- LoriMorales's Blog - Tehachapi News

Boyz will be boyz

Are you kidding me. What "boy" is out running the streets at 3:00 a.m. Some boyz need a serious trip to the police station .... have some fear put in their heads since mom and dad obviously did not provide this important lesson. Dangerous activities usually end up with dangerous consequencies.

Jesus loves you

I was in the parking lot outside Save Mart this evening. "Parked" in the middle of the road running smack in front of Save Mart is this van ..... really, just sitting there. The driver, sitting behind the wheel, is talking to a girl standing just outside the van.

My husband was driving, we were just dropping off films at Blockbuster, so I jumped out of our car. As I passed the girls chatting happily away, I said, "this part of the parking lot is actually not for parking." I further explained, "you can tell because there are no lines separating the parking spots. See how there are no lines and there are all these cars lined up waiting for you to move?"

The girl outside the van says to me, "Jesus loves you."

Slow burn ...... trying to leave idiots to themselves ..... trying, trying, trying .....

can't do it. I reply, "Jesus loves me but not you because, no one can love an idiot. It simply can't be done."

Now - I have to do something really nice or karma is coming to get me. I'm working on it.

I wrote an article

A week or so ago, I wrote an article for the Tehachapi News and Carin wouldn't publish it. So - I'm gonna blog it and you'll soon know why she wouldn't publish it.

Ever been in Home Depot and some nice associate is helping you after you've wondered the aisles for half an hour and then, that nice associate just kinda disappears? Or why, virtually no one is available at about 10 minutes prior to any full hour? Well, I found out why this happens.

The Tehachapi Home Depot has a policy, explained in detail during new employee "these are the reasons I will fire you" orientation. The policy is that if you clock out (or in) more than 7 minutes after (or before) your start time, your lunch break or your quitting time, you will get a point against you. If you get more than 10 points, they have grounds for termination. The nimrod running the joint thinks this is California state law .... or he tries to convince new employees this is the case. I assure you all, there is no law anywhere that says you have seven minutes to clock out after any four hour working period. The law says that after four hours, an employee requires a break that should be taken within the next, or fifth, working hour. And, of course, all that means nothing if the employer and employee have come to an agreement that goes something like "if I am in the middle of helping a customer, and I reach the end of my four working hour, I will finish helping that customer and then take my break."

So, here's the way the Home Depot policy works. If an associate is helping me at let's say 12:00 noon, and his lunch break starts at 12:00, he is required to dessert me and clock out. Sometimes he tries to find someone else to help me, but because this usually takes more than 7 minutes (as we all know), it is better to just leave me - alone - in an aisle of plumbing supplies I know nothing about and once again go in search of help.

What most employees actually do in order to avoid leaving a customer mid-sentence, is stop helping customers at around 10 minutes prior to their clock out time.

In other words, the manager of Home Depot has forced his employees to only help customers 50 minutes out of any given hour. How dumb is that?

Happy day

Here's the driving rule: don't pass on the right. Some idiot nearly killed me on Tucker Road ..... I really want to live a much longer life ..... have important things to do.

And - if you're moving slower than surrounding traffic, move to the right. It's just common courtesy. No need to be a speed nazi.

And double yellow lines ..... that means "do not cross."

Nearly getting annihilated in Tehachapi almost turned my day sour. Sorry 'bout the complaining.

But, the sun is out and the sky is blue again. Happy day.

Trader Joes

I just voted about 20 times for Trader Joes in this week's TN poll. I got so excited that this might actually be a possibility.

Dear Editor

Why is "Tehachapi" not in spell check? I think it would be a safe addition.

SSSHHHHHHHHHH

I sent my good thoughts for the day to someone in need so, I too, am left to deal with a rant without the needed peace and calmness to deal.

Someone, anyone, give me the reason why, why, why .... people talk during the movie!!!!!!!

Took a night out and went into The Hitching Post for the latest Clooney movie. Love that good looking man. My husband is OK with that - Clooney is obviously not up to trying to get me to stray. TeeHee

Not a particularly difficult movie to follow. Kinda goes back and forth in time but nicely done.

