Stuff I Loathe

I have not been getting a lot of traffic lately. Sometimes, when I hit on one or two things of importance to someone somewhere I get one or two. The State of Nebraska has visited me a couple of times, and I have even gotten three international hits. So, in an attempt to drive up my ratings, I'm going to give a little blurb about stuff I loathe (since it's wrong to hate). This is a short list...short, but effective.

Lack of courtesy (this is my biggest pet peeve; everyone from those bastards who won't use their turn signals to people who won't say "thank you" for holding a door for them...they can all rot); hippies; burners (Northern Nevadans should know what I mean); UNLV; the City What Shall Not Be Named; the reds; the Reds; the Atlanta Braves; the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim; the Denver Broncos; the Boise State Broncos; the Raiders; the Red Raiders; the Dolphins; the Cowboys; mind games between significant others; the Dodgers; UTEP; Texas; Texas; Texas; people who belittle other people because their beliefs fail to coincide; atonality; USC; Jacques Chirac; assholes who drive SUVs or a 1967 Ford pickup with bumper stickers what say "No Blood for Oil," "Obama 08," "Endless War," "Think Green," &c. &c. &c; James Buchannan; Gary Buchannan; canine lymphoma; cholera (been there, done that, saved by Poweraide); teenage drivers; teenage girls who think they can sing; Spaniards; nose flutes; wank jobs who think they're musicians because they can play G, C, and D7 chords on a gee-tahr; saxophones; teenage oboe players; soccer; the word "malignant;" people who say "numero uno" who do not speak Spanish as a native language; (most) democrats; when my cat puts her butt in my face at four in the morning; the Nevada Indoor Clean Air Act...

The list goes on, but I think this is a fair start.

Greening with the Patricians

Since the release of "An Inconvenient Truth," we have seen environmental action (or, perhaps rather, environmental attention) move from the fringe to the mainstream, almost overnight. It is not the scope of this quick note to speculate upon the validity of Mr. Gore's evidences, and I will point out that wastefulness in any capacity is a bad thing, be it gasoline, food, scrap iron, &c.

Conservation is good.

However, as with any such rapid development in philosophy, a kind of "rage," or "craze" has been born; along with that craze comes a growing belief that one cannot feel good unless they are contributing to the solution. For some people this means attempting to levy feelings of guilt over those who are seen as contributing to the problem, and since we have seen an exponential growth of environmental sentiment, it is a mathematical certainty that there will be a correlating rise in the number of guilt "mongers."

Guilt is bad.

Environmental agendas have been vanguards for the Left for some time now, and this convenient rage (pun intended) fuels their ambitions (again, pun intended) at a critical juncture in time. Along with this, however, is the promulgation of a common stereotype that the Right is out to fulfill their ambitions upon the brow of labor, over the toil of the lower income brackets: that the so-called "common folk" are indentured to the capitalists.

Right is Czarism.
Left is salvation.

Therein lies the problem. At this critical juncture what boils down is that those who can feel good about helping the environment are largely those who can afford to feel good. It is the brow of labor which sweats in these times, and requiring lower income families to purchase more expensive equipment and/or fuel in order to further one agenda merely serves to punish those families. Nominal savings in energy usage concurrent with rising energy prices becomes a wash, and we are left with "feel good" environmentalism wrought upon the toil of the lower income brackets. Chances are that an American scraping by on $22K per year is not going to care a whole lot about how any moose one light bulb is saving, let alone someone living in abject poverty in Calcutta. For many the thought of owning a Prius is a nice idea, but when you can only budget $2K for a used car the economy (and often even the condition) are right out.

Include in this the number of people who believe that rising fuel costs are a good thing...Erik Kirschbaum, for example. These are nice things to say, when one can afford to say them (or, rather, actually live by them) all the while blatantly flying in the face of the problems that these people profess an attempt to alleviate.

Left is Czarism.
Left is popular complacency.

Environmentalism is the fight of the patrician Left, at least as it is currently waged, and to ignore that fact is to ignore a very important feature of this election year. They purvey of themselves to be the caretaker of the downtrodden, yet it is one of their proudest vanguards which is currently leading to many of the economic woes of those who are least capable of paying for it.

Until people are able to deal with the "greening" in a rational manner rather than as a mania, it will continue to be a major, unspoken factor of economic difficulty.

Five Reasons Why I Would Not Live in Nebraska

There are many good things to say about the place, don't get me wrong. However, there are at least five pressing things keeping me away.

(Honourable Mention: the Unicameral; any state which does not have two houses in their legislature is not for me, and since Nebraska is the ONLY state with a unicam, well, there it is.)

5.) Humidity: I hate humidity. I can tolerate it, in small doses for short periods of time, but even then it's a tough ride. I'll take the occasional nose bleed and split finger over swollen joints anytime.

4.) Public Lands: Nevada has a LOT of public land and a load of things to see on those public lands if you have the slightest idea what you are trying to find. Things like ghost towns, the "petrified forest" north of Gerlach, the Reese River, &c. &c. Nebraska: not so much. This will relate to #2 somewhat closely.

3.) Runza: If you've never tried one...don't. I guess it's an acquired taste, as there are far more people who admit to loving the stuff than should be allowed to breed, but for this Nevadan it's something akin to the Midwest's version of haggis. Rather than boiling it in a wee sheep's stomach, though, it served in some kind of soggy pita bread. I hate to think of the number of random "use every part of the buffalo" things that they contain, but more is almost never better, and if mustard can't make it taste good then it's just not fit for human consumption.

2.) Mountains: I love mountains. Big mountains, small mountains, mountains what climb on rocks; fat mountains, skinny mountains, even mountains with chicken pox! Nebraska has no mountains. They have Chimney Rock...woo. In Nebraska you lose cell service if you drop into a depression deeper than you are tall; in my case that's particularly sad. No mountains, no me. Not only are there no mountains but you'd have to drive half a day just to see one! To hell with that.

1.) Tornadoes: I think this is self explanatory...to the point that I nearly left it off the list. I can handle earthquakes: if the house falls down I can always dig out. Conversely, if the tornado doesn't destroy all my family heirlooms then the accompanying rain will certainly finish the job unless I keep them in a below-ground safe encased in concrete. I would like living in a place where I'd be reading about wildfires rather than fearing them, but it's just not worth it.

