arrest them they obviously did not pay any attention to
your dam letter (being unable to read English).

In my humble ! opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build
their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green
and water flows downstream. They have more dam right than I do to live
and enjoy Spring Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the
natural resources
(Beavers) and the environment (Beavers' Dams).

So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be
referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until
1/31/2002 The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice then, and
there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them
then.

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention a real
environmental quality (health) problem in the area. It is the bears.
Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you
should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone.

If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your step! (The
bears are not careful where they dump!)

Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to
contact you on your answering machine, I am sending this response to
your office via another government organization - the USPS. Maybe,
someday, it will get there.

Sincerely,
Stephen L. Tvedten
The University of Texas at: Austin
Office Community Relations/Accounting unit
P.O. Box 7367
Austin, TX 78713

And as usual bank fails later.

Update: Three more banks hit the skids. One each in FL, GA, and IL

I ran out of time so please give me your money

Are you a sucker who’d pay $25 to send email to political leaders? This lawmaker hopes so. Rep. (republican rat) Sal Esquivel runs a company that for just $25 you can send him an email. Seems the state rep forgot who pays his wages. Let's all send him a freebie and we won't leave 25 bucks on the dresser either.

Sock it to a state rep

And to avoid having to deal with the unwashed masses in Wisconsin, Paul (I'm cheaper than Esquivel) Ryan is charging just $15.

So with all this charging I'm hatching my own plot. Anyone wanting my opinion by phone mail or in person must first grease my palm with fifty bucks (hey my time ain't cheap either). I don't waste the taxpayers time or money. I really do something for a living.

Too funny for words

(Note: No animals were harmed in the making of this post)

A billionaire wants to create a floating nation devoid of laws. Yep, parked somewhere out in the ocean there'd be no minimum wage, loose morals, loose building codes,and few restrictions on weapons. Oh boy is that going to work out just great. Lem see. You have servants making starvation wages with no limits on weapons. You're going to build the thing out of cheap materials with little thought to minor safety details like fire suppression and architectural integrity.

Hey somebody get the script written for this one because Mad Max at Thunderdome will look like a picnic compared to this place. Can somebody please resurrect Caligula as their leader?

I say we demand that all republicans must leave the country at once for one of these floating petri dishes. And we all know what tends to grow in a petri dish.


Looney tunes

Submissive?

Don't try a Google image search for this word without safe search set to strict especially at the office.

So now the clown circus rolls on with the first stop in Iowa. My my how the bat shit crazies carry on. Just can't wait for the earfuls they'll get as they fumble about this land trying to find other crazies to cheer lead for their self serving cause. All hail the great wealthy elite and don't forget to make out those maximum donation checks to the (fill in the wing nuts' name) campaign because we just don't have enough from the Kokehead bros.
And I must wonder if 'Chellie doesn't slip into a skin tight black leather suit complete with whip and strap on to keep hubby in line because you just know republicans do it backwards. Ah, if only I had the photoshop skills of a Distributorcap or Darkblack? But alas I'll leave the graphic images to your imagination where their best kept.

Submissive? Let me see. I do believe it means: characteristic of a slave or servant. Gee doesn't that just make you delighted ladies? Here's a gal you can get behind if you're into bdsm I guess. Can we get a federal subsidy for gag balls and leather suits? Oops I forgot no more govment give aways unless you run a farm and don't really need the money. Oh and hubbys' medical practice with all that medicare money he shouldn't be taking.

But the last morsel of hypocrisy for her is to say how evil the government is while being part of the government. Humm, doesn't that make you evil?

Friday beaver image later

Okay here's the friday beaver shot I promised. No not mine I have no beaver I'm a guy.


