Lots of politics going on this week:
- the attempt (or play at an attempt) to defund Obamacare
- the Republican House of Reps slashing the Food Stamp program, thus punishing children and the working poor for the House of Reps blocking attempts to enough jobs to take people off of food stamps
- Pope Francis continuing his pursuit of a commonsense spiritual path for Catholicism
- Anaheim sinking deeper into the much
All of those should be their own stories, though — and you, dear Reader, are invited to write them. (I’m sort of swamped — though unable to resist temptation, so I’ll write one or two. Or four.) I think that we need something to chill out with this weekend as we head into autumn — it will happen, right? — and so here’s something to settle your soul for a time: the isolated vocal tracks (occasionally with some instruments) from the famous B-side of the Beatles’ Abbey Road. Boy, those guys were pretty good!
This is your Weekend Open Thread. Talk about this or anything else you’d like within broad bounds of decency and decorum. I’m thinking that we’re still a week or so away from the next Dearthwatch — unless someone wants to step forward and give Alexa.com a whirl!
UPDATE: More a capella! Featuring the best use of “baryons” in a parodic lyric than I’ve ever seen.
I’ll get things started with this link to a dismal story: http://www.alternet.org/economy/underpaid-83-year-old-professor-died-trying-make-ends-meet-working-night-shift-eat-save?paging=off
This one, from the same publication, may be more pertinent to our own most common discussions, though: http://www.alternet.org/media/most-depressing-discovery-about-brain-ever?paging=off
What a truly sad story. I am afraid her story is all too common. A 40 something, fellow cancer survivor told me she lost her “adjunct” teaching position after starting cancer treatment. She filed a complaint to get her job back and after several months of (supposedly) careful review the school czars found nothing illegal about her dismissal.
I just don’t get it. Where is the compassion? Empathy? And what the Hell is an Orphans’ court????
Another, but related note… a cancer patient I visit told me she lost her house due to medical bills. Her 20% of hospital bill came to $100,00. Rather than claiming bankruptcy (which many do re: medical bills) she sold her home of 20 years and now rents a room. She is now 65 and a retired engineer. She did everything right and this is how her American dream ends???
Risking ‘TMI’ yells, since I happen to be with Dad in PA at the moment, this about Orphan’s Court from their site-
“The Orphans’ Court serves to protect the personal and property rights of all persons and entities that may not be otherwise capable of handling their own affairs. The jurisdiction of the Orphans’ Court includes matters concerning minors, incapacitated persons, decedents’ estates, nonprofit corporations and trusts. Additionally, the Court has the authority to settle any dispute or issue that may arise in connection to the application for a marriage license through the Philadelphia Marriage License Bureau. It is the main focus of the Orphans’ Court, in all the above mentioned matters, to ensure that the best interests of the person or entity are not compromised. In fact, the name of the Court is derived from the general definition of “orphan” as one lacking protection, not the common association of a child deprived by death of his parents.”
—- from its long heritage,PA has many quaint names for things (it’s a Commonwealth,not a State) and even the residents think it’s ponderously over governed. My fight with Area Aging Agency for Dad to escape their pre-packaged ‘Plenary Conservancy’ (HIM plus ALL HIS ASSETS!) took place in Orphan’s Court.
Senior wise, the GOOD news is PA income tax exempts retirement income, but property AND school tax total is higher (on LOWER property values) than CA under Prop 13 (no equivalent!) Also, while BK might be good advice in CA with its $250K(?) Homestead Exemption and other senior programs (Property tax deferral until sale), PA has NO Homestead Exemption on the books. Zero. None.
So as a PA resident, ‘slim’ and ‘none’ were the top choices vs a sale- (PA also has Estate tax, if any remains then!) Cheers.
Next, explain what a “Prothonotary” does.
(I’m getting this mental image of a bar crawling along the page bottom, labeled “PA Bar Exam – % Complete”!)
Rather than wear out your scroll wheel, here’s a link to the office in York, with a good explanation-
http://yorkcountypa.gov/courts-criminal-justice/court-courtrelated-offices/prothonotary.html
and from Wikipedia-
“It is widely rumored that (upon introduction to one at a 1948 campaign stop, President Harry S.)Truman’s first reaction upon hearing the term “prothonotary” was to say “What the hell is a prothonotary?”
So you are in good company!
I can’t even spell it
I think many of the facts in this story might be true.
Here’s a version not written by a glorified shop steward of the United Steelworkers(!) who are trying to unionize underpaid intellectuals:
http://callmemiss.com/2013/09/19/the-compelling-life-story-of-margaret-mary-vojtko/
It contests several of the facts in Comrade Kovalik’s self-serving story.
