Pot Luck

NJ Gov. Chris Christie... (4.00 / 1)

...has spent a week making an ass of himself, but of course that's nothing new.

What is new is that New Jersey's newspapers are finally calling him and his administration out on their well-established incompetence.

Gee, maybe they were too busy keeping up with Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck to actually pay attention to their jobs?  Note that 49 other states didn't make any such 'mistakes'.

This is classic right-wing Republicanism, btw -

TRENTON - Ousted state Education Commissioner Bret Schundler today said he asked Gov. Chris Christie to be fired from the work he considered his "life's dream," rather than resign, so he could receive unemployment benefits to pay his bills.

"I asked if they would mind writing a termination letter, instead of a resignation letter, because I do have a mortgage to pay, and I do have a daughter who's just started college," he said in an interview this morning. "And I, frankly, will need the unemployment insurance benefits until I find another job. ... And they said fine. They said sure."

What's good for the goose is, oh wait a minute...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 04:48:32 AM UTC

Rain! (4.00 / 2)

It's drizzling outside.  First rain I've seen here in over two months.  Nice and cool outside, too.  I think I should go sing in it, or dance in it, or something...

;)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 06:23:13 AM UTC

Eggs Farms and Filth (4.00 / 3)

I guess I have to come out of the closet and admit that ...I've never actually BEEN to a farm. Sigh.

Anyway, last week I learned through comments on this blog that chickens are sort of ominvore-ish and joyfully peck at things like poop and maggots, which is a part of the natural order of things.

So does that mean we should be less appalled at the stories like this one from NPR? "Manure Piles, Rodents And Swarming Flies Found At Egg Farms http://n.pr/cz1NFq"

Just curious.

-Jonathan

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by: JPStreeter @ Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 21:30:10 PM UTC

Did you dl the PDF report? (4.00 / 4)

Some escaped chickens were climbing 8ft high manure piles!

you can see some chickens in another environment here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s...

this was the farm I got my produce and meat chickens from. My eggs came from another that worked with our CSA:

http://www.thevillager.com/vil...

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by: nycstray @ Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 22:44:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Depends on the actual conditions (4.00 / 4)

For instance, I have around 70 chickens running around my place. Completely free range, which is going to come to an end when I get the big flight pen and new coop built. Then their little feathered buts are going to land in a very large (several thousand square feet) enclosure. But for right now, the birds can come and go as they please. In the barn, out of the barn, in the back yard, in the stallion's roundpen and all around the goats. The only place they don't go is down to the arena and in the emu pens (emus think chickens are toys and tend to kill them in unpleasant ways).

My chickens are around manure, their own and others'. They scratch through it, eat it, etc. They delight in spreading out the compost pile, which sometimes has maggots in it, etc.

There are also rodents out here. When I was milking, the family of rats living in the emu compound would come out to watch. Some would actually come up onto the milking stand and try to rob the goat of her grain. That's why I use poison on the rats. Can't have much in the way of  cats, we live right on the highway and I simply refuse to keep getting cats only to find them flat on the road.

The chickens were exposed to wild birds? All of my animals and Harold and I are exposed to wild birds. In the winter, the wild birds beat the chickens to the area where I broadcast the scratch grains.

Flies? I've got flies all over the place,and I'm sure they do too. Horse stables have flies so bad that they hand electric fly zappers, spray chemicals all over the place, and apply insecticides to the horses themselves. Many also deploy fly predators monthly. Had this happened in winter, the inspectors wouldn't have found flies, or at least not very many.

Those things don't bother me.

These things bother me -

The manure reservoir that hadn't been cleaned out yet, although I don't know if that was because they just don't bother cleaning it out, or if it's normally cleaned out when full and the inspectors got there just before the clean out.

The salmonella in the feed. Feed should be kept in a secure bunker, silo, etc. I go through 300# of poultry pellets every 10 days or so. I keep it in steel garbage cans for the sole purpose of keeping rats and mice out of the stuff. I used to use plastic garbage cans, but the rodents eventually knaw through those, so those are used as rodent traps, and the feed used as bait in those is never fed to the birds. When I change the old for new, it goes in a hole or is dumped out in the back of the property where the chickens can't get to it.

