Have you ever visited the Moreton Bay Fig Tree off Hwy. 101?

The next time you’re in Santa Barbara stop by the Moreton Bay Fig Tree 

There are a lot of giant trees in the world (like our beloved Redwoods) but this one in Santa Barbara is big in a novel way.

Just off Highway 101 you can see this fig tree, which was planted by a little girl in 1874, who got the seed from an Australian sailor. On the Mapquest aerial photos you can see it as a big dark round spot. The branch span is 170 feet and they claim that 16,000 people could stand under the tree.

You used to be able to climb up the buttresses, and see homeless people camped out in the hollows. Not sure if that’s still happening.The picture doesn’t do it justice. I’m just saying…

Ayn Rand Conservatism at Work -- Firefighters Let Family's House Burn Down Because Owner Didn't Pay $75 Fee

 The other day I saw a post on SoHum Parlance about firefighters letting a house burn down because the owner didn’t make his $75 payment to the department.

 I looked into the situation and was pretty disgusted at what I found out. Just as I was preparing to write something about it someone emailed me this link which sums up the situation better than I could.

Excerpt:

Talk of limited government is appealing until you see what it actually means in practice: a society in which it's every man for himself.

“Thanks to 30 years of right-wing demagoguery about the evils of “collectivism” and the perfidy of “big government” -- and a bruising recession that’s devastated state and local budgets -- we’re getting a peek at a dystopian nightmare that may be in our not-too-distant future. It’s a picture of a society in which “rugged individualism” run amok means every man for himself.

Call it Ayn Rand’s stark, anti-governmental dream come true, a vision that last week turned into a nightmare for Gene Cranick, a rurual homeowner in Obion County, Tennessee. Cranick hadn’t forked over $75 for the subscription fire protection service offered to the county’s rural residents, so when firefighters came out to the scene, they just stood there, with their equipment on the trucks, while Cranick’s house burned to the ground.

According to the local NBC TV affiliate, Cranick “said he offered to pay whatever it would take for firefighters to put out the flames, but was told it was too late. They wouldn't do anything to stop his house from burning.”

Driver cuts off suspect in California kidnap case

This scum was sloppy and got caught. It’s scary to think about how child predators are so prevalent in our society today.

The captured girl in this case was lucky a good Samaritan recognized the truck she was taken in and ran the driver off the road. Of course, there was some luck involved when no one was hurt during that quick maneuver.

Police: 8-year-old escapes from captor after good Samaritan's quick thinking

“An 8-year-old girl who was abducted while playing outside a Fresno home escaped from her captor Tuesday morning after a driver cut off the suspect's vehicle, police said.

Elisa Cardenas was found in Fresno about 11 hours after she disappeared around 8:30 p.m. Monday, triggering a statewide Amber Alert. Police arrested Gregorio Gonzalez, 24 (pictured here), of Fresno.”

How long can state governments stand plump pensions, double-dipping, boffo bonuses?

State and local government budgets are by all accounts in dire straits.

Last year, collectively, they faced a $100 billion budget shortfall.  After 12 months of belt tightening, emergency aid, layoffs and tax hikes, things are even worse. 

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said in a report this year that the gap could be $140 billion. And last week, respected analyst Meredith Whitney suggested that state governments will collapse unless the federal government offers a trillion-dollar bailout  that will rival the bank bailout of 2008.

 And yet, across America, many government workers are getting rich off taxpayer-funded salaries. City managers get free luxury cars, firefighters get half-million-dollar lump payments and, in California, one city worker is being paid $500,000 annually during retirement.  In New York state, $100,000 salaries can’t be called rich, but at a time when unemployment remains near 10 percent, there are 99,000 state and local workers bringing home six figure salaries.

1. Phoenix – double-dipping top cop

Two frequent causes of outsized government worker pay are so-called “double-dipping” and lump sum retirement payouts due to banked sick time, vacation and other benefits. In the case of Phoenix top cop Jack Harris (pictured above), we have both.

Go here to see more examples.

Say Goodbye to 10 Common Misconceptions

Sources:
1. Muscle does not turn to fat if you stop  exercising
2. The red juice in raw meat isn’t blood
3. Ostriches don’t hide their heads in the sand
4. Shaving does not affect hair growth
5. Sushi is not raw fish
6. The Sun isn’t yellow, it’s white
7. You actually use all of your brain, not 10%
8. Twinkies go bad after 25 days
9. The direction water spins down your drain has nothing to do with the hemisphere you are in
10. The tongue doesn’t have taste zones

Casino owner, 4 state senators, qualify for coveted ‘As It Stands’ Scum For October

This is an impressive case of corruption – buying and selling votes -and will be remembered for a long time in Alabama:

“The owner of Alabama's largest casino, four state senators and several lobbyists face federal charges of conspiring to buy and sell votes for millions of dollars to get electronic bingo legalized, according to an indictment released Monday.

One lobbying firm employee has pleaded guilty to offering $2 million for the vote of an indicted senator.”

Photo: VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor (waving like an idiot above) and four state senators and several top lobbyists have been indicted on federal charges accusing them of vote buying on a bill to legalize electronic bingo

Update on Sunday’s column about prescription drug disposal

I’ve been getting a lot of interesting feedback the last 24 hours about my column  Humboldt Officials miss drug disposal opportunity.

Perhaps the best bit of news I’ve heard thus far comes from Supervisor Jimmy Smith who emailed me this morning regarding the column.

In it, he admitted not knowing anything about the program, but he also got proactive real quick – and is checking with the Humboldt Health Department to see what they know about the prescription drug disposal program, and why our county didn’t get involved.