So there it is; that should be just enough to get my mother all riled up.

McCain vs. Obama and the Gallup Announcers

If you feel like keeping track of these things as they go by, Gallup has Obama leading McCain by six. These things do change day-by-day, and poll-by-poll, inasmuch as polls are trustworthy anyway, but Gallup is normally pretty good about these things.

http://www.gallup.com/

I remember back in 2004 I would check out various network websites to see the electorate's opinions regarding the debates. It would seem that the conservative base raced to the Communist News Network to vote for Bush, while the Libs headed straight for Fox News to plug for Kerry. Just food for thought.

Harry Reid Is Still a Villainous Scourge

Sorry to my loyal reader for my absence. I offer this as a token of my saudade for the delay.

At it again, they are. Those people, down there, the ones in that damnable metroplex in Southern Nevada. Unwilling to make concessions to anybody, incapable of even the slightest sacrifice, reserved from any empathy with those who stand in their way, they have succeeded in their plans to rape much of White Pine County of its water (to the tune of 19 billion gallons per year). They are now beginning to look to the future; not for any sort of real solutions, but to extend their raping, this time across state lines.

The plan: by 2015 (the 100th anniversary of the Lusitania sinking...coincidence? I think so), be able to pump up to 16 billion gallons from Snake Valley, which straddles the Nevada (White Pine)/Utah border.

The project is backed by casino executives, developers, union representatives and others who point to water conservation efforts in (_@$ \#&@$) and who warn of an economic downturn — beyond the one the state already is experiencing — unless the city gets more water.

Water conservation efforts? I'd like to see examples. I would love to be proven wrong in the face of such overwhelming evidence to the contrary...

See exhibits A...; B (It's a hot, desert climate...let's build SWIMMING POOLS!)...; and C (as the quote on Google states: "Every guest to Bellagio must witness our spectacular dancing waters that come to life on our 8-acre lake.")...just to give three. Eight acres, for the love of God!?

"In a ruling last week, Taylor granted SNWA just over 6 billion gallons a year of the 11 billion gallons of groundwater it sought from Delamar, Dry Lake and Cave Valleys in Lincoln County, despite warnings from opponents that the pumping could have a catastrophic impact.

"SNWA representatives had contended the water authority met all requirements for the pumping from the three valleys and said critics’ disaster scenarios were unfounded. The valleys, located between about 75 miles and 125 miles from (_@$ \#&@$), are expected to be the first tapped for the agency’s massive pipeline project."

How do you define unfounded? Because the groundwater is coming from places that most people down there are unaware even exist (or, if they do, they don't care since they are "the hicks")?

So that Senator Reid can stick another 400,000 people down there without the infrastructure or, more importantly, the resources to sustain them?

So that the Belagio can have eight acres upon which to dazzle the masses while marching their armies of the damned (or army of darkness?) across my beloved state to pillage our precious resources?

That's how I define unfounded...hell, that's how I define unwarranted.

This at a time where our own TMWA is considering leasing their utilities to private investors. Normally I would not be entirely opposed to such action, but there are two important factors as to why this is a bad idea: 1.) this is still Nevada, and I don't need investors from California or Texas or wherever else is raw and evil controlling our aquatic resources...Nevada's water, by God, sir, will be run by Nevadans; and 2.) what's to keep the Southies from sending up their own "investors?"

Not to rant like a raving lunatic...perhaps I should have allowed myself to cool off a bit before writing. But I, certainly, have to vent once in a while.

Harry Reid Is a Villainous Scourge

I mean that, I really do, from the bottom of my war-weary heart. The reasons are plentiful, but the ones tugging at me so vociferously in recent hours come from a florid counterpoint of dirtiness interweaving into black texture of demise.

It all surrounds growth. Some months past I gave a brief tutorial regarding the activities which have provided revenue for the State of Nevada. Ever since the Great Depression, gaming has been Nevada's crutch. However, the amount of monies the industry is capable of pumping into the coffers is not congruent to the rate of growth; the fact is, it hasn't been for a long time now. Unrestricted or, rather, uncontrolled growth (along with the social programs what generally follow) is a major concern for a fiscally sound Nevada.

Growth also provides great difficulties in a state devoid of a number of vital resources. Chief among them: water. Southern Nevada has an advantage in the form of access to the Colorado River and Lake Mead. They have a disadvantage in having to share that water with another desert state with a rapidly growing population. As it stands the Southern end of the state (along with Arizona) is bleeding Lake Mead faster than river flow is able to replenish the reservoir, which is leaving them to grab what water they can where they can find it. They began courting the town of Ely, offering them a pittance in exchange for significant quantities of White Pine County water; when the courtship failed they responded with coercion. Current populations are unable to suffice with their own resources, leaving them to pillage other locales within the state; growth fuels these atrocities.

Taxation vs. budget reallocation: each of the past two governors have had to deal with budget crises, and each have handled these crises in different fashions. Kenny Guinn decided that a massive tax levy was necessary, aimed high, and still managed to get a portion more than was necessary after three special sessions by the state legislature. Jim Gibbons has vowed to balance the budget without taxation. While I cannot envy either, nor will I condemn either in this post, the fact remains that the deficit this time 'round leads to significant budgetary constraints and some remarkable spending cuts.

What is congruent here: along with such strains upon the State of Nevada relating to rampant growth is the planning of a new community, some 60 miles north of the North B.M.I. Townsite, which is planned to comprise up to 150,000 homes (leading to anywhere between 350,000 to 450,000 residents). It's not what he's not doing, it's that Sen. Reid is an active player in the development, under the guise of job growth. Creating jobs is great...at what cost? We, as a state, can't afford this growth. We must ask ourselves, for a left-of-moderate Democrat such as Reid, what could possibly provide his motives? He is an active participant in a major engagement which will do little but to exacerbate our state's woes, and will not himself so much as provide a believable spin for the situation.

Reid is a cancer. There, I've said it.

I'm a Republican and I Don't Have to Apologize for It

And as a result, I am adding one of the GOP bog add-ons. I'm sure they won't mind (since they give you the links on their own web page) and if anything perhaps they'll track me a bit. Then they'll take notice of me. Then the world will be my oyster and everyone will have a Victory Garden.

