Boondoggles' Caboodle

This blog was started on Thursday, January 21, 2009.

Anyone that follows this blog knows that I probably get my inspiration from the newspaper -- our illustrious Times-Standard here in Eureka, California and others. I look fervantly for something of interest to carp about. I'm always on the lookout for the knee-jerk, simple-minded, and sometimes moronic opinions. I look at the Editorial, letters to the editor, local opinion writers and the nationally renouned writers' of mostly dogma, propaganda and brainwashing nonsence. We try to stay away from any personal involvement in politics and religion. We want an objective and as neutral as possible in our observations. We look for the less obvious, the defacto definitions and statements of truth -- what people do rather than what they'd like you to think they do. So, what did we find today?

First, from watching Democracy Now we got a good look at the lies and hypocricy of this country and the UN (United Nations) coming out of Haiti. The reason those people are not getting the help they desperately need -- food, water, medicine and temporary shelter is because the US and UN are deliberately not getting it to them. You can bet your last nickle, and you probably will, that if the troops in Iraq or Afgahnastan needed whatever supplies to stay alive and survive, Obama and his cadre would move heaven and earth. We had Bush's way in Katrina in New Orleans with the poor, mostly back people (from Haiti mostly?) and now Obamas' Haiti earthquake devestation. Show me the difference?

The next boondoggle came from the same program: In Landmark Campaign Finance Ruling, Supreme Court Removes Limits on Corporate Campaign Spending:

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court rules corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to elect and defeat candidates. One lawmaker describes it as the worst Supreme Court decision since the Dred Scott case justifying slavery.

This ruling is the Elitist's continued looting of the common American's right to participate freely in their government. They've already taken more money and actual value from the American people than any other Empire in history. Credit that to Mr. Hope why don't you?

American self-worth, the value that allows the people to believe in themselves and their country is almost bankrupt. The Arabs, China, Japan and Germany own this country. I guess this is the way the American corporations figured out how to survive this situation. Can't have a nation of liberal progressives screwing things up, you know.

Here's the latest update worth reading: What the Supreme Court got right by Glenn Greewald.

Now for the newspaper. Front page, Authorities: Arcata package contained a 'suspicious mechanical device' where our fearless, but psychotic and mostly gutless "Authorities" do everything to protect themselves at the or to the point of total rediculasness -- We got to err on safety first, you know"? -- found a "suspicious mechanical device" in a "suspicious package." RIGHT!  So the evacuate everyone with a ten mile radius and manage somehow to get the device out into the country withou evacuating hundreds more people and blow it up.

UPDATE: This is what the Times-Standard now posts on their website: 'Suspicious' package was a bicycle light'

The suspicious package that led to the evacuation of several homes and businesses in downtown Arcata turned out to be a bicycle light being returned to the place it was purchased, the Arcata Police Department said this afternoon.

 My father, a WWII combat war veteran told me that on many occasions throught the German campaign men were shot and blownup on both sides of him. He credits his survival to the grace of God. However, the closest he came to actually dying was the night a close buddy of his suffering unbeknown to anyone from battle fatigue or more commonly known today as post-traumatic stress disorder. When you look at how these traumatized police officer act, you got to know we all got more to fear from them than any "bicycle light" as they err on "safety."

My next boondoggle report was this:

"Spared the wrecking ball: Kramer Properties purchases historic Old Town building with restoration plans."

Big hurry, for what?

This next article is more positive. Getting rid of the socialistic "red-tape" is always a plus:

"Eureka reels in the red tape."

Then there's James Faulk:

"An even keel." Maybe there's more to James than meets the eye. Either way . . .

By the time I got this far and had perused some of the local news-type blogs I was sufficiently depressed. It's so easy to be so c r i t i c a l . . .

This is a new year and a new decade and we had decided to be a bit more positive in our approach. Look for the hidden truth, the not-so-obvious and always try to inspire a little thinking. But then, who needs W O R D S to inspire anyone?

Boondoggles' Caboodle Means: do useless, wasteful, or trivial work or work of little or no value done merely to look busy. And, bunch: any collection in its entirety.

--Joe

Shock and AW at Work

[Update and Second Update Below]

Shock and AW in your face: Plans to demolish former Old Town Bar and Grill building approved -- Front page headline in the Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 Times-Standard newspaper. No one is saying that the building is anything other than what the "engineer's" say it is. It's how quickly they moved to tear it all down. The ink hadn't even dried before they voted "unanimously" to tear it down.

When all else fails, wait until there's some sort of "disaster," get someone or some agency to proclaim it an issue of "public safety," and then declare a state of emergency. After that its only a matter of pushing through whatever emergency meetings necessary to pass whatever ordinances or laws needed to do what could never be done before.

When that doesn't work, phony up some outrageous patten lie like, Saddam Hussein is evil (he hates Jews) and has weapons of mass destruction. Since we know his intentions we invade his country and a cost in billion's, if not trillion's of dollars we cannot afford, but must spend because it is a "necessary war." A necessary war that has already killed ten's of thousands of innocent people. To justify that war, they (our elected leaders) declared war on Social Security, Medi-Care and Universal Health Insurance -- not to forge working or middle America.

. . . and Now There Is Haiti

Here are some interesting pictures on CNN. Updated coverage.

