Unemployment benefits extensions are needed NOW!

Imagine how crooked and petty many of the political people are at your local community level, or even around your neighborhood. Take that and multiply it by the factor of millions it takes to rise to the very top of their political food chain.

While some people in politics today, just like some people in the financial industries for another example, may not be greedy, heartless disgusting pigs, obviously they are the exception. To rise through each layer of their political grid(lock) takes another order of magnitude jump in playing the system, hypocritical behaviors and all the other enabling and inhuman activities necessary for success.

Now, consider who we are dealing with, the disgusting pigs -- Kyl, Isakson, McConnell, Hatch, Alexander et al -- who have blocked the much needed immediate help for working Americans victimized by their last decade of allowing, even encouraging, other pigs to loot and destroy the moral fabric of our society. These 40, or so, senators have risen to the very top of the political Ponzi pyramid. They are top pigs in the poke.

It's not surprising they held up these benefit extension for a number of reasons. Firstly, they could care less about us. We don't have lobbyists who can take them to Barbados to golf or for their daily $100+ luncheons. What's more, check out their automated email system. If you're not living in their state, they really, really don't care. You can't even vote against them. (And former Senate staffers say aides don't really read the letters, they skim and categorize them, keeping them more as an informal poll on issues.)

Secondly, we have the problem they don't relate to our situation in the least. While it seems unreal to us to consider they have no compassion or feelings whatsoever, it is equally unreal to them that people who have worked their entire lives or are honest and moral would be victims of their system or actions. They simply don't see how we are out of work if we're good people and don't know what it's like to worry 24-7 about how to pay any bills or buy groceries. Nor do they care.

Thirdly, their world is this gilded cage political system they control. They spend their  time hobnobbing with each other at social functions, kissing each other's asses, making deals over supper of in the cloakroom, trading this pork project for that pork project.

The real time suffering of people is irrelevant to their political dealings time frame where issues -- see health care -- play out over decades, not hours. Their rapid fire response to the Tarp bank financial bailout came because they were panicked by their friends and immediate associates. Then, it took like a day to dispense hundreds of billions of dollars with no oversight while suffering by people they don't know who can't vote for them is subjected to this incredible scrutiny and delay over "funding", BS amendments for unrelated issues such as immigrant IDs, their own pork projects, even that housing tax credit that is controversial because the program has so much fraud etc..

Senator pigs also hear constantly from all sorts of interest groups and, again, the paid lobbyists or people with money who buy access to their time. When they hear genuine cries of anguish and despair, they filter that as just another lobbying entity wanting some favor or project. They don't look at it as desperation or legitimate need.

What's more, as the GOP leaders said this week when confronted with polls showing only 20 percent of Americans publicly called themselves Republicans, they didn't care so long as people voted for them in the elections. Hey, it's worked for them since Reagan, so why should they care. They feel that when the drama is over and people get their extension people will forget the pain the last few months and then get distracted by the cynical hypocritical issues of gay marriage, flag burning, "socialism", swift-boat, or whatever they come up with in the election cycle.

Furthermore, they are able to filter out our cries through their system of aides, lackeys and other employees, the low level staffers who answer our phone calls or look at the e-mails. If one, two, three or more of us cornered Kyl in an alley, for example, he would be listening to us with a lot more immediate concern, and being the coward he is, probably fear. But as it stands, he has dozens of buffers between himself and us.

Additionally hurting us are the Democrats, even the ones who say they are trying to help. The House and Senate extension bills each were presented in early August. Shaheen had two months to file her amendment asking the coverage be extended to all states. However, she waited until the very last moment, a merely political ploy to maneuver the Republicans to back her plan or to block it and hurt their political chances. If she genuinely were interested in expanding the benefits for all of us, knowing how the Senate "works", she would have filed this amendment in August or September, so the 70 percent of people covered by the original House-Senate bill wouldn't lose their benefits as has now happened.

This is not to say all pigs are created equally. The Democrats have helped and are sympathetic. they are trying to get us the extension, even though they, too, are mired and blinded by the political prism.

What's the solution? Honestly, I don't know. except as we crowd-source this maybe people will come up with our magic bullet. We live in a society where a hoax balloon boy gets wall-to-wall media coverage, but 400,000 -- 7,000 a day -- soon to be 1.2 million to 2 million people are starving and left to die get three minutes late Friday afternoon on CNN.

Offhand, the most lasting, and probably just, solution would be to French Revolution them, but I am in favor of a bloodless accounting since I personally couldn't handle the stress of it all. We could demonstrate as they did in the early 1930s, but that would be too late and it didn't do any good in the 30s anyway.

The best I have come up with is what we're doing, except more-so, flooding their stinking telephone lines with calls, not letting them get away with lies; and, if possible, showing up individually or in groups to their field and D.C. offices. We need our friends and relations to call them as well.

Please post your suggestions for immediate and compelling action! 

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Facebook event created titled "Unemployed benefit extension virtual march on Washington"

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=156123314182

Holding up this unemployment extension bill is tantamount to taking a gun and shooting 7,000 American families DAILY who have lost this lifeline. More than 500,000 have had benefits expire.  More than 2 million people, and by extension their families, will lose this lifeline by Christmas.

Yet the Senate continues to stall on this lifeline help. Republicans twice have blocked consideration on bogus grounds. Now they have loaded on EIGHT amendments -- some highly controversial -- having nothing to do with the benefits. They also object to continuing a $14 per employee per year tax for businesses already funded through 2011 to fund the benefits.

However, the Democrats won't formally bring the extension to a vote because they say the Republicans will filibuster.

Huh?

Unemployed people have worked for years in most cases actually contributing to the benefit system intended to aid them in their hour of need. This is life and death.

WE MUST COLLECT TOGETHER IN CYBERSPACE AND IF NEEDED AT THE CAPITOL and tell these insensitive pigs they need to forget about this politics garbage and respond to our immediate needs.

Unemployment is at 10 percent nationwide, which doesn't count people whose unemployment benefits have run out -- 400,000 this month, 1.4 million by December, and those who are underemployed, or working part-time when they need full-time work. The actual unemployment rate is near 20 percent. And as the Jobs Report so clearly illustrates, "employers" continue to cut jobs by the hundreds of thousands each month.

The lobbyists buy these senators left and right. Unemployed people don't have any money. What kind of nation have we become?

We must band together and collectively call out these insensitive stinking senators -- who had no problem in the last month while the UE benefit bill stalled increasing staff salaries in two minutes, funding wars everywhere, giving money to other countries, enabling million dollar bonuses to bank employees and financial people who screwed the unemployed and the economy and a bunch of other stuff about crack cocaine and whatever else, including their own three-day work weeks.

WE DEMAND UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT EXTENSIONS TODAY!!!

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Call out these GOP leaders who specifically are delaying this and causing us such unnecessary suffering.

Mitch McConnell, Ky., the GOP leader at (202) 224-2541. I called and his lackey said he was for this, and said why don't the Demos bring it to the floor. Well, they tried twice and McConnell's whip Kyl objected. So, the lackey argued with me and told me to call Kyl's office and hung up.

Jon Kyl, Ariz., GOP whip, and lobbyist lackey. Try calling his office and they don't even answer. His voice mail is (202) 224-4521. He has been using procedural fine print to stop votes twice since last week. You may recall him as the guy during health care debates last month questioned why people needed maternity coverage since he didn't.

Johnny Isakson, Ga. Repub and real estate lobbyist turned senator. This piece of work has attached all sorts of amendments that have nothing to do with nothing -- house tax credits for a program that had 100,000 bogus claims and is a real estate scam -- immigration and six other garbage amendments to delay the unemployment benefit vote. (202) 224-3643,

And of course Oral Hatch, Ut., well known hater of everybody not giving him money. He has been at the center of this add bogus amendments while pretending to be in favor charade because if it went to a vote and you voted against it everybody out of work --Dem and Repub -- would hate you at (202) 224-5251.

My Ranch House

Robbie Alomar goes YA-YA's

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I lived in Tampa and worked Clearwater, Dunedin, Port Richey and such when Robbie Alomar starred for the Toronto Blue Jays. I always considered him a great and totally underrated ballplayer, Hall of Fame caliber. I even spoke to him a few times.

So, I had a soft spot for Alomar. And then some.

See, when somebody asked him for the name of his favorite restaurant, he came back Ya-Ya's. Actually, he said: "I. Roberto Alomar, Blue Yays second baseman love Ya Ya's chicken."

ME TOO! I loved Ya Ya's. They had like six or seven outlets around the Tampa Bay area, served awesome healhy grilled chicken dinners at reasonable prices, fast. Great salads and sides.

So when Robbie went Ya-Ya's, so did I during my frequent visits to the place. YA-YA'S!!!

And now this. The AIDS thing. Amazingly given Alomar's frequent upstaging by others over his baseball years, he couldn't even get no respect for a GIGANTIC SCANDAL, probably. The legal paperwork spewed forth from a palimony suit on the AIDS problem just when the ARod news broke, so Alomar, even in possible demise, was upstaged.

But the Alomar affair has so many angles, it's hard to know where to start. #1: He has HIV and AIDS? Huh? He was raped as a 17-year-old by men ouside his first minor league team's park? Huh? And so much more, like his seven-year live-in girlfriend -- they call that a wife at many trailer parks -- and her past as a "champion female arm-wrestler", as shown in old clips. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Considering we can count on no fingers the number of acknowledged Major League Baseball. or former MLB players with AIDS, or victims of rape for that matter, this story would be blown up al over the hemisphere.

Barely a whimper however this week. We'll hear a lot more. You heard it here first.

