Category: random

“Few of Romney’s billionaire backers make actual products – most simply siphon income from ordinary workers into their Swiss bank accounts.”

That’s the latest from International Brotherhood of Teamsters president, James Hoffa, writing in the Summer 2012 issue of the union magazine, “Teamster.” He’s really nothing more than a hypocrite.

He makes nothing and yet earns $362,869 and benefits annually. Furthermore his salary comes from the membership dues paid by those who actually labor day-in and day-out.

Mind you, the average 2012 American household’s income is $63,091 per year.

William Carson situated his home in the heart of the city next to his lumber mill and the bay. From his cupola he could view commerce on the bay and check the happenings at his lumber mill to the north.

Constructed in 1884-85, for over $80,000 is a four-story, 18 room structure with a tower and basement, and one of the most photographed structures in the world.

Carson came from New Brunswick, Canada during the gold rush and tried mining along the Trinity River. By 1854 he was operating a lumber mill in Humboldt County.

In 1855 he shipped the first cargo of redwood lumber from Humboldt Bay to San Francisco, where before only spruce and fir timber had been shipped.  On April 17, 1863, Carson signed a partnership agreement with John Dolbeer which lasted for 87 years.

Dolbeer revolutionized the logging business with his mechanical talent. In 1881, he patented the “Dolbeer Steam Logging Donkey,” which modernized logging by replacing workers with machine power.

The Dolbeer and Carson Lumber Company prospered. They bought up some of the finest timberland, kept pace with the latest equipment, and they continued to prosper as logging methods and transportation improved.

By the 1890s, they owned several lumber mills, held an interest in the rail lines and in sailing vessels to insure the transport of their lumber. They incorporated the Eel River and Eureka Railroad Co. Helped build the Bucksport and Elk River Railroads and held interests in the Humboldt Northern Railroad.

The major destination for lumber was San Francisco, but they shipped all over the world. They had diverse holdings as well, including oil fields, the Humboldt Woolen Mills and Humboldt Shoe Factory.

Carson was one of the founders of Humboldt County Bank, Bank of Eureka, and the Savings Bank of Humboldt Co.  At his death, his fortune was estimated to be $20 million.

His will contained 116 beneficiaries, many company employees, as well as churches, hospitals and other community agencies.  The mansion was almost demolished when the last Carson heirs to live in the Mansion moved to San Francisco in the late 1940s.

Some Eureka businessmen decided to form a men’s club, and an option to buy the Carson property was obtained from the owners in October 1949. The deal was formally completed early in 1950 and the new club was named the Ingomar Club.

After the death of a third person exposed to the mouse-borne hantavirus, public health officials are expanding their warning to include more than 22,000 visitors to Yosemite National Park. So far, eight people who visited the 1,100-square-mile park in California this summer have been infected.

Hantavirus has been around for hundreds of years, with the first outbreak being chronicled before the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. The disease made a comeback in 1992 in the Four Corner’s area of the U.S., though it’s reappeared intermittently over the years, including 1959 and 1978.

Knowing this, one might think the National Park Service would have had an ongoing rodent abatement program in operation to protect visitors to the park. But it’s clear after so many people have turned up infected, the it didn’t.

Frightening to realize the National Park Service is run by the same folks who’ll be overseeing ObamaCare.

They were a group of friends from Fort Dodge, Iowa and in Des Moines, the state’s capital, and on the brink of mischief. The four friends, between 14 and 17 years old, concluded it would be fun to stage a mob rub-out.

They had balloons filled with red-dye, ketchup and water and guns loaded with blanks. Each dressed in a suit and tie, borrowed from their father’s wardrobe and were driving a car, much like one Scar-face Al Capone rode in.

When the time came, one boy got out of the car and walked to a designated street corner. At an appointed time, the car came down the busy street and pulled up in front of the target on the corner.

There a gun fight ensued, with two of the so-called thugs getting out of the car and shooting the boy. As for the target, he returned fire on the two thugs, missing them.

The boy leaned against a brick building, slid to the sidewalk and played dead. By this time people were ducking for cover and women were screaming in fear.

That’s when the two thugs grabbed the boy and dragged him into the car, and the vehicle sped off. Road blocks catch the get-a-way car and gangsters went up, but to no avail.

There were reports on the radio that evening and in the papers the following day. The quartet became scared when they heard the FBI had become involved in the case.

To my knowledge Dad only told this story once. I remember hanging on every word, thinking, “How cool!”

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find one newspaper article written about this event. So it’s safe to say, it never happened, but sure made a great story.

After having run around Margaret Keating School’s track as fast as I could, I stopped at the fountain outside my sixth grade classroom and guzzled as much water as possible. I felt hot and sweaty as I started drinking, but suddenly became cold and clammy afterward.