In other news, a co-worker and I were arguing to-day (I like hy-phens) about "change" and what is the "best way" (in a general sense, not in a "what's-the-best-way-to-change" sense); she argued that federalization is best, at least at this juncture, in order to tame rampant business interests from destroying the lower classes (sound familiar?), but happened to destroy her own argument by discussing the corruption of the federal government, and in the same breath, no less. Ergo, her disillusionment gave me the perfect plug for privatization.

Privatization/federalization; you be the judge.

By the way, don't you just LOVE those Obama t-shirts in the throwback style of Communist Propaganda? Think it may be (less than) subtly letting you know where he plans on leading us? If there's anything out there that just cries "Left of Lenin," this would be it.

Ain't that right, Comrade Obama; or Комраде (товарищ) Обама.

Just remember to be careful of what you wish, you just might get it. God/karma/fate/whatever you chose to call him/her/it or whatever your beliefs has/have funny ways of coming back to bite the proverbial buttocks.



I prefer this one:


Happy gardening.

The Misery Index and You (or, the 38.5 Year Rollercoaster)

During the L. B. Johnson administration, an economist named Arthur Okun devised a simple system to measure the national economic performance; he called it the Misery Index, and it added two important figures together: the rate of inflation and the rate of unemployment concurrent for a given period of time. The formula is no more complex than simple addition (unless, of course, you seek averages, in which case you must know how to divide *gasp*).

In any case, my thoughts turned to the so-called misery index for two reasons: one, Ronald Reagan, in his address to the 1988 Republican National Convention, made mention of the index's use during the 1976 campaign in order to discredit incumbent Gerald Ford, using it himself in turn to discredit Jimmy Carter while showing the strides his administration had made toward the restoration of the economy - this set a precedent in my mind relating to the economic situation through different decades; two, I overheard a comment the other day relating to "Reagan's Recession" and what an "awful" president he had been. The utterer had disappeared before I could retort with "remember the '70s" and "it's about the whole picture, not about whether or not your folks could sell a house," but it got the ball rolling in my head: I HAD to devise a way to show simple economic indicators from where we've been prior to Reagan, through his administration, and right up to the present. If nothing else, it would help to show the state of our current "recession" and perhaps put it into perspective for some people.

My first thought was to create a so-called "Pocket Misery Index Calculator" which could be produced at will from my haversack of goodies, until I found http://www.miseryindex.us/, which not only shows Okun's index by year (subdividing for administrations as well), but also by month from 1948, as well as both factors of the formula by month, again from 1948. This can be accessed from anywhere (maybe not Kansas, but anywhere else). I now have all the ammunition I need to wage a war of attrition upon the masses.

I shall heal the contrite!!!

So I spent a great deal of time this evening putting together raw numbers, and I must say that there are a few results what surprised even myself. I do not have graphs as of yet, but I will, and when I do I will post them. Readers beware.

What I do have are figures...many, many figures. I have broken them down in the following manners, beginning in 1969:

• Inflation rates by year, including averages per administration.
  
• Unemployment rated by year, including averages ditto.
  
• Misery index ditto.
  
• Averages for all three by administration.
  
• Averages ditto by decade (e.g. 1970-1979).
  
• Averages ditto by semidecade (including the seven year period 1969-1975, and 2.5 year period 2006-present).

For now, I will abbreviate: the rate of inflation through the Nixon administration was 5.00, unemployment was 4.98, and misery was at 9.98. Spike for poor Ford, with 8.66, 7.27, and 15.93, respectively. And for Carter: inflation - 9.73, unemployment - 6.54, misery - 16.27! Remember, these are averages, not high-low.

Reagan: inflation - 4.56, unemployment - 7.54, misery - 12.19; G. H. W. Bush: inflation - 4.38, unemployment - 6.23, misery - 10.68.

Clinton: inflation - 2.60, unemployment - 5.20, misery - 7.8; G. W. Bush: inflation - 3.06, unemployment - 5.53, misery - 8.58.

For the record, the current misery index (May, 2008) is 9.68.

What we see (and you will, too, in coming days) is that the mid '70s spiked hard, and it failed to relent until 1981. The high water mark was 1980, with 13.58 inflation and 7.18 unemployment for a misery of 20.76! This was, may I remind the reader, prior to Reagan's election.

The rampant "misery" of these years culminating the decade did lead to significantly higher unemployment rates for 1982 and 1983, but inflation fell from 13.58 in 1980 to 10.35 in 1981 to 6.16 in 1982 to 3.22 in 1983. Unemployment subsequently rebounded with the period 1984-1988 with 7.51 (1984), 7.19 (1985), 7.00 (1986), 6.18 (1987), and 5.49 (1988). This is a far cry from where the nation was just years prior.

Long story short: the '70s were a really, really baaaad time economically, and it took time, initiative, effort, and more time to right the ship, so to speak. It has always been easier to destroy than to create, and that decade did a fine job of economic destruction, and it took a whole lot of effort (all through the mid '90s, in fact) to put things right again. That's twenty years...Sheesh!

Compare that to the past few years:

• 1996-2000: inflation - 2.48; unemployment - 4.60; misery - 7.09
  
• 2001-2005: inflation - 2.55; unemployment - 5.83; misery - 7.98
  
• 2006-present: inflation - 4.07; unemployment - 5.72; misery - 9.79
  

And I will take Bush's 9.68 misery against Carter's 20.76 any day; people need to look at the past and reflect upon it rationally. Tomorrow I will post my notes. Happy reading!

Mais coisas das jardins.

I am going to take a moment to discuss (or, rather, point the reader in the direction of) a most important topic related to an effective "victory garden:" canning.

It's great to have a garden, it is not only rewarding but also quite cathartic (in my opinion) to go through the toils required of a good gardening experience. However, what is to be done with the surplus of veggies one may have come fall? Some plants (legumes, among a plethora of others) continue to produce over a period of time, providing some foodstuffs during the growing season. Many are not ripe until the fall harvest. Point being, if you are lucky enough to have access to sufficient land to grow bushels of foodstuffs it is behoving to save and store such foodstuffs for consumption during the non-growing seasons. Said foodstuffs must be preserved for storage, and the age old tradition is by home canning.