I want to thank Jimmy Smith both for his honesty and his proactive reaction. He’s always had my vote, since I first met him at the 1st Humboldt County Stand Down for veterans in Ferndale. Like all politicians, he has his critics. It’s part of the game. I’m really hard on most politicians because I don’t believe half of what comes out of their lips. Every now and then though a good one comes along like Jimmy Smith.

How did the rest of the nation do on that big prescription disposal drive? Here’s some links to very impressive results from the program:

Arizona residents dispose of over three tons of prescription drugs

Virginians turn over two tons of prescription drugs

Residents turn in 24 pounds of prescription drugs during 'take back' day

prescription drug take-back nets over 5 lbs.

6K lbs of Mich Take Back meds collected

DEA destroys 160 pounds of pills from Cowlitz County

Statewide 'take back' nets tons of prescription drugs

Statewide Prescription Drug Roundup Nets 389 Pounds of Medications

It’s down to this - parties' economic plans: blame the other guys

What can Americans expect from the upcoming Nov. 2 elections? Answer: the same old shit! Isn’t that encouraging?

As time before midterms draws short, lots of charges but few solutions

“If you don't like the economy, blame President Barack Obama and Democrats because they're making times tougher, Republicans are telling voters entering the four-week homestretch to an election the GOP hopes will return the party to power in Congress.

Look, Democrats say, it's the Republicans who caused the financial meltdown and recession. Do you want them to do it again? As bad as high unemployment, record home foreclosures and bankruptcies are, they'd be worse if the GOP had succeeded in blocking financial and auto industry bailouts and Obama's stimulus plan, Democrats claim.”

Image source

America is next: No joke! Illiterate clown triumphs in election

Like voters all over the world, I think most politicians are clowns. I’ve said so numerous times on this blog and will continue to. I fully expect more than one “clown” to be elected on Nov.2nd.

'What does a congressman do? The truth is I don't know, but vote for me and I'll tell you'

“Voters the world over complain about having clowns for politicians, but Brazilians embraced the idea on Sunday by sending a real one to Congress with more votes than any other candidate.

Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, better known by his clown name Tiririca, received more than 1.3 million votes in Sao Paulo state in Brazil's presidential and congressional elections. That was more than double the votes of the second-placed candidate in Brazil's most populous state.”

As It Stands: Humboldt officials miss drug disposal opportunity

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 10/03/2010 01:22:36 AM PDT

Humboldt County and city officials, along with local law enforcement let an important day pass without participation. Sept. 25th was National Prescription Medication Drop-Off Day, a program sponsored by the DEA in conjunction with states and cities nationwide.

I called around that day and checked with the sheriff's office to see if they knew anything about it. No one knew anything. I called the Eureka Police Department and spoke to a very courteous woman who informed me no one was working there that day, and I could try calling local pharmacies to see if they knew anything about the program.

I called a pharmacist at Walgreens. He told me he checked online and there were no prescription drug drop-off places set for Humboldt County that day (or any day). He did offer an alternative; the Crescent City Police Department was participating in some nationwide program, and I could go there to drop off old medications.

Say what? What happened here? Apparently a few people locally knew about this program because I checked out the blog, “Humboldt Online,” and it was mentioned there.

 A short blurb contained a couple of paragraphs about an upcoming prescription drug drop-off program available in Crescent City on Sept. 25th. The headline said, “Fighting prescription drug use” and attribution was given to the Daily Triplicate.

The blurb quoted Sheriff's Cmdr. Tim Athey as saying, “It's an open day where people can bring in and dispose of their outdated prescriptions.” What a good idea, don't you think? I can't understand why we didn't do that here.

What's wrong with this picture? Why didn't someone in this county care enough to get involved in this program? Don't they think we have a problem here? Perhaps local law enforcement already has prescription drug drop-off spots they've forgotten to share with us? I doubt it.

 Think about the pharmacies robbed at gunpoint in recent months by desperate criminals seeking OxyContin. Most local pharmacies have stopped carrying it to protect their employees.

Humboldt County has its share of prescription drug abuse. Ask any of our local law enforcement officials if they think it's a problem. Don't be surprised at the answer. I wonder why they didn't get involved?

Overall, 6.2 million Americans abuse medicine that is not prescribed for them. A 2008 national survey on drug use noted that more Americans currently abuse prescription medications than those who abuse cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined.

Health officials nationally have asked Americans not to flush unwanted medications down the toilet because they'll wind up in our waterways. They also strongly urge people not to throw them out in garbage that ends up in landfills.

There were 10 locations for drop-offs in San Francisco. Sgt. Ardraychak of the SFPD told the press, “Three quarters of prescription medicines that are abused in the United States actually come from family or friends and often times from family medicine cabinets.”

On average, Americans buy about $250 billion worth of medicines per year. When people stop taking their medication, for whatever reason, the remainder sits in the medicine cabinet until its safe date passes, or the wrong person takes it.

The city of New Orleans went to great lengths to make sure everyone got a chance to dispose of unwanted medications. It offered free rides to the disposal stations set up citywide on Sept. 25th. And so it went across the country, concerned cities trying to do something about a huge problem. But not here behind the Redwood Curtain.

About the only thing I think people can do locally is to call their doctor's office and see if they have the means (and desire) to safely dispose of outdated and unwanted prescriptions. I wish I could offer more help, but there must be qualified people in this county with answers ... somewhere.

As It Stands, I'm waiting to hear any explanation. Why didn't Humboldt County get involved?