I’m in the market for another vehicle, I prefer a truck. I’ve driven Chevy since 1977 and would like another dependable, long-lasting, haul anything, go just about anywhere Chevy. But I’m having my doubts about GM being around if I need warranty work done. GM and Chrylser have received $44 billion in bailout funds and say they need more or they’ll file for Chapter 11 protection. Ford is the only car maker who hasn’t received any help, saying they are doing just fine.

I’ve visited a few dealerships and talked with the salesmen and all say the same thing, car makers are an American institution and won’t be allowed to fail. Like I’d believe anything a car salesman says, I peg them just about two levels above a crooked politician and one peg above child molesting clergy. What would happen if GM went bankrupt and closed their doors? Would the world end? Perhaps it would seem that way to the employees, the UAW would be crying in their beers and probably march on Washington.

Instead of a big sign declaring Chevrolet, the sign might read Toyota, Nissan, Lexus, Kia or something else from India. NASCAR fans would be heart broken and Dale Earnhardt would be rolling over in his grave. Oldsmobile and Studebaker were left by the wayside plus a few others we don’t remember and we survived. Does anyone else remember Chrysler going to the public money trough many years ago, under Lee Iococa, getting $3 billion, reorganizing and paying back the loan? I do but today is different and there is little likelyhood that GM and Chryler would pay back $44 billion and emerge stronger.

The biggest losers would of course be the hourly workers, the members of the United Auto Workers who will do anything to preserve their jobs. To date, they have refused to return to the bargaining table and agree to help by lowering their wages and benefits, essentially insuring that a large number will be without jobs. How does that help the company? Even two dollars less per hour on their paychecks would save the company millions per month and maybe save a hundred jobs. I admit that I don’t know what their benefits are but I’m sure it adds thousands of dollars each year.

In talking with a salesman, I discovered that pre-owned vehicles are very much in demand simply because a new one costs too much. A 2009 Chevy Silverado can set me back $40,000 or more while a 2004 model will cost me about $20,000, maybe less, depending on mileage and condition. They are selling fewer new vehicles not because of lack of financing but because buyers are being penny wise. If GM does go bankrupt, there would only be used trucks, no more new ones.

Ford Motor Company would certainly fill in the void by selling more of their vehicles but they can only do so much. Toyota and Nissan would also see an increase in sales but they still wouldn’t have that bowtie in the middle of the grill. An American icon would be gone but not forgotten.

Crime Boss Capo Emanuel
Mafia bosses awarded themselves and their soldiers with “no show” jobs funneling other people’s money their way.
The Mafia never had the grandiose dreams of today’s corrupt politicians. Politicians who carefully craft laws they write themselves with enough loopholes to legally break the very laws they write.
Mob Boss Rham Emanuel the Capo the Obama Family has just been exposed by the Chicago Tribune for pocketing $320,000 in 14 months from a “no show” job with Freddie Mac and receiving other people’s money.
Freddie Mac itself has been riddled with crime like accounting scandals (no one that is connected ever seems to go to jail) that generated huge fines (of course the responsible individuals were not fined) and condemnations by federal regulators (I am sure they hung their heads).
While Capo Emanuel was getting his “no show” checks Freddie Mac was fined a record of $3.8 by the Federal Election Commission for a scheme that used corporate resources to host fundraisers for other crime family members AKA other politicians.
Eventually the less than savory accounting manipulations brought Freddie Mac to insolvency necessitating its seizure and an injection of $150 billion in taxpayer dollars.
Who said crime does not pay?
You just need to have imagination and write the law so you can drive a truck through the loopholes to pick up the money.
I believe its time we used RICO racketeering laws to round up and prosecute politicians just as we occasionally do with other crime families.

Warcorpse here again and once again America has done something that has made his jaw drop open. The AIG bonuses first off my jaw dropped by the balls of the execs to pull what they pulled but what made it drop even further was the fact that congress and the American people were shocked that they tried something like this.

REALLY!

You’re really surprised that a pack of white collar criminal assholes wouldn’t try to take as much as they could for themselves. On top of that there was a clause wrote into the bill that allowed for these bonuses to be handed out. Why was that in there in the first place. Congress then only acts after the payoff or whatever you want to call them become public knowledge. Here are two little facts that shocked even the ol Warcorpse.

