Scheduling The Train Wrecks

Sen. Graham, who seems to be the last Republican standing on a comprehensive energy and climate bill, has announced that he won't discuss that pending Epic Fail unless Senate Leader Harry Reid agrees to give it priority over an immigration reform Epic Fail.

MORE:  The Politico has the text of the letter.

Comments

[Clarice]

Elegantly and simply put, TM.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

"Out of a banana I could carve a firmer backbone."

[Jack is Back!]

Tin ears, all.

Remember November

[MaryD]

OT, but speaking of train wrecks, do not miss the pic of our lovely First Couple on lucianne.com

[Jane says obamasucks]

At some point the republicans have to realize that at this point the only goal is to stop this administration form destroying the country. VOTE NO ON EVERYTHING!

[centralcal]

Amen, Jane.

[Tornadoesaren'thurricanesorillegal]

Roosevelt was planned just like O. See, there's nothing wrong with using to get fame and fortune. Teddy killed people too and there was a real big war he had to run with America.

Energy and climate are two different things. Energy is like nukes and stuff and all our original super spy(Plame wanted to be this and she made sure we all knew it) shit. It was all classified with secret informants and stuff.

Climate is the new energy. Classified by most countries after the big spy meeting in the pole and then financing new intelligence services like Geo spacial intelligence agency. It's an emergency too, like nukes, and the rest now. Easier to fund an d sustainable if budgeted on our five year contracts.

[Danube of Thought]

I see one of the strange ones has flown in already on this lovely Sunday morning.

Minus 13 at Raz; 45/54 overall.

[Gmax]

Looks like the flimsiest barely plausible excuse for getting off the crazy train before it leaves the station. We need these squishes out of the Republican caucus. You expect your enemies to do you wrong, but the guy in the foxhole with you is not someone you should have to worry about burying his knife between your shoulder blades at the first opportunity.

[Clarice]

Oh, DoT--Music to my ears!

[MarkO]

Yes, Jane. Just say no.

Put it to the election.

Make the choice clear.

[Danube of Thought]

Looks like a train wreck is headed Patty Murray's way. Sure would be nice to get that ditz out of our lives.

[caro]

Lindsay O. only refers to the bill as "energy independence." Who can be against that? The Times story talks about climate change. Are we on the same planet?

[Clarice]

The question is whether the King County election thieves can pull it off once again, DoT.Newark and Chicago have nothing over those guys..

[daddy]

Meanwhile, on the ironic Metaphor front...

I saw OBAMA yesterday.

Obama was pretty ugly from my point of view. Not much to look at, and there was definitely no reason that I can imagine that any JOMer would want to hang around Obama nor even spend a couple minutes within a hundred miles of Obama. Mentally uninteresting, vacuous, and essentially repulsive to humanity. That's my opinion having had a good long look at Obama.

Since there's no question that Obama's a Communist it was ironic to run into him yesterday at coordinates North 4602.2 and East 08902.6. If you haven't got your Airways chart handy, thats smack dab in the middle of the ex-Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan.

Was minding my own business, zipping along at a good clip at 9,600 meters altitude, and crossing a massive dried up old destroyed Kazakh lake bed when I ran into him..."Alako---check, Pabri---check, OBAMA---Obama? WTF?"
Yet there he was, the 5 letter identifier for a Navigation waypoint, smackdab in the middle of a dead lake destroyed by noble Soviet 5 Year Planners. Very fitting. (Quickly typed in Obama into my box, but there was no other OBAMA waypoint in the world except that one that came up.) Very fitting indeed.

Obama is at the intersection of Airway A313 and Airway A73.

From Obama, taking Airway A73 213 miles southeast leads directly to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. (Don't know if a whole lotta' freedom's been going on down there lately.) Yet I suppose its better than taking Obama on that Airway in the other direction, because following it 123 miles the other way winds up directly in ">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezkazgan"> Jerzkazgan, the site of a Gulag labor camp, Kengir, mentioned in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag Archipelago. (I'm not making this up.)

