EPA fines Energy Department for missed Hanford deadlines

How foolish is this?! One government agency levies a fine on another. Therefore, the Energy Department will have to gut the public for more tax money to pay the fines to the EPA. The fines have no effect on the cleanup effort. It's just a re-distribution of tax money and there is absolutely no incentive for the Energy Department to complete its task. What a joke!

What does the EPA do with the $10,000 per week in fines? Do they return the money to the taxpayers?

I feel so ashamed of this system.

Inter-league baseball games

Why? Why are there games between inter-league opponents? I see Oakland is playing against Philly in the last weeek of the season. That;s a joke, right?  That';s just plain awful if it'.s true. Inter-league play should just go away and certainly should NOT occur at the end of the the season.

014 Mariners

Okay, the Mariners seem to be in some kind of Wild Card race...

So...having a look at the team...they have a guy (Cory Hart) hitting DH today with an average of 210

They have this guy (Smoak) hitting 209.

Ackley has somehow managed to get all the way up to 231!

If the Mariners want to get in any kind of playoff situation those three guys have to be gone.

My chickens in the field can hit as well as those three (millionaire) losers.

Don't mess with the pitching...they're great.

Get rid of the guys that can't hit and replace them with chickens or Sumo wrestlers or female tennis players...anything!

Keep ALL the minor league prospects and get rid of the dead wood. Don't make a stupid trade to pick up some fake-ass hitter or pitcher. The team is great, as is, without those few losers.

As far as the "losers" go...if the team can't unload them or send them down...they should just stay home. (For  a hundred dollars a year, I could do  as well as these guys,,,but I'd rather have a winning team.)

MLB All-Star Game

I'm listening to the radio broadcast. I definitely DON'T like the announcers. Actually, the second guy is good but I sure don't like the main guy. It just reminds me how fortunate I am to live in the Seattle area. The main guy on the radio says, "Top seven, bottom six, NL, AL", continually  shortening terms. These guys are on the freeking radio! They can fill all kinds of air space with real data. If they were to cut back on language details but give us some other interesting information...that might be okay...but they don't. I have no clue what the weather is or what ever else is going on at the site. I'm happy to have Rick Rizzs and...and what's--his name. Together, they're great.

Fall City...My Friendly Neighbor

So, P has been notifying the neighbor (via text) whenever unknown people are parked oddly or are using the pond across the street. Sometimes the neighbor calls me to check on his property since he’s gone most of the day. That’s why we keep him informed if things don’t look right in the neighborhood.

The pond across the street is owned by 3 people. This neighbor owns the far third where there is no access. The property owners own up to the street on my side and anyone who goes to the pond has to cross a small land area to the water. Since my neighbor had endured a lengthy battle with the county about closing a popular trail due to liability issues if someone were to be hurt on his property, I assumed he understood the same liability issue with the pond.

So…P sends him a text that there is a boat in the pond. He replies, they’re allowed to be there. She responds that it’s not part of his property and really has no right to allow people on someone else’s land/pond. (If someone were to be hurt or even drown in the pond, the property owner would be liable...not my neighbor.)

Okay…after an hour or so, the neighbor is driving home, followed by his girlfriend with a passenger in a separate truck. He sees me and P sitting on the deck close to the road. He stops and gets out of the truck and starts yelling at P about how he owns the pond and can allow anyone he wants to use it. She tells him that he doesn’t own that area. When I start to speak, he launches into a screaming tirade of telling me/us to shut up. He must have yelled, “Shut up” 20 or 30 times...maybe 50.

(As an aside, a few weeks ago, when the neighbor was evicting some people from the same pond…he did the same thing! Every time the people in the boat began speaking, he yelled, “Shut up!” over and over.)

So…here he is yelling at me and P to shut up, shut up, shut up and I can’t stop laughing. I’ve never experienced such childish behavior and it was truly funny.

P was totally under control and simply told him he’s a lunatic several times. His response was to call her a F’ing loser for living with her ex-husband. He then called her a bitch. Then…he called her a fat c.nt.

