Republicans are STILL!! succeeding in BLAMING OBAMA FOR OUR ECONOMY,,, WHEN EVERYBODY KNOWS IT WAS 2 TERMS, 8 YEARS OF BUSH43 THAT GOT US HERE, THE "great recession".

Amazing how only 3 years since the Republican Party fall from power in 2008, that the Republicans are so successful in re-writing history,,, another lie,,,and not taking any responsibility(typical!)

The State of California has stopped its 511 PROGRAM, where you could CALL 511 and find out the traffic ahead, kind of a good idea it was. GONE.

9jan2012 update: "511" did not work last week when i called. And it did not work this Monday morning when i called about traffic over 17N, with a woman in a grey van who ran out of gas!, in the fast lane!,natch, and no one stopped for 20 minutes to help her get to the wide dirt shoulder or call "911".  20 minutes!! What the he-ll !! Finally 2 good Samaritans stopped traffic and got her to roll down the hill onto the right shoulder. 20 minutes, dames.  Wish women would remember to fill up their gas tanks,, and put air in their tires,,, once in a week or so. "This service is no longer available."  But now, "511", Traffic Status, it works,again. 


(old part-rant)It only shows how politically and morally and financially bankrupt California is(dvd 'Enron' if you have been sleeping in class or too busy to know what happened to Ca. and is now happening to the USA).


We have a good honest hard working Governor, but even a minority of Republicans in the State Legislature are stopping progress, just like in Congress on the national level.


It must be one party rule in this next election, 2012.  That is our only hope,,, for Progressives, and Liberals, and the Financially Responsible, and for any that are not Rich.  If the voting public elects more Republicans out of more frustration like they did in 2008, it will only mean more gridlock and problem avoidance, with the USA slipping further and further into poverty for most, less factories and jobs for most, and less affordable housing for most. 

December 2011 and the BIG WHITE CHRISTMAS LIE ,,, EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT DISHONESTLY IS,,, "tax cut" when for the Republicans this is DE-FUNDING SOCIAL SECURITY !!

All the media is doing it,,,mostly white people.
All the Republican(the more dishonest party, the one that got us into this Great Recession with Bush43, remember?!, the political party with their primary and shameful goal of reducing taxes mainly for the super rich corporations and super rich people,those that can more easily afford tax increases, back when we had sensical progressive taxation,pre-Reagan) white people are saying this BIG  WHITE CHRISTMAS LIE "tax reduction for most Americans", when what we need most for SSN is the removal of the tax cap on salaries over , what ,$200,000.


Even the President, Obama, as fallen for this PIG in Christmas sheep woolly covering, instead of calling a 'spade a spade', honestly, and calling this what it is 'the Dumb Second Tax Break, After i Dumb Extended the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich.'  


Take the fool's phony lie wrapping off this Congress charade and all you have is ,,, another tax cut we can not afford.


And at Christmas!!
All these white people, and black people, and brown people elected Representatives and Senators are on this continuing train wreck of irresponsible denial at the national level ,,, instead of being responsible and honest.


Oh, yes!
It is a 'white Christmas' for all of us,,, if we don't grow up!, act mature!, stop lying to ourselves!, and face our problems! Serious financial problems in the USA.  


This will go down in history as the Christmas of 2011, the Christmas of the 'white lie' that the media spread from Congress and the White House, all over the country.

How does the V.A. hospitals get away, like Kaiser, with a 3 piece catheter-leg tube-leg bag urine system ,,, instead of a 2 part system with may less failures of urine spills in beds, on carpets, at dinner tables ??

My 93 yr old Dad is a multiple decorated WW2 Navy officer veteran registered with the V.A. and Kaiser insurance-hospital policy member.  A real live, not dead, hero of the Pacific War.


Yet the V.A. , and Kaiser, use Hollister-brand slip on and slip off connectors for the leg bag and leg hose, instead of a Coloplast-brand combined unit with less failures and urine spills and a permanent, secure fitting between the leg bag and leg tube.


