right-tilt fault zone

Multimillion-dollar hotel project nixed by Long Beach council - latimes.com

2011-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Multimillion-dollar hotel project nixed by Long Beach council - latimes.com

I live in long beach and frequent this area of SE coastal LB, which i call the Marina, which actually could benefit from addition of more hotels, condo, retail upgrade. Normally i have reservations about Long beach adding more retail developmemt, as we have tons of retail mega-developments all over the city and retail dosen't create much high- paying blue-collar jobs. However, this part of long beach is fairly wasted. There is a huge decepit oil patch brown field there and a quite uselss eyesore old marina seaport motel, currently shuddered. Can't see much upside to adding another big mega-complex retail housing developemnt in LB but then the present site as it is seems a quite useless drag and eyesore.
Enviros are happy about not cluttering long beach with yet more retail and housing and perhaps they have a point here but then enviros are opposed to any developments period if it is in their own hood(nimbyism)) Long beach does have a small but quite vocal anti-growth faction but it is confined to the prim upscale SE coastal 90803 zip where the few owners of high-priced homes wish to keep their turf free of any new housing urban developements. This is Classic nimbyism and it is a quite common feature of LA OC coastal suburbs.

Here's the article:

'A four-year stalemate over land use in southeast Long Beach came to an end when the City Council rejected a $320-million development that included a boutique hotel, science center, shops and condominiums. In a 3-to-5 vote, the City Council declined to change zoning and permit requirements on the 2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway parcel, which would have allowed the construction of a 12-story condominium complex. A long-standing moratorium limits the size of buildings to three stories in the southeast area.'...

'The council also did not uphold the Planning Commission's certification of the environmental impact report, which had been approved last month but appealed by environmental and community groups. It also unanimously agreed to direct city staff to return to the council with a report on revising a 34-year-old land-use requirement.'

'It was the second attempt to develop the southeast parcel. Developers first had partnered with Lennar Corp., a national home-builder, which funded and designed a project. But the giant company pulled out four years ago because of city opposition.

'Since then, developers say they have spent millions in an attempt to bring their new project to life.'

'The Seaside Village or 2nd+PCH project would have replaced the old SeaPort Marina Hotel with 20,000 square feet of restaurant space, 275 residential units, 155,000 square feet of retail space, 50,000 square feet of hotel space, plus an underground 'garage for 1,440 cars. The 12-story tower building would have had 126,000 square feet of condominium space topped by a helipad. Supporters had argued the project would have created hundreds of new jobs and millions in revenue.'

'Long Beach already benefits from hundreds of businesses, such as Boeing, Long Beach Airport, tourism, a large oil field and the nation's second-busiest port, which produces thousands of jobs and generates $16 billion in annual trade-related wages statewide, according to city officials. Still, the city has an unemployment rate of 12.7% as of last month, compared with the county average of 11.5%. Opponents of the project argued it would have increased traffic congestion at already backed-up intersections and harmed nearby wetlands. What's more, they said, changing the city's Local Coastal Program and the Southeast Area Development Improvement Plan to accommodate the project would have set a precedent for other high-rises along PCH.'

'Dozens of residents showed up to Tuesday night's council meeting, including another developer who offered to pay a portion in updating the development improvement plan. Amid the mixed crowd, those in favor of the project wore green T-shirts with the words "Live, work, eat and play in Long Beach" on the back, while opponents wore stickers with "Second and PCH" crossed out. Councilman Gary DeLong, whose district includes the parcel site, supported the project, as did councilmembers Robert Garcia and Suja Lowenthal.'

'And while the conversation between councilmembers and lead developer David Malmuth seemed to hint the project would be approved, the council's final decision shocked many. "I'm pleasantly surprised," said environmental activist Heather Altman, a resident and foe of the project. "I was not anticipating that the vote would go this way." But for Malmuth and SeaPort Marina hotel owner Raymond Lin, the council's vote was painful and bitterly disappointing. "I feel horrible," Malmuth said. "We need to process this, but I think the project's dead." "I now have to try and do what's best for my family," Lin said of the SeaPort Marina hotel. "I've already tried to do what was right for the community."

Rediculous OWS manifesto full of BS. lies and half-lies

2011-12-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

This is a manifesto and rediculous action epigram of the OWS port protestors which was put out by the long beach/LA OWS coalition:

"As part of the Dec. 12 Boycott and March for legalization and good jobs, the Occupy movement will protest at one or more facilities belonging to SSA Marine, a shipper owned by Goldman Sachs, with 5 terminals and a warehouse in the Harbor area. SSA Marine was recently fined for building an illegal road to the site of its massive, dirty coal terminal project in WA. It was also caught recently not alerting workers to the threat of explosive cargo in Oakland. SSA/Goldman Sachs symbolize the ruin that corporate greed has brought into our lives. The 1% are depriving port truck drivers and other workers of decent pay, working conditions and the right to organize, even while the port of LA/LB is the largest in the US and a huge engine of profits for the 1%. The 1% have pursued a conscious policy of de-industrialization that has resulted in "trade" at the port meaning that there are 7 containers coming in for every one going out. The 1% have driven migrant workers into a "grey market" economy and repression. The 1% use police brutality and repression, jails and prisons to suppress, divide and try to silence the 99% and all who oppose their insatiable greed. To put an end to all that, we call on the 99% to march, boycott, occupy the ports, and STRIKE on December 12 for full legalization, good jobs for all, equality and justice."

I want to point out the lies, half-truths,and contradictions of this OWS port shutdowm manifesto. I will ignore and bypass the SSA Marine/Goldman Sachs issue and go on to other critiques of the manifesto:

"The 1% are depriving port truck drivers and other workers of decent pay, working conditions and the right to organize, even while the port of LA/LB is the largest in the US and a huge engine of profits for the 1%."

Port big rig truck drivers are mostly driven by Teamster unionized truckers but there is a significant percentage which are independent contract non-unionized truckers, operating as small businesses on wheels. IC trucking is a major part of SoCAl delivery and logistical trucking, esp in small/ medium-sized hauling/delivery/same day courier delivery operations. Most well-known is Fed-Ex. I was for a long time involved in independent contract small truck delivery/courier services and sometimes I made out fairly well, though there are pitfalls in negotiating your delivery skills in the open market in the admittedly unregulated, dog-eat-dog world of independent contract delivery services. It is very much like starting and running your own business on wheels, and you have to set up and carry your own benefits.

IC trucking or owner-operators allow the little fellow(the 99%) to invest in their own hauling business and should not be put down by OWS. IN SoCal lots of immigrants, mainly Hispanics, operate their own big-rigs. Does OWS despise immigrants owning their own trucks and getting paid per job. BTW the biggest expense for ind contractors is high fuel prices, a result of CA and USA policies of not allowing unrestricted drilling of oil, and CA/EPA's rediculous over-strict emissions rulings, such as CA AB32 and LA Clean Ports Act.

:"The 1% have pursued a conscious policy of de-industrialization that has resulted in "trade" at the port meaning that there are 7 containers coming in for every one going out"

Who persues a conscious policy of de-industrialization in America?. It is anti-business greens and their enviro-freak political allies who have driven out all 'polluting' businesses from CA and the other 'green' states. Overly restrictive enviro-rules make it impossible to operate so-called 'dirty' businesses in CA such as resource extraction, cement plants, chemicals/metel processing, oil extraction, ect. OWS loves the green agenda but excess green enviromentalism results in loss of 1000's, even millions of jobs in dirty extractive/processing industries which would, at least in CA, employ the 99%, including a huge CA population of low-skilled south-of-border immigrants, which OWS claims to be protesting on behalf of.

Los Angeles just became a more dangerous place

2011-10-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

California's impending overcrowded prison release program- 1000's of state prisoners will be transferred to LA County's already overcrowded jails, forcing the county and city to release prisoners early and putting pressure on the maxed-out probation dept.

Pajamas Media » Cascade Effect: California’s Prison Release Program

"The greatest share of these prisoners, up to 7,000 of them, are expected to be transferred to jails in Los Angeles County, which, according to the Los Angeles Daily News, have only 4,000 vacant beds. This influx of felons will have a cascade effect, necessitating the early release of county prisoners doing time for misdemeanors and those convicted of felonies but serving jail time as a condition of their probation. And already county jail prisoners are serving only about 20 percent of their sentences behind bars."

http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/local/~3/iXKkx3E0DMo/la-me-brown-guns-20111011,0,5655548.story

Second reason for LA becoming a more dangerous place is the just-passed CA law banning open carry of unloaded guns:

"Governor cites police support in signing bill that puts California at odds with relaxed measures sweeping the U.S. 2nd Amendment activists predict a surge in concealed-weapons permits. With the announcement early Monday that he had outlawed the public display of handguns in California, Gov. Jerry Brown bucked a national trend toward more lenient firearms laws and placed himself in the political cross-hairs of the state's 2nd Amendment activists."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2011/10/gov-jerry-brown-puts-limits-on-dui-checkpoints.html

3rd reason is:
'Police agencies in California will no longer be able to freely impound cars from sober but unlicensed drivers who are stopped at drunk-driving checkpoints under legislation signed Sunday by Gov. Jerry Brown...

'Under the new law written by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), if a sober driver is caught at a DUI checkpoint without a valid license, law enforcement officers must release the car to a qualified driver representing the registered owner. In cases where a legal driver is not readily available, AB 353 says, the vehicle is to be released to one later at the impound yard.'

The two new CA laws passed by Governor Brown plus the U.S Supreme Court ordering CA prisons to relieve overcrowding of CA state prisons means that los angeles will become a much more dangerous place in 2012.

Also add to above reasons a heated divisive potentially explosive presidential election year and the local economy expected to have a double-dip recession. Plus LA unemployment rates remaining around 14-15% plus continued $3.50-$4.00 per gallon gas prices. And a potential big influx of illegals leaving Arizona, Alabama and other states which are cracking down on illegal immigration and pouring into CA, which just threw out a big welcome mat for illegals with the just-passed CA DREAM ACT.

Also there was a recent decision of the CA 9th Circuit court which reversed an earlier CA Court decision banning day laborers from hanging out in front of business soliciting work.

Los Angeles will become a more dangerous and even a largely lawless city in 2012. It has always been a high crime gang-ridden ghetto-polis cesspool but the crime and general lawlessness will spike even further. Be prepared for the worst.

Touring CA in a Recession-post 4. Incident with park rangers

2011-10-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

My fourth post of my 7 day CA trip in Sept 2011. Here i do an entire post on an unfortunate incident with National Park Rangers patrolling Sequoia-King Canyon National Park. It occurred right after i had left from Grant Grove Village and was heading toward Giant Forest section of the park. It ended with an amiable parting of the ways and no harm done.

I left Grant Grove and went back along route 180/198 in direction of of Giant Forest. It is Monday mid-afternoon Sept 5th, last day of labor day weekend, and the park is emptying of visitors real fast.
When i got to intersection of 180/198 I took a wrong turn and ended up almost back at the park entrance. I did a turn around and went back in right direction, reached the intersection again and made the correct turn this time.

Only thing is I failed to stop completely and did not know there was a stop sign there, or missed seeing it. It may be because i was tired after being on road 6 hrs straight, driving 300 miles coming from northern CA, and my road alertness was off (I didn't get my usual coffee fix). I was rather beat up and looking ragged after five days on the road, staying at rough campsites last four nights. As i made the CA rolling stop i was spotted by National Park rangers in their white and green SUV headed in the opposite direction.

They turned around and followed me for a short distance and then came the inevitable flashing lights. I pulled over to stop and 2 park rangers came out of their vehicle and approached my vehicle. I need to point out that i am a veteran experienced delivery driver and have been stopped many times by police in LA for traffic violations so i did not panic or get upset. I was only dismayed somewhat by being pulled over in a scenic national park while i was on vacation.

The rangers told me i had just gone thru a stop sign at intersection of 180/198. But they and i knew that i had slowed down sufficiently and carefully at the stop and my actions were not intentional . It was more likely i was unaware of the stop sign, missed it accidentally, or had travelers disorientation. It is important to note here that i was rather tired and maybe a bit disoriented after a long drive and also me and my pickup both looked rather rough and grimy after five days on the road .

This may have been the real reason the rangers followed me and stopped me. The rangers treated me rather suspiciously at first as if they thought i was bent on some type of criminal intent while passing thru the park. Also, It was unusual to have a park visitor arriving right after labor day and perhaps they suspected me of being a courier and/or scout for a drug cartel looking to plant pot in the mountains( CA has a huge problem with illegal marijuana farms in all it's parks/national forest mountainous regions).

Whatever the reason for the stop one of the park rangers proceeded to do a partial search of my truck's passenger side interior, and ran an ID/ license check on me. I did put up a polite but nonetheless assertive objection to this rather inqusitive search high up in the mountains while i was on vacation.

My being somewhat cooperative( though putting up mild objections) was surprising in and of itself, as i have in past traffic stops behaved rather badly and rudely to law enforcement officers. That has always landed me in hot water with both cops and the traffic court judges. It is unwise to bicker at cops during a traffic stop, even if you are absolutely certain that you committed no wrong. Cops are human and vindicative, as i have learned from long and bitter experience dealing in the brutal, often unfair, money-hungry CA Superior Court Traffic Division.

As these were park rangers and not the usual urban city police officers i was given a bit more leeway and able to assert myself a bit more against the pullover. In Los Angeles i have been stopped over 20 times and never had my vehicle searched. I knew i could make a big protest over this likely illegal search but as i had nothing to hide i allowed the rangers to search my vehicle. They would find out soon enough that i was just joe traveler on a CA car camping trip. What they were attempting to find out is if it was just that or i was on another more sinister mission.

After a few minutes of vehicle searching and somewhat friendly bantering with the rangers they seemed to relax their attitude toward me a bit. I told them frankly that they were searching the wrong person as i was politically to the right, a right-wing blogger/tweeter with Tea Party sympathies( I am not officially with the Tea Party but share many of their aims). I told them that I was your normal everyday law-abiding US citizen on a CA getaway road trip, or words to that effect.

After they they found out i had conservative views I lectured them a bit on the fact that in my home city of Los Angeles they could not conduct a license ID check on a truckfull of illegal aliens just arrived the day before from across the border without the ACLU, illegal alien activists, and even LA politicians coming down on them. The rangers appeared dismayed. I further lectured them on the criminal realities of CA and LA and how i wrote frequently on my blogsite about the gritty criminal aspects of third world ghettoized Los Angleles. They completely backed off, gave me slack and even an unexpected but captive audience as i ranted on the gangster-ridden, graffiti-infested nature of Los Angeles, of which i am a world authority and blogsite publicist. They did not issue me a ticket.

I was not really all that upset about N.P rangers doing a rather inquisitive and legally questionable stop, search and ID check on me ( I was after all on a vacation getaway and had just entered into a really spectacular scenic CA national park so I was not all that stressed). I also understand the realities and stresses of law enforcement and the phychological profiles of law enforcment officers. I have plenty of experience with being stopped by police officers for annoying traffic citations in LA , due to long experience as an express delivery driver. Most of the time officers are polite and if you treat them with respect and don't hassle them they may even let you off on a ticket. I have had that happen more than once, though in most cases I was issued the citation.