The older, bearded fellow in front of us needed to explain nearly the entire plot to his woman friend. Either she's an idiot or he needs some spot in the "I'm so smart" light.

The people across the aisle whispered through the entire movie. Psst, psst, psst, psst. What's that all about? WE CAN HEAR YOU.

Someone in the back of us only spoke to each other now and again. Things like, "Oh my," "Did you see that?" "Wow," "That was nice."

Good movie by the way. Michael Clayton. I highly recommend.

Patraeous's boss

Admiral William Fallon, appointed by Secretary Gates, is the Pentagon man whom General Patraeous reports directly.

I didn't know that. It sure seemed like Patraeous reported directly to the president. Maybe I'm not smart enough, but I'm thinking Patraeous was purposely presented this way because Patraeous is Bush's front man on the positive spin.

Admiral Fallon has given his preliminary report on Iraq. And it is really amazing. Here's a couple exerts:

Fallon thinks the Iraqi government is a complete failure, unable to provide even the easiest of solutions and, even to the point that they have no intention of creating a political solution because it is not in their personal best interest. (Bush addressed the Iraqi people in his speech .... apparently he is not aware they only have electricity about 20% of the day .... and that's on a good day.)

Fallon thinks we need to redeploy and return home 2/3rds of our current troops and have that completed by next spring. Now that would be 2/3rds of all our the troops - all 168,000 of them.

Fallon thinks that neither the Iraqi government (or our own diplomats) have made any progress. The Sunni tribal leader directly responsible for some peace in Al Anbar Province was just murdered. The oil sharing agreements between the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites is falling apart before it even gets started. And just so we know how twisted the oil sharing nonsense is - the Kurdish regional government signed its own agreement with the Dallas branch of Hunt Oil - which is owned by Ray Hunt, who is a Bushie friend and good ole boy - or should we say "good oil boy."

Fallon is reporting we are bogged down in Iraq, which is NOT the central front of Al Qeida. Only 5% of the violence in Iraq is Al Qeida related. The rest is the fight between the Sunnis and Shiites. And as stated over and over and over - this is a civil war that our troops cannot win.

And Fallon thinks Patraeous is a kiss up. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

How unfair of Bush to say to our troops that they can "return on success," when there can be no success in this brutal civil war that has a history of many hundreds of years.

And the corker is the House Republican Leader (John Baynor) today is quoted as saying, "this is a small price to pay."

I think the entire families of Bush, Cheney, McCain, Giuliani, and Baynor should be deployed to Iraq and not allowed to return until there is a democratic government that can govern itself, sustain itself and police itself.

And I can't help but wonder, where is our top diplomat at the State Department, Dr. Condi Rice? Since people are dying, shouldn't she be front and center and working - like overtime - in helping to create a political solution?

So Let Me Get This Straight

According to General Petraeus, because the serge is working, we can start sending our troops home and that would be 30,000 by next June. Here are a few problems with this seriously demented logic.

First: the serge was needed to secure Baghdad. Remember? So we could give alMaliki breathing room to create a political solution. Dear General; we can remember back to this past spring. So Anwar Province is more secure but Baghdad continues to be a mess. And the Iraqi politicians went on vacation because, well, apparently it's really hot in Iraq in August, so no political solutions have been acheived. So, by the standards set by yourself and Bush, the serge is most certainly not a success.

Second problem: if the serge was working but the work designated for the serge was seriously incomplete, why would we reduce our serge efforts? Successful efforts, in my experience, are continued until finished. Well, as most of us know - the troops can't be sustained any longer than next April so we are given this fairy tale instead. Apparently, General Patraeus, you were able to fool only our idiot president, or was this his logic?

Third: Let me get this one correct as presented ..... Hooray for us, the serge is working and as a gift to our military and their families they will draw down troops ..... to the level they were at prior to the serge. And I just love this, they'll bring home those troops in total by June 2008, when originally the serge was to last til fall of 2007. The remaining 138,000 troops will stay in Iraq for an undetermined period of time because, well, there is no plan past the fabulous serge.