Wikipedia presents us a nice, forensic article about canning in general and is well worth the read. They likewise have an article on home canning which, while lacking formal instruction, adds a quick insight into the overall concept (and dangers). Some foodstuffs are relatively easy (high acid content), but most garden items require special attention and technique lest money saved quickly be transferred to the local infirmary (bad).

The USDA provides its own canning website, and I may recommend reading this thoroughly. Wikipedia is good about supplying links, and so others may be reached, but I would believe this one to be the most trustworthy.





I mention canning first and foremost in my "Victory Garden Series" so that the reader may be aware of the challenges to be faced depending upon the level to which he or she is willing to take the concept; I endorse the "balls to the wall" idea. After all, it shouldn't be about what someone else (the feds) can do to help you, it should be about what you can do to help yourself. Cast away the blame game, kick away the self pity, and roll up your sleeves and just do it!

As jardins pela vitória

I have been giving serious thought to the idea of a "victory garden" of late, and the more I dwell upon it the more heartily the belief in the idea grows. Perhaps because I come from a line of farmers on both sides of the family, or perhaps because I'm just cheap. Regardless, I think it's a great idea, and even if you live in a squalid apartment, or "flat," one can always find a way to grow something useful.

Detroit, for instance, is trying an interesting idea (yes, something GOOD we can take from Detroit!), using vacant lots to grow fresh produce. I think this is brilliant, so long as there is a sure way to protect the food (not just from thieves, but also from the perverts out there who feed off of human misery). As of yet I'm not sure that I would trust a zucchini grown on West Grand Boulevard, but add in a couple of guard towers and a competent biologist (or even a good, ol' fashioned agricultor) and we've stumbled upon an "herbalogical" sweet spot!

So I am going to include a series of little postings (if anyone finds them) to assist people in certain forgotten arts what may help people along in their horticultural ventures. The best part: you need not fork over the bulk of your growings to the state to distribute at their whim. IT'S ALL YOURS!!!

Of course, some things take more effort and more time than others. Some climates favor more water, some favor a longer growing season, and some dangerously unpredictable, and some are just awful for most anything. I will try to help people along with this (graphs!) as best I can.

For those who are willing to strive for success in these ventures, this may help to free up a little extra petty cash for all those decadent little "bourgeois" luxuries you've always wanted. VIVA! now I can get a Wii.

We Are Sooooo Screwed

I'm going to take a quick minute to harbinge a little darkness.

If you haven't been following the news at all, the midwest is experiencing some catastrophic flooding. Sorry if this isn't clear enough, but I don't mean "catastrophic" as a metaphor, I mean that hundreds of square miles of crops are being wiped clean off of the earth. What hasn't been affected by the ethanol craze is being affected by this, including the ethanol craze. With huge hectareage of ceral grains (corn especially) vanishing, we will see yet another spike in the cost of foodstuffs. Of course, this is going to be worse for our exportee 3rd world countries, but it'll be plenty bad for us, too.

Brace yourselves. In my humble Portuguese opinion, it's time to start thinking Victory Garden!

Iwo Jima

I went to visit my folks this afternoon. They were dutifully watching Fox News and "Hannity & Idiot," the special guest being Leo Terrell, a Los Angeles lawyer fighting discrimination cases. Not to downplay examples of human badness when they occur, but this guy walked right into my cynicism.

In this instance, referring to Letters from Iwo Jima, the movie by Clint Eastwood some years ago, Leo made the claim that, despite there being some 900 African-Americans having fought on Iwo Jima, there was "not one single blackface" in the film.

So, in honor of Mr. Terrell (whether a juris doctorate qualifies him for the title 'doctor' or not I will refer to him as mister, thank you very much), I give you...

...EXACTLY one "Blackface in Iwo Jima."

Take THAT space coyote.

More Olde-Tymie News Stuffs

Back to the lighter side, here's another example of a substantial chunk of editorial from the Ft. Jones news rag, dated Saturday, June 15, 1889:

Learning to Think

In everyday life no fact is more noticeable than the inability of many persons to do their own thinking, even in matters and upon lines wholly within the range of their intelligence. They will see a point that is suggested to them, and will at once understand its bearing on some matter in hand, but they do not seem to have the faculty or art of raising points for themselves, and consequently their action is not as intelligent as it might be. If given a rule to work by, they will apply it not only in season but out of season, and will look amazed if one suggests that under special circumstances, they should have varied their usual procedure. Every employer and overseer knows to what an extent this is the case. It is the exceptional workman who really thinks, and who can therefore be trusted to suit his circumstances. And so in nearly every sphere of life, a kind of automatism seems to be the rule, and intellegent (sic) self-direction, in the light of present facts, more or less the exception. One is therefore tempted to ask whether in connection with our system of education some gymnastic might not be devised for the special purpose of teaching the rising generation to think.

We do not know who the author of the above paragraph is but he has well said what people who do think have thought of a thousand times. The automaton who does everything because his muscles are schooled to it by a more intelligent power never can be more than a mere machine. If an over ambitious workman, who is always suggesting something new and perhaps impracticable is objectionable, the man who never has a thought above doing just what he is told - nothing less nor more - is a downright nuisance and must always occupy a subordinate position or none at all. Originality, even wrongly directed, is preferable to an absolute want of the power to devise a way out of a difficulty of, better yet, to avoid it altogether in the absence of the head of the concern. Thought rightly directed is self-reliance, which is the foundation if not the the essence of fortune. This talk of the NEWS to its young readers is not intended to reflect upon a single member of the large circle who peruse its columns but to stimulate the habit of thought and that kind of thought which like applied science, is prolific of grand results.

I suppose I could editorialize the editorial, but that would defeat the purpose. As it stands, perhaps we should take the editor's advice and just dwell upon it individually, divining our own sense of correctness and/or falsity. Think about it for ourselves and take our own truths from it, or use it as a springboard for our own mental provocations.

Wham, Bam, Thank You, Klan

While on my repast in Yreka this past weekend I came upon this story on KOBI out of Medford, OR. This is an absolutely disgusting atrocity, and the legal system in Oregon owes to all her citizens swift and crushing discipline in this matter.

