Vanity Fair does Goldman Sachs. Good.

We have moved from an era of lowered expectations to social restructuring. It got cold, so I put the yard projects on hold. Instead,  I opened the January 2010 Vanity Fair and barely managed to get my Safeway sandwich and Graydon Carter’s column down at the same time. Carter writes:

Taxpayers have put up an estimated $17.5 trillion toward guarantees, loans, and bailouts since 2008, and what have they to show for it? They’ve seen their net worth drop by an estimated $14 trillion.

I don’t want to lift too much out of Carter’s piece. It deserves a complete reading. Though he’s writing an editor’s column, the piece condenses some startling facts. Among the stocking stuffers:  bailout recipient Goldman Sachs’ annual bonuses will

enrich its 31,700 employees by an average of $415,000 each.  

Each. Hey, Merry Christmas. Carter’s column refers to another story in the same edition of VF: The Bank Job by Bethany McLean. It’s about Goldman Sachs. I’ll read it next.

Samoa mill green, gone: L.A. Times

 I didn’t know there is a $50,000  application fee for federal stimulus funding. Read more here.

Smoked Chicken

Lucky Turkeys

Curley’s + Parlato’s = Curlato’s?

by Greg

Portobella Mushroom Tower lovers everywhere can breathe easier. The Ferndale Enterprise reports Curley has found a new spot for Curley’s Grill, in the old Parlato’s building in North Fortuna.  Enterprise cartoonist Jack Mays now calls the place Curlato’s. Curley’s will open every day, same as always, with 25 of the old place’s former employees. This is my favorite restaurant, moving just up the street from my office, on my way home. This is a good thing. Curley hopes to be open by early December. We’ll let you know.

Now let the great  side-dish debate begin. Two local institutions are gone, Parlato’s in Fortuna closed months ago and Curley closed in Ferndale a few months later, following a big rent increase.  Fortuna has missed Parlato’s, but the new guy is from across the bridge in Ferndale. He serves broccoli. Will Curley bow to community pressure and feature Lima Beans with every meal, just like Parlato’s?

Please, Curley – no. I’ll eat my broccoli.

The A.G.’s Initiative to Reinstate Right of Same Sex Couples to Marry

By Carol

Humboldt Bloggers may have different opinions and not always agree.  Very often we agree to disagree.  This is not so today.  Like me, libertarian blogger, Fred Mangels is a supporter of Equal Rights.  Fred has this link for an initiative to reinstates right of same-sex couples to marry. 

Thank you, Fred, for posting this link to download petitions.

 

The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure:

INITIATIVE MEASURE TO BE SUBMITTED DIRECTLY TO THE VOTERS

REINSTATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. INITIATIVE

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Repeals the current provision in California’s Constitution that states only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Provides that marriage is between only two persons and shall not be restricted on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Clarifies that the initiative shall not be interpreted to require any priest, minister, pastor, rabbi, or other person to perform a marriage in violation of his or her religious beliefs.  Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Over the long run, this measure would likely have little fiscal impact on state and local governments. (09-0042.)

Photogenic Humboldt #2

Photogenic Humboldt

It’s a 15 minute drive from Eureka. Where is it?

Tears for veterans

Father & Son

by Greg

I’m from a Navy Family. Mom was a “navy brat”, attending a dozen schools as the family followed her father, Captain Frank L. Durnell, from base to base before WWII. My nephew Jason is in submarines. The smiling parent on the left in the photo is my brother, Capt. Jeff Conners, USN (ret.) with his son, Midshipman Matthew Conners, USNA. Veterans Day is a good time to say “thanks”  for those who face reality on our behalf. Thanks, Jeff, Matthew, Jason, Poppa, Dad, Dave and Will, and to others known or unknown, thank you. I’ll admit it: The Navy Hymn makes me cry.

*       *       *

Eternal Father, Strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid’st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
for those in peril on the sea.

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked’st on the foaming deep,
and calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee,
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Fire in the Heatilator!

Inside this flagstone facade lives a beast known as the Heatilator. Made of boiler-grade steel, Heatilator re-circulating fire boxes were manufactured by the Superior Fireplace Company between 1928 and 1996. This one was installed when our house was built in 1954.  Each room had it’s own electric wall heater, too. The wall heaters were replaced with a central gas (propane) system around twenty years ago, and the fireplace hasn’t seen much use since a Blaze Princess woodstove was installed in April of ‘79. We usually rely on the woodstove for heat, but in the mornings we use the gas heater. The living room fireplace sits unused, surrounded by houseplants, sometimes for years on end.

It takes a good, hot fire to create the draft needed to make smoke draw up the chimney. If you start too timidly, you will get a roomful of smoke. I had saved some eucalyptus branches from a couple of years ago just for this purpose. Once we had a good blaze underway we added oak and madrone. The entire face of the fireplace heats up, so the steel contraption inside must practically glow.  The system is supposed to draw air through the bottom vents, heat it up, and send it back into the room through the upper vent. It does sort of work, but it’s not a very efficient source of heat.  The wonder of  a fire in the fireplace is how it  makes the house come alive both inside and out. The glow of the fire transforms the living room and smoke rising from the brick chimney completes the picture on the outside, like a cherry on a cake. It’s always a special occasion when we fire up the Heatilator.

The L.A. Times does Hayfork

It’s no surprise that marijuana has taken over the economy in Trinity County. Maybe today’s article in the LA Times is part of a push to legalize the weed. We could sure use the tax income.