However this one is the real red flag -

salmonella in a water that had been used to wash eggs.

This is the issue that is the biggest problem. If you get salmonella on the outside of the eggs, on the shell, now you've got a huge problem with cross contamination. You got it on the equipment to handle the eggs, the cartons, people's hands when they handle the eggs. I'll bet that's what's going on with salmonella infections in people using and consuming the eggs. Not so much from runny yolks. Salmonella can be very persistant on surfaces, and who washes their hands after putting eggs on the counter? Or washes the counter after an intact egg has sat on it?

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Mon Aug 30, 2010 at 23:00:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What a great comment (4.00 / 2)

You make so many excellent points there, coming from your real experience as a creative farmer.

Still, I must say, I think it's rather cruel of you to plan on cooping your chickens, even in a huge area.

They so liked threatening the tractor. You know it.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 07:46:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

hey there (4.00 / 3)

just got it and posted the whole thing.

Poop and maggots are part of the natural order of things - most farms I've visited have plenty of flies - but most also keep their manure managed pretty well. If I've ever seen an 8 ft pile of manure, it was only because it was being composted or already composted. Most well managed farms I've been to don't smell too bad, if at all. Often they've got fly tape up that's covered in flies. But they don't have chickens climbing on 8 feet piles of manure.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 05:29:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

it's all a matter of balance (4.00 / 2)

and proper management.


"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 07:43:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

How's this for an odd story... (4.00 / 2)

MONTVILLE, NJ -- Police say a pair of overzealous Willowbrook Mall security guards chased a carful of suspected shoplifters for six miles along Route
46, running at least one red light along the way, before both cars were
stopped by Montville police.

The chase led to charges not only for the alleged thieves - three women
accused of stealing lotion and clothing from two mall shops - but also against the security guard who drove the mall's SUV through three towns, emergency lights flashing, in hot pursuit of the suspects.

The guard behind the wheel was ticketed by Montville police for careless driving and disregarding a traffic signal. The chase, which violated mall policy, also earned the guards a reprimand from police in Wayne, where the mall is located. And Willowbrook management said it planned to pursue the matter internally.

Yeah, those guys are getting fired.  Wtf could have possibly been going through their minds?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 07:20:23 AM UTC

Bored. (4.00 / 2)

Interesting to know that such things violate mall policy. This sort of shit happen a lot?

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 07:48:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I've worked security... (4.00 / 2)

...many times before.

Private security guards are plain ole' citizens just like you and I, and have zero law enforcement power.  We can't detain anybody, our jurisdiction ends at the property line of the company which employs us, and for the most part our job is simply to get a good description of the person (or a license plate number, in this case) and call the police.  Also, during training it is drilled into our heads, many many many times, that if we overstep our boundaries the company will be open to all kinds of liability, and that will cost us our jobs.

The three shoplifting women actually have a pretty good lawsuit here against Willowbrook Mall and its management, I'd say.

Personally, having worked many security jobs before, I've never heard of such a thing in my life.  The worst place I ever worked at was a FedEx distribution hub.  Don't ever ship FedEx, btw.  Their workplace policies suck and they treat all their employees as criminals.  I hated the full body frisks we had to do on every employee before they were allowed to leave company property, and that was the main reason I left that job.  And I certainly wouldn't have ever considered engaging in a high speed chase over a few dollars worth of stolen fucking body lotion!

;)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 08:42:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the feedback (4.00 / 1)

I use the post office much as I can. I don't want to use UPS any more because I've had a high percentage of trouble with them (i.e.; package addressed to "Maple St" winds up at same address on "Mesa St." - apparently they don't screen for literacy).

I appreciate your FedEx feedback, but it would be good to know of private carrier that was decent. Post office is expensive with heavy stuff.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 03:04:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Lawsuits... (4.00 / 1)

FedEx Ground has been in court for years now re: their (90-something thousand) pick up and delivery drivers being classified as 'independent contractors' (therefore legally barred from organizing) who have to buy, insure and maintain their own trucks, must find and pay their own (company approved) replacements when they want a day off, don't receive the same benefits as other company employees, etc etc...