Finally, I had a chance to speak and reminded him that he did not have the authority to allow people on someone else’s property. Mind you, all this time the neighbor was standing in the street, screaming at us.

So…his respsonse to me was…

I have so much on you! (I have no idea what this could be.)

You’re goin down!

This is war!

And…If I were you, I’d shut the F.ck up and sit down.…

Me...I say…Well, if I were you, I’d come over to this side of the fence so I could smash your nose. (Keep in mind, this guy is more than 20 years younger than I am, I can barely walk and can’t lift my right arm.) Neighbor still yelling…You’re threatening me! I have witnesses. You threatened me! To his girlfriend and passenger in the other truck…Did you hear that? He threatened me!

So he gets back in his truck and calls the police. They show up and speak to him. Then, they come to see me. The cop gave me almost no opportunity to speak. “I’m not going to arrest you today.” (I’m thinking why in the world I would be arrested.) If anything, if I had been given a chance, I would have told him how the neighbor had threatened me first. In any case, this neighbor has called the police so many times about people walking, or on bicycles or horses! He has had frequent shouting matches with such people and has pointed a gun at a guy on a horse and had people trying to punch him in the face several times.

It seems whoever calls the cops, wins. That’s why he always calls them.

The next morning, the neighbor goes roaring down the road at 60 or 70. I think that because my gate was open at the time, he expected me to be standing there and wanted to intimidate me. Today, he blasted off a few high-powered gunshots next door.

Oh...the neighbor stopped in one day. He brought a bottle of wine. (I think we always had a great relationship.) So he comes over and sits, fidgeting on the chair. Then, he reaches behind his back and pulls out a pistol (a revolver of some kind). He flips open the revolver part and places the weapon on the table saying something about what you're supposed to do with a weapon in public. Anyway, all the bullets fell out on the floor. Does anyone think this person should be allowed to carry a gun, concealed or otherwise?

He (the neighbor) said he has videos of me, sneaking around his garage. I can't possibly get past the security of his fence, gate etc. I have never attempted to do so. However, on the same day of the events (above), there was a gray truck that appeared to be parked directly in front of the neighbor's mailbox. I did walk up to have a look but the truck was actually about ten feet away from the mailbox. It still seemed odd so I looked through his gate to see if anyone was home. I couldn't really discern. Perhaps he thinks that my effort to look out for his own interest appeared to be "sneaking around". There was another time when I was waiting for P to come down the road so I walked up the road. I did stop in front of the neighbor's gate to admire the incredible straightness of the fence he had installed. Maybe that was construed as "sneaking around". I just don't know.

It’s time to move.

Suarez

I'm curious why the Suarez guy on the Uruguay team has not been charged with assault. It seems that biting someone on the shoulder would have to be deemed assault in every country. Also, where was the referee? Suarez should have received a red card and Uruguay should not have won the game. This result is a real travesty and Suarez should never be allowed on the pitch again.

Nine Games! Four Months!

What a joke. The guy should be in jail and never allowed to play organized futball again. Maybe he should be sued also. What a scam! What a scum!

10 Most Likely Baseball Steroid Users Never Caught

Okay...I seem to be unable to log in on the site where they''re listing ten baseball players who may have used steroids and have not been caught. Anyway, I live in the Seattle area. There was a year when Brett Boone  showed up for training camp looking like he was a freeking, physical monster, just six months after the previous season in which he played (and appeared) as an average player. This was his "Contract" year. He was great in that one season and...never again. It seems he "juiced up" just for one year...just for the new money. Something really stunk about Brett Boone that season..."Juice"? He did receive the big money and faded away shortly after.

Okay...today I saw an article of "The 25 Best Alleged and Confirmed Steroid Users in Baseball History". This list does include Brett Boone. What a freeking cheat!

Today, the Mets are plying the Mariners and Bartolo Colon hasn't allowed a base runner into the sixth inning. It's just not natural for an over-forty pitcher to be clean. He's already been suspended for fifty games for PED use. Maybe he should be tested immediately after the game, eh?

Key Bank Ad

This may seem totally irrelevant to most people. However, I was just listening to a Key Bank ad on the radio. In the ad there's some comment about driving "further" down the road.