If you have not accessed the above link, I will brief the situation. The victims here are Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan and Sol Whyte, longtime residents of Medford. Mr. Whyte immigrated from Jamaica in 2000, and in recent days the family has been targeted by repeated acts of white supremacist vandalism. They are now fleeing their neighborhood.

I thank the Almighty that this is now an "exception that proves the rule," of sorts. It is my understanding that Southern Oregon harbors many of these types exhibiting some of the most deplorable traits of human society, yet at large occurrences such as these do help to underscore how our society deems such matters: now it is a banner tragedy, not a blurb in the "Neighborhoods" section of the local paper (...this week's Klan meeting will take place at Jackson's place on Old Mill Road; those willing to participate or provide refreshments should contact Wizard Miller at KL5-0104).

These acts may lend an unfortunate verisimilitude to the likes of Father Michael Pfleger, Rev. Wright, and others. Their hate is rhetorical; these Oregonians' hate is pompous, wanton acts of vandalism. And unlike the above vocal clergy, the perpetrators of these crimes can only be described as dirty cowards, engaging in esoteric acts. They spill archaic, asinine opinion under the guise of righteousness, of being true and worthy; they should have the gumption to appear in public with their ideals. Rather they are empowered by acts of vandalism and terror; as such, they should be handled as domestic terrorists and prosecuted to the fullest extents of the law in our post 9/11 society. (We should, however, not forget that the "clerical" rhetoric of the above is of similar tenacity, of nearly identical sentiment, and mongers a similar hate.)

The Whyte family has my deepest sympathies, and I encourage all to rebuke and disparage this disgusting situation.

Ye Olde-Tymie News Stuffs

I've just now returned from my annual visit to the Holy Land (was once "quadrannual," then semiannual, then $4.49 9/10) , and one of the first things I do when I get to Yreka (the Golden City) is hit the archives at the courthouse and/or the county library. Specifically, this go-'round was to search out (an) article(s) pertaining to the murder of my great-great uncle in May of 1889 (story for another time). I certainly found more than a bargain of information, not just about the untimely "deceasement" of o Senhor Manoel Cardozo, but also glimpses of exactly what passed for journalism back in that day. These kinds of examples are not peculiar to the Fort Jones paper, however the quiet nature of the vicinity seemed to lend a wont for material to take up the space between the banner and the advertisements. I've decided that, from time to time, I will share some of the gems I have found on just two partial pages.

Here we go...

Advertisement:

Consumption Surely Cured.

To the editor - Please inform your readers that I have a positive remedy for the above named disease. By its timely use thousands of hopeless cases have been permanently cured. I shall be glad to send two bottles of my remedy FREE to any of your readers who have consumption if they will send me their express and post office address. Respectfully,

T. A. Slocum, M.C. 181 Pearl St., New York.

As true today as it was when it was written??? For those of you born after 1920, consumption=tuberculosis.

From Saturday, June 8, 1889:

News Notes.

Fireworks on July 4th evening.

T. C. Jones goes to Redding Monday.

The new creamery at Walker's ranch is in successful operation.

L.R. Baggett goes to San Fernando, Los Angeles county, early next week.

A.J. Walker has posts for sale near Callahan's. See advertisement.

John Henderson returned Wednesday evening from a trip to San Francisco.

Returns from Chas. Abbott's Greenhorn Creek mine, the Journal says are satisfactory.

Robert Willard of Hamburg was in town this week, on his return from the County seat.

A large number of people from all parts of the Valley went to the pic-nic at Meamber's yesterday.

J.F. Taggart was here last week setting up marble work in the Fort Jones and Etna cemeteries.

Felix Kunz and family returned Wednesday evening from San Francisco, where Mrs. Kunz has been for her health.

Lots will be offered for sale at Klamath City by the first of August and the Mills probably ready for business by December.

G. G. Mallow and L. E. Clark have left at this office, some fine specimens of vegetables grown in their respective gardens.

The ladies of Oro Fino will give an ice cream social at the school house June 11th., for the benefit of Rev. W.C. Stewart.

Good wages is made (sic.) in the Humbug mines by carrying the dirt some distance down the mountain and washing with the rocker.

Mrs. John Furness of San Francisco came up on a visit to her brother, L.S. Wilson, on Tuesday. She was accompanied by her two daughters.

There are oh so many more, but I will leave those for a later time; after all, if I give them all up front, how will I be able to regale people with more in the future? This stuff must last awhile, you know.

Memoria de...

I guess you could consider my family to be "lucky" when it comes to wartime. I have had a number of family members in the military; but when it came to war in the age of conscription, most were either too young or too old (my great grandfather would have been old enough to have served in the U.S. Civil War, but he was yet in the Old Country so he doesn't really count). There were a few notable exceptions:

There's not a whole lot known about my mother's family. The only two of whom I am certain were two cousins (brothers, in fact) involved in WWII. Joe was a pilot in the Pacific Theater and later also served in Korea; his brother, Frank, was killed on the U.S.S. West Virginia at Pearl Harbor.

On t'other side, I had three great uncles conscripted into the AEF in 1917. Uncle Joe C. planned on being an aviator, but after his first flight he reconsidered; he was lucky enough to avoid being sent "over there." Ditto with Uncle Anthony Simas; my grandmother was scant with information, and I was young enough to be complacent with scant information while her mind remained sound, yet I seem to recall her saying that he had landed a cushy desk job. Uncle Joe Simas was less fortunate, returning to the Western Hemisphere shell-shocked and weary. He survived the armistice by a mere fourteen years. Although living in the Azores at the time, my great grandfather would have been old enough to have served in the U.S. Civil War.

Others may have more spectacular family war stories, but that is mine. On this Memorial Day, here's not only to the fallen soldiers, but to the survivors, the desk jockeys, the message runners, the factory workers, miners, farmers...all those of the great American infrastructure who have kept and continue to keep our nation rolling, especially under duress, as well as the families who love and support them.

"Cardozaisms"

Now the lighter side:

If I were to be memorialized in one of those "...isms" books, I think that it would go a little something like this...

(You probably have to be a Nevadan to get most of these...this does NOT include people from The City What Shall Not Be Named, as they have demonstrated time and time again that they really don't care to be part of our great state, and I really don't want them here.)

