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Dems and GOP fail to be frugal
Don, to your credit, you were warning us all along. I remember hearing you speak to a small group at a Mission Valley hotel in autumn 1988. You said, "A country in debt is not master of its own destiny". True then, and true today.— December 10, 2008 12:33 p.m.
Andrea Tevlin, San Diego's budget analyst, too busy to talk
Addendum: I'm not describing myself. I have zero debt, and since I'm multi-lingual and technically skilled, I can work anywhere in the world (and have). Yet what I am describing is, based on my first hand knowledge, happening all around the world to people my age...especially those with kids. They are feeling completely trapped. Best, Fred— December 10, 2008 9:51 a.m.
Andrea Tevlin, San Diego's budget analyst, too busy to talk
Don, your advice is what my grandparents' generation followed, and my parents' generation ignored. So much of the media's slant on the economic situation is the effect on baby boomer's retirements. This is understandable considering the true effect of the establishment of 401k's and the like was to create an inflationary spiral in stock prices over the last twenty years. All that money, month after month, seeking something to buy...a huge ponzi scheme with side-betters adding to the spiral when they created derivatives and other hedges. No surprise, it's all collapsed. We've been called Generation X, but maybe the "disposable" feels more accurate. We're used, then tossed away. We've got the burden of paying into pensions that we have zero possibility of receiving ourselves. Our own meager savings have been destroyed too, but we're neither senior nor junior enough to have much prospect for the future. That's some hard reality to deal with. Now, not only are there few jobs around, many of my friends and colleagues around the world have been laid off in the last three months. The ones who are still employed are nervous for their jobs. That isn't just here in San Diego. I'm talking about Silicon Valley, Prague, and Stockholm...all holding their breaths, dreading what's next, living paycheck to paycheck, and with few prospects for finding a new job. They're all making in the range of $30-70k annually, but after housing, transportation, and paying off debt there's just nothing left. As a disposable generation, we feel forgotten. We'd love to follow your 7 point plan, Don...but it's not looking very applicable to our situations: 1. What revenue we have is already over committed to living expenses. 2. It's already a frugal life. 3. Buying food at the dollar store and Walmart, Don. Getting good at cooking beans. 4. Cannot invest what you do not have. 5. If we did have money to invest, we wouldn't trust stock peddlers or "financial advisors" any time soon. 6. Exotic financial instruments like our landlord's mortgages, which we pay-off in rent, which in combination with our student loans, car payments, food and gas, gobbles up everything we're currently paid at our at-risk jobs? Exotic instruments like our bosses dabbled in, so that the whole company -- otherwise sound -- is going bust? We never decided to make those investments, but we're paying for them anyway. 7. If our kids are going hungry, we just ignore the mail and always let the answering machine get the phone. Sure, we'd love to pay down debt...with what? I'm describing your friends and neighbors, young families, bright, hardworking, educated...and feeling utterly abandoned and betrayed by their baby boomer parents' busted ponzi scheme on Wall Street.— December 10, 2008 9:45 a.m.
Who Needs Grass?
MsGrant, you didn't feed our baby to the rich, did you? Oh well, I guess we'll just have to make another one...I'll be over around 9 o'clock with a bottle of two buck chuck and a doobie. Wear your heels... Best, FRED WILLIAMS aka THE HUMONGOUS BARF BAG— December 9, 2008 6:21 a.m.
SDPD -- Got An Attitude?
Druidbros, thank you for your comment. Please ask your friend to present his side of the story. I'd very much like to read about what led him to bite Vega's thumb to the bone. More importantly, he and Vega should BOTH be explaining their actions to the court. But since an officer of the San Diego Police decided unilaterally to violate the constitution, that won't happen... I've lost my temper a time or two, but never once committed aggravated battery. We all run into idiots who mess up traffic through their self-centered stupidity...are you suggesting that we ought to all go physically attack them? Even more important, do you San Diego police officers individually deciding who gets to have the benefit of their service and protection? If police decide they don't like you, then you're at the mercy of any punk who likes to beat people. That's not acceptable. Please tell your friend's side of the story, but it's clear no justice can ever be served in this case because of blatant police misconduct. That's what the article is really about...not if your friend is the aggressor in a street fight -- who knows that I wouldn't take a swing at the critical mass riders when provoked beyond the limit. But that's for a judge to decide, not a steroid popping cop who denies due process and equal protection of the law to anyone who he doesn't like. Druidbros, it's important that cops don't play favorites, acting as judge and jury. We're paying police salaries and outrageous pensions, it's very much our business to know about how local cops feel free to ignore the law at whim. The only thing unusual about this story is that it's gotten out. I believe this happens a lot in our city, and it's time to clean it up before the San Diego police department brings shame on the whole city. Best, Fred Williams former member San Diego Crime Commission— December 9, 2008 6:16 a.m.
