Did you see the fanfare on today’s Reno Gazette-Journal Business page about the all new non-stop flight from Reno to Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport - with Airport CEO, Krys Bart all aglow alongside former Olympic skier, Jonny Mosley? Not stopping to think about what Olympic skiing has to do with an air route to Texas, I went on to wonder about why this is news.
Here is an object lesson about short collective memory. I don’t blame folks who don’t fly to Houston, Texas often for not knowing that there already was a non-stop flight from Reno to Houston on Continental Airlines.
Now, the route may have been suspended for a while during the recent United/Continental merger for reasons of federal route authorization on United’s part, but it was my ‘Plan B’ back-up in case flying as a non-revenue pass rider on Brand X Airlines didn’t work out. I was traveling to Houston, monthly, for more than a year during my cancer treatments at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center.
See, this is what the daily newspaper might want to mention in the cause of thorough coverage of a news event … just in case the airport folks forgot. It’s not a particularly important oversight in this case, but when it comes to other really critical events, you hope the news folks are more on top of things.
Here’s an idea for a bumper sticker:
Sheesh, the public employees in Wisconsin are really getting the full effect of the current cheesy GOP strategy of scapegoating public employees and their commie unions as the cause of’everything that’s wrong in America’. Of course, the same thing is going on in many states, including right here in Nevada. But when you have Wisconsin’s governor talking about calling out the National Guard, I suddenly have mental images of federal troops used to crush the American Railway Union in 1894 and use of the National Guard in Colorado in 1903.
The level of violence got everybody’s attention. And not in a good way.
Union busting got more sophisticated in the later half of the 20th century, with the use of industrial psychologists, consultants and management/labor law specialists that have made a fine and subtle art of sidestepping the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act, and reframing the basic human/worker right to organize and collectively bargain as some sort of nefarious commie plot.
The facts that most people could earn a lot more, salary-wise, in the private sector than they do in the public sector seems to be lost in the rush to assign blame. Cherry-picking instances of supposed abuse of taxpayer generosity by various public professions is another tactic. Firefighters make themselves a wonderful target - unfortunately.
It’s so very facile to heap all the blame on public employees. It more politically correct this days, than blaming a particular religion or race or gender.
Yet! Yet, the facts claim something else entirely. According to the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, public sector jobs require a higher level of education, salaries for public sector positions are typically 11 percent less than comparable private sector jobs - with the pay gap between the two rising over the last decade or so, with compensation levels - after all benefits are factored in - being about seven percent less than comparable positions in the private sector.
The bottom line: you’ve really gotta wanna be a public employee, because the pay package isn’t going to make you rich. Firefighters excluded. You’ve really got to be an idiot to blame teachers, while Wall Street has been allowed to walk away scot free - with billions.
I’m probably going to catch hell from firefighters, but I’ve gotta tell you I know two - one in my neighborhood - that left before age 60 and they’re doing very, very well indeed. We should be doing so well. Nice people … well John is a right wing, full-metal, TeaParty, bumper-sticker jackass, but Randy, the Waco pilot, is sweet - but you’ve gotta wonder.
Mr. Maven has been having trouble with his vision again. He went back to the eye doctor, to no avail. They told him that his prescription was just flawed. Deal with it. Hmmmm. Then he went back to Adlington Eye Center and spent the better part of an afternoon with Travis Adlington. The bottomline: Mr. Maven has some of the worst dry eye that Travis has ever seen, and that is what has been causing his vision disturbances.
Again, the wonderful staff at Adlington on Plumb and Arlington, Reno, have stepped up and done what the eye surgeon is too busy to do. Spend time with a patient and truly get to the bottom of a problem, and then go above and beyond to write out a course of home-based self-treatment, and contact the eye surgeon to get prescriptions etc. At almost no charge beyond the fancy eye drops. Mr. Maven went back again today, and they’re going to ‘adapt’ his computer glasses - not a new, expensive prescription lens - to work better for him with a nifty clip-on lens.
Try and get that from the likes of EyeMasters, where the help is different every time you walk in. I’m not kidding. Adlington is amazing. You get what you pay for.
This afternoon was frustrating. Poor old Mom. She got canceled out of her echo cardiogram yesterday, and it was rescheduled to late this afternoon. An hour after we got there - in plenty of time for the appointment - we finally got in for the echo. And out too late for her to make it back to the ‘home’ for dinner.