I have competed my 'interlude with National Park Rangers section', a sort of digression from my CA trip log. It was a bit unsettling to be stopped by park rangers and searched while i was on vacation but i was soon on my way to the best car/ rv camping site in the Western Sierras. I would hopefully get over this unfortunate park ranger incident quickly, though there would be one more incident before i left the park. I am normally not the tin foil conspiracy type but perhaps I was being targeted and tracked by a federal government agency. Note: The park had indeed emptied out as i have alluded to previously, due to the severe CA great recession. Even Grant Grove Village, normally a swarming beehive of visitors year-round, had at most three dozen mostly exiting campers/visitors, and 1/4 of the folk at the village were park/ concession staff.

Touring California in a near-depression: post 3

2011-10-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

I am continuing down the 41 hwy headed toward Fresno on a hot baking 100% mid-morning. I have a small ice bucket with cold water and a cold soda at my side. Also a headband soaked in icy water on my head. Am driving thru miles and miles of flat farm fields. After a 1/2 hr drive I spot a shady tree-lined road which borders a new real estate tract. I stop next to the real estate office which is closed on labor day Sunday. I get out to splash the cold ice bucket water over my head to cool me down as i am going the CA central valley in a simmering heat wave in late summer. There are no travelers on the road.

Not much to see along the route 41 drive from Oakhurst to Fresno outer city limits- just miles and miles of endless monotonous farm fields Occasionally I see a well-tended tidy ranch-style home off the road but keep going.

I finally enter the Fresno outer city limits, get off Herndon Avenue and head east, wishing to avoid the Fresno densely populated inner city urban areas. I have lived virtually all my life in the dense urban LA region and wanted to avoid that. I go east along a road with lots of modern suburban bldgs, malls and businesses. Guess i got off a little too close to Fresno urban area. I am now entering Clovis, which is a prosperous tidy suburban outlier at NE corner of Fresno. I make a turn south on Clovis Road and keep going till i get on Hwy 180 ,the Kings Canyon Road, and head east on way to Sequoia- King Canyon National Parks.

There was a long stretch of this highway which was being re-worked/ widened. Why? It is used only heavily on three summer holiday weekends. This is just one of 100's of CA highway 'improvement' projects going on all over the state. It is funded by Federal recovery/re-investment stimulus funds in conjunction with Caltrans/CA infrastructures bonds. These costly boondoggle projects appear to be inching along at snails pace in most cases as State/Federal dollars trickle in. Feds and CA both have budgetary deficit problems and these projects are budget busters. Furthermore, these road projects are mostly done with heavy road machinery so they don't generate a whole lot of jobs, the real need in a 20-25% UE state.

After a short drive I stop at the remarkable Blossom Trail Fruit Stand on corner of Reed Avenue and hwy 180. It was packed with customers even in midday 100% heat in middle of empty farm country east of Fresno. There were 30-40 folks standing in line and they had traveled way out this way to get inviting fresh fruit at .99 cents per lb. Plums, apricots, peaches, apples, ect. were lined up neatly along rows, packed in open boxes. Just pick em out and take them to the checker. There was this neat stone-built watering and wishing well you could wash your fruit in ,or yourself, which i did. It was a neat setup.

I left and kept going east along 180 and after a long drive thru extensive farmlands and orchards i arrive at Squall Valley( not the ski resort). This rural farming township of around 3000 population has suffered from the great recession. I saw lots of ravaged beaten down bldgs and the countryside had a depressed ragged look. Must have been much reckless real estate speculation prior to 2007 in this last town you pass thru before reaching the national park. Lots of local businesses likely shuddered as tourism dried up due to twin blows of recession and high gas prices. I stopped to get gas at the still functioning local gas stop & trading mart. It is the last gas fill-up before you head up into the park.

I am now heading up the Sierra Nevada western slope oak foothill /grassland country, a pleasant relaxing drive thru a scenic part of CA. There are views of rolling oak parklands interspersed with occasional farm bldgs, country residences, and grazing cattle and horses. Route 180 ascends up a fairly straight low-angle slope along a big natural mountain ramp, which takes the traveler almost to the northern entrance to the park. It is fairly easy on the travelers gas budget and nerves, though i find the southern entrance route 198(Generals Highway) much more scenic but far steeper, with many more sharp curving turns.

After a while i get to the Parks north entrance near 180/198 junctions. I pay the $20 park fee and after a further two miles driving i reach Grant Grove Village, a pleasant scenic national park stopover. It is situated close to the Grant Grove Sequoia Grove and has a complete suite of facilities for the park visitor and camper. I prefer Lodgepole for a car campsite but Grant Grove's three camping sites are almost as good. There is a good coffee-house type restaurant at Grant Grove, really the only halfway decent reasonably- priced eatery in the entire dual park system. I always stop for breakfast or lunch there on way to or from kings Canyon, which is in Kings Canyon National Park, a separate entity from Sequoia N.P. Most folks will look at maps and consider them as a single entity titled Sequoia-Kings Canyon N.P. I have much to say about King Canyon, which is well worth a 1 or 2 day side trip. The granite domes, spires, cliffs and buttes of Kings Canyon are almost as inspiring as the more famous Yosemite granite monoliths. On this particular trip i will bypass the canyon as i am pressed for time , have only two more days left and will spend it entirely in the Lodgepole/Giant forest area of Sequoia N.P.

I asked the excellent well-staffed Grant Grove Visitor Center and Museum about available campsites at Lodgepole, the most popular campsite in the entire park. They said there were 150 sites available(out of 212). I was surprised that the site had emptied out so quickly on the last day of labor day holiday weekend, Monday Sept 5th. Apparently the bleak California economy had forced most folks to leave on last day of the labor day weekend. In normal times Lodgepole would never have cleared out so quickly and thoroughly. I would have the entire park to myself.

This completes the third installment of my CA travel log. I am at Grant Grove Village, taking a brief rest before heading up into Lodgepole and the Giant Forest section of Sequoia National Park. Note: I have been to this fabulous park 20 times and i still love it. It is not as crowded as Yosemite, even in summer. It has magnificent sequoia trees and cold gushing rivers to wade in. It is deeply forested but also has a few trails which climb up into the real sierra high country granite and lakes region. It has few fancy facilities or amenities, no malls. and few shops. There are only two gas stations in entire park and they are hard to locate. It has few frills but that's why i like this park. I have been coming here forever. I have hiked almost every trail in this park and know it far better than most of the park rangers and staff.

Touring CA in a near depression - part 2

2011-09-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

The second installment post of my recent 7 day CA road trip starts at Tioga Pass eastern entrance to Yosemite Park. Please see previous post for trip introduction and background.

I payed the $20 entrance fee at Yosemite entrance station and proceed down Tioga Pass Road. It was late in day and as i was trarveling without a reserved camping permit on a busy labor day weekend i needed to find an available campsite before dark. So i quickly passed thru Yosemite Park late in the afternoon. After a long descent down route 120 I lucked out and found a rarely used National Forest campsite. Poor, flat and dusty but available. So bad is was I decided not to even pitch my tent but set up a tarp cover over my pickup truck bed to make a sheltered sleeping spot . Drank lots of liquor to sleep quick and forget i was on that poor site. Up early and got out quick. It is Sunday Sept 4 mid-labor day weekend. Continued along route 120 and passed thru Groveland, a picturesque mt community which appeared to be one of the few CA Mt villages riding along ok in the CA great depression 2

Right after passing thru Groveland i got onto route 49 and went north thru the fabled CA gold rush country. There are lots of CA historical markers dotting the countryside- stone basilisks with a bronze plaque description of some historical event at a nearby site/ place of interest. Passed thru Chinese Camp and got to Sonora. Stopped to chomp down on a Carls Jr burger ( i had a discount coupon), then went to pick up supplies at a nearby Sonora discount mart. Surprized that Sonora population was almost entirely Caucasian.

Rushed thru at a rapid pace thru an area of California rich with historic gold rush sites but i had to go quick as i had only a week to do my trip and was only 1/3 way thru the journey which i had to finish on Sept 7.
Went into Columbia State Historic Park, which had a re-creation of a gold rush town/old west village. Good crowd activity here as it was Sunday on a labor day holiday weekend but mostly locals. There was evidence of poverty as i was passing thru here ; closed/shuttered shops, idle teens, yard sales, and foreclosed properties. No surprise as unemployment rates in Tuolumne & Calveras Counties are 13.5 % and 17.3 % respectively.

Went on to small, tidy Angels Camp, which appears kept up despite my seeing few tourists. Not much historical stuff to see here and town too gentrified so i got some info from the local tourst center/ rest stop and went returned back along 49 route in late afternoon.

It is Sunday September 4 late in the afternoon and i am passing thru sparsely populated Sierra foothill open oak woodland/grassland areas. Very empty of travelers. Stopped briefly at the route 49 hwy bridge span over an arm of the Don Pedro Reservoir. Lots of dammed up rivers and backed-up reservoir lakes in this part of CA, a feature alien to my Southern California/ Los Angeles experence

Passed thru tiny mountain community of Coulterville, which was decked out in full labor day regalia, complete with flags and bunting, but was completely empty of tourists. Even the locals at the old west style saloon looked bewildered when i passed thru.

Arrived at an undistinguished little campsite sited along an arm of Lake Mcclure, in the Bagby Recreation Area. I was lucky to find last worst available campsite( notorious site 18). Horrible privacy and little space but no matter. All i needed was a picnic bench table and space for a single vehicle so i snatched it. Talked that evening with a friendly neighboring camper about bad state of CA(in both senses).
After a few drinks i slept well, woke up early and got out quick from that forgettable site 18 and that dismal barren lake, which was geared toward large RV's and power boat lake recreationists.

Drove thru some fine oak/grassland rolling foothill country(California's version of the African Savanna without the wildlife). Passed thru Bear Valley, which had signs of great recession deterioration with abandoned properties galore before reaching Mariposa. Stopped at Mariposa visitor center at intersection of hwy 49 and hwy 140, which issues direct from Yosemite Valley and heads southwest, passing thru Mariposa. Very few tourists and day trippers at this main city junction on a Monday Sept 5, offical labor day. Maybe because Mariposa offers little worth seeing.

Leaving Mariposa I headed south/southeast-bound along route 49, passing thru deteriorated foreclosure-racked tiny mountain communities like Nipinnawasee and Ahwahnee before arriving at the built-up, suburbanized mountain community of Oakhurst. This southern gateway into Yosemite appears to have collected every major CA fast food franchise, and here was the first sign of heavy latino presence in a CA foothill/ mountain community. I stopped at a nearly empty Carls Jr. Like Marioposa, Oakhurst was virtually without tourists on a Monday the 5th, labor day. Saw only one at Carls - a couple pulling a powerboat thru the parking lot. Leaving Oakhurst i headed southbound along route 41. I passed thru Coarsegold, which was absolutely bustling and bursting from RE runup back in 2006 when i last passed thru there. Now it was less crowded and only activity was a town farmers flea market, which looked only half full on Sept 5th, labor day.

This completes the second installment of my CA trip log. I am now heading south along CA hwy route 41 on way to Fresno. It is Monday Sept 5th midday, temps are over 100% , and I am entering the CA Central Valley farmbelt.

Touring California in midst of a severe economic collapse

2011-09-19T00:40:00.000-07:00

Intro to my California travelog,

This is first installment post of my recent week-long car camping trip thru some of best wild remote sections of California(CA). It basically circles the Sierra Mountain range, which i have hiked, camped, and backpacked since the late 80's. I wanted to do this trip to find out how the four-year deep recession has affected CA Auto and recreational vehicle touring during the year 2011 labor day holiday, and because it is my first excursion into Sierras since late 2007. I have been quite devastated by this recession as has a lot of CA folks, which has kept me from my beloved Sierras. In late 80's and all 90's during better times I did a lot of long CA road trips, hiking trips, desert trips, and long backpack trips all over south half of State, usually in remote desert and mountain areas. Have camped all over California State Parks, USA National Forest and Park areas. Did 7 long backpacks into remotest areas of hi-sierras.
I Managed to scrounge up a bit of money to do this trip, as i expect California/USA economy will worsen and i may not do this again for a long time. I went on the cheap, staying at $20 per nite Nat Forest/ Nat Park campsites entire time, and cooked all my meals. My total outlay was under $500, a miserly sum for a week long 1200 mile trip. Surprised that gas prices were constant $4 per gallon in every part of state and even deep in mountains, which kept my gas budget reasonable. Basically I threw all my camping stuff into my Tacoma ex-cab pickup and took off, a regular habit of mine. My 2002 Tacoma, with 184,000 miles on it, performed superbly without a glitch, a tribute to Japanese engineering and dedicated auto craftsmanship.

Now to the post:

I start my trip log from Lancaster on Thursday Sept 1. Not much to see in this forlorn outlier LA County hi-desert community so i got gas and quickly left. lots of inner LA Ghetto expats here in the CA hi-desert. Went on to Mohave, which appeared rather deserted late afternoon. Quickly passed thru this gritty tiny hi-desert railroad junction & crossroads connecting 58 and 14 hi-ways. Very few travelers on the road.

After a 1.5 hour long lonely drive thru mostly barren rocky CA desert I reached Lone Pine, passing thru numerous isolated desert roadstops/townships with lots of abandoned shuttered bldgs and shuttered businesses in such desolate map dots as Haiwee, Olancha, Cartago. ect. Lone Pine, the gateway into Eastern Sierra and Mt Whitney, seems in any economic climate to be always functioning. It is my 20th trip thru here. Still small and charming and has outstanding views of Mt Whitney and Eastern Sierra Wall. Camped in Lone Pine Campsite a bit up the slope at 6500 elevation. Campsite sited along a tree-lined stream gushing from the sierras, a tiny green pleasant seam amidst a desolate rocky/sagebrush-scattered desertscape.

Got an unreserved site Thursday Sept 1st and camped for the night. Woke up on Friday, Sept 2nd and decided to stay for a 2nd nite here. First day of Labor Day holiday weekend and half of reserved sites were no- shows. After Friday sleepover i awoke on Saturday Sept 3. Continued north along route 395 thru Owens River Valley. Few travelers on road the second day of labor day weekend. In fact i saw very few travelers period in this majestic east sierra vacation playground. Perhaps $4.00 gas prices and near-great depression level CA unemployment cut the flow of travelers. Got to motel/lodge-overrun Bishop, which normally is packed with tourists, backpackers, RV'ers, campers, fisherman, but was errily quiet as i passed thru Sat mid-morning smack in middle of labor day weekend. Continued on route 395 northbound, bypassing built-up condo-crazy Mammoth lakes area and continued on thru magnificent long Valley, which is the site of a long extinct supervolcano eruption/caldera collapse. Passed by Toms Place where there was a classic car show. Toms Place a very popular stopover and entry point for hikers and backpackers bound for Rock Creek and the sierra back country via Mono Pass. Did not see a whole lot of of folks heading up to Rock Creek today however.

