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The “New” By Jim Richards Webster’s dictionary describes the word conundrum as “a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun. A question or problem having only a conjectural answer; an intricate and difficult problem”. Thus, my choice of this word. As has been stated, local citizens approved and passed a fifteen million dollar bond issued 3 years ago. They are still waiting for ground to be broken signaling the start of construction of this new hospital. Nothing is happening. The Tehachapi Healthcare District is still waiting to get title to the Capital Hills site from the Broome family. Nothing is happening. Plans for the new facility are mired in the bureaucracy of OSHPD in Now, it has been suggested that local voters approve and pay for still another bond issue as a supplement to the previous one. That will not happen. People are tired of hearing and reading the same blah, blah and suffering through these interminable delays. The want some action. Now! They want to see the new hospital CEO having his picture taken accepting the signed grant deed. They want to see him, along with other City officials, with the shovels in the dirt while the construction trucks churn up the hill in the background. In other words, they want to see some real activity. What I am writing here is nothing new. I have posted many blogs on line in the Tehachapi News and written several Letters To The Editor which were published and have said much the same as I have here. Many others have done as well. In the final analysis, one must take a realistic view of the economies of scale. To the best of my knowledge, there are two separate entities involved in the financial interests of the hospital. One is The Hospital Guild. The other is The Between these two groups they have been able to each raise several thousand dollars per year. Perhaps as much as fifteen thousand dollars. The wonderful and caring people at these two entities have given selflessly of their time, money, efforts and energy to their respective causes. Alas, this is but a drop in the bucket for the much needed 8, 9, or 10 million more dollars needed. It is my opinion that the A way needs to be found to involve the Big Guys. Major corporations who have businesses here have a vested interest in protecting their employees who at some point may become ill or injured and will need hospitalization. In the event of some major physical problem, like a heart attack, they currently have to wait a half hour for an ambulance to come from Arvin or Mojave. Once here, the patient must be transported to either These big corporations need to be contacted at their Corporate Responsibility Departments and asked to step up to the plate. At the same time, we need to make sure that we are involving our government officials at every level. Local, State, and Federal. Many have departments that are awash with money and will give it freely, if they are but made aware of the need for it. No one here has contacted them! The Department of Homeland Security, it has been reliably reported, has lost more money that it can’t account for, in one year, which could have paid for the construction of our new hospital, several times over. We’ve got to stop thinking in terms of nickel and dimeing our way forward. Our local officials, for example, can freely grant, at the request of Phil Wyman, the sum of $5,000.00 for an Indian Basket Weaving Class, but not one penny for the construction of our new hospital. There’s something wrong with this picture. We need to get the governor here to lend a public hand. The Kern politico’s will flock to get on board. Maybe even invite the presidential candidates here for a public forum. Maybe ALL of the above. Why? Because what we have been doing, hasn’t worked to get the really big bucks needed. So, we need to do something different. NEW YORK, NY - A public school teacher was arrested
today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction. "Al-gebra is a problem for us," Gonzales said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as ' unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are three sides to every triangle'." When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes." White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the president. Jim Richards A BLOG…ABOUT BLOGGING! As an “oldster” who is into e-mail and blogging, I take exception to the notion that older people are stuck in their ways and won’t learn anything new. I have made e-mail my number one means of communication, both in my business as well as my personal life. I like it because, unlike the telephone, it is non intrusive. I mean, you don’t have to drop everything you’re doing to attend to this sudden interruption in your life. The ringing telephone! E-mails can be sent at any time of the day or night at the convenience of the sender. They can be opened and read (and maybe even answered) at the recipient’s convenience. Same thing for blogging. They can be opened and read and commented on by anyone who has an interest in the subject. Or, they can be totally ignored. I recently had a rather heated discussion with a friend who is at least 20 years younger than me. He does not e-mail or post or read or reply to any blogs. He is into reading the printed page and he is a prolific reader. That’s nice, but blogs have to be read also. If it makes one feel a higher level of comfort zone, the blog can even be printed out and saved. For all time to come. One can even add graphics, pictures, diagrams, color, whatever. This can’t be done over the telephone! He was adamantly against this and I accused him of being stuck in a time warp. It is my opinion (and don’t jump all over me because it is an OPINION) that bloggers are more activists in community affairs. The very act of posting and/or commenting on a blog displays their greater degree of concern over many issues. In turn, that opens up an even distribution of communication with our fellow citizens. I will be happy to read any and all comments. Jim Richards Read it but don't weep. Do something about it, like write letters and send e-mails to government "officials". I did! Jim Richards Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers (Update3)