(Read my MLB.com baseball blog for more)

"Yes We Can" v. "Just Say No"

Elucidating and repudiating Ronald Reagan's legacy

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With all due respect, the overblown hype surrounding Ronald Reagan's presidency on the part of Republican stalwarts is long overdue for a much needed reality check and historical correction.

Reagan's legacy of eliminating government and empowering self-interest -- and by extension, greed -- of neglecting the many rungs of society in favor of "trickle-down" chimeras ultimately is what brought America to its current condition, on the mat and greatly in need of a massive makeover.

The so-called "Reagan Revolution" was nothing more than an attempt by those with power and money to keep what they have and get as much more as possible. Obviously, it worked well for them since the disparity of wealth from rich to poor is the greatest in U.S. history since the 1880s, the Gilded Age when excess ruled, and the 1920s, followed as it were by the correction of the Great Depression.

Another great correction is in order. It needs to take place in all aspects of American life, from the externalities of government and the use of power to the very innards of the American soul.

Part of this process is calling out history, placing proper perspective on facts rather than fictions.

One of the biggest fictions of all is this attempt by ultra-conservative partisans to paint the Reagan administration and Reagan years as a time of great achievement and template for society.

Let us examine the actualities and their consequences as we debunk the Reagan mythology that brought us to this moment of economic ruin and foreign adventurism.

Reagan and the cult of personality

Reagan had the force of personality perfect, as it turned out, for the newly emerging age of mass communication where picture trumped platform. Even he joked often about his B-movie career that morphed into leadership of the actor's union and a huge popularity bump as television host.

Reagan's purely political career took off as he prominently supported Richard Nixon in 1960, then very actively campaigned on behalf of Barry Goldwater's 1964 reactionary push-back to equal rights at home and morality in foreign affairs. Those speeches and campaigning on Goldwater's behalf catapulted Reagan to national political prominence.

Running against an unpopular California governor, riding the backlash against the University of California Berkeley free speech movement, as well as minorities and so-called permissive liberals, Reagan won a million vote landslide in 1966.

Fast-forwarding past LBJ and Vietnam, Nixon and Watergate, the Reagan public relations machine emerged as the conservative alternative to progressive thought in the 1970s. But that, in itself, was not enough to get past public perception of him as an actor turned political wanabee with credibility issues.

Reagan very narrowly failed to dislodge Gerald Ford as Republican standard-bearer in 1976, not surprising since Ford had the power of the presidency at his back. But that campaign, followed by the ambiguity and lack of focus of the Carter presidency put Reagan in the catbird's seat for a 1980 presidential run.

Two events in 1979 set the stage for Reagan's ascension to the presidency. Neither had anything to do with his so-called philosophy, personal charisma or political competence.

The Arab oil crisis resulting in massive gasoline shortages, lines and rationing coupled with the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Teheran completely derailed an already shaky Carter administration.

While Reagan can't be implicated in the energy crisis, we now know there was an arms-for-hostages quid pro quo allowing that all-consuming issue to fester during the 1980 presidential campaign, virtually ensuring Reagan's election. He got 51 percent of the vote. The hostages, in fact, were released mere minutes after he took the oath of office, Jan. 20, 1981.

Lessons of the 1980s

The 1980 election had nothing to do with conservative philosophy or the desire of Americans to dismantle the FDR-JFK-LBJ legacy of a government helping people, working with people to improve their lot. But the American people got the Reagan acolytes and their cynically selective use of government to suit their own purposes, mainly greed and the permanent retention of political power.

The 1980s are widely recognized as an era of excess, Wall Street run amuck, so famously encapsulated in Oliver Stone's Gordon Gecko "greed is good" hallmark. In most matters political, the Reaganites talked about government being the problem with private enterprise the solution.

Again in fact, that governmental disdain only went so far. It went as far as the poor and disenfranchised as the Reagan administration curtailed programs costing pennies to aid the unfortunate and downtrodden, even as it spent massive dollars on defense including harebrained missile systems that never worked, but cost billions.

For all their talk about ending government interference in people's lives, the Reaganites sought to use government to enforce their concepts of morality, perhaps best personified by their simplistic, even racist Just Say No drug campaigns targeting minorities.

The Reagan years can be appreciated all the better in retrospect. The Cold War provided an external threat distracting people from internal problems, a sort of sleight-of-political-hand job. Reagan's powerful personality and simplistic world view allowed his minions to overcome potential economic disconnects with working class and middle-class White voters who proved the difference-makers in keeping him in office. Demographics, while changing, continued to favor older, more conservative candidates. The Democratic Party was in disarray.

A 1984 election landslide gave the Reagan "Revolution", rather a counter-revolution, the numbers in Washington to do as they would. They carried on well enough even to elect George Bush, our first, who was, people forget, a fairly unpopular figure at the time. But the Reagan apparatus, dedicated to preserving influence, rode the Reagan name into a figurative third term.

Reagan to Bush to what

We can appreciate now the entire sequence of Reagan-to-Bush I, had nothing to do with the proposition government was evil and should get out of people's lives, as hypocritical as was their position. All today agree many people voted for the public, and popular, image of Reaganism, even when it ran counter to their own economic self-interest.

Masters of public relations, in effect turning around the Nixon mistakes with a vision of self-aggrandizement, the Reagan PR machine churned out messages fine-tuned to their target audience, whether, or not, the message had a basis in actuality.

Coincidental with all this, the Soviet Union collapsed. This was a result of decades of internal pressure, and a geopolitical grasp loosened by Pope John Paul II and the Solidarity Movement in Poland that swiftly altered the political equation throughout Eastern Europe. The removal of the imbalance of economic design propping up Sovietism through its Eastern European colonies caused its demise, not Reagan policies.

However, due to the historical accident of Reagan happening to be president at the time, and a landmark appearance at the Berlin Wall, the Reagan PR machine claimed he won the Cold War. This extreme fallacy continues to be a pillar in the Reagan and GOP mythology, although historians know better.

Bush I couldn't overcome his own lack of popularity and lack of achievement in 1992. Bill Clinton brilliantly coupled more traditional Democratic Party advantages in what we now call blue states with a favorite son pull in Southern red states into a powerful win.

While we may continue to argue about Clinton as liberal v. conservative in values, we can not dispute a more natural return to government as a tool to aid people rather than enemy during his terms in office. Clinton's downfall in effectiveness had nothing to do with this philosophy. It had everything to do with issues of morality and Republican Party partisanship, cynically using personal issues to regain their stranglehold on power in order to generate personal or collegial gain.

Which brings us to George W. Bush III. In an America deeply divided by personal politics, not philosophy, Bush lost the popular vote, but won through the 18th Century device of an electoral college, and a one vote Supreme Court decision.

Bush, the lately, didn't win in the least on a mandate of dismantling government to its very core. But that's who, and what, we got along with a Republican majority in Congress, whose disastrous legacy we now are in the process of unraveling.

And now the future

The Bush years of government neglect have ended. This horrific group encouraged the seeds of economic greed and ruin, public and foreign policy drift, disgrace and tortuous political and personal immorality; not to mention legacy of torture as policy, Katrina, lying the nation into war, spying without authorization on its own citizens, massive disregard for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution and, well, a seemingly endless list of malfeasance, misfeasance and whatever other nonfeasance we now know or will discover in time.

The Obama landslide and newfound hope for a vast number of our citizens represents a total  repudiation of the natural progression of the Reagan legacy to its final end in the Bush debacle.

The Reagan "government is the problem" mantra was never the sentiment of the American people. Government is an important, overwhelming force that can be a wave lifting up the people when applied with honesty, intelligence and good purpose. The beauty of our place and time today in the Age of Obama is the opportunity to use our resources to help our citizens, rather than maintain a few in obscene wealth.

"Yes we can" has trumped "Just Say No". The shell game of a sham that is the Reagan legacy should now be considered officially debunked and consigned to the trash heap of history. Government is not the problem. It is the grand hope. Just ask our Founding Fathers who gave us a Constitution 226 years in the making. Just  ask Joe Everybody today.

What if Obama falters?

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WHAT IF OBAMA FALTERS???

Barack Obamarama. Exciting, generational change, optimism on steroids, yes we can, and all that,jass.

But the what-if riffs must be heard as well. What if Obama doesn't work out?

Obama has been at the top of the class wherever he has gone. We've heard the tales, the tall praise from his teachers and peers. He has been a top politician, too, from the Illinois statehouse to Capitol Hill.

Obama ran a seminal campaign, probably a template for the next two decades and a paradigm for future generations. It didn't hurt any that he had the pathetic George Bush legacy to help blaze the trail to victory.

The what-ifs, however, have me by the scruff of my thoughts. What if the challenges are too great even for Obamarama. What if his lack of governing experience comes back to haunt; after all, that Hilary Clinton line of all he has is a good speech from whenever continues to resonate.

Or, shudder forbid, what if Obama proves to be a mirage -- a well-intentioned, super-intelligent guy who doesn't have the chops, luck, or historical timing to succeed.

What if an Obama worst case scenario occurs and he is pummeled by Congress, events, failures, an administration that turns out to be no better than the Bush Abomination?

I'm not saying it will happen.  None of us want it going down like that. I expect Obama to do great things. We need him to succeed. He must.

But history teaches us, time and again, what people want, what a world needs, sometimes doesn't quite turn out that way, often changes in ways completely unforeseen.

Which brings us to the Obama Inauguration. For the sake of argument, a reality check, what happens if the new political wave falters, fades, fails? What indeed!

Russia's so-called US expert, Igor Panarin, got a lot of pub recently for his prediction of disintegration of our states into six separate entities. The prediction appears ludicrous on its surface, especially with Panarin's added details of foreign takeovers -- East Coast to European Union, Midwest to Canada, West Coast to China -- and civil war.