Went on to June lakes loop and stopped at June lake, the main showcase lake along loop. It is a large roadside-accessible hi-sierra lake with a stunning mountain backdrop and a very swimmable beach. There was a light to medium crowd at the lake and most visitors appeared to be local day trippers. After a nice refreshing swim i continued around loop and got to Silver Lake. Another fabulous road-accessible sierra mt lake. There was a dedicated group of kayakers on the water and made me regret not packing my own 10-ft mini-kayak. I needed to save weight to reduce gas consumption but maybe it was unwise to leave the yak. It would have been an entire new experience to kayak a hi-mountain lake. Silver lake is a nice small gem of a lake. I have been to 200 plus remote hi-country sierra lakes on my numerous backpack trips but haven't visited a pine tree enveloped deep blue hi-sierra mountain lake in some time. Noticed that there were numerous lakeside lodges here but all of them had vacancy signs, a key indication of CA economic collapse. On this entire loop i saw few travelers, only a bit of activity at aformentioned June Lake swim beach. Last lake on loop was Grant Lake, completely barren.

left June Lakes loop and got back on and continued along route 395. Stopped at Tioga Gas Mart, a renowned popular stopover on way over Tioga Pass . After a brief rest I continued on over route 120, the Tioga Pass Road, which climbs up and over the 400- mile long Sierra Mountains at its mid-section. After a short distance along road i paid my $20 Yosemite Park entrance fee and 7-day park pass. Route 120 is the best way to see the real hi-sierra backcountry via auto touring as it ascends to 10,000 ft and skirts some fine hi-sierra lakes and meadows. I stopped at Lembert Dome, a road-assessible granite monolith towering 800 ft above the road. The dome base and parking area was jammed with cars, visitors, tourists, and would-be dome climbers. It was the first really big labor day holiday crowd i saw in the mountains since i left LA.

Too bad i was not going to use my Yosemite 7-day pass. I needed to find an unreserved campsite way outside the park because all park sites would be reserved and filled during this last holiday weekend of summer. I had to drive clear out of park to get an available campsite and the day was getting late so i left Yosemite for good. Anyway Yosemite Park is not my favorite place to be during labor day holiday weekend , when the showcase Yosemite Valley would be packed wall-to-wall with camera-clicking casual tourists. Even in a deep recession brand name world-renown parks like Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon always get the crowds. They are too much like Disneyland for my remote wilderness-craving sensibilities.

This completes the first part of my CA trip log, which will likely encompass 4 or 5 blog postings. I Am about 1/4 way thru my CA trip. Notes: from Lancaster all way to Yosemite Park entrance i saw few road travelers and virtually no large recreational vehicles in the somewhat remote Eastern Sierra Region. The four year long USA great recession/near depression, CA 20-25% REAL unemployment rate ,and near $4 per gallon gas prices all summer appeared to have reduced CA road travel significantly. Saw many abandoned roadside bldgs,shuttered businesses & hollowed-out gas station marts in isolated settlements along route 395, especially between Mohave and Lone Pine.

Proposal for CA high speed rail flawed - why?

2011-01-25T23:05:00.000-08:00

California does not need high speed rail. It is simply a big MASSIVE FED/ STATE Spending boondoogle which may temporarily put to work 10,000-20,000 highly paid union construction workers( most of the work will be done by digging/other earth mover equipment). After that rail system is completed and the jobs are drastically reduced, say the proposed line from LA to San Francisco, there will not be much demand for the service at normal free-market rail rates.
There is not much demand in CA for rail service anywhere in CA. Amtrak trains are little-used in CA, as is the Greyhound buses. CA folks are wedded to their cars and simply will not take the time, planning, and effort to take a bus or their autos to the rail station at union station in LA, have the cars kept there in a paid garage or fee parking lot, and hop on a train to Frisco. Unless it is deeply discounted at gov-subsidized rates. Therefore if the public is only beguiled into taking these high speed trains by subsided cheap rates then these rails will end up being public financial disasters and money-losing drains upon the taxpayers.
I know for a fact that the money-losing heavily subsidized Amtrak railways are rarely used here in LA/SoCal due to folks here being addicted to their cars. I have only used Amtrak 2-3 times in my 45 years here in los Angeles. Why? I like my auto as it is quick, convenient, and as long as gas is priced at under 3.00-3.50/gal it is reasonably priced transport to go anywhere in CA.
Only if gas prices shoot up to $4-5.00/gal, and even approach the rates paid by Europeans, and stay there for a long time you may see a dramatic shift in demand for Local, regional, and interstate rail service. LA has a halfway-decent network Of CITY METRO RAIL BUT MOST FOLK DO NOT USE THEM. THEY ARE ONLY USED BY POOR INNER CITY PPL/RECENT IMMIGRANTS, TEENS, AND BY A VERY FEW MIDDLE CLASS COMMUTERS. I live a 20 minite walk from the blue line metro station(long Beach to DTWN Los Angeles) but have only used it 10 times in my life(5 of those times my truck was in the shop).

I simply prefer the ease and convenience of getting into my pickup and swiftly traveling anywhere in SoCal, using the famous(and often jammed) SoCal freeway arteries, and being able to go directly to my destination. And i am not alone. Every SoCal household has 2-4 autos, perhaps one for every family member, and this fact means that CA rail service, at least from a SoCAL standpoint, will never be popular.

Beach parking lot being given back to the ocean in Ventura | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

2011-01-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

Beach parking lot being given back to the ocean in Ventura | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

I am responding to an article posted in LA Times Sunday on the Pacific Ocean inundating/taking back beach/shoreline structures in the coastal city of Ventura, located 50 miles NW of LA. The writer is using this article to shill for the global warming alarmists/rising sea calamity doomsayers, which despite the collapse of the 'CAGW is all due to man-caused CO2 levels in the air calamity theory' are still out in force purveying their psuedo-science fallacies of the imminent global inundation of our cities by a 100 ft '2012/day after tomorrow' horrifying tsunami wall of water inundating New York & los Angeles:

Here's the problem. Folks in CA insist upon building parking structures, bikepaths, homes, highways right at waters edge. Highway 1/ PCH often winds along the coast at stones throw of CA coastal beaches/rocky headlands. Why? Because CA PPL want to enjoy California's world famous beaches/coastal scenic vistas from the vantage point of their cars, a lazy way to see the coasts. Same with building highways thru wilderness park/forests/ mt areas. It is for the PPL to tour the mts the lazy way, from their autos.
If natures erodes or washes away streets and other shoreside infrastructures built so close to the shoreline that is man's fault. Do not blame it on global warming/ rising sea level or other pseudo-science BS. Maybe we need to let the ocean take back the CA shore, bit by bit. If private multi-million $ beach /bluffside homes are threatened that is their problem: they will either protect their precious parcels with sand berms/seawalls/sandbags, or give up their parcels to the sea and nature.

The picture you see of deteriorated Ventura shoreside public infrastructures is partly due to the BK-broke status of CA state & municipal gov'ts. It takes huge amts of public $/public funding to shore up/maintain seaside recreational structures such as public parking, seawalls, piers, roads, ect. I see parts of Alamitos bay & belmont shore - Long beach's aquatic watersports/boating mecca- being eroded & neglected due in part to the dire fiscal straights of the Local/State gov'ts. Seawalls, roads, berms, pavement, BBQ pits, ect., are chipped, rutted w potholes, even revealing popped- out iron rods. The state public parks are little better; Bolsa Chica State Beach is kept withered and unirrigated in large parts, though it does receive basic minimal maintenance(bathrooms are regularly cleaned) from its reduced park service staff.

The picture reveals the stark nature of CAs' dire fiscal condition-the deterioration/neglect of public parks shoreside infrastructures , particulartly in the less well- off areas like Ventura.

I frequent the Long Beach and Huntington Beach coasts and if there was alarming global warming-caused rise in sea levels the 5000-5500 block of Ocean Ave & pennisula in East LB Alamitos Bay would be frequently flooded. Huntington beach seems to be seeing an increase in sand buildup/accretion and parts of the sandy beaches are now at least 1/4 mile wide. During heavy winter storms there is severe temporary erosion but the sands only shift and are redeposited further down the beach. Seal beach/Sunset beach residents have homes right along the beach a few ft above sea level and are sometimes buffeted by winter waves but have been there for 60-80 years and will still be there for another 60-80 years. The United Nations climate science organization and most reasonable sane scientists calculate the rise in sea level, in worst case, to be 2 feet by end of this century, or over nxt 100 yrs , which assumes unprovable assumptions about global climate change and relys on questionable computer models. Even granted this 2 ft rise that is no reason for hysteria.

BTW the global warming mongers are just as motivated by greed/profits via cap & trade and getting artificial high Gov-subsidized energy rates as are the fossel fuel companies.

Here is the most recent article printed by LA Times on supposed rising sea levels dooming CA coasts unless CA and US take step to deal with global warming. Much speculative soothsayer stuff here without scientific merit

http://t.co/JNp14B0

1x.com - Best photos on the web

2010-12-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

1x.com - Best photos on the web: "Best photos on the web. 1x.com is an online gallery with the best photos on the web."

How to Save California: Outlaw Public Employee Unions - Ricochet.com

2010-10-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

How to Save California: Outlaw Public Employee Unions - Ricochet.com

'Like everyone else in California, I'm dismayed at the state of the state. The massive budget deficit, high taxes and runaway government spending, spreading unemployment, a hostile business climate, and unfunded future pensions are ruining a state that has every natural gift and advantage in resources, both human and natural. Everyone seems to agree that the way the state government works has a lot to do with these problems, but no one is sure how to fix it. I even taught a seminar last semester on reforming the California constitution to explore solutions (more on that another time)....

'Earlier this week, I was lucky to go to the annual dinner of the Lincoln Club of northern California, which is made up of Republican leaders in the San Francisco area. The Club was awarding its lifetime achievement award to Pete Wilson, the last governor who made state government work (and a proud alum of my law school) -- believe it or not, but when Wilson left office, the state had a budget surplus. Ricochet's very own Peter Robinson interviewed Wilson on how to save California. It was an amazing night: Wilson displayed an encyclopedic command of the policy challenges facing the state.'

'The one change that he said could restore the state's fortunes wasn't lowering taxes, cutting spending, or eliminating excessive regulations -- though these were all important. He said there was a deeper root cause: the power of the public employees unions. According to Wilson, public employee unions trigger a destructive dynamic. Public employee unions take money from their members and use them for partisan political purposes. They pressure government officials to cut them sweetheart deals, especially through things like job protections and pensions, that don't show up on the bottom line for years. They create a larger and larger interest group that demands more government spending and higher taxes, which drives out private entrepreneurship and swells their ranks even more. Reduce the power of the public employee unions, and you lower the size of government, reduce the costs of the state, and fix the looming pension problem.'

'So here's my idea, and it applies beyond California. There is no constitutional right for public employees to form a union and to use their dues to pressure the government for more spending and benefits. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote while a state judge, a policeman "may have the right to talk politics but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman." Unions only have this right because state government has granted it to them. So how about a one sentence ballot initiative, to amend the California constitution, that simply says that public employees cannot form unions -- and why not do this state by state.'

Top scientists debunk global warming theories and AGW alarmists

2010-09-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Global warming is dead. Long live, er, 'Global climate disruption'! – Telegraph Blogs

Here are more top scientists commenting on global warning farce:

Dr. Dennis Jensen (Nuclear Physicist), a PhD-trained scientist and a former researcher for Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization (CSIRO) and the Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO), questioned man-made climate fears:

"It has been found that warming is occurring on Pluto, Mars, Jupiter and Triton."

"The last time I looked, there were no evil greenhouse gas belching industries on those planets, sub-planets and moons," he said, which clearly indicated that increased solar activity was a significant factor," Jensen explained. He also noted that studies of ice core data reveals that warming precedes rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere. "In other words, it would be more correct to say that temperature changes cause CO2 concentration changes."
----------
UK - Dr. John Brignell is Emeritus Engineering Professor, University of Southampton who held the Chair in Industrial Instrumentation at Southampton and was awarded the Calendar Silver Medal by InstMC. He also served on a committee of the Institute of Physics and currently publishes the website http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/ with the mission to expose "scares, scams, junk, panics and flummery cooked up by the media, politicians, bureaucrats and so-called scientists and others that try to confuse the public with wrong numbers."

His motto is "Working to Combat Math Hysteria."

"Global warming is a new phenomenon in human affairs. Not only is it now a major religion, but it has an associated industrial complex of a wealth sufficient to give it unheard of political power throughout the world. It presides over a virtual monopoly of research funding," Brignell wrote in July 2007. (LINK) "Clearly, global warming is anthropogenic (man-made). It exists mainly in the human mind and is manufactured from two sources - careless data acquisition and dubious data processing," Brignell wrote. In November 2007, Brignell, who wrote a book entitled Sorry, Wrong Number: The Abuse of Measurement, compiled a list of over 600 things allegedly caused by global warming.

---------------
USA - Dr. Edward F Blick, Professor of Meteorology and Engineering at University of Oklahoma retired Air Force atmospheric scientist, rejected man-made climate fears in 2007.

"Is their any solid evidence the earth is warming due to man's use of fossil fuels transferring excessive amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere? The answer is NO!" Blick wrote on June 17, 2007 in an article titled "The Religions of Global Warming."

"The amount of CO2 that man puts into the atmosphere each year is about 3 billion tons per year. But this is insignificant compared to the 39,000 billion tons in our oceans, 2,200 billion tons in our vegetation and soils, and 750 billion tons in our atmosphere. Much of the CO2 generated by man is consumed by vegetation," Blick explained. "Man cannot control the weather, but he can kill millions of people in his vain attempt to control it, by limiting or eliminating the fuel that we use,"

He also questioned the accuracy of temperature gathering. "At the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union (around 1990), they could not afford their weather stations in Siberia, so they were closed. Hence, with the loss of the cooler temperature data from Siberia and rural stations in other countries, coupled with the heat island effects of the large city stations, and errors in thermometers of the 1800's, any increase in the average earth temperature in the past may be an illusion," he wrote. "CO2 is not poison and it is not our enemy. CO2 and oxygen are the twin gases of life. Humans and animals breathe in oxygen and exhale CO2. Plants breathe in CO2, make carbohydrates, and breathe out oxygen. We feed the plants and they feed us."

Finnish environmental guru calls for totalitarian eco- fascist regime to preserve mother earth

2010-09-25T17:03:00.000-07:00

http://ht.ly/2GVQd

A Finnish environmentalist guru has gone further than any other global warming alarmist in openly calling for fascism as a necessary step to save the planet from ecological destruction, demanding that climate change deniers be “re-educated” in eco-gulags and that the vast majority of humans be killed with the rest enslaved and controlled by a green police state, with people forcibly sterilized, cars confiscated and travel restricted to members of the elite.

Philosopher Pentti Linkola has built an enthusiastic following of self-described “eco-fascists” receptive to his message that the state should enact draconian measures of “discipline, prohibition, enforcement and oppression” in order to make people comply with environmental dictates.

Linkola’s barbaric and dictatorial philosophy has remained relatively obscure but is now gaining traction as the mask of environmentalism is lifted to unveil its true nature – a justification for 21st century tyranny on a grand scale, characterized by eugenics, sterilization, gulags, police states, and total government control over every aspect of our existence.

Linkola’s doctrine is more extreme, repulsive, and threatening to liberty than anything carried out by history’s worst dictators, Hitler, Stalin and Mao – combined. Indeed, Linkola laments that such monsters didn’t go far enough in wiping out many more millions of people.

Under Linkola’s proposal to save earth from man-made climate change, “only a few million people would work as farmers and fishermen, without modern conveniences such as the automobile.” This system would be enforced by the creation of a “Green Police” who would abandon “the syrup of ethics” that governs human behavior to completely dominate the population.