And not to mention their working environment, and the threatening posters all over the walls of the guard shack and warehouse ("If you steal, you WILL go to jail!", huge posters featuring flashing sirens and handcuffs, and whatnot), the metal detectors (on the way in and out!) and security frisks all drivers and warehouse employees are subject to on the way out...

They're really one of the nastiest anti-labor companies in the country.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 03:38:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

OK, I admit I'm confused about this - (0.00 / 0)

"If you steal, you WILL go to jail!"

Is the alternative - "Hey, take all ya want"?

On the independant contractor issue regarding the drivers -I would wager that, that doesn't have anything to do with organizing. It has everything to do with not having to pay state unemployment comp., federal unemployment comp., worker's comp., probably liability insurance for the drivers hauling customers' packages, social security, minimum wage, or over time (i.e. time and a half or double time). Don't have to fund their own fleet of delivery trucks, buy insurance on those vehicles, indemnify the drivers, etc..

All the same reasons why general construction contractors sub out work, and why subs will sometimes sub out some of their work.

On the other hand, a lot of people want to be independant contractors. I know I'll never go back to being an employee for the rest of my life if I can avoid it. Don't like having that particular bit in my mouth (annalogy alert ;-) )

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 03:59:41 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

It creates an unnecessarily negative... (4.00 / 1)

...work environment.  Threatening your own employees and treating them all as potential criminals is not only a horrible way to treat people, but it's also a pretty bad way to create a harmonious work environment and hold on to good people.

As for the second point - yes, the workers comp and social security stuff is part of it as well, but the company's long antilabor history also plays a part...

Because FedEx was originally founded as an airline, FedEx Express workers are currently subject to the Railway Labor Act (RLA), a law passed in 1926 to prevent disruptions to national air and train traffic. Though many FedEx Express workers don't have a direct relationship with the operation or maintenance of the air fleet, they are still covered by the RLA. That law carries a difficult path to unionization that requires a national vote by every worker at a company, and doesn't allow for organizing at a local, terminal-by-terminal level.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 04:24:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

guilty until proved innocent (4.00 / 1)

Just like mandatory drug testing for silly little gigs like counter work.

It's all a way of filtering for willingness to take abuse.


"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 05:55:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

well, but (4.00 / 1)

if you're going to be an indie, and deal with all the costs, surely you can find a better gig than one where they put up signs that are effectively stating "We KNOW you're thinking about ripping us off."

Talk about preying on people's desperation.  

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 05:57:13 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't think it's playing on peoples' desperation (0.00 / 0)

And I don't think it's assuming that all of the workers are theives. I think it's a bluff to deter those people who ARE theives from stealing property that's been entrusted to them to deliver.

When you hire someone, you never know if you're hiring an honest person or someone who isn't untill they've been working for you for a while.

A friend of mine who has a cabinet shop hired a guy who went in an stole $2,500 worth of equipment from the shop. All of the other people he's hired have been honest, and that's the only time an employee has stolen from him. Just that one.

It'd be handy if you could tell the theives from the honest people, but you can't, and there's no litmus test to tell, not credit reports, not even drug tests. So you put something like that poster up to deter the people that ARE theives to go ply their trade somewhere else. Kind of like the sign infront of dad's house that says it's protected by a security system that'll call the police if a break in occurs. I'm not assuming that every person who comes near the house is a theif. But I do want to encourage anyone who might think about breaking in, to go where the pickin's are a bit easier.

If I'm shipping something via FedEx, or any of the other carriers for that matter, and it gets stolen, assuming I could sue someone for the loss (not likely), I wouldn't sue the person who stole it. Even if I could find that person, it wouldn't be legal, if they were an employee. The employer must indemnify the employee, that means that the employer is on the hook, the employee skates with no more than a firing. No liability for employees.

