Earlier this week I read that Vivian Tucker had passed away.  I'd been watching her segments on the news for a long time and always enjoyed them.  At one time, I emailed her and asked a question (can't remember what it was now) and she graciously replied.  She couldn't help me, but that didn't matter...she took the time to as least attempt it and let me know that she didn't know.

Reading her obituary should be an inspiration to anyone who may think it's too late in life to change careers.  To spend most of her adult  life teaching, and then do a 180 going back to school herself and getting into the journalism field is an amazing feat.  As someone who is heading into the "golden years" I can understand her motivation completely.  I was in my 50's when I made a major career change myself.

Vivian (If I may call her that) was a wealth of information on local history and has been cited for her contribution.  I know people tend to think we are an uninteresting community but if you listened to Vivian, you would know different.  My own passion for local history kept me watching for Vivian on TV and I was never disappointed with her segments.

I was remiss in not getting this post up before now but I just want to say  "Vivian, you will be missed." 

My condolences to the family and friends of this great lady...our community is lessened by her passing.

larger view

An archaeological team, digging in Washington DC, has uncovered

 10,000 year  old bones and fossil remains of what is believed to be the first Politician .

I was just reading this article in the paper this morning and wondered just what part of the approach zone they want to shorten and where the unnamed builder wants to put in housing south of the airport.  Is there no place that's safe from the greedy builders?  Are we to endanger people by reducing the approach so one more builder can line his pockets?

"Decision postponed on airport proposal

BY DAVID BURGER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: dburger@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Jan 18 2007 11:05 PM

Last Updated: Thursday, Jan 18 2007 11:09 PM

The city Planning Commission postponed its decision on shortening an approach zone at a local airport Thursday.

City staffers recommended that the commission put off a vote on a proposal from Jim Marino of Marino and Associates that would have reduced the approach zone at the Bakersfield Municipal Airport from 10,000 feet to 7,000 feet.

Marino's proposal, if approved, would have allowed his unnamed client the opportunity to develop more residential units south of the airport.

During a staff report to the commission, Assistant Planning Director Jim Eggert said that the Kern County Planning Department and Kern County Department of Airports had concerns about the proposal.

The county questioned whether agencies with a vested interest in the airport, like the Federal Aviation Administration and California Division of Aeronautics, had enough notice and time to review and respond to the proposal.

Jack Gotcher, director of the county department of airports, said in a letter that a reduction in the approach zone would increase the risk of harm to people on the ground.

Christian Gadbois, owner of SRT Helicopters, spoke at the meeting and told the commissioners that the proposal "wasn't put out to the aviation community."

He recommended the planning department convene a working group of aviation professionals because he, too, was concerned about safety risks.

The commission unanimously postponed a decision until an undetermined time.

Commercial break"

MUSINGS, RANDOM AND OTHERWISE

By Jeff Jacoby

The Boston Globe

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/...

    He was a man of faith who didn't hesitate to mix religion with politics. He headed an assertive political organization with the word "Christian" in its name.  He believed his moral values should be reflected in US law and legally imposed on those who resisted them. He invoked "God Almighty" in his speeches and compared himself to Moses, the prophet Amos, and other biblical heroes. He condemned public policies he opposed in overtly religious terms -- as "a blatant denial of the unity which we all have in Christ," for example. He shrugged off those who called him an extremist. "Was not Jesus an extremist?" he asked.

    He wasn't one to fetishize church-state separation. "I want it to be known . . . throughout this nation that we are Christian people," he declared. "We believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus."

    He was what some today might call a religious fanatic, a theocrat, or (as a US senator said of the president last year) a "moral ayatollah." He was, in many circles, decidedly unpopular.

    He was also a Nobel laureate for peace and a champion of human dignity. He was an American hero. He was Martin Luther King Jr.