Linkola calls for forced abortions, while also adding that another world war would be “a happy occasion for the planet” because it would eradicate tens of millions of people. The environmentalist believes that only jackbooted tyranny can help to save mother earth from “the worst ideologies in the world” which he defines as “growth and freedom”.

“Any dictatorship would be better than modern democracy,” he writes. “There cannot be so incompetent dictator, that he would show more stupidity than a majority of the people. Best dictatorship would be one where lots of heads would roll and government would prevent any economical growth.”

Those who refuse to be enslaved by Linkola’s new eco-tyranny would be abducted and sent to the mountains for “re-education” in eco-gulags, according to the environmentalist, who says that the only solution “lies in a centralised government and the tireless control of citizens.”

As part of his eco-fascist hell, Linkola calls for ‘killing defectives’ by means of sterilization, licenses for births, tight regulation of electricity, forcing humans to eat rats, the confiscation of private cars, travel to be restricted to members of the elite only, and businesses to be terminated as the economy is entirely handed over to the control of the state.

The heart of Linkola’s dark philosophy revolves around the need to slaughter masses of humans. “If there were a button I could press, I would sacrifice myself without hesitating if it meant millions of people would die,” he writes.........

CA reliance on wind power for renewable energy is a costly mirage

2010-09-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Brown presses Whitman on Prop. 23

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11395964

http://bbc.in/bTtE0h

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegwpf.org%2Fnews%2F1593-thanet-wind-farm-will-milk-britions-of-billions.html&sa=D&usg=AFQjCNGJebjtnyvSwhl4AAtcAI5-syrN7A

I am posting a brief review of Britain's aggressive push into wind energy by focusing on this just completed offshore ocean wind farm, 7 miles out from coastal Kent. I may be biased but it seems to be a colossal offshore scenic eyesore, at least from this Californian's viewpoint, an automatic reflex action against any offshore energy generation sites which are not oil platforms( I live within 20 miles of 11 offshore oil platforms). I am also comparing Britain's wind farms push to CA's current obsession with renewable energy and it's plans to put up 1000's of these 400 ft. tall obscene erector sets out in CA's precious Mohave desert.

Britain has 3000+ wind turbines and is siting more and more turbines offshore. They currently account for 2.5% of that country's total energy needs. 100 new offshore turbines just went up 7 miles off Kent coast. They are 380 ft high and cover 35 square miles of ocean. The greens there actually approve offshore wind turbines. CA will not do this so we will site wind towers in the remote Mohave desert. It will take 10-20,000 wind towers covering 300-500 square miles of desert to supply perhaps 5-10 % of CA total energy needs. That will deface an area of desert bigger than los Angeles. But who cares about the barren CA desert right!

both wind and solar requires large amts of land area, not to mention the additional 100+ sq miles needed for new transmission lines. These projects will cost 10's of billions of dollars, most of it heavily subsidized by the government.

Who will ultimately pay for them. The CA consumer of course, in higher electric bills. Also, wind is not constant in the high desert and very unsteady. It can blow 50-70 MPH for a few days(turbines will automatically shut down at these high wind speeds)but half the year there is little or no wind. The siting and placement of these enormous towers and turbines will entail colossal costs.

I have been out to both the San Gorgonio and Lancaster wind turbine sites, and almost every time i pass the blades are still, or moving at snails pace. The promise of wind energy as cheap reliable abundant source of renewable energy is a costly mirage and massive wasteful government- subsidized energy boondoggle.

A hypothetical conjecture( hopefully wrong) of LA Dem voter fraud in Nov elections

2010-09-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

california is a third world cesspool: A hypothetical conjecture( hopefully wrong) of LA Dem voter fraud in Nov elections

I AM MAKING A PERHAPS WILD SPECULATION HERE AND IT MAY PERHAPS BE A BIT OVER THE TOP BUT NOT ENTIRELY REMOTE. NONE OF YOU KNOW THE ILLEGAL ALIEN/GREEN CARD COMMUNITY OF LA AS WELL AS I DO, AS I HAD BEEN DEEPLY INVOLVED AND SUBMERSED IN IT IN THE 80'S AND 90'S AS A FORMER LA BUSINESS OWNER/OPERATOR HAVING DEALINGS IN THE VAST LA IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY. NOW TO MY RANT:

The key for the Dems to win the CA Governor and Senate races in Nov is getting the Hispanic vote in LA County. They need at least one 1 million Hispanics to vote Democrat in LA County to counteract the rest of state(Excluding Alameda County), which will vote majority Republican.

Look for Acorn-type activist groups to register fake ID illegal voters in LA's vast ghetto districts. There will be at least 1/2 million illegal immigrant fraudulent votes dredged up from the murkey LA Barrios. It is far easier to register fake ID hispanic non-citizens to vote illegally than to use Chicago-style cemetary voter rolls. As the immigrant LA Hispanic population has long experience in using fake ID's, and a complete ready-made setup in LA for fake ID doc mills, transferring this knowhow over to LA voter registration fraud should be a piece of cake.

Even if most of these fraudulent votes are actually thrown out we may still end up with 1000's of illegally cast votes by LA non-citizens in the final tally. We all know that the Dems have a history of using fraudulent vote tactics in dense inner city urban areas. LA City is overwhelmingly minority and Democrat. Since most of them depend on welfare freebies they will go to any lengths to defraud the electoral process to retain CA for the Dems, who are the party of welfare handouts to illegals and the lazy shiftless classes.

If election is real close in CA Gov and Senate races the outcome may come hinge on a few 1000 or more likely 10,000+ illegally cast votes in LA City/county. Republicans are nearly non existence in over half of LA county's 270 zip codes so it would not be out of question for the voting process to be corrupted and defrauded on a large scale in those 100+ LA zips in which Dems are 70-90% of registered voters.

This IS not a preposterous scenario. I live in long beach(LA COUNTY) and when i go to vote the voter booth never asks me for voter or picture ID. LA HAS MILLiONS OF NON-CITIZEN GREEN CARDERS AND ILLEGALS AND IT WOULD BE A PIECE OF CAKE FOR THEM TO USE FAKE ID's AND FAKE INFO TO REGISTER TO VOTE.

THE HUGE IMMIGRANT LA POPULATION HAS LOTS OF EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE IN USING FAKE ID DOCS, STOLEN SS NUMBERS, AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF FAKE ID'S SO IT WOULD BE AS EASY FOR THEM TO USE FRAUD DOC'S TO VOTE ILLEGALLY IN LA AS IT IS FOR CHICAGO/MISSOURI DEMS TO USE CEMETERY AND FELON VOTES.

THE FRAUD MACHINERY IN LA IS IN PLACE TO REGISTER AS MANY AS 1/2 MILLION ILLEGAL VOTERS, ALL DEMS. AND THE STATE OF CA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES WHO RUN THE STATE ARE MOSTLY DEM HACKS AND WILL IN A CLOSE ELECTION DEFRAUD THE REPUBLICAN VOTERS IN LA. THAT IS WHY CA HAS SEEN LANDSLIDE ELECTORAL VICTORIES FOR DEMS LAST 1/2 DOZEN ELECTION CYCLES.

LOOK FOR FRAUDULENT ACORN/SEIU-TYPE VOTER FRAUD IN LA IF THE BROWN/WHITMAN AND BOXER/FIORINA VOTES ARE CLOSE.

That is why the LA County SEIU/AFL-CIO are launching a huge drive to register LA voters and get Hispanics to the polls. That is why LA keeps funding welfare to illegals and their anchors at cost of 2 billion/yr for schools, health care, policing, and other welfare payouts. Obama adm knows this and that is why he injected 60 million for bolstering medicare to LA County. The welfare payouts to illegals is the bribe paid to the LA Hispanic voter block to keep them in the Dem column

Ray Stevens - Come to the USA

2010-09-13T08:39:00.000-07:00

Good music video by Ray Stevens which pokes satirical sarcastic funny jab at our stupid illegal immigration problem. Entirely anti-illegal immigration and pro-USA but done in a humorous vein. I personally think that Genesis's 'illegal immigration song' should be resurrected, reissued and made into a video.

Why CA AB32 global warming solutions act needs to be suspended/delayed/halted?

2010-09-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Why CA AB32 global warming act needs to be suspended/delayed/halted

The only thing CA leads in is not landmark green laws but in being a 15-20% high unemployment 3rd world bankrupt entity, a beggar state which has driven out productive tax-paying businesses and citizens and replaced them with a hoard of 3rd world uneducated welfare leeches, who pack the ghettos which encompass wide swathes of the greater LA basin region.

I say pull back/delay implementation of restrictive environmental job-killing acts such as AB32, and get CA moving again with high-paying blue-collar traditional power industry construction trades jobs. Put our vast numbers of unemployed/underemployed/idle construction workers into high-paying trades jobs such as the oil and traditional power energy industries can provide. We do not need anymore obama stimulus road construction projects, which only add to our already catastrophic debt loads, and all other large-scale infrastructure building projects will also add to our crushing debt.

The millions of promised green jobs are a mirage. The only 'green jobs' i see in CA are the 1/4 million immigrant(illegal) landscapers/gardeners driving around in beaten-up old polluting pickups. Putting 10,000-20,000 300 ft- high wind towers in the Mohave creates massive unsightly steel towers in the desert, besides killing birds. Installing solar panels can only be afforded by rich, well-off progressive limousine libs dwelling in exclusive seaside enclaves. CA cannot create enough jobs in home weatherization because of our mild weather and because property values will remain stagnant for another 5-10 years

The eco-nuts who passed AB32 are a tiny, wealthy elite based in their eco-enclaves along the coasts or in walled off exclusive suburbs, while the 90% of less-well-off CA plebians suffer from 20-25% real U-6 EU

I blasted this Sept 8 all over LATimes on their pro-AB32/ Pro-boxer diatribes

2010-09-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

Global warming bill a lose-lose issue for GOP candidates

The Liberal factions which run CA deliberately want as many illegals and their anchor spawn jammed into CA for one reason: POWER. They want and need the votes of the Hispanics and it matters little to them if much of SCal/LA have become vast illegal-alien spawned filthy polluted ghettos infested with illegal-alien spawned gangs and graffiti..The leftist ,radical 'progressive' state employee public sector unions and their congressional puppets have caused the bankruptcy of Ca., They only stay in power because they have allowed the massive infiltration of illegals into CA in order to court the hispanic vote, which allows the Sacto/San Francisco-based leftist progressives & state public sector unions in power to stay in power, dominate CA politics and maintain their inflated pensions, which are a prime reason that CA is reeling and bankrupt.The lying Lib 'progressives' could care less about the SoCal/LA environment with it's 1000+ square miles of filthy polluted 3rd world ghettos, as along as they can confine them to LA's immigrant barrios, as a regime would wall off a ghetto. Meanwhile they make rest of CA a pollution-free/jobless state with a few fabricated scam green jobs at cost of 1 miilion 'polluting' blue collar jobs.

My response to LA Times pro-AB32 article

2010-09-08T19:05:00.000-07:00

Global warming bill a lose-lose issue for GOP candidates

First response:
Global warming is fraud science and the global warming eco-nuts are extreme nutbags. Cap and trade is dead at the national level and China pollutes at 10,000 times the rate of CA. Go ahead environmental wingnuts- make CA a job dead state with your job killer AB32. What CA does has no impact upon rest of world which will go ahead with max resource extraction and spew out those greenhouse gasses. Meahwhile CA will 'import' 10 million more illegals(carbon polluters) who may actually need blue collar jobs like workin on offshore oil rigs. Environmental extremism is good if one can ignore the 1000+ sq miles of polluting 3rd world ghettos spread all over the LA Basin, filled with inconvenient immigrants who may actually need work in blue collar/trades jobs in 'dirty'smokestack industries.Global climate warming is a massive scam based on misleading, even fraud science, like Piltdown man. So what if a few glaciers are melting and the oceans rise 1-2 ft in 100 years. Earth has had violent geologic/climatic upheavels all its history without man's impact--review the Little Ice Age.

Second Response:

“A Sacramento State University Study and other studies say there’s likely to be a cost of $50,000 per small business and up to $4,000 per family in increased costs related to housing, transportation, energy and food,” said Eric Eisenhammer, spokesman for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association." The Cap and Trade of carbon credits appears to be a massive revenue windfall for the state of CA which they can then use to invest and subsidize green energy technologies. It make the state of CA/gov bureaucrats the innovator and investor in GTech instead of private enterprize.
It will also lead to higher energy prices to families and business. I think it needs to be rolled back and delayed. It is environmental extremism gone amuck, based upon unproven scientific assumptions about global warming. It is a CA environmental government boondoogle which gives gov scientists/bureaucrats soviet style centralized command/ control over green tech/energy technological developments.

» Boxer Tied to Dubious Waters Cash-for-Endorsement Scheme - Big Government

2010-09-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

» Boxer Tied to Dubious Waters Cash-for-Endorsement Scheme - Big Government

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, has paid some $30,000 since 2004 for the endorsement of embattled Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) in the context of a scheme that critics charge is unethical and amounts to Waters using her political station to benefit her family members.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/1/waters-mailers-a-family-business/

According to the Washington Times, Waters “has turned political endorsements into a family business, using federal election laws to charge California candidates and political causes to include their names as her personal picks on a sample ballot, or ‘slate mailer,’ she sends to as many as 200,000 South Central Los Angeles voters.”

The slate mailer business, it turns out, is run by Waters’ daughter, Karen, via her public relations firm. Records show that Karen Waters’ firm has been paid more than $350,000 since 2004, and has billed a further $82,000 since California’s June primary, for its services in this regard.

It is a scheme that has been criticized by good governance groups including the Sunlight Foundation and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

The Sunlight Foundation, in a blog post last month, equated the scheme to Waters “selling” her endorsement and noted that the amounts of money being paid to Waters’ own campaign committee in exchange for her endorsement often exceed the federal limit applicable to campaign donations.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) meanwhile cited Waters as one of the most corrupt members of Congress in both 2005 and 2006 for operating the scheme. In both years, CREW noted that Waters’ “ethics issues stem from the exercise of [her] power to financially benefit her daughter, husband and son.” The 2005 rating placed Waters in the company of figures like former Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Bob Ney—both subsequently convicted of corruption-related offenses—and was directly connected to the operation of the political endorsement scheme.
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=9711

Critics charge that Boxer has actively aided and abetted this scheme, both in the context of her 2004 and 2010 re-election campaigns.

In 2004, Boxer paid $25,000 for Waters’ endorsement. But ahead of this year’s California primary—in which Boxer faced no serious competition– and when it was well-known that Waters was under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, Boxer paid Waters $5,000 for her backing. It is this later payment that those monitoring Waters’ ethical woes say could act as an anchor tied to Boxer’s ankle, as she heads towards November.

“The amount is lower than what Boxer paid in 2004, yes,” said one Republican operative with whom we spoke. “But the Chair of the Senate Ethics Committee paying for an endorsement of an official under investigation for ethics infractions connected to her using her standing to benefit her family when that fact has been widely reported presents a major optics problem, to say the least. Ethics are already something of a surprise Achilles Heel for Boxer. Her committee let Chris Dodd off the hook, and she’s been criticized for using her repeat candidacies for the financial benefit of her family, too.” Added that operative, “This is an attack ad waiting to happen.”