We went out, but she’s got another cracked tooth, and hasn’t got many sound teeth left. At 93, she’s essentially outlived her teeth. We’ve got to be careful about where we go to eat, since she really can’t chew much. Back to the dentist next week.
Getting old isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Well, I’ve been cranking up sourdough starters, and will be baking a bit more dough over the weekend. Baking bread isn’t exactly easy, but it’s very satisfying. The above loaf took more than 24 hours to accomplish. Yes, bread is a work of love. Love of the loaf.
Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how it went.
Well, don’t hurt your back out there shoveling the snow. Stay warm with copious amounts of hot cocoa. Relax. I’ll let myself out.
Cheers.
LATE BREAKING NEWS: House Republicans hate women and their damned inconvenient reproductive rights.
Reporting from Washington — The Republican-led House on Friday approved an amendment to a massive spending bill that would prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
The measure offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) was approved 240-185, with several Democrats joining Republicans in support. The organization would be prohibited from receiving federal funds for any of its activities. It is already banned from using federal funds to perform most abortions. Click here for more ….
Where did you think Harry, Barbara and Jerry got their financial support?
Ever hear of the labor unions?
Libs are going to have to sit this one out until 2012.
-Anonymous
Actually, this wasn’t sent by ‘anonymous’, but since he’s still a practicing dentist and upstanding citizen, I thought I’d protect his identity. He’s one of those ‘conservatives’ that never seems to get it, but we like each other despite our differences. We’re both cancer survivors, so I guess that has something to do with it.
But, jeeze, Ard … do you think I’m really that simple? No, really … of course labor unions had something to do with Harry Reid’s victory. I’d have gone ballistic if they hadn’t.
Here’s the difference between you and I, though.
I don’t automatically see labor unions as a bad thing. I were part of one (ITU/CWA). So was Mr. Airline Captain Maven (ALPA). Just because the GOP doesn’t like them, doesn’t automatically make them evil. I don’t like cauliflower, but that doesn’t make it evil. Smelly, but not evil.
As usual, these numbers are a meaningless talking point unless put into some sort of context - which the ‘right’ almost never does.
If it’s all about number of dollars spent, then the unions - AFSCME, NEA and SEIU didn’t spend enough. Dems lost. On the other hand, Crossroads America and United States Chamber of Commerce must have spent enough, since they got better results. Right?
Unfortunately, we’ll never really know since the Citizens United decision took care of any dangerous notions of transparency vis a vis the electoral process. It certainly needs to be fixed, with the DISCLOSE Act, and I haven’t heard a single union complain about that. Gee, the unions are okay with transparency and the other side - the ‘right’ - not so much. Perhaps because the ‘right’ has so much more to hide?
SEIU spent $15.7 during this election cycle, mostly against Republican candidates. According to OpenSecrets.org, the conservative, Karl Rove-backed sister political groups American Crossroads and Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies have together spent $36.5 million, edging out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce when combined.
Hmmm. Does that seem a bit lop-sided? The Koch billionaires against the dishwasher/waiters union. What do you think?
And let’s take a look at lobbying efforts from ‘Big Labor’ - also according to OpenSecrets.org “Still, the $23.5 million federal labor unions spent on lobbying through the entire first half of the year is $7 million less than the $30.9 million the U.S. Chamber of Commerce itself spent during the first quarter of 2010 alone, according to federal records.”
Again, pretty damn uneven.
Jeeze, SEIU couldn’t even manage to get Dina Titus, D-NV re-elected. That’s how scary and powerful they are. Get real, Ard.
If you’re still uncertain as to which outside groups gave how much to influence this election cycle then take a look at the top contributors, as listed on OpenSecrets.org. Of the top 10 groups, only four were considered Liberal. The money breaks down like this: $133 million by Liberal leaning groups, and $167 million by Conservative leaning groups.
That’s even, isn’t it? Not. And the difference of tip money from service employees and pin money from teachers doesn’t even begin to compare to the pin money from the like of the billionaire Koch brothers and a Saudi prince or two.
Do you think the Citizens United thing pisses me off? Just the same way as when people take ‘information’ for granted and don’t question it or put it into context.
This leads me to another rant: the media and their ham-fisted attempts at balance.
I’m really tired of how the mainstream media thinks they’re being fair and balanced by assuming that the ‘left’ harbors just as many zany ideas and loony people as the ‘right’, or that the ideas of the ‘left’ (can you say ‘nanny state’?) could be just as bad for America as those proposed by the ‘right’ - who would dismantle everything that now defines ‘civilized society’ from social security to the EPA and send kids back to one-room, home-based religious schools.
