After reading the preceding post, I had to chime in with my own.
I am one of the many. I am underwater - not due to a mortgage, but due to my house literally collapsing.
I live on government assistance not because I like doing so, not because of laziness, but because I have to. It makes me sick to my stomach that I've had to go to a food bank the last couple of months. I would love to be able to go earn a paycheck. I'd love to go do something with my life other than sit around all day wondering how I'm going to pay the bills, repair something that's fallen apart or put food on the table.
There are no jobs out there for me. I am one of fewer among the many. I'm mentally ill and have little work experience. Everything I am capable of doing, I have had to teach myself because I cannot cope in a traditional instructional setting. I didn't need school to figure out how to repair a vehicle, to put together a computer or build a website. I have passions and talents that simply cannot be taught. Sadly, that doesn't count for shit anymore. Merit and ability are irrelevant. It's all about cronyism, nepotism and money now. Who do you know? Who are you related to? Is there any incentive you can offer that makes you worth giving a chance to?
I don't know anyone important.
Even if I spoke to my family, none of them are important enough to get me into any kind of job.
I'm broke, so there goes money talking as an option. I cannot grease any palms.
Where am I left?
The saddest thing is that the bar is being raised higher with each passing day - not just for me but for the many... for all of us. Some have probably heard the stories of doctors working at fast food restaurants or people barely staying afloat due to unemployment benefits. Most of those unemployed have put in thousands of applications, and none get any response - but they keep trying. Even with no hope, they keep trying. Even as Big Business continues to downsize, they keep trying!
Those situations are becoming more and more common with each passing day. The jobs are drying up even as CEOs can continue to run companies into the ground and float away on their golden parachutes into a life of luxury. Companies are raking in record profits as they slash away at their job numbers and the profiteers and speculators rejoice.
If the continued plunder of the nation at the hands of the wealthiest continues, the many will grow. More will find themselves in the situation I am in. More will become like me.
Look down at my plight, that's certainly your right. I'll keep trying, even though there is nothing out there for me. The only help I want is a chance to make a living for myself. Don't pull me out of the hole, don't even throw me a rope - throw me a shovel so I can dig myself out. Do not speak for me, I will make myself heard.
But realize that if you stand by and do nothing, or worse take the side of the uncaring wealthy overlords, you will stand in my shoes soon enough. Then who will be left to speak for you?
There are still options. There is still time, even though it dwindles. Everyone has a voice. Everyone has a vote. Some of us still have some money - speak with your wallets. Some have stock in these businesses that continue to take and take - you can use that to speak as well!
Speak for yourselves, America... before it is too late.
Showing posts with label Business As Usual. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business As Usual. Show all posts
18 November 2011
26 May 2009
Suicide on the CCC
Times-Picayune - Man kills himself by jumping from Crescent City Connection
At approximately 7 a.m. CDT, a young man pulled his car up onto the eastbound Crescent City Connection bridge. He soon shut his car off, exited it and went over to the side of the bridge. Showing absolutely no hesitation, he jumped, ending his life near the corner of Lawrence and Teche streets when he landed.
Things are going very wrong in the area as of late, with all the political scandal and incompetence, but this event is a stark reminder that real people are suffering, too. Many are being injured or killed on the streets at the hands of others, many of those offenders being the ones we forget, the ones we fail.
So, too, this man could have been another of those, another that we as a society have failed. No one is sure as of yet. No identification was found on the body, and even if they did find ID in the car, no info has been released yet.
It is not the manner of death which causes me to raise my voice today. Suicide is, sadly, common in this world. Usually, it is a very heart-wrenching decision for the person attempting it, this I can say from experience, having attempted suicide myself in the past. Thoughts run rampantly through one's head at that ultimate point as one wonders what is left to live for. Some, like me, pull back and decide not to die. Some choose to live. (There's a difference, trust me.) Then there are the ones for whom the only choice is death, so they go through with it.
Everyone deliberates the decision at the critical moment. Most of the time, it's at the point where the very next choice - to jump or not to jump - to fire or not to fire - takes place. It's on the bridge. It's standing there with the gun in one's hand.
Whatever deliberation was made in this case, it was made long before reaching the point to jump. There was nothing that could have been done... it is what makes this case all the more disheartening.
The future of the state is leading to more circumstances like these. There will be more times in the future where nothing can be done, even if the person can be talked down from the critical moment. There's a reason. The quality and frequency of mental health care in the state of Louisiana has been in shambles since even before Katrina, and now it threatens to only get worse.
The state is cutting mental health care. They're closing a major center in New Orleans, and consolidating care in the area to the Northshore. This simply won't work. True, the center they're consolidating to is in better condition than the one being abandoned in New Orleans, but this won't help matters. A vital component to mental health care is engaging the loved ones of the patient, somehow. Most of the time, visitation helps.
So how is it helping them to send them somewhere out of reach of the loved ones? Those with means have no need for centers like this, for they're most likely to secure and afford private care long before institutionalization becomes necessary. No, most of the people ending up in a state-run inpatient center will be the indigent and poor. How many of these people's loved ones will even be able to make it to the Northshore? These are the same people who had to hop on a bus provided by government money to evacuate from Gustav because they simply didn't have the means to run when their own lives were at stake.
Consolidation isn't the answer. If the center in New Orleans was in as bad a shape as they were saying, they need to improve it, or open a new center in town... not close the only lifeline some have and move it across the Lake.
We need more money for this, not less. I'm sure if we cut all government salaries some and wiped out the waste that exists all over the state, we could pour some into improvements in New Orleans, and elsewhere in the state.
It won't happen, of course. More people will have less options when the critical moment arrives, and more will die. As someone mired in poverty in Louisiana and not getting any care for mental illness, I could very well be one of them one day. (Note: Not a suicide threat - T.)
And the state will be responsible for every life lost in this way.