1 The AIG reasoning Basically states We wanted to pay out the bonuses so we can keep the best and the brightest people. REALLY! Aren’t these same best and brightest the ones that ran the company into the ground and caused this whole mess. Why in the hell should failure be rewarded. Espesically when several states want to make teachers pay based on student performance. So teachers - who are dedicated public servants don’t get more money for failure but big fat white collar business Wall-Street criminal assholes who already make 6 figure plus get rewarded for basically fucking the whole thing up! Right that makes sense.

2 The fact that some media people, columnists, radio hosts and everyday Americans thinking that it’s a bad idea to severly tax the bonuses or take them away enrirely. Are you fucking kidding me! You guys say It sets a bad example when America won’t honor its original contract with these companies. First off these are contracts for goods or services they’re a bailouts to keep these companies from going under. Plus to everyone that’s sticking up for the AIG people do you realize that every penny they got came from YOU!!!!!!!! THE TAXPAYER! That’s where the government gets it’s money.

So in closeing I’d just like to say that AIG give the money back. I gues you’ll just have to pay for your wife and mistresses trips to the spa run by Whickwack Idian Midgets out of your own pocket.

And that’s all Warcorpse has to say about that.

I have been charged with a mission today, a mission I’d rather not complete. Go to Home Depot and line up getting carpet installed. This is in direct conflict with my “usual” schedule. I wake up early-6 is still considered early, these days, right?-make breakfast, spend a few hours trolling the Net for jobs, consequently bang my head on the wall I even have to do this, try to do some sort of house stuff, cry, try to write something. I will also mix in going to the gym (keep me sane) or do something with the dog. You will note there is no mention of ‘shower’.

                Shoot me, fucking shoot me. I hate Home Depot, hate Lowe’s, hate home improvements, hate tools, hate wrenches, hate it, hate it, hate it.

                Thankfully, in the yin and yang of our relationship, my wife is the tool head. She spends time in those stores like I used to spend time in record stores. God bless her for that. My most recent big tool purchase was a measuring tape. Big whoop.

I think I hate these stores because of that fucking show that started this whole home improvement movement. That one with that super-chipper host who you want to strangle with and electrical cord. Yea, Trading Spaces. I have it on good third hand knowledge that the show is faked. They shoot the bit with the couples, then kick them the hell out and get real workers to do the job. Think about it. Do you really think that just 2 dipshits can redo a kitchen in 2 days? Tear down tile, tear down drywall, rip down cabinets, reroute wiring, reroute plumbing, install new countertop, install new cabinets, put up drywall, tile, paint, wallpaper, install a new floor, build a new island, install a garbage compacter and lighting? Fuck no, open you eyes. But dumbfuck America buys it hook line and sinker. “Hey, look, that couple can do all that in one weekend, so can we!” No. No you cannot, not yours.

                And would you really want your neighbors nosing around your stuff? Hell, no. I am convinced the neighbors next to us will be murderers. I am convinced there is something very odd going on in that house. The curtains are always drawn, you barely see the parents out, and you never see any of their 3 young kids running around in the backyard or going out for a walk. Fuck, they never even come out for Halloween. But I know one of these days, there’s gonna be news vans outside our houses. And I’m gonna have to be the dumb hick that says, “Duh, no, I never saw this coming. They were always quiet and kept to themselves. Snuffing cheerleaders on the web, you say? Yea, never saw that coming.”

                Why are people so obsessed with this do it yourself thing when it comes to their homes? Would you try to fix the brakes on your car? No, so why is putzing around your house any more acceptable? In this economy, your house is the biggest asset you have, I get that. But what the fuck makes you think you can run electricity? Or properly install a deck? There are guys, good guys who can and will do this. Yes, it is costly, but think of the time and trouble you save yourself. Let a pro do the work. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that you can’t spell “idiot” without “I do it”.

                You would think laying a carpet would be easy. Remove furniture, take up the carpet (lucky for us it’s just an area rug), throw new carpet down, put furniture back in and life is normal. But NO! Of course it’s more fucking involved than that. No, you have to sweep and dust the floor. You have to order the carpet larger than the room so they can make the proper cuts. You have to install tacking. (O, so that’s how you get the edges to stay down) There’s the padding that goes beneath the carpet. You can’t have the carpet ‘sag’ in the middle. Then you have to air out the room because there’s chemicals in the carpet. Hey, if you can catch a high off the new carpet, I am down with that. Aside, geez, that’s a lot of fucking work.

