Sandlin Notes

Hunting Wild Boar

2011-12-08T09:41:00.000-05:00

Latin American Herald Tribune - Herbicide Used in Argentina Could Cause Birth Defects

2011-10-03T16:37:00.000-04:00

Latin American Herald Tribune - Herbicide Used in Argentina Could Cause Birth Defects

Videos, videos, out my ......

2011-06-23T11:42:00.000-04:00

Videos, videos, out my ______. I have complaint and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. My complaint is that, more and more, I go to websites for info I consider critical in keeping me informed about a world that is clearly coming apart at the seams, and I find nothing but a video. That's great if you have braodband, but some of us still live in the stoneage of info and have dial-up. Some of us don't want anything but dial-up because we read and actually enjoy doing so. If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd go to the movie house. If I wanted to watch the boob tube, I'd turn it on. But, of course, neither of those carry the info I'm looking for. (They are government issued propaganda!) The Internet does, but more and more, posters on the Internet are going lazy and using videos. That doesn't work with dial-up. I'd like access to this info and would appreciate a written version so I'll know what the heck is going on. But, usually, there's no text accompaying the video. So, we stoneage dial-up users just get left out.
I don't want to be forced into getting broadband service. Personally, I don't want nor need it--that is, unless everyone starts to use videos instead of using the old-fashioned version of communication, called text, otherwise know as books, periodicals, sheep-skin scrolls, stone tablets, etc. These versions of communicating have worked for centuries and after the collapse which will happen, the Internet is down, and other electronic forms of communication are down or extremely limited, text will again be in great demand. Where are all those hard copies of survival info everyone is now demanding? Have they disappeared or become extremely rare because everyone went to watching videos, and becoming part of the mentally lazy and illiterate majority of our population? We do have an education problem in this country, don't we? Are we going to let the Internet turn into just another version of the boob tube? Do you really want our culture to turn into a place where everyone can watch a video and do the monkey-see, monkey-do kind of community, but given a written text are clueless? That's what it's beginning to look like to me. Illiterateville? Dummytown? Clueless city?
Further, I don't want broadband service because, in my area, there is only ONE broadband provider. I call that a monopoly and won't promote further growth of this behemoth by becoming another unwilling subscriber. Whatever happened to that capitalist, competitive economy where competing companies offer services at competitive prices? Oh, that's gone south too! Dang! Anyone noticing this transformation besides myself? This is another issue altogether. I won't digress.
Further, my neighbor next door would like access to the info, but doesn't have computer. (Believe me, there are many, many people who still don't have computer access nor the knowledge to do so.) But, my neighbor would like to know the info that the video displayed. I can't deliver the video to him/her, but I could print out a hard copy. Problem is, I can't get a hard copy from a video. I really don't have the time to watch a video over and over and over and over again in order to make a written transcription of the info to give to the reading folks.
Please, I plead with all you video addicts, to also provide text that gives at least a brief summary of the info you are trying to disseminate. At the very least, give a link to a website that does provide the info in text that I can turn into a hard copy and hand to my neighbor who would like to survive too. There's that segment of the population you are leaving out altogether. Why are you doing that? Is it laziness, or what? Short sightedness? What?
It would be really good if you would follow the lead of Dr Mercola's website and provide both a video and written text. Please, I'm pleading with you video addicts. Consider that everyone needs the info not just those plugged into the instant access, information age.

What I Told CBS News Tonight About Arizona Law -- It's About Jobs

2010-05-03T12:19:00.002-04:00

By Roy Beck, Updated Saturday, April 24, 2010, 6:56 PM EDT - posted on NumbersUSA

I just came back from taping an interview for the national CBS nightly news regarding the new Arizona immigration-enforcement law.

My main point was that states are going to keep passing laws like these as long as the federal government allows 7 million illegal aliens to continue to hold construction, manufacturing, service and transportation jobs and keep millions of Americans unemployed.

I was asked about all the charges that the new law will create discrimination against people who look foreign.

My response was that the failure to push illegal aliens out of jobs and this country has created huge discrimination against the most vulnerable members of our society, disproportionately against Black Americans, Hispanic Americans and immigrants who are here legally. Laws like the one Arizona just passed will disproportionately help U.S. minorities, including legal immigrants.

These states are in the third year of a jobs depression. Immigration laws should be protecting Americans from being out of work because of foreign workers.

Instead, the federal government has refused to act. And the President of the United States repeatedly takes the side of the illegal aliens (and the companies that hire them) against the interests of unemployed Americans. In response to the Arizona law, Pres. Obama called again for giving 7 million illegal workers permanent work permits.

I told CBS that NumbersUSA is working with state legislators and activist groups across the country to enact laws like the ones passed in Arizona.

Take a look at our map of states passing laws on workplace enforcement. Look here for other state enforcement actions.

Thank Gov. Brewer by sending her a message through the webform on her website - http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp

* * * * * * * * *

(8 p.m. Saturday) Well, I got bumped from the CBS report. It wasn't a bad job of reporting, but a viewer would have no idea from the report that immigration laws are related to jobs and protection of American workers.

For the most part, the networks and national print publications continue their taboo on letting the two subjects be connected in the same reports.

The basic storyline is that people insist on immigration enforcement because they don't like the people who are illegal aliens. Thus, laws like Arizona's new one tend to be seen as punitive, when the laws really are compassionate -- compassionate toward all the current victims of illegal immigration.

ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA

NumbersUSA's blogs are copyrighted and may be republished or reposted only if they are copied in their entirety, including this paragraph, and provide proper credit to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA bears no responsibility for where our blogs may be republished or reposted.
Views and opinions expressed in blogs on this website are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect official policies of NumbersUSA.

So, You Think You lIve in the Land of the Free?