Yet, an Obama failure of catastrophic proportions would set the stage for something drastic. Should Obama turn out to be a fake, or, just as bad, a Bush incompetency clone, this nation is truly done for and in apocalyptic trouble. Perhaps not enough to split into six divergent nations, but bad verging on the worst.

The economic turmoil, coupled with foreign entanglements. has created the ultimate in unstable conditions.

Not righting the economy means tens of millions of potentially starving, hopeless individuals, ultimately with nothing and nothing to lose, a preamble to anarchy.

Not navigating the shockingly difficult international issues -- Iraq, Afghanistan, the Mideast obviously; North Korea and Iran, Russia's return to prominence, China and India's rise  --  could mean nuclear confrontation and George Orwellian prediction of constant world war.

Economic collapse,  nuclear war, political dissolution are merely the known specters. That's not considering natural disasters, climate change, unforeseen dangers, all sure to happen in some form. The margin of error is small to none.

Surely, this more pessimistic rain will not spoil the Inauguration parade heralding the reign of Obama. His speech will be groundbreaking. Enthusiasm will run high. If he succeeds, we succeed. Good for us.

But it doesn't hurt to stay loose, so to speak, on this new era about to unfold. Let's not overlook the challenges while heralding the challenger for change as our salvation incarnate.

Hopefully, Obama will take care of business, fulfill our hopes, our dreams and his destiny. Hopefully.

Let's further hope we never find out what happens in an Obama failure for God forbid that Mayan December 2012 end-of-the-world prediction or permutations of the Panarin Doctrine might not be so far-fetched after all.

MLB NETWORK LOOKED GOOD AT DEBUT

Dock Ellis RIP

DOCK ELLIS RIP: ELLIS, 63, DIED OF LIVER FAILURE SATURDAY, DEC. 20 AT A LOS ANGELES HOSPITAL.

HE AUTHORED ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE SPORTING EVENTS IN SAN DIEGO HISTORY

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Lysergic World San Francisco, April 16-19, 1993

Los Angeles, April 8, 1984- Former Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Dock Ellis says he was under the influence of LSD when he pitched a 1970 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres.

Ellis, now co-ordinator of an anti drug program in Los Angeles, said he didn't know until six hours before his June 12, 1970 no hitter that he was going to pitch.

"I was in Los Angeles, and the team was playing in San Diego , but I didn't know it. I had taken LSD..... I thought it was an off-day, that's how come I had it in me. I took the LSD at noon. At 1pm, his girlfriend and trip partner looked at the paper and said, "Dock, you're pitching today!"

"That's when it was $9.50 to fly to San Diego. She got me

to the airport at 3:30. I got there at 4:30, and the game started at 6:05pm. It was a twi-night doubleheader.

I can only remember bits and pieces of the game. I was psyched. I had a feeling of euphoria.

I was zeroed in on the (catcher's) glove, but I didn't hit the glove too much. I remember hitting a couple of batters and the bases were loaded two or three times.

The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder.

They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn't hit hard and never reached me."

The Pirates won the game, 2-0, although Ellis walked eight batters. It was the highpoint in the baseball career of one of the finer pitchers of his time, and arguably,one of the greatest achievements in the history of sports.

Scrooged. Scrooge needs a better PR agent.

This must be truly a season for giving. How else can we explain giving a presidential election to a guy who lost by more than half a million votes? I'm still bitter about 2000, even now.

I'm tempted to say "Only in America." Or "Only for Christmas." But that kind of thing happens from time to time in the Third World too. The way I figure it, George W. Bush had a heck of a PR agent.

Ebenezer Scrooge could have used one too, the poor, dear misunderstood gentleman. Scrooge's problem was bad publicity, the cynical media.

But I admire the poor sap, and not just because he is so darn cute.

You've heard all the stories. Scrooge was the guy who (allegedly) messed with good old Bob Cratchit's Christmas. And don't even start on Tiny Tim.

Bah, humbug.

People need to hear the good news about Scrooge.

Contrary to popular belief, Scrooge loved Christmas. Check out the classic Scrooge as portrayed by Alistair Sims in the 1950s "A Christmas Carol." Scrooge is transformed into the most fanatical pro-Christmas spirit ever

By the end of the movie ---- which some of us recall was based on a Charles Dickens story ---- Scrooge becomes the most effusive advocate Christmas this side of the indomitable Mr. Hanky on "South Park."

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"World's Oldest Living Dead Ringer"

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That gruff yet recognizable voice. The trademark cigar. Those corny jokes that may, or may not, be funny but with that rat-a-tat-tat Vaudevillian delivery that never seems to fail. It might be. It could be. It is....

Al Mager?

Or is it George Burns?

For those who thought George Burns was a permanent fixture in the Las Vegas of the sky, think again.

Al Mager of Lake San Marcos is George Burns.

Well, a professional George Burns look-alike and former stand-in for the guy who used to say "Good Night Gracie" on radio and early TV, then played God in the movies before dying at age 100 in 1996.

"I liked George Burns but I wasn't crazy about him," said Mager, a former New Jersey cigarette paper worker and longtime Oceanside resident who retired to Lake San Marcos earlier this year. "I had a stroke in 1984 and said what am I going to do now. I saw an ad in the paper that you can be in commercials. The commercials director said you look like George Burns and sent me on a commercial job as his stand-in."

Thus was born Mager's new calling in life. He visited backstage with the venerable entertainer and started working gigs as a Burns look-alike and stand-in for Burns in Hollywood commercial work.

"I met him when he was entertaining in Atlantic City and as soon as I walked in the door people stormed me, asking for autographs," Mager said. "I said get me a seat, George is my dad."

Billing himself as the "World's Oldest Living Dead Ringer," Mager would drop in on Burns in Hollywood from time to time and shoot the shtick with him. Burns always was gracious and shared his thoughts including an apparent distaste for Frank Sinatra, Mager said.

Mager has slowed down a bit due to the effects of two strokes, but there must be something in those George Burns-type genes, for the 85-year-old San Marcos entertainer looks good and is interested in doing a little entertaining and attending celebrity look-alike conventions.

"It's a pleasure to be here," Burns, I mean Mager, says, repeating one of Burns' most classic lines. "At my age, it's a pleasure to be anywhere."

Ahh, material. In point of fact, Mager does look like George Burns. He sounds like him, too. And he's got that zest for life that made Burns such an American favorite for nearly a century.

Mager's routine is very good by the way. Plus he hands out million dollar bills with his likeness for effect. "Hey, you just made a million dollars," Mager tells people. OK, corny and then some, but it got my attention.

"I had a Gracie," Mager said, referring to Burns' better half, his wife and leading light in the Burns and Allen act, and shows. "She was a retired actress. "I always invited her husband to go with us when we performed but one time he didn't want to go. We got back one, two in the morning. No more Gracie after that."

These days Mager hangs with the other celebrity look-alikes at what appears to be an annual convention in Las Vegas. He has several giant scrapbooks filled with pictures of him and the mass quantities of Marilyn Monroes, Bill and Hillarys, popes, James Deans, and, of course, Elvises. Many, many Elvises.

"Just got back from the Imperial Hotel in Las Vegas," Mager said. "They had Bill, Monica, Joan Rivers, even Abe Lincoln. All of them were from different talent agencies. There was a Sammy Davis, Howard Stern, Mr. T, two Joan Rivers, Dave Letterman, Neil Diamond, Jim Carrey, two John Waynes, two Tom Cruises, a Seinfeld...."

The list goes on, too. "Hail hail the gang's all here," Mager sings. But I swear I can see and hear George Burns. Say goodnight, Al.

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Ike Turner homage noire

(Note: Ike Turner died Dec. 12, 2007 at his home in San Marcos, Ca.)

DESPERATELY SEEKING IKE FOR A GIG AT VENTURA

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I was working the day shift out of San Marcos when the phone rang. It was Adrienne. Yeah, Adrienne. Cool glass of water out of Ventura.

Adrienne. See. She got with Spence and they got themselves a little ole' radio show. KVTA-AM1520. Ventura's only drive-time talk news music and ... Well, you know the drill.

Adrienne and Spence wanted Ike. Yeah. Ike. Ike Turner. You know Ike. Father of rock and roll. Had a little thing with Tina. Big guy with a big bass.

They wanted Ike to spice up the deal. Shake, rattle and roll some cages. Spill the beans. Tell it like it is.

Now, me. I seen Ike. Seen him around town, don't you know. At the Panda Gardens. The Power Surge. Going down San Marcos Boulevard. East and West. Hither and Yon.

But you know what. Hadn't seen Ike for a dog's age.

That little old suburban house with a white picket fence and garden. Yeah that was Ike's pad. Ike had it all. See.

But what it was?

Ventura. San Marcos. Hollywood. It's all the same. Just a bunch of lonely people looking for a little music in their lives. Just a far-fetched fleck of dust flung across a big fat stack of condos where timeless sands wash along white-capped shores.

Yeah. But I ain't going to Del Mar today.

Adrienne wanted Ike. Now I wanted Ike, too.

I got in my little coupe d'coupe and dragged on down the strip. Lots of good stuff around here. Lake San Marcos. Quail. Water. Got me some bubble tea just for fun.

I headed up the hill and started seeking Ike.

Knock knock. Who's there. Nobody. No Ike. Nobody. Nobody home and by the looks of the empty driveway and locked-up fence nobody had been home for quite a while.

Hey, it's a hard knock life.

So, I surf.

The Net. The 'scape. Ike's got a site. A darn nice site. All the bells and whistles, don't you know.

Not much there to report however. Ike just turned 70. He got these pictures of a surprise party at Big Jim's Bar-B-Que in Encinitas. Groovy and far-out. He also got this long list of upcoming musical events. Sweet venues.