Thanks for participating in the discussion, David. It’s interesting to have an informed criticism of Alternet’s article. Unfortunately, much of the following is guano:
My mother died of ovarian cancer; my wife is a cancer survivor. I’ve seen a fair bit of people fighting cancer. I’ve also, as a plaintiff’s employment attorney, seen more than my share of people who believe that they are being treated fairly by employers. I am not surprised at all that the latter would be seen as a greater stressor by people (especially those already suffering from the first.) I’ll try to explain by analogy.
Do you think that there is no difference among the prospects of your child dying of a disease versus in a car accident versus being murdered? Putting aside considerations of greater suffering, I think that we have a special and atavistic aversion to the prospect of murder. On the one hand, everyone dies: when it comes to cancer, we’re fighting against nature, when it comes to car accidents, we’re fighting against not-good-enough odds.
But while someone dumping toxic chemicals or falsifying a research study may contribute to one’s cancer, and a drunk driver or a lousy design engineer may contribute to one’s fatal car accident, there is something special about murder (or, in the case of foreign policy, “acceptable collateral damage.”) When it comes to cancer or cars, no other individual human being necessarily means you harm. When it comes to murder, one did.
After eons of evolution, we are very sensitive to the prospect that others mean us harm. (You don’t get more than five major characters into Genesis before you see a murder.) So while we may struggle nobly (even though spirits flag) against cancer (does anyone here not admire Inge for her pluck?) the idea of having to fend off malice from other humans, such as a “refusal to renew a contract” that in California at least would likely be illegally motivated — is dispiriting in a way that the disease or tragedy itself is not.
It’s draining, maddening. Insult added to injury is magnified. How many of us have heard stories of how a dying person had to spend the last months of their life fighting with an insurance company that knew it would be able to outlast her? It violates our sense of fairness at a very deep level — and yes, that is extremely stressful in large part because it is the opposite of noble: it is ignoble.
I appreciate the extra facts in the article you cite, but about the thesis presented in that paragraph I submit that the author has no idea what she’s talking about — and that if she could have spoken to Mary before her death, she’d have been disabused.
(Do you see this story as an indictment of our political economy at all, David?)
I’m not in the habit of spreading guano. Honest. Murdered children and California law wander pretty far afield from the leafy Duquesne campus. I leave it to my own readers to decide if I know whereof I speak–but I am grateful to you for the link to my blog!
Happy to provide you the link, Miss, although that credit goes to one of our readers looking to deflate the Alternet story linked to above. It’s a pleasure to have a visit from someone writing from one of my favorite cities. (I resided for half a decade in North Point Breeze, not so far from the National Biscuit Company factory, which for some reason people other than yinz call by a shorter name.)
I do think that, while you may correctly estimate the stress caused by cancer, you deeply understimate the stress cause by having to fight with a malicious bureaucracy (almost sure to win at the end through attrition — specifically, attrition of oneself) while one is dying of cancer. I think that you post a decent critique, but I think that some engagement between you and the Steelworkers regarding what people go through in such circumstances would be an eye-opener. Injury is usually worse than insult — but, given injury, insult can be devastating.
Actually, there are many interpretations to the set of “facts” presented.
I will let go of the “fact” that MM was cited as a devout Catholic who had Mass said for her; the other writer claims MM wrote a history of “her church” – the Reformed Hungarian Church of Homestead – a Protestant denomination.
If MM was 83 with a 25-year career at Duquesne, then she voluntarily started at age 58 as an adjunct in 1988. What did she do before that? She would certainly be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Did she avail herself of that? If not, why not? If she could no longer take care of her property she could have sold it and moved into a community living facility.
We know that the government became interested in her affairs. Did the Allegheny County Social Services Agency do its job? Did she reject their overtures? Was she eccentric; was she suffering from onset dementia?
Obviously something went wrong. But is an indictment necessary?
Without knowing all the facts I would hesitate to ascribe blame to anybody – her family or her neighbors, let alone Duquesne – who may have charitably kept her on the payroll all those years as a favor.
I do mistrust those who would use this sad story a vehicle to promote union membership. That really is dismal.
BTW I wonder if the union will provide welding training to those French and English Lit teachers.
I don’t know if they “had it coming.” Employing an 83 year old in the first place strikes me as kind of strange. This one very peculiar instance is obviously being used to promote an agenda.
My sense is there is a whole lot more to this story than has been revealed by the union agitator.
It’s true that liberal institutions are having difficulty reconciling their core beliefs with the reality of economics – from faculty strategies to food service workers.