2010-04-22T09:54:00.000-04:00

So, you think you live in the "land of the free"? You have been listening to too much main stream media propoganda. Time for a little real history:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo179.html

When Dictatorship Came to America

by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
Recently by Thomas DiLorenzo: Libelous Leftist Lynch Mobs

The presidential oath of office contains a pledge to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, and by implication the liberties of the American people that the document is intended to preserve. In light of this, can you name which of the delegated powers in the U.S. Constitution allow the president to invade his own country, mass murder his own American citizens, and bomb, burn and plunder their cities? Can you explain how such acts would be consistent with protecting the constitutional liberties of those unfortunate citizens? If you think you can, then congratulations, you are a “Lincoln Scholar.” If not, do not despair. You are in decent company, including the five living past presidents as of 1861, namely, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. Lincoln’s predecessor, President James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, stated the truth when he said the following:

Has the Constitution delegated to Congress the power to coerce a State into submission which is attempting to withdraw . . . from the Confederacy [of states]? If answered in the affirmative, it must be on the principle that the power has been conferred upon Congress to declare and to make war against a State. After much serious reflection, I have arrived at the conclusion that no such power has been delegated to Congress or to any other department of the federal government (Senate Journal, 36th Congress, 2nd Session, 4 December 1860, 15–16).

Unlike Lincoln, James Buchanan was a constitutionalist. His opinion that a president has no constitutional right to invade his own country and murder his fellow citizens has relegated him to the bottom of every ranking of American presidents by the American history profession for generations. This doesn’t mean he was wrong, only that a large segment of the history profession is hopelessly corrupt. Buchanan understood, as did nearly everyone prior to Lincoln, that the states did not give up any of their sovereignty when they ratified the Constitution; they merely delegated several distinct powers to the central government that was designed to act for their mutual benefit....article continues.

“Choose this day whom you will serve.”: An Open Letter to American Law Enforcement.

2010-02-21T12:33:00.000-05:00

I don't usually drag in someone else's blog, but this one bears repeating. I hope LEOs do read this.

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity. -- William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming.”

Gentlemen and ladies of American Law Enforcement,

There is a growing perception among many Americans that we are headed for one of those periodic moments in our history when our reactions to events will redefine who we are as a people, where we are going as a country and who gets to call the shots when we get there -- what George H.W. Bush called “that vision thing.” This is happening in the middle of unprecedented external and internal stresses on our social order, the results of which you see daily on the streets.

It is going to get worse.

Odds are, it is going to get MUCH worse before it gets better.

IF it gets better any time soon, which I doubt.

And so, ladies and gentlemen of American law enforcement, the prudent among you should be considering this question now, rather than later: “What am I going to do when we get to ‘much worse’?”

Consider first where we are.

The Justice Department's National Gang Intelligence Center estimated last year that there were over a million hard-core gang members in this country who were responsible for over 80% of the crimes in many communities. Other experts have suggested that when you add in the gangs’ “extended families” and wannabes the number is closer to between five and ten million. As unemployment has increased, their numbers have likewise swelled.

But the gangs, as bad as they are and as great a threat as they pose to public order, are nothing compared to the larger problem, and that is this.

Respect for duly constituted authority and social trust are essential ingredients of civilization. These elements represent the basic glue of society.

Respect for duly constituted authority is, as every cop knows, at an all-time low. There are two general reasons for this, one systemic and the other so personal that if you look yourselves honestly in the mirror you can see it.

Systemically, “duly constituted authority” derives its legitimacy from the founding documents of our country, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and from the Founders’ concepts of the rule of law. These have all been under attack for a hundred years or more by both corrupt political parties and their union and business familiars. The Constitution has become for some a joke and for others an inconvenient speed bump on the road to tyranny. As long as this degradation of the legitimacy of our political and legal system was perceived by only a narrow portion of the population, it was manageable in a societal sense. This is no longer true.

When a president and Congress robs one set of people to enrich their cronies, when they violate the settled rule of law regarding bankruptcy to stiff secured creditors in the case of General Motors while rewarding self-anointed unsecured creditors -- their political allies, the auto unions -- the rest of the population cannot fail but conclude that we are no longer under the rule of law, but the rule of men, which is to say, the law of the jungle. Or, put another way, they -- the “authorities” -- can do anything that the citizenry can’t or won’t stop them from doing. This is the societal Catch 22 we are now in (and have been for a while) that I call “Waco Rules.”

Other cases such as that of David Olofson, a veteran and marksmanship instructor and family man who was railroaded by the ATF on an automatic weapons charge when his semi-automatic AR-15 malfunctioned (and he was chosen for prosecution simply because the ATF did not care for his low opinion of them), have convinced many that a fair trial is no longer possible in federal court if an agency decides to “deal with” them. And if we are no longer guaranteed a fair trial in the federal court system, then if we are innocent and decide that we do not wish to play drop the soap with either the Aryan or Muslim Brotherhoods, our only guarantee is the right of an unfair gunfight when the ATF comes calling.

And remember that Olofson is merely one example of federal misadventure. There are many others, as there are plenty of similar cases in local and state jurisdictions. When the law-abiding rightfully no longer trust the law enforcers and begin to view them as a class of criminals merely acting under color of law, anarchy is not far away.

Yet, you will say, “don’t blame me, I enforce the law, I don’t make it.” True, but insufficient as an excuse, and here we get down to that look in the mirror.

My friend, fellow gun rights blogger and National Examiner columnist David Codrea over at WaronGuns has a description for feral cops. He calls them the “Only Ones.” His daily blog is filled to overflowing with example of rogue cops, their partners who never rein them in and the prosecutors and judges who find reasons to go easy on even the most heinous of criminals with badges. You know who I’m talking about. If you say there are none of these currently operating or in the making within your department then you are either lying or uninterested in seeing the truth, which amounts to the same thing.

Everyone knows what happens to honest cops who “rat out” their uniformed criminal associates. They are hounded, despised, disciplined and shunned -- and that’s on a good day. Can you blame many of us who pay attention to such law enforcement corruption for concluding that you may merely be a member of an “official gang” as opposed to a freelance one? Such dereliction of duty begs the question: If your excuse is that you don’t make the law, you just enforce it, and then you don’t enforce it upon yourselves, why should we be paying tax dollars to support “official” law breaking?

There is another image that many of you can see in the mirror if you choose to take an honest look -- that of tax collector and nanny state bully boy. Yes, we know, you didn’t make the laws, some liberal puke with a control fetish did. But when you write speeding tickets for 3 miles over the limit because you’ve been told to write “x amount” of dollar value, or when you pull people over for “seatbelt violations” at random roadblocks and then ransack their cars without probable cause, can you understand how such behavior eats away like acid on your reputation -- individually and collectively -- as servants of the citizenry? What part of “to protect and serve” does that represent?