Fourth: Dear General Patraeus ..... shame, shame, shame: Your bringing home troops at the end of this month (one battalion) because the serge is working? Don't present information in a light that is flat out twisted .... those troops had been scheduled to come home for several weeks prior to your decision and your presentation of September 11th. And saying, "well, I could have kept them longer," doesn't excuse this lie in sheep's clothing.

Fifth: It is clear to me that this administration and his recently appointed generals, judge us by their own IQ standard

Sixth: How dare you present this "report" on and around 9/11. The Iraqi war has nothing to do with this tragedy and this scheduling makes you look manipulative. This timing was no accident.

This pure, undiluted crap, wrapped in a gold package (and I mean real gold worth several hundred billion dollars) and tied with a pretty ribbon still stinks up the joint.

I'm exhausted - I'm angry - I'm feeling helpless and defeated.

What did you find wrong with the general's presentation?

Bikinis?

Java Mama's employees to wear bikinis ,,,, my, my - wouldn't grama be proud.

What's wrong with this employer and the young women who went along with this idea? No brains - just boobs?

Should Java Mama decide to increase business by providing a good cup of coffee in an efficient manner (don't want to wait 10 minutes!), I'll show up. Otherwise, I don't want to be any where near a place that debases and reduces a woman to T&A.

Wal-Mart commits to charrette in Mississippi

Following is an article from "New Urban News" and I thought it worth my doing a lot of typing - so please everyone - read it. And I quote:

A delegation of new urbanists and Mississippians returned from Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, in mid-January with a promise that the discount retailer would participate in a charrette writing a SmartCode plan for a section of Pass Christian, where the company may rebuild a store destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. As New Urban News went to press, three Wal-Mart representatives - director of architecture Bill Carroll, director of non-prototypical projects Don Mosely, and senior public affairs manager Kimberly Randle - were attending the start of the five-day session on the Gulf Coast.

As a follow-up to last October's Mississippi Renewal Forum, six Wal-Mart executives, including three top figures in the Real Estate and Design department, conferred in Bentonville with Laura Hall of Fisher & Hall Urban Design, Santa Rosa, California; Victor Dover of Dover, Kohl & Partners, Coral Gables, Florida; Malcolm Jones, chief administrative officer of Pass Christian, and two other residents of the community, which had a population of about 6,600 before Hurricane Katrina struck.

Hall went as leader of the new urbanist team that worked on Pass Christian this fall. The team designed the pedestrian-friendly "Wal-Mart Village." Dover was leader of the team for Ocean Springs, a 17,000 population Mississippi city where the Renewal Forum participants saw the potential of incorporating a Wal-Mart into a proposed transit-oriented development.

WORKING ON URBAN FORMATS Hall said the delegation learned that "Wal-Mart is actively working on what they call 'non-prototypical' designs, including green and multilevel urban buildings." She said the environmentally advanced stores the company is proudest of - those in McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colorado - "have lots of cool 'green' stuff, but both buildings still have long blank walls and sit behind large parking lots."

Executives showed examples of urban, multilevel buildings -- most of which appeared to have public streets in front of them -- in Honolulu; Baldwin Hills, California; Long Beach, California; Coral Springs, Florida; and Korea. However, Hall noted that Wal-Mart officials said "they see this model being used mostly in dense urban settings outside of the US."

Wal-Mart executives questioned the appropriateness of the style that Ben Pentreath of the Prince of Wales Foundation for the Built Environment used in designing a mixed-use, multilevel Wal-Mart for Pass Christian during the October forum. Nonetheless, they claimed they were interested in having a store in Pass Christian that reflects the South. Prior to the Forum, they hadn't considered an urban building model to be suitable along the Gulf Coast. "They said they've only built urban buildings where there was already an urban setting, and mostly out of the US," Hall noted. "They normally don't create the urban setting themselves."

Pentreath had sketched the Wal-Mart Village -- a design in which apartments and townhouses, with small shops occupying much of the ground floor, would surround a large portion of a Super Wal-Mart. Parking would be hidden behind. Streets and sidewalks would make a setting comfortable for walking. "It humanized big-box retail," Pentreath said. Thomas Low of Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. did a site plan of how a Wal-Mart could fir into a new Pass Christian neighborhood.