At approximately 7 a.m. CDT, a young man pulled his car up onto the eastbound Crescent City Connection bridge. He soon shut his car off, exited it and went over to the side of the bridge. Showing absolutely no hesitation, he jumped, ending his life near the corner of Lawrence and Teche streets when he landed.
Things are going very wrong in the area as of late, with all the political scandal and incompetence, but this event is a stark reminder that real people are suffering, too. Many are being injured or killed on the streets at the hands of others, many of those offenders being the ones we forget, the ones we fail.
So, too, this man could have been another of those, another that we as a society have failed. No one is sure as of yet. No identification was found on the body, and even if they did find ID in the car, no info has been released yet.
It is not the manner of death which causes me to raise my voice today. Suicide is, sadly, common in this world. Usually, it is a very heart-wrenching decision for the person attempting it, this I can say from experience, having attempted suicide myself in the past. Thoughts run rampantly through one's head at that ultimate point as one wonders what is left to live for. Some, like me, pull back and decide not to die. Some choose to live. (There's a difference, trust me.) Then there are the ones for whom the only choice is death, so they go through with it.
Everyone deliberates the decision at the critical moment. Most of the time, it's at the point where the very next choice - to jump or not to jump - to fire or not to fire - takes place. It's on the bridge. It's standing there with the gun in one's hand.
Whatever deliberation was made in this case, it was made long before reaching the point to jump. There was nothing that could have been done... it is what makes this case all the more disheartening.
The future of the state is leading to more circumstances like these. There will be more times in the future where nothing can be done, even if the person can be talked down from the critical moment. There's a reason. The quality and frequency of mental health care in the state of Louisiana has been in shambles since even before Katrina, and now it threatens to only get worse.
The state is cutting mental health care. They're closing a major center in New Orleans, and consolidating care in the area to the Northshore. This simply won't work. True, the center they're consolidating to is in better condition than the one being abandoned in New Orleans, but this won't help matters. A vital component to mental health care is engaging the loved ones of the patient, somehow. Most of the time, visitation helps.
So how is it helping them to send them somewhere out of reach of the loved ones? Those with means have no need for centers like this, for they're most likely to secure and afford private care long before institutionalization becomes necessary. No, most of the people ending up in a state-run inpatient center will be the indigent and poor. How many of these people's loved ones will even be able to make it to the Northshore? These are the same people who had to hop on a bus provided by government money to evacuate from Gustav because they simply didn't have the means to run when their own lives were at stake.
Consolidation isn't the answer. If the center in New Orleans was in as bad a shape as they were saying, they need to improve it, or open a new center in town... not close the only lifeline some have and move it across the Lake.
We need more money for this, not less. I'm sure if we cut all government salaries some and wiped out the waste that exists all over the state, we could pour some into improvements in New Orleans, and elsewhere in the state.
It won't happen, of course. More people will have less options when the critical moment arrives, and more will die. As someone mired in poverty in Louisiana and not getting any care for mental illness, I could very well be one of them one day. (Note: Not a suicide threat - T.)
And the state will be responsible for every life lost in this way.
06 February 2009
One girl's rant against the legally sanctioned monopoly known as cable.
Long title, even longer ranting session. During my nightly aimless browsing where I often start at the Ubuntu forums and somehow end up looking at a Wikipedia article about a low-power radio station in Idaho by the end of the night, I stumbled upon some bullshit that my ISP's looking to get going soon.
DSLReports - Charter Confirms New Caps
Slashdot - Charter Cable Capping Usage Nationwide This Month
(Remind me, I need to kick a certain infernal package's ass for moving his IRC feedbot.)
Sadly, I'm in an area served by Charter, and only by Charter when it comes to cable TV and Internet. The only other options are the satellite companies for TV, and AT&T for DSL. The weather here is too unpredictable for satellite and AT&T's in bed with the **AA. (As we all know, I am most certainly against the illegal cartels known as the RIAA and MPAA. Any company supporting their aims is one to be buried.) Assuming there was realistic competition, I could do like a good capitalist consumer is supposed to do when they get pissed off over someone's services or goods - vote with my wallet by going elsewhere and doing without the offerings of the offending company. However, I'll note now that my parish has something known as a franchising agreement. In a nutshell, the only way to get cable here is through a single company.
Now that one company is screwing us.
One company, for a service that multiple provide. What's that called? Oh, that's right. It's a blasted monopoly, and last I checked, those are supposed to be illegal... not that it matters anymore. The pro-big-business laws enacted by the last few regimes have managed to destroy anything in business that would actually aid the people (sorry... consumers) when mega-companies screw them.
Now, I don't actually use the TV component that much anymore... I think the only things I watch on television anymore are wrestling and Olbermann. (He makes me laugh. So does Rush.) Truthfully, I could do without cable TV nowadays, even with the (now-delayed) digital transition, and no digital equipment. (My 15-year-old Trinitron delivers crisp enough picture for my tastes... screw HDTV.)
What I do use is the Internet aspect, and I use a good bit of it. Ever seen Serial Experiments Lain? I'm a real-life her, but cuter and bitchier. :P I enjoy exploring the work of various open-source movements and organizations... so I end up downloading a LOT of Linux .iso files. I listen to music on last.fm, Jamendo, OC Remix and Digital Gunfire. I watch some YouTube videos, specifically Freewayjim's stuff. I also watch some TV episodes online where ever I can. Don't forget all the images and flash shit that everybody and their mother seems to be putting on their sites now.
On the upload side, I sometimes grab files from my home machine to listen to on my laptop when I'm out and about. Sometimes I'll grab a video from a DVD I ripped onto my hard drives. Sometimes I'll even grab a whole season of said videos if I'm going to be away for a while. (NCIS never gets boring.) Other times, I'm uploading hundreds of highway pictures at a time to Picasa, Flickr or Imageshack. (Or all three.) Let's not forget seeding my Linux isos so others can have them... sharing is caring after all. The point is, I use a ton more bandwidth than the average user.