As the crow flies, hundreds of miles due north of Obama, is Astana and the Kazakh Oil Fields, but as we all know Obama doesn't want to have anything to do with developing Oil Fields, so from Obama no Airways lead to Astana. To get to the Oil Fields you have to escape from the Jerzhagan Guleg and make a Hard Right turn, and as we all know that sure as heck ain't gonna' happen under this Administration.

Now the other Airway defining Obama, A313, is the Airway out of Almaty, the ex-Soviet Capitol of Kazakhstan. Almaty (Alma Ata) means "Father of Apples", and is the supposed birthplace of the Apple. Naturally Obama being a Pie man, it makes sense he comes out of Apple Pie land. Hey, if we're lucky perhaps the AP or some other prestigious news org can spare a reporter to do an expose on Obama's love of Pies! We should be so lucky...What's that?---We already have been so lucky? Twice you say? Well maybe third times the charm;)

Anyhow, Obama is located 394 miles out of Pieland, so my suspicion is he left Michelle to guard them pies, but regardless, that's not the big news. No, what is the big news, is that on Airway A313 you take a Hard Left heading from Obama, and in exactly 1, 276 miles guess where you'll wind up? Go on, guess.

Give up?

MOSCOW!

Whats even more amazing is that unlike so many other locations over there where you have to ask permission 10 minutes prior to cross the border, strangely enough, if you're coming into Russia from Obama, you don't even have to ask for permission. Just show up.Why it's almost like they were expecting you.

Anyhow, Obama's exact center is located 1,276 miles from Moscow, but 5,464 miles from Philly, where our Founders crafted the Constitution. That's means Obama's about 4 and a quarter times closer to Stalin and Lenin than he is to the Declaration of Independence.

But you guys already knew that.

[nathan hale]

That explains it daddy, he is Borat and this all been a practical joke, on us

[Ignatz]

Sure learn some amazing stuff from you daddy.
Is that the Aral Sea OBAMA is in the middle of?
If so what a delightful metaphor for what he's doing to our economy and liberties; a great big dumb ass, marxist, central planning project which literally dries up and kills off a living, productive sea that the people depend on.

[Pasadena Phil]

Hey! Let's jump off of that cliff again and see what happens THIS time! Woohoo!!!!

[Pofarmer]

Learned yesterday that there is a new EPA reg. If you're having work done in an older home, it must first be inspected for lead paint. If lead paint is found, it must be remediated to EPA specs. Learned this from a guy who wanted to update the carpet upstairs in an old farmhouse. 3 different stores told him the same thing. If we send an installer out, they have to check for lead paint. If they find it they have to seal it off and it will all have to be removed. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Most dipshit administration evah.

[Ignatz]

Just another day of left wing murder, terrorism and mayhem in the country of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. When, oh when will they stop their dangerous rhetoric and hate speech which inflames both extremes?
White supremicist stabbed and beaten to death by black neighbor.

[Jane says obamasucks]

I had to remove lead paint in a rental about 15 years ago. A bigger nightmare has never ensued.

Go underground.

[Threadkiller]

Sen. Graham needs to discuss energy with Representative Tom McClintock.

The cost of energy is pretty well explained in this short speech.

When I first saw McClintock speaking on this subject there was only about 100 views. Since October only 400 more people have watched this.

I wish this was the conservative the media would concentrate on.

Bryan

[nathan hale]

Well, Ignatz, 'smallest violin' in the world for the passing of Richard Barrett.

[Ignatz]

--I wish this was the conservative the media would concentrate on.--

What a different state California would be in had McClintock succeeded Gray Davis instead of that bulging, social climbing nincompoop Arnie.

[nathan hale]

For obvious reasons, Bryan they won't do that, just like they give a cretinous liar
like Spitzer, who threw a spanner into the works at Lehman and AIG, any kind of credibility

[peter]

OT, how long do you think it will be before this cartoonist faces death threats? LUN

[Jane says obamasucks]

Larry Summers is a sweaty troll, IMO.

[Pops]

I just love Juan Williams and other liberals excuse for not arresting illegal aliens, it stops them from reporting crimes.

But do Juan and the rest of the liberals use the same reasoning to not arrest white supremicists? radical militia men? Hell's Angels? pedophiles and their enablers?

You know how hard it is to get rapists to cooperate once you arrest them for their crimes?