Naomi Klein Issues Haiti Disaster Capitalism Alert: Stop Them Before They Shock Again

Journalist and author Naomi Klein spoke in New York last night and addressed the crisis in Haiti: “We have to be absolutely clear that this tragedy—which is part natural, part unnatural—must, under no circumstances, be used to, one, further indebt Haiti and, two, to push through unpopular corporatist policies in the interest of our corporations. This is not conspiracy theory. They have done it again and again.”

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"AW" —used to express mild disappointment, gentle entreaty, or real or mock sympathy or sentiment.

[Update Thursday, January 14, 2010]

There's a rather interesting conversation over at The Humboldt Herald about "Earthquake emergency no time for political pandering." Put the knee-jerks, top to bottom, in one room and they'd all look the same. A prime example why "Democracy," or if you prefer "democracy" as currently practiced and experienced does NOT work. If the poor people of Haiti are showing us anything, it's that they can work together to survive together WITHOUT government. No one tagging their homes.

[Update Friday, January 15, 2010]

Unlike Haiti it was heartening to see how effecient you local infrastructer took the shaking without so much as a quibble. Our illustrious Governor and our local elite's graced Friday's Times-Standard newspaper in all their splendor. If you have any doubt who these people are just look at the pictures published in the paper, ie., the Governor "shakes hands of Cherl Arkley." With all these fine folks on the job all us other citizens need not to have worried, even though there was no way to find out what was going on about anything!

 Ms. Arkley's generosity says it all:

Cherie Arkley, who owns Security National, which owns the historic building, was on hand for the governor's press conference Thursday, and afterward told him of her plans to sell off the bricks from the old building at $5 apiece, with all the proceeds to go to Keep Eureka Beautiful's street trees program. The governor pledged to buy 1,000 bricks.

”It's a wonderful way to parley a kind of sad situation into something nice,” she said, adding that Security National also has long-term plans to rebuild on the Old Town Bar and Grill site a building to house office and retail space, and possibly a restaurant.

We like parleying kinda sad things into something nice. Kinda like they're doing in Haiti right now.

--Joe

Shake, Rattle and Break!

[Haiti Update Below]

A fitting way to start out the new year -- learning just how inhospitable this place we call home, our Earth, can be sometimes. A necessary evil to shake us out of our complacency, I'd guess.

After the initial experience of standing flatfooted and feeling exactly what a 6.5 magnitude felt like, and checking to make sure the fireplace was still in one peace, no pipes broken and that the neighbor lady made sure she didn't have any gas leaks, I turned on the radio to see how serious the damage was. My regular FM station was off air so I started looking. I finally found a station, don't know which one, I don't spend much time listening to the radio, FM or AM and began to get some call-in information. Unfortunately that didn't produce much so I turned on the TV. Found out the local stations were all off line and ended up leaving CNN on. Wasn't too long and they began to present some information, but then went on with normal programming.

The website Ready America says, "Prepare, Plan and Stay Informed."
When preparing for a possible emergency situation, it's best to think first about the basics of survival: fresh water, food, clean air and warmth.

Recommended Items to Include in a Basic Emergency Supply Kit:

1. Water, one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation
2. Food, at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food
3. Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
4. Flashlight and extra batteries
5. First aid kit
6. Whistle to signal for help
7. Dust mask, to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
8. Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
9. Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
10. Can opener for food (if kit contains canned food)
11. Local maps
12. Cell phone with chargers

Notice the suggestion, "Battery-powered radio"!
You need pertinent, up to the minute, applicable information that can help a person deal with the emergency. If the highway is closed, power lines are down, a bridge is out, etc. people need to know about that at the time. In short, there needs to be some sort of designated emergency information clearing house people know about (attached to the radio) so they can find out what they need to know. We know all these government agencies that take all our tax dollars don't actually work together, even when they say they since 9/11. This might be a good place to start.

Some of the local blogs are blowing their horns about how well they helped. Who knew?

When I couldn't find out anything, I staid put. That didn't stop me from thinking about if my wife was stranded somewhere and couldn't get home.  I'm just glad the quake happened when it did, not at night or during a work day.

It shook me out of my complacency -- for a little while anyway.

Additional Items to Consider Adding to an Emergency Supply Kit: (from Ready Gov site)

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• Prescription medications and glasses
• Infant formula and diapers
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Important family documents such as copies of insurance policies, identification and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container
• Cash or traveler's checks and change
• Emergency reference material such as a first aid book or information from www.ready.gov
• Sleeping bag or warm blanket for each person. Consider additional bedding if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Complete change of clothing including a long sleeved shirt, long pants and sturdy shoes. Consider additional clothing if you live in a cold-weather climate.
• Household chlorine bleach and medicine dropper – When diluted nine parts water to one part bleach, bleach can be used as a disinfectant. Or in an emergency, you can use it to treat water by using 16 drops of regular household liquid bleach per gallon of water. Do not use scented, color safe or bleaches with added cleaners.
• Fire Extinguisher
• Matches in a waterproof container
• Feminine supplies and personal hygiene items
• Mess kits, paper cups, plates and plastic utensils, paper towels
• Paper and pencil
• Books, games, puzzles or other activities for children

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Update - Wednesday, January 13, 2010

We should count our blessing when you think this is what could be our experience. Personally, I really believed that shock was a 7. Emergency kits are fine, but I don't think many of these people were able to find theirs. You can read more on the quake from Reuters here. Heres another link for live coverage: The latest updates from Haiti.

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[Source From Millan.Net]

--Joe