Right now, I have 5 meg service. That's it for downstream. Even then, I can roll through the proposed cap in a few days of light usage. Of course, they're saying they'll have an uncapped tier, but that tier isn't available here. The 5 meg I'm on right now is the top one there is. That means no matter what, I can't move past the cap. I'm not allowed the option to be uncapped by agreeing to be extorted for more. Never mind that I'm not exactly willing to pay the extra $100 to stop them from screwing me.
Some of us can't work, after all. Ever heard of a fixed income? Specifically, disability? I can't just make more money when prices go up. Can't look for better pay and all that. Don't have much of anything I can sell to make ends meet every single month to come up with another $100. Chump change to you? Huge f'n deal to me. This month, I'm already doing without groceries simply because having a working vehicle does more for my mental health than having food does. I'm also having to do without medicine that I need that Medicaid doesn't pay for. Needless to say that when bills go up, sacrifices are often made. This month, "sacrifice" was food and medicine. Next month, it may well be Internet.
(And please, do not ask me why I can't just give up Internet so easily instead of resorting to starvation. Of all the skills that I have that could help me land a job whenever I can get my mental state sorted and become un-disabled, computers are the only ones, specifically network-related stuff. It's all I have. It's like asking a carpenter or mechanic to sell his tools.)
As it is, I have no choice, none at all... except to call bullshit on the whole thing. All of it. I heard Charter's circling the drain as it is... let's hope they get sucked in and go away. No bailout for these bastards.
Now, I must go get my 15 hours of sleep and pray tomorrow's not so depressing.
DSLReports - Charter Confirms New Caps
Slashdot - Charter Cable Capping Usage Nationwide This Month
(Remind me, I need to kick a certain infernal package's ass for moving his IRC feedbot.)
Sadly, I'm in an area served by Charter, and only by Charter when it comes to cable TV and Internet. The only other options are the satellite companies for TV, and AT&T for DSL. The weather here is too unpredictable for satellite and AT&T's in bed with the **AA. (As we all know, I am most certainly against the illegal cartels known as the RIAA and MPAA. Any company supporting their aims is one to be buried.) Assuming there was realistic competition, I could do like a good capitalist consumer is supposed to do when they get pissed off over someone's services or goods - vote with my wallet by going elsewhere and doing without the offerings of the offending company. However, I'll note now that my parish has something known as a franchising agreement. In a nutshell, the only way to get cable here is through a single company.
Now that one company is screwing us.
One company, for a service that multiple provide. What's that called? Oh, that's right. It's a blasted monopoly, and last I checked, those are supposed to be illegal... not that it matters anymore. The pro-big-business laws enacted by the last few regimes have managed to destroy anything in business that would actually aid the people (sorry... consumers) when mega-companies screw them.
Now, I don't actually use the TV component that much anymore... I think the only things I watch on television anymore are wrestling and Olbermann. (He makes me laugh. So does Rush.) Truthfully, I could do without cable TV nowadays, even with the (now-delayed) digital transition, and no digital equipment. (My 15-year-old Trinitron delivers crisp enough picture for my tastes... screw HDTV.)
What I do use is the Internet aspect, and I use a good bit of it. Ever seen Serial Experiments Lain? I'm a real-life her, but cuter and bitchier. :P I enjoy exploring the work of various open-source movements and organizations... so I end up downloading a LOT of Linux .iso files. I listen to music on last.fm, Jamendo, OC Remix and Digital Gunfire. I watch some YouTube videos, specifically Freewayjim's stuff. I also watch some TV episodes online where ever I can. Don't forget all the images and flash shit that everybody and their mother seems to be putting on their sites now.
On the upload side, I sometimes grab files from my home machine to listen to on my laptop when I'm out and about. Sometimes I'll grab a video from a DVD I ripped onto my hard drives. Sometimes I'll even grab a whole season of said videos if I'm going to be away for a while. (NCIS never gets boring.) Other times, I'm uploading hundreds of highway pictures at a time to Picasa, Flickr or Imageshack. (Or all three.) Let's not forget seeding my Linux isos so others can have them... sharing is caring after all. The point is, I use a ton more bandwidth than the average user.
Right now, I have 5 meg service. That's it for downstream. Even then, I can roll through the proposed cap in a few days of light usage. Of course, they're saying they'll have an uncapped tier, but that tier isn't available here. The 5 meg I'm on right now is the top one there is. That means no matter what, I can't move past the cap. I'm not allowed the option to be uncapped by agreeing to be extorted for more. Never mind that I'm not exactly willing to pay the extra $100 to stop them from screwing me.
Some of us can't work, after all. Ever heard of a fixed income? Specifically, disability? I can't just make more money when prices go up. Can't look for better pay and all that. Don't have much of anything I can sell to make ends meet every single month to come up with another $100. Chump change to you? Huge f'n deal to me. This month, I'm already doing without groceries simply because having a working vehicle does more for my mental health than having food does. I'm also having to do without medicine that I need that Medicaid doesn't pay for. Needless to say that when bills go up, sacrifices are often made. This month, "sacrifice" was food and medicine. Next month, it may well be Internet.
(And please, do not ask me why I can't just give up Internet so easily instead of resorting to starvation. Of all the skills that I have that could help me land a job whenever I can get my mental state sorted and become un-disabled, computers are the only ones, specifically network-related stuff. It's all I have. It's like asking a carpenter or mechanic to sell his tools.)
As it is, I have no choice, none at all... except to call bullshit on the whole thing. All of it. I heard Charter's circling the drain as it is... let's hope they get sucked in and go away. No bailout for these bastards.
Now, I must go get my 15 hours of sleep and pray tomorrow's not so depressing.
08 November 2008
Detroit, you must fail for your own good.
GM is close to running out of cash. Ford and Chrysler are failing too. It seems everyone needs a bailout these days.
No.
You will not get my money. For the good of America, you must fail.
Let me elaborate. The domestic auto industry, for years, has failed to listen to the consumer. Instead, they tried to placate us with SUVs and with many unnecessary added features.