One mans' treasure is another mans' trash.
At present Obama can do no right. It matters not what he does he's wrong in the eyes of the opposition. But for him I hold a growing distain that he's caved on almost every issue. He's acting like the corporatist that he is all the while trying to sell America that he's different than those across the aisle. We have a budget if you can call it that that does nothing to address the nations' issues all in an effort to appease Wall Street and the monied pockets that run these campaigns. Few if any rely solely on the donations of the masses and are now content to climb in bed with their now corporate masters. Let's get one thing straight, corporations are not people and are in existence for one reason and one reason only and that is to make a profit for their shareholders. They no longer have an interest in anyone else other than owners. Not their workers nor the American people. A vision so short sighted it will truly be the downfall of this nation. Why invest in research and development when there is no incentive to do so? Why bother to train workers when some other company can make a buck doing the job.
This is scary ground we're entering when any public service can be privatized for the benefit of the few who can afford the service and a handful of shareholders. We saw what happened with Enron. Luckily our state did not follow that same path although an attempt was made. To say that a corporation can do a better job of providing public services such as water or police or fire ignores the fact that those services are done without profit and therefore all monies spent go to service and not investors.

So now we have the clown circus in Iowa with each potential clown king saying how they'll fix the economy yet none of them has stated how they'll increase employment except by giving more to their corporate masters. We've seen how that's worked over the last 11 years is it now?

So it would seem that they got the treasure and we got the trash only we didn't even get that. All we got was an empty bag.

Bank fails later
And we have one bank fail today in Kansas.

No post title

I don't know if I want to write this or not but I'll try.

Today at work I was engrossed in the usual none mental task (physical labor tends to do that) It's a job with a paycheck anyway. But in the process I hear around six gunshots ring out. These didn't sound like fireworks either. About three minutes later all hell breaks loose. Cop cars racing up the street sirens blaring. One after another petal to the metal. Then a parade of helicopters in the air. Police choppers and news crews hovering over head. My first though was that it must be a bank being robbed which is usually the case from what the locals told me. But no at that particular moment somewhere between the first and sixth shot a young man lost his life. He had just hit his 22nd birthday. A troubled past and problems with alcohol lead to the young mans' demise. But in todays' environment it's even harder to make a comeback. The deck seemed stacked against him from the start. Try getting a job now with even a hint of criminal record and see your job application land in the circular file.

Desperation is a funny thing. It can make you do something very stupid like the young man or give an air of confidence as in "I don't have anything left to lose so why not try the impossible". It's gained me a job or two over the years in tough times.

But for the young man the choice was made. For him it was suicide by cop. There was no turning back once he met them in the front yard with a knife and shotgun in hand. And it's truly sad what might have been if only a different choice was made.

Republicans are heartless bastards

There I said it. And it's true if you look at the facts.

They don't want people having any kind of rights unless it benefits them their corporate masters or their chosen few.
That little weasel Rob McKenna would love nothing more than to take away your grandmothers' medical and the medical coverage for thousands of sick and disabled folk. But they'd give you a little chit to buy medical coverage they say. Only problem is that by rolling back the Affordable Health Care bill would eliminate those with pre-existing conditions. You're getting treatment and if they had their way you'd be cut off. Five or eight thousand bucks a year wouldn't begin to cover any health insurance. And there's the other thing. They keep calling it Obama Care. It's not. Obama had little to do in writing this bill other than sign his name to it after 'they' put it together and sent it to his desk. And that is the truth.

They want the right to bargain for their pay check and benefits while denying everybody else. They think taxes are for the little people and not them. They want everybody else to pay for their corporate jets while public transportation is cut. They want a good education for their children while denying everyone else.

"Take back our country"? Yes you better believe we better take back our country before they turn it into something that looks like 19th century America with no child labor laws, people being fired for getting sick and if your house caught fire you hoped your neighbors were around to help man the water buckets. Back then when a family hit hard times they'd end up in the 'poor house' only now people won't even have that option because funding was cut. Charles Dickens couldn't have imagined a harsher picture of America in his wildest dreams. And all the while corporate America sits on 2 trillion dollars of profits yet that just doesn't seem to be enough. Well the question is then how much is enough?

Maybe it's time we shut down America and maybe they'd listen because all they seem to care about is money and the only way to get their attention is for us to take it away from them. No need for bloody messy riots.