CANCELED.

All canceled, I tell you. Adrienne baby. We don't got much.

The next few days I go back again and again. Take down the notes. Literally. Ike's got these musical notes on his front door mat. Wish I knew what they were.

Went back to Ike's to jot down the notes again, see, when a pretty little poker face pokes through the blinds. It's Audrey. Yeah, Ike's OK, she says. Concert cancellations? We're in negotiations, she says. Yeah, that's the ticket. Negotiating.

I leave my card. Looking for the local angle, see. Adrienne and Spence they're looking, too. Got something special up in Ventura for him. A little drive-time radio spot they're itching to fill.

Long story short: I'm knocking off for the day. The phone rings. It's Audrey. Ike wants to talk. Give us a call.

I give Adrienne a call. We found Ike. Hey, call Audrey. She'll call Ike. And Ike'll call you. Then you call me.

That's it. My job's done.

Yo Adrienne: Give Ike my regards.

Me? I gotta make like a stocking.

And run.

(Note: IKE TURNER WEBSITES, FOLLOW THE LINK...)

(For much more, visit http://www.92067FREEPRESS.COM)

HTTP://WWW.92067FREEPRESS.COM IN GOOGLE NEWS SOON

I'VE BEEN POSTING SOMETIMES ON PNN BECAUSE THEY HAVE STRUCTURED AN EXCELLENT ONLINE SEARCH PRESENCE. PEOPLE CAN FIND THESE ARTICLES EASILY, WHICH IS USEFUL IN GETTING THE WORD OUT ON SOME PROJECTS AND WORK.

I BECAME AWARE OF THE SITE AS IT STARTED DUE TO THE GREAT SERVICES OF USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM ONLINE JOURNALISM REVIEW. USC WENT OUT OF THE ONLINE COMMUNITY BIZ, BUT THE KNGHT DIGITAL MEDIA CENTER RECENTLY TOOK BACK THE FUTURE IN THE FORM OF RE-BRANDING OJR. (HEY, KNIGHT, HOW COME YOU WON'T GIVE 92067 FREE PRES ANY MONEY; BUT I DIGRESS).

ANYWAY, I WON'T QUARREL WITH PNN AND WHAT HAPPENS HERE BECAUSE IT'S NOT MY PRIMARY FOCUS. MY THOUGHTS: I DO BELIEVE THE MATERIAL IS TOO SOFT TO BE OF MUCH INTEREST TO ME GENERALLY, BUT SINCE IT IS PRODUCER DRIVEN, PEOPLE PUT IN WHAT THEY PUT IN...I DO THINK SOME OUTREACH IN THE MORE SERIOUS ONLINE JOURNALISM COMMUNITY WOULD BE USEFUL FOR THIS SITE.

WITH THAT SAID, WE ARE CREATING A TEMPLATE FOR THE FUTURE OF PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY ONLINE JOURNALISM AT 92067 RANCHO SANTA FE FREE PRESS. THAT IS TO SAY, A CLOSER-TO-THE-GROUND APPROACH WITH HEAVY DOSES OF PERSONALIZED INPUT, BUT MANAGED PROFESSIONALLY.

NOT A CORPORATE SPONGE LOOKING TO CREATE PROFITS, BUT A COMMUNITY RESOURCE DONE BY, AND FOR, THE COMMUNITY, USING MONEY TO IMPROVE THE INFORMATIONAL CONTEXT AND STRUCTURE. THIS IS PUBLIC SERVICE Y'ALL. BUT WE DO NEED TO SURVIVE FINANCIALLY HOWEVER MODESTLY.

SO FAR, ONLINE COMMUNITY JOURNALISM HAS NOT BEEN SUPPORTED BY ADVERTISING. THE TOP SITES HAVE DONE MAYBE $1,800 A MONTH WITH VARIOUS SOURCES.

IN FACT, THE SITES THAT ARE GROWING AND SUCCEEDING HAVE DONE THIS EXCLUSIVELY WITH PRIVATE SPONSORSHIPS AND GRANTS. WE PLAN TO TRY TO SECURE $5,000 A MONTH IN SPONSORSHIPS, WHICH WILL ENSURE OUR PRESENCE AND ALLOW US TO BECOME SOMETHING SPECIAL.

THE LATEST MILESTONE WAS ACCEPTANCE INTO GOOGLE NEWS.

THIS IS WHAT I POSTED ON FACEBOOK. ANYBODY INTERESTED IN INTERACTING FEEL FREE TO ADD ME AND/OR THE 92067FREEPRESS GROUP AS A FACEBOOK FRIEND.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press...and now 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press. We got on Google News after a few months of "working" with them. Don't ask. This just in from Google:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Dan,

Thank you for your note. We've reviewed your site again and will be adding it to our index for Google News. Once your site has been processed, we encourage you to submit a Google News sitemap in order to optimize the indexing of your articles.

Please keep in mind that the inclusion process may take up to a few weeks, and you'll only be able to submit a News sitemap once this process is complete.

Regards,
The Google Team
----------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, http://www.92067FREEPRESS.com.

Soon, we'll have the site cleaner and start looking for sponsorships. Here's more about Google News from them....

Dan


About Google News
Google News:
A Novel Approach to News
Google News is a computer-generated news site that aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources worldwide, groups similar stories together and displays them according to each reader's personalized interests.

Traditionally, news readers first pick a publication and then look for headlines that interest them. We do things a little differently, with the goal of offering our readers more personalized options and a wider variety of perspectives from which to choose. On Google News we offer links to several articles on every story, so you can first decide what subject interests you and then select which publishers’ accounts of each story you’d like to read. Click on the headline that interests you and you'll go directly to the site which published that story.

Our articles are selected and ranked by computers that evaluate, among other things, how often and on what sites a story appears online. We also rank based on certain characteristics of news content such as freshness, location, relevance and diversity. As a result, stories are sorted without regard to political viewpoint or ideology and you can choose from a wide variety of perspectives on any given story. We'll continue to improve Google News by adding sources, fine-tuning our technology and providing Google News to readers in even more regions.

Scenes from an Election

Voters came early to Ada W. Harris elementary School at Cardiff, Ca.

A line formed at the door before polls opened at 7 a.m. Within an hour, more people had voted than in the previous primary election. They did this in a heavy rain.

By 10 a.m., about 25 percent of the 844-voter precinct had vted. Combine that with a 25 percent mail-in ballot rate and effectivrly half the precinct had spoken.

Voting was consistent throughout the day with about 90 percent of eligible voters eventually participating. Elementary school students were taken around the voting machines and got "I voted" stickers.

Vietnam through eyes of Marine Corps Photographers

HTTP://www.92067FREEPRESS.com, THE RANCHO SANTA FE FREE PRESS, CO-FOUNDER, PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR AND OVERALL EMINENCE GRISE WALDO NILO VIETNAM PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW DEBUTS AT THE VALLEY CENTER LIBRARY. OPENING RECEPTION IS 1 TO 3 P.M. SATURDAY, NOV. 8 AT THE LIBRARY, 29200 COLE GRADE ROAD. SAN DIEGO COUNTY SUPERVISOR BILL HORN, A COMMAND LIEUTENANT IN VIETNAM, SPONSORED THE SHOW. SANDIEGO COUNTY LIBRARIES AND ESCONDIDO KIWANIS CLUB WERE PARTNERS. THE SHOW RUNS NOV. 3 THROUGH NOV. 30.

NILO CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHS AND CURATED THE EXHIBIT FEATURING 40 IMAGES TAKEN 40 YEARS AGO, 1967-1969, BY I CORPS, 3rd MARINE DIVISION PHOTOGRAPHERS. NILO WAS A COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHER IN THAT UNIT. IT FLUCTUATED BETWEEN 15 AND 33 PHOTOGRAPHERS THROUGHOUT THE CONFLICT, TAKING STATE-OF-THE-ART IMAGES WITH 35 MM CAMERAS AND 16 MM FILM. THE UNIT SAW ACTION ALONG FRONT LINES RANGING FROM PHO BAY TO QUAN TRI, DONG HA TO THE KEY BATTLE OF KHE SHANH. THEY ALSO SHOT DURING THE TET OFFENSIVE AT HUE' CITY.

SEVERAL OF THESE COMBAT PHOTOGRAPHERS LIVE IN NORTH COUNTY INCLUDING 1st LT. JOE HEARD, THE COMMANDING OFFICER FOR THE UNIT, WHO LIVES IN ESCONDIDO.

THE ICONIC IMAGES ARE FROM SIGNIFICANT ENGAGEMENTS AS WELL AS POIGNANT MOMENTS, MADE ALL THE MORE RELEVANT BY RECENT WARS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

"MANY PEOPLE ARE COMPLETELY UNAWARE OF WHAT WENT ON IN VIETNAM," HEARD SAID. "THIS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY."

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL THE LIBRARY AT (760) 749-4686 OR VISITWWW.THEVIETNAMPHOTOS.COM.

FOR A SNEAK PEAK AT MORE IMAGES CLICK ON THROUGH THE LINK IN TIME.

Rancho Santa Fe media: Visit http://www.92067freepress.com

TELLING IT LIKE IT IS JOURNALISM AWARD-WISE

A little -- make that a lot -- of truth-telling needs to be done this week in terms of local media and journalism awards.

Dan Weisman of 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press won the California Newspaper Publishers Association 2008 award for best local news coverage for work on the Witch Creek Fire. This is the TOP statewide journalism award. Nobody else around here won anything or has won anything like that.

