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Wall Street Collapses of Its Own Hubris, Gambling with Borrowed Funds. Two of Biggest Houses, Merrill Lynch and Lehman, Disappearing
Regarding #9: Things are curiouser and curiouser... The behavior of the DJIA lately looks like a model out of Thom's Catastrophe Theory, and it looks like the market has just stepped off the edge to freefall to an equilibrium plane. How far will the freefall be? I don't know... ... but BofA not making good on its purchase of ML just might be a catalyst for disaster. I'm not going to say it won't happen.— September 15, 2008 2:22 p.m.
Note to Trailer Park Patriots
Oops... Rear Admiral C. R. Perry Rodgers was Matthew's nephew, and the father of two other admirals?— September 15, 2008 2:12 p.m.
Note to Trailer Park Patriots
Regarding #6: I have not read all of the Quran, and I am unfamiliar with the quote you mention, but it IS informative if it is among the surahs. The Quran's main complaint with Jews and Christians is against those Jews and Christians who have turned their backs on God of Abraham, who Islam knows as Allah in Arabic. The Quran that I have read so far teaches Muslims not to associate with those non-Muslims who have turned their backs on God of Abraham for their bad influence. The Quran as far as I have read is otherwise silent on the mandated killing of others who ARE obedient to God of Abraham, rather speaking of treating those people with tolerance, for they are people "of the Book"... and I would argue that any Muslim who kills sincere and obedient Jews, Christians, and other Muslims is in fact acting against the will of Allah. No "40 virgins in Paradise" for any of that!— September 15, 2008 2 p.m.
Union-Tribune obituary Allard Roen omits mob connections
Regarding #23: Some in local government have. There is a nice selection of letters from various state and local public prosecutors' offices dating back to 2001, and the US Attorney's press release on the 2006 criminal indictment lists our local Air Pollution Control District as an investigative agency. Casey Gwinn's office said my information would "be recorded and included in any future investigation of" the utility or its corporate parent by the City of San Diego. Dianne Jacob, serving on the APCD board, is most likely the person behind the earlier County Counsel suit; she described the utility as a "bad actor" in a recent LAFCO meeting involving the 16-acre lot in question. With all of the "reasons" for Carol Lam's departure as USA in San Diego, no article has ever mentioned this issue in the pre-trial phase involving the major local asset of a top 100 Fortune-mentionable corporation that has in the last few weeks just raised its dividends. Until I was finding actual court documents or reliable summaries on asbestos and power-related websites, I had been pretty good about keeping quiet about the whole thing, waiting perhaps too patiently to hear back on the DA's 2001 promise of eventual prosecution after what the ADA did assume would be a lengthy investigation. I blogged earlier this summer that a utility-state Voluntary Cleanup Agreement (that produced no cleanup) has probably been used to silence other state agencies, especially a related Regional Water Quality Control formal enforcement letter regarding storm water discharge info from the utility. It's amusing that the Water Quality violations were never admitted into the VCA study that was going on at the same time... My blog photo (Encato Gas Holder) is of storm water discharge from the site in March 2008, years after the VCA results came back from the utility-supplied site samples saying "No Asbestos Found"... the samples mentioned in the federal court order found at the link in #22 above seem to contradict that VCA finding. It is my understanding that some, including Erin Brockovich, may be following this whole mess from a safe distance away. At least my neighbors have tried to make her aware of it... So what are the results of a tainted VCA with a guilty federal environmental crimes defendant actually worth? That's what we want to see in state court. At least that was my intention until I was blown away by your writings above... Sincere thanx for opening my eyes!— September 15, 2008 11:21 a.m.
What advice would you give someone half your age?
Even if you don't know what you want to major in, I would still recommend going to college after finishing high school or a tour in the military... before that, if possible. Go part-time at a community college if you have to work days. If college means getting one's major right, then college is probably going to be a big waste of your time. It's better to go to learn how to learn anything and everything, to do academic research and write about it effectively, to communicate more to those who know less, to become a leader among the rest of us. Take as much math as you can handle, then take some more, and know that once you've finished Calc III and Linear Algebra, you can have any darn major you want. I am proud to have actually recruited more women than men to major in math at City College... including some who went to UCSD later for engineering. If math bugs the heck out of you, then at least take an accounting class, or just cross yourself out of any meaningful public debate on public policy. In any case, a famous philosopher/logician once declared that people without mathematics are just primates with table manners. For the taxpayers' sake, don't major in liberal studies just to become a school teacher! Instead, major in child psych or public administration, at least... Don't let a degree get in the way of you education. Don't let education get in the way of understanding. Don't let misunderstanding get in the way of life.— September 14, 2008 6:20 p.m.
