Month: August 2011

Why You Rarely See Brick Buildings in California

Jon Ponder

First-time visitors to California often notice that there are very few brick-faced buildings. If you watch the video above, taken outside a building that was apparently under construction in Virginia presumably quite close to the epicenter of the 5.8 earthquake that occurred there today, the reason for this will become instantly clear.

Building codes in earthquake country discourage the use of masonry facings, including East Coast style brick and stone-facings, because, during quakes the bricks or stones shake loose and fall on your car or, worse, your head.

Stucco is the preferred facing because it tends to hold together in the shaking, or if it shakes off, it falls in big sheets that are less dangerous than the raining down of dozens of bricks or stones.

Delany Resigned Over Wife’s Racist Email

Buck Banks

Imagine, not having to pay NJ state income taxes…It must be nice. Imagine getting a court ruling overturned so your name could get put on the ballot. Imagine having dark skin and name recognition and the nerve to think that equalled (sic) knowing something about politics. Sure, knowing someone with fat purse strings is nice, but you have no knowledge.

— Email message sent by the wife of New Jersey Assemblyman Pat Delany (R) to state senate challenger Carl Lewis, the former Olympic Gold medalist, as reported by PolitickerNJ.

Delany abruptly resigned last month, saying he was “deeply disappointed in my wife’s decision to send that email,” adding: “In an attempt to repair the serious damage this has caused to our marriage, and to protect our kids from public humiliation, I decided to leave public life. On behalf of my family, we sincerely apologize to Mr. Lewis for any pain this caused him.”

The Line on Politically Polar Couples

Buck Banks

I feel for them. But I am confident — truly — they will be loyal to their respective candidates. Each understands that of the other and would disrespect any lapses … which is not to say each won’t try. In that case, I put my $$ on the gal. We have the secret weapon!

— Mary Matalin, quoted by the Texas Tribune, on a married couple in Texas working for opposing candidates in the GOP presidential primary.

Rick Perry in 2010: America’s Social Safety Net Is ‘Unconstitutional’

Jon Ponder

photo-rick-perry-fed-upJust nine months ago, Texas Gov. Rick Perry published a book titled, “Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Republican Party’s premiere propaganda broadsheet, in the book, Perry asserted that Social Security and other safety net programs were unconstitutional:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry used to be pretty frank when it came to the country’s Social Security system. In his fiery anti-Washington book, “Fed Up!”, published last fall when he had no plans to run for president, Mr. Perry called the program, which turned 76 on Monday, “a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal.”

He suggested the program’s creation violated the Constitution. The program was put in place, “at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government,” he wrote, comparing the program to a “bad disease” that has continued to spread. Instead of “a retirement system that is no longer set up like an illegal Ponzi scheme,” he wrote, he would prefer a system that “will allow individuals to own and control their own retirement.”

Now, a week into his presidential campaign, Perry has had a “come to Jesus” moment and recanted the book he published just last year:

[…]

Top Republicans on Libya: ‘Failure of the U.S. to Employ the Full Weight of Our Air Power’ Is Regrettable

Jon Ponder

For this week’s example of the political degeneracy of the Republican Party in the Obama era, we nominate this damning-with-faint-praise statement of congratulations to the United States military in the wake of Libyan rebels seizing the capitol city of Tripoli, released under the names of two soulless ideologues in the Senate, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina:

“We regret that this success was so long in coming due to the failure of the United States to employ the full weight of our airpower,” the senators wrote in a joint statement. (Emphasis added.)

As MSNBC substitute host Melissa Harris Perry said on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” last night, it is odd to hear the word “failure” in a statement of congratulations to the United States military from Republican senators.

Of course, what is really going here is politics. McCain, the failed Republican presidential nominee, and Graham, his Mini-Me, put out the statement in an effort to tamp down Americans’ natural impulse to “rally ’round the flag” and support the president in the wake of U.S. military successes.

But in their desperation to prevent the president’s approval rating on foreign affairs from bumping up a point or two, they also backhanded the U.S. military by describing it’s efforts as a “failure.”

Lucky for McCain and Graham they are Republican neocon war hawks, which means the corporate media will give them a pass on besmirching the military. If Democratic senators had released a statement using the word “failure” to describe a military action, there would be a raging debate on “Morning Joe” and “Fox and Friends” about whether they were giving aid and comfort to America’s terrorist enemies.

The Line: Measuring the Drapes for Romney’s Western White House

Jon Ponder
Random scenes of winter in La Jolla
  • New York Times, Aug. 9, 1999: Gov. George W. Bush, who has his eye on one new house in Washington, went to settlement today on another west of Waco. “I am pleased to own this beautiful piece of land in Central Texas,” said Mr. Bush, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Mr. Bush declined to disclose details of the purchase of the property, an 1,550-acre ranch … The settlement confirmed weeks of rumors that Mr. Bush was planning to set up a retreat here.
  • La Jolla Light, Aug. 18, 2011: Bob Schuman, a La Jolla-based political consultant who has made a long and successful career out of being the man behind the candidate, has found himself squarely in the media spotlight recently. Schuman, who lives and works in La Jolla, has made headlines by launching Americans for Rick Perry, a national, independent grassroots campaign to draft the Texas governor into the presidential race. He was successful — Perry announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination over the weekend.
  • La Jolla Light, Aug. 22, 2011: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is increasing his presence in San Diego, with plans to raze his 3,000-square-foot home in La Jolla to make way for an 11,000-square-foot house, according to documents filed with the city. The former Massachusetts governor … paid $12 million for the three bedroom, oceanfront house built in 1936 at 311 Dunemere Drive on May 30, 2008…
  • New York Times, Aug. 22, 2011: A [Romney] campaign official confirmed the report, noting, “Construction will not begin until the permits have been obtained and the campaign is finished.” The official also explained that the large renovation is family-motivated.
  • Pricey real estate: La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009, the average price for such a home in La Jolla was reported as US $1.842 million in 2008 and US $2.125 million in 2009.
  • Party Registration in La Jolla: La Jolla is in California’s Senate 39th District, in which voter registration is 42.6 percent Democratic, 27.9 percent Republican adn 24.7 percent Decline to State.
  • Jess Durfee, chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party: Let’s hope [Romney] hires a contractor that provides union-equivalent wages and helps to stimulate the local economy. He also could register to vote here and help out the Republicans, whose numbers are dwindling.

FOX Begrudges the Poor Their Refrigerators

Trish

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
World of Class Warfare – The Poor’s Free Ride Is Over
www.thedailyshow.com
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Here is another brilliant summation from Jon Stewart, this one on Republican attempts to shift more of the taxation burden to the middle and poor classes, and keep the rich fat and happy. Hopefully more people will begin to understand that we are being played like violins by the ultra-rich, who know that as long as we buy into the fiction that it’s us (the struggling middle class) versus them (the struggling poor), the rich win.