No economic principle requires that adjuncts be treated like used paper towels or that workers not combine to advance their bargaining position. Meanwhile, truly “free” economics would eliminate the limitations on liability provided by the corporate form, the abuse of which by miscreants such as Mitt Romney and his ilk has become rampant. Oppose that and I’ll listen. But if you oppose cutting the viscera out of the corporate form, be willing to consider reasonable regulation without squawking.
willie, this doesn’t apply to you, of course.
After giving it more thought. David is right…many people dropped the ball here. There are many unknowns to this story. She was 83 years old. How many people do you know still in the workforce these days? Many 50+ people I meet already got “canned” from their jobs and a 20 something is doing it instead.
I’m guessing there was something going on that alerted neighbors to call for help. Where was her family? I’m guessing she didn’t want help, which many older people with problems, still want their independence. The biggest problem I have is that she lived in poverty conditions…but there has to be more to it.
As for the casket box…why didn’t her family pull together resources and pay to get her a better one? I’m betting someone stands to inherit something from her estate…
“I’m not exactly why we’re discussing the effectiveness of social services or the woman’s family.”
Sorry for the lateness of my reply. I was mentioning those things because because they are there; they exist because Maragaret Mary paid taxes – even on her meager income.
Nobody demanded that she take a part-time job at 58, and nobody demanded that she agree to renew her contract every she did it herself. Nobody demanded that she tell the SSA to shove off and mind their own business (can’t say I blame her).
If the issue is better pay for adjuncts at Duquesne they should tell their steelworker buddy to quit exploiting the dead woman.
with regard to the food stamp issue
1) there is an obesity crisis in this country
2) a majority of the obese children in this country are from poor families
3) poor families receive most of the food stamps issued in this country
4) if the government cuts off food stamps, poor children will not get food
5) if obese children eat less, they will become less obese and, thus, more healthy
6) republicans have voted to cut off food stamps to millions of families
7) republicans care about obese children
That’s pretty funny, willie. But what’s going to happen to your ConAgra and ADM shares?
Of course less high-fructose corn syrup is a good thing.
Just a reminder to people who don’t usually read OJB that “willie” is a computer program and cannot be held responsible for his opinions. We continue to let him publish here only because he diverts rounded-off interest from several big banks into our offshore accounts — but perhaps I have said too much.
greg
vern thinks that it is only one bank
Thanks for correcting me publicly in writing, fool.
hell, if you would give me your cell phone number, none of this would be necessary
No way. I know its market value!
You may know some members of Congress voting to cut food stamps who “travel to foreign countries under the guise of official business,”… “They dine at lavish restaurants eating steak, vodka and even caviar,”… “They receive money to do this. That’s right, they don’t pay out of pocket for these meals.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/20/food-stamps-steak-vodka_n_3964695.html
meanwhile Cal Fresh needs to advertise its program because not enough people signed up. The last time I checked income level to get food stamps is $1200 a month (before taxes) for 2 adults in OC.
more information about malnutrition which is how many of us get seriously ill (whether we are poor or not) …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/malnutrition-obesity_b_1324760.html
This one is for Friar skallywag:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/faithbased/2013/09/pope_francis_catholic_church_stephen_colbert_is_replacing_antonin_scalia.html
I’m happy to have been one of the first commentators to predict that this Pope would be a progressive one — which, in a College of Cardinals appointed by John Paul 2 and Benedict 16, probably does have to qualify as a miracle.
I like this man. I hope that he lives in good health until 120 — without resigning.
Catholicism’s Obama? We’ll see.
I like the Pope as well – but I don’t think that he said what you believe that he said.
Did you look up the interview?
Here — here’s an article from a not-a-liberal (and even more a not-a-leftist) about the speech.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2013/09/pope_francis_interview_forget_homosexuality_and_birth_control_he_s_a_flaming.html
Paul is dead.
no, paul is the walrus
What do the Beatles and Ramones have in common? Only the drummer is still left alive, from each band. (In stark contrast to Zeppelin, the Who, and especially Spinal Tap.)
There is a lot of circumstantial evidence suggesting the Death of Paul, but the conclusive proof is to compare “Eleanor Rigby” and “Helter Skelter” to “Silly Love Song” and “Wonderful Christmastime.”
One of my CD’s, “The O-Channel Greetings” from 1997, has a track which MIGHT be a trio of fetuses, singing – BACKMASKED –
“Paul is dead! Kill thyself! Paul is dead! Slay thyself!
Shoot thyself in the head! Paul McCartney’s dead!”