                The home improvement gods have not been kind to me since losing my job. We’ve had to replace the washer, dryer, fridge and now our shitty little TV in the bedroom finally flickered its last image. Now I can’t watch TV to help me fall asleep. Hopefully, all the voices in my head will get together and put on a play.

                So I will wander in to HD. And I hate the way it makes me feel. I feel dumb. I feel stupid. I feel ignorant, retarded, clueless. I feel helpless, embarrassed, ashamed. I feel dopey, foolish, dense. I feel confused, lost, intimidated. I feel woefully inadequate.

                In other words, how I feel every other day these days. I certainly don’t need ‘Stan’ back in ‘flooring’ to remind me of this fact.

                I guess somewhere deep inside, I cling to that old school idea that a guy should be good with wrenches and saber saws. Maybe it’s because my dad is pretty handy. He has tools in the basement and garage. That’s a man there. It seemed growing up, if he had a situation he wasn’t familiar with, he went to one of 2 books. It was either the yellow or blue Reader’s Digest How To books. That was all he needed, those books somehow must have magically covered every scenario.

It’s not like as soon as you’re issued your balls, you are also graced with the know how to fix that running toilet or build a book case. I am so retarded, I couldn’t even hang a picture straight. Sure, they could draw me lifelike illustrations, get me NASA 3D technology, write it in simple steps even a 2^nd grader could understand, and I would still hang the picture crooked. Probably backwards, too.

                I am such a tool, I at least try to dress the part. I go in wearing old jeans, workboots-untied, of course-some ratty ass hoodie. Aw, who am I kidding? I might as well go in there in a tux or a sombrero. Hell, if I wore the sombrero, I could probably get some day work from the contractors in the parking lot.

                Sigh, I have procrastinated long enough. Time to bite the bullet. Now if I can only find my hat with the propeller on top….

You know, this economy sucks ass. I’m not saying that to be on the “in crowd” either. It really does. There’s nothing worse than having every single flippin’ person you come in contact with pissing and moaning about the economy.

Well there is one thing that I personally feel is worse: To be around rich people who are pissing and moaning about the economy. People who, for the last five to forty+ years, have been wealthy business owners who eat at fancy restaurants, stay at fancy hotels, take frequent jaunts to warm tropical climates over the weekend, buy diamonds, have nannies, expensive cars, designer clothes, fingernails that are prettier than yours (even though you’re supposed to be the woman), and who personally feel that they are the only thing alive on the planet that have been keeping the economy floating for fucking ever.

“Oh my God have mercy on us,” the masked look of horror behind their perfect tans silently screams, “They’re going to give our money to all those fat lazy bastards on welfare who are just sucking off the system, eating our hard-earned money with the silver spoon given to them at the soup kitchen.” Or ,“Holy hell, it’s goddamn socialism come home to roost right here in our proud country. America is going to hell in a hand basket! ”

You know what I say to all you rich people who are suddenly terrified at the thought of not being able to afford your god damn manicure. Fuck you. I’m sick of listening to your shit.

Some of the poorest people I know work harder than you ever have in your life. Not everyone who is poor is a lazy leach, sucking off the system. Some of them are genuinely stupid (that would have been me) trying to figure out how to get by in a place that didn’t make as much sense as it did to you, with your fancy college education paid for by mom and dad. Some of us have had bad luck and spent years trying to overcome it. Some of us made bad choices because we didn’t have the right guidance. Yes, some of us are sucking off the system, and that some of us will always find someone to suck off of whether it’s this or that, but to hear all you fancy bitches talk, you’d think the only people who had ever worked a day in their life was YOU. Big important patriotic American you.

I have a lot of friends that have been struggling for years. They work their asses off. They don’t suck off the system. I am a single mom and I know what it means to struggle. My daughters and I have lived in everything from an RV to a pole building out in the boonies which we renovated in exchange for reduced rent, to a 200 square foot gutted shack that we fixed up and lived in free in exchange for rent, to a mud house that we built ourselves and lived in exchange for rent, to a 500 square foot apartment which we actually rented with money instead of work, to a real, normal home which I finally, after working my ass off for years, was able to buy. I sucked welfare for exactly six months in all those years, and thank God for that system. I really fucking needed it at the time. The welfare system actually does a service.