Why do both the V.A. and Kaiser get away with using high failure rate stuff instead of better stuff !!?


Let's sick "60minutes" on them both.
Ha.

Kaiser medical insurance-hospitals are still advertising "thrive". My ass! In over 10 years of ER/employer mostly paid policy there, i have not had one gloved hand, finger prostate check !

Curious to hear the percentage of men at Kaiser who get gloved finger, prostate checks every year.  Let's hear you brag about that !!


And not one colonoscopy in over 10 years.  Lots of fecal sample bags in the mail.  As if !! But not one colonoscopy, even tho they say their standard is "a colonoscopy every 10 years over 50."


Medical care in the USA mostly is too expensive and of widely varying quality.
My sis just had a broken cheek bone badly repaired by a cosmetic surgeon who calls himself "Superman".  What a joke, on us Americans for accepting such  a low sub-standard of care medicine and insurance !

Costco's "Tri-Tip Chili", item?#493772,,, is TOO SPICY HOT, COVERING UP HIDEN FLAVORS. Not recommended.

Sound good.  And there are lots of pieces of steak.  But taste is one-dimensional of too much spicy heat instead of a concert of flavors.

Costco item #222461, Petite Cuisine's "spinach and jalapeno" pastry hors d'oeuvres,,, taste lousy, more pastry than spinach !! Recommend you do not buy and try.

i ate through the whole box in a couple weeks, as pre-dinner appetizers or light breakfast microwave snacks.


Ugh.  Not tasty or delicious !!

Everyone,like the media, is "taking" about "taking care of recent Veterans", but does anybody LOOK AT THE V.A. WEBSITE,,, AND SEE THERE IS NO "SIGN-IN" BOX ON THE HEADER !!

Hello !!
Bla bla bla "we care about Veterans",,,
V.A. hospitals are second or third rate and anybody who says different is a politician or liar!


But look and see how difficult it is for Veterans to log onto the V.A. website!!
Not interested ?  Yeah, i thought it was just p.r.-b.s. empty, only to impress, "talk".

Had a T-Mobile 4G smart phone for under one year, and the "rechargeable HTC battery" DIES,,,

Called 800# and T-Mobile Customer Service and was told to go into any T-Mobile store and buy a new one for "$35-40", as my Extended Warranty costly plan does not cover batteries, expensive rechargeable batteries.


Called the 8 T-Mobile stores in Silicon Valley, and none had any spare rechargeable batteries, just new phones that come with batteries.  In Silicon Valley!!


I call 800# T-Mobile Customer Service back, and they still insisted that the T-Mobile Stores had replacement batteries.  Yikes!!  Then told to go to the T-Mobile Website and buy it there, listed for $50+shipping+tax!!, not "$35-40".  It cost me $80 to next day air it from Texas!!  My phone was massive malfunctioning on a power cord in the wall outlet ,,, and a quickly dying original battery.


Newegg recommended Accessory One, but they don't list "replacement batteries" on the left margin lists and don't have a search box,,,and "don't call us" customer service when you do call !!  Web sales reviews on Amazon and Google say many 'replacement HTC batteries' DO NOT FIT OR WORK OR LAST VERY LONG !!


Yikes!!  What a Nightmare to get a replacement battery for a T-Mobile 4G smart phone.  Oh, and i have tried 4 different plans , from $120/mo. to $50 to $80, and from 4G to 2G and to much touted 5G,,, and found little or no difference in speed of page loading on the web, outdoors.  So here i am PAYING FOR 4G OR 5G AND MY T-MOBILE PHONE KEEPS SAYING, IN SILICON VALLEY, "2G" !!

Microsoft's "Hotmail" does not have a "spam-junk" option , just "delete", on its ISP mobile smart phone app !! WHY IS Microsoft SO TOLERANT/FRIENDLY TOWARD "spam"?

T-Mobile says they can't fix it.
So why doesn't Microsoft,,,soft on crime?