And that's my rant for the day

Let's get ready to Tuuumble

The European markets are getting their noses bloodied and it looks like Asia is following suit. Not that I much care at this point because I can't do anything about it anyway. My little nest egg was put in medium term CDs before the storm hit anyway back when CDs were actually paying more than penny candy.
So it looks like the rethuglicons want to crash the financial markets. Just cut everything down to nothing until we end up looking like Somalia. For their own sake I hope they're having bulletproof glass installed in their cars and homes because they'll need it when they see how the Somali government works or just tries to survive. And if you own a Mercedes or a Lexus you might consider trading it in on a small pick up, lest you be mistaken for one of the Wall Street boys. I can almost imagine it now. It won't be Bubba cruising with his machine gun mounted on the pick up, it'll be middle America who's not only out of work and had all the safety nets pulled from under them but their home foreclosed and now the IRA went up like a puff of smoke.

And in other stranger news the orange goo found in Alaska turns out to be eggs. But scientists don't know exactly what kind of eggs. Slipping on the tin foil hat it's been known that we are now experiencing the Northern lights caused by solar flares. But we know better. Them Ruskies have been working on some pretty strange experiments since the 60s, ESP and all that stuff. Secret sources say that they're moving their entire population to Siberia while they secretly are controlling the weather. Notice the temps in Texas? Guess Putin wants to get back at Bush for calling him evil. Okay then if it isn't the Russians then how about aliens. No not Mexicans I mean from outer space. Came down here to deposit their eggs to start a new colony. Pretty soon we'll all start to turn orange. Oh no the speaker of the house has already turned orange. He must be their leader. They're taking over like a plague. Run for your lives before it's too late. Ooops nowhere to run to nowhere to hide. What will we do? What will we do? (hey you already said that). (Ah shut up and get on with it then) (The joys of arguing with oneself)
Stay tuned to find out if the orange eggs really hatch and the orange man turns on his constituents and starts eating them.

The results of overwork and too much caffeine.
See Randal I can write a lame post with the best of them.

Now I remember what it was I was going to post

In the haste of posting as I said one post has a wonderful start and then land up in a totally different direction. Maybe that's the result of our fragmented media with three second sound bites and twenty minute TV shows. Now where was I?
Oh yes the environmental problems I was going to discuss yesterday but for lack of time and acute ADD I was focusing on three things at once. I can do that no better than the next guy but at least I'm aware of the problem.

Seems the folks over there in Nigeria will be soon saddled with a big clean up bill for all the oil they have been sucking out of the ground. Is this some revenge for that notorious Nigerian scam? Maybe not but the situation is rather interesting from a moral standpoint. The country has allowed big oil (Shell oil in this case) to act as their contractor in developing their oil resources. The country is now polluted with this windfall but the locals don't seem to be sharing in the profits. They are surely sharing in the environmental damage though. But there is enough blame to go around more so with the oil companies and less than honest government. We've seen this before. Oil is discovered and the big boys circle like vultures. Bribes are paid. Environmental laws mysteriously get changed or are ignored. Or by the sheer ignorance the proper processes are not followed. Who among us after all knows exactly how an oil refinery really works? Have you seen all those pipes and gauges?

But this is a post about morality and doing the right thing. Crime I see has a unique scale. On one end there are people so desperate that they'll do anything to survive. On the other end are people so rich and greedy that they'll do anything to have more or even all. The scary thought is when the two are focused on the same bounty. So in Nigeria we have the perfect storm of government raking in the profits through bribes and loose laws while the locals are wanting a piece of the pie by tapping into the nearest pipeline. End result? Nobody is following even the remotest sense of care in the process and the land and the water gets polluted. And as usual everybody blames everybody else. Sadly those landing up paying are the people who had nothing to do with the process.

Nigerian oil nightmare
What we fail to see is the scope of this environmental disaster because after all it happened over there and not over here. You think Deepwater Horizon spill was bad? Here's a bit of info that never got reported:
In fact, more oil is spilled from the delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig last month.
(This is in reference to the pipelines of the Niger delta)

Now an oil spill of this magnitude would be bad enough except that this is happening in Indonesia and South America and the Middle East yet with the suppression of facts and the corruption it will continue until more light is shed on the problem.
As for the oil companies if they spent half as much on prevention and clean up response as they do on avoiding law suits then they wouldn't have as many problems in the first place.