* * *

    In 1987, the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations added Austrian president Kurt Waldheim to the "watch list" of persons barred from entering the United States. Neal Sher, who was then the director of OSI, argues that the time has come to put another head of state on the watch list: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

    Waldheim was listed because of his wartime role as a Nazi officer in Yugoslavia. Ahmadinejad should go on the list because of his vocal support for terrorism and incitement to genocide against Israel. As Sher notes, US immigration law excludes any alien who uses his position "to endorse or espouse terrorist activity in a way that undermines United States efforts to reduce or eliminate terrorist activities."

    As the head of a regime that makes the sponsorship of terrorism a national priority, Ahmadinejad fits that description. Adding him to the list of inadmissible aliens would be largely symbolic. But in a war that is as much about ideology as about military power, the impact of symbols and the messages they communicate must not be overlooked.

* * *

    Senator Edward Kennedy likes to label Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam," as he did last week when he introduced legislation to give Congress, not the commander-in-chief, the final say on troop levels in Iraq.

    Bush played no role in the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia to the Communists in 1975, of course. But Kennedy did. He helped lead the congressional drive to cut off financial aid to the pro-American governments in Saigon and Phnom Penh, brushing aside President Gerald Ford's warning that "the horror and the tragedy that we see on television" would only grow worse if America deserted its allies.

    But Kennedy and the Democrats spurned Ford's request, and the result was unspeakable agony -- Cambodia's killing fields, Vietnam's re-education camps, waves of "boat people" hurling themselves into the sea. Having seen the results of US abandonment in Indochina, how can Kennedy advocate the same policy in Iraq?

    "If we cease to help our friends in Indochina," Ford said, in words worth recalling today, "we will . . . have been false to ourselves, to our word, and to our friends. No one should think for a moment that we can walk away from that without a deep sense of shame." Ford, a decent man, couldn't imagine deliberately abandoning a friend in dire straits. Kennedy, it would seem, is not so inhibited.

* * *

    California Senator Barbara Boxer was blasted over remarks she made to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a recent hearing on the Bush administration's war plans. Boxer suggested that Rice, as an unmarried, childless woman, cannot understand the steep price paid by military families.

    "You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family," Boxer said.

    That triggered an outbreak of dudgeon, earning the senator a spanking from the New York Post ("a shocking Democratic attack"), Rush Limbaugh ("a rich white chick . . . trying to lynch an African-American woman"), and presidential spokesman Tony Snow ("outrageous . . . great leap backward for feminism").

    Unfair! Boxer's argument may have been inane -- having a son or husband of military age isn't a prerequisite for supporting military action -- but she wasn't insulting Rice, as the full context of her remark makes clear:

    "Who pays the price? I'm not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old and my grandchild is too young. You're not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family. So who pays the price? The American military and their families."

    Boxer has many sins to expiate, but a gratuitous insult of Rice isn't among them. I don't come close to sharing the left-wing senator’s politics, but this charge is a bum rap.

(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)

-- ## --

Mathews named to All-State team

Batch Data Processor | Tuesday, Jan 16 2007 7:45 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Jan 16 2007 7:47 PM

Californian staff reports

Photos:

Photo by Dan Ocampo / The Californian

West High's Ryan Mathews finds a hole among Centennial defenders during the Vikings' 35-14 victory Oct. 3. Mathews was selected to the CalHiSports All-State first team as a multipurpose player.

West's Ryan Mathews headed a group of Kern County football players honored this week as All-State selections by CalHiSports.

Mathews, a senior, was named to the first team as a multi-purpose player. The Californian's Player of the Year, Mathews racked up 3,396 rushing yards, 851 passing yards and 55 total touchdowns, splitting his time between running back and quarterback. Bakersfield High's Phillip Thomas and Justin Cheadle were named to the second and third team, respectively. East's Michael Smith was named to the third team as well.

CalHiSports also named an All-State team consisting only of underclassmen. Centennial's Zander Fabbri was named to the first team defense, while East junior Andre Smith was tabbed a second team multi-purpose player. Liberty junior Matt Akers and West junior Dionte Tomlin were given honorable mention honors.