Early this year Wal-Mart executives still knew little about the SmartCode. But when told that adoption of the form-based code and its regulating plan i Pass Christian could permit construction of the Wal-Mart Village, at lease one executive seemed pleased, praising the idea that the same rules would apply to Wal-Mart that apply to other retailers -- something that is not always the case when a Wal-Mart becomes the target of local protests. Since the January meeting, a series of emails and phone calls has impressed Hall with "how much the Wal-Mart real estate and design folks really seem to enjoy these new ideas."

The municipality is eager to have Wal-Mart reestablish a store in Pass Christian. Before Katrina, revenue from sales at Wal-Mart amounted to 15percent of the city budget. The Wal-Mart property will be included in the city's SmartCode regulating plan. Hall expects to have "a very real plan/design for that property by the end of the charrette."

Later in January Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott met with Prince Charles for two hours in London, where he sought advice on how to improve the company's environmental credentials. The meeting took place because Scott had met Charles at a White House banquet last year and reportedly had also been impressed by Pentreath's efforts in Pass Christian.

During the Renewal Forum a high-density mixed-used development was proposed for the existing Ocean Springs Wal-Mart location. The long-term plan included light-rail access on the south side of Highway 90. "Wal-Mart officials were present at the charrette and worked with our design team to some extent," said the city's planning director, Donovan Scruggs. The store, undamaged, reopened within days after the hurricane and any move toward placing dense development around it appear to be far off.

UNQUOTE

In this article, I'm hearing that Wal-Mart is willing (in not down right eager) to build stores that townships (like Tehachapi) would feel more kindly toward.

Any thoughts?

Spell check

Dear editor ..... where has my beloved spell check gone? Please bring it back. My dictionary is worn and weary.

Gonzales continues to Testify

Holy Cow ..... Gonzales says there are problems, of which he cannot speak, for which he is responsible yet not to blame and he is the only one who can clean up the mess that he can neither confirm nor deny, exits.

I'm agreeing with the sentors. How does this guy keep his job? They say they don't believe him. The committee has indicated he is completely untrustworthy.

Gonzales is the the guy in charge of our Justice Department. How can this be so funny. I laughed till I cried .... then I cried because it really isn't funny at all.

What's the procedure?

If you live outside the Tehachapi city limits - Stallion Springs, Bear Valley Springs, Golden Hills, Alpine Forest - can you petition the City? Vote for City officials? Vote on City bonds, etc?

We've owned property here for 12 years but moved here full time a couple years ago and I just don't know. I know, how sad.

Some one enlighted me, please.

Wal-Mart

Been really thinking about the coming Wal-Mart. I have real twisted feelings.

First, I'm not exactly sure what part of Historic Downtown Tehachapi we are trying to protect. We have about 3 square blocks starting at the Marketplace and ending around the Apple Shed and then moving west from Tehachapi Blvd to about "E" Street. The rest of that area represents a lot of pretty run down looking businesses, empty lots, strip malls with absolutely no "old town" style and facing all caddy wombus, and don't even get me started on the Benz garbage piles - yeah, along Tehachapi Blvd and a real welcome to people passing via 58. So, what style are we desparate to maintain?

We have a lot of out-of-town company. I proudly take them over to the bakery, or breakfast at the Apple Shed, down Robinson and Green and into some of the shops and art gallery on the corner of Tehachapi Blvd. and Green. That's it. We go up to the loop and hope for a train. We drive over to the ostrich farm - that's pretty cool. So, if you want to get your nails done - you have so many choices it will make you dizzy. But - should you want to purchase a pretty dress ..... I mean, I try hard to shop in Tehachapi. But you have to work at it. So, the shopping isn't great and the old town look is limited to our 3 square blocks.

What horror will Wal-Mart do to the shopping and the look?

But, of course, Wal-Mart is one big ugly store. Especially with a hugh parking lot out front. Whose gonna say different? But, ya know, that's Albertsons and Rite-Aid/Save Mart, etc. I'm not hearing any outcry over those shopping centers. Why the City didn't encourage the Wal-Mart people to buy land on the east side of the tracks (like Home Depot) or even on the other side of the freeway (like Holiday Inn) that's anyone's guess.