What Juan and the rest are really saying without saying it because they would sloose all support is that they simply don't want immigration laws enforced and anyone who crosses our border should be given amnesty and citizenship without question.

[Ignatz]

--Well, Ignatz, 'smallest violin' in the world for the passing of Richard Barrett.--

Narciso, an apparently non violent, law abiding person who held repellant and repugnant views was quite possibly murdered for them right after the left incites such behavior with their outlandish rhetoric about racism.
That seems a little more noteworthy than some tea party guy spraying it rather than saying it on some congressman's cheek.

This guys racial views were no more extreme than Louis Farrakhan's. Imagine what we'd be hearing if he or his equivalent had just been mudered by a white guy.

[Danube of Thought]

What a different state California would be in had McClintock succeeded Gray Davis

It certainly couldn't be worse, and would probably be marginally better. But CA is now a solidly Democratic state, and will have a large Dem majority in the legislature forever. And that legislature is and will remain in thrall to the public employee unions that are destroying the state. Meg Whitman may be a capable businesswoman with good ideas (although I haven't heard them), but she will be powerless to save this state from defaulting on its obligations. I have no idea what will happen when that occurs, but I am very sure that it will happen.

[nathan hale]

Do I hold a brief for Barrett's murderer, no just as with Bishop, Bedell, Van Bruenn, and a host of others, I hope that justice be done, swift and sure, I'm very Old Testament about that. Of course, the double standard ranckles but there is no indication that this
fellow is part of a group

[centralcal]

I agree with you Danube. I see absolutely no hope for California - no matter who is Governor - as long as our state legislature remains a Dem majority. California is pretty much a lost cause.

[nathan hale]

Is there any chance, that would happen any time in the future, central

[Ignatz]

--But CA is now a solidly Democratic state, and will have a large Dem majority in the legislature forever.--

It's had a Dem majority for nearly the entirety of the last thirty years and longer, but it managed to function not abominably under Wilson and Deukmajien working against and with that Dem majority.
The truly unsustainable spending and public employee giveaways are a fairly recent development, predominately under Davis and Arnold.
A strong willed LEADER, something Arnold will never be, can effect a great deal of change even against a strong opposition, especially when the people are behind him, and I believe Davis's recall and last year's wipeout of the tax raising intitiatives demonstrates the majority of Californians are fed up.
Ronald Reagan understood that and it seems Chris Cristie may as well. I think McClintock would have been that kind of leader too.

[Tornadoesarehurricaneslegal]

DT cliff jumper.

LUF

Graham got banned.

[Danube of Thought]

A strong willed LEADER, something Arnold will never be, can effect a great deal of change even against a strong opposition

Right after he was sworn in, at the height of his popularity, Arnold tried to address the problems by going around the legislature with five ballot initiatives. All five went down in flames, and at that point he reverted to being a movie star and currying favor with the media, the environmentalists and all the leftist constituencies. I'd love to see McClintock give it a try, but I'm not at all hopeful that he could get elected, nor that he could get much done if he were.

[Pasadena Phil]

CA has a large percentage of Republican and conservative voters, maybe more than Texas. We just don't have a Republican party thanks mostly to now Congressman David Dreier.

When discussing CA, you have to make a distinction between Republican voters versus Republican Party.

[Gmax]

Do explain that in more detail P Phil. Texas has not a Democrat to be found in a single statewide office ( and there are lots of them because judges are elected here ). California has a token Republican governor who is married to a Kennedy and acts like it. And a near veto proof majority in the legislature for the dummies.

How is it, that Texas has less conservative voters than California? Come again, please.

[Jane says obamasucks]

We have the exact same problem in MA - and it never ever changes.

[Gmax]

Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that the Democrat’s bailout bill will not reach the senate floor on Monday.

Looks like the hyper-partisan Harry Reid, gets foiled again! Republicans with backbone! Who knew?

[Gmax]

And my comments to my Californicate and Taxachusetts friends, is vote with your feet. Lots of folks have already, and Texas has lots of wide open spaces! Come on in, the water's fine.

[DrJ]

I've been mulling this over, Gmax. I'm not ready for the move yet, but it may well be coming.