I appreciate the service all you wealthy business owners do for this country as well. Thank God someone’s got it right. But it makes me just a little bit ballistic in the brain to hear you pussy assed princesses bitch, because even though things have gotten “really bad for you” you’re still getting manicures, eating at the fine restaurants that I’ve never been able to bring my daughters to, spewing about the fat lazy bastards that are about to take over your perfect world. I will fucking bet you a million dollars that if you put a very large number of those fat lazy bastards head to head with you in a who-worked-harder-in-their-life race, most of them would kick your pretty perfect-tan asses out of the ball park. Some of their hard work might even be paying for the manicure you just had.

Whew. (take a breather bitch) Sorry, But my hours are being cut (two days this week) because my boss decided he needed to redecorate the office and pass the bill on to his employees. Who fucking redecorates their office in this economy? Is there something I don’t know about being a business owner that I should know, so that when I become one I can redecorate my office, cut my employees hours, and then piss and moan about all the leeches who are about to start sucking off the system because they’re out of a job???

And what really sucks is, I had just saved up enough money to get a manicure. Fuck it.

P.S. Sorry if I offended anyone. Maybe I should take a drive in rush hour even though I don’t have to go to work today, so I can let off a little steam.

Republican unison by Maurice D.Williams

The Republicans think they hurt President obama,being unified as a party.Not passing the bill for the $800 billion dollar stimulus.All they really did was alienate themselves from him.They’ll really want a bill passed down the road!.Rest assured  he will veto it vehemently.About this 800 billion stimulus,I admit at first view to some extent it looked as the spending was relevant towards most programs.That was until the specifics were revealed.

There’s severe”pork”(over-spending) for certain programs that wouldn’t”jumpstart”the economy or produce jobs.Though admirable but probally not $460 million for contraceptive research.What I and other American citizens see is it doesn’t take geniuses or rocket-science to see where the money should go?,”to us that really need it”.The people of this country who have lost their jobs,savings ,homes have been foreclosed and have no healthcare.But all we are feed is the propaganda of  the big car manufacturers,wall st. and madoff need the bail-outs more!.They blatantly live high on the hog even after the bail-outs,”awarding themselves bonuses”.Total-disrespect and no accountability.”The hell with the American people”,but it’s us whose money you take for investments.

Yet the “fat-cats”in Washington the members of the senate too are exposed being the same as their counterparts.Dragging the people of the U.S. through all this red-tape to get this bill done.I believe there can be revisions of the stimulus where there can be compromised.Through Bipartisanship that it’s passed and distributed to us immediately!.The government and rich dislike that president obama’s”shutting-down”their over-spending on things irrelevant.Because if they hadn’t misused the money and pocketed it,the country wouldn’t be in it’s current state!.

First, I would like to say to everyone who stood in line at a Denny’s today, “You are a fucking moron.”  Secondly, I will now bow down to the marketing geniuses at Denny’s who came up with the idea to give away a free Grand Slam breakfast to every person in America.  Holy shit, what a huge idea that was.  Lastly, I would like to say shame on Denny’s for giving away a free Grand Slam breakfast to people who obviously don’t need it (you know who you are…fat ass and have a job and could totally buy one on your own).  Instead, the good people at Denny’s should have shipped those same Grand Slams off to homeless shelters, men’s shelters, women’s shelters and even hold food drives for the homeless in Denny’s parking lots.

Let me explain.  The idea that any person would actually stand in line for an average wait time of more than two hours just to get a free breakfast that retails for $5.99 is absolutely ludicrous.  On the off chance that I was even drunk enough to actually hit a Denny’s for breakfast if the wait time is more than “come on in and have a seat” I can promise you I am out the fucking door and on my way to Taco Bell.  Denny’s aint’ Bobs Big Boy and there is no way in hell I am waiting more than 2 seconds to sit down and have some god damned eggs.  So, if you have a job and you have the ability to actually pay $5.99 for a breakfast I have to imagine your time could be better spent doing anything other than waiting in line for two hours to get some free, fresh frozen hash browns which have been cooked in lard and some fat loaded sausages.  Or, maybe not.  If you were sitting on your couch and saw the Denny’s commercial while watching NASCAR or Pro Bass Fishing and instantly started thinking the only thing better than greasy sausages is free, greasy sausages then I would say go ahead and eat up chunk style.  This Denny’s promo is just for you!  I am sure your love handles and the stitching on your Lee jeans can take it!!  Forget the fact that you have a job and could walk into Denny’s any day of the week and order some eggs without waiting.  Standing in line for over two hours just to sit down and wait another hour for some free eggs and sausage is time well spent.