Key Bank people! Are you reading this? The correct word is "farther" not "further". Perhaps you should have me proofread your ads.Perhaps, SOMEONE should.

What is the agency producing this crap? I can do better from my own home...and probably save Key Bank millions.

April Shower!

Oh my! Another shower. There was a required shower on Thanksgiving so I could go to Brian's house. Then, just the next month ( ! ), for Christmas Eve, I had another required shower to go to Tommy's house. I did make it through Easter because I went nowhere but today...I'm going to Brian's again...another shower. Where does it all end? I have to keep washing off the protective coating I spend months to build up. I suppose it's not even relevant that I discovered my tee shirt was inside out for four months or that I also discovered my underpants were backwards all that time. Ah well...maybe I can make it until my birthday in August before subjecting myself to the clean police again.

My dawg, Huck

Huck (Huckleberry Finnegan) showed up Christmas morning, four years ago. As I sat outside, smoking a cigarette and having my coffee, I could hear a faint whimpering somewhere. There...down the street, some animal was crying. It was about 26 degrees at the time, I went inside and grabbed an old collar and leash and walked over there. I tried the leash and collar but the dog was so young, it didn't come along. I picked him up and carried him to the house. He was cold and shivering. I took pictures and posted them all over town. Lost dog. No one ever responded. The vet said he was about 8 weeks old. He was 8 pounds at the time. He would run right under Haley (Jack Russel). Later, Haley ran right under him.

Huck and I were attached from then on. He became my best (and only) friend.

When I took him for walks (he had a choke collar and one of those barbed collars) and when other people and/or dogs approached, I could only kneel down and hold on, Apparently I was not a good trainer but he always obeyed the "sit" command.

Anyway, since I don't go anywhere or do anything, Huck was always at my side. Really. He would never go outside if I was not there. He wouldn't even eat his food if I was not there. He nuzzled himself between my knees and was at home. He always was with me or within sight of me. If I got up from my chair on the deck, Huck was there. He slept under my desk with his head on my feet. If I walked across the yard, he was stuck on my knee.

Through the years I kept repeating, "I never wanted a dog...but if I did, it would be a REAL dog"

Well, I had a real dog and never understood.

Last Wednesday, Huck didn't eat his breakfast. He did finally eat it in the evening. I lay down next to him on the deck and cried, knowing something was very wrong.

Thursday, he ate nothing and I spoke to the vet. "Give him some white rice and chicken. If he doesn't eat that, bring him in to the office." He didn't eat anything. Friday, early morning, I brought Huck in. I had to lift him up to get him in the car.

Yellow...almost green gums. $2,000 for tests. Yellow insides of the ears. "This is an extremely sick dog."

How could this be? He was only 4 1/2. Liver cancer...something like that. The tests would only confirm the disease but not provide a cure.

Huck...approx. 10/25/09 to 4/11/14. I had him put down...so incredibly sad. He was around 95 lbs and was a formidable force to reckon with.

He was my boy and I haven't been able to work through it yet. I miss my boy so much I can't stand it. I would never have dreamed I could love a dog so much. I miss him.

One Percenter Convicted Of Raping Infant Child Dodges Jail Because He 'Will Not Fare Well'

Here's the story I read:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/30/robert-richards-rape_n_5060386.html?icid=maing-grid7%7Cnetscape%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D459417

1. Justice is supposed to be blind...blind of bias and persuasion. It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like, what race you are, if you are rich or poor -- justice does not see that.
   
   
   This travesty of justice is one of the most glaring examples of what the United States has become. I suppose it will only degrade further as time passes.
   
   
   Just for starters, Judge Jan Jurden should be dismissed from the court and censured forever. Then an appeal for re-trial should be made based on the mental incompetency of the "judge".
   
   
   Read the article and retch.

Washington Mudslide, Update

Concerning the massive mud slide near OSO Washington…For all those people who have made comments about the dangers (and foolishness) of building homes in slide areas…those people who have been SO critical.

Some of the homes were built more a hundred years ago.

The hillside that gave way was across the river and smashed into the water far beyond, all the way to the State Highway, blocking a mile of road, destroying many houses and killing many people.