Which brings us to this week's issue of The RSF Review, a headline, to wit:

"RSF Review wins slew of journalism awards, including national first place honor for last year’s fire coverage" 

Folks, they cited the "IFPA" award for their fire coverage. Journalistically inept, they didn't identify what "IFPA" means.

This is the "Independent Free Papers of America". That is an advocacy group for "shopper" and "green sheet" publications. These are advertising-purely with a dash of calendars and stuff. So, the Review is competing with fellow shopping magazines . Appropriate, but this is not an actual journalism group and journalism award.

This is the top of the "IFPA" membership list, the group the Review claimed as its "national" journalism award arbiter. 

Member Directory

Displaying Records 1 to 10 of 205

Ad Bargain

Address: Rt 453, PO Box 192, Smithmill, PA 16680

Ad Sack

Address: 3040 S. Padre Island Drive, Corpus Christi, TX 78468-8729

Ad-Delite

Address: 17 5th Ave., P.O. Box 548, Strum, WI 54770-054

Adventure Classifieds

Address: 622 S Minnesota Ave, Souix Falls , SD 57104

Consider the source when you consider how to spend your valuable online and viewership time. The Review lies about everything, especially journalism. We tell the truth. We won the actual award for fire coverage; they won a vanity award from a non-journalism  group.

WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

In an article next to the faux awards announcement, "Professional audit shows..." Dex Allen, Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club member and vanity publisher,  quotes someone saying the Circulation Verification Council (Oh, the other "CVC" code, of course) found "spectacular" that RSF Review reached 99.3 percent of RSF homes. Allen added: "We're thankful our superior editorial content has been recognized for what it is." SNL VOICES: REALLY? REALLY?

TRUTH SQUAD: VERIFYING CIRCULATION IS A LEGAL REQUIREMENT, NOT A COMMENT ON EDITORIAL CONTENT. Yes, the Review reaches 99.3 percent of RSF mailboxes. And 99.2 percent of Reviews immediately are tossed in the trash. Have you been to the post office on a Saturday lately? That's what the Review reaches: nearby post office trash cans. Tired of having your mailboxes stuffed with junk mail? Contact the Review. They're responsible along with other junk mail advertisers.

As for fake commentary on number of people who read the paper vis-a-vis the circulation verification bureau. Hello. How do they verify that? THEY DON'T. Anybody who wastes their time mailing out newspapers to people who don't want them, who sends  junk mail newspapers to 99 percent of the Zip code is "recognized" by the auditors paid to audit circulation. Waste your money mailing junk to everybody and you, too, can be recognized by people you pay, too.

But "superior editorial content"? Check the post office trash can Saturday for the public's commentary on that lie. 

Bottom line: A newspaper that lies is not a newspaper. A newspaper that pretends to have quality, but is clueless fools only its own publisher and staff, not this community.

Another desperate, and dumb since it is easily verified, mis-claim trotted out to try to "verify", I mean represent, this rag as everything it isn't, an actual piece of journalism. Everybody in town is savvy to this except, apparently, a vanity publisher and his poorly conceived faux "product" that is an insult to the intelligent people of Rancho Santa Fe. Who even puts garbage like that on a front page and without a byline? Non-professionals play-acting as  journalists. Hacks. Poseurs. Disgrace to our community.

We tell the truth here. You see the difference on each page. As we grow, we will reach throughout the community and become the news group of choice for actual readers. This, followed by community sponsors who want to benefit the community and advertisers who want to benefit their businesses and services by working with a credible journalistic source well-loved,  appreciated,  and actually read and viewed, by you, our friends, neighbors and contributors.

WALKING THE STREETS OF EL CAJON or A FOND FAREWELL ADIEU SO

(Note: I stumbled upon this bit of San Diego County-acana the other day, which was my last column as editor of the East County Californian in El Cajon. No offense to El Cajon, but I've since said going to Rancho Santa Fe was going from the outhouse to the penthouse. Yet, El Cajon has its place. So, enjoy...Dan Weisman)

Walking the streets of El Cajon can be an interesting experience which is an understatement.

The business and cultural mix appear quite incongruous. A porno stores restaurants, rock - as in minerals, not roll - and music stores; thrift shops, discount grocers, a city-county courts complex and art center, art galleries. 

It’s beyond eclectic, almost unreal and weird. I haven’t checked lately, but this town has zoning laws, correct? What a mixed-up jumble.

Yet, I’ve found people have a genuine regard, respect, even love for El Cajon. Maybe, it’s a guilty pleasure. Maybe, the don’t know any better. I can appreciate their feelings though. I, too, appreciate something special here, something one might not see at a Del Mar, a Rancho Santa Fe, or even a North Park or a Point Loma.

But what?

Reality. That’s what I see here. The real world. Not the real world where moron kids nightly get drunk in a Jacuzzi by Mission Bay. Not the real world where American kids are sent to fight and die across the world by a president misstating claims of weapons of mass destruction, links with Al Quaeda and whatever else he thinks to say.

No. None of that garbage. El Cajon is real. It’s just confused and friendly, fast and slow, beautiful as an aging movie star enough to feel like home. Whether we come here to work, or live, or just plain pay, El Cajon feels like a time gone by. There’s something just plain comfortable about the place.

The rain came after 182 straight days of sunshine, knocked out the power at El Cajon Valley High School and my now-accursed hovel and left as quickly as a thief through night. It came and conquered, then cleansed the landscape..

So sweet. One actually could see forever, to the hills so often obscured and beyond into a light brown sunset. It felt good. Therefore energized and hopeful of some insight I left the stuffy confines of an office for the hustling bustling main street of El Cajon.

That particular string of street life sometimes cruised by classic cars with elderly designs gives way to a peculiar human parade. I’ve never seen so many homeless appearing people this side of San Francisco, the San Diego waterfront of downtown Los Angeles.

But there they go, the shopping cart people who make those daily rounds past the Starbucks and Prescott Promenade to resting places in close proximity to the library. Not that there is a lot of reading going on out there by the lawn, the church, county library and parking lots.

No disrespect intended here. They are what they are and that’s that. I’m not interested in judging them. I’m not really capable of helping them much. 

These are people with serious problems who require professional assistance. 

I hate to say it but in the interest of truth I must admit I’ve got my own problems.

However, this particular beautiful El Cajon day with the air clear and sanity intact, I thought I would stroll down Main Street and find out what was what.

First up near the home office, spotted an older guy with long, messy hair in a braid and a big blue backpack crammed with - shall we say - stuff. Homeless man? Perhaps except for one odd attachment. He had a rather nice digital camera and was snapping away shots.

As a former detective-for-pay, I knew I had my first subject. M. D. "Red" Bechtold of Flagstaff, Az. Who said his father was the first professional murder in Pacific Beach but declined to provide further details.

Red, it turned out, was far from homeless. He was an artist in fact who said he liked to take short trips around the west including several trips to San Diego and, yes, El Cajon. He described himself as a "raconteur" who liked to "tell interesting stories, but they are true stories."

We traded stories about trees hitting houses. He’s been there and anyone who has read this column knows I’ve been there, too. He regaled me with tales of karma, past lives and Paul McCartney playing for Wendy Walker Whitworth's birthday party.

That story was especially funny because yours truly broke it first when it happened in 2002. Red said he read about it last week in the Union Tribune. Guess they got scooped - by two years.

In an unusual twist of a story, Red said he had to leave. Usually, I’m the one leaving. That was fine because I had many a block to walk before I could rest. Many rivers to cross...

Back to the plan. I spoke with a lady about the weather. I traded hellos with a strange man, a couple and a guy with a dog. Did a little window-shopping. I don’t believe the cloth Elvis doll is for me.

I walked and walked and walked some more. Then, I stopped and turned around. El Cajon with its j' nais ce Croix, its it’s I don’t know, can’t quite say urban village charm. The homeless people and rich folk from the hills above town.

El Cajon. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But it’s real.

California sweeps state nurseries for labor code violations

(Photo above:  Ampol Orrungroj, owner of Ampol Nursery, was fined by state labor officials for not having pay records for his two employees during a statewide labor law violation sweep, but said he later produced the paperwork and hoped to have the fine rescinded. Dan Weisman)

SAN MARCOS -- Investigators with the California  Division of Labor Standards Enforcement were completing as many as 14 audits this week of 35 nurseries and agricultural operations found violating state labor laws during a recent enforcement sweep, officials said.

Twenty-four, two-person investigative teams conducted labor law violation sweeps throughout the state of 194 agricultural businesses, mainly nurseries, on Sept. 24-25. This resulted in 35 citations, 25 stop work notices and more than $269,000 in fines, said Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for the labor standards division.

"Some of the businesses will have audits done, going over the books if for some reason there is a complaint or question of the validity of the citation," Monterroza said. "They have 15 days to appeal."

Spot checks are made on a regular basis "directed at illegally operating businesses as part of the underground economy," said California Labor Commissioner Angela Bradstreet in a written statement.

Inspectors went over employer books at businesses ranging from those with a handful of employees to hundreds, looking for compliance with five state labor statutes. 

Most citations were for failure to carry workman's compensation insurance, with 26 businesses assessed $320,000 in fines, followed by failure to keep records showing pay, six businesses with $41,250 in fines. One business was fined for minimum wage violations, one for overtime violations and four for violating child labor laws.

Some 32 San Diego County nurseries were inspected, a measure of the county's $1 billion nursery industry, tops in the nation in value of nursery crops. Eleven county operations were fined $78,034, officials said.

Most inspected San Diego County nurseries and operations were in the Fallbrook area with others along the Highway 78 corridor from Escondido to Oceanside. Other visits took place around Spring Valley and El Cajon.

Color Spot Nursery, a national powerhouse based at Fallbrook with 300 employees, initially was fined $100,000 for workman's compensation violations -- $1,000 each for 100 violations. The fine was rescinded this week when paperwork was produced showing the workman's compensation payments, Monterroza said.