I read some articles about Wal-Mart and in many cities they have done some major "remodeling" from their standard look. Put the parking lot in the rear, designed the store front so that it looked kinda like multiple office buildings, set some land aside for grass and trees.

Is it possible to get a movement together; put pressure on our city representatives, and they in turn put some pressure on Wal-Mart to consider doing in Tehachapi what they did in Mississippi and other Gulf Coast areas?

I think we have to be realistic about progress. And we also should understand that our city officials LOVE strip malls and honestly, don't you dare tell me there is some kind of "plan." Unless of course the plan is to have growth that is erratic and hodge-podge. So Wal-Mart is coming .... can we make it a little attractive?

Mass transit

We just returned from a wonderful vacation back east. Spent 10 days in Washington DC. Loved it and you can't come away from those memorials and museums without being a proud American. They are fabulous.

We drove from DC to Kentucky to Michigan, then to Ohio, up into New York and Niagra, then back to DC. It was so very obvious that all the transit systems back east have left California in the dust. We took the Metro from Annapolis to DC everyday we were there. It is cheep, efficient, clean and so very easy. And the freeways (expressways) are clean and in good condition. True, you run into repairs frequently, but we were delighted with the turnpikes and state highways.

Forty one years ago, I moved here from Detroit. I can remember like it was yesterday driving from the airport and being amazed at the clean and well kept freeways. Boy, this state should be ashamed of what we have settled for in the way of mass transit. Our freeways are now a mess. And it only took forty years to get ourselves into the disaster we call our transit system.

Why is that? With gasoline prices increasing every single year for longer than I want to remember - that means the taxes collected by California have increased. Why are we building those stupid (not a word I use lightly) carpool lane overpasses everywhere in LA and Orange County? How many ba-zillion dollars are wasted there instead of a rail system? Or something - isn't there a great mind somewhere in the office that decides how to spend transportation dollars?

Someone (me and you) have been asleep at the wheel on this one.

Hate mail

I'm getting hate mail, via my personal e-mail address, from some idiot on this blog site. Any one else a victim of the crazies out there?

I'm contacting the paper in order to make sure this problem is addressed, but want to know if anyone else has had this experience.

Weapons to Pakistan

Two pieces of information I read in Time Magazine and heard on CNN news.

1) In 1995 we suupplied $8.1 Billion in weapons to developing countries such as Pakistan and Kuwait. This represents 46% of the worldwide weapons total. Time Magazine

2) We give the Pakistan military $8 Billion a year to support their military. CNN news

Those are not typos. That is Billion with a big fat B. Our foreign policies are just flat out crazy. We could win the "hearts and minds" of people if we gave them food. And, ten years from now, they wouldn't be able to kill us with the left overs. Many, many thousands of the weapons currently used against our soldiers in Iraq were provided by ... that's right ... US of A.

Who says we learn from our mistakes? Apparently this little saying is just one of those things from the distant past.

iPOD, iRACK --

Check it out .....

http://www.glumbert.com/media/irack

Who likes the new plan?

Noise pollution

I think it's getting noisy out there. People on cell phones, talking way too loud, at restaurants, the doctor's office, the post office, the grocery store. Mufflers that have been purposely jacked up so they are booming away. Those really annoying auto base systems that thump away at traffic lights, gas stations, parking lots all over Tehachapi.

I use my cell phone all the time. I take my call OUTSIDE so people around me don't have to be bothered with what is only important to me

"Broken" mufflers used to be against the law, back when those double bangers were installed in the old '57 Chevys. Groovy - but you'd get a ticket.

I crank my jazz and blues way up in the car, but I keep my tastes in music to myself and best friends. My windows are rolled up and the base isn't coming from a two ton woofer. I feel no need to impress any stranger with what I like.

I'm thinking people are in need of some serious attention. If that's not the cause, I'll have to consider that the population has become very rude.

See the poll on this site and take your pick what you hate the most.