My head felt like it was about to explode from the pain I was experiencing and my stomach seemed to grow so tight that I could no longer stand up. Then much like one might see in a movie, my entire world faded to black.

By the time I regained consciousness, I was no longer outside by the water fountain and was somewhat confused by my surroundings.  I was lying on the bed in the nurse’s office, having been carried there by Mr. Hammond, and where Mrs. Zwierlein was attending to me.

A few minutes later, Uncle Ron arrived and took me home. Mom immediately made me go to bed, uncertain what had caused me to pass out.

It was later determined that my body didn’t tolerate the sudden extreme of overheating to very cold. In essence, I had a simultaneous brain-freeze and stomach cramp, forcing blood to shunt in different directions – causing me to pass out.

I never let it happen again, no matter hot or how thirsty I was.

But what I find most interesting about this incident is how it shaped the way I look at dying.  I’ve come to believe that when our body dies, it’s like a sudden ‘fade to black,’ followed by the reawakening of our soul in a different place.

And yes, I think that for a few seconds, we’ll feel confused and disoriented, but eventually we’ll realize where we are and what has happened. Besides, having a 12-year-olds view of this process makes it less scary for me.

What sort of campaign slogan is “Forward,” Mr. President? It means nothing to the working man or woman struggling to make ends meet, keeping both a roof over their families head and food on the table in this tough economy.

“Forward,” to where Mr. Obama? Into de-industrialization, socialized everything, a third world nation?

No thank you.

And if I hear Vice President Joe Biden spout off one more time, saying, “Here’s a bumper sticker for you: Osama Bin Laden’s dead and GM lives,” I think I’ll go play in rush-hour traffic. Again it mean’s nothing, with the number of people out of work and foreclosures wrecking neighborhood throughout the U.S.

After all if we’re going to elect a president based on who killed Osama Bin Laden — I’m voting for a Navy SEAL.

This was my first car — a 1963 Chevy Biscayne. I bought it for 300 bucks. I took Jill Ziemer to the prom in this car. It was a three-on-the-tree and I couldn’t get the stupid thing in reverse. Jill saved the day by climbing in the driver seat and finding the gear for me. Admittedly, it was kind of embarrassing.

I traded out my Biscayne and a couple hundred dollars for a 1967 Dodge Charger. It had a 383 under the hood and 440 Interceptor shift-kit. I out ran the CHP in it a couple of times. Shame on me! Because I tended to drive too fast in this car, my parents refused to let me take Connie Harper to prom in it. Instead I had to drive their 1971 Opel Cadet. It wasn’t a very sexy look!

While stationed at Warren AFB, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I spent 1200 dollars on a 1976 Datsun 610 Wagon. I did my best to drive that thing to death by taking it camping, with my friends Dave Barber and Linda Alverson and on long road trips. It was a piece of crap — but it got me from there to here and back again. Even my friend Linda Bottazzo, who was also stationed at Warren and owned one, says they were crappy, but reliable.

I had a 1977 Triumph Spitfire for a few months. I ended up with after I sued an employer to get my back pay. Unfortunately, since it was owned by that same employer, I had to surrender it to get paid. Sometimes I think I should have jus’ hung on to the car and forgone the check. It was a chick-magnet. Hind-sight is 20/20, huh?

I didn’t own a working vehicle for nearly two-years after giving up the Spitfire.  I bought a 1974 VW Superbeetle, completely rebuilt with a 9-11 Porsche engine, for $3,500. The  day I got it anew paint job, my friend Beth Wachter stuck a bag full of gummy bears to it. So much for the paint job as I removed them one-by-one. It didn’t look like much, but add a few bags of sand in the front trunk to weigh it down and whammo — that little Bug could do near 60 mph in second gear. I sold back a number of pink slips, making my rent because of this.

 My first real old-timer was a 1937 Pontiac six 4-door Touring Sedan. I traded for it with a biker named Russ, who wanted my leather jacket. Since it didn’t run very well and a hole in the gas tank, I left it parked on the far-side of the apartment complex from where I lived. I should have kept my eye on it as within a couple of weeks, somebody stripped it down to its chassis. They even stole the seats, which were in pretty good shape. All I could do was file a police report and hope. Nothing was ever recovered. Dirty bastards!

After blowing the engine for a second time, I figured it was time to part with the Bug. And for the first in my life I decided to buy a brand-new vehicle. I drove my 1988 Hyundai Excel for 14-years until it caught fire on I-80 one morning and burned to the ground. The sad part about this is I had jus’ put anew water pump and radiator in the damned thing. I was also arrested for arson because the police thought I’d set the fire. They dropped the  charges after the fire marshal found an electrical short at the point of the fires origin.

