Employee Free Choice Act

Monday, September 29, 2008
There is a major piece of Legislation working it's way through Congress, and the Senate. Backed by Senator Obama, and the AFL-CIO, it has the potential of changing the Economy every bit as much as the Bail-out ( Buy-in ). In fact, it may be one of the hidden motivations for the push to bail out so many businesses and banks.

This is a short video, made by one of the backers of the bill ( there are many ).


You can Google 'Employee Free Choice Act', or view my 'tagged' new-article list.

After the Gold Rush

Sunday, September 28, 2008
I was thinking about what a friend had said, I was hoping it was a lie. He was speaking of folks losing there homes, and there savings, and much more. I was wondering where that was happening?

I live in a neighborhood where most folks own there homes. We're buying ours from a guy, we have a 'contract for deed', which means we don't have to deal with a bank. No body seems to be moving out around here. Is there a delayed reaction to the current crisis?

Anyway, all this thinking reminded me of Neil Young ( go figure, he's not a prophet but he's a damn good poet ). So here's a video that features 'After The Gold Rush', one of my all time favorites. That's because I used to live in a big city that was hell bent on building houses for refugees from larger cities.

Folks would sell their homes in Sacramento, or the Bay Area and use that money to buy a similar home in Reno for less money, keeping the difference for a 'nest egg'. Some of those folks used there money to buy a better home, and passed on the 'nest egg'. The short story is; no one was building homes for the people in Reno, or Eugene, or Seattle. 

That was all during the Gold Rush, and that's over. 

This video uses images from a bygone day to symbolize the transient nature of progress and development. Not to mention Eminent Domain.


Walk around your neighborhood, and count how many people are moving out of their homes. I have one neighbor who may be doing that soon, but that's because of all his doctor bills, and not being able to work. It's not fun for him, but it's reallity ( reality ? ). Let me know if you know anyone who has suffered from the crisis on Wall Street.


Sunday Morning Coming Down

On this Sunday morning, I am wondering if many people are looking at Wall Street, and Congress with glee. I've read and heard much about the impending doom and demise of our Capitalist System, mostly from Closet Communists who have incorporated that day into their dogma. And it is Dogma.

Being Sunday morning, I'm reminded of another bunch who look to their calendars, and Holy Books with glee. I know of many who pray for the end of the world, and destruction of most of humanity, mostly from the Fundamentalist who do the same with Dogma as the Communists do. Both promote Dogma.

Don't think for a minute that Fundmentalist Religion and Communism are on opposite ends of a field. From where I stand, their both next to each other, on the other end of the pasture.

Directly to my right are Conservatives that value order and tradition, to the left are Liberals who seek to improve and build a better world. We look at those covorting gleefully, as dangerous lunatics that need to be kept at a distance ( but within view for safety's sake ).

I'm looking for a few Pragmatists on TV today, as I listen to pundets tear apart speaches and plans. I think it's going to work out for the better, because our Political System actually works when people are williing to compromise. That's the good news on this Sunday morning, people are willing to compromise.

The bad news; There's a ship in Somalia that has something very nasty on board. Several very large navies are circling that area looking for a solution to a problem that might be bigger than our troubled economy...pirates. 



Italian motorists demand return of fines after massive traffic lights scam - Times Online

Saturday, September 20, 2008
I've never been a fan of police departments that use cameras to ticket the owners of cars for traffic violations. They really don't contribute to traffic safety, and are in fact a form of taxation without representation. The video evidence is generally accepted as superior to eye-witness testimony, making it nearly impossible for the accused to defend themselves.

In Italy, very many people are hopping mad. An unholy alliance between technology and government has been raping their wallets and subverting their legal system. I can't believe that this problem is limited to Italy, and everyone should question whether their own Municipal Authorities aren't engaged in this new form of exploitation and corruption.

From Times Online
September 18, 2008
Italian police have uncovered a scam in which traffic lights in 30 towns throughout Italy were rigged to ensure that drivers were fined for failing to stop at red lights.Prosecutors in Milan said that the company that provided and maintained the traffic lights had manipulated them so that the amber signal lasted for only "a few seconds". This meant that motorists who thought that they had time to pass through the junction were inevitably fined for going through a red stop light.
Police said that 30 local councils were involved in the scheme, in collusion with the company that provided and maintained the lights...more
I read somewhere that fines are for people who do wrong, and taxes are for those who do right. I'll pay my taxes, but I demand some say in who is spending them on what. You may define revenues generated by traffic courts as fees, rather than taxes and you'd be correct if the folks that collect the money aren't lining their pockets with our money.

When the system that collects fees is corrupt, then that system is an illegal form of taxation. it is also a racket, and RICO laws should be enforced at the Federal level.

Besides the Constitutionality of all this, there's still the need for the police to be actively engaged with the general public. There mere presence on the streets and highways moderates traffic, and their absence ( as in cameras doing their work ) only increases risk on the streets.