I need to figure out how to put sound tracks on this blog. That one sounds poignant and compelling, especially backwards.
and in that vein, if you play jimi hendrix’s crosstown traffic backwards exactly half way between 33 1/3 and 45 rpm’s you will get the secret traffic timing to get from downtown los angeles to santa monica on wilshire blvd without having to stop at one red light
On the other hand though, this is/was John:
THANKS for the ‘Bohemian Gravity’ link! ‘String theory’ was an inside joke at my last workplace, so 6 or 8 people that I forwarded it to will be ROFL this weekend!
meanwhile back at the ranch…
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Inge,
If I were able…and did my due diligence research, I wouldn’t want to donate to that charity either!! IF I had a choice that is.
Since this is an open thread:
Zenger,
You said it yourself – it is a GROUND lease – there will be tens of millions of dollars in potential taxes on potential 100s of millions dollars of improvements above the ground – you know that. My opinion of your veracity is quite low.
Read Section 3 of the MOU again, and again, if need be. It says ALL taxes can be subject to consideration. There is no exclusion of property tax increment. And don’t blame me – I didn’t write the MOU – the Angels did.
One of us has a reading comprehension problem; and it isn’t me.
My opinion of your in intelligence is quite low.
It says “General Fund-neutral” – which means that taxes will be paid on Stadium District development in order to pay for necessary City services for that area.
Would you rather see that area lie fallow for another 50 years?
“General Fund neutral” means anything they want it to mean. Taxes will indeed be paid. Anaheim can’t give away somebody else’s tax revenue. However, the City is prepared to give away their portion.
I’d rather call Moreno’s bluff. If he walks away from the deal and control of the parking spaces in the lot revert to the city — according to staff, that’s the testicle-hold that he currently has on Anaheim under the current rotten lease — then the City can build it.
Frankly, at this point, since he hasn’t built anything, I think that they should just renege on that and let him sue for provable damages. Pay him off as need be. The City would still come out ahead.
Thank God for peripheral vision!- why the &%$# was I screwing around with embeds, and almost missed an IMPORTANT thread about the Stadium fiasco-to-be?
‘General-Fund Neutral’ is the final straw on, excuse me, knife in, the Anaheim residents’ back. Even if your interpretation of it is correct, examine the following.
-The city owns the land (Paid for with Tax receipts, through purchase, eminent domain, etc)
-The city will get $1/yr rent per the MOU. and count on ‘incremental tax revenue’ as ANY real return, ONLY if generated by future development. Assumed to be a mix of Hotel, Entertainment, Retail, Housing (?), Parking, Office Space ???
– What is that revenue?
-Development Fees (ONE TIME ONLY at start- probably cost neutral)
-Property Tax (collected by COUNTY, possibly SOME slight return to City?)
-Sales Tax – Not on the Buildings, only on activity WITHIN them.
-Hotel Tax- Same as above
-Admissions Tax-PROHIBITED under legacy Disney agreements
NOTHING ELSE to the City, since as SOLE controller of the parcel,
– Moreno gets RENT from ALL the new development (at least a ground sublease even if he SELLS the buildings), and possibly direct income from any enterprise (Parking) he might retain ownership in after development.
Only the tax above goes to the GF, and NOW we are being asked to accept GF-neutral FLOOR of further tax surrender?So as long as the development ONLY covers ITS OWN EXPENSES, that’s OK? The whole POINT of justifying ANY activity with the CITY -OWNED land is to get GF SURPLUS return to the rest of the city, or why not SELL IT, STILL collect the SAME TAXES, and have the SALES PROCEEDS to invest (or God forbid, spend AGAIN foolishly) elsewhere? And that tax SURPLUS would be given away by the MOU.
So ‘General-Fund Neutral ‘ and ‘Lie fallow for 50 years’ are FINANCIALLY about the SAME!
The public can certainly be forgiven for succumbing to the warm fuzzies of “neutrality”, but City Council members,City Staff, and PAID (through the nose) consultants who are supposed to be WORKING FOR their interests, CAN’T BE, and SHOULDN’T BE.
I had hoped that we had made that clear — but if we didn’t, thanks for doing it now.
Yes, but of course “GF neutral” will also be based on some cooked up analysis of City costs providing service. That is in the MOU and I don’t trust the process at all. We shall see a repeat of the Garden Walk giveaway on an even more massive scale. More on that later.
And I suspect that a land use consultant has already been retained by Moreno and will get a win bonus based on the formula the Council is told to approve.
Cynical? Yes. For good reason.
Sorry, for Abbot& Costello’s famous joke (slooowly I turned..) it was hearing “Niagra Falls!…” for me it’s “Angels lease MOU…..”!