Indeed, Boxer has been called out for steering about $500,000 in contributions made to her political action committee to her son’s consulting firm between 2001 and 2009. Like Waters’ scheme, this arrangement has attracted the attention of CREW, which focused on Boxer in a 2007 exposé entitled “Family Affair.” “Waters’ problems run far deeper, of course,” said the same operative. “But there are some interesting parallels here, to be sure.”

Boxer is facing what some observers say is her toughest political contest in a career that spans three decades, facing off against former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. The three-term Senator has previously said that she does not expect Democratic ethics scandals, including that of Waters, to affect the race.

( Of course not! high- profile Dem senators and legislators always get away with shady financial deals involving family members, at least with the MSM, but not Republicans)

Real Clear Politics’ polling average places Boxer about 4 points ahead of Fiorina, with recent SurveyUSA polling showing Fiorina ahead. The race has been rated a “toss-up” by numerous pollsters and analysts.

charles hugh smith-Action List for the Newly Unemployed

2010-08-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

charles hugh smith-Action List for the Newly Unemployed

As people who reckoned their job was relatively secure discover it isn't, a new cadre of shell-shocked unemployed will have to deal with unemployment and poor prospects for permanent employment. Here is a basic, common-sense list of actions to consider should your household income fall drastically for any reason. It is based on the concepts I laid out in Survival+.

1. Cut expenses immediately. Middle-class households seem especially prone to thinking they can weather a radical drop in income without any real change in lifestyle until a new job appears. Some even resort to pulling money out of IRAs and retirement accounts (and paying penalties to do so) to maintain the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed.

The better strategy is to perform immediate triage on the household budget and eliminate all extraneous spending. Cut expenses in every way: unplug zombie appliances and chargers, stop buying snacks and convenience food, stop going to high-priced yuppie markets, borrow films from your library rather then rent them, etc.

Write the budget down and track your actual expenses monthly. Reward yourself with a small treat if you stay within the new budget.

2. Look at your biggest expenses and reduce them to your "new normal" income by whatever means are necessary. Typically, the biggest expenses are housing, healthcare and perhaps education.

There is abundant evidence that when it comes to unsustainable mortgages, The wealthy strategically default as a business decision. If a mortgage is completely out of line with the household's reduced income, then the wealthy may have the right idea: it's just business. Anyone considering defaulting on debt should of course do what the wealthy do and consult experienced, licensed real estate and tax attorneys before making any decisions.

Some people have found that renting out rooms in their house allows them to align their income with their mortgage costs. Either expenses must be cut or income increased, or both. Hoping to find a high-paying job in the near future is not a strategy, it is just a form of denial.

Many people we know who have seen their small business income suffer have already cancelled their health insurance--$1,000+ a month is a lot of money. There may be professional organizations which offer cheaper catastrophic-type insurance to members; those seeking to slash their health insurance costs will have to look around for creative ways to do so.

3. Keep productive. All work has dignity. Base your pride in being productive, not on your position or title. It is very easy to fall into feeling lousy about oneself when unemployed, and the best way to counteract that natural diminishment is to stay productive. Find an organization who needs your energy and skills; yes it is "working for free" but you get value for your efforts: you keep your skills sharp and maybe add new ones, you have self-worth by contributing to a worthy organization, and you network with others in ways which might lead to some paying work.

One value we have lost in the U.S. is the inherent value and dignity of all work. Too many people feel that all sorts of work is "beneath them." No wonder, perhaps, given that our popular culture worships at the altar of narcissism, self-glorification, indulgence and victimhood.

I personally consider picking up trash around my neighborhood a highly valuable form of unpaid labor. There is nothing lowly about work performed with care, attention and impeccability.

4. Work to establish multiple sources of household income. If there are potentially employable members of the household earning nothing, then get them out there making some sort of income, even if it is informal, sporadic and low-paying. Something is better than nothing.

5. Think like an employer. The attitude built up by 60 years of prosperity is generally "give me a job and I'll do good work." That was no hindrance in decades of rising employment but now there is a new reality: a thousand other people will also do good work when given a job.

The key word here is "given." If you think like an employer, then you realize that doing good work is the minimum baseline. You have to provide additional value that gives the employer/supervisor some hope that you will bring a much-needed spark to the enterprise. That could be a cheery, generous nature; it could be a can-do attitude of wanting to learn new things. It could be a willingess to be flexible in hours worked.

This is not a suggestion to work for free for an enterprise which pays others to do similar work. But even in this recessionary environment, all too many people expect to work according to their own requirements rather than the needs of the enterprise. This difference in baseline assumptions is most visible between native-born Americans and recent "green card" immigrants, who typically will do whatever it takes to get ahead.

6. Beware the illusion of incremental change. Sustained effort brings results, but within this common-sense approach is a pernicious trap I call The Seductive Illusion of Incremental Change (May 13, 2008). Picking the "low hanging fruit" produces significant improvements, and with that the illusion is formed: if we just keep doing what we've been doing, little by little the problem will be chipped away to zero.

For example, in the first round of household budget cuts, it's not too difficult to pare away a few hundred dollars (travel, eating out, unlimited texting phone plans, etc.). That initial success can lead to a false confidence that such cuts can be continued to the point that income and expenses are actually aligned.

But incremental change often starts yielding diminishing returns. Are the changes being made fundamental, or are they essentially tweaks to a system heading toward collapse?

Weight loss is an example many of us can relate to. A pound of human fat contains 3,500 calories. To lose a pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories in excess of what you eat. To lose five pounds, you must burn 17,500 calories more than you eat. If you ramp up your exercise program and burn 500 more calories a day, then in 35 days you will lose the five pounds. Alternatively, you can cut 250 calories from your intake and expend 250 calories in additional exercise.

This sort of sustained effort will produce fundamental results, but anything less will not. Just sending out 10 resumes a week may not produce any job offers, and cutting marginal expenses rather than making the deep cuts needed to re-align income and expenses will only set aside the day of reckoning.

7. Preserve capital. Pulling money out of savings, IRAs and 401Ks to maintain a giant mortgage or an unsustainable lifestyle is unwise; that savings might be needed down the road for a really important emergency such as getting a knee replacement (paid in cash).

Given the likelihood that the stock market will eventually reflect the weakness of the real economy, then keeping IRAs and 401K capital in cash rather than stock mutual funds is a form of capital preservation.

8. Become fluid and flexible. Someone to whom various kinds of work is "beneath them" is like the person who has no interest in learning new skills; their inflexibility dooms them by reducing their adaptability. The living branch bends in the wind, the dead branch snaps off.

9. Accept the new reality. If someone offers you four hours of work, take it. It might lead to something else, and if not, at least you made a few bucks. Clinging to past paradigms is a dead-end.

10. Get healthy, stay healthy. Losing status, income, security, etc. are wounds to self-worth and the soul. Increased stress and anxiety are not healthy. Exercise and productive work/learning are important ways to reduce stress and build a positive response to unwanted change. Walk a quarter mile; when that's easy, walk a half-mile. When that's easy, walk a mile, and so on. Seek respite and renewal in Nature.

Your body is a temple; don't feed it crap.

11. Think entrepreneurally. The basics of entrepreneurism are simple: seek out unfilled needs, or offer a service/product which offers customers faster, better, cheaper. Identify what you like doing even if it's unpaid (at first) and pursue that line.

If you don't want to slog your way into the ranks of Corporate America or work for somebody else (possibly a tyrant/sociopath), then create your own job by making customers/clients your boss.

12. Create value before asking for something in return. One of the key values in Survival+ is reciprocity. If you want ten people to help you find some paying work, then you need to offer them something of value that is meaningful to them. The world does not owe any of us a living.

13. Add some beauty to your world. Our culture glorifies ugliness, aggressiveness, self-centeredness and psychoses of power. Planting some flowers that can be viewed by passerby, keeping your block trash-free, creating some art or craft, repainting a fence with bright colors--anything which adds vibrancy, color and creativity to a small corner of the world is a blow against degradation, aggressiveness, ugliness, squalor and surrender.

14. Become politically active. There are larger forces at work behind the media facades and facsimiles. Our society focuses on self-help rather than on the darker forces of Empire, Power Elites, etc. In other words, the Powers That Be support a politics of experience in which we each blame ourselves for our inability to find paying work, etc. rather than seek out the financial and political roots of our common crisis.

The Power Elites and its Mainstream Media work tirelessly to depoliticize our understanding of the world around us. They present us with a false political choice (Republican or Democrat, as if it really makes a difference to the running of the Global Empire or the concentrated power and wealth of cartels and Financial Elites), religious rabble-rousing and plentiful "entertainment" distractions-- anything to suppress or marginalize our understanding of just how distorted our economy and society have become.

Derangement is normalized though a relentless barrage of imagery, "news" and commentary which cements a depoliticized politics of experience: if you can't find work, it's your personal failings that are the "problem." It's all the Demopublicans or Republicrats fault, these reforms have "fixed" the system, etc.

Ask cui bono--to whose benefit?--of everything.

15. If there is no work in your area due to declining wealth, move to a place where wealth is still being created. Moving is both frightening and exciting; it's always been one path out of poverty into new opportunity.

16. Failure is how we learn; embrace it. One reason Silicon Valley continues to spin out innovation is that failure is not just grimly accepted but celebrated. You haven't really "earned your stripes" if you haven't had a start-up go under or equivalent (your company coming within an inch of going under qualifies). Natural selection is all about constant innovation and failure.

Bonus point:

17. Do more of what's working and less of what's not.

california is a third world cesspool: Deporting Illegals- a look back at 1954 operation wetback, when we had in President Eisenhower a real American patriot

2010-08-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

california is a third world cesspool: Deporting Illegals- a look back at 1954 operation wetback, when we had in President Eisenhower a real American patriot

Long Beach dwtn shoreline, harborwalk and marina

2010-08-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

I have posted these beautiful pictures of dtwn long beach harbor shoreline amusement walkable zone. I took them with my cell phone. I posted these pics to illustrate a point. Notice the scarcity of visitors/tourist in these pics. They were taken on Sunday, August 1st on a warm, balmy, hot summer day at peak of summer tourist season. Yet from the pics it is evident that our beautiful scenic shoreline harborwalk is having a severe drastic reduction in tourists and local visitors. This has to be due to the effects of our severe recession/depression. And it was the same the previous Sunday.
I have been here a 1000 times and i have never seen it this slow in August at peak of summer tourist season. Even the local Long beach visitors were scarce.

rules for avoiding a shark attack when kayaking

2010-08-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Re: Shark Shield...a Follow-up

After my initial reply to Paul I put out a series of queries to everyone I know in "the shark biz" and looked at the database of shark attacks to kayaks again in order to address the implied protection of the Shark Shield device.

In general, the following are true the world over as of today:

1. sea kayaks over 15 feet do not get attacked by large apex predator sharks such as white sharks or tigers.
2. in South Africa surf-skis have been hit by white sharks which then left after the initial strike and circle.
3. a tiger shark apparently "mouthed" the stern a sea kayak of 14-16 feet in the Gulf of Mexico (anyone know the exact number, color and model please reply with this information)

In terms of the Shark Shield's effectivness, there is good information from around the world (including our personal experiences at Guadalupe Island, Mexico that a cruising, passive shark is kept at a distance by the Shark Shield.

The Shark Shield is NOT effective when a white shark makes a sudden rushing attack. There has been several bites and one fatality (paradoxically, the brother of the fatality endorsed Shark Shield) with the Shark Shield operating when a white struck from below, rapidly entering both the effective field of the device and hitting the victim at nearly the same moment.

There is no way to increase the field strength without affecting the user.

Is the Shark Shield something to have for sea kayakers? In my opinion, no. It's a total waste of money:
1. white sharks do not attack (as of today) sea kayaks of 5+ meters.
2. a deteremined, rushing hit is not prevented in any case by the Shark Shield
3. a cruising white shark will look at a sea kayak, even approach one closely, but inevitably will cruise away minutes later.
4. the Shark Shield will not stop a shark from checking you out, it will only move the distance away a few neters away from the kayak. Personally, I like the white shark to come as close as possible so it can really check me and the kayak out and learn what it is, as well as that I can check out the shark close up. (Whites don't scare me, tigers do)

Now is the Shark Shield something for surf kayakers and kayak fishing? Maybe so. They are smaller and pinniped-shaped and for surf kayakers, act a lot like pinnipeds panicked in the surf. Maybe it would be something to have running but again, an attacking white is not stpped by the electrical field at all.

Some very important shark encounter rules, read and memorize:
1. do NOT hang around rookeries and haul-outs
2. do NOT ever approach within 200 meters (the Death Zone) of a rookery or haul-out. Not only are there rules protecting marine mammals but that distance around the rookery is where the white shark preferentially prowls and strikes.
3. observe the life around you for indications of a predator...sea birds suddenly flying over a small area, nervous seals or sea lions on the rocks looking at the water and occasionally at you, seals and sealions side-by-side on the same rocks, get the hell out of there (occasionally bang your bow a few times with your paddle just to reinforce the idea that you are not a sealion or seal.
4. do NOT ever approach a shark kill in the water, or a blood plume in the water (a shark hit underwater, or it's prey dragged under). Paddle as fast as you can away and keep paddling for a kilometer, the shark is close by and will defend its kill by utterly destroying your kayak, leaving you in the water, and I will gurantee the shark will then return to hit you fatally.
5. if you see a sudden huge disturbance in the water, paddle as fast as you can away for a kilometer. That's most likely a shark hitting its prey. If it missed it's prei it's still on strike mode, you want to leave the area as fast as you can paddle. You may want to bang away at your bow a couple times just to reinforce the idea that your aren't food escaping.
6. when checked out by a cruising white shark do NOT poke at it with anything. If you do this that slow moving shark will defend itself with an overwhelming attack that will end up with you in the water and bit. Enjoy the shark visit and when it's cruising away, you might want to then bang bow of your kayak a few times hard with your paddle. It's a good idea to reinforce the artificial nature of kayaks to the shark.

A word in banging the bow of the kayak with the paddle. This makes an unnatural sound in the air and water that seems to reinforce the idea that the kayak is big as the shark and something it doesn't know and should avoid, or at least puts you into the not-food/waste-of-time-and-energy category decision byu the shark. I have personally used this on several white shark encounters while paddling (Pt. Arena, California; Gaviota, California; twice off Guadalupe Island, Mexico). In each and every case the shark swam off a minute later.

Glenn Beck Clips July 19, 2010

2010-07-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

This video is awesome! No comment needed, just watch it.