But worse than all that is the militarization of the police -- in equipment, tactics and, worst of all, attitude -- and the federalization of all law enforcement over the past forty years, but especially in the last ten. There were, last time I checked a few years ago, something like 750,000 full time state, city, university and college, metropolitan and non-metropolitan county, and other law enforcement officers in the United States. Add to that another 150,000 or so full time law enforcement personnel working for the federal government. With the growth of new agencies like the TSA during the “war on terror” (who, because of political correctness can’t seem to figure out who the real “terrorists” are so they merely oppress the rest of us in order to be “fair”) that number has certainly risen.

In any case, there are hardly enough Feds to work the administration’s will upon a nation so vast and a people so numerous, so, much thought and effort has gone into suborning and subverting local and state law enforcement for federal purposes -- “Joint Task Forces” and “fusion centers” being two principal ways. Yet, as the Founders quite clearly understood, it is one of the duties of local law enforcement, especially the county sheriffs, to interpose themselves between the federal government and the people of their jurisdictions when the federal government becomes oppressive.

Now, however, local law enforcement is looked upon by federal agents as force multipliers and willing stooges -- “local yokels” in their parlance. And as a mark of how successful their campaign has been, many local law enforcement officers agree and happily lick the boots that kick them.

A recent case in point. Two county sheriff’s deputies showed up at the doorstep of a man out west who had expressed his contempt for Nancy Pelosi and and other federal politicians in letters and emails. These deputies, saying that the FBI had sent them, interrogated the man, threatened him “with Leavenworth” and engaged in intimidation of political speech. These local cops, having no jurisdiction to do anything of the sort, would have been laughed off of my porch here in Alabama and told to bugger off and return with real federal cops, if that was in fact their intention. Too often these days, when the federal man says “frog” many of you merely ask “how high?”

Of course, if this intimidation had back-fired on the locals in any way, the Fibbies would have been the first to disavow them, leaving them hanging out in the legal laundry to dry. So when y’all are looking in that mirror, ask yourselves how truly stupid you actually are when it comes to enforcing an agenda and not the law just because the Feds ask you to.

Because here’s the essential thing: you, ALL OF YOU, took an oath to, among other things, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” You swore that, the overwhelming majority of you, to God. Did you think that oath had a shelf life? Do you think that now that you have by your reckoning faithfully upheld that oath for, say, twenty years now that tomorrow it is okay to forget it? You swore, whether you realized it at the time or not, an OATH, before GOD, and it was a LIFETIME oath.

While you are looking in the mirror, evaluate your career based upon that oath. It was not to a man, or an administration, or a political party but to an idea -- the idea of ordered liberty as codified in the Constitution of the United States of America. So ask yourself, did you or did you not intend to faithfully uphold that oath? Because the answer to that question is going to become very important very quickly as this politically divided and morally fractured society continues to spin out of control.

To quote Joshua, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”

Katrina showed us many things. It showed that in a disaster many cops will look to their families and not the public duty, leaving their fellow law enforcement officers with an even greater burden. It showed us that cops can be opportunistic criminals as well, partaking in looting with as much energy as professional criminals. It also showed us that the police no longer trust the law-abiding citizen with arms, depriving them of their only means of self-defense once the cops have moved on, thus leaving them to the tender mercies of robbers, rapists and murderers.

It is perhaps dangerous to make too large of a generalization, for there are many rural jurisdictions where this does not apply, but the fact of the matter is that by and large, the police no longer trust the people they are supposed to protect, and they especially do not trust an armed citizen, even if he represents no danger to the cop. This is standing the oath on its head. The people do not exist to serve the servant, but rather the other way around.

When a policeman pulls over a driver whose computer record shows not only the driver’s license of the vehicle’s owner, but the fact that they have a concealed carry permit, it is too often SOP for the cop to approach the vehicle, gun drawn, order the man or woman from the car, put them on their knees and cuff them before anything else transpires. These are not the acts of public servants but rather of an occupying army. And with each breach of trust, the glue holding society together is further weakened. For the more you distrust us, the more we are reminded to distrust you.

It is important to remember, Mr. and Ms. Law Enforcement Officer, that you need us, the law-abiding armed citizenry, one hell of a lot more than we need you. Just ask any criminal. Who is it that they fear most? The encounter with a policeman or a would-be victim who turns out to be armed? I tell you this uncomfortable truth and I hope you have the honesty to admit it -- the criminals of this country are far more scared of the armed citizenry than they are of the police.

It is not the fear of the patrol car that inhibits criminal behavior the most, but rather the prospect of screwing up and getting his brains blown out by a citizen in righteous self defense. And so, when you participate in citizen disarmament efforts, whether gun seizures like Katrina, or merely identifying otherwise friendly peaceable folks as “the enemy” just because they are armed, you are alienating your most valuable friends and empowering your most vicious enemies. Not to mention the fact that you are violating that sacred oath you took.

So ponder that deteriorating social trust that holds civilizations together, and then ponder this: the worst is yet to come.

What will happen when we are faced, God forbid, with some dislocating national disaster -- natural or man-made -- that makes Katrina look like a kindergarten playground? Now, even if you intend to run off like some New Orleans policemen did, to see to the safety of their families rather than keep order in the city, you are still going to need the cooperation of the armed citizenry in your home neighborhood to protect your family.

You -- ALL of you -- law enforcement officers, will then need us, the armed citizenry -- ALL of us willing and competent to muster -- to defend public order against the tide of chaos represented by five or ten million gang members and the tens of millions of panicked unprepared refugees or opportunistic criminals left unrestrained by a breakdown.

Do you seriously think that federal police, all 150,000 of them, will actually help you in that event, beyond issuing orders that they will not be personally endangered with carrying out?

You will then be on your own, and you will have us. At least those of you will who have the sense to plan now to make that happen in the event.

You might start by remembering your oaths, by beginning to trust us, by refusing to engage in petty harrassments of CCW permit holders and by strengthening your department’s auxiliary program (or starting one if you do not have one).

But first and foremost you must quit looking at and treating the law-abiding armed citizenry of the United States as the enemy. For if you don’t, we certainly will be.

Convince us by your actions that you are no better than the gangs who commit crimes without uniforms and we will treat you similarly. And there ain’t nearly enough of you to shove us around in a real national emergency.