Friday Beaver and the environment

This post started out as something dealing with the environment but as usual I get a bit sidetracked when looking for fitting images to go with concepts. In todays' news blurbs I see Nigeria is in need of some massive environmental clean up from the raping of the oil companies. We've seen this plot before maybe once too many times in recent memory. A resource is discovered in a third world country and corporations flock to take the booty and leave the land and water destroyed and the people impoverished. A mugging on a grand scale if you ask me. Wonderful ethics if you can get away with it and you're "the Prince".*

*Look up the reference it's worth the five second googlie trip.

But in looking for an image I find that there is an entire community of gamers who deal with such moral issues. I don't know what the game is called (didn't get that far into it) but the good guys are called the Brotherhood and their foe are simply called Force. I'm glad to see that there's a little bit of morality sneaking into kids play these days. I recall as a kid playing Army and the sense of fairness it taught me. There always seems to be one bully though who won't play by the rules and insists that he won everything and every time. Now we're seeing where the bullies went when they grew up. They want it all for themselves and people and the environment be damned.

Bank fails later as usual.

Two banks failed this week one in IL and one in WA. Just so you know.

My little rant for the day

Well now that our congress critters or should I say vermin have made a boatload of money by holding this country hostage ( I'd love to see for the record who in congress bought short positions in the market before they finished raping the country). It's time to look for the next victim / bubble. They still didn't quite manage to get their hooks into Social Security although they sure gave it the old college try. If memory serves correct they did make a good gash in Medicare and Medicaid. Since they could not totally dismantle the program they'll make it bleed to death by cutting it in non obvious ways. Cut funding to doctors and just try and find a doctor who will provide service. But I believe their hatched plan will backfire when seniors have no choice but to hit the emergency room for their primary care when no one else will see them. Nothing like killing the patient by draining his/her bank account eh?
Then there is the threat of military cuts by the grand committee of budgetdom. If you believe that then you also believe in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. Think about it for a minute. Who has the greatest lobby power in congress aside from the NRA? And funny how it was a republican (Eisenhower) who warned us of this fate some 50 years ago.
At the rate we're going the old Taliban government of Afghanistan (remember before we invaded?) will sound tame compared to the direction this country is going. Mention the term "women's' health" at any clinic and it's imediately assumed that abortions are provided there.
And the chicken shits are too scared to hold town hall meetings because they know they'd get bitch slapped by their constituents.
I think Bernie Sanders was right when he said it's time for a third party to hold the other two in check. We need a peoples' party that acts in the best interest of the working men and women of this country and aren't beholden to some corporate master. And I'm starting to hear it more and more as time goes by.

Too pissed for words but here's a few anyway

You know the scenario. The boss rolls into work a half an hour late and starts barking orders without even knowing what's going on. He doesn't know that the pipe overhead is about to break and workers have been scrambling to find the equipment and materials to fix a potentially bad problem. Don't bother to read the building blue prints or even follow any type of standard procedure for emergency situations.
This is management at it's worst or should I say government at it's worst. Never in the history of the United States has such a process taken place. I take that back. When the Patriot Act was put in place no one had a chance to read the bill fully before it was given a rubber stamp by Bush and company. No one knew exactly what the bill meant until days later when much of our constitution was used as toilet paper.
And now we have a budget bill passed by people who have lost touch with working America. And I'm talking about both parties. We now know what side their bread is buttered for they sure don't stand with us. Four trillion dollars in cuts to domestic programs and we are barely out of a recession. For most the recession continues with high unemployment and no future in site. Those at the top don't seem to equate budget dollars with the people who will be thrown out of work when this bill kicks in. The only bright spot (snark) will be for the twelve chosen few to decide future budget cuts (hand picked by the thugs in congress). Think about that for a minute. The chicken shits in congress don't even have the balls to come up with future budgets because they don't want to offend their corporate masters. Because you know when it's all said and done that taxes will have to be raised and those at the top will have to pay or they too will face a crumbling infrastructure just like the rest of us. A corporate jet won't do much good if the runway is full of potholes and the guys in the control tower have been laid off.

Stand up for me? Hell you haven't done it yet why would I expect you to start now? The caver in chief strikes again. Gave them everything they wanted and more.

So now we have the Rethuglicons and the Demorats running the show. And the next political call I get from a live person is going to get an earful and wish he'd never have called.