Glenn Beck Clips July 19, 2010http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVAhr4hZDJE&feature=player_embedded

Increased quake activity predicted for California faults | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

2010-07-10T09:28:00.000-07:00

On map U see 3 main red lines. The Lake Elsinore Fault is farthest to left: the San Jacinto fault is in middle , San Andrea is to the right. Both LE and SJ are fairly large offshoots of the great SA fault, and each capable of 7-8 mag quakes

Increased quake activity predicted for California faults | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quake-20100708%2C0%2C2407319.story

http://www.scsn.org/2010collinsvalley.html

Here is summary SCSN (Southern CAlifornia Seismic Network) report of the recent 5.4 Borrego Springs quake and it connection to the much bigger April 4 7.2 Baja Quake:

Primary SCSN Report - Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 6:30 PM

"A M5.4 earthquake occurred in southern California at 4:53 pm (Pacific Time) about 30 miles south of Palm Springs, 25 miles southwest of Indio, and 13 miles north-northwest of Borrego Springs. The earthquake occurred near the Coyote Creek segment of the San Jacinto fault, which is one of the strands of the San Jacinto fault. The earthquake exhibited sideways horizontal motion to the northwest, consistent with slip on the San Jacinto fault. It was followed by more than 60 aftershocks of M>1.3 during the first hour. Seismologists expect continued aftershock activity."

"In the last 50 years, there have been four other earthquakes in the magnitude 5 range within 20 km of this location: M5.8 1968, M5.3 on 2/25/1980, M5.0 on 10/31/2001, and M5.2 on 6/12/2005. The biggest earthquake near this location was a M6.0 Buck Ridge earthquake on 3/25/1937. The earthquake was felt all over southern California, with strong shaking near the epicenter......'

'The San Jacinto fault, along with the Elsinore, San Andreas, and other faults, is part of the plate boundary that accommodates about 2 inches/year of motion as the Pacific plate moves northwest relative to the North American plate. The largest recent earthquake on the San Jacinto fault, near this location, the M 6.5 1968 Borrego Mountain earthquake April 8, 1968, occurred about 25 miles southeast of the July 7 M 5.4 earthquake....'

'This M5.4 earthquake follows the 4th of April 2010, Easter Sunday, Mw7.2 earthquake, located about 125 miles to the south, well south of the US Mexico international border. A M4.9 earthquake occurred in the same area on June 12th at 8:08 pm (Pacific Time). Thus this section of the San Jacinto fault remains active...'

'Seismologists are watching two major earthquake faults in southern California. The San Jacinto fault, the most active earthquake fault in southern California, extends for more than 100 miles from the international border into San Bernardino and Riverside, a major metropolitan area often called the Inland Empire. The Elsinore fault is more than 110 miles long, and extends into the Orange County and Los Angeles area as the Whittier fault. The Elsinore fault is capable of a major earthquake that would significantly affect the large metropolitan areas of southern California. The Elsinore fault has not hosted a major earthquake in more than 100 years. The occurrence of these earthquakes along the San Jacinto fault and continued aftershocks demonstrates that the earthquake activity in the region remains at an elevated level. The San Jacinto fault is known as the most active earthquake fault in southern California. Caltech and USGS seismologist continue to monitor the on going earthquake activity using the Caltech/USGS Southern California Seismic Network and a GPS network of more than 100 stations.
"

The triple crises of civilization: Times Argus Online

2010-05-13T09:17:00.001-07:00

The triple crises of civilization: Times Argus Online

Posted using ShareThis

A collection of peak oil, end of world, end of civilzation,
doomday readings, malthian predictions, ad nauseum.

Oil Spill Insights from a Retired Manager of an Offshore Underwater Service Company

2010-05-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

Oil Spill Insights from a Retired Manager of an Offshore Underwater Service Company

Posted using ShareThis

A good reasoned tome on the gulf oil leak/spill from an expert. I cannot take the stupid summaries of this disaster from the inept biased MSM, which only harp on the calamities and ecological damage without providing actual detailed accounts of the heroic efforts being made by BP and coastal rescue cleanup agencies to deal with this mess.

10 largest oil spills in history

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fenvirowonk.com%2Fcontent%2Fview%2F68%2F1%2F&sa=D&usg=AFQjCNFKlly7yJ35_zoaveVPrP3M9RFmSA

latest news and setbacks of gulf oil spill:

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6446

cofferdam_q4000_deploys.jpg (JPEG Image, 3500x2333 pixels) - Scaled (22%)

Just to put things in perspective, the largest oil spill in history is the 1991 Kuwait spill when Saddam Hussein sabotaged Kuwait oil tanks/rigs, spilling 500 million gallons of oil into the Persian gulf. If our Gulf oil spill is leaking 5000 barrels per day(EST), it needs 2 months to exceed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 240,000 barrels/11 million gallons. We get oil tanker/oil rig discharges in far off countries almost on a regular basis, but these major spills only damage the ecologies/environments of faraway unknown third world countries, not our own precious shores, so never get CNN coverage and are kept out of sight. US public could care less for eco-damage from oil spills in Persian gulf, China, africa, or some other far-off country as long as it is there and not here.

US decision to halt further offshore drilling just means that we will require more imported oil transported on Oceanic tankers, increasing the chances of another Exxon Valdez-type oil tanker accident. Not to mention chances of a terrorist attack on a vulnerable tanker in the Persian Gulf or other regional/global hot spot. Protecting this US foreign oil lifeline will require continued US military commitments/presence in Middle East/Iraq, and continued US global military buildup/dominance, which means
continued big US military budgets. The wacko environmentalists, who are also 99% anti-military, must be scratching their heads on this conundrum.

Video of Temporary Dome Solution; BP Safety Violations; Well Still Leaking 5,000 BPD, Could Hit 60,000 BPD; Maps

2010-05-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

Map of oil spill trajectory

Video of Temporary Dome Solution; BP Safety Violations; Well Still Leaking 5,000 BPD, Could Hit 60,000 BPD; Maps

Some reports and info on gulf coast oil spill

Did a little research on the Gulf oil leak tragedy and, though the problems with plugging leak(s)and oil spill containment are indeed challenging and appear almost hopeless, i have faith that BP and Fed agencies will eventually resolve the oil leak.
Yes, it won't be a quick fix and yes, there will be severe eco-damage, but over time the resilient vast oceans, with assistance from man's technical ingenuity, will swallow and absorb this oil spill.
What will happen is that after a year or two of halts to new offshore drilling, the public and politicians will get back on board with more domestic drilling and oil resource extraction, especally when gas prices surge to $4.00-$5,00. If US halts all new offshore drilling or other domestic oil extraction projects we will only increase the % of oil that we import. That oil travels on oil tankers, which are also are at risk of oil spills. No one called for banning oil tankers despite the 1989 Exxon Valdex tragedy. US will require it's oil fix, and it will get it despite the shril calls from extremist wacko environmentalists to halt any and all domestic offshore oil production.
The politicians simply roll with the winds of public opinion, and shift policies and positions based on public outcry at the moment. Right now the politicans are responding to the gulf oil spill by halting new offshore drilling, but rest of world will drill off their coasts and simply export their oil to US, via oil tankers, which terrorists could easily sabotage.

Greeks rioting in response to EU- imposed austerity measures

2010-05-05T22:36:00.000-07:00

Up close action shots of violent Greek riots: these folks are pretty pissed off!

On Phoenix Suns wearing 'Las Suns' jerseys

2010-05-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

This is a problem for me. As a supporter of Arizona's tough anti-illegal immigration law SB 1070 i have called for a boycott of los angeles due to LA mayor/city council calling for arizona boycott. I despise all opponents of Arizona's law and am angered that major league professional sports franchises are getting pressured into opposing SB 1070. Even the NBA has become embroiled, with Phoenic Suns actually showing support for diversity and symbolic opposition to SB 1070 by donning jerseys with las Suns imprinted on them.
I am a big NBA fan/fanatic and actually like the Suns and am rooting for them to beat the Spurs. I dislike the NBA/Suns involvement in a hot political issue and believe that this is a big mistake for major league teams to get involved in politics. The majority of NBA/major league fans/followers/TV watchers if polled would likely mirror the general population and support stronger borders and stricter enforcement of laws against illegal immigration. However, fans are not political fanatics and are normally disinterested in politics. This major league involvement in the Arizona boycott could backfire, leading to reduced revenues for professional sports franchises.

That said i will still watch the NBA playoffs and root for the Suns till they reach the lakers in western conference championship. The Suns & all professional sports franchises will see the light and tone down their politics-the owners will realize that it is bad business to mix business and politics.

Greeks rioting in response to EU- imposed austerity measures

2010-05-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

'Greeks protest over forced austerity measures after the European Union announced a €110 billion ($145 billion) aid package for Greece on Sunday. Soon after, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou announced the tough cost-cutting measures to meet European Union and International Monetary Fund conditions for the deal.
The package includes a promise by Greece to cut its budget deficit to 3 percent of the country's gross domestic product, as required by European Union rules, by 2014, according to Papaconstantinou.'

US and especially CA is a greater fiscal train wreak than Greece, yet we happily print and borrow to keep the welfare entitlement gravy train going here. US and at least 10 states are putting off the hard fiscal austerity choices Greece is now confronted with, as no US/state/local politician will make the politically suicidal decisions to drastically curtail or cut entitlement spending , esp the Democrats who depend directly on Government-dependent voters.

CA earthquake interactive map 2010

2010-04-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest map of Southern California's major earthquake faults. The one that is of most immediate concern to me is the Newport/Inglewood fault, which runs almost directly along the SCal/Orange County coast ,runs right near me in long beach, and snakes up thru heavily populated South bay and western LA County and thru city of Inglewood before terminating in the Baldwin Hills near Culver City. Last major quake along this fault was the 1933 6.6 mag quake which leveled long beach. I don't know the dormancy period for this fault but most faults lie dormant for 100-1000 years, so i am not overly worried.

http://www.quake.ca.gov/gmaps/FAM/faultactivitymap.html

Map: Southern California faults - latimes.com

2010-04-27T22:17:00.001-07:00

Map: Southern California faults - latimes.com

Posted using ShareThis

Here is the latest map of Southern California's major earthquake faults. The one that is of most immediate concern to me is the Newport/Inglewood fault, which runs almost directly along the SCal/Orange County coast ,runs right near me in long beach, and snakes up thru heavily populated South bay and western LA County and thru city of Inglewood before terminating in the Baldwin Hills near Culver City. Last major quake along this fault was the 1933 6.6 mag quake which leveled long beach. I don't know the dormancy period for this fault but most faults lie dormant for 100-1000 years, so i am not overly worried. Plus i live in a sturdy wood-frame single-story house which has survived the 1971 Sylmar and 1994 Northridge quakes without any noticeable damage, thou the epicenters of these two quakes were both 40 miles away. Most of Long beach sits on loose alluvial soil so any 6+ mag quake would cause severe damage from excessive jiggling of the loose clay and river deposits upon which much of long beach sits.

quick dirty primer on LA Region likelihood of a major quake

2010-04-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

We just had a 7.2 mag quake located in northeast corner of Baja pennisula 110 miles east of tijuana and 20-25 miles south of US-Mex border. Time was 3.40 pm PST, Sunday April 4th Easter day. Quake epicenter was 300+ miles from LA Region but was widely felt all over SCal as a long rolling, rocking 45-second motion which did little damage. The longevity of the quake, coupled with it being felt over a wide region of SCal and South Arizona, indicates a major massive plate movement, possibly 3 to 10 meter shifting/fracture of the earths crust but very deep down(6-8 miles)so that SCal was able to absorb the shook. The damage to Baja region of this 7.2 quake close to quake epicenter is unknown as of this time of writing.

The quake is in a very active sesmic region centered in the imperial valley fault zone whch straddles US/Mex border and runs along Imperial Valley south all way to north end of gulf of CA/Sea of Cortez, where it likey contines underneath that sea. This appears to be a spreading rift zone which sometimes occurs along plate boundaries, though we area told that the pacific plate and NA plates are sliding or bumping into each other, not spreading apart. My view is that plate boundaries are complex and characterized by sliding, undercutting, grinding, rifting, uplifting, underthrusting, ect. The NA/PACIFIC plate boundaries here in Scal are mostly characterized by the sliding of the PAC plate northward in relation to the likely westward movement of the NA plate at rates of aveage 6-10 CM per year.

However, in one section of the plate boundary(the north La County section of San Andreas fault), it appears that the PAC plate is undercutting/grinding north/Northeastward against the NA plate, causing numerous secondary offshoot faults in the LA Basin and creating the uplifted youthful masses of the SCal mountains. This also snags and locks this dog-leg bended section of the SA fault which in time wil snap and create one hell of a quake, time uncertain but probablity next 10-50 years.

What is more of immediate concern are the 100's of mid- sized faults(from 70 to 200 Kilometers Long) which crisscross LA Basin. Some of these such as newly discovered LA Puente Hills fault and the famous Newport/inglewood fault, are capable of an LA City-leveling 7.0 or greater mag, though all of these mid-sizes fault lie dormant most of time(like a volcano), snapping once every 100 to a 1000 years. They will accumulate stresses over time however, and a major snappage of one major SCal fault such as SA, san jacinto, elsinore or imperial valley fault, could unleash secondary aftershock faults along any of these minor LA Basin faults.

Before the big one breaks along the SA fault we will likely get a 6-7 mag fault rupture along an undiscovered fault running beneath the LA Basin. Or a break of a established Mid-sized fault within LA county/city such as the la puente hills, newport/imglewood, siera madre, or northridge/ sylmar/ santa susanna faults. The chances of a super-killer 7-8 mag fault rupture is extremely rare for these secondary faults but not 100% failsafe.

event:http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/07VaUvNG98U/30-earthquake-hits-malibu-one-of-several-california-temblors-after-72-shaker-near-mexicali.html

http://goo.gl/WvLm

http://shar.es/m2dYs

http://bit.ly/dt1nHQ

http://sciencedude.freedomblogging.com/2010/04/04/6-9-earthquake-near-san-diego-shakes-o-c/95905/

On cal meltdown: personal views

2010-01-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

The CA government is tied up in knots with a 20 billion budget shortfall. There are dire warnings of imminent calamity with threats of shutting down the vast welfare safety apparatus, upon which est 10-15 million Californians are directly dependent.
Such programs as Healthy Families, home heath care for seniors, medi-cal, Calworks, we are told, face massive budget cuts. I do not think that we will see much cuts at all. Nor do i see CA tackling the state employees pension problem, which is bankrupting CA. The vested interests will fight tooth and nail to protect their benefits and programs.
I truly believe that all this dire screaming coming from Sacramento and their media spin meisters is just that, spin and agi-propaganda, initiated to get the population prepared for more massive tax increases, and to get Obama to bail out CA with a fed bailout of 7 billion. I have seen this dog and pony show last 2 decades: each year we have a budget shortfall and each time CA manages to slime it's way thru their mess with gimmicks, accounting tricks, borrowing from this fund to bolster that fund, use short term borrowing in the Market, ad nauseum.
Here's some solutions: sell more state assets, some state parks, and other prime properties to China. Allow more offshore oil drilling and more resource extraction, deport 2-3 million illegals who drain the CA social welfare net and steal jobs from UE native Californians, have the IRS & state franchise tax board go into LA and start collecting revenues from the 40% black market economy here in Los Angeles. And cut back on the retirement pension benefits of CA State employees to reasonable levels, which would not break out budget.

Summing up 2009 -observations

2009-12-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

We end 2009 on a quite dismal note. If u ignore the nonstop happy talk of the MSM and seive/sift beneath the layers of BS you will find a prostate country with record high UE, out of control public debt, record # of bankruptcies, record foreclosures, ect.
It has been questioned whether we are as bad off as the first great depression 80 years ago. Hard to judge as society has altered greatly and the US gov has become much more interwined in the economy with more active assistance to those who have fallen through the gaps.
10-15% of the population is now on food stamps, and the gov keeps extending UE benefits. Also the Fed is printing money non-stop and is throwing bailout money
at everything. At least the banking system appears to be more or less stabilized, with a chosen few mega-banks controlling the credit system, with the active(maybe sinister)assistance of the FED.