Garmin GPS devices does not have a leaky battery cleaning service.

so if you make the mistake, and that's all it was, of leaving my Garmin GPS in my daypack too long with the batteries inside, DO NOT EXPECT PROFESSIONAL SERVICE-CLEANING SERVICE.


Why not?  i would have paid shipping both ways and maybe $50 to have it serviced 'professionally'.

Sunday, 11 Dec. 2011,,, if you are still looking for CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTS, for the OLD FASHIONED , C9, FROSTED LIGHT BULBS,,, HERE in Silicon Valley, San Jose,,, the San Carlos Street , downtown, OSH/orchard supply hardware STILL HAS LOTS

where as, the other OSH stores have already sold out !


25ft for about $12,,,and tax.

All kitchen electric appliances SHOULD BE WASHABLE, for HEALTH and FIRE SAFETY REASONS !! So why aren't they !?

My folks have had 2 home fires in their 1953 Sillycon Valley ranch, one a lint-clothes dryer fire and one a crumb-filled like tinder TOASTER FIRE.  Both were luckily put out quickly, by the very close fire dept. and then by us on the second. But we could have lost the family home to 6, 4 kids and 2 busy parents, one working 60hrs/wk and one cooking and cleaning and shopping all day.


So why are TOASTERS NOT WASHABLE?  They should be , like waffle irons, for food safety and this fire risk with toasters.  But it is 2011, almost 2012, and we still have such low national standards on electric appliances designed for homes that you can not easily wash in the sink, unplugged natch.


And why oh WHY are wooden kitchen cabinets still being designed to hang over the major appliance plug in area, so the wood can easily catch fire like happened at my folk's house??  Such lousy incompetent, un-functional kitchen design and construction still goes on !!


People die in some of these house fires. The Republicans would say "we need less regulation".  Hoo-wee.  We need safer homes and kitchens and washable kitchen appliances, for food safety and fire prevention reasons. Duh !!

5 Dec. 2011 and no news on what kind of a winter and wet season California will have. Why are the meteorologists not talking about DROUGHT or FLOODS or EL NINO or LA NINA so late in the year!?

Something stinks in the national media if it can't even be honest about the weather.

We shouldn't just blame all of Congress; Political grid-lock is what we voted in in 2008. In 2012, instead of voting our frustration, we can vote for efficiency in ONE PARTY RULE

Yeah, i was very disappointed in President Obama's small "Change". Very. But he is not a dictator, and aren't we glad we are not one of those regressive many nations!  So frustrating!  And Congress!  But we voters made this mess.  


We voters suckered for 'less taxes, more debt' and look what a mess the Republicans have left us in.  As foolish as Reagan's 'big military, less taxes'. They were ruling as this deficit and debt problem exploded.  We did vote them out, and it will take years or maybe decades to undo the damage they faulted.  Remember Abramoff and Madoff?


They want back in ,,, and the voters are IMPATIENT as usual.  So President Obama and the Democrats only hope for the Nation is to gain full control and right this USA ship of state.  Otherwise,,,


And as voters, it is our responsibility to understand what we voted in mostly GRIDLOCK with a Democrat President and a weak Democrat rule Senate and Strong Republican rule House,,, and try to fix it.   The only practical way i can see is to vote all one party to President, Senate, and House.  You may say "Were then is the ideal/fantasy of the debate and public discussion in Congress of both sides and all perspectives on issues?"  And i would say "All we got was gridlock, Wasted time, pointless committees, 4 long long long long years of missed opportunities."


Imagine,,, if we had over 90% voter turnout for the first time in our Nation's history!?   2012 and we are on the cusp.  Every voter counts, like kings!

I heard a famous media person interviewed and he said ' if the blogger is honest and responsible and provides good info.",,, then bloggers might have some value, or something to that effect

What the main stream media hides / white lies about, a very short list!:
1= Silicon Valley is one of the most polluted places in the USA, with ground water super-toxic contamination mainly from the infantile and childishly irresponsible computer industry, still not 'mature'.