Remember, Americans are nothing if not a practical people. We're predisposed to help and support you. Please, take our hand when it is offered, BEFORE it is needed.

Sincerely,

Mike Vanderboegh
The alleged leader of a merry band of Three Percenters
GeorgeMason1776@aol.com
sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com
PO Box 926
Pinson, AL 35126

Two Lost Months

2010-02-04T14:37:00.000-05:00

Ah, finally got back to Blogger. This is a copy from my other blog.

Blogger for 4 Feb 2010
Bicycling Blog

December and January were two lost months, mostly, in terms of cycling. It's was the family obligation that kept me off the road. My Mother got sick in December and had to be hospitalized for 3 days. I then had to learn lymphadema therapy in order to do physical therapy for her on a daily basis. That puts a crimp in my riding schedule, but family does come first.

Yup, I cycle all through the winter. But, not this year. Oh, sure, I got days in on the trainer, but that's not really anything like real time on the road with hills, wind, and other weather conditions. Oh, sure, the trainer will keep your cardiovascular system in good shape, and help you maintain your ability to spin at 90 RPMs on a steady basis. But, it can't give you the challenge that real road conditions do. -- I never even got the spiked, winter tires put on my winter bike this year!

But, things are looking up. It's February, and My Mother is back in good condition and I can get out the door and ride!

I'll now be training for the League of Michigan Bicyclists season opener.

Geez, it's so good to be back on the road.

2009-11-30T12:52:00.002-05:00

Rain and Snow Riding Maintenance

30 Nov 2009

Some of us really ride in any weather which means that we do a lot more maintenance to keep the bicycle on the road and reliable. There is nothing like having to do maintenance/repair when it's below freezing and miles from home. This experience(s) will cure you from maintenance laziness! Hopefully, you will do this to yourself only once.
Before going out, check these items:
1.Saddle height. Since you're probably wearing a lot more clothes, your bottom will have more layers which will make it necessary to lower the height of your saddle. Lowering your saddle will also make it easier to put your feet down when you go into a slide in order to keep yourself upright when you hit those ruts and ice slicks.
2.Chain. Check your chain to make sure it's well lubricated since water and road salt will cause deterioration very quickly if not constantly cleaned and lubed.
3.Brakes. Check that the brakes are working smoothly. In wet weather, brake cables will become corroded pretty quickly. This means that they'll need more maintenance. When they start being harder to pull or have a delay in action, it's time to do maintenance by pulling the inner cable out of the housing, checking for breaks in the cable strands (and bends or breaks in the housing) and if it looks alright, lubing them with a light grease or teflon oil.
4.Shifters/derailleurs. Check that front and rear derailleur are functioning properly. These cables too will need much more maintenance in wet/salty weather.
5.Tire pressure. Check pressure before every ride. Bicycle tubes and tires are not airtight and will lose pressure pretty quickly. For riding on snow and ice, you will want to drop the tire pressure so that the amount of rubber contacting the road is greater. Do not drop the pressure below the minimum listed on the sidewall of the tire or you will get “snake-bite” punctures. If you're riding on very snow-packed or icy roads, consider using spiked tires. They are will worth the investment.
6.Splash-guards. If you have cables that are routed under the down-tube (not usually found on true mountain bikes), are not covered with a housing, but are just bare cables, consider using splash guards to repel some of the water and salt. Splash-guards will also keep some of slop off you if you're not using fenders.
7.Brake lever covers. In very cold weather, brake lever covers will keep your hands much warmer by repelling the wind that sucks the heat out of your hands (even with lobster gloves) quickly.

After you return doing those cold, frigid k's, don't just dump the bike in the garage. It will rust. Clean it up immediately. With this kind of riding, detailing is very important. Make sure you get the water and salt residue out of everything. Rub it down like it's a high-dollar race horse. It takes care of you. You take care of it. Clean the chain every time you ride because the salt and grit gets into the rollers and causes rapid wear and rusting. Once again, check the operation of the brakes and shifters. Re-lubricate every moving part; brake levers, brakes, shift levers (depending upon type), front and rear derailleur and chain. It is during this post-ride routine where you frequently will pick up on mechanical problems that you didn't even notice during the ride.
I recommend a “wet” lubricant for extreme riding conditions. Many of them are synthetic lubricants engineered for long distance riding and wet weather conditions.
Happy riding!

In England, Doing the Right Thing Will Get You Jailed

2009-11-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

I just read the article: “Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun”, [ http://www.thisissurreytoday.co.uk/news/Ex-soldier-faces-jail-handing-gun/article-1509082-detail/article.html ]
and I'm wondering if common sense and morality have any place left in this N.W.O. controlled world.
The soldier, who is obviously skilled in handling weapons, has been sent to jail for doing what he considered his reasonable duty, that of turning in a found weapon to the police. But, no, he was found guilty of “possessing a weapon”.
It wasn't his weapon. He found it tossed over his back fence in garbage back. He went and looked to see what was in the bag, and found the discarded weapon. He didn't know what to do with the thing, but recalled that a leaflet printed by Surrey Police “explaining to citizens what they can do at a police station, which included "reporting found firearms". I would have had the same reaction and taken the weapon to the police station myself. Not in England, They will arrest you, convict you, and send you to jail.
Apparently, any citizen is simply supposed to report it. I'm assuming here. His lawyer, Mr Clarke, asked a police office in court, “Are you aware of any notice issued by Surrey Police, or any publicity given to, telling citizens that if they find a firearm the only thing they should do is not touch it, report it by telephone, and not take it into a police station?" The police officer replied, “No, I don't believe so." So this soldier, having no specific guidelines for his actions took the intuitive route. Wrong move.
Be safe. Don't dare and touch it or carry to a safe place like the police department. No, that won't work. It doesn't say in the article if he'd been treated like a first class citizen if he had simply reported it. It implies that might have been a better reaction. But, I doubt it.
It appears to me that the English paranoia and instilled fear of weapons have bent the minds of the police and court system (justice department, yeah, right) into treating citizens like crap. This was the real issue here. I don't think there was anything, any action the soldier could have done that would have been considered acceptable. Read the article for yourself.
As another person who commented on this article said, “Don't trust the police any longer.” The soldier's honest attempt was considered “irrelevant”. No allowance for the circumstances. I'll bet the soldier's reaction now is that he should have taken the bag and tossed it over someone elses fence into their backyard. Definitely do NOT do what you consider the reasonable action. Not in England.
I think the Brits have gone off their rails! Hope that this infection doesn't come to America!