Some people call it a "false spring;" around here we call it "February."

(in a similar vein...)

So-And-So made reference to our freak snowstorm...Renoites call it "Memorial Day."

Yes, I ride my bike to work and wear an old U.S. Army haversack; this does not mean that I am a #$% %&*@ hippie, it means I'm a cheap son-of-a...

There is a Satan, and unions do his bidding.

I feel so...Warren Harding.

Here's one: not a verbal expression, just a big, waggling middle finger at some sludge donkey not using a turn signal; this would be the cover page, and is the quintessential "me."

Sludge donkey!!!

G. W. does not equal Stalin; nor does he equal Hitler. When I see brown shirts on the streets rounding up brown people, running them into boxcars at the tracks, tens of thousands of people "disappearing" or coming down with a bad case of North Dakota, and one of them comes to get you for making that very comment, then maybe, MAYBE I'll agree.

It's PINE NUT SEASON!!! Let's dance 'round the September Pole!

Thanks, Harry Reid, for granting me the opportunity to watch a grown man sweep the interstate with a PUSH BROOM in the middle of the flippin' desert. Glad to know that pork barrel is going somewhere useful.

Punt on third down...they'll never see it coming! (This was a Chris Tormey brainchild, apparently.)

Okay, I'm tired and this is not going nearly as well as I thought it would. Some impartial observer should just trail me with a notebook, because I KNOW I'm good for some kookey crap (not including my Portuguese rants).

Earthquakes and Human Stupidity

I have been ill for a time, but have now sufficiently recovered to resume blogwork, thanks to a miracle elixir called "V8 Fusion." Move over, Nerve Tonic!

As a result of my convalescence (coinciding with a much-needed three-day weekend, as cruel fate would have it), I have been passing several days waiting to make this post. Normally this would serve as a cool-off time for me after which I would decide that the subject just wasn't worth the effort after all. Not so this time. Since our earthquake swarm has intensified, many people have been trying to ask "Why?" Some have been reasonable but way off base; and some of them have been insanely concocted by left-wing leafblowers.

On Friday, the RG-J posted two letters to the editor, "Possible we brought this on ourselves?" and "Draining aquifers could be the cause." I was able to link to the first, but was unable to locate the second via the RG-J website; possibly some intrepid reader may have more luck than I. It is OK, I will merely have to copy it out. But first things first.

"Possible we brought this on ourselves?" brings attention to the recent explosion of residential development in the area of the recent Reno earthquake swarm. I will not dwell upon this letter, but will mention a quick point. The author notes two things: one, that the landscape has been altered, in some places rather significantly (The mountain could now easily pose for the cover of Strip Mining Quarterly.); two, that changes in the landscape have already caused other, more visible/provable problems (Anytime it rains or snows heavily in this area, the county dispatches large vacuum trucks to keep the silt from reaching the Truckee River). This author then poses the question asked in the title. At least he phrases it as a question. I will point out that there are an abundance of real mines all over the west (including Nevada) , and there is no conclusive evidence linking them to similar seismic activity. Also, the largest of the swarm, so I am told, released approximately the same amount of energy as an atom bomb. So, in order for "we humans" to have done this we would have to, well, detonate an atom bomb, not remove relatively small portions of hillside (yes, relatively small; for comparison visit the Carlin Trend). Not to mention the bombing done at the Nevada Test Site. Simply put: no, mankind would have to rape the earth far more than we could ever imagine to even coerce the planet into this kind of retaliation. It is far more likely that we will meet our Waterloo by toxic gasses of our own design long before that (and that is a stretch unto itself).

Now on to the second. This is not something I do too often: rant. But I feel that the author of the second letter has earned a most earnest, vile, and caustic diatribe.

Draining aquifers could be the cause

"Earth tremors at unusually shallow depths" and the scientists wonder why.

Let's see: Deep water wells necessary to support endless housing developments drain the valley's underground-based aquifers of the driest state in the union.

The mountain runoff is unable to restore the volume of incompressible water necessary to support the walls of the emptied aquifer caverns, and gravity does what gravity does. The result might just be "earth tremors at unusually shallow depths.

Works for me until an answer so complex that the public can't understand it comes along.

I almost don't know where to begin with this one, but I may as well do it in the manner now famous amongst my friends and acquaintances...

What kind of bad blow have you been snorting? Seriously...maybe if we sacrifice a virgin to the mountain she'll relent; makes just as much sense! You know what works for me? You moving your stinky hippie self out of my state!!! Seriously, I have heard some dumb, ignorant brain sludge in my day, but that has got to be one of the most unfounded and ignorantly stupefying loads of liberal guilt-ridden tripe to come out of my hometown since the last time Jack Carter spoke here. In fact, I'm still not sure I'm completely grasping your unfathomable idiocy. But let me try, try, to take this thing point-by-grueling point...

(Okay, I have finally regained enough strength to continue; sooooo...)

Wells:

First of all, wells dredging the aquifers are nowhere close to the depths of the earthquakes. Yes, the earthquakes are shallow...by earthquake standards. Yet they exist at a depth, shallow though they are, of between 1-3 kilometers (the sciency types chose the metric system, not I, so don't hold me accountable). The deepest wells reach barely half that depth. This does not include projects such as remediation, which endeavor to replenish aquifers in the area...these wells also do not reach a depth of 1+ kilometers. These are also 'round the Truckee Meadows, the "valley" portion of our metro area, not so much the hills.

Aquifers:

In these parts, aquifers tend to exist in what we call "gravels" and other porous sediments, not in fanciful caves. Even if they did, rock is not what we call "buoyant," and the mere existence of water does not guarantee that such "caves," if they did exist, would not fail. There are, I will concede, examples of wells draining water resulting in such collapses; we see this occurring in Texas right now (saw an article about a 20+ foot sinkhole which is now home to a healthy alligator), and has been common in places like Florida for a long time. These sinkholes are not associated with any kind of seismic activity (at least not what we'd consider to be seismic activity) and result in, well, sinkholes. Do you see any sinkholes developing? DO YOU!?!?