[Pagar]

"Go underground."

Pofarmer reports:
"3 different stores told him the same thing. If we send an installer out, they have to check for lead paint."

My guess is that the "go underground" route has already been cut Off.

"Good News: effective April 22nd, the EPA will fine you $35,000 if you replace 10 windows in your own home 'incorrectly'"

I would not be at all surprised to find out that there is a requirement for any supplier to turn in people doing any remodeling. $3500 dollar fines leave a lot of room for a neighbor/etc to get a reward for turning some one in. Just as one can get a reward for turning in a suspected tax evader

[Danube of Thought]

A good friend who is a hedge fund manager and an L.A. resident is very seriously considering leaving, now that L.A. is to have a city income tax. He's also considering going Galt, being disinclined to work for 35-cent dollars.

[MarkO]

You say you want a revolution.

[Danube of Thought]

The McClintock speech is just terrific, for any who haven't watched it.

I well remember living in Laurel Canyon during the regime of Governor Moonbeam. I had solar panels installed on the roof of the house in order to heat the swimming pool--all at the expense of the California taxpayers, via a state income tax credit. That's right--taxpayers in Watts paid for my swimming pool heating system in Laurel Canyon.

[Clarice]

DoT others finagled their compensation so it all is capital gains.

[Danube of Thought]

I think the capital gains treatment is about to end.

Speaking of the CA train wreck, here's an inconspicuous little item from April 6:

LOS ANGELES (AP)-- The mayor of Los Angeles says all city departments except police, public safety and those that make money must close two days a week because of a budget crisis.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah) announced Tuesday that the city's chief administrative officer will put the shutdown in motion beginning next week.

On Monday, City Controller Wendy Greuel warned that Los Angeles would be unable to pay employees or vendors within a month. She urged the city to transfer $90 million from its reserves.

The city's financial crisis worsened this week after the Department of Water and Power failed to make a $73 million payment to the city. The agency says it needs to raise rates significantly to make such a payment, though the City Council has only approved smaller increases.

[Pasadena Phil]

Gmax:

I wasn't stating that CA voters are more conservative than TX (and Texas has its own pockets of uber-left-waing liberals, Austin e.g.). The point I was making is that Texas HAS A REPUBLICAN PARTY, CA doesn't. Before responding again, at least understand my point.

Texas, despite what you think, can become another CA faster than you think. Especially when you consider how many lousy Republican and Democratic presidents, governors and senators your state produces.
Your current governor, who is often mentioned as a presidential candidate for 2012, was Al Gore's campaign manager in 1988 for God's sake.

So is Texas all that conservative? Or is it that you guys are so full of yourselves that you can't see the problem?

[Gmax]

Lashing out in anger is so unbecoming but rather obvious misplaced aggresion. The welcome mat is still out, and last I heard, the census will bring 4 more electoral votes, no one else gets more than one. Will Californicate lose one?

maybe more than Texas. Is this one of those word plays, like what the meaning of "is" is?

Have a Shiner bock beer and a deep breath. The dont call it the land of fruits and nuts for no reason at all!

[boris]

"it that you guys are so full of yourselves that you can't see the problem?"

You probably should not assume your comments are always coherent, unambiguous, and 100% factual. I try not to anyway. (wrt your comments that is, mine are always perfect)

[matt]

one thing pointed out yesterday by DeVore was that Republicans like Snowe and Graham and Hatch are basically driving the bus over the cliff at 50mph instead of 90 mph. They are simply Dem lite.

[nathan hale]

In the thanks for nothing department, Senator Saxby Chambliss being the peachy version of Graham, or something, in the LUN

[Buford Gooch says GS sucks]

They may be Dem lite, but they won't vote for a Harry Reid for Majority leader. The most conservative Democrat will still cast that first vote for the Senate majority leader, or the Speaker of the House. That is the most important vote of any session.

[caro]

I don't believe Hatch will be in the Senate after 2012.