2= SFO does not really have 'weather delays', but 'runway design delays'.  The relatively new rules for airports mandate 1000ft separation between parallel runways. SFO's are only 750ft.


3=raw sewage is still ,,, still being released into SFBay.  Because of the 3 major airports, SF and Oakland and SJose, politicians want it to be a dead-to life dumping ground / open sewer, but when the Indians were in charge and thriving by the thousands around the SFBay only a few hundred years ago, the surface of the Bay was 1/3 larger and completely covered in birds.


4=California farmers, mostly corporate tho they conveniently call themselves 'family farms' get a HUGE subsidy in 70% of the water in the state going dirt cheap at less than $100 /acre foot.  Yet hard working and retired seniors , like my 93 yr old parents in San Jose, pay over $100/month, for 2 people in a 3br- 2ba ranch house , taking only a couple showers each a week. And the City of San Jose allows this 'highway' robbery?!


5=Silicon Valley, Ca. , the birthplace of the computer industry, does not have one major expressway or boulevard with computer timed traffic lights, but it does have a terrible traffic problem for decades.  Not one.  They make computers there ,but they obviously do not know how to make the best use of them. City vs City and County lack of cooperation,,, or political corruption-stasis?


6=KQED use to have a great new show "the newsroom".  But it is not on tv anymore,,, Why?  Fear of retribution from discussions about politicians?  Or Corporate ,,, Chevron?,,, interference.  "the newsroom" would make great University study material about great political reporting.  And with gerrymandering still in California, we need it so much today.  And not just about what goes on behind closed doors in Sacramento.


7=Soda Springs, Ca. use to be a major snow DEPTH (not 'snow fall') measuring station. Why does the State and the weather tv people and the news media hide the historical records of snow max. depth here, near famous Donner Pass?


8=Why it is allowed for cash register receipts to quickly fade so you have no record of sale but ALSO CONTAIN DANGEROUS CHEMICALS?  We suffered thru LEAD PAINT and LEADED GASOLINE to the detriment of all, especially children, but why when it is COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT LEAD IS A VERY DEADLY POISON.  MERCURY in adult and CHILDREN DENTAL "silver amalgam" fillings!?  Just shocking !!  The Congress and chemical industry are slowing poisoning us and the USA environment, with stupid choices.  Now too much ARSENIC in apple juice and grape juice !?  The EPA is becoming a joke,,, like the FTC,,, and the FDA,,, and the SEC,,,Spineless agencies employing thousands of govt workers, doing little about their reason for being.
Shameful.

"Why are you spending medical insurance money on your (70,80, or 90) parents!?" ,,, is a SHOCKING STATEMENT YOU WILL HEAR OFTEN AT U.S.A. FOR-PROFIT HOSPITALS,,,

De-regulation,,,
and widespread greed,,,
this is as low as we have sunk, so far.


Can you imagine!?
A RN nurse ,,, or even an MD doctor!,,, saying "Why are you taking (super-expensive) medical care of your (over 60) 'old' parents?"


If we voters are not careful, and the Republicans and anarchistic Right wingers get more seats, all that will really matter here in the U.S.A. will be "How much money do you have?", not any value, like the rule of law or ethics or keeping a sworn oath as a member of Congress.

Costco item # 50787, Kirkland Signature Drawstring Kitchen Bags,,, have been redesigned FOR THE WORSE!! ,,, BEWARE !!

Costco has a huge, store wide QC /quality control problem: they put out scores of boxes of very green bananas on the floor , and let them sit there, ON THE SALES FLOOR, to ripen!  Most people, other than my odd mother, don't eat or buy! very green bananas.
Hell-o Costco management !!


I bought some of their cheap $19 and 50ft hoses, but they kinked so bad even when new, that i took them all back, but one.  It's my "wife can drive over hose"!  Hoses that tend to kink,,, and Costco wants to sell lots,,, and not fix the problem,,, and sell more of a better product?  I don't get it.