Other major inspection efforts centered around Riverside County with 19 business inspections resulting in more than $100,000 in fines, mainly for workman's compensation issues.

Monterey County nurseries had 17 inspections and $27,000 in fines. Bay Area nurseries also had more than a dozen inspections with other farms visited by state officials along the North Coast as well as Tulare, Fresno and San Joaquin counties.

Businesses were chosen for a variety of reasons, officials said, sometimes at random but also including, but not limited to, complaints from competitors and customers.

"We just hope our growers are up to date on the laws, and complying, so they don't have any issues," said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

But sometimes, the sweep showed ambiguous results. For example, Ampol Nursery in Twin Oaks, about 35 miles north of downtown San Diego, was fined $20,500 for paying in cash with no records displayed. It's a mom-and-pop, 3.5-acre, wholesale flower nursery with two employees, said Ampol Orrungroj, a Thailand native who owns and operates the scenic nursery providing wholesale flowers to local commercial garden shops.

"We've been here 20 years and nobody ever mailed us anything about this," Orrungroj continued. " I told them this isn't fair. We just didn't have the paperwork ready, so my wife went down to show it to them today. I don't think they a did good job for the taxpayers."

However, state officials said they would continue such spot inspections in the future with the expectation some violators may be subject to criminal prosecution.

"These illegal operations have a negative impact on our state’s economy, do not provide the protection workers are legally afforded, and have an unfair advantage over competitors who do follow the law,” said Bradstreet, the labor commissioner.

For more information about the topic check out http://www.92067freepress.com

U.S.-China bilateral relations need work

The Olympics were great, but it's all about the cultural understanding if China and the United States are going to  build a successful working relationship, Dr. George said to a college audience today (Wednesday, Oct. 1).  Koo is special advisor to the Chinese Services Group at Deloitte & Touche and longtime U.S.-China bilateral trade consultant. 

"Given the recent financial turmoil on Wall Street and the increasing importance of China, holding close to $1 trillion of our treasury notes and government debt, it becomes increasingly relevant that we develop a measure of respect for someone that is likely to end up owning a bit of America in exchange for bailing us out of our financial excesses," Koo said. 

Born in Changting, Fujian province, in 1938, Koo grew up in Seattle, getting degrees from MIT, Stevens Institute and Santa Clara University. He has been an outspoken and popular speaker and writer aside from his economic work advising businesses on locating in China.

Koos appeared before an audience at Pitzer College, one of the Claremont Colleges, in Claremont, Ca. near Los Angelese. About 100 were expected at the Gold Student Center.

That appearance was an indication of the greater interest in getting serious about cultural understanding between the U.S. and China, said Stehanie Poseiro, director of the Center for Asian Pacific American Students (CAPAS). That group sponsored Koo's talk along with the Pomona Pacific Basin Institute.

"Our goal is to bring greater awareness of China to encourage more Asian-american visibility," Poseiro said.  "The Olympics had people talking about what Americans should know about China."

Not much has changed has far as lack of cultural understanding in the 30 years he has been involved in bilateral trade and communication, Koo said.

"There remains a lot about China that America does not understand and I continue to feel that the role of a cultural intermediary is as relevant as ever," Koo continued. "As the two arguably most powerful nations and economies in the world, a strong positive bilateral relationship is important not only to the peoples of the two countries but to a peaceful world."

While Koo has been highly critical of Western media coverage of China, he said his current focus was on helping people see the realities of China rather than an artificial picture. He cited examples of this ranging from the Olympics, China nuclear question and human rights to the environment, economics, foreign policy, Taiwan, Tibet  and even views of Chinese leadership.

"We Americans have trouble understanding the seeming contradiction of a democracy functioning within a single party rule," Koo said.

"But there is something to be said about the Chinese system of governing," Koo said. "Leaders are judged and promoted based on the merits of their past performance...These promotions came not because of unilateral decisions of a strong man but through consensus, compromise and horse trading between various factions."

For more of Koo's views visit http://georgekoo.blogspot.com/

For more information about the topic check out http://www.92067freepress.com

SPY VERSUS SPY: Mets v. Brewers; surely it will end badly

Weapons of Mass Economic Destruction

Here they go again. And by them I mean the Bush "Administration" and fellow travelers who put the rest of us in this horrible economic precipice due to their incompetence or evil, probably an unhealthy combnation of each.

As with the weapons of mass destruction lie, we're getting the bail out the mortgage industry, Wall Street, anyone who has MILLIONS of dollars and screw everybody else lie. The bigger the lie, the more difficult to deny apparently.

Why? Because of the same tired old "Trickle Down" economics lie so disproven over the years. No, giving a few wealthy people money or bailing out their convulated and in many cases intentionally obscure, financial instruments and predatory lending practices does not HELP YOU OR ME. 

While the economic crisis is quite actual, it happened for a variety of complex reason as well as simpler ones such as the Bush Administration doing away with as much "useless regulation", their quote not mine, as possible. Thanks for nothing. 

The entire Bush (faux) presence has been similar to the volunteer firefighter who sets the blaze so he can come in and look like a hero. Also, Bush etc. has been big  on taking a terrible situation, 911 and Katrina, and making them much, much worse. But they always seem to make a lot of money in the process.

It's sad. We've been over this ground before, discussing the inherent evil of stealing an election -- 2000 -- and again although less spectacularly -- 2004, Swiftboat etc. -- to no end except our mutual destruction.

This sudden economic collapse and re-packaging happened almost literally overnight. Then, Bush etc. (although not the actual president; on vacation) met over the weekend with congressional leaders behind closed doors.

And they came out with this $800 billion or $3 trillion or whatever it is gift basket for wealthy corporations whose officials also lived high off YOUR hog for years with bonuses, etc. and much wealth created through predatory gouging of innocent consumers, or creation of fake financial instruments intended to mix and match money to their needs.

The outcry has been loud, but what will come of it? The stuff has hit the fan within weeks of the big election. Does your vote matter? Well, it hasn't so far, at least since 1996. Maybe the 12th year is the charm.

There's a very lingering question just off curtain in the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern section. In promoting his new book a few weeks ago, Bob Woodward kept talking about an "October Surprise".

Woodward hooked the surprise to a new "super-weapon" developed by intelligence services, the one where they target and hit someone with mind-blowing accuracy. He said the troop surge had little to do with any perceived security gains in Iraq. It was more a combination of paying off the Sunnis -- the awakening guys -- and the new super-weapon.

So now, Woodward threw out his belief in an October Surprise, which will shake things up, a political enigma although on reality shows such as "Big Brother" contestants like to shake up the house just for the hell of it and better ratings.

October surprise? How about GETTING BIN LADEN? That would qualify. But even then, to what end would capturing Bin Laden work?

Besides, with all that has gone down, and my reading of Bush, his distaste for McCain coupled with the usual narcissistic deal of wanting to be idolized, which means the others must fail since he can't succeed on his own merits, he might want to save that surprise for a rainy day. Like the arms-for-hostages deal by Reagan etc., maybe go out on a (relatively) high note.

Bin Laden. Hostages. 911. It's all related, according to Bush etc. logic. And those pesky weapons of mass destruction. AH-HA, we've found them at last. To paraphrase Pogo, we have found our weapons of economic mass destruction and they are us.

I got some apples. Bring some oranges. See you on the street. (And later, behind the dumpster for some diving...)

For more information about the topic check out http://www.92067freepress.com

Problems of local media in Rancho Santa Fe

Credibility. Quality. Story judgment.

Small weekly newspapers around Rancho Santa Fe have none and that's why they do not serve the community well.

Go to the Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch and Del Rayo Village post offices any weekend.

Four out of five papers these "Community" publications mail unsolicited to mailbox holders, are in the trash. That's the public voting with its are-you-kidding-me-I-don't-need-more-trash-in-my-mailbox spontaneous commentary.

These papers are FREE. And nobody wants them. Trees are dying for this crap?

The Rancho Santa Fe Review. The Rancho Santa Fe Record. The Coast News. Let's look at the ledger.

CREDIBILITY

1. Rancho Santa Fe Review: 

Stories are published without attribution or bylines. Many of these are written by public relations companies or by the submitters themselves. Often, these stories are tied into advertisements or some other self-aggrandizement without public disclosure. This is sleazy and unethical.

Also sleazy and unethical are attempts by The Review to manufacture or suppress news. The Late Richard Scuba is a case in point. The well-respected local attorney, and past Rancho Santa Fe Association president, was denied the opportunity to run letters critical of Association leadership. Yet, The Review publishes an endless stream of puff pieces kissing up to the Association leadership. 

2. Coast News: 

As with The Review, numerous stories are published without disclosure, but are written by public relations officials, official officials, or even the same group they are discussing. This is disgusting, also unethical.

What's more, the paper runs at least one, and sometimes several, stories and photos per issue about the publisher's wife without disclosure. Come on. Is this "paper" a vanity platform and if it is don't pretend to be providing people accurate information. What use are you?

Speaking of inaccurate information, Coast News changes its banner to Rancho Santa Fe and calls itself "The Ranch's Best Source For Area News". As they say on "Saturday Night Live" REALLY. REALLY. The paper comes out twice a month, but the date on its masthead is set inaccurately to a week ahead. So, they even lie about the date. Incredible.

3. Rancho Santa Fe Record: Give me a carpet. Give me a bagger. Give me a postcard-sized piece of...

Ethical mishmash. I must qualify tis critique with my own role as former editor of the paper. I won the prestigious statewide journalism award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for covering the Witch Creek Fire. I was laid off by former publisher Brendan Ruff on Nov. 2, 2007, the day I returned from the fire.