You’re about to get Zengerfied, skally. When he is right, he is fearsome.
and I almost forgot…
Greg, a hearty thank you for the laugh and new found appreciation for sock puppets. The young mans creative talents are pretty amazing!
Yeah, he’s awfully good — but the new “jewel model” of physics that I covered earlier in the week is going to leave him singing a different tune!
[Update: remember this? https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20130917-a-jewel-at-the-heart-of-quantum-physics/%5D
Greg,
As with all the other models, this one has some problems to work out as well. String in many ways works well, some not so much. We’ll see how well this works out when they’ve had a chance to really shake it out.
It would certainly be nice if there was some “easy way” to solve some of the problems in making calculations. We’ll see….
I wonder if the “jewel sock puppet” will make the next Utube production from this brilliant young filmmaker.
For your consideration-
(MY APOLOGIES if OJB recommended this -(I don’t remember HOW I get to this stuff , or if YouTube just ‘suggests’ it) – too busy finding more stuff!)
Anyway, if as some believe, the US is truly headed toward crisis on many fronts(?), here is some hope about what can come OUT of crisis, by folks that have been there!
There is hopefully NO monopoly on ingenuity-
Vern, once again I cut / pasted the OLD code-I don’t see anything in my post-should I get an automatic embed that I can see right away????? or am I STILL screwing up? The share link is
http://youtu.be/v-XS4aueDUg
I don’t mean to be exhausting your patience with your fixing, Let me know if I’m still failing and just leave the link with no embed. Sorry(?)
I don’t think that it works in comments, just story text — but Vern knows this system much better than I do.
Well… damn… maybe it only works if you have an account with us. Yet I seem to remember Fiala putting up YouTubes, and I don’t think he ever had an account with us. Which brings up the matter again… that you should have an account with us.
You drive a hard bargain, Commandante!
After watching the BBRW video, I think you need to call a Cuban to fix your embed problem.
You and Willie de Ville make me laugh with some of your comments. Let’s get Vern a Rikimbily bicycle with a rechargeable device for his laptop and smart phone!
I aspire to be as funny as willie, but, like Greg said…..he’s a computer program.
Imagine him as a cross between Max Headroom and Jerry Seinfeld.
On the other hand, I’m totally analog.
Read this on “Whistling Vivaldi”::
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2013/09/jonathan_ferrell_shooting_death_the_perils_of_stereotype_threat.html
I find this whole thing too depressing to discuss — though we must, before this unpleasant story disappears down the memory hole.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/18/4323491/cmpd-chief-contradicts-lawyers.html#.Uj8df4ZvPK0
We should wait a few and see how the facts actually shake out on this tragic event. While I suspect it’s not going to clear the officer involved, we should all remember that cops, just like everyone else, carry some baggage with them, what that turns out to be in this case, we still don’t have any real idea, might never.
It was certainly a tragedy by any measure.
Cancer Caused by Toxic Chemicals ‘Grossly Underestimated’ in U.S
http://ecowatch.com/2013/cancer-caused-by-toxic-chemicals-in-u-s/
Monsanto and Big Business spends millions to keep you in the dark about GMOs
http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/09/12/money-flows-defeat-was-gmo-labeling-ballot-measure?cmpid=tp-ptnr-ewg
Washington State votes soon to require labeling — Prop 522 (like our Prop 37) — they need volunteers from all states to help out
just read the front page story in the times where the document a certain tension or animosity between the beach locals in places like huntington and the foriegners from places like the 909
i thought that the article showed how tolerant the beach locals had become. when i was growing up at the beach, we hated anybody from as far east* as garden grove and anaheim.
time does breed tolerance
* that’s NORTH, willie – ED.
its on the other side of pacific coast highway, its east
it’s right on the way to Bakersfield, Seattle, and the North Pole.
just remember,,,charlie don’t surf
The Angels developing the entertainment and restaurant district around the Stadium makes sense. At stadiums around the country, there are really cool shopping and entertainment and dining districts right next to the Stadium. We can finally have that in Anaheim under the deal being negotiated. This would also bring thousands of jobs and tens or hundreds of millions of economic activity to Orange County, generating a lot of tax revenue to pay for city services.
https://www.facebook.com/KeeptheAngels?hc_location=stream
Where did you get that “bring thousands of jobs” and “tens or hundreds of millions of economic activity to Orange County”? You’re selling something that you don’t even understand — or care to understand.
How is the tax revenue going to pay for city services? Please refer to the terms of the MOU, as several of us keep telling you.
Apparently you do not understand general fund neutral. That means taxes will be paid to offset costs of City services.