Time to Get Off Your Butts!

2009-11-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

Ok, people, get a clue. The sedentary life-style is NOT good for you! Time to get off your butts if you want to live a healthy life while eliminating many of the diseases that go with sitting on your butt.
I've been watching, particularly, the elders around me, and those who are still active and percolating through life productively, are those who exercise. Those who chose the sedentary, American life-style, are now in nursing homes, hospital beds, and walking Alzheimer's cases.
I don't know, but the choice to me seems kind of simple; get off your butts!
Okay, so you're one of these people who need “scientific” proof instead of using your own powers of observation which is highly underrated and discouraged in American culture.
In Bicycling Magazine, Nov 2009 edition, it has an article titled: “Your Brain on Cycling”. It says that research points to the cognitive benefits of cycling (exercise), even for people who don't have ADHD. Oh, another disease that's coped with by exercise! The list seems to be growing. Haven't you noticed? Pay attention. It would be easier to pay attention if you got off your butt and exercised. Hey, 20 minutes 3 times a week is not much. That's the easy baseline. Anything above that is plus stuff; greater health and faster thinking.
Besides controlling ADHD (Don't eliminate recess!), activities that require balance, quick reactions, and decision-making skills control ADHD in children and these activities may help adults with focus and concentration too. Here's a suggestion for you. When you buy your kid a bike, buy one for yourself too. Your bill for psychotropic drugs for your kid will be reduced because he/she doesn't need them, and your health, blood pressure, and mental focus and concentration will improve too while your building a closer family relationship (which is also lacking in American culture).
Also in AARP magazine article, “Your Brain on Exercise”, it says that “
exercise improves memory, concentration, and abstract reasoning among older adults, and may even delay the onset of Alzheimer’s. “ So, please, no excuses about “I'm too old, or Oh, ladies don't do that”.
Ladies, you need to get off your butts too! Forget about what's “culturally” acceptable, and take care of yourself. The URL for magazine article is:
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/your_brain_on_exercise.html
Also, control of blood pressure has turned into a major pharmaceutical industry in this country. But, you don't have to join the lemmings on their way to destruction. There is a way to control blood pressure without drugs. It's called exercise. In an article by the Mayo Clinic (for those who are still addicted to listening to “experts” instead of their own common sense), it says: “

Having high blood pressure and not getting enough exercise are closely related. Discover how small changes in your daily routine can make a big difference.”
By Mayo Clinic staff
And, again, no excuses about age. The article states: “
Your risk of high blood pressure (hypertension) increases with age, but getting some exercise can make a big difference. And if your blood pressure is already high, exercise can help you control it....” The plus side of this is that there is one less toxic prescription costing you money and cluttering up your medicine cabinet. The URL for the article is: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00024
Get moving folks!

Lansing Planners, You Really Screwed-Up

2009-11-05T14:06:00.000-05:00

When you put in a bike lane on Holmes Rd, near Pleasant Grove Rd, then turned around and removed it when some resident motorists complained, you messed-up real good.
Holmes Rd had four lanes, (before the bike lane trial) and people became accustomed to that, despite the fact that the amount of traffic carried does NOT justify four lanes. Then, the city put in bike lanes on each side of the road, made it into three lanes with center lane being a left-turn lane. Then the uproar occurred. The local motorists complained that that there was too much of wait to make a turn or go through at the intersection at Pleasant Grove Rd. It's all of 4 extra seconds of waiting out of their entire lives, but that's too much for a motorist to tolerate. It's unbearable! And what did the city do? Instead of telling the residents that Holmes Rd does not justify having four lanes and other users need access to the road also, the city just said: "Oh, I'm so sorry for your inconvenience!" Then they came out and scrapped-up the paint designating bike lanes and turned it back into four lanes.
Do you know what this did, city planners? It gave the motorists a huge win. You told them, "It's your road, and no-one, including cyclists or anyone else, doesn't really have a right to use that road. It's all yours!" The law says other users have a legal right to use the road, but you told the motorists, through your acquiesence, that they have exclusive rights to the road. BIG MISTAKE!
The difference between the time before the bike lanes and then after their removal in terms of motorists' behavior is dramatic. Before the bike lane trial, when I cycled on Holmes Rd, motorists would move into the left lane and pass, and occasionally a driver would make a rude comment. Maybe, once a week, someone would mouth-off. But, not usually.
But, now, it's hell alley for a cyclist or other non-motorist. In a two-mile stretch from my house to the grocery store, on a daily basis, I will get sworn at least four times and sometimes more. I'm told to "get the hell out of my way; ride on the sidewalk;" and other nasty-mouth expressions I can't put in print. Ninety-eight percent of the cyclists will ride on the sidewalk. They have been intimidated off the road by the motorists.
Then, at the stop-light at Homes and Martin Luther King, I get harassment there when I stop for the red light. I take my lane, so that they can't crush me against the curb as the they try to sneak by me when doing a right turn. They really resent my taking the lane, and they roll down their window and let the crap flow out of their mouths. And, when the light changes, when I go straight through, instead of using the left lane and passing me, some of the drivers have stayed behind me, followed me until I turned at the grocery store, laying on their horn the whole time. They refused to use the open left lane and pass. Instead, because they've been given the upper hand by the city of Lansing, they stay behind me, laying on their horn, hoping to intimidate me off the road. (I mean, they succeeded in getting rid of the inconvenient bike lanes, so now, their thinking, lets' get rid of the cyclists too! The city will back us up!) I don't intimidate, and that results in more cussing and swearing from them!
I don't get this kind of behavior on any other roads I ride in Lansing, including high-speed, high traffic, Waverly Rd. Just Holmes road. I can only conclude that it's because the city backed-off, removed the bike lanes, and gave the drivers and local residents the tacit message that, "Yes, indeed, you own the whole road. Nobody else has a right to use it but you"
Congratulations, Lansing, for validating these drivers' habit of going into road rage when anyone on the road bothers them. That's what you accomplished on Holmes Rd.

How Are You Doing, America? Trick or Treat?