It was never conceived that a hillside across the river could threaten anyone.

I have fished that river many times, perhaps right there and never saw any threat from anywhere

When an entire neighborhood is wiped out, it’s not appropriate to make incredibly stupid judgments about others. There was never a hint of danger in the area, aside from occasional high-water flooding from snow melt. Big deal.

Okay, using the logic of the morons…we should never build homes in the central United States due to the threat of tornadoes. There should be no homes in California (earthquakes and lack of water).

People die from hurricanes, so that eliminates most of the East Coast.

There was the dust bowl era…so the central part of the country is out.

Of course, if global warming proceeds as most expect, New York City is out, a lot of Florida is out…well, there are nearly countless locations which will be under water. So…are all these places refusing to allow building? I think not.

We can make one more leap. Our planet has been struck by numerous meteorites, asteroids etc. over the years. Should we just say we can’t live here at all?

The mud slide at Oso, Washington was unexpected and unanticipated. There was record rainfall in March. 
Indeed, there have been issues with clear-cutting in those hills. Not in that area, however. Deer Creek, which flows into the Oso area was decimated by poor logging techniques. Basically, the salmon and steelhead populations were wiped out as a result. That is not the case with the current disaster.
(Indeed, there were warnings back in the fifties about a possible slide across the river and, indeed, there were warnings as late as 99. There was a smaller slide at one point but some of the houses have been there a hundred years and the hillside in question was on the other side of the river.)

 Okay...I've heard from many people and must revise some of my comments. Indeed, in the 1950s there were concerns raised of the potential of a slide from across the river. In 1999, there was an assessment made which determined there was the potential of a a major, catastrophic slide. Considering all this (and much more), no homes should have been built in the area after that. Of course, there were already homes built long before but no more should have been allowed after the "authorities" were made aware of the dangers. However, they were. Even with a slide in 2006, all the residents were permitted to stay.

That said, I don't really alter my position. Southern California has no water with the threat of earthquakes every day...and keeps on growing. Northern California is just waiting for the next great earthquake...and keeps on building. The central part of the US has been running out of water for a long time and has the constant threat of tornadoes...they keep on building. Low lying areas all around the country (Florida, NYC, etc.) are in imminent danger from rising sea levels. They keep on building. If I cared enough, I could summon up countless other examples of lack of "government" oversight. 

In Oso, WA, there was a hillside across the river from a small neighborhood. It was not clear-cut, but, yes, looking at it, one might imagine it could give way some day. One might look the same way at our planet and think...there might be a meteor heading this way...we should never build anything just in case!

Update...It seems I was as wrong as possible in my initial comments about the Oso slide. Here'a an extensive, damning account from the Seattle Times: http://mobile.seattletimes.com/story/today/2023794966/track-ip_news_lite-1.2..2-./

Birth Defects In Rural Washington Stun Experts

So...the experts are stunned?!
You'll have to Google up the original story which I read on Huffington Post. (I'm unable to add any comments to the story.)
However, it seems extremely obvious what the cause of all these, similar birth defects must be...
The Hanford nuclear facility! Duh?!
There are tanks of nuclear waste, known to be leaking into the ground. I think it's a Super Fund cleanup site. There is no solution. It just gets worse!
The Hanford site is sitting almost on top of an active geological fault.
Of course there will be negative results from this horrible, government fiasco. They have contaminated the entire area with radio-active waste-water...pretty much, forever!
The stunned experts are probably all doing the government's bidding. They will certainly not admit responsibility while more and more birth defects occur and the incidence of various cancers spreads throughout the area.
Experts, my ass! The very same experts are probably stunned that the sun comes up each morning.

Seahawks

I was completely wrong about my early analysis of Pete Carroll. I thought he made mistakes in the beginning and wanted him gone. I was wrong. He is a great coach! I really enjoy listening to (most of) the radio announcers...Brock Huard, Warren Moon! Spectacular! I even enjoy listening to Steve Raible when the Seahawks are doing well. (I have to mention that I despise listening to Raible in bad games because he sounds like he's damn-near crying.) Anyway, I never EVER want to listen to Dory Monson. In any case, I'm extremely pleased to be in the Seattle area for all these years and am proud that the fans (12th Man) have conducted themselves so well....500,000 for the parade! It's a wonderful feeling!