I think that “general fund neutral” means that somebody on the Anaheim city staff (which has shown itself to be fanatically supportive of this scheme) has decided to call it “general fund neutral.” And can probably, if asked, justify that characterization in some farfetched way.
Yes this is about the size of it. The MOU sets up the next pitch – a softball Artie will hit out of his own park.
I have zero trust in the “feasibility gap analysis” or whatever cockeyed method is cooked up to do it. I am also afraid that this document could be used as the basis to lend Moreno money from the General Fund leveraged off of future tax income. I know that this isn’t specifically spelled out; but it isn’t excluded either – so long as somebody can justify the “neutrality.”
The bigger issue for me is philosophical. If the City can get more in taxes than an area costs to service, then it is very clear that the taxes are already too high. And, yet, apart from the favored hotel guy and Moreno no other business are being offered tax rebates from the General Fund Why is that? Here we have in the grossest sense government picking winners and losers in doling out largesse.
And now, let’s recapitulate what we know so far about the MOUs:
1) Angels get another 2.5 years to find another home. Cost to Agels? Zero.
2) Angels may be able to leave an extra 7 years past their current obligation (except that the Gang of Four just gave them another 2.5 years to 2019 to jump ship and got nothing in return). Cost to Angels for this puny extension? Zero.
3) Angels get to dump name “Anaheim.” Cost to Angels? Zero.
4) There is no linkage between the two MOUs and they are being pursued with two different legal entities – always a handy device in case of legal dispute or bankruptcy. Value to Moreno? Incalculable, really. Cost to get it? ZERO.
5) Artie can sell off his vested development right to anybody on Pringle’s client list and walk away from the land deal altogether; or, he could sell the Angels and keep the development. Actually, both things could happen. Value of this flexibility to Moreno? Incalculable. Cost to get it? ZERO.
6) Moreno gets land likely worth hundreds of thousands a month. Cost? $1 per year. Yes. Eight cents a month.
And anybody has the nerve to call this good government?
Chmielewski and junior babble about the “business of baseball” – this looks like an outlet that’s actually conversant in that science, if that’s what it is:
http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2013/09/05/5857/angels-threaten-to-leave-anaheim-anaheim-responds-by-giving-team-three-more-years-to-do-so/
You’re way off, Zenger. The cost to Moreno is eight-and-a-third cents a month.
I hope you won’t mind my renumbering the above to correct a slight error.
It’s funny that outsiders see right through the scam. I guess it’s not really all that hard.
David Zenger addresses that in the comments section of this excellent article by Adam E in Voice of OC:
http://www.voiceofoc.org/oc_north/anaheim/article_7f05f9f4-20f5-11e3-af60-0019bb2963f4.html
Meanwhile, you didn’t address most of my comment above. You probably already knew that.
O.K., Last try- If this ‘tale’ doesn’t wag the Skally, I’m done.
Imagine YOU own a strip mall, and I’m a tennant in ONE of the spaces. My lease includes utilities,and at renewal time, I tell you, “Hey, all my friends and employees shop at the stores next to me, that helps THEM pay rent to YOU, so from now on, Instead of MY rent, I’ll pay YOU a dollar AND the cost of the utilities, and use the money I’m NOT paying you in rent, to put more shelves and products in MY store, which SHOULD bring ME more shoppers, who just MIGHT shop at the other stores, too, so THEY can better pay THEIR rent to you. Such a deal, huh? (Oh, and can I scrape your name off the parking lot sign, nothing personal?)”
Credibly assuming you have NOT suffered brain damage, your reply would probably be something like, “Are you $%#@ING KIDDING ME? I am your landlord, and I need to make an investment RETURN on the value of the BUILDING I OWN, not just BREAK EVEN while I hope for crumbs from YOUR flaky business plan to eventually fall MY WAY while YOU eat cake! YOU’RE running the business for YOUR profit, which YOU KEEP, so NICE TRY locking in all of YOUR costs to ZERO at MY expense, but the RISK of the future should be YOURS, NOT MINE! You TOLD me you HAVE the money to pay a FAIR RENT, and if FAIRNESS is not your game, which exit do you prefer, the door, or the window?”
BTW, I’ll bet ‘Rancho de Skallywag’ is OUTSIDE Anaheim? A crappy, PAINful shoe, always LOOKS good on OTHER feet!
Too bad it isn’t “the Angels” developing anything. It’s another legal entity called Pacific Investors LLC. So how come the Stadium MOU lets the Angels bug out in 2036 – a scant seven years out past where they are obligated to stay now (except that the Gang of Four just gave them another 2.5 years to jump ship in 2019 and got nothing in return) while the development MOU goes on for another 40+ years, and takes all the taxes with it?