I am the consumer you have priced yourselves out of, and I am speaking to you. I do not want or need high-end features. I do not want or need Bluetooth. I do not want or need OnStar. I do not want or need DVD players. I do not want or need a stereo system with too much power. I do not want or need a hard drive in my car. What I want is a tape deck.
Did you hear me, Detroit? I want a fucking tape deck. That's all. I want something basic. Five on the floor, the barest essentials, good mileage and a tape deck, just like we had back in 1995. So do many consumers. You cannot survive by appealing to the 1%'ers, you need to appeal to the everyman, the person who's supporting your competition because they cannot afford you. I know damn well you can make what we want, but you need to let us know you are doing so as well. Drop the damned Cadillac and Lincoln commercials with the fancy CGI, lighting, music and such and give us the basics! The rich don't fucking need to be advertised to to find that bloated thing in the back of the lot with all the features that costs more than most third-world countries will ever have to spend.
We can also spread the wealth this way, since some people do want the features. They may even be willing to pay for them. Of course, people could buy a standalone upgrade, then pay someone to put it in for them! I'm sure it's a foreign concept to most people who expect to have everything and have it now, but it would be spreading the wealth, in a capitalist manner! Hell, if you want some more of that wealth, do the same.
So one thing that would help is to get rid of the built-in bullshit we don't need and go back to buying a basic car, then adding things after the fact. You know, a modular system?
You also need to trim the fat, Detroit. Those glitzy new-model rollouts? Wave bye-bye. You need to get rid of them. You also seriously need to take another look at your worker entitlements. They were fine for days gone by, but now you can no longer afford them. The consumer and the taxpayer will have your back after all, though, so don't listen and keep dying. You see yourselves as so important that we won't allow you to fail... for the good of America.
As a country, our businesses no longer fear failure! Either the government will bail you out or buy you out, or another company will come by and pay billions for something more worthless than what's swirling in the bowl. Either way, there's a big fat payday at the end, and the idiots who drive these institutions into the ground can just sit back and live a life of luxury while the public suffers.
So none of you have listened, you still won't listen and you'll drive yourselves into the ground. Then you'll be coming to us for a handout, and I will say no. I will not be taxed for a product I do not want.
Let me make it absolutely crystal clear so we don't have a misunderstanding here. I don't want to save you. I don't need to save you. I'm not beholden to you. I'll be doing just fine without you, so you can not have my money.
One of the Big Three must fail, to save the other two, because then Detroit will realize that we are more than willing to allow them to fail. And then the rest of the business culture in America will wake up when they realize the payday for failure is dead.
At least, that's my hope.
No.
You will not get my money. For the good of America, you must fail.
Let me elaborate. The domestic auto industry, for years, has failed to listen to the consumer. Instead, they tried to placate us with SUVs and with many unnecessary added features.
I am the consumer you have priced yourselves out of, and I am speaking to you. I do not want or need high-end features. I do not want or need Bluetooth. I do not want or need OnStar. I do not want or need DVD players. I do not want or need a stereo system with too much power. I do not want or need a hard drive in my car. What I want is a tape deck.
Did you hear me, Detroit? I want a fucking tape deck. That's all. I want something basic. Five on the floor, the barest essentials, good mileage and a tape deck, just like we had back in 1995. So do many consumers. You cannot survive by appealing to the 1%'ers, you need to appeal to the everyman, the person who's supporting your competition because they cannot afford you. I know damn well you can make what we want, but you need to let us know you are doing so as well. Drop the damned Cadillac and Lincoln commercials with the fancy CGI, lighting, music and such and give us the basics! The rich don't fucking need to be advertised to to find that bloated thing in the back of the lot with all the features that costs more than most third-world countries will ever have to spend.
We can also spread the wealth this way, since some people do want the features. They may even be willing to pay for them. Of course, people could buy a standalone upgrade, then pay someone to put it in for them! I'm sure it's a foreign concept to most people who expect to have everything and have it now, but it would be spreading the wealth, in a capitalist manner! Hell, if you want some more of that wealth, do the same.
So one thing that would help is to get rid of the built-in bullshit we don't need and go back to buying a basic car, then adding things after the fact. You know, a modular system?
You also need to trim the fat, Detroit. Those glitzy new-model rollouts? Wave bye-bye. You need to get rid of them. You also seriously need to take another look at your worker entitlements. They were fine for days gone by, but now you can no longer afford them. The consumer and the taxpayer will have your back after all, though, so don't listen and keep dying. You see yourselves as so important that we won't allow you to fail... for the good of America.
As a country, our businesses no longer fear failure! Either the government will bail you out or buy you out, or another company will come by and pay billions for something more worthless than what's swirling in the bowl. Either way, there's a big fat payday at the end, and the idiots who drive these institutions into the ground can just sit back and live a life of luxury while the public suffers.
So none of you have listened, you still won't listen and you'll drive yourselves into the ground. Then you'll be coming to us for a handout, and I will say no. I will not be taxed for a product I do not want.
Let me make it absolutely crystal clear so we don't have a misunderstanding here. I don't want to save you. I don't need to save you. I'm not beholden to you. I'll be doing just fine without you, so you can not have my money.
One of the Big Three must fail, to save the other two, because then Detroit will realize that we are more than willing to allow them to fail. And then the rest of the business culture in America will wake up when they realize the payday for failure is dead.
At least, that's my hope.
04 November 2008
Our collapse continues.
NOLA.com - I-10 East at the high rise could remain closed overnight
Imagine you're driving outbound on the High Rise during rush hour. Normally, that's stressing enough. The bridge is indeed very high, substandard, and steep, a relic of the design standards of the turn of the decade into the 60's. I've climbed easier mountain grades on US 50 in Colorado. As such, your car would hate you already.
However, tonight the bridge itself made the experience more difficult. You see, an expansion joint just popped up, shredding tires and oil pans alike for those unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle lane.
According to an initial report from the NOPD, it sounded like the "finger-joints" of the bridge, which connect concrete segments of the roadway to allow expansion/contraction when the temperature changes, failed when some bolts broke off.