This only goes to prove that Jack Russell Terriers are smarter than the mainstream media.
I’m not biased about dogs at all. Nah.
Talking about inequality, have you heard about the $1 billion house in India?
Now, if they could just figure out how to get the electricity to work on a more or less reliable 24/7 basis, so guests won’t be stranded in the elevators. Actually, that is a daily fact of life for the rest of India, although I’m assuming this self important asshole has plenty of on-site generators to run this bizarre tribute to Blade Runner style.
Call me odd, but I’m simply not impressed by staggering monuments to personal wealth, and would be far more inclined to offer applause if $1 billion had gone toward permanently solving the problem of equally staggering poverty in India. That would take actual, uh … ingenuity and strength of character.
I’m still managing to put in some miles on the bicycle, despite the cooling temperatures and cloudy days. That’s especially true since the motor on the treadmill went south. Yikes. Mr. Maven was on the phone this morning, after a visit by the repairman yesterday, ordering parts. Wouldn’t you know, the motor is backordered.
Mr. Maven got a hearing aide this afternoon. I’m jealous. Actually, I’ve been wearing a hearing aide for several years now (and love it) but they never seemed to work for Mr. Maven since his hearing loss isn’t quite as severe as mine. How weird is that? He got one of the new Lyric fully in the ear hearing aides, and he’s in love. There’s no taking it out at night or in the shower, no fussing with batteries. You put it in and leave it in for up to four months, then get another. It’s for more minor hearing loss and the inability to distinguish certain frequencies like voices, and is much more like natural hearing.
I asked if it would work for me, but alas, not. Sigh.
Oh, and since it’s allergy season, you might want to try this: Chloraseptic Allergen Block gel. I’m not that allergy prone, but Mr. Maven is. You simply prevent the allergy symptoms in the first place by rubbing this gel round your nose. I guess it ‘catches’ the allergens before the go up the old schnozz and create problems. This is a good thing, especially if you don’t like taking drugs for allergies, and would also think it might be outstanding for small children. I think I’ll keep it around here for guests that say they’re allergic to my cat. Oh, and it’s much, much cheaper from Amazon.com.
See, it’s knowing about things like this that make me a ‘maven’.
Oh, and finally, you might notice some changes on the blog. I’ve taken everything that is not a recipe or restaurant review related out of the Lifestyle and Food category, and moved it to the new Lifestyle and Health page. Food is just that. Food. Wow, I hadn’t realized what an awesome job I’ve done there. It’s almost a stand alone food blog within a blog. Yikes. But I think this will make navigation much simpler for my readers and make the blog easier to use.
Additionally, I’m going to keep the Impurely Maven page mostly to showcase articles by other authors, such as those by Robert Reich and Paul Krugman. Everything else in the way of my opinions will fall under the Purely Maven: Main Journal. Yes, that includes posts with words you might not like the kiddies to see. Oh, well.
Have a great weekend and remember to set the clock back before you hit the sack on Saturday night.
Union busting CEO’s like Don Blankenship are an unfortunate vestige of the tragic past that have to go. Please join Public Citizen in helping to make that happen - and send a message to management across the country that safety can’t be compromised on the backs of labor.
When a corporate scofflaw operates coal mines without meaningful government supervision, regulatory oversight or a unionized workforce, the tragic result is shattered families in the coal fields of West Virginia.
Last week, 29 miners lost their lives in Massey Energy Corporation’s Upper Big Branch mine. Massey CEO Don Blankenship must be held accountable.
Oh, gosh. Did you read Bill O’Reilly’s lamedefenseof the Nazi pope in Sunday’s paper? I never woulda’ realized that Bill is a practicing Roman Catholic nazi pope apologist.
“A number of Catholics have left the church because of the priestly sins, but not me. From the beginning, in Sister Claudia’s first grade class, I understood that the Catholic Church was about Jesus, not Father Flannery. Believe me, I saw so many loons in my Catholic school days that I should be a Buddhist. But it is the theology, not church leadership, that keeps me in the fold.”
Bill O’Reilly
Apparently, had Bill O’Reilly been confronted by Nazi atrocities, he would’ve been able to find that very, very fine line between Super Race philosophy and that ‘bad egg’ - Hitler, and ease himself over it.
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 19:39 