In CA( my home state), at least 50% of the population is receiving direct assistance(handouts) from the state and feds, whether in food stamps, section 8, healthcare subsidies(medicare/medical/healthy families),UE bennies, diability pmts,supplemental SS,amd probably a 100 other forms of direct aid.
A significant portion of this aid has to be supplemented by Obama stimulus funds as CA is plain broke and prostate. I will say more about CA being in dire straits in another post.
.
In sum, 2009 goes down as a bad year for Joe Public, especially with the dismal UE rate being at 17% U-6. Worse, credit has tightened severely and credit lines are severely constricted for both consumers and small businesses. 2009 was above all a deflationary year, a year of contraction. Everything contracted except maybe movie house receipts. In bad times folks flock to cheap entertainment such as movies in order to escape their bad economic predicament.

What makes Avatar click

2009-12-27T18:37:00.000-08:00

I have to admit i am a big Avatar fan. I've seen the movie 3 times on 3D format, the only way to see it. It is an astonishing cinematic achievement from James Cameron. I have seen all his movies and it ranks right up there with T2 and Aliens, his prior masterpieces. It may not quite have the pulse pounding adrenaline action of T2 and Aliens but it is more like Titanic in it's script flow. The special effects are, pardon the pun, out of this world.

To bring balance to my discussion, there has been quite a bit of negatives put out in the Web from readers discussions, and even mainline media pundits. It think it is because of the hugh amt of publicity and advertsing put out in the marketing of this film. Avatar has become the 1600ib gorilla in the minds of the naysayers, given it's $240-300 million production cost. It is seen as this gigantic special effects mega-movie, without content and meaningful dialog. It is a special effects movie and yes, the plot and acting is average, on par with such other entertaining content-empty megahits as Transformers, Star Wars, and Spiderman. Also the 3D ticket prices are a bit high($11.00 average in LA/SCal), but so is everything else. It might be a good strategy to lower prices for Avatar3D to $9.50/9.99 across the board, adult price. In a bad economy when folks are on tight budgets this would bbe a good strategy to make Avatar more accessible to a wider audience.

There has also been some negatives regarding its anti-corporate, anti-military, and pro green message(rape of the earth). My advise: leave the politics at the door and just watch the movie and enjoy its astonishing CGI/3D generated special effects.

I will add that being an avid camper and hiker i can relate to the scenes of the Pandora floating mountains,big trees,jungles and waterfalls. They are all CGI generated but the 3D really makes the cliff drop offs, jungle plants,trees and water scenes so lifelike you actually seem at times to be participating in the action. There will come a time when you can walk into a 3D/CGI animation screening room and do simulated rock climbs, parachute drops, or plunges over a high cliff into a water pool.

comentary on PBS national parks series

2009-10-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

I have watched portions of Ken Burns PBS television series on the 'National Parks, America's best idea'. I watched the Yosemite part entire featuring the Sierra Nevada Mountain bard John Muir. His name live on in sierra lore and in the 200 mile long John Muir trail, which i have done about a third of. It is indeed quite spectacular in parts and slices thru the heart of the sierra high country but the lateral trails are also quite nice as well.
I have or did have at one time the same spirit which imbued John Muir, in looking at the sierra as kind of mystical, a feeling hard to describe. You see the waterfalls, pines,granite rock, meadows, creeping shadows, domes,outcroppings, gnarled pines clinging to life at timberline, the lonely tiny flower clinging to life in an alpine meadow, and take it all in. Everything else falls away to insignificance and the worlds problems and hassles as well. The deeper you get into wilderness and especially being alone in it you feel as one with it, being interconnected to it and also sometimes vulnerable and small.
The wilderness has dangers and can envelope you with sudden storms, a trip over a rock causing a ankle sprain or cracked head, a bear attack, a slip over a waterfall or down a raging river in spring flood,or u may get disoriented and lost and get exposed to a bitter cold wet night and end up with hypothermia. I have practiced and studied wilderness survival techiques and have backpacked deep in sierra wilderness solo for up to 8 days.
The dangers and eree silence of a truly wild place may be part of the mystic experience which awed John Muir, the feeling of being so small,insignificant and vulnerable deep in the wilderness. U are truly on your own and must depend on your own survival skills to travel safely thru the wilderness.
BTW the PBS series is indeed a marvelous piece of work, though 95 % of park visitors never get more than a few miles away from the trailhead(civilization) and really commune with remote nature as John Muir and i have.

short essay on backpacking - is it for anyone?

2009-09-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

I started backpacking the local SCal mountains back in the 1970's. I hiked all over the San Gabriels and San Bernardino Mts. I was an early convert and really got deep into hiking and backpacking. Not only backpacks but hundreds of long day hikes all over the local SCal mt ranges. Then i ran a business from 1980 to 1986. After that venture went under i started getting back into serious hiking and backpacking again but now i was strictly into the high sierra nevadas, the only place to do serious backpacking and see the best mountain scenery in America, maybe the world. For once you do a sierra trip all other mountains pale in comparison. The Sierras are pure magic and mystique, a truly magnificent range with towering Sequoias,luch fragrant pines trees,deep gorges,jagged towers, gushing rivers and creeks,lush lower elevation meadows and high fragile montaine meadows, monumental granite domes and cliffs( think Yosemite), and 10,000 high country sparkling lakes. The visible wildlife is mostly Deer and bears, but if u look and listen carefully u will notice woodpeckers, bluejays,thrushes, and other birds whirling thru the tall pines. If you love blooming flowers the sierra meadows abound with them. If you love tall stately pines the Sierras has 10 varieties from the lordly sugar pine to the ever present lodgepoles with the cornflake bark.

I leave this short essay which is very brief, and will now answer the question-is backpacking for anyone? Answer is, no! It takes a special mindset-an urge to get into the mountains,a special liking for maps and topograghy,maybe high geological interest, a rugged self-reliant personality. And most of all a mystic connect with earth,rock, pines,jagged cliffs,roaring pristine streams,something like when the earth was pristine and primeval before man came and destroyed a good part of it.

Another sierra interlude atop bighorn plateau

2009-09-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

The pics above are of tyndal creek campsite and upper kern basin day trip shot

This account followed my Hi Sierra backpack journey from high atop 13,200 ft forester pass down to the Bighorn Plateau and just short of Mt Whitney ascent. It is mostly following the JMT (John Muir Trail) as it traverses this high 11,000 ft plateau. I have already covered the descent from forester pass and the astounding view of the U-shaped, natural 2000 ft high black-colored amphitheater-bowl, which is the kern/kings divide. This was the most difficult section of the JMT to complete and the last gap in the JMT. Anyway, i am now down at the bottom of the bowl and passing thru some lakes as i head to Tyndal creek campgrpund. It is a rocky treeless moonscape i pass thru, eerily beautiful and haunting, though stark and bleak. I did a one mile slant off the main JMT trail to an overlook and saw a 360 % panorama of the entire south section of the sierra range. Very awe-inspiring and in mid-July there was still lots of snow-capped peaks.
I reached tyndal hi-country campsite which is marked as a main backcountry backpackers site. It is quite a beautiful site with plenty of boulders interspersed with small pines, and with the nearby creek. There was a good number of backpackers camping there but it was uncrowded and with plenty of privacy.
I made tyndal my basecamp for 2 days as i did a long adventurous day hike next day, following an unmarked trail westward to the upper headwaters of kern river. Very isolated inaccessible region, and very few ever venture there. Trails are mostly erased & unmarked and much of this jaunt was crosscountry. My goal was lake South America, which upon reaching it was indeed splendid ,and at 12,000 ft the highest large lake in Sierras. There is more to this account but i will post it separately.

Musings on grand canyon hiking, sightseeing, part 1

2009-09-07T11:59:00.000-07:00

I want to provide a short insightful acct on my one grand Canyon experience. I spend two days there in late march 1995 on last leg of an eventful 30 day hiking/camping/sightseeing tour of US desert southwest, most of it spent in Utah Redrock Country. I arrived at CG and like everyone else I went to the CG village there which is quite built up with shops,lodges,eateries,almost like the mall at Yosemite.
I left there soon and got a good campsite at Mather Campgound, which is a pleasant, shaded large site. I spend a night there sleeping inside my camper shell as temps dropped to 15% overnight. I was shivering all night in that cold camper shell but survived. Next day i went on a long long all day hike down to canyon bottom. I was in tip-top shape to do the 5000 ft elevation drop and return and 20+ mile hike. At the beginning the Bright Angel Trail was crowded but as i got farther in the crowds dropped off. There was at least one pleasant shaded rest stop halfway to bottom : i rested and continued. At the lower part the trail was more open with desert-like cactus scrubland. I reached the muddy Colorado and walked the suspension bridge to other side. It was around 200 yards wide( my estimation) and the water was rushing and chocolate brown. I spent an hr at bottom before returning. Return trip not too memorial as it was a long grinding slog but i remember that as i got near the top there was a swarm of folks which had attempted the hike but did not get far. It gets really steep as u near the top and that culls out most regular CG tourists. Upcoming Part II will provide more insights on my CG experience.

Posts on safety of nuclear reactors and on current CA economic malaise

2009-01-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

Post 1 LA county unemployment rate at 9.9%

LA county was 1-2% ahead of CA UE rate all year. And that 9.9% is way understated. It counts only those who have filed for and are collecting UE benefits. Probably another 5% of the county population have exhausted benefits or have simply dropped out. Another 10% have had their hrs cut back to part-time status. There is also a huge population of UE/underemployed minority teens and young adults including second gen immigrant siblings who are unable to get work or are marginally employed part time in service or in temp make work gov't job corps programs. There are also huge numbers of independent contractors(including illegal alien yard workers driving jalopy pickups) and commissioned agents who are not eligible for UE insurance and/or are not counted in the employed workforce stats, and who have seen their income disappear or reduced to almost zero.
U-6 UE rate here in LA County is at least 20% and more likely 25%. Both the city & county never had much high paying job sectors to begin with, just a few high tech defense jobs in the south bay, union port jobs and the hollywood industry. These sectors are also hurting from the bad economy and are cutting

A quick tour of San Onofre Nuclear reactor(in San Diego county):

I will provide a detailed description of one Nuclear power plant here in Scal. It is the San Onofre Plant in San Clemenete just off freeway 5 at border of Orange County and San Diego county. It is operated by SCal Edison and is situated next to a verdant lush green protected coastal Belt, where SCE has their administrative and warehouse facilites. Immediately south of the nuclear Plant is San Onofre State Park, a favored haunt of surfers and campers.
I have never heard of any complaints about this plant, and the area around it is practically a protected coastal preserve, as is Camp Pendleton immediate to the south.
I hope this dispels any thoughts of nuclear plants being noisy ,dangerous, environmentally polluting, ugly coastal nuisances.back on labor costs. Only the health industry may stay intact.

Why i do mountain pic's?

2009-01-21T23:36:00.000-08:00

The remote mts and desert places i have been to simply scream to be photographed. Photography is simply a way to capture a time, place and scene which the shooter feels memorial in his /her own way. For me, shots of mts, rivers, desertscapes, rock formations, forest meadows, ect have a peculiar attraction. Too bad i was only using a simple point and shoot camera, as i never took to using fancy over priced photo equipment, preferring to focus on more fundamental aspects of hiking/ climbing such as trip logistics/wilderness expedition planning & execution. The photography is just a sidelight, a sort of diversion. More important is to get to the remote scenic spots in the first place and focus on the climbing route.

The famous climber Mallory was once asked why he climbed mts. His reply was: "because they're there". I choose to hike and explore wild regions, deserts and mts because
of a mystic connection, a way for me to be in touch with the almighty creator, or simply because earth, water, forest bring me to the elemental, the basics of existence.

My take on this Great depression II

2009-01-21T23:22:00.000-08:00

Part I
The economy is in complete total meltdown with rapidly escalating EU, jobs cuts. Ca Gov't ready to axe and cut out payrolls and services. I go all over and see that the crowds have disappeared in the local shoreline resort areas, even during this past holiday. The consumers wallet has emptied out and credit has dried up. Fear of job cuts is on everyones mind - are U next? Retail is dead. I call this deflation, the worst since the great depression. Most folks haven't a clue and have their heads buried in the sand or get their info from the MSM and TV cable,. which are a bunch of liars or don't know squat. Better get your info on the real state of the economy from unbiased high-level blogsites such as Mish Global Economics and Bens Bubble Blog.

Part II
Ca gov't is completely BK and might as well shutter down for all i care. They can lay the axe on a good % of their useless state employees. As far as i am concerned The state is a hindrince to me though i hate to see such state treasures as our splendid state parks go to rot due to under maintenance and reduced staffing. Ca has bk'ed itself thru massive socialist spending -half of the state population is on the dole and the state will reach out to grab more taxes and wring more $ from the few productive working citizens. Ditto for county and local municipalities-the ruthless revenue collectors( your local police depts) are aggressively ticketing drivers to keep local city budgets afloat-their survival means your financial ruin.

Why redrock canyons fascinate me?

2009-01-21T23:10:00.000-08:00

Most folks see the grand canyon at one time in their lives but never immerse themselves in the total canyon experience. I did hike down the canyon to the bottom and back in one day, a long hard hike. Saw the muddy chocolate colored Colorado river and walked along it banks. And the GC is not even near the best canyon experience on my list as i only did two trails -there are 100's of trails in the large GC expanse, and the best one is on the more remote northern rim, the thunder river/ deer creek trail which i have yet to do.
Back to SW canyon hiking. I liked Zion, bryce and capital reef canyons,. Best thing about canyons is to traverse a narrow twisting slot canyon and even wade thru it. The Virgin river narrows in Zion is a great canyon for doing a wading canyon hike . The san rafaell swell is also great for canyon slot hiking. There are also canyons where U can observe anastazi ruins such as johns canyon and grand gulch
Thing is i sold all my Utah/arizona canyoneering books on e-bay as i have chosen to devote all my remaining hiking/ camping years to the Sierras , the grandest best mts in the world.

kayaking off Long beach & OC coast update jan 10th 09

2009-01-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

Kayaking around Newport beach marina has this advantage. Launching is very easy as i can park my truck and off load my yak within 50 ft of the water. Beach is mucky and the PCH bridge underpass blocks out sun which makes for a chilly launch and landing but NB harbor is the biggest & best of the 3 marinas to yak around, and Corona Del Mar has a neat clean tidal beach as a destination stop point. Like i said when coming back from a NB outing i need to have warm clothing to get into quickly as i have gotten very chilled coming out of the water at 4-5 pm on a cool day.
NB launch point takes an hr to get to but it is a good all-round kayak zone. Next destination is to launch, stop at NB fun zone and walk around. Another destination is to go around west jetty thru the wedge and stop at NB pier.

Long beach yakking is easy as the harbor is one big smooth lake. I do worry about speed boat racers and need to keep a watch constantly as the racers really go thru the water rather with reckless abandon. I need to get reflective tape and maybe a strobe light to place on my yak as i realy need to make myself highly visible in the harbor. May encounter drunk racers who may recklessly plow right thru me.