2009-10-31T14:02:00.002-04:00

31 October 2009

To know how the economy is really doing, I use the measure of my own eyesight and ability to “google” for facts related to the economy.
Here in Michigan, we are hurting. Everywhere I ride around town, there are new foreclosures. This includes every income level, not just poor workers from the factories who have been laid off. This foreclosure crisis is hitting everyone.
And I wonder, “Is anyone in Washington going to take note and start giving a bailout to the workers who are, after all, the people who worked to create the wealth that the rich are now enjoying.” They seem to have forgotten that it IS the worker who makes the country rich or poor, not the bankers and the wealthy. Of course, the wealthy think that it's there generosity in creating jobs by building corporations that is the generator of wealth in a country. Everyone knows better than this. Everyone. But, the historical memory of the “brilliant” economists covers a range of not over one or two decades. Anything that occurred before that is out their minds. They don't recall it and don't want to.
States are being forced to shut down various services and use every cost cutting measure available because the worker, who pays the taxes, is hurting financially, and just doesn't have the money to pony up for taxes.
How many millions of foreclosures do we have at this point? And, all of these are homes that no longer pay into the tax base to support state and local governments. Plus, the recession is not over with. That's propaganda. There's more trouble coming for home-owners and the American economy: [from ezinearticles.com http://ezinearticles.com/?Second-Wave-of-Foreclosures-Due-in-2009-As-Option-ARMs-Default&id=1252213 ]
Second Wave of Foreclosures Due in 2009 As Option ARMs Default

“If the previous year of record foreclosure rates, falling home values, a declining stock market, and continuing inflation have seemed like too much catastrophe for the US economy to bear, just wait. There will be no short term recovery in the housing market; in fact, foreclosures will continue to increase and property values will keep falling for at least the next year, with a second wave of foreclosures set to begin in the spring of 2009.”
And, guess what, the big-boy economists haven't noticed yet. They're still laser-focused on fixing the banks/financial institutions and supporting the wealthy.
As stated in an article on uruk.net, “ While the Obama administration has spent trillions to bail out the banks and financial speculators, it has done next to nothing to address the massive employment.” See: http://www.uruknet.info/index.php?p=m59568&hd=&size=1&l=e
How long before the fallout from the massive unemployment impinges upon the coffers in Washington? Think income taxes. In an excerpt from the same article: “Meanwhile, the real living conditions for regular people are becoming more and more intolerable. Wages for non-managerial workers have fallen by 1.4 percent so far this year, according to an article in USA Today, and are on track for even further declines. The official unemployment rate has reached 9.8 percent, and when one takes into account discouraged workers and people who are underemployed, it is at 17 percent.”
Sooner or later, this fall in income and resulting fall in collected tax revenues will hit Washington. Of course, the genius economists don't consider this significant as they are watching the stock market which is no real indicator of the American economy, but is an indicator of the international economy. I'm really beginning to think that the guys in Washington are really focused on running the world economy, not the American economy. Has the New World Order already installed itself in Washington? It appears it has. So, what this means for the working class American, is that you are on your own. You are not going to get any help from Washington.
Our governor in Michigan had high hopes for the good outcome for the people of Michigan in terms of jobs created from the stimulus package, but the real figures are severely disappointing: “In some states, the impact of federal programs has been negligible—including about 400 in Michigan, which has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 15.2 percent.”
400 short-term jobs amounts to nothing in a population of millions.
I've come to the conclusion that they do not plan on bringing the outsourced jobs back, nor really creating new jobs here, that is, until they have broken the backs of the working person and end up with a population of clamoring-for-any-job unemployed workers who will take any job at any price. This is the real goal.
So, how are you doing, America?

The Recession is Over, But You Didn't Notice

2009-10-27T12:26:00.000-04:00

One of the "experts", Bernanke, tells us: "From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over."
Oh, really? I heard this claim from some of the other "economic" experts, and I and many other Americans just don't buy the crap-propaganda any more. Out here in the real world, we know better. It's called reality testing, where the facts are right in your face. Facts like unemployment is going to top 10%, which is bad enough, but the real figures are more like 20%. when every 1 or 2 people you meet on the street is out of a job, and they tell you that they're going into foreclosure on the home, they'll probably have their car reposessed, and perhaps soon, they'll lose their unemployment benefits. They're stressed. They're not in recession. They're in a depression (in every sense of the term).
I think Washington is still stuck in the unreality play that was shockingly exposed by one of Bush No.2's White House staff when he said: "We create our own reality."
This act of "creating their own reality" has been going on for over 9 years now, openly stated to the public that is, a public who knows that unreality is common disease in Washington, D.C and has been a theory, like their economic theory, that has been practiced for decades.
If anyone hasn't figured out that their economic theories are totally out of sync with reality has been on Prozac too long. How can anyone listen to the very same economists who created this humongous problem we have, not just in the U.S., but world-wide? How? See this article in the New York Times that explains how the "master-mind" economists got off track.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/magazine/06Economic-t.html

How Did Economists Get It So Wrong?

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: September 2, 2009

Here's an excerpt from the article--current thinking--that demonstrates the lunacy accepted as reliable theory: "
Thus Chicago’s Casey Mulligan suggests that unemployment is so high because many workers are choosing not to take jobs: “Employees face financial incentives that encourage them not to work . . . decreased employment is explained more by reductions in the supply of labor (the willingness of people to work) and less by the demand for labor (the number of workers that employers need to hire).” Mulligan has suggested, in particular, that workers are choosing to remain unemployed because that improves their odds of receiving mortgage relief. And Cochrane declares that high unemployment is actually good: “We should have a recession. People who spend their lives pounding nails in Nevada need something else to do.”
Oh, sure, the guy next door who lives from payckeck to payckeck, justs wants a vacation from the business of feeding his family, paying for his house, keeping his car, and other necessities of life. If he takes this little vacation, nothing terrible is going to happen. He is going to get "mortage relief". Sure, right. Say that to the working people going into foreclosure all over the U.S. Funny how none of them got the mortgage relief, but found themselves and their familes dumped on the streets. No relief here. Just world of trouble. But in Washington, the smart-asses think they guy just needs a break from pounding nails!
These economists and their followers in D.C. just can't seem to learn from past history nor their current mistakes. They continue to spew theories that in no way match with reality.
Had enough theories yet?