The Talking Mannequins keep saying the revenue from the land deal will let Moreno fix up the stadium, or build a new one. Yet no where in the MOUs is any linkage made. Why not? Moreno is already responsible for stadium maintenance through 2029 (except that the Gang of Four just gave them another 2.5 years to 2019 to jump ship and got nothing in return).
And there is no schedule for development either that holds Moreno accountable for developing land that is costing him ZERO. Why is that?
For all the “arguments” about keeping the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Anaheim there is not a single specific point in the MOUs that makes this happy event any more likely than it was on September 2nd. In fact the chances of their staying is now A LOT LESS. Why? The Gang of Four just gave them another 2.5 years to 2019 to jump ship and got NOTHING in return.
From the Experimental GMO Fields of Kauai to the TPP: Connecting the Dots….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-brower/gmos-kauai-tpp_b_3883371.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
Greece is back on the news. The euro zone debt crisis prompted the rise of Golden Dawn, a far right organization, overtly anti-immigrant. Pavlos Fissas , a 34-years old anti-racist rapper was stabbed to death by a sympathizer of the Golden Dawn party.
Large rallies have been held protesting his death.
White House staffers have adopted a new and unflattering nickname for their boss: “Obam-me,” Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan says she heard in chats with a few senators.
And how did the staffers come up with that name?
“Because it’s all about him and his big thoughts,” Noonan writes in a column. “I guess the second-term team is not quite as adoring as the first.”
And I ask myself: “would Peggy Noonan lie?” And myself says: “you know she would; why even bother asking?”
‘Atlas Shrugged’ Producers to Launch Kickstarter Campaign to Complete Trilogy
“The day we launch the Kickstarter campaign,” says producer Harmon Kaslow, “haters are going to come alive. They’re going to come after us in droves, attacking us everywhere online.”
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
So Haters is the reason nobody went to see the first episode? Damn free market…
Why don’t the Koch brothers just write em a check? Or did they too find it a ridiculous yawnfest?
Atlas 2 was much worse than Atlas 1 – but the message got out there. Here’s hoping they knock it out of the park w/ AS3. The bar is set pretty low.
I didn’t know they even made a #2. I just remember the producers being really despondent over the failure of #1, and saying they were gonna give up.
I expect that not many among this old and irritable crowd spend much time on reddit.com, but this is a good reason to go:
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1mwub1/what_was_pre911_america_like/
A 16-year-old asks, in earnest, what life was like in the U.S. before 9/11. And people answer in earnest.
BBC World celebrates Pablo Neruda’s ‘Poem 15’ in 21 languages
On the 40th anniversary of the death of Pablo Neruda, BBC World pays tribute to the famous poet through a video of Poem 15, one of Neruda’s most famous works, recited in 21 of the 28 languages operated by the BBC World Service. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda died on September 23, 1973, a few days after the military coup that toppled President Salvador Allende. At the time of the coup, Neruda was hospitalized in a clinic in Santiago de Chile suffering from prostate cancer. He died twelve days later. Although tests have confirmed that he had advanced cancer, other possible causes of his death are still under investigation.
Poem 15
It pleases me when you grow silent, as though you were absent,
and you hear me from afar, and my voice does not touch you.
It seems that your eyes have flown from you
and it seems that a kiss has closed your mouth.
As everything is filled with my soul,
you emerge from everything, filled with that soul.
Dream butterfly, you resemble my soul
and you resemble the word melancholy.
It pleases me when you grow silent and are as if far away.
As if moaning, butterfly lulled to sleep.
And you hear me from afar, and my voice does not arrive:
let me quiet myself with your silence.
Let me speak with you also with your silence,
clear as the lamplight, simple as a ring.
You are like the night, quieted and clustered with stars.
Your silence is of the star, so far away and simple.
It pleases me when you grow silent, as though you were absent.
Distant and dolorous as though you were dead.
One word then, one smile is enough.
And I am happy, happy that that is not so.
(Translation: Terence Clarke)
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/358921#ixzz2fmF062j1
Vern/Greg : is the feed/link to the SaveAnaheim website broken?
I thought I took it down. In any case, the high-strung Jason has apparently discontinued his blog, unfortunately…
OH! It’s back?!?! I’ll have to put our link back up tomorrow
WaPo:
Antarctic sea ice has grown to a record large extent for a second straight year, baffling scientists seeking to understand why this ice is expanding rather than shrinking in a warming world.