The High Rise isn't the only substandard bridge in southern Louisiana, both from an Interstate-standard standpoint and a structural one. We have many. The Calcasieu River bridge in Lake Charles is the most startling example - a bridge built in 1952 to originally accommodate US 90. It carries four narrow lanes and no shoulders. It, like the High Rise, is very steep. I'll admit, trying to drive over it frightens me.
The Pearl River bridge on the other end of the state is similarly narrow and substandard, with only two lanes in each direction climbing high across the Pearl. Again, there are no shoulders. It's another bridge that scares me to even attempt to drive across.
The Huey P. Long bridge in Jefferson Parish, carrying US 90, is at least seeing rehabilitation and upgrades now, but one bridge being fixed isn't enough. In a strong enough wind, you could actually feel the bridge sway. The Huey P. Long bridge in Baton Rouge, carrying US 190, is no better, although it doesn't tend to sway that I've noticed.
We all know about the trouble with the Twin Spans already, so let's pass on trashing them. Besides, they're actually being replaced, a rarity here. Pity it took a hurricane to get their asses in gear on that.
The Causeway, on the other hand, is fair game. 23.8 miles, two lanes each way. Although it has crossovers, you had best pray your vehicle can survive the trip without breaking or running out of gas. There's no shoulders along the entire stretch, so if you can't make a crossover, you're stuck in the middle of traffic. There's talk of adding a third span or widening the existing ones, but right now it's just talk.
The point is, there are a lot of these bridges around here in piss-poor shape, or just too outmoded for today's traffic and design standards. Something happened on the High-Rise today, but it won't be long before something else happens on another bridge around here. People will most certainly die... and only then will we start taking it seriously and doing something about it.
Imagine you're driving outbound on the High Rise during rush hour. Normally, that's stressing enough. The bridge is indeed very high, substandard, and steep, a relic of the design standards of the turn of the decade into the 60's. I've climbed easier mountain grades on US 50 in Colorado. As such, your car would hate you already.
However, tonight the bridge itself made the experience more difficult. You see, an expansion joint just popped up, shredding tires and oil pans alike for those unfortunate enough to be stuck in the middle lane.
According to an initial report from the NOPD, it sounded like the "finger-joints" of the bridge, which connect concrete segments of the roadway to allow expansion/contraction when the temperature changes, failed when some bolts broke off.
The High Rise isn't the only substandard bridge in southern Louisiana, both from an Interstate-standard standpoint and a structural one. We have many. The Calcasieu River bridge in Lake Charles is the most startling example - a bridge built in 1952 to originally accommodate US 90. It carries four narrow lanes and no shoulders. It, like the High Rise, is very steep. I'll admit, trying to drive over it frightens me.
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The Pearl River bridge on the other end of the state is similarly narrow and substandard, with only two lanes in each direction climbing high across the Pearl. Again, there are no shoulders. It's another bridge that scares me to even attempt to drive across.
The Huey P. Long bridge in Jefferson Parish, carrying US 90, is at least seeing rehabilitation and upgrades now, but one bridge being fixed isn't enough. In a strong enough wind, you could actually feel the bridge sway. The Huey P. Long bridge in Baton Rouge, carrying US 190, is no better, although it doesn't tend to sway that I've noticed.
We all know about the trouble with the Twin Spans already, so let's pass on trashing them. Besides, they're actually being replaced, a rarity here. Pity it took a hurricane to get their asses in gear on that.
The Causeway, on the other hand, is fair game. 23.8 miles, two lanes each way. Although it has crossovers, you had best pray your vehicle can survive the trip without breaking or running out of gas. There's no shoulders along the entire stretch, so if you can't make a crossover, you're stuck in the middle of traffic. There's talk of adding a third span or widening the existing ones, but right now it's just talk.
The point is, there are a lot of these bridges around here in piss-poor shape, or just too outmoded for today's traffic and design standards. Something happened on the High-Rise today, but it won't be long before something else happens on another bridge around here. People will most certainly die... and only then will we start taking it seriously and doing something about it.
13 August 2008
Yay, nepotism. (Yes, another Drunk Eddie post.)
NOLA.com - Contracts linked to mayor's family
And more shit hits the fan as the days pass. You've got to love nepotism. Get into power, pass the perks along to the family. Pity it's illegal.
Yet it seems that the City of Mandeville's Public Works Department has been handing out contracts to companies connected to Drunk Eddie's family - just one of the blatant violations of state law during that process. It's bad enough Drunk Eddie's been using taxpayer money to go to Pebble Beach and other destinations for the overlord-class, but his extended family's benefiting as well with these illegal lets.
Of course, the City also ran afoul of a law requiring public advertising for projects that are slated to be bid if they run more than $100,000... several times. Drunk Eddie's excuse? The projects were divided into phases and he "was not aware that the work should have been viewed as one project and added he was unaware of the bid law requirement."
Last I checked, ignorance of the law still means you're guilty if you break it. If I'm (hypothetically) illiterate and I do 90 in a 55, I'm still going to get busted for speeding. Never mind that I (hypothetically) can't read the sign or my speedometer.
Drunk Eddie's been in office now for 28 years or so. He can't have just been doing this for the past few years. He has to have been perpetrating this felonious stupidity for a long time. Who knows how much taxpayer money his crony in-laws and corrupt buddies have pocketed in the greater part of three decades?
The right answer is: "It doesn't matter how much it was - if he stole or squandered even one cent of taxpayer money, he should be jailed."
Now the Feds are looking long and hard at Business As Usual at City Hall in Mandeville, and I for one say it's well past About Damn Time. I'd beg him to resign while he still has some small sliver of a good name left, but it's WAY past time for that.
It's way too late to simply resign now, Mister Mayor. As they say in Monopoly: "Go to jail. Go straight to jail. Do not pass 'Go', do not earn $200." And feel free to drop the soap. You deserve the end result.