American Drivers Are Totally F***ed In Their Skulls

2009-10-26T11:26:00.000-04:00

I had a liaison at the police dept tell me that at least 10 percent of the drivers out there shouldn't have been give a driver's license. I asked her why, and she said because they're incompetent, but, when they screw-up and harm someone or damage someones property, the judges deem that, because they have to have a car to get to their jobs, he, the judge, just can't see taking their licenses away. I mean, they'll lose their jobs. The world will fall apart if the arses lose their jobs! Hey, try walking, riding a bus, or getting a bicycle. You creeps are too much of a hazard to be on the roads with the rest of us.
How many more of us have to be maimed, permanently disabled, or dead before you judges decide that “Oh, I do have the power and will to take their licenses away!” Hey, judges, here's a clue: Before there were cars, people still managed to get to work. And simply because the current “system” seems, I repeat seems, to make it necessary to have a car to get to work or do anything else, just remember that for centuries before the invention of the car, people got around, and they somehow, miraculously got around that entire huge world without a car! Even today, hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, get to work every day without using a car.
And, you Americans have a sickness that I call “hurry sickness”. This sickness comes from being turned into mindless little machines [That's what our education system is designed to do; make you a complacent, obedient, mindless machines.] that turn out parts for stuff, like toys, cars, ships, etc, all of which are so cheap that you have to replace them frequently. But, the money system that runs us demands more and more and more speed. You gotta turn out those tinker toy parts faster and faster so that you're megalomaniac boss can make more profit. Hurrying senselessly becomes an ingrained mental habit that spreads like a disease to every other part of your life, and it seems, especially your driving life. But, no matter now hard you worked, how fast your were, they still sent your jobs to China and other foreign countries where the slave laborers do the same jobs for pennies. Try to get a coffee pot from China to last more than a year. Hey, aren't you proud that you are part of a system that handed bankers and big business billions of dollars, and yet, you haven't seen a dime of it. You lost your job to outsourcing, after that you were foreclosed on because quite reasonably, you couldn't pay that armed robbery call an ARM mortgage [Where do you think they got that acronym?], and now you're in danger of losing your precious car too, your alter ego, the only place left where you can feel any sense of power in your sorry life. No wonder you Americans are pissed off and want to run over everyone and everything that's in their way! No wonder. No wonder cyclists, pedestrians, and people in motorized wheel chairs are in constant, mortal danger from you nut cases! Aren't you proud that you bent over and allowed yourself to become just another mindless part of their mindless machines and did it without a whimper? Your grandma and your mama tried to instill a value system into your skull, but under the pressure and brain-washing of the system, you abandoned that wisdom. Dang! Be proud!
And keep in mind that you've been convinced that your really are a worthless piece of crap, valued at some low dollar value [Note: A dead Iraqi is worth about $2,000 last I noted.] Life used to be considered priceless. Not any more. Now that you know you aren't valued much, kind of a throwaway person in a throwaway culture, I can understand how you think that when you main, permanently disable, or kill another person, that they weren't valued as very much either. So, give them a toss. What's the big deal about the loss? The judge isn't going to make you pay.
Now that I understand what's driven you out of your skull, I still don't want you on the roadways with me. Stay home and get drunk. Take your violent urges out on someone else. Oh, you are doing that already, aren't you. Domestic violence? That's rising exponentially. I understand, but I still don't want you crazies on the same road with me. Go home. Stay there.

Humaneness is Still Alive

2009-10-25T10:35:00.000-04:00

Humaneness is Still Alive

25 October 2009

In the Lansing State Journal this morning, it said that Howard the Combine Kitty is going home.
He was found, in July, by two boys, and apparently had his front paws nearly detached by a combine or other farm machine.
Donations came in to assist in the surgeries needed to repair his legs so he has a chance to walk again, though not with paws, but on stubs that will have to callous up. Amazingly, even in recessionary times, enough donations came in to care for Howard's medical costs and 3 other shelter animals too.
At moments like this I still feel a slight hope for the human race; that it may have enough caring and sane members left to prevent its entire demise through self-hatred and self-destruction. I'm celebrating Howard's happy outcome too because it shows me a little light at the end of the tunnel in that, if you leave the average person to their own devices and behaviors, they come through and demonstrate decency and humanity which is what I would love to see coming from our so-called “leaders” in government. Humaneness is still alive. Let's nurture it!

Yellow Journalism-It's All We Have In America

2009-10-24T12:16:00.000-04:00

This morning I read an article by the Cato Institute titled “Medicare For Everyone”? The lack of facts and fear-mongering tactics overwhelmed me. I almost had to lean over the porcelain bus and let hurl.
What a shame that this is allowed in print and called journalism!
They provide links that lead to articles that supposedly prove their point, but which is not proof at all, but just another opinion. Very few facts are presented. They read the article/document and then provide their own conclusions. They expect you to assume that because the evaluator of the contents of that article is perfect in his evaluations because he/she is a lawyer or has some other alphabet soup behind their name. They don't simply present the article link and then allow the reader to come to their own conclusions. Then, after adding their own evaluations, they then proceed to generate fear and emotionalism. This is yellow journalism prime time. Do a “google” on “yellow journalism” and you'll numerous links to what yellow journalism entails.

In the article “Fannie Med? Why a "Public Option" Is Hazardous to Your Health”, they state: “A full accounting shows that government programs cost more and deliver lower-quality care than private insurance.” An accounting by whom? Where are the hard facts and graphs that you can read and decide for yourself if this is true? They also say: “but that government can hide its inefficiencies and draw consumers away from private insurance, despite offering an inferior product.” Where are the hard facts that prove that the government hides its inefficiencies , and offer an inferior product? No facts. Just their conclusion.
Here's a real generator of cognitive dissonance in the same article: “A health insurance "exchange," where consumers choose between private health plans with artificially high premiums and a government program with artificially low premiums, would not increase competition. Instead, it would reduce competition by driving lower-cost private health plans out of business.” First it says “private health plans with artificially high premiums” . then a sentence later state “driving lower-cost health plans out of business”. Which is it? Are private plans higher or lower cost? And common sense tells you that a lower cost, private plan is NOT going to be driven out of business by a government plan just because it's a government plan!
Here's another conclusion without hard proof: “Congress should reject proposals to create a new government health insurance program — not for the sake of private insurers, who would be subject to unfair competition, but for the sake of American patients, who would be subject to unnecessary morbidity and mortality.”
Unnecessary morbidity and mortality? Where are the hard facts, charts and graphs that prove that? Not presented.
Please read the article and links for yourself. Note that 3 of the links don't present the article itself, but are links to buy the article so that you can then draw your own conclusions, which, of course, they don't want you to do.
I can't take much more of this kind of “journalism”!