According to my local News station Denny’s forked out more than 2 million free breakfasts today.  And on a Tuesday from 6am to 2pm.  No wonder the country is going to hell.  I can guarantee you at least half of the jackasses who waited in line for two hours just to get a free $5.99 breakfast took time off work to do it.  Try explaining to your wife or girlfriend or even the unemployment office that you got fired from your gig because your boss spotted your fat ass waiting in line for a free breakfast when you should have been at work.  That is classic.  How does that $5 breakfast taste now genius?  Just do the math.  You standing in line for 2 hours divided by a $5.99 breakfast worth .50 cents wholesale = you looking like a total ASSHOLE.

Next, I would like to give a huge shout out to the marketing crew at Denny’s for pulling off such a coo on the American public and the entire Television and News industries.  I can promise you that Denny’s may have shelled out about 3 million on print ads and television spot in the Super Bowl, but in return they easily took in ten times that in free advertising.  Every news station and radio station in my area was talking about the Denny’s promotion from the first moment the original commercial hit the air.  Not to mention the free air time Denny’s received the day of the promotion.  There wasn’t a Denny’s in the San Jose or San Francisco area that didn’t have a line around the block and a news crew filming that line. 

The guy (or gal) at Denny’s who came up with this marketing plan is probably the only executive in America who I wouldn’t want to kick in the balls for having a private jet.  That guy (or gal) totally earned it.  Can you just imagine two Denny’s execs standing on the 18th green at their local country club with one of them turning to the other and stating, “Hey bro, I will bet you 50 large I can spend $3million on advertising and $1million on food and labor costs across the country while raking in $10million in free advertising and breaking even on food and labor costs.”  The other exec was probably like, “Shit bro, I will totally take that bet.  Are you sure you don’t want to make it a cool 100 large?  Where’s that caddy?  I need another hand rolled, Cuban cigar.”

The fact is, Denny’s won’t lose a dime on this promotion.  With such a low cost of goods you can bet Denny’s will probably shell out less than $1.50 per breakfast served.  Now add in the fact that your average patron will shell out at least $1.50 to $2.00 on coffee, juice and or tea and the company is breaking even.  Couple that with the outside chance that not every patron this Tuesday morning actually took advantage of the offer and went for the equally healthy Lumberjack or Denver Omlet and you can bet Denny’s is going to make money on this deal.

Lastly, the executive at Denny’s who put the “Approved” stamp on the free Grand Slam promotion should be fired.  I understand the marketing genius behind the promotion, but giving free breakfasts to people who can afford to pay $5.99 for it is absolutely irresponsible.  There are hundreds of thousands of homeless men, women and children in our country who don’t have the ability to get to a Denny’s or the courage it would take to stand in line at one in order to get that same breakfast as those people who could pay for it. 

If Denny’s truly wanted to take advantage of their marketing prowess they should have put a spin on that plan and gave the Grand Slams away for free with a dollar donation requirement and then pledged to match the donations dollar for dollar with all proceeds going to those families who have been affected by the current state of our impoverished economy.  And don’t tell me Denny’s can’t afford it.  Bitch, please. 

To take it even further, the executive group at Denny’s should have just set up homeless meal shelters all over America and handed out free meals, coffee and water while asking the local people to stop by and drop off money, blankets, etc.  Giving food to people who can afford to pay for it and creating a situation where people who should be at work are standing in line to get a free $5.99 breakfast is just disgusting.

There is no way Bob’s Big Boy would have ever perpetrated such a sham. 