And more shit hits the fan as the days pass. You've got to love nepotism. Get into power, pass the perks along to the family. Pity it's illegal.
Yet it seems that the City of Mandeville's Public Works Department has been handing out contracts to companies connected to Drunk Eddie's family - just one of the blatant violations of state law during that process. It's bad enough Drunk Eddie's been using taxpayer money to go to Pebble Beach and other destinations for the overlord-class, but his extended family's benefiting as well with these illegal lets.
Of course, the City also ran afoul of a law requiring public advertising for projects that are slated to be bid if they run more than $100,000... several times. Drunk Eddie's excuse? The projects were divided into phases and he "was not aware that the work should have been viewed as one project and added he was unaware of the bid law requirement."
Last I checked, ignorance of the law still means you're guilty if you break it. If I'm (hypothetically) illiterate and I do 90 in a 55, I'm still going to get busted for speeding. Never mind that I (hypothetically) can't read the sign or my speedometer.
Drunk Eddie's been in office now for 28 years or so. He can't have just been doing this for the past few years. He has to have been perpetrating this felonious stupidity for a long time. Who knows how much taxpayer money his crony in-laws and corrupt buddies have pocketed in the greater part of three decades?
The right answer is: "It doesn't matter how much it was - if he stole or squandered even one cent of taxpayer money, he should be jailed."
Now the Feds are looking long and hard at Business As Usual at City Hall in Mandeville, and I for one say it's well past About Damn Time. I'd beg him to resign while he still has some small sliver of a good name left, but it's WAY past time for that.
It's way too late to simply resign now, Mister Mayor. As they say in Monopoly: "Go to jail. Go straight to jail. Do not pass 'Go', do not earn $200." And feel free to drop the soap. You deserve the end result.
12 August 2008
Last Call for Drunk Eddie?
WWL-AM/FM - Audit paints bad picture of Mandeville mayor
WWL-AM/FM - Goyeneche says Price needs to resign
WWL AM/FM - Mandeville Mayor says he won't resign (NOLA.com - Related: Mayor's personal statement)
Legislative Auditor's Report (.pdf)
Lots of links, and I apologize for that, but it appears the shit's really hit the fan for Drunk Eddie. (Warranting three separate stories back to back to back on WWL's website, by itself, is amazing.) The Legislative Auditor's Office has released their report on what goes on in Mandeville city government, and some of it is pretty damning for Price and the rest of the Good-Ol'-Boy Network in charge here.
Areas of concern from the Auditor's Office include the Citizen's Service Fund, city credit card usage...
Fact is, with some of these findings, getting kicked out of office would be the LEAST punishment that could be applied here. Louisiana politicians may have once been able to get away with murder, but that trend's been changing as of late. Don't believe me? Just ask Edwin Edwards, Jim Brown, William Jefferson or Derrick Shepard. They've either been burned already, or are feeling a ton of heat right now. Also ask the current governor. Although he hasn't done anything illegal yet, he sure as hell vetoed the raise the Legislature voted themselves after feeling the heat from the voters, including heat in the form of recall petitions.
In an age of near-universal discontent among not only the disenfranchised minority and impoverished populations but also the middle-class, and of massive amounts of information available to anyone who knows how to Google, politicians can't get away with outright blatant abuses like Price has appeared to do during his time in office. He might even end up as EWE or "Dollar" Bill's cellmate in federal prison.
The first thing he should do when he wakes up is to announce he's resigning. The second thing he should do is hire a damned good criminal lawyer. And please... please, for the love of $deity, use your OWN money to hire the lawyer.
WWL-AM/FM - Goyeneche says Price needs to resign
WWL AM/FM - Mandeville Mayor says he won't resign (NOLA.com - Related: Mayor's personal statement)
Legislative Auditor's Report (.pdf)
Lots of links, and I apologize for that, but it appears the shit's really hit the fan for Drunk Eddie. (Warranting three separate stories back to back to back on WWL's website, by itself, is amazing.) The Legislative Auditor's Office has released their report on what goes on in Mandeville city government, and some of it is pretty damning for Price and the rest of the Good-Ol'-Boy Network in charge here.
Areas of concern from the Auditor's Office include the Citizen's Service Fund, city credit card usage...
"The City issued credit cards to the mayor, all department heads, and numerous other City employees. Several of these credit cards are consolidated into one account and are summarized on one monthly statement by cardholder. In addition, Mayor Edward Price, III and Milton Stiebing, finance director, each has separate credit cards. From September 2003 through March 2008, Mayor Price made 620 credit card transactions totaling $56,733 and Mr. Stiebing made 119 transactions totaling $17,210. Of the amounts charged, we noted 65 personal charges by Mayor Price totaling $8,845; 356 charges for meals totaling $36,103 that lacked proper documentation; and 15 charges relating to parties and celebratory functions totaling $6,143. By using a City issued credit card for personal use, Mayor Price may have violated state law."...personal use of City vehicles and Fuelman cards...
"The City provides vehicles to all department heads and certain employees including Mayor Price. In addition, the City provides insurance coverage, pays for maintenance, and provides each vehicle user with a Fuelman card to purchase fuel. During our review of vehicle and Fuelman usage, we noted (1) the City does not have a written policy on the use of City vehicles and Fuelman cards; (2) City employees, including Mayor Price routinely use City vehicles and Fuelman cards for personal purposes such as out-of-state vacations; (3) the City does not include the value of the personal use of the vehicles as income to these employees; and (4) the City does not mark all its vehicles in compliance with state law. By using public vehicles and Fuelman cards for personal use, these employees may have violated state law."...improper gifts...