Faults:

Which brings up another point: this is occurring along faulting...never before discovered, and possibly never before active, but faulting none the less. For every fault out there, it had to have a first time, and humans are relative newcomers to the planet, let alone in a "learned" state. Also, the faulting occurring as a result of this swarm are what are called "strike-slip," meaning that the ground is moving laterally. If this were caused by draining massive quantities of water then the temblors would be caused by the downward shift of a section of ground...not a lateral movement.

Now, allow me to indulge myself for a moment. Let's pretend you are right, and that it's mankind's "fault" (sorry for the really bad pun, but I just had to do it) for bringing this on ourselves. Then, sir, don't you dare patronize me by pretending you are not a part of the problem! If this is the case, then you live here right along side the rest of us and would be considered as guilty as the remaining nearly half million of us in Western Nevada...unless, of course, you are being brought your water from mysterious space aliens who appear only to you and your family bringing you water from Mars or some crap, in which case you are leading to the same catastrophic ecological problems on that planet as you are here!

I'm not going to rant like this often, but sometime I just gotta.

Face it, Mr. Person-Whose-Name-I'll-Leave-Off-But-People-Can-Look-Up-If-They-Really-Wanna: you are a total choad.

Carded! parte dois...

I have heard a great deal of discourse of late pertaining to the impact of the immigration debate upon this year's election season, or the nearly total lack thereof. Here's a story what may just change that dynamic altogether.

I have long been of the opinion that, in places where they feel stifled and outnumbered, the left tends to react by making as much noise as humanly possible, and where would they feel more stifled and more outnumbered than in the state of Nebraska? Even Idaho had one blue county in the 2004 election. In this land of corn, cows, and...corn, it would appear that the ever faithful Nebraskan left now has it's vanguard...housing discrimination and its relationship with illegal immigration.

Anne Hobbs was angry. The head of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission had just learned of a Hispanic couple who said their landlord asked for their driver's licenses - but didn't ask the same of non-Hispanic tenants.

Hobbs said it sounded like the couple were "treated differently than everybody else because of national origin," and sent the case to the state's top prosecutor, hoping he would sue on their behalf under fair housing laws. (http://www.cbsnews.com/ May 1, 2008.)

This is a legitimate grievance, if it can be proved. I have yet to divine any evidences to incriminate the landlord, but as this story is fresh I admit that such evidences may yet be forthcoming. However, the outcry stretches far beyond the outcry of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission.

When Attorney General Jon Bruning received the case, he was angry, too - for a different reason than Hobbs.

Did I mention that the couple were in the U.S. illegally?

"I'm not going to use taxpayer dollars to file lawsuits for illegal aliens," said Bruning after learning the couple was in the U.S. illegally. "You're not going to get a free lawyer" from his office, he said, "if you're not a citizen of this country."

Bruning cites the 1996 welfare reform law to validate his stance, specifically the refusal of "any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household or family eligibility unit." According to Ron Haskins, who assisted in the drafting of the 1996 law, said that it was intended to deny legal services to illegal immigrants.

But it is appropriate to spend public money on issues that "advance the interests of society," he said.

"If I was a citizen of the state," he said when told about Bruning's position, "I'd think, what's in the interests of the community?"

"Even if a person is here illegally, we should enforce the law." (http://www.cbsnews.com/ 05/01/2008.)

Exactly; we should enforce the law. This article fails to mention whether or not their housing was denied, but does refer to the person who "carded" the couple as "their landlord," not "potential landlord," nor "property owner," nor any other moniker by which we may infer that the couple were attempting to gain housing; by the use of "their landlord" this insinuates that they were, at the time, tenants of that said landlord. Another source describes the event in a bit more detail:

The case involved a Lincoln couple that filed a complaint with the commission alleging they were discriminated against by their landlord. According to both Hobbs and Bruning, the landlord asked the complainants to provide drivers' licenses after becoming concerned that too many people were living in the apartment. (www.siouxcityjournal.com, 04/18/2008.)

Ergo, this is not a clear-cut case of housing discrimination; without the landlord making specific, stereotyped comments regarding the matter then there is no basis as such. It is also not about the couple's housing rights: it is about the landlord's property rights.

If the landlord had not asked others to produce their drivers' licences or other forms of state identification, then clearly he/she had not asked this of this couple when they first rented, lest such documentation would have been on file. If this be the case, then the fault in the landlord is that no such measures were taken with any tenant at any time in the first place and had no proofs of identity for any tenant; this is clearly poor judgement. But the manner in which this has escalated is ludicrous: the landlord did not evict the couple and their immigration status had no bearing on their rental status; the landlord merely acted, naively and with only minor inflection, in what he/she determined to be the best interests of a perceived concern his/her own property.

There is obviously a great deal of information absent in this story, yet we can make a preliminary conclusion: the couple were not treated differently because of national origin, they were carded because the landlord perceived a potential code violation in the form of too many persons dwelling within the single apartment. We do not know if any of the other apartment dwellers were carded along with them in order to determine whether or not they were party to the lease agreement; nor do we know if there were examples of similar circumstances amongst non-Hispanic tenants. Therefore I declare this outcry to be absurd.

Carded!

Today, April the twenty-ninth, 2008, most buzz surrounds the deepening intrigue between the Messrs. Obama and Wright, and with good cause: it is fantastic tabloid entertainment hitting the mainstream, and what can be better? If I may indulge, I would speculate that actual news may edge out the snappy tabloid goodness that is the Obama-Wright affair, and so I will tackle another big item handed down the pike..."carding" voters at polling places.

Of course, there can be no political action without an equal and opposite reaction, and so there are some people who do not hesitate to condemn this edict. My biggest problem with their dissent is not merely the willful exchange of a contrary view, it is the cliche partisan card playing, in this case the "poor card."

"...because of their ruling there is now an undue burden on the poor and elderly to vote. For them, a voter registration card is not enough." (http://www.liberadio.com/, 04/29/2008.)

I can't vouch for many out there, but my voter registration card could be duplicated by twelve-year-old on an Apple II-e. That aside, how does one define "undue?" In order to obtain an official identification card from the State of Nevada, one must:

• Be a resident of Nevada and provide a Nevada street address.
  
• Provide acceptable proof of your name, date of birth and Social Security number if one has been issued for you. See Residency and Proof of Identity.
  