[tommy mc donnell]

people should be careful thinking voting for republicans will bring about a conservative change in our government. republicans are notorious for running for office as a conservative and once getting elected governing as a liberal. there is much more political power (government control) in the liberal philosophy than the conservative one. and these republicans want the power and control to stay in office too. people should be careful not to elect the career politicans that dominate both parties. elect people who are truely taking time out of their lives to serve the people rather than those who have a vested interest in making the people serve them. become more informed about the people you are voting for and don't just vote the party line. otherwise will have a lot of new faces in washington this november and the same old policies.

[Old Lurker]

When Jane and Po come back and if they want to talk EPA and Lead Paint...I'm in...and have been dealing with that new reg big time. Very expensive to comply and a perfect example of government trying to help.

[Danube of Thought]

So is Texas all that conservative? Or is it that you guys are so full of yourselves that you can't see the problem?

Has someone determined that those the only two possibilities?

[JM Hanes]

Carpet/windows, etc. It's all lifted directly out of the failed Cap N' Trade bill. Fiats are just so much easier. Regulation now flows like money, and there's more on the way, I'm sure.

My favorite Cap N' Trade provision was the one which made it illegal to sell your house till you'd brought it up to the new green code (to be devised by the designated cabinet secretary). And that was just a last minute addition in the Managers' Amendment which Boehner excerpted on the floor, bless his heart.

[Pagar]

In the Thanks for all you've done for America Dept, Former Vice President Cheney. Always good to see his comments.

[anduril]

On the Goldman front is this--and it really shocked me: Hold On, The REAL "Fabulous Fab" Email Emerges And It's Really Embarrassing For The SEC. What the SEC did was to take a passage from Fab's email to his girlfriend and insert it in the complaint without reference to the context in which the passage occurred. Fab had attached an FT article which he wanted his girlfriend to read (sounds like my kinda courtship)--and the passage quoted in the SEC's complaint was Fab's summary of the article for the benefit of his girlfriend. In the complaint the SEC does note that Fab's email was "to a friend," but makes no mention of the attached article or the context of the passage that they quoted. The image isn't the best, so it's best to follow the link if you want to read the original.

On a different, more general note, another Fab email contains his views on CDOs:

Other e-mails also reveal his distrust for the products he was creating, comparing them to "Frankenstein", who famously turned on his inventor.

He also said that his creation was “a ‘thing’ which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows how to price.”

Again, I think there are serious issues here. I think the SEC does a serious disservice to everyone who cares about this issue by misrepresenting the facts in this way. Their behavior definitely seems to me to go beyond anything that could be considered reasonable or fair. However, since this email was by far not the most important the effect of this revelation on the overall case remains speculative

[Clarice]

It was always my understanding that wallpaper or paint were sufficient to remediate old lead paint. As long as you didn't sand or chip it in the process of covering it the lead would do no harm.
I can't imagine why ripping out old carpeting would release more lead than say the old Mattel toys in the house . Mattel BTW keeps getting waivers on the mandatory toy tests which cover even yard sales even though it imported most of the lead painted toys in recent years.

[Jane says obamasucks]

OL - even the thought of lead paint is still a nightmare for me. Apparently MA had regs long before anyone else - so what else is new?

[Pops]

Doesn't E-trade, Charles Schwab et al, charge you for your trading transactions even if you make stupid purchases of bad stocks and you lose money?

If I worked for them I would be bragging about how much money I made off people who bought stupid stocks, it's not my fault people are stupid. But they are also free to be stupid and free to take their own risks weighed against the reward.

Is it my fault you bought a thousand shares or Pets.com because you liked the dog puppet?.

[Jane says obamasucks]

It was always my understanding that wallpaper or paint were sufficient to remediate old lead paint.

Nope nope nope - if you have 15 coats on top of each other, every single one has to be sanded off.

[Pofarmer]

Now C'mon OL. The Feds say it will only add 100-500 dollars to the cost of most repairs.

Are you saying that isn't so?

FWIW, I'm gonna be gone most of the rest of the afternoon.

[Clarice]

The law might require it, Jane, but the loaw's an ass in that case, because covering it with paint or wallpaper will keep it out of the atmosphere.

Same thing with friable asbestos.

When we found some in the school we incapsulated and sealed off the room it was in. Then a law was passed, demanding it be removed..of course that's when the stuff gets in the atmosphere.