On Saturday, the ice extent reached 19.51 million square kilometers, according to data posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site. That number bested record high levels set earlier this month and in 2012 (of 19.48 million square kilometers). Records date back to October 1978.
One reason I can think of for increased Antarctic sea ice is that chunks of glaciers keep calving off of the continent of Antarctica into the sea. I’d check out the story — or is it someone’s OpEd? — but you didn’t provide a link.
One should also check the thickness of the ice.
The concern is the total volume of the sea ice, not how far a thin layer extends.
Volume relates to climate, area relates to weather.
H – ha – ha – ha – ha – ha !!!!!
We’ll be waiting for your report …..
From the Polar Science Center…..
Monthly averaged ice volume for August 2013 was 5,800 km3. This value is 66% lower than the mean over this period, 76% lower than the maximum in 1979, and 0.8 standard deviations below the 1979-2013 trend. August ice volume was about 1400 km3 larger than in August of 2012 and within 200 km3 of the 2010 August ice volume. While ice volume at the maximum during April was on par with the previous two years, reduction in ice volume during the summer month was less than in previous years. August ice volume showed the first increase since 2008 but is still below the long-term trend line.
psc.apl.washington.edu › Home › RESEARCH › Projects
Any questions?
Ha – ha – ha – ha !!!!!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/09/23/antarctic-sea-ice-hit-35-year-record-high-saturday/?tid=pm_local_pop
From the Digital Journal……another sciency publication…..
Edinburgh – Latest observations on Arctic sea ice from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Cryosat mission, presented at a symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland, last week, reveal a new record low volume of sea ice in the northern polar region.
Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/358504#ixzz2fqn1exoX
I got more science for you if you want.
Ha ha ha ha ah ha haha
Compare the amount of time that it takes skally to pass along that charge with the amount of time that it takes an actual writer to rebut the hell out of it:
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/18941-arctic-sea-ice-and-al-gores-prediction-2013
This is why sometimes, if a right-wing assertion doesn’t make sense, it’s pretty safe just to ignore it. It will turn out to be misleading.
“What should we do About Bias on the Digital Journal?”
“.. the bias in articles and comments posted on the Digital Journal has become a problem. In fact .. the bias is so bad that it reduces the value of the Digital Journal as source of news and information.”
The web pages of the Digital Journal are filled with articles demonstrating .. bias.
Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/blog/
Didn’t like that source?
How about Forbes?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/09/21/2013-arctic-ice-extent-was-the-sixth-lowest-on-record/
There are pages and pages of real scientists saying that ol’ Mother Earth is getting warmer.
But go on and stick your head in the sand. It might keep you cooler.
How about NOAA ?
Or are they a bunch of know nothings too ?
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/ice-seaice.shtml
Sorry Skally…. you’re clueless on this issue. Global warming is real, and we now have to prepare for the increase in polar shipping and the hazards it includes, because sea lanes have now opened up that weren’t available before.
All of the worlds glaciers are retreating, the sea ice is melting, storms are more intense because of a warmer atmosphere which holds more moisture, low lying islands are being drowned around the world…… and for some stupid reason you want to deny all of this.
I would think that a big scaredy cat like yourself would be afraid of the terrorist’s sailing down from the north to get you. It’s the new unprotected frontier!
“Man the dog sleds… I mean the slush puppies! Too late ! Get the swamp buggies! Arggh! To the underground bunkers! Aw they’re flooded !
Fox News fooled me, again !”
Well, that clears up your whole understanding of global warming.
‘If I make fun of scientists, I don’t have to deal with it.’
Brilliant Skally, just brilliant.
Typical lib-lie, NOAA reports that Arctic sea ice increased in 2013 AGAIN – to within standard average deviation. You deliberatly showed 2012 rather than 2013.
What year is it Skally ?
The numbers for September 2013 aren’t in yet.
That’s why I deliberately showed 2012.
Maybe science just isn’t your thing, and you should stick to bullets and beer.
Wrong demagogue –
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
Did you read what you posted? You sound like the Winships.
“NSIDC scientists will release a full analysis of the melt season in early October, once monthly data are available for September.”
I wouldn’t trust Gennifer Flowers to tell me whether either of the Clintons had elbows.
Still obsessing about the Clinton’s sex lives, over a decade later?
You’re either repressed, or you ain’t gettin’ any.
I had no idea that you even knew Hillary personally, skally, let along intimately.
I decided that skallywag’s sexual fantasies about female politicians should be kept to himself, just like I used to delete Fiala’s fantasies about Janet Nguyen.
Everyone except skally will appreciate it. He, however, may become frustrated.
nah …. I need to be reeled back in occasionally …..