The LB Harbor is good for yaking as there are destinations to go to and the Launch point setup is established. It is 3 nautical miles to get to shoreline village marina, about an hrs paddling.
Next destination is the queen mary and the outer harbor areas and even attempt to yak out to the breakwater and beyond. Also want to go outside the breakwater westward along the curve keeping close to the jetty. It will be out in true open sea conditions with bigger waves and a true test of my sea kayak skills. Longest stint in true open seas is 1-1.5 hrs off the corona del mar shore out of the protected NB marina.

Update: since i posted this account on facebook i have expanded my local yak tours such as going well beyond the protected NB inner harbor Marina and really out to the open sea but that is for another post.

2009-01-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

I had promise some pics of my yak as soon as i could find a way to transport it on board and take pics without it becoming wet or submerged. test came mondayJan 19th off LB harbor. Passed test and even flipped my Yak and camera stayed dry-barely.

How bad is this recession/depression going to get?

2009-01-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

It appears that things are worse than appearances. Companies are chopping out workers or cutting back hrs. It is all tied to a drastic reduction in consumer spending which accts for 70% of the economy. No Obama will not turn things around. He says he wiil create 4 mil jobs. BS. There will be agencies set up with all that bailout and stimulus spending to train laid off workers but they just get worthless certificates. Then they wil go out in the real world and try to apply for jobs in a down economy while millions are being laid off.
talk about sailing against a 30 kt wind. Going out to obtain work with your worthless training certificates while companies are shafting experienced staff and putting on hiring freezes. Especially as the majority of the umemployed are barely literate lower class proletariat or youth without any skills or experience.
There will be a host of job training agencys set up especially in the big cities with political connections to the obama adminiinstation and fat cat democratic politicians. This will benefit the administrators who are picked to run these programs, which will put millions into job trainng programs who might get make work or gov't infrastructure projects/WPA work . This will not happen right away and 2009 will be see continued rising unemployment.
These make- work gov't created agency jobs will be temporary stop gaps creating temp job corps WPA work.

I will simply stand back and watch the unfolding destruction of credit, jobs, housing asset declines, local Gov' t BK, small business' shuttering, crime run amok, poiticians & TV pundits spewing BS, athe while i will be on my kayak and go all up and down CA coast camping out in our lovely crown jewel state coastal parks .

description of a short kayak day trip

2009-01-21T22:29:00.000-08:00

Short synopsis : I launch out of Newport kayak rental center and after an hr of paddling i get to Crystal creek park inside the breakwater. I beach my yak and do some bouldering and simple rock climbing exercises on the short low cliff overhangs. Maybe swim out in to the calm beach. Back on my yak and paddle another hr out into the open sea away from the protection of the NB jetty. Then i can land at Crystal Cove State Park(CC) and practice some hairy beach landings and launches on an open sea exposed beach.
I can also continue paddling another mile and get to the rocky cliff headlands of CC and do some yak paddling into the kelp and seaweed beds, and maneuver as close to the wave dashed rocky bluffs as i dare. Can also peer into the clear waters and see the actual sea floor and see the underwater kelp forest and fishes swimming around. No, I do not get into the water to snorkle but will attempt to do so later if can set up my narrow easy- to- tip- over yak as a launch platform for undersea diving.

This is the real scenic part of tour , paddling along the CC rocky coastline . There are rocks and rocky headlands to manouver around, thick kelp, and broad ocean swells to watch for ,and U must be constantly alert and instinctively maintain a tenuous balance with your paddle .

I found an open sandy beach to beach my Yak , a secluded isolated beach . A good rest stop and picnic place and a clean quiet beach to lay back. Did get dunked and flipped the yak attempting the beach landing - always an adventure . Had to dry out all my gear as it was soaked.

A nice secluded beach and away from civilization , and a perfect spot to do beach calesthenics, practice more beach launches and landings, take a swim , and even do hikes along the beach trails.

Updated on Tuesday - Comment

Inland empire on shaky RE ground

2006-05-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

http://housingbubblecas

Americans fleeing big cities in search of cheaper homes « on: April 22, 2006, 10:05:22 AM »
This is from an MSNBC article. [url][/urlReport: Americans fleeing nation's big citiesPeople moving further from metropolitan areas in search of cheaper homes]Riverside, Calif. a burgeoning cityThe metropolitan area that attracted the most new residents was Riverside, Calif., which has been siphoning residents from Los Angeles for years. The Riverside area, which includes San Bernardino and Ontario, had a net gain of 81,000 people a year from 2000 to 2004."Riverside has grown to become the 13th largest metropolitan area in the nation. It’s a short drive to several mountain ranges, and it’s within driving distance of the beach. Locally, it is known as the Inland Empire....“When you look at housing prices in Southern California, along the beaches and coastlines, you’re able to obtain a very large home for a much lower price” in Riverside, said Cindy Roth, president and CEO of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce....Homes in Riverside aren’t cheap. The median price — the point at which half cost more and half cost less — was $374,200 in 2005. But they are less expensive than Los Angeles, where the median price was $529,000."My comments:If gap between Riverside/inland empire prices and LA /OC prices continue to narrow, then the attractiveness of the IE declines. Why?. because the IE has little to offer, despite the glowing accounts on this and other commentator sites. It has relatively fewer high-end jobs and not much high-tech industrial corporate parks such as south OC has. And few commercial hi-powered commercial/banking/fimancial clusters such as Dwtn/westLA or Costa Mesa?newport beach. The IE is as of now basically one gigantic residential exurban sprawl for households who fled from the high coast prices and found low-cost homes in these boonies. And they have had to commute long distances to ther LA/OC coast to the jobs which are still concentrated along the coasts. Have been all over the IE and have seen few hi-end industrial/commercial/financial parks such as is found along the LA?OC coast. Those large gigantic commercial industial buidings that one sees in the CHino, ontario and fontana area are mostly large warehouses for receiving and transhipping all the imported studf from overseas, mostly china stuff. Warehousing/logistics does not offer much high-paying positions except fot a few at the intermediate and up management levels, and maybe class A trucking, which income is unstable. In Short there is not in the IE at this time a really built-up concentration of hi-end industrial/commercial/financial jobs and sectors to justify continuing RE home price appreciation. The bubble is now peaking and prices still going up due solely to demand for agffordable housing by Angelinos and OC'ers who are priced out of the coast. At Some point the IE prices will stop increasing as supplycontinues to build up and homes in IE cease to be affordable due to the Coast refugee's export of the coast bubble to the IE. ualty.com/forum/index.php?topic=599.0

right-tilt fault zone

2006-03-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

right-tilt fault zonDelivery Companies Pressured
The state is cracking down on firms that have converted their drivers into contractors.By Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writere

This a from a long article on the state of califfornia cracking down on courier/messenger companies that convert their delivery employees to undependent contractors. I have been and i/c courier driver for three different companies since 2001. before that i was a salaried emplyee for 4 other companies. The difference between being a salaried driver and and I/c is that being an I/C you have absolutely no state benefits such as unemployment or state workmans comp that you pay into. You can , however, pay into social security thru filing your schedule se, as i have done as an I/C . Essentially thr I/C is in many respects a small self-owned business entity and should be seen as such. He /she there fore has to carry all benefits , including making provision for health insurance, private savings plan, accident insurance, ect. The Money that one can make as a self-employed I/C can be greater, in some cases far more than that made as a emplyee driver, particularly if you can wrangle a high commission rate from the company you contract with. As for degree of comtrol exercised by the contracting company, well, they do provide you with constant job assignments via a leased communication device, usually a nextell twp-way pager. Theoetically you cab decline to take the assigned jobs, What happens. you get no jobs, period. As for control of routes , the I/c can determine how to deliver the assigned jobs so does exercise a large degree of control over that. In other ways the I/c has a bit more freedom that your average salaried employee. He cab dress in own garb, go as fast or slow as he wants, take as much or as few assigments on a given day as he wants, .take long lunch breaks ect. The dispatcher can control you only so much because you are operating on your own in your own vehicle. You may go as long as a week and never see the disptch-operational hdqtrs of your contracting company. You can also in many cases elect to take off when you want or leave early or punch in late. Of course dispatch can also decide to give you less jobs , and inferior jobs as payback for taking too much time off, or even decide that they do not want to contract with you anymore. In that sense they do exercise control over you.

This article mentions that Delivery companies have increasing gone the I/c model as way of cutting labor costs, in some cases by 30-40%. This also undercuts competitors with salaried employees. Looks likes thousands (15,000 positivily identified) of drivers incorrectly identified as i/c's. Are you one of those who is classifeid incorrectly as an i/c but arre really an emplyee. And is your company failing to pay to the state back payro;; taxes and workmans comp.

some quotes from the article:

"Enforcement actions to date have identified about 15,000 drivers as being incorrectly classified as independent contractors. Regulators estimate that tens of thousands more could be working illegally as contractors for employers who are failing to pay the state over $100 million in back payroll taxes and workers' compensation premiums. ....
"in October, California insurance fraud investigators, accompanied by Massachusetts State Police officers, served a search warrant on the offices of NICA Inc., a Braintree, Mass., company that provides services for courier firms that convert their drivers to independent contractors. NICA said it does 30% of its business in California. "..............
"The company, which has worked with 400 companies employing 16,000 drivers in 42 states, said its strategy could be good for drivers as well as its clients.Contract drivers, if they hustle and are truly independent, can cover more territory and make more money than hourly workers, argued Tim Bergin, NICA's western region sales director."You can double your income," said Ty Conley, a NICA-affiliated driver in San Bernardino. "I can work for myself and have so much more freedom."

"Last year, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Howard J. Schwab ruled in a class-action lawsuit that FedEx Ground drivers, who are required to buy their own trucks, should be deemed employees because the company has "close to absolute actual control" over them "

sierra interlude

2005-11-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

There is special place burned into my memory called the high sierra. I have done seven long backback trips into this region : each trip has it's share of memories, some brighter than others but all memorial just the same. The best experience of all perhaps is when i ascended and descended 13,200 ft forester pass halfway thru an eight day ramble from kersarge pass south along John muir trail(JMT) on my way to Mt Whitney. The nearly vertical descent from a-top forester down the 2000 ft headwall is a zigzagging trail blasted into the rock. probably 500 zigzags in all . As I left the wall and headed away from it I looked back and beheld this gigantic black sheer vertical cliff jutting up from the glacial basin and going in a horseshoe curve arounf the basin. Think of a 2000 ft high amphitheatre. It is actually the divide between the kings and kern river watersheds and a spectacular jagged lateral spur range.

Note: While resting atop the pass i was scoping 13,850 ft junction peak just about a mile to the east , whivh would have been a difficult dangerous traverse along a jagged knife ridge about 700 ft elevation climb to the summit. Having ascended 3000 ft from centerbasin to the pass i just did not have the energy in the tank to do the climb, and needed to descend out the exposed pass to reach tyndal creek high country campsite . A missed opportunity, or a wise risk caculation? (i was backpacking solo and it was a cold blustery day with a hint of a storm, not an ideal situation for doing a strenuous 1-mile 700 ft elv . rock climb/scramble along a knife-edge traverse/ boulder-outcropped ridge to the summit.)

Back to the descent off forester pass and onto the bighorn plateau:

The ramble thru this part of the hig sierra, along the bighorn plateau, is a spectacular thrill. I took a 1 mile jaunt off the JMT to an overlook and beheld a 360% panorama of the entire upper Kern region, on my right the great western divide, to the south the GWD and east sierra divide curving together, to my left the great main Sierra divide itself including the Mt Whitney group of peaks. The place i was at is called the bighorn overlook but it is not on any topo map. You have to ramble cross country off the main JMT trail south by south west about a mile. This part of the JMT taverses a stark barren rockscape before you hit tyndall creek. This is the part about hi sierra rambling i enjoy most: desolate rockstrewn landscape with a few patches of trees and plants clinging to life at or above timberline. Patches of snow. high mountain lakes and ice-cold streams.

the coming oil crunch-some solutions

2005-09-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Continuing high gasoline prices are having a devastating effect upon the transportation logistics industry. Being part of this industry i have felt keenly the high cost of gasoline: here are my recommendations:
1. Open up entire Alaska North slope to drilling, period. The only people who benefit from preserving the ANWR are a tiny,tiny minority of wealthy elitist environmentalists who have the financial means of actually visiting the remote, barren Alaska North slope. The rest of us poor working smucks have to pay exorbitant gas prices due to continuing reliance upon unstable world oil supplies. The preservation of the North slope means nothing to those in the transportation/logistics business who feel the brunt of exorbitant gas prices.
2. A massive manhatten-project type plan to develop and extract oil from the oil shale sites in Utah/Colorado. There are 1.6 trillion barrels of potential oil deposits in these formations . It will involve massive imputs of energy and water resources as well as technological and environmental hurdles but i am confident that the hurdles are mainly political- if the people support extracting shale oil shale by whatever means possible then it will happen.
3. More refining capacity: cut back on environmental red-tape to expedite process and spread refining locations all around country instead of having them concentrated in a single region such as Texas-louisiana which are subject to hurricane damage.
4 Build more Nuclear power plants which are safe and environmentally friendly and can reduce use of greenhouse-causing emissions from coal.
Point of all this is to reduce U.S reliance upon overseas oil supplies in the near term future. Over the long term, say 10-15 years from now, new technologies will be fully implemented which will drastically reduce the need for gasoline in automobiles
We are headed toward a worldwide geopolitical scramble for access to and securing oil sites , and many sources are in regions with great political instability or in countries hostile to US. Oil is so crucial to the needs of Modern industrial Society that there will be continued geopolitical political power struggles over oil, and even warfare. The US needs to become as self-sufficient in oil supplies as possible or become hostage to spurts of high oil spikes. This spurt that we now have may last quite a while: if it does it will lead to a worldwide economic disruption and attendant social upheaval especailly in US and Europe .

Relieving Southern California traffic congestion

2005-09-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

Read an article in LA Times Sat sept 17 edition regarding proposals for building Three massive tunnel freeway projects which would address the three most serious traffic bottlenecks in Southern California. The First proposal would link the 710 freeway with the 210 fwy by constucting a 5 mile underground tunnel thru South Pasadena. The Second proposal would link Palmdale to glendale with a 23 mile half tunnel/surface commuterway which would ease traffic crunch on I-5/14 fwy. Third proposal would build a tunnel/surface link between Corona and irvine going thru the cleveland Mountains which would relieve commuter crunch along 91 fwy between corona/riverside and los angeles /orange county.
These proposed tunnel freeway projects,if actually implemented, would be the most expensive underground freeway projects ever built, running into 10's of billions of dollars . However, I would rather see these projects built than have billions wasted on more public transportation boodoogles. We need more freeways here in Southern California, whether underground or above ground. period.

decision to take out god from pledge of allegiance

2005-09-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

This decision of the San franscisco District judge to ban the pledge of allegiance because it mentions God is an affront to the Flag and to our great nation. It dishonors all those who faught and died for this country. It is a black eye to all patriotic civic-minded citizens and show s us what damage a tiny minority of leftist anti-american atheists and secularlists can do. No doubt backed by the equally vile ACLU.
All civic-minded patriotic americans who have any respect for the history and the traditions of this country should register their protests to their elected officials.