Expensive waste that was and certainly exposed more kids to the asbestos no matter that the workers wore space suits and complied with all their legal obligations.

[Pofarmer]

It's not about keeping it out of the Atmosphere, Clarice, it's about keeping some kid from pulling it off the wall and eating it, I suppose. I think the moral of the story would be, don't let your kid eat the frickin paint.

What kills me is mandating these flourescent bulbs. Putting lot's of sources of Mercury dust in the house.

[Clarice]

There are far more heavy metals in the soil in Japan--particularly in urban areas. And yet there's a lot less lead in the blood. Why? They wash their hands when they enter the house and remove their shoes.
Simple. No?

[hit and run]

Pofarmer:
I think the moral of the story would be, don't let your kid eat the frickin paint.

Forget lead. How much sodium is in paint?

[Pagar]

"elect people who are truely taking time out of their lives to serve the people rather than those who have a vested interest in making the people serve them. become more informed about the people you are voting for and don't just vote the party line"

There is no point in electing a Democrat "who are truely taking time out of their lives to serve the people" because they are still going to back the Democrat organization. The only logical thing to do is to get the Republican who is "truely taking time out of their lives to serve the people" safely thru the primary, into the general election and elected to Washington/the State offices.
Sen Lieberman is a case in point, elected with the full knowledge and expection that he was going to support defending Israel. Sen Lieberman stands helpless as the political party he alines with, withdraws every bit of US support from Israel. The urge to support his leftist ideals is just too strong for him to overcome. The damage to Israel and the world from the actions of the Democrats is impossible to calculate.

We need to get responsible Republicans elected into every office that is on the ballot.

[daddy]

My wife used to like to paint our walls with Oil rather than Latex, but realizing she was a tad messy she always used to paint in the scruffy underclothes that she wore beneath her Bubble-Suit when she used to jump into Nuclear Containment to move the eddy-current probes around in the steam generator sections of whatever Nuclear Power Plants she happened to be re-servicing. Thank goodness she wasn't using hazardous lead paint! That's a load off my mind.

In other news, caught an episode of "The A Team" today. Hadn't seen Mister T and George Pepard in probably 25 years, but let tell you that as a guy who doesn't understand a word of the German language, that show is a hell of a lot better to watch in Deutsch than in English. You really get to see their acting skills blossom.

[sbw]

My 88-year old fine-arts graduate mother believes she has probably ingested more lead and toxic crud since art school and a life as an artist, and points out that she has reached a healthy and ripe old age.

Since we were also in the family newspaper business setting type in hot lead, with the type recycled in the nearby furnace smoking away beside us as we worked in the composing room.

As children, we cast thousands of lead toy soldiers. All of us have been exposed to all the things people cringe at the tiniest percentages of.

Now we are old. Still reasonably intelligent. Healthy for our ages. And we participated in full, eventful, and satisfying lives.

Someone needs to explain to me the difference between our exposed and satisfying lives and those of the parts-per-billion paranoid.

[sam]

In reference to the CA Republican votes above, CA always casts more Republican votes in national elections than any other state, including Texas.

I believe the poster above did not equate Republicans with conservatives.

[Clarice]

sbw-Yesterday I saw a photo of a Thai kid riding to school on the back of her dad's bicycle--in shorts..no helmet..and here the kids are strapped in and cosseted in helmets and restraining devices everytime they step outside their doors and get on or into a moving device of any sort..

[sbw]

Tomorrow your mechanical pencil will come with an airbag...

[Jane says obamasucks]

It's not about keeping it out of the Atmosphere, Clarice, it's about keeping some kid from pulling it off the wall and eating it, I suppose. I think the moral of the story would be, don't let your kid eat the frickin paint.

I used to own a 100 year old victorian house. I lived upstairs and rented out the first floor. At one point I rented to a highly recommended couple with a baby who ended up being crack heads and dead beats. At the end of their lease I told them I would not review. They called the board of health and said they were worried about lead paint.

It took me 6 weeks to evict them and cost me close to $20k.