Ruff moved the office to La Jolla, eventually hired several more editors and publishers, shrunk the size of the paper to a 3x5 postcard size. The paper has no interest in the community nor any local editorial coverage aside from a few profiles and features. There isn't even a visible way to contact anyone at the paper. Nobody there lives remotely near the area and nobody cares in the least about what is happening locally.

QUALITY-STORY JUDGMENT-ETC...

What these hack non-journalist poseurs all have in common is a lack of direction, lack of understanding about what to present. They are lazy faux journalists who do not question authority nor anything anyone says. 

The laziness and lack of order extends to visual presentation. Each is an amazing technicolor mixture of clashing headlines, bizarre fonts, poor quality photos, no graphics and poor writing. Web sites are minimal to the point of nonexistent. As for story selection, an amazing number of stories take place without coverage due to incompetence and laziness. 

IN SUMMATION:

The Review bills itself as "award-winning". Aside from some sham awards for advertising display, what have they won? Not for actual journalism because they are a bad joke, a money-losing vanity publication presented by what's his name, the publisher. The others don't need to bill themselves as award-winning. Their level of journalism is so low, they will never have to worry about that label.

In coming weeks, as the fancy strikes me, I will discuss their coverage in real-time, so the community can appreciate what is real and what is fake.

--DAN WEISMAN

 FOR THE REAL DEAL AND LOTS OF INFORMATION ABOUT RANCHO SANTA FE AND NORTH SAN DIEGO COUNTY VISIT HTTP//WWW.92067FREEPRESS.COM, the voice of Rancho Santa Fe.

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ENJOY IS SUPEREGO

e

My CNPA award and www.92067freepress Web site

Larissa reminded me about the fire coverage last year, so I looked on the California Newspaper Publishers Association and voila' turns out I won the award for best news coverage for the years 2007 and 2008 for my coverage of the Witch Creek Fire.

The CNPA award is the top statewide journalism award, so that was great. Of course, since I was laid off by pig Brendan Ruff, the day I returned from the fires and put out the paper.

Of course, I had to pay the entry fee and submit the stories because those pigs wouldn't ever think of it and then I didn't find out because CNPA sent the award notification to the paper's faux La Jolla location and nobody bothered to tell me.

Anyway, this inspired me to start updating the http://www.92067FreePress site with info and controversy calling out the pigs and providing good info to everybody as well as legitimate commentary.

The next step is to publicize the site a lot and tell everybody as well as send me stuff, which Luna or myself will post. We also need money, so people who are interested in providing badly needed sanity and integrity to the local scene, just contribute a little each and this will help our world through truthful and interesting communication.

So... Dan

Welcome to Bizarro World, the Republican National Convention

The last few days in GOP Land have run the gamut from bizarre to downright scary strange.

Not much of a gamut actually, merely puzzling.

Where to begin? How about Friday. OK, it's disgusting how the GOP Karl Roverite types and such always play politics and spin like tops rather than address serious issues in a forthright manner.

That's politics. Not that it's right. Not that it helps anybody. But that's the game they play and we're victims when we don't, or won't, or don't know, or can't deal with it. That's life. We've been screwed for eight years by this game.

So it was "great politics" or whatever Fox News Channel calls it for McCain to step on Barack OBama's stirring 30 million-plus viewers, 84,000 in attendance, free event tickets being sold for $300 to $400, thousands outside the stadium epochal Denver speech.

For McCain to try to "win the news cycle" with his insipidly lame Veep choice of Sally No Vetting with the typical GOP hypocrisy and lies, as in her saying she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere when she supported it, saying she opposed benchmarks when she took them constantly, and all this other personal hypocrisy -- the ambiguous child, the no sex before marriage, oops daughter preggers by self-proclaimed redneck kid guess we don't have that "talk" -- nonsense from the destroying the environment, killing polar bears, fake Iraq gun sound bites to the having no passport until two years ago, no foreign policy experience to....

Ah, whatever. They're the same scum who stole the 2000  election, lied Kerry into defeat --Swiftboat pigs anybody --  lied us into the -- look ma, no WMD's, no Iraq-Al Qaeda connection -- Iraq War, blew Afghanistan and Katrina, ruined the economy, allowed credit card company predators to run wild, allowed the companies to make $40 billion quarterly profits while regular people starve to pay for gasoline so they can get to work, and....

Whatever. As I said, back to the RNC: BIZARRO WORLD. The entire flip-flopping on the McCain so-called message whenever it suits his campaign.

So, this is McCain's judgment. As a 72-year-old guy who has had melaoma four times, sure it makes sense to have a woman with five kids, questionable ethics, NO experience beyond being a mayor of a 6,000-person city, followed by goveror of a state with the population of Austin, Tx, to be veep.

What, Dan Quayle wasn't available?

Yeah, that's good judgment.

Bizarro World personified. Up is down etc. Nice touch putting Bush on before prime time. Nice touch having that limp mind Lieberman who was tossed out of the Democratic Party -- primary loser -- giving a lame speech. Especially liked his no-applause iines where the funny hat delegates couldn't figure out whether to applaud or hiss.

Then, we got that CSI actor or whatever he is who put up that faux presidential campaign for a few months and then had to shut up...Until now.

This convention might be called a train wreck, except it would give a bad name to train wrecks.

Thanks for nothing?

Close. although I'll give them this much. As Roseanne Rosannadanna once said: It's always something.

And in the case of the rapidly sinking Repuboship, it's sort of great theater, except the consequences are always bad for real people.

I'll give them this much. I'll be tuned in for a few moments tomorrow. You never know what kind of crazy off-the-wall stuff this "fun"? bunch will "think" of next.

.Always surprising, apparently, and always insane.

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Yet another "'Dream Exacta' come true"

Yet another "'Dream Exacta' come true"

The "Dream Exacta" refers to a practice many years ago where I would dream, or visualize, about a horse race at The Fairgrounds in New Orleans and bet whatever I saw, impressions, colors, names, jockeys.

That went pretty well for a while. Then, a panel of so-called "psychics" on the Geraldo show ruined it. They said anybody who tried to use "psychic" powers for greed would find them rendered useless.

They were correct.

What does this have to do with 1989 Loma Prieto earthquake around San Francisco?

One morning, I woke up and had a clear vision of a city in flames. That day I went around telling everybody a major earthquake would strike San Francisco.

The dream exacta was running wild again.

Nothing happened that day. Nothing at all. I was extremely confused and embarrassed, believing the powers had gone south.

As the world turns however, I quickly forgot the whole sad scene. Life moved along without further incident.

To supplement my meager, meager income as associate curator of the Tulane University Jazz Archive -- a long story --  and against my better judgment, I took an investigative job.

The guy talked me into tailing some guy in Houma who might be meeting a girlfriend, or so his wife surmised. I would have to miss my first TV World Series game EVER.

What the heck. I'd tape it. I watched the motel from my car for a couple of hours listening to the World Series pre-game on radio.

Then, fate intervened.

Earthquake.

I couldn't believe it. The game was cancelled, so I kept the streak alive. Eventually, I left Blue Bayou and headed east toward home. Clicked on the television set.

Flaming groovy pictures alright. Earthquake. The Loma Prieto kind. Pictures of the city in flames.

The very same pictures I had seen before. But when? I thought and considered, contemplated, went to a calendar and retraced my steps.

When? Exactly one year to the day from when I had the vision. Even at the same minute and hour I watched the flaming TV pictures.

Flash forward to Saturday, Aug. 23. I had another dream. I saw the No. 5 horse in green colors winning a race and running around the track, related details as well.

Vivid. Oh yeah. the Dream Exacta had returned for another score.

During the big Pacific Handicap day, guaranteed millions yada yada yada at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, I put together three Pick 4's; two $30 tickets, one based on the TVG analyst and a safety ticket.

The analyst singled a horse in the third leg I thought would be beaten by another horse, a mistake he always makes by the way. I added that horse but only had enough money to cover the top five in a wide open 12-horse get-out race concluding the Pick 4. 

The analyst ticket had them all, a move I would if I could. I had to leave off the No. 5 horse running at 30-1 odds and two others I wanted.

On with the show.

Three times, my horses devastated the fields at good prices. It set up for the 11th, and final, race on the Del Mar card. Payoffs were $600 to $9,000 for my picks.

That's why they run horse races.

One of the horses I wanted t cover and would have covered beat two of my horses by a length. The five finished fourth.

Sitting there all pissed off, I glared at the television feed as it switched to Los Alamitos where they were about to start the second race.

Big and covered in kelly shamrock green, the No. 5 horse pranced about the track. He ran a great race.

There it was again. Exactly as in my dream, the five won the race and ran around the track in triumph. They showed the picture a half dozen times. And then another five showed up for the next race and won, too.

Yet again the "Dream Exacta" had come in...But in a totally unexpected manner.

Great.

That darn Olympic 11th inning thing

Good job Olympic breaths.

Olympics all hyped up and going nowhere...although fast

Olympic fever? Hardly.

Not all that hot. Too bad for NBC, the Olympics have been interesting, a bit exotic and a showcase, just not for them and not so much for people here, you know, the U S of A.

The Olympics have had world class moments, sure. The opening ceremonies were fantastic. Michael Phelps, swimming, gymnastics have had top-rate story lines.

But the hype is louder than the bang.

For all that hype, Phelps is still a swimmer, a sport that has zero interest for most people throughout the preceding and following three years, 11 months, 21 days. Opening ceremonies, too, it was more like a super Super Bowl thing or great Las Vegas show that was super-duper-sized. Olympics de'soleil anyone?

But the NBC talking heads led by Bob Costas fall all over themselves proclaiming how this is the greatest event EVER.