Two West players were named to the All-Sophomore team. Vikings Dion Curry and David Born were named as honorable mention selections.

South, Centennial looking for tennis coaches

South High has an immediate opening for a boys junior varsity tennis coach. Those interested should contact athletic director Geri Antoine at 831-3680 or 703-4756.

There is also an opening for varsity and junior varsity boys tennis coaches at Centennial High. Those interested can reach athletic director Gary Fowler at 588-8601.

Title: Ways of Life





1. If you want your dreams to come true, don't oversleep.
2. The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.
3. Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.
4. The best vitamin for making friends....B1.
5. The 10 commandments are not multiple choices.
6. The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
7. Minds are like parachutes...they function only when open.
8. Ideas won't work unless YOU do.
9. One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.
10. One who lacks the courage to start has already finished.
11. The heaviest thing to carry is a grudge.
12. Don't learn safety rules by accident.
13. We lie the loudest when we lie to ourselves.
14. Jumping to conclusions can be bad exercise.
15. A turtle makes progress when it sticks its head out.
16. One thing you can give and still keep ...is your word.
17. A friend walks in when everyone else walks out.
18. The pursuit of happiness is: the chase of a life

I haven't had the news on all day and just heard this.  Amazing.

There has been a lot of talk about how our soldiers have tortured detainees.  I'm really curious as to what the folks on the blogs define as torture.  It has come up on many blogs but I don't want to get involved in another pointless political argument on someone elses space..  I'd just like to hear your definition of torture.

An anonymous poster just said something about remembering a Kurd saying that Americans don't know what torture is so I'll start if off.

Torture is hacking a mans head off with a knife while listening to him scream for the camera.  That way, not only is he tortured but his family and countrymen can share in it.  Of course..that wasn't our side doing the torturing.

Next.......

I talked with a guy today who had his dog tied up in his front yard.  He was given a several page notice of the new laws concerning dogs and the fines for breaking those laws.  The one that affected him was the one where you can't leave your dog tied up for more than 3 hours out of 24 or there will be a $250 fine.  (his words on the fine.)

When I got home from work yesterday I had a notice on my door from the gas company saying that I had a dog loose in the yard and no one was home to confine the dog so they estimated my usage.   I'm wondering how I'll get my meter read and how that will affect a lot of people.

The only time I've ever left my dog tied up was when the fence was torn down to be replaced and I made sure she had shelter, food and water.  She is crate trained but I'm not about to leave my dog in her crate for 9 hours while I'm at work so that the gas company can read my meter.

On the card was an estimate of the days they would be coming to read the meter.  Now..I work weekdays with Monday off so do you suppose they could come on Monday mornings?  Nahhhh..I doubt it.   I see that the newer houses have the utility meters outside the fences but what about the homes built before that. 

Is there anyone out there with the same situation?  If so, how are you folks handling that situation?

Before you get your knickers in a knot, I know this most likely didn't come from the Denver Post.  :-)

Denver Post:

http://www.freerepublic.com...

CASTRO'S TRUE LEGACY IS A TRAIL OF BLOOD

By Jeff Jacoby

The Boston Globe

Monday, January 1, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/...

    It was on New Year's Day in 1959 that Fidel Castro's guerrillas toppled Fulgencio Batista, and a week later that Castro entered Havana and launched what has become the world's longest-lived dictatorship. This week thus marks the 48th anniversary of Castro's revolution -- and the last one he will celebrate, if the persistent rumors that he is dying prove to be true. Which makes this a good time to ask: What will be said about Castro after his death?

    For decades, journalists and celebrities have showered Cuba's despot with praise, extolling his virtues so extravagantly at times that if sycophancy were an Olympic sport, they would have walked off with the gold. Norman Mailer, for example, proclaimed him "the first and greatest hero to appear in the world since the Second World War." Oliver Stone has called him "one of the earth's wisest people, one of the people we should consult."