And as far as actually being prosecuted? I doubt that that would even happen. Not cost effective for a DA's office to investigate and prosecute unless it's a big item that was stolen.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Wed Sep 01, 2010 at 15:04:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm sure that, somehow, (4.00 / 1)

this must qualify the guards for jobs in the Christie administration.

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by: count @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 07:49:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Heh heh... (4.00 / 1)

Yeah, these two geniuses will fill the newly vacant State Education Commissioner's office.

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 08:44:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Life in The Netherlands (4.00 / 2)

Lessons on Ending Homelessness from The Netherlands

End Homelessness, Aug 30

Shortly thereafter many new government officials that came into power were of the "younger" generation and didn't hold many of the same prejudices as their older predecessors. They were open to listening to homeless advocates who presented data about the high costs of housing persons in homeless shelters and giving them care in emergency rooms compared with the relatively low costs of a housing first model and supportive housing coupled with preventive medical care. Activists also brought politicians to the streets to meet homeless individuals and learn what challenges they're facing.

Amazingly, the politicians listened. They proceeded to change the laws to state that the government should house the homeless and provide supportive services. They built thousands of units of housing with supportive services.

Initially, there was NIMBY, or "not in my backyard," sentiment by many of the Dutch. But once a supportive housing residence was built and the people moved in, neighbors saw that the neighborhood would not become a disaster as they feared, and then they became vocal advocates for more supportive housing in other neighborhoods. Also, once the politicians listened, changed the laws and spoke of the benefits of working to end homelessness, public sentiment started to turn around as well.

Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals

May 19

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's research department expects to continue for some time.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

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by: Miep @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 07:54:32 AM UTC

While The Governator... (4.00 / 1)

Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals

Meanwhile, in California, The Governator is seeking to expand death row.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has committed $64 million in initial construction costs via a loan through California's pooled money investment account - part of the state's general fund - which has drawn criticism from local lawmakers. [...]

Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) also criticized the funding of the project, citing the state of California's economy.

"I think it's rather reckless, given the unstable state of our general fund," Leno says.

Left and right, more and more Californians are losing their jobs, their homes, and going hungry every day.  The state is essentially bankrupt, and yet The Governator has prioritized building a 'bigger and better' Death Row.

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave!

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 08:51:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Competing with China... (4.00 / 1)

I guess Arnie was feeling particularly patriotic, and wanted to make Super Sure that China never catches up to us when it comes to executions, eh?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 08:54:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

When Portland sucks... (4.00 / 1)

Another classic early-20th century apartment building bites the dust in the name of "progress", courtesy of the allegedly "green" Portland State University.

Hear that?  That's me farting in the general direction (h/t Monty Python) of PSU.  And giving them the finger for good measure.

These days, no single institution has uglified Downtown Portland more than the allegedly "green" PSU.  Even PDC stopped its assault on Portland years ago.

I'd go so far as to say that they're currently an enemy of the people of Portland, in fact.

Whoo hoo!  Another soulless, generic, straight-off-of-Le Corbu's-shelf, anti-sidewalk, anti-urban, anti-human, antiseptic glass box is coming to Downtown Portland...

Oh, but it'll be "mixed-use", and "green".  (rolling eyes)  They keep using those words, but I do not think they mean what they think they mean (h/t The Princess Bride)...

Yeah, somebody's gotta stop this madness.  

Btw, I'll be at City Hall on Wednesday at 4 PM, btw.  We're (OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon) holding a march and rally against TriMet's bus service cuts - march starts at City Hall at 4, and we'll be back at 5 for the rally.

Come out and join us if you can...

Wednesday, September 1, 4 -6 PM, 4 PM March, 5 pm Rally,
Terry Shrunk Plaza/Portland City Hall (SW 4th and Main)

Rally for the Bus, sponsored by OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon
Sept 1 is the first day that the latest fare increase and service cuts take effect.