[Clarice]

Your tax $$ at work---Stimulus funds to build fish ladders to nowhere..
Ever see a fish jump 8 feet? One of these is counting on that being a regular occurrence.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100425/ap_on_re_us/us_freeways_for_fish>Margaritaville

[Janet]

My Father planted oleanders around our entire backyard in South Texas. He showed us a leaf and told us not to eat it...it was poisonous.
That was all.
Also, like sbw pointed out, my parents lived in the valley area of Texas when they were spraying DDT out of trucks down residential streets. My Dad is 85 and my Mom is 80. A broken hip is what stopped my Dad's active life..not DDT. My Mom is fine.

[sbw]

It took me 6 weeks to evict them and cost me close to $20k.

And where are your tenants serving time?

[BobDenver]

"What kills me is mandating these florescent bulbs. Putting lot's of sources of Mercury dust in the house."

Pofarmer, speaking of florescent bulbs, I have a hypothetical question.

Suppose you had such bulbs, and one night you suddenly heard one make a popping sound,and then release a stream of white vapor into the room for, oh, I dunno, maybe twenty seconds, and this white vapor had an acrid smell. And, oddly enough, after all of this, the bulb still functioned.

Questions: what is the white vapor? How soon will it dissipate? Is this hypothetical home now a Superfund site? Has anyone ever read a warning that something like this was remotely possible?

Again, I emphasize to any EPA personnel monitoring this website, that this is merely a hypothetical.

[Dennis D]

Let them bring it on. GOP will take 100 seats then. Obama is the best thing to happen to the GOP since Jimmy Carter was attacked by a Bunny Rabbit.

[Pofarmer]

Well, Bob,that's the magic smoke, must have just been a little too much of it in there.

[Danube of Thought]

CA always casts more Republican votes in national elections than any other state, including Texas.

In 2008, 13.3 million people voted in CA, 8 million in Texas.

All of Texas's electoral votes went Republican. All of California's went Democrat.

[daddy]

Call me Ishmael...

Much light may be thrown upon this interesting question of toxic Lead Paint if we analogize it to the recent pronouncements from the Scientific Community on Whale Turds.

As you'll recall, the BBC told us earlier this year that ">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8538033.stm"> a century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

In the old days, so the Scientists tell us, whales died, their bodies sunk to the ocean bottom, and all the carbon they had trapped in their carcasses was kept safely out of the atmosphere on the ocean floor, much in the same way I would think that Lead Paint on a wall covered with Latex or Wallpaper should do as well. Now however, moans the BBC, those same whales were killed by Captain Ahab and used for hoop-skirts and to light the lamps for Queequeg, all of which unfortunately released that Carbon into the atmosphere, thus giving us those 2 deadly byproducts, Global Warming and "Moby Dick."

The discussions above about removing the Lead paint instead of covering it however becomes even more confusing once one considers the role played by Whale Turds over the centuries. For instance, this recently highlighted article in New Scientist tells us; ">http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18807-whale-poop-is-vital-to-oceans-carbon-cycle.html"> Whale poop is vital to ocean's carbon cycle. "...baleen whales now endangered – once consumed about 190 million tonnes of krill every year and produced 7600 tonnes of iron-rich feces" (Turds, or 'Shit' in the vernacular). That iron rich excretia however, instead of simply sinking to the ocean floor as Earth friendly carbon-poo, was instead supposedly eagerly devoured by "carbon-sequestering phytoplankton."

Analogizing whale fecal bombs therefore to peeling off chunks of old Lead Paint thus seems appropriate, excepting that no carbon sequestering life form we know of, save children in the ghetto, can be counted upon to regularly devour that noxious substance like hungry phytoplankton. Thus we are drawn inevitably to the conclusion that we should not peel and place the product in the Dempsty Dumpster, but instead wallpaper, or failing that, resort to dropping the whole 'effing house into the Marinas Trench and building a new one with stucco.

I should mention however, that though the definitive New Scientist story well elaborated on their scientific conclusion that our poop starved Southern Ocean's have suffered extreme ecological catastrophe as a result of 2 centuries of reduced whale feces, it was reported just a month ago that ">http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/03/16/nasa-discovers-life-hidden-600-feet-below-antarctic-ice/"> NASA discovers life hidden 600 feet below Antarctic ice.