Adaptation Time

2009-10-23T13:27:00.000-04:00

23 October 2009

Time to adapt again for cyclists. Those cyclists, that is, who cycle year round.
Looking outside the window from my comfy rooms, I see cold drizzle, trees turning color and shedding their foliage, people getting on the bus wrapped up in thick clothing, and a cyclist peddling by.
The cyclist is one of the “hardies”. He rides that bike to work and everywhere else year round. It's not because he's poor. He's not. It's not because he's a drunk and lost his driver's license. He obviously has his license to drive. As a matter of fact, he has 6 cars sitting in his garage, some of them called “classics”. Why would a guy do that? Ah, he's a cyclist, a dedicated cyclist who understands that the human body is to be used—hard. That's what it was made for—hard work, not sitting for hours glaring at a boob tube in an 8 by 8 cage, otherwise referred to as an office cubicle.
He's fit. He's healthy. He's slender as a reed bending against the cold, wet wind. And he feels good and successful. Successful? Yes, he's beating the system that produces members whose obesity numbers grows daily, which is accompanied with increased disease and hugely growing medical costs.
He is not part of this group.
He is part of the group of cyclists who resent having to cover up those tan-lines at mid-leg and put on the protective winter gear. Time to adjust that saddle height because of the additional layers on your fanny. Time to switch the tires out to knobbies or spiked tires that will take you through anything. Time for platform pedals so you can cycle in boots and put your feet down fast when you slide. Time for the lobster gloves, neoprene boot covers, balaclava, thermal underwear, hugely increased calorie intake, wet lube on all the moving bicycle parts, and a pugnacious, “I can handle it” attitude. Their fight, that they greatly enjoy because you get a natural high from the continuous exercise, feeling good and being more alert than their non-exercising, sonambulistic work fellows is a fight that will make them fit for the future that appears to be one that will be inherited by the physically able, mentally alert, and those who are accustomed to adapting to a constantly changing environment. He's a winter/all-year-round commuter.
The next time you see a cyclist riding in winter conditions a deer herd would shun, feel a little admiration. Don't assume, as most spoiled Americans do, that he's a drunk who lost his license or he's too poor to buy a car. He/she (Yes, there are many female cyclists too who ride year round.) is a good example of a person who has learned to, and wants to adapt and is prepared for whatever the future throws at them. Actually, it's fun!

The political process in America-Defunct

2009-10-22T13:39:00.000-04:00

22 October 2009

The political process in America is broken beyond repair. I think that participating in the Federal and State process is pretty much a waste of time any more, it being corrupted to the core by “politicians” whose primary goal is totally self-interested. “There to serve the public interest?” Forget it. Please, have you not noticed this by now?
Now, I am beginning to understand that the local process is also corrupted as much as the Federal and State political processes.
The sociopaths/psychopaths who so obviously are running governments, worldwide, have become so firmly entrenched on every level, International, Federal, State, and now local, that trying to use the political process is truly a waste of your time.
So now it is self-sufficiency time, you know, that state of mind and existence where you look to no one but yourself for what you need. Stop begging. Haven't you noticed that your requests for help are being ignored anyhow? Start learning—how to take care of all your needs on your own.
This is a pretty big order since the citizenry has been dumbed-down by the “education” process—ask any student and they'll tell you they hate it. It's like a prison in which you're conditioned to be stupid. And our kids are bright enough to know this.
And the rest of the population has been conditioned to pervasive complacency in which they feel powerless to do anything to help themselves.
Plus, the system is designed to keep you from being able to learn self-sufficiency. You are taught to look outward for your needs, not inward.
Under these conditions, lots of luck in learning to be self-sufficient. The deck is stacked against you. But here's a fact: You don't have any choice.
So, what is a person to do? Your survival will come from working at the grassroots level which means those who live around in your neighborhood. Get to know them and learn what their skills have. You will be amazed at the basic survival skills, like gardening, hunting, fishing, etc, that the dumb guy next door who sits in 8 X 8 cubicle glaring at a computer screen all day really knows about these things. But, you get the idea. Organize at a grassroots, neighborhood level. This is doable.
While you're at, rediscover your humanity which has been scrubbed out of your innards by the compulsory American lifestyle. Another suggestion: Turn off the T.V. It's not entertainment, it's propaganda.

$85 million plan puts shops, hotel near Eastwood

2009-10-21T11:57:00.000-04:00

Lansing, Michigan. The Lansing "planners" are at it again. Like we need to add more urban sprawl among dozens and dozens of empty buildings in the city that sit empty and are rotting. There's a huge building on Cedar St that has set empty for over 8 years that I've noticed. It's a Wal-Mart sized and style building surrounded by acres of paved parking lot. But it sits unused by anyone. Did anyone notice it sits on major thoroughfare? Nope, nobody wants that. They want to go after and rape the green areas like that surrounding Eastwood Town Center.
They're having a hard time finding funding for a parking ramp downtown to provide parking for the Accident Fund workers. They had a parking ramp there, but they just had to tear it down. Nothing wrong with it structurally. They just didn't seem to like that one. I don't know, the problem was aesthetics, maybe? Yet, they want to dig up $85 million for this unneeded behemoth that sits near an intersection that is a driver's nightmare. Even now, the Eastwood Town Center (Who gave it that name? It's not the center of town), the location near where they want to build this monstrosity, is inaccessible by anyone who isn't driving a car. Walkers? Cyclists? Motorized wheelchairs? Forget it, you'll get run over. Even if you are driving a car, it's a high-hazard, high accident area.
Instead of building another "mall" designed exclusively for cars, and adding retail space, restaurants, and other spaces that are not needed in a recession period when a large part of the population is losing their jobs and their homes are going into foreclosure, try building something that's really needed. Try focusing on rebuilding Lake Lansing Road and making it usable for everyone.
See this URL for the article:

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20091021/NEWS01/910210324