Negotiating with Labor Negotiators
Love that closing paragraph, Dorian...snarky AND informative. Fred— December 8, 2008 5:13 a.m.
Harbor Police, Reader Hoarding, and Animals with People Names
Re: Animal Names I once knew a cat named "Me!" It was her favorite word. Another cat was named "Mao" for similar reasons, but then everyone began calling him "The Chairman". He was a very benevolent ruler, presiding at early morning coffee and newspaper reading by sprawling across whatever article I was attempting to read. I recently made the acquaintance of an old bachelor cat. "Riley" grudgingly allows me to rub his ears and serve as warm furniture. In truth, he prefers the stability of a poorly insulated computer for napping, but he'll make do with whatever primate is available to serve him. Re: Reader Copies Some say the Union Tribune is only good as toilet paper, but it's actually too rough. Sure, it'll do in a pinch, but you don't want to make it a habit. As a sleeping platform, the Reader is superior to the UT in many ways. Consider that the Reader has a water resistant cover, and comes in a uniform size so that you can tile them into a bed. For an averaged sized homeless male, 16 copies of the Reader can make a comfortable bed place. For furnishing low-cost alternative cardboard carton housing, the Reader cannot be beat. The Reader, in an emergency, can also make a great shelter from rain. No UT wannabe is going to keep your head as dry as the San Diego Reader. Most of all, you've got to remember that most homeless people in San Diego are not illiterate. When they are gazing up at the city subsidized condo-boxes, and being ignored by passing CCDC officials, they can read articles by Don Bauder and Matt Potter that tell us how it all happened...that's something you'll never find in the UT. Re: Harbor Police If you think the Harbor Police are hard core, you should see the Harbor Seals... :-P— December 7, 2008 3:41 p.m.
Who Needs Grass?
Barbarella was ghettoing me, showing that this is a transitive verb. And how dare language change? Language isn't meant to be fun. It's work, you word smithing minions! That's totally 4u[k3d up. Like emoticons...and ellipsis abuse. :-P Actually, Barb, when I was teaching ESL I made it a point to teach students how language "is" rather than how grammarians wish it were. At the end of a course, I would have a special lesson on all the English swear words. In return, I've learned how to swear in a half dozen languages with deep conviction and sincerity. So when I tell Fumber he's a "sip sa ki", all his Korean friends LOL. The flexibility of language reflects the flexibility of the human mind. For all you "writer geeks", check out Steven Pinker: www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_pinker_on_lang… (And, hey...get away from your computers...it's a nice Sunday afternoon!) Best, Ghetto Fred— December 7, 2008 3:22 p.m.
SDPD -- Got An Attitude?
Come on... Yes, their monthly civil-disobedience on bikes inconveniences a few motorists. For this, they deserve to be denied their civil rights when they go to file a police report? No, that's bulshytt. San Diego Police have a responsibility to protect and serve, not pick and choose who gets to file a police report. What other groups, other than bicyclists, have they privately selected for exclusion from constitutional protection? Sure, these critical mass bikers are childish, deluded, anti-social, self-absorbed, aggressive, and self-righteous. So are Republicans. Can I go find a Republican and bite his ear off with no consequences? Is that how America works for you? No? Okay, then. Lay off the guy who was refused equal protection under the law at the whim of childish, deluded, anti-social, self-absorbed, aggressive, and self-righteous San Diego Police officers. While we're at it, let's improve public safety right now in San Diego. We've got a crisis in our police department. Steroid abuse kills. It's not only bad for the bulked-up cop's health, it so damages his judgment that he is a bomb eager to explode on citizens he perceives as the enemy. Test all police officers for steroids now. They're not currently tested in San Diego, right here on the border, but there sure are a lot of them who look like professional wrestlers, with social skills to match. It seems to me that their inexcusable behavior toward the bicyclist who wanted to file a police report is best explained by the open secret of steroid abuse at all ranks in the SDPD. Best, Fred Williams former member San Diego Crime Commission— December 7, 2008 12:52 p.m.
Who Needs Grass?
Sharon, So go ahead and call me "ghetto", but the Escondido City Council, from your description, is the opposite of ghetto. In the ghetto, you don't mess with your neighbors or go around looking down on people. You don't pick pointless fights, but you stand your ground to protect your family and friends. You take care of the weaker members of your community. Most of all, you never let glad handing outsiders come in and ransack your turf. I'd say that the City of Escondido seems to be doing the opposite of what I'd call ghetto. Don't you agree? Fred (P.s. When and how did the noun "ghetto" become an adjective?)— December 7, 2008 12:26 p.m.