None
Dishonesty is where you find it. If any logician can prove that you are correct about your claim of your excerpt of her words, then I hope that the logician posts the standard deductive proof below. I challenge your logic, and I am secretly hoping that you do not teach logic, philosophy or mathematics... or your teaching contract calls the wisdom of the school district/college/university that employs you seriously into question. While you believe that you do not run a "factory", the products you should be turning out are minds sharp enough to recognize fallacious argument in public discourse, regardless of the subject matter that you are or are not effectively teaching. If not, then we can only assume your educational institution has significant problems imparting critical thinking skills to students in general. You may report to my math logic professor at USD for remediation... if you can handle it to keep your day job. If not, then just concentrate on being a musician. Failing that, you could obtain employment as self-trained legal counsel or annual auditor at the local redevelopment agency of your choice.— September 14, 2008 5:43 p.m.
Union-Tribune obituary Allard Roen omits mob connections
Regarding #21: We should've figured out those were our "blighted area" choices when we all got the 1000-foot-radius lulling letter in the mail nearly a decade ago. It came from the public utility's corporate agent, saying that everything had been inspected and permitted as safe and non-toxic... then the birds started falling out of the sky. Some of us got ill... at least one of us ended up in the hospital for breathing problems... but none of us actually died, and in Southeast San Diego, that's considered to be "good health." We had our first hint of how really bad things had been for us humans when someone in the County Counsel's office was quoted in our city's distinguished daily paper five years later. She had gotten reports of "tons" of debris which she described: "Our inspectors found asbestos debris everywhere. Dust was flying in the air. It looked like shaved chocolate." http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050831… Too bad they were allowed to see what had been blocked from the neighbors' eyes, and mine as well. When neighbors did go to testify at the federal criminal trial almost two years later, after nearly 7 years of exposures... well, maybe I'll just post the link to the judge's order for a new trial after last year's GUILTY verdicts. http://emerginglitigation.shb.com/Portals/f81bfc4… Like I said before, I'm just naively trying to write down the license plate of the turnip truck I fell off of, as if it'll actually make a difference later on.— September 14, 2008 4:59 p.m.
Union-Tribune obituary Allard Roen omits mob connections
Regarding #17: Given what the US EPA has already told me about friable asbestos in my neighborhood, I should be so lucky as to live so long!— September 14, 2008 11:14 a.m.
Fraud, CCDC, SEDC, and the not-so-controlling parent CSDRA (AKA San Diego City Council)
Regarding #1: LOL... Hopefully the bear wasn't in the federally-protected Chollas Creek!— September 14, 2008 9:36 a.m.
Fraud, CCDC, SEDC, and the not-so-controlling parent CSDRA (AKA San Diego City Council)
THIS JUST IN: In the Sunday edition of our great San Diego daily, it is revealed that Donna Frye, San Diego City Council member AKA CSDRA director, is critical of the just-released SEDC audit for not saying a whole lot about the actual real estate transactions involving that San Diego redevelopment component and various associated developers. In the article, Frye appears critical of a $300,000 land deal for 2 acres of undeveloped floodplain land sold by SEDC, where the same property was allegedly valued by the County of San Diego at well over $2 million on the day of the sale. From that Union-Tribune article: " 'We are dealing with property. We are dealing with millions and millions of dollars,' Frye said." According to the article, the property had been part of acreage originally bought and sold on the same day to SEDC by former SEDC chairman Artie "Chip" Owen or his company Caravan Properties "for a $500,000 profit." These initial transactions took place before Owen was SEDC board chairman, but they appear to demonstrate the qualifications necessary for being the chairman of such a generous San Diego redevelopment agency. Given the VOSD revelations of the recent audit findings where the SEDC president was both the publicity source and contract negotiator (among numerous other duties) in an agency/ corporation of only a dozen supervisors and employees, the 2-acre deal at a loss of close to $2 million must have the fingerprints of Ms. Smith all over them. While Owen was chairman of SEDC, Smith was enjoying the generosity of SEDC's unwritten presidential bonus policy. There are outstanding questions posed in Sunday's U-T article whether the 2-acre land deal was a "legitimate subsidy to spur economi growth... [o]r was it another sweetheart deal for a business at the expense of taxpayers, as critics suggest?" Recently, another under-valued real estate transaction in the San Diego North County area helped to lead to a federal investigation and corruption trial in which the stiffest prison sentence and other punishment ever given to a member of Congress was awarded to Randy "Duke" Cunnimgham. Cunningham was not approached for comment on this blog comment or the related U-T article. ---- In the included U-T timeline for the transaction, there is no mention of any attempt to comply with federal regulations that require environmental impact reports for floodplain development. According to FEMA's Emergency Management Institute, all such non-exempt projects are required by law or presidential executive order on hazard mitigation to undergo evaluation to determine if they may be below the 100-year flood level (found at the IS-253 course list at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/IS253lst.asp). This appears to make sense. Why should taxpayer foot a future disaster response tab when an obvious flood hazard exists by a developer putting up some buildings in a known flood plain? In a creek bed?!?— September 14, 2008 9:33 a.m.