"Louisiana Revised Statute (R.S.) 42:1115 provides, in part, that no public servant shall solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, anything of economic value as a gift or gratuity from any person or employee of any person who has or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial relationships with the public servant’s agency. During a review of Mayor Price’s e-mails, we noted several messages which indicated that people doing business with the City were providing things of value, including golf trips and hunting trips, to Mayor Price, Mr. Stiebing, and Councilman Gerard Coogan. We spoke with Mayor Price, Mr. Stiebing, and Councilman Coogan and some of these third parties and confirmed that Mayor Price, Mr. Stiebing, and Councilman Coogan may have received gifts."...and the list goes on. Read the full Report for all of it. Needless to say that Mayor Price, as well as a couple of other city officials, seem to be pretty much caught red-handed on this stuff by the Auditor's Office. OF course, after the Report was released, Mayor Price responded, saying that he wouldn't resign. I'd post snippets from his denial, but I'm trying to conserve space.
Fact is, with some of these findings, getting kicked out of office would be the LEAST punishment that could be applied here. Louisiana politicians may have once been able to get away with murder, but that trend's been changing as of late. Don't believe me? Just ask Edwin Edwards, Jim Brown, William Jefferson or Derrick Shepard. They've either been burned already, or are feeling a ton of heat right now. Also ask the current governor. Although he hasn't done anything illegal yet, he sure as hell vetoed the raise the Legislature voted themselves after feeling the heat from the voters, including heat in the form of recall petitions.
In an age of near-universal discontent among not only the disenfranchised minority and impoverished populations but also the middle-class, and of massive amounts of information available to anyone who knows how to Google, politicians can't get away with outright blatant abuses like Price has appeared to do during his time in office. He might even end up as EWE or "Dollar" Bill's cellmate in federal prison.
The first thing he should do when he wakes up is to announce he's resigning. The second thing he should do is hire a damned good criminal lawyer. And please... please, for the love of $deity, use your OWN money to hire the lawyer.
02 August 2008
Lafayette seems busy lately...
The Advocate (Acadiana bureau) - Traffic tickets plummet since cameras installed
(You happy now, Anthony?)
*cough* Ok, so the outsourced revenue-takers aren't raking in the funds like they should. People appear to be catching wise. (And if that's the case, why is it that every day the Advertiser's website seems to have 45767443570237 new pictures of red-light-cam violators?)
Aha. You saw the dirty "o" word. Outsourced. This traffic camera revenue machine reeks to me much worse than every major company's outsourcing of work. At least with companies like Dell, the outsourced work isn't out to steal your money. (Ok, they steal your jobs, which indirectly steals your money... but anyway.)
This outsourcing is even more insidious, though. Run a light, get a letter in the mail. You're guilty, of course, so you need to pay the Corporation. Consequences? No, just pay the Corporation now, little Sheep. Wait. You're not guilty? Too bad. No due process for you, silly Sheep. Pay up, there is no other option.
It's one thing to be outsourcing tech support, it's another to outsource the LAW, especially with technology that can't get it right sometimes. Suppose someone takes the Deathmaschine to Lafayette and decides to make one of the Advertiser's vids. Also suppose that that person who took the car is not me, in no way could be confused with me... yeah, you get my drift. Totally not me. Guess who the outsourced revenue takers would mail and harass? Yep. Me.
At the least, in the same situation but with a flesh-and-blood Revenue Taker, they'd actually pull the person over and realize it's not me, but actually Calrog in a dress or something. The actual "who" of the equation is unimportant. I would probably never even know about this unless the Takers thought my car was stolen. Needless to say that I wouldn't see hide nor hair of any ticket. The system, stacked against us all and broken horribly as it is, would work.
With the cam, though, I've got a ticket to pay for a drive I never even took. Where's the justice in that? Where's the legality?
Sometimes they nail the right target and that Sheep happily feeds the Corporation's coffers, rightfully so, but it's when they get it wrong that the whole experiment falls apart.
Of course, someone's suing over this hypothetical scenario and a couple of little Constitutional issues as well. It's how we do things these days in Amerika, you know. Don't like something? Sue it or them. Like I said, these cameras and the subsequent way in which You Are Simply Guilty via a civil, not criminal process seems to run afoul of things like constitutional guarantees that you get to confront witnesses, the ability to refute evidence, or holding the government to a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. There's also some question to the legality of using the mail for this.
Aside from that, there's also no way to really check up on the Corporation here. The system in Lafayette operates "off the books," supposedly. There's no public accountability for the Corporation. What a surprise there...
Lastly, is this really happening at all? Guess the source of the material in the linked news article. No, really, guess. I'll be waiting here while your brain churns.
.........
Finally figured it out? Redflex and some employees of the City put out the news release. The Corporation pats their own back. The City stands idly by, smiling, all the while with their thumbs up their asses while the Corporation "diverts" the funds of the populace into their own pockets.
At this point, I don't care if they hire more Revenue Extractors... sorry, more police... just get RID of these cameras and the law-circumventing Corporation.
(You happy now, Anthony?)
*cough* Ok, so the outsourced revenue-takers aren't raking in the funds like they should. People appear to be catching wise. (And if that's the case, why is it that every day the Advertiser's website seems to have 45767443570237 new pictures of red-light-cam violators?)
Aha. You saw the dirty "o" word. Outsourced. This traffic camera revenue machine reeks to me much worse than every major company's outsourcing of work. At least with companies like Dell, the outsourced work isn't out to steal your money. (Ok, they steal your jobs, which indirectly steals your money... but anyway.)
This outsourcing is even more insidious, though. Run a light, get a letter in the mail. You're guilty, of course, so you need to pay the Corporation. Consequences? No, just pay the Corporation now, little Sheep. Wait. You're not guilty? Too bad. No due process for you, silly Sheep. Pay up, there is no other option.
It's one thing to be outsourcing tech support, it's another to outsource the LAW, especially with technology that can't get it right sometimes. Suppose someone takes the Deathmaschine to Lafayette and decides to make one of the Advertiser's vids. Also suppose that that person who took the car is not me, in no way could be confused with me... yeah, you get my drift. Totally not me. Guess who the outsourced revenue takers would mail and harass? Yep. Me.
