Our man on the spot IV

Posted by bob on May 1, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments

BY SPE

Mendocino County, in California, has more than twice the alcohol outlets per capita as any other place in California. (The Press Democrat, April 8, 2013)

This impact assessment shows a correlation between the density of alcohol outlets and arrests per aggravated assault, drinking and driving and underage drinking.

(April 1st) My kid in Korea sent birthday greeting to be read me while he is still safe from nuclear attack because Kim Jong-un is in the midst of a speech.

Song Hyun-Young said in the Times (The New York Times, April 6) Korea is in the most dangerous place in the world, but we are numb to it… If something happens, we will all die together, so I don’t really think about it.

Anti-nuclear power plant rally on September 19, 2011, at the Meiji Shrine complex in Tokyo courtesy of Wikipedia.

FUKUSHIMA AGAIN

(NY Times, April 6) Rats have been disrupting the cooling system for nuclear fuel rods by gnawing on power cables. But, Tepco has installed mouse traps and, “promises to plug holes…”

“We were installing wire nets to keep the rats out. But the end of one of the wires may have momentarily come into contact with a live terminal,” said Masayuki Ono, General Manager at Tepco’s Nuclear Power and Plant [Siting] Division. “The next moment, there were [sirens].”

SPARKS STEAKHOUSES

The reporter works for Don Sparks when he had a pub on the upper east side of the New York, see “Last Days of the Empire” (Eureka Productions. TV). Before his subsequent Steakhouses where mobsters are assassinated and politicians bribed.

Michael Wilson (The New York Times, April 6) said, “The link between corrupt politicians and steakhouses would appear to be so obvious that corrupt politicians would avoid them altogether, especially since there are apparently as many hidden microphones as shrimp cocktails at a given table, but still they come…”

(Wall Street Journal, April 10)

“U.S. regulators said Tuesday that banks wrongfully took away homes from 1,082 borrowers who were members of the U.S. Military. Another 53 borrowers were found to have lost their homes despite not actually defaulting on their loans… (90% of wronged borrowers will get $300 to $1,000) …some of the biggest banks were on pace to find a higher rate ___ past foreclosure errors than regulators disclosed when they (the regulators) stopped the review… Those who qualified for the smallest payments include many who lost their homes but weren’t offered help by banks or weren’t offered help by or… or were placed into foreclosure despite asking for assistance.”

EVOLUTION THEN ROADKILL

(The week of April 5) “In Southwestern Nebraska the number of cliff swallows (Petrochelidon) killed by cars and trucks has declined over the past 30 years. The birds have evolved shorter wings, which allows them to pivot away from oncoming traffic—this from researchers at The University of Nebraska—Lincoln.”

(April 11, CHRIS HAYES SHOW ON MSNBC)

Senator Sherrod Brown (D.-Ohio) says about the wrongful foreclosures of homes by the big banks – after they were bailed out – there is such a back and forth by the same people employed by the banks, government regulators and so called independent auditors that the same people who write the complex regulations when employed outside the government then become the only ones who can understand them.

(April 8—Neil [Genzlinger] review of HBO documentary) “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus: a child rescued from Nazi occupied Austria in 1939,” [Henry Wenkaut] said: “What people don’t understand is that at the beginning you could get out. Everybody could get out. Nobody would let us in. Everyone could have been saved – everyone.”

LARRY PRATT

Ex. Director of Gun Owners of America told Chris Matthews (MSNBC) that he, “doesn’t trust people like you (Chris),” which if he is carrying can be interpreted as a threat or, at the very least when sitting across the table from the person he is saying it to, an unacceptable personal insult.

BROKEN BOLTS

(Sacramento Bee, April 11) “Transportation officials said that they still do not know whether the new Bay Bridge will open as scheduled, or how they will solve the problem of broken bolts that were used despite having failed some quality tests.”