It's all a bit too frantic, a bit too forced. Especially since we all can see for ourselves it's more like an expanded version of the old ABC Wide World of Sports with a lot of Saturday afternoon second-tier sporting events before the real deal in the form of baseball, football, basketball etc. resumes daily play.

They got basketball in Beijing, of course, with the Redeem Team, and baseball in its final appearance for a while due to the worldwide disgust with Bush's War in Iraq extending to voting out events perceived as too American.

For the most part, however, the competitions are backyard barbecue fare such as badminton, ping pong and two-person volleyball, and elite events such as dressage mixing and matching with the likes of handball, men's field hockey, water polo. Again, interesting but come on, it were so hot there would be professional leagues on prime team TV and all. And what, no croquet, ballroom dancing or volleywallball?

The Olympics has other sore points. There's a very unhealthy dose of propaganda of various types marching shoulder-to-shoulder with the hype. Many events don't have scores per se but judges and very loose standards, like this guy didn't tie his shoes, two points off type of stuff.

And then, there's a very tenuous relationship between many athletes and the countries they "represent." Chinese playing for the U.S. in ping-pong. Americans playing basketball and baseball for Italy. Hey, ate some goulash once; welcome to the Hungarian trampoline squad.

NBC paid a gazillion dollars for this Chinese elephant. As an investment, no doubt, it pays off since no matter how much money these media conglommerations pay, they seem to get back more in return.

As a "super event" and TV programming, however, these Olympic games have been a big fat dud. People watch a little so ratings are good for summer TV although that's not saying much since the big competition is Big Brother X.

Coverage has been uneven, even joyless except for Bela Karolyi doing his best Jim Cramer send-up. Features have been boring and, again, overblown. NBC Today's coverage has been sick, and sick in a sick, not good way. Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera, Ann Curry, Al Roker: TIRED AND OVEREXPOSED. Nobody cares.

Prime time coverage is just OK, a C+, although if you throw out the billions in technology and account for possibilities, the grade goes down to C-. The worst offenders have been the MSNBC team of Tiki Barber and Jenna Wolfe. Tiki: Maybe you should forget about retirement and go back to playing football. Jenna: We don't care about your hair.

Track and Field? I like some of it, even a little bit. But I will not comment on these matters again. The Olympics will have come and gone in two weeks. As they said with Hamlet, all that sound and fury signifying what...

A whole bunch of hype and see you again in four years.

As for these Olympics, they're stone cold, turn them over and let's be done with them.

Barry Bonds and why not the Rays? (Also, an Olympic moment).

Let's put the devil back into the rays.

Two television news failures and an annoyance

Television news pretty much has become pure entertainment (and not all that entertaining either).

That's a given. And television news is pretty much on the way out just like its earlier incarnation of print journalism. People don't sit around watching TV news as they did maybe 20 years ago since information is available from everywhere else via computers, phones, whatever platforms.

However, some people watch TV news -- live or on digital video -- and I'm speaking out for them and to them on the following two perversions of journalism routinely practiced by these fake journalists sashaying around TV.

1. Story Commentary

When did it start? Why does it continue? What are they thinking when they do this?

Here is the deal. After every story by a field reporter or even after reading a news story, the TV "anchors" or newsreaders feel compelled to comment on the story.

Huh? In journalism, stories traditionally and professionally have been presented as fairly and accurately without bias as possible. This is so people can feel confidence in the veracity of the story.

But now, these talking heads comment on each story. These comments are never useful or even interesting. We don't care what they think about the story or whatever. Nor can we consider the story unbiased if they immediately comment pro- or con- which they do seemingly each time.

We need to do something on an individual and market-to-market basis to let them know how insidious this comment crap is; then again, screw them. I'll call them out in the future.

2. Fake news questions from anchors

A reporter does a live field report. Or a fake live report from the newsroom. Then, the anchor -- after much fake posturing -- asks them a couple of questions to which the reporter rattles off a reply.

Come on! These prepared querstions and answers aren't fooling anybody. No, the anchor could care less, the questions don't make the anchor look any smarter -- sorry -- and the whole staged fake give-and-take scene is ridiculous.

You're not fooling anybody and its stupid. Usually, the reporters already have addressed the issue. If they haven't it's because of the staged Q&A crap format.

I'm not even going to argue with that faux format. It merely reveals the vacuousness of the TV news "personalities".

3. Annoyance--news teasers

News tease. End of the world coming? Check the we suck news team at 10, or after the next five minutes of drug company commercials for expensive (bogus) pharmaceuticals later found to be more harmful than helpful.

Good grief. If it's important, and you tease it, you're a pig. I'll watch the other newscast for the story then thanks. Or if its BS, why bother.

News teases piss off people. They DO NOT cause people to set their clocks to the "reveal". Plus, lots of times the news tease doesn't even get played properly during the "reveal" or if it turns out to be stupid beyond belief -- geez, how surprising -- thanks for nothing.

News tease? You who practice it are news sleaze.

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[Please check out my Rancho Santa Fe Web site at www.92067freepress.com for general stories of interest or my baseball blog at http://danweisman.mlblogs.com/ ]

Olympic Moments--Not

Swimming medals, gymnastics, basketball, etc., all on the main NBC station. But the ancillary stations, MSNBC, CNBC, NBCNBC et al. It's a conspiracy.

Badminton. I'm not smitten. That's all they show. I've watched gazillion badminton sets between places like East Nowehere and the People's Republlic of Bush sucks but I digress.

Badminton. Or I could go to your neighbor's backyard for a game with Uncle Junior. What, no croquet. What about Capture the Flag?

Wake me up when the shuttlecock set ends. I'll even take archery. Just no more bad mittens.

John Edwards: Stop already

We get it, John Edwards. You're a liar and can't stop yourself because, tsk. yeech, you're a narcissist and anything else you can think of as a poor excuse. What, can't bring alcoholism into it? Guess that means you like pot. Nothing wrong with that nor with your (pretending, it seems to be indicated) adoption of social issues and "trying to help people". But your ridiculous behavior. The running away from tabloids, set up or not and all the other stuff that comes out daily.

It's sad. And sad not only for a scumfish like you, but for media in general. Suddenly, the National Enquirer -- The National Enquirer for God's sake -- is somehow a "news" organization relying on "sources" yada yada yada and even a CNN fake investigatve reporter is talking about how they outdid CNN. Can't be too hard though.

Come on. media, John Edwards. Stop wasting our time. From now on, I'm switching channels almost immediately if Edwards is on the air or your talking heads are blathering nonsense about him.

Bernie Mac. Isaac Hayes, we cared.

John Edwards. just go away and/or die.

What, me election worry?

Considering Our Times

Stats, baby!

Union Bank is predatory lending pigs

Basically, the predatory Union Bank of California had suckered me into a $2,000 overdraft line. When I had to use it last year, it became a predatory 18 percent loan I couldn't repay. Therefore, I was paying $40 to $50 per month for a free checking account.

Not only that, but Union Bank was making robot transfers without my knowledge or approval. Each month, they would withdraw around $65 and put it in the cash reserve account. They timed this in many cases to coincide with my withdrawal of funds, causing checks to bounce into the cash reserve and then charging me $10 per overdraft.

Going to the Rancho Santa Fe branch, I spoke with the bank manager. Oh so sympathetic eyeball-to-eyeball, "I know the economy is tough", "I sympathize" yada yada.

Of course, she quickly handed me off to an underling who was oh so sympathetic, yada, who then made a few phone calls and gave me a number to call, saying they would be able to help me.

My point to each of them was this: My paying such exorbitant interest on this balance was akin to a rat chasing a treadmill. I asked them to put back the interest they had stolen -- I used a more asshole friendly term, I believe, assessed -- and I would make good on the balance under an agreement, repaying some each month. I said they could close the overdraft for all I care, but they need to do something for their long-time consumer -- won't say customer -- me.

The underling gave me phone number to call. It turned out to be the collections department. I  called the underling again and he gave me another number for a lady in the overdraft department. I called her. She took down my information and said, oh so politely, Mr. Jack, she would get back to me, but first had to determine if she were the appropriate department. Strictly an internal matter, our "team members" -- my interjection, she could have said assholes -- will discuss this, she added.

-----------------------------------------------

After getting home, I received a call from the bank's "I'll get back to you" person. She said we examined your financial status and have decided to close your overdraft account. "I will be transferring you to the collections department."

Whoa...Hey lady, I CALLED YOU, because you have been taking $40 to $50 per month yada yada and offered to pay back the balance. But you need to put back the interest payments...asshole interrupt-us in faux authoritarian voice, which didn't fly with me as you who know me know...I started putting it to her bluntly until she yelled, "I am terminating this call" click.

Immediately, I took out what's left of my money from the bank, and surprisingly the account still worked. I went to the store and used my debit card -- again, not canceled, how shoddy of them to shaft me, but not finish the job, and typical of the "Brazil"ing of our society -- withdrawing all but $4 from the cash reserve. (Couldn't quite max it, darn).

So, there you have the sickness of our society in a 36-hour time capsule. Some pigs get away with a lot, but they can't do it properly either because they're idiots. Many people get shafted one way or the other. Shame shame, sham sham on them (and us for being a part of it).

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the adventure will continue. I will go to the San Diego County Credit Union at Escondido and open another "free" checking account, no overdraft protection thank you very not.

Fully, I expect Union Bank's collection pigs to harass me, file litigation, get judgments from the crooked court system -- don't get me started on the bogus red light camera ticket that cost me $434, plus two court appearances and when I protested they attached another $56 to it,. threatening to charge me $300 more and issue a summons should I not pay -- and whatever else takes place.

But I don't care. 

"You lie!"