At the least, in the same situation but with a flesh-and-blood Revenue Taker, they'd actually pull the person over and realize it's not me, but actually Calrog in a dress or something. The actual "who" of the equation is unimportant. I would probably never even know about this unless the Takers thought my car was stolen. Needless to say that I wouldn't see hide nor hair of any ticket. The system, stacked against us all and broken horribly as it is, would work.
With the cam, though, I've got a ticket to pay for a drive I never even took. Where's the justice in that? Where's the legality?
Sometimes they nail the right target and that Sheep happily feeds the Corporation's coffers, rightfully so, but it's when they get it wrong that the whole experiment falls apart.
Of course, someone's suing over this hypothetical scenario and a couple of little Constitutional issues as well. It's how we do things these days in Amerika, you know. Don't like something? Sue it or them. Like I said, these cameras and the subsequent way in which You Are Simply Guilty via a civil, not criminal process seems to run afoul of things like constitutional guarantees that you get to confront witnesses, the ability to refute evidence, or holding the government to a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. There's also some question to the legality of using the mail for this.
Aside from that, there's also no way to really check up on the Corporation here. The system in Lafayette operates "off the books," supposedly. There's no public accountability for the Corporation. What a surprise there...
Lastly, is this really happening at all? Guess the source of the material in the linked news article. No, really, guess. I'll be waiting here while your brain churns.
.........
Finally figured it out? Redflex and some employees of the City put out the news release. The Corporation pats their own back. The City stands idly by, smiling, all the while with their thumbs up their asses while the Corporation "diverts" the funds of the populace into their own pockets.
At this point, I don't care if they hire more Revenue Extractors... sorry, more police... just get RID of these cameras and the law-circumventing Corporation.
16 July 2008
I can't drive 55, either.
So, just about everybody and their mother has sounded off about the possibility of the return of the NMSL. About time I did the same, to cap off a Slow News Day.
Oh, hell no.
The situation is much different now than when "55" was enacted in the first place. Back then, there was a real and present fuel shortage. If I remember my history (seeing as I wasn't even alive back then), there were huge lines and rationing of fuel.
We're not at that point yet. The only lines are at the stations offering cheap fuel (compared to other stations nearby). There's no shortage. If anything, production's been getting bumped up. Last time, OPEC was pissed off at us. They must love us now, considering how much the sheep are willing to pay.
The last time, the government had no choice but to enact some measure to rein in the idiots wasting a scarce resource. This time, there's still plenty of fuel.
And the last time, America's automotive lineup was anchored by guzzlers. Today... well, OK, some things don't change... but people are learning. Today, cars are built with their optimum mileage being achieved at higher speeds. We're not all using the Powerglide mated to a 305 anymore, you know. Today, the varying engine/transmission/"rear end" combinations and superior aero packages offer better mileage at higher speeds.
My own car's optimum mileage was achieved at an average over 70 MPH - 35 miles to the gallon at about 3750 RPM in sixth gear. Keep in mind that it's a 20-year old 4-door hatchback with always-on 4WD and the "extra" gear for the six-speed manual added as an extra low gear. I'm sure many other motorists can say the same, many more than can say different. (About their mileage, anyway.)
No, a new National Speed Limit won't solve a damn thing. It would only be a placebo to try to divert the people from those who are really to blame... speculators. Seems like if a pin drops anywhere in the Middle East, oil rises another $2. Tropical wave forms in the Atlantic? That's another $5. Bush speaks? $0.01 a word. The market for oil was deregulated, so now the price continues to move up, severely screwing over many Americans, and these thieves laugh all the way to the bank. This kind of action only hastens our demise.
So a speed limit won't do a thing, S&DDAM, no matter how much you whine for one. It'll only screw people, no matter how many Congresspersons hop onto the bandwagon to placate their herds and cover their asses. The speculators are the real terrorists, and they need to be stopped NOW, while the damage they've done can be undone. Otherwise, prepare for Eternal Destitution. We're heading there in a handbasket, and fast. And it's getting more cramped by the day.
Oh, hell no.
The situation is much different now than when "55" was enacted in the first place. Back then, there was a real and present fuel shortage. If I remember my history (seeing as I wasn't even alive back then), there were huge lines and rationing of fuel.
We're not at that point yet. The only lines are at the stations offering cheap fuel (compared to other stations nearby). There's no shortage. If anything, production's been getting bumped up. Last time, OPEC was pissed off at us. They must love us now, considering how much the sheep are willing to pay.
The last time, the government had no choice but to enact some measure to rein in the idiots wasting a scarce resource. This time, there's still plenty of fuel.
And the last time, America's automotive lineup was anchored by guzzlers. Today... well, OK, some things don't change... but people are learning. Today, cars are built with their optimum mileage being achieved at higher speeds. We're not all using the Powerglide mated to a 305 anymore, you know. Today, the varying engine/transmission/"rear end" combinations and superior aero packages offer better mileage at higher speeds.
My own car's optimum mileage was achieved at an average over 70 MPH - 35 miles to the gallon at about 3750 RPM in sixth gear. Keep in mind that it's a 20-year old 4-door hatchback with always-on 4WD and the "extra" gear for the six-speed manual added as an extra low gear. I'm sure many other motorists can say the same, many more than can say different. (About their mileage, anyway.)
No, a new National Speed Limit won't solve a damn thing. It would only be a placebo to try to divert the people from those who are really to blame... speculators. Seems like if a pin drops anywhere in the Middle East, oil rises another $2. Tropical wave forms in the Atlantic? That's another $5. Bush speaks? $0.01 a word. The market for oil was deregulated, so now the price continues to move up, severely screwing over many Americans, and these thieves laugh all the way to the bank. This kind of action only hastens our demise.
So a speed limit won't do a thing, S&DDAM, no matter how much you whine for one. It'll only screw people, no matter how many Congresspersons hop onto the bandwagon to placate their herds and cover their asses. The speculators are the real terrorists, and they need to be stopped NOW, while the damage they've done can be undone. Otherwise, prepare for Eternal Destitution. We're heading there in a handbasket, and fast. And it's getting more cramped by the day.
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