    The cheerleaders have been just as enthusiastic in describing Castro's record in Cuba. "A beacon of success for much of Latin America and the Third World," gushed Giselle Fernandez of CBS. "For Castro," Barbara Walters declared, "freedom starts with education. And if literacy alone were the yardstick, Cuba would rank as one of the freest nations on earth." Covering Cuba's one-party election in 1998, CNN's Lucia Newman grandly described "a system President Castro boasts is the most democratic and cleanest in the world."

    During a 1995 visit to New York, writes Humberto Fontova in *Fidel: Hollywood’s Favorite Tyrant*, a blistering 2005 exposé of Castro and his regime, Cuba's maximum leader "plunged into Manhattan's social swirl, hobnobbing with dozens of glitterati, pundits, and power brokers." From the invitation to dine at the Rockefeller family's Westchester County estate to being literally kissed and hugged by Diane Sawyer, Castro was drenched with flattery and adoration at every turn.

    When Castro dies, some of his obituarists will no doubt continue this pattern of fawning hero-worship. But others, more concerned with accuracy than with apologetics, will squarely face the facts of Castro's reign. Facts such as these:

    ▪ Castro came to power with American support.

    The United States welcomed Castro's ouster of Batista and was one of the first nations to recognize the new government in 1959. Many Americans supported Castro, including former president Harry Truman. "He seems to want to do the right thing for the Cuban people," Truman said, "and we ought to extend our sympathy and help him to do what is right for them." It was not until January 1961 that President Eisenhower -- reacting to what he called "a long series of harassments, baseless accusations, and vilification" -- broke diplomatic ties with Havana. By that point Castro had nationalized all US businesses in Cuba and confiscated American properties worth nearly $2 billion.

    Well before he came to power, Castro regarded the United States as an enemy. In a 1957 letter -- displayed in Havana’s Museo de la Revolucion, Fontova observes -- the future ruler wrote to a friend: "War against the United States is my true destiny. When this war's over, I'll start that much bigger and wider war."

    ▪ Castro transformed Cuba into a totalitarian hellhole.

    Freedom House gives Cuba its lowest possible rating for civil liberties and political rights, placing it with Burma, North Korea, and Sudan as one of the world's most repressive regimes. Hundreds of political prisoners are behind bars in Cuba today. Among them, writes Carlos Alberto Montaner in the current issue of Foreign Policy, are "48 young people [imprisoned] for collecting signatures for a referendum, 23 journalists for writing articles about the regime, and 18 librarians for loaning forbidden books." Political prisoners can be beaten, starved, denied medical care, locked in solitary confinement, and forced into slave labor. Castro long ago eliminated freedom of religion, due process of law, and the right to leave the country.

    He also wiped out Cuba’s once-flourishing free press. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Cuba is one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, second only to China in the number of reporters behind bars.

    ▪ Castro stole Cuba's wealth.

    While Cubans grew progressively poorer under communism, Castro exploited them to become one of the world's richest people. Foreign companies doing business in Cuba must pay a significant sum for each worker they hire -- but most of the money goes to Castro's regime, while the workers receive only a pittance. Castro also controls Cuba's state-owned companies, whose profits account for much of his wealth. Castro insists that his personal net worth is zero, but in 2006 Forbes magazine estimates the amount to be $900 million.

    ▪ Castro shed far more blood than the dictator he replaced.

    According to the Cuba Archive, which is meticulously documenting the deaths of each person killed by Cuba's rulers since 1952, Batista was responsible for killing approximately 3,000 people. Castro's toll has been far higher. So far the archive has documented more than 8,000 specific victims of the Castro regime -- including 5,775 firing squad executions, 1,231 extrajudicial assassinations, and 984 deaths in prison. When fully documented, the body count is expected to reach 17,000 -- not counting the tens of thousands of Cubans who lost their lives at sea while fleeing Castro's Caribbean nightmare.

    "Condemn me, it doesn't matter," Castro said long ago. "History will absolve me." But Castro's ultimate day of judgment draws near, and history is not likely to be so kind.

(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)