YOU HEARD ME!!

www.rdadslife.com

It’s all the rage these days; talking about the high cost of pharmaceuticals and the evil drug companies. We are forced to give our hard-earned dollars to gigantic corporations and insurance companies so that we can manage our blood pressure, depression, ADD and HD children, and our erections. Billions of dollars spent on drugs that don’t work, cause debilitating side-effects, and force people to live in poverty. Yet a rising number of people in this country are willing to swallow the most expensive pill ever formulated. It’s going to cost us jobs, industry, and billions of dollars and it will grind our economy to a halt. We won’t need a prescription or any particular illness; we won’t even need water to swallow it. I am talking about the global-warming pill.

We are constantly bombarded with “green” adds and the message of inevitable, catastrophic destruction of our planet under the boot heel of our carbon footprint. Most of our ills will magically disappear if we just listen to our Earth. It wants us to drive hybrids, and build wind farms, and purchase carbon credits. Only we, and our devine egos, can save the planet from a fiery death. Massive storms, melting ice, and starving polar bears are just some of ways the Earth is warning us of our impending doom. Almost every natural occurrence (and so-called disaster), even though they have been around for billions of years, can be attributed to our (relatively) short-lived existence and the effects of global warming.

Accurate and steady temperature records have only been kept for about the last 150 years. In that 150 years our planet has seen population, industrial, and technological growth like never before. We have altered the course of rivers, cleared lands of forest, and unleashed nuclear weapons. But as hard as it is to believe, we have never altered the temperature of this planet. We may have affected local temperatures in and around our biggest cities, but not the entire planet. Though hard to imagine, there is something out there much bigger than us; bigger still than our collective egos. Something even greater than the love we express by hugging fur seal. A universal force of almost limitless power and unbridled energy; it’s known as the sun.

The sun is the single largest contributor to our planet’s temperature and consequent unending cyclic temperature changes. Why is this fact so hard to accept? Because we cannot change it. Regardless of how many CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards we enact or loads of laundry we dry on clotheslines. There are factors in this universe that will not yield to our presence or lack thereof. Solar cycles are one example.

Solar cycles are recurring cycles of sun spot activity. Solar cycles last an average of 11 years according to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, and have been observed almost as long as the telescope has been around. These cycles reflect the increasing and decreasing number of sunspots that appear in the sun’s atmosphere. Sun spots are closely associated to solar flare and magnetic field anomalies. The beginning of one cycle (or the end of the previous) is marked by a minimum of sunspots while the middle of the cycle is determined by a maximum of sun spot activity. Temperature changes on Earth can also be tied to solar cycles; as sunspot activity increases, so does the temperature due to solar-flare activity, and vice-versa. As a matter of fact, when man started recording sun-spot activity (about 1600), the Earth was in the middle of the “Little Ice Age” which lasted about 250. Concurrently, sunspot activity was at minimum during that time (referred to as the Maunder Minimum).

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dismisses the “Little Ice Age” as merely a mild change in global climate, about one degree Celsius. The IPCC and Al Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, remember? This is the organization set up by the United Nations Environmental Programme and World Meteorological Organization, and was instrumental in the implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which lead to the Rio De Janiero Summit and Kyoto Protocol. Try saying that three times, fast. What’s ironic (or moronic, depending on your take) about this, is that this same group has labeled our current global climate change (less than one degree Celsius) a crisis.

It is no mystery why the planet undergoes temperature changes. And we are destined to see them in the future. We are currently in the transition period between solar cycles 23 and 24, which means that sun spot activity is at, or near, minimum. It has also been documented that the last few winters have been setting record-cold temperatures around the globe. Surprised? Probably not, because it has all been attributed to global warming. Realistically (that means ignoring the global warming hoax) we can count on colder temperatures for the next 5-7 years, followed by a warming trend; playing the odds established over the last 300 years, and the Farmer’s Almanac.

Our new president gave his ideas on global climate change this morning (January 26), and our collective need to squelch it. He is going to save us all by investing our money in “green” technologies and fuel-sipping autos, while leading us all into a world free of gas fumes and economic despair. We can all revel in the fact that it will be paid by the prescription we have so willingly filled, and the pill we so blindly swallow.

The recession has at least six months to a year to go before it will bottom out and turn around. The recession will continue to be fueled by Obama and his team so they can get proposed legislation passed. Nothing will propel their spending spree better than fear. Fear allows them to get unbridled spending through congress under the guise of economic stimulus. They will actually use the same tactics that the Bush administration used to create TARP.

When my father took a job with the City as head of