For some reason I got a bug up my butt and decided to buy myself a “classic truck,” in this case a 1959 Chevy Apache Fleetside pick-up, that I named “Big Red.” I never could get the speedometer to work properly, having been over three times, though never cited, for going over the speed limit by 10 mph. I had a friend named Ray who was a mechanic and a race car driver, who was going to fix it up for me, so I moved it to his garage, unfortunately he and his wife split the sheets and she absconded with my truck and his two race cars. She is from Arizona, so I suspect the truck is sitting someplace on one of the many Reservations in that state. Whadda shame.

Shortly after moving into our new home, I had what I call a mid-life crisis spending $4,000 on a Chevy 3100 Series step side truck.  After five years of ownership I concluded “Little Blue,” deserved better TLC and feeding than I was giving her, so I sold it to my friend Paul Hinen’s son for 500-bucks. Happily, I see him zooming around town in the truck from time to time, so I think I got a good deal out of the sale.

After the Hyundai went up in flames, I needed a vehicle. I looked at all sorts of cars and trucks. I knew what I wanted and needed so I set about to find something that would solve both. That solution was a 1998 Ford Ranger XLT. I purchased it used for $12-thousand, which was about 1K more than I’d hoped to pay — but it has been worth every dime spent. I’ve crossed the western part of the U.S. twice in it, travelled up and down Nevada and California too many times to count in this truck and I continue to drive the hell out of it today.

Honestly — I had no idea I’d owned so many vehicles in my lifetime.

A southern Nevada man is one of those killed in Libya during the Benghazi attack on the U.S. Embassy.  Tyrone Woods most recently lived in San Diego before moving to Henderson with his wife, Dorothy and  and their three sons: Tyrone Jr., Hunter and Kai.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Woods died helping to protect his colleagues. Woods was a  former SEAL with more than two decades in the Navy including stints in Iraq and Afghanistan.  After retiring, he opened ‘The Salty Frog,” a bar in Imperial Beach.

Since 2010 though, Woods worked to protect American diplomatic personnel in posts from Central America to the Middle East.  US Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Foreign Service officer Sean Smith and Glen Doherty, also a former Navy SEAL, were  also killed during the attack.

Democratic Congressman Shelley Berkley is challenging Republican U.S. Senator Dean Heller for his senate seat. To that end, she’s airing a TV ad claiming Heller, is part of a $64 million diamond scam.

“It’s a reach and a diversion,” University of Nevada, Reno political science professor Eric Herzik told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Given the volume of incorporations in Nevada, you’re going to have some fly-by-night operations and some fraudulent activities. To pin that on the secretary of state is a reach. ”

The ad goes on to suggest Heller took campaign contributions from a “co-conspirator” named Urban Casavant.  However, the campaign contribution in question came in June 2005 to Heller’s 2006 campaign for Congress by Rendal Williams, then CEO of U.S. Canadian Minerals.

In 2004 U.S. Canadian Minerals, with Williams at the head, acquired a 5 percent interest in CMKM Diamonds. But Williams was not among the people indicted by the feds in the fraud case.

Briefly, the ad shows a sworn affidavit taken by the Security Exchange Commission deposing Donald J. Stoecklein, dated January 24th, 2006. Stoecklein is an attorney in San Diego, California

On page 128, lines 20 through 23 Stoecklein says he met with then Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller.  But what you don’t see is page 130, lines 1 through 6, where Stoecklein says Heller and Casavant may have been in the same room, but never interacted with one another.

As for Berkley, she’s under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for possibly using her position to help her family financially. Included are efforts to keep a kidney transplant facility connected to her husband’s medical practice, and pushing for the Ways and Means Committee to not cut reimbursement rates for doctors who give dialysis to Medicare patients.

Obviously worried her ethics problems will cost her the race, Berkley is doing her best to make Heller look crooked, too.

Speaking at the  Trucking facility in Sparks, Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan said the latest federal job report shows one in four people stopped looking for jobs in August. He added while 96,000 people found jobs, the economy needs to create 150,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with population growth.

“This is nowhere close to an economic recovery,” Ryan told the crowd. “President Obama is not a bad guy. He’s good at giving great speeches. He’s just really bad at creating jobs.”

Ryan said he and presidential candidate Mitt Romney have a plan to fix the economy.

“We have to stop spending money we don’t have,” said Ryan, “We need to get our budget under control, or we will end up like Europe.”

If the Republicans win in November, Ryan said, they are not “going to spend four years blaming other people” for their problems.

“We are going to fix those problems,” he vowed. “We are not going to kick the can down the road.”

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, running against GOP U.S. Senator Dean Heller for the senate seat, used Ryan’s visit to criticize Heller for supporting Ryan’s proposed change to the Medicare system.

Funny thing, Ryan didn’t mention Medicare in his speech, but he did say he wants to put an end to the nation’s deficit so (our) children today do not have to pay it off in the future.

“A lot of people are depending on you,” he told the 2,500 present.

Talk about being off point.