OPAL has been organizing bus riders, primarily in East Portland, to educate folks about the upcoming cuts and fare increase and to build power for lasting change at TriMet.  We have made contact with over 1,000 riders, and there is a strong consensus that TriMet needs to prioritize affordable, reliable bus service.  Bus riders are lacking a voice in decisions that daily impact their lives.  Fares have risen 70% in the last ten years and another 70,000 hours are being cut from a bus system that already suffers from over-crowding and  frequently  unreliable service.  At the same time TriMet is taking dollars from bus operations to plan and build new MAX lightrail.  We demand TriMet meet its mission and provide affordable and reliable bus service for working people.

Our rally will highlight bus riders telling their stories and the growing movement for change.  We would be open to a member of your organization who is a bus rider to be a speaker.  The rally will be short, amplified, and we also invite your members to come and show support and promote your organization.

More info: info@opalpdx.org, 503.928.4354

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 09:51:26 AM UTC

I agree with the position on the Max lines (4.00 / 1)

How many buses would the Milwaukie light rail line (Trimet's share of the funding) have paid for? Buses are flexible, can be routed around the type of problems that wind up completely shutting down a light rail line, if one bus line has lower ridership and another needs more busses to reduce crowding, all that needs to be done is take a bus off the line that's over served and put it on the line that's under served. With light rail they have one line that's dedicated and can't shift, etc.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 15:11:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

BRT would have been a better choice... (0.00 / 0)

A dedicated bus rapid transit line to Milwaukie (and beyond - the current end of the line makes no sense at all, it should serve Oregon City and Oak Grove, as well; politics got in the way there, of course) would have been a much better choice.  Cheaper, too.  The Orange Line route is also basically going to run along an area that serves pretty much nobody between OMSI and Milwaukie.  Even worse, the line's gonna have to condemn prime inner city industrial properties along the way.

Ah, but TriMet loves their shiny new toys.

Here's a piece worth reading -

On a sweltering Friday afternoon, Jim Howell is waiting, not so patiently, for the number 24 on Fremont. "Service has been decimated," grumbles the 76-year-old Howell, a strategic planner for the Association of Oregon Rail and Transit Advocates, a nonprofit organization.

Two years ago, the Fremont line, formerly the number 33, carried about 1,800 passengers a day. Service cuts in 2009 chiseled away at that ridership. Today, a mere 670 people ride the 24, which comes every half hour during the week and not at all on weekends.

Portland's public transportation network is considered one of the nation's best, says Howell, who rode the 24 with Urbanist last Friday, opining on a bus system gone amok. "We're headed in the wrong direction," he lamented. "We're declining."

Jim Howell pretty much designed TriMet's bus network in the 70s and 80s, and he was a leader in fighting to replace Harbor Drive with Waterfront Park in the 60s.

Just in the past two years, the 75 (the bus which stops at my front door and was the reason I chose this apartment) went from a 15-minute line to a 17-minute line to an 18-minute line.  There is no longer a frequent service bus network in Portland, despite what TriMet claims.  Portland had the best public transit system on the West Coast when I moved here.  Now it's probably behind Seattle, San Francisco and maybe even Los Angeles.

I used to take the 33 (now the 24, since it no longer runs all the way downtown) in to work.  It's amazing that you can't get from Fremont to Emanuel Hospital on the weekends by bus anymore without taking massive detours up Killingsworth and back down Williams / Vancouver or down to... wait for it... MAX(!) out to the Rose Quarter TC to the 4 or 44 bus.

The timing of their new $125 million bond measure, purportedly to buy new buses, is suspicious as well.  Gee, FTA unexpectedly reduces the federal match for the Orange Line by $130 million, and all of a sudden TriMet wants $125 million in a move absolutely nobody saw coming?  Hmmmm...

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 15:39:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeppers (4.00 / 1)

I agree with you 100%. Trimet has a long history of asking if people want a light rail line, getting told no, and then going ahead and doing it anyway, after which they claim they're strapped for cash.

A classic boondogle.

Lightrail costs much more per lane mile than a paved road, it is very limited in what it can serve and is way more vulnerable to shut down than buses. And, buses can run on already existing infrastructure.

But the new lightrail lines do make lots and lots of money for the contractors. And it leaves a warm and fuzzy legacy for some politicians.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

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by: JoanneRigutto @ Tue Aug 31, 2010 at 19:02:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]