KJR radio

I think it's completely disgusting listening to Dory Monson and the other morons prior to the Super Bowl. What happened to the sports information? It's bad enough that so many broadcasters speak with a soprano voice but why would anyone be interested in these asswipes, personal crap concerning their trip to NJ?

My toenails

Nobody really cares about my toenails...however, today I cut them! A few were longer than an inch. Others had folded around and my toes were bleeding. and were causing great pain. Not now! Good job, me! I sleep a lot better now, without pain all night!

Some US Wars

Let’s see…here are some our wars...

There was the Revolutionary War (I guess the US won that one although about 25,000 troops died)

Civil War (don’t know the actual winner of that but 213,000 soldiers died)

WW1 (we win! However more than 53,000 soldiers died.

War on crime (we lose...deaths unknown but thousands incarcerated)

WW11 (we win! but we lose 405,000 of our citizens...is that really a win?)

Korean War (no winner…so we lose...also, we lost almost 36,000 of our children)

War on Poverty (we lose...casualties? We all lose)

War on Cancer (we lose...see above)

War on Drugs (we lose...see above)

War on Gangs (we lose...see above)

Viet Nam War (we lose) and 58,000 Americans died)

War in Afghanistan...about 3,400. (we lose...we call this part of the war on terror...what a joke! We lost more than 8,000 of our children for nothing...a war based on lies!) We attacked because the Taliban did not turn over Osama Bin Laden...like they had him ready to hand over! What a farce! Well WE did not attack them...Bush did. This is entirely Bush's war! I hope people can remember that!

Iraq War (we lose...see above...but around 4,800) We attacked Iraq for what? Another farce! This is another war of Bush's. I hope people can remember that.
So far, we're up to more than 2.7 million deaths and casualties! 2.7 million of our children!
The above casualties are just estimates and do not include "collateral damage"....the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of non-military people we have killed...nor do they include any long-lasting effects on all parties. 

There are lots of other wars but we (in the US) just don’t seem to fare well in many.

NO MORE WARS!

There is an interesting aside though…

Who wins or loses a war depends on one’s perspective.

To the conservative, wealthy right, I imagine they consider the following list as all wins…

War against personal freedom (win)

War against the poor (win)

War against civil/equal rights (win)

War against women (win)

War against minorities (win)

War against health care (win)

War against decent retirement (win)

War against public education (win)

War against information (win)

War against privacy (win)

War against immigration (win)

War against fair wages (win)

There are SO many other wars the conservative, wealthy right is either clearly winning or is far ahead that they must consider it a great time to be an American, eh?

Catholic pedophiles

It appears the Catholic church is a filthy-rich group of hypocrites. Just today, the news reports that the church (recently) has defrocked at least 571 perverts who were all Catholic priests. That is likely just the tip of that iceberg! Where are these creeps? What are their names? How can the Catholic church get away with this? I think it’s time to hold this scummy organization accountable and all the officials within the church who have withheld damning information from authorities around the world need to go to prison right along with the identified perverts. This is a religion?! Ha! Has it always been this way? Have these disgusting child molesters established the entire organization just to perpetuate their perversions around the world?

I want the whole bunch of pedophiles, their accomplices and those who've been protecting them to face prosecution and the accompanying punishment. I want the names of every one of the perverts! They report 571 of their sickos. How many more are there that have not been reported? Are they all like that?

It's a sick group, those in the Vatican!

Rodman

I just watched the video of Dennis Rodman's CNN interview. He seems to be one of the stupidest people I have ever heard. Of course, it also appears that he's totally stoned. In any case, single-handedly, Dennis Rodman can set back civil rights and equality in America by fifty years. While it's difficult to understand anything he says, he is an African-American athlete and, as such, may be perceived as representative. If he's the best we have to offer the world...we're all in deep shit. Imagine what people in other countries think of US when they see such a moron on the world stage!

(I'll get back to this.)