• Apply in person at a DMV Full Service Office. (We do not make appointments.)
  
• Complete a Driver License Application.
  
• Pay the required fee. (Under 18 - $5.25, 18-64 - $11.25, 65 or older - $6.25)
  
• Surrender any existing U.S. driver license, permit or ID card.
  
• Have your picture taken. The ID card will then be issued at the DMV office.
  
  ($11.25 for the majority of voting-age persons; $6.25 for seniors...how very burdensome.)
  

For argument's sake, we will also look at the procedure in Indiana (from www.dmv.org/in-indiana/id-cards.php):

• The Indiana identification card resembles a driver license, but has a non-driver label at the top. All ages are eligible to receive a state ID. The cards cost $13 and are valid for six years. If you are at least 65 years old or disabled, the cost is $10. If you can't afford to pay for a state ID card, you may be issued one for free if the proper documentation is presented.
  
• To apply for a state ID card, just go to any license agency. Make sure to bring along proof of both your identity and your date of birth from the state's acceptable documentation list. You'll need to provide one document each from the primary, secondary, and proof of residency groups. Or, you can show two documents from the primary group and one from the proof of residency group.
  

liberadio.com paraphrases the act of acquiring a replacement social security card:

"You can replace your card for free if it is lost or stolen.
To replace a lost Social Security card:

• Complete an Application For A Social Security Card (Form SS-5); and
  
• Show us documents proving your identity.
  
• Show us documents proving your U.S. citizenship if our records do not already contain that information.
  
• Show us documents proving your current, lawful, work-authorized status if you are not a U.S. citizen.
  

"In most cases, you can mail or take your application and original documents to your local Social Security office. If you live in the New York City metropolitan area, Las Vegas NV, Orlando FL, or Phoenix AZ you may need to apply in person at your local Social Security Card Center.

"All documents must be either originals or copies certified by the issuing agency. We cannot accept photocopies of notarized copies of documents."

Easy. Hey! Wait a minute...,

In Indiana you need a valid identification with picture and signature to get the copy of the birth certificate you need to get a valid identification with picture so you can vote?

That would be the idea, yes. Or, in other words, in order to prevent fraudulent acquisition of a person's vital documents (think identity theft here; even if it were true that a few honest, diligent voters could be turned away at the polls, I think that it is a far better recourse than the possibility of my or anyone Else's loss of finances, credit, property, &c.), a person must present the same documents required of them to obtain employment, open a bank account, cash a check, pay for goods or services by any method aside from cash, &c. &c. &c.

If you cannot afford to pay the $13.00, or roughly the price of a case of Hamm's, the state will provide the ID free of charge, so long as proof of the inability to pay is submitted in writing (this would be akin to taxes). Is this $13.00, if one cannot prove destitution, really a sufficiently burdensome amount to prevent people from excercising their right to vote...or cash a paycheck?

No money to a pay for either a copy of your birth certificate - which, did I mention, you can’t get without a valid picture id? - or the government issue photo id? No problem, just go down to your county’s election commission, and fill out the paperwork to get your certificate of indigency. I’m not sure what documentation you need to prove indigency - probably a valid photo id - but nevertheless, once you have it then you can use it to get all the documentation you need to get the valid photo id without having to pay for it all.

Ah, cynical speculation lends an "incredulous" amount of credibility to any argument.

As I have above alluded, unless a person lives in a cave in the wilderness, trekking into town only occasionally for to procure supplies paid with gold bullion, physical identification with photograph and signature are required to accomplish anything at this point in society; therefore it serves to say that citizens (those entitled to vote) who do not already possess such identification likely have made a conscious decision based upon some socio-political belief.

In my humble, editorial opinion, playing the poor card in this instance is absurd leftism. To be clear, by leftism, at this point, I am referring to the blind use of key "hot" terms or ideas intended for some type of political propaganda usage by the left side of the spectrum. Equally absurd, however, is another primary argument, namely that there is no "evidence" of the voter fraud through "identity manipulation."

I will say that I believe "identity manipulation" is a misnomer; it is identity theft, plain and simple, and if we see it in other, traceable areas, are we so naive as to assume that 100% of the electorate (or "others" passing as lawful voters) would never engage is such egregious behavior? It pains my soul to say, but voter fraud has been in service for a very, very long time, and with the horrors of identity theft hanging as a villainous specter over life in our current day and age, the alignments between what we would consider to be identity theft (as the term relates to matters of personal credit and finance) and voter fraud (as I have alluded to really being the same thing) are no more askew than the fact than differing terms can be ascribed to them. They are one and the same thing, and if a person can create accounts in the name of another, and destroy the life of that other by the third-party liquidation of that other's assets, then it serves equally that that same third party could snatch or create an identity for the purpose of promulgating voter fraud to a virtually unlimited level.

liberadio.com offers a differing opinion, citing:

…the court acknowledged that the record of the case contained “no evidence” of the type of voter fraud the law was ostensibly devised to detect and deter, the effort by a voter to cast a ballot in another person’s name.

Wouldn't the intent of "fraud" be deception? If fraud were carried out effectively, then would there be any evidences? We're not talking about an extended period of time, either, as we would if a Capital One account had been created fraudulently by one in the name of another; we're discussing brief increments of time over the period of a single day involving the heated passions of millions from a myriad of differing positions and agendas each hoping to have their own way. In this modern age of rampant technology, would voter fraud be detectable after the event? would there be a significant push to rectify the fraud if it had occurred, with those same millions clamoring to uphold their results?

Summing up the arguments against photo ID to validate voting procedure can be accomplished with one word: asinine.

This is not an issue, either, of a federal mandate; it is an issue of the highest court upholding a state's individual right to regulate electoral procedure in that state, and, in the end, it should be the right of that state to regulate their own procedures as they see fit to do so, so long as it in no way interferes with a clear constitutional mandate. If the federal government did institute a uniform voting procedure across the nation, it would still be behoving to include procedures such as these in an attempt to curtail voter fraud, and criticisms of such procedures are not only tired, they are just as I have stated above: asinine, a thinly veiled attempt at partisan manipulation, not of the individual votes, but of the entire electoral proceeding.