They introduce products they obviously have not eaten themselves!   Do you remember the frozen , microwavable eggplant parmesan entree that , even if you microwaved them 3xs the recommended time, still tasted like shoe leather?   The chili-corn bread entree by the same mfg was tasty, but they got rid of that one too. Yikes!!


And now they change a good , years and years of use, ok designed standard garbage bag liner,,, and MAKE IT WORSE !!   What the heck are they doing in Corporate,,, taking long lunches??   The old version of the garbage pail plastic liner worked fine.  But they added "tear stop technology", which is ok.  And then they made the opening of #50787 kitchen bag  HARDER TO STRETCH OVER THE RIM  of the garbage pail/can/receptacle, whatever you want to call it !! 


ok,,,OK,,, I know Costco is super-profitable and can have all these managers just standing around, shirking, at most of their stores.   But making a popular product LESS USEFUL !?  I called , emailed, no "yes, we are fixing this mistake."


Don't tell Steve Jobs.

DO NOT move to California; You will BE SO SORRY !!

First, Democrat Governor(acts like a Republican) Grey Davis tricks us into "de-regulation" of home gas and electric. Ever see the dvd movie "enron"??  The state is DROWNING IN RED INK!!


Second, my 93yr old folks in San Jose, Ca. pay MONTHLY, $200 for water for a 3BR-2BA SMALL RANCH HOUSE !!  And farmers pay less than $50 an acre foot, such a costly unnecessary subsidy!!


Third, we Californians for decades have hated and made fun of the State Department of Motor Vehicles/ DMV because of ,good reason!, terrible inefficiency of the staff and we-dont-care attitude of the state 'civil servants' there.  For decades.  Go into any DMV office and you can plainly see these people do not know the meaning of 'an honest days labor for an honest days wage'!!


Fourth, the State Highway engineers/ CalTrans are a joke when it comes to reliability and good engineering!!  Look at the huge time and budget delays on the east half of the Bay Bridge replacement project that was originally suppose to be a high $1B,,, and is now way over $10B , IF you can find an honest person in state govt to tell you the truth!!


Fifth, it is a right to work state.  What does that mean?  Let's say you work for an employer that steals part of your paycheck, like the Mafia in the usa, every 2 weeks.  If you quit, because you are tired of being robbed of $10,000 /year, the State Employment Development Department / EDD will not give you Unemployment Insurance because , in California, if your employer steals from you as many employers in California do, and you quit to slight possibility find an honest employer, EDD says quitting because of wage theft is not a good enough reason and will deny your Unemployment Insurance claim!!  


So forget about all those super famous, and super rich!!, Californians on that tv ad marketing campaign about "go to California".  We use to lead the nation is the positive direction; Now we lead in the decline, in wages, in homes in foreclosure/robbery by the banks that caused the national recession in the first place , to politicians who answer to fat contributors to their campaign and not to their sworn oath to the voters and citizens of the state!!

DWTS/dancing with the stars, usa tv show,,, could be sooo much better

First, sign-in problems with ABC. If you forget your password, and who doesn't, forgetaboutit!!  i can't sign in to vote any more.  ABC !!!


Second, the website is a Mess. Try to find a captioned list of the winning contestants photos from all 12, now almost 13 seasons.  Try to re-watch old seasons and old contests, especially if you want just one contestants videos.  Forgetaboutit!!   ABC !!


Third, the grading was 'social promotion' too soft this 13th season, probably no fault of the judges, but the producer-director.   ABC !!


Fourth, the public should not have half say , if the judging is going to be sharp tongued and soft headed.


Fifth, i hope she,Ricki, gets it this time, as both the men are sympathy vote hogs, not good enuf dancers,especially shallow and young mr. kardasian.  And Derek and Mark are the best choreographers, by far!  It's a dance show, people,,,


Sixth, whining is sooo unattractive, when you are so lucky to choose to be on this show!  No excuses, no false drama we can see 3000 miles away, no faked injuries like European soccer-futbol!  And 'No whining!!'