By Tony Capaccio Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said. The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show. The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator. After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an instant message: Sorry I couldn't get all this text the same size. I tried but wanted to get this important info out as quickly as possible. Jim Richards Last night's City Council meeting was the most electrifying I've seen in the 3 years I've been attending! The Council and City officials appeared to be stunned at the great numbers of us who weighed in on the issue of a part time EOS position at $30,000.00 per year. They tried to sneak it through by adding it at the bottom of a request for 2 more Police positions and 2 Landscape positions. So, it would appear that if the Council voted YES for those 2 positions they would have also automatically included the EOS job as well. But many of us were able to read this carefully and voiced our objections. Stan Beckham is to be congratulated for getting out his Line Item Veto pen and get this one removed while passing the other two. He received a well deserved public ovation. I asked these two questions: #1. How many cities in California with populations under 10,000 have such a position? #2. Where is the research on this? Neither was answered! We won this one people, but this is just the beginning of exercising our rights and we can't afford not to follow up on this, and other issues. I encourage everyone who possibly can to attend all future meetings and stand up and speak out and most of all, just APPLAUD a speaker with whom you agree. That sends a powerful message and they damn well know it. WE are the Electorate and the City Council is answerable to US! Jim Richards
Thanks Countrygirl for your post and agreement to stand up and applaud if you agree with the speaker. For one reason or another, many of the bloggers here are not afraid to post their concerns on line, but are "in the closet" when it comes to speaking out publicly at the Council meetings. But a good way for them to support all of us, as well as themselves, it to stand up and CLAP. No one will know who they are but they can express themselves in that way. Jim Richards posted by countygirl on Aug 20, 2007 at 11:21 AM
 Don't worry Lori....we won't just be sitting at home writing about this. Myself and others will be attending the city council meeting to address this issue tonight! If you are attending and agree with what is being said but are to shy to actually speak please just clap as Jim has suggested in the past. I think that that is a great idea and let's several people "speak" at once since I'm SURE the 3 min. rule will be in full effect tonight. The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse........ You cannot post "Thou Shalt Not Steal," "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery", and "Thou Shall Not Lie" in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians -- it creates a hostile work environment.
Jim Richards The amount of money all parties are raising, and spending, on their presidential campaign runs is outrageous. It's in the hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars, and there is no end in sight because they're just BEGINNING! Do any of them, or their well heeled contributors hoping to buy access to the next president give a damn about the money NOT being spent to shore up our decaying bridges and general infrastructure? That's called "Buying The Presidency", isn't it? I think ALL parties running for ANY political office should be held to a certain amount of money, so they can then all be on an equal financial footing. Then, they will all have to do something few of them can do. RUN ON THEIR MERITS! What say you? Jim Richards No matter what you think about this war, our incompetent federal government in Washington (on BOTH sides of the aisle) can afford to spend a trillion dollars for the war in Iraq but not one red cent to shore up our crumbling infrastructure. Our bridges and roads are starting to decay and collapse, one by one. It's just a matter of time! Jim Richards How much will the Iraq War cost the U.S. taxpayer? On August 1, CNN reported the latest estimates of the cost of the Iraq War are $480 billion more, bringing the total Iraq War cost to $1 trillion. The war costs $10 billion a month. To Lori and Shane: (And other intersted parties) Yes, I will be glad to join you in addressing the City Council regarding your concerns over the new Wal-Mart and suggestions for an improvement in design and architecture. Since I am a resident within the City of Since Shane will be in At the same time, I will bring up a collateral issue which has the same bearing. I have been privately contacted by several commercial delivery drivers who asked me to document the problems they have in making deliveries to such places as the new Que Pasa, Coldstone Creamery, Starbuck’s. etc. strip mall. They have NO WHERE to park to make their deliveries except on the street in front of a fire hydrant! Their truck’s, (I’m deliberately mentioning the names of UPS and PEPSI) are too big to go inside and take up four auto parking spaces (if they could find them) so they can have turn around space. Backing up is forbidden by their company’s as a safety factor. The same thing can happen (only a hundred times worse) with Wal-Mart if proper consideration is not given this potential problem. Actually. I am quite surprised at this turn of events since the Planning Commission (which presents their recommendations to the City Council) never presented this to the City Council. I’m not crying sour grapes but when I stepped forward to fill one of two vacancies last year on the Planning Commission, both Councilpersons Hand and Smith voted in favor of the two whose terms (one over 20 years) were about to expire because, as Smith stated there was a need for “continuity”. Well, if this is “continuity” do we need MORE of it? Change in Tehachapi is in the air. And, we are all a part of it but must take part in the process. I will do my part but need some support and acknowledgement. I am reluctant to give my home telephone number here but Shane has it. If you will call me, I would be happy to work with you or anyone else who has an issue which may impact all of us in the greater Tehachapi area. Regards, Jim Richards |