This latest is hard to fathom though, as the Scientists reported after drilling 600 feet beneath the Antarctic Ice Cap, that they couldn't imagine the shrimp and the jellyfish and the squids that they spotted down there should be alive at all, because lacking whale poop nutrients, they shouldn't have anything available to eat.
A puzzle.

Regardless, the Science is Settled.

Wallpaper, or lie to the Government. QED.

[Pops]

Sanding lead paint or asbestos tiles, etc. is a HUGE mistake. That releases the fibers and lead into the atmosphere. Much better to either remove whole or cover.

You may wait until the next stimulus when I'm sure Obama will pay for it from his personal stash...

[Pops]

My neighbor mentioned my son wasn't wearing a helmut riding his bike and worried he might fall and suffer severe damage to his brain.

I informed him, we would still love our son, even if he turned into a Democrat..

[Pops]

Does the government that cares so much that babies don't eat lead have any recommendation on the affects of partial birth abortion on a baby?

I've never heard of a partial birth abortion recall due to finding that a child dies every time its tried.

[Jane says obamasucks]

And where are your tenants serving time?

My guess is that she killed him.

Two anecdotes: When it all started a lawyer friend told me to offer them $1000 to get out. I just thought that was so wrong. He told me I would regret it. I did.

Another friend told me to get a gun. I told her I was afraid i would use it. I still think I would have.

[daddy]

"Another friend told me to get a gun. I told her I was afraid i would use it. I still think I would have."

That would be a calamity Jane.

[Old Lurker]

Jane, after you abated the lead paint and got rid of your crackhead tenant, I assume you swabbed the surfaces so the lab could guide you in removing the meth residue? Don't forget the residue inside the ducts.

I got out of the residential rental business and sold four generations of family rental properties precisely because a deadbeat tenant (not) paying his $750 rent could cost us $25,000 for guys in white suits. IF we wanted to follow the regs. $500 if we just sent the regular critters in to paint...

The decision to exit that business coincided when Landlord Liability policies and Umbrella policies broadened their absolute exclusions for any coverage for any such issues.

I feel your pain...

PO, the EPA estimated to cost of complying with the new standard that took effect 4/22 was something like $17 per job. That's not even a decent joke.

[Pofarmer]

I thought libs liked small farmers and small processors and stuff like that.

Apparently not.

LUN

Folks, I honestly don't know if we can survive this stupidity. I certainly hope this govt can't.

[Pofarmer]

Honestly folks, by 2012 there may not be much left to salvage.

Off to 4-H with the little farmers.

[Extraneus]

I informed him, we would still love our son, even if he turned into a Democrat..

I've been thinking of letting mine go helmetless, but this gives me pause.

[Janet]

Yeah Pofarmer. LUN is the same thing except in the toy manufacturing business. These massive regs. are hurting small business.

[Extraneus]

Don't click on it unless you want to give Crooks and Liars a hit, but my PolitiFeeds link lets me see their headlines, so I clicked it as a public service.

Help for the Little Guys: Growing Movement Shows How To Fight Back Against Debt Collectors

If I accidentally pick up the phone when a debt collector calls, I immediately let them have it: "You used a spoofed caller ID, which is a violation of federal law. Please give me your company name, address and phone number so I can file a federal complaint." (So far, they've always hung up.)

The Cloward-Piven debt strategy, I guess.

[Extraneus]

(Clicking PolitiFeeds gives them no hits, btw.)

[Old Lurker]

Janet, I just removed a cica 1940 tin ceiling in a vacant store right up the street from you. Applying the new EPA regs made the job cost $80,000. Last time we did one the same size, it cost $25,000.

Also I assume you see your county agreed today to raise our real estate taxes 8.3% so they don't have to reduce "services".

[Janet]

Well, we will never be able to have any work done on our house, or move. We have asbestos in the basement and I'm sure lead paint. No one in our family eats it though, so both our kids got into college.
Arlington has gone even more tax insane. They are putting up parking meters on residential streets for goodness sake. Many of the vital "services" are of the green variety.
I have gotten so bitter that it is all I could do not to drive around throwing litter out my car window on Earth Day!

[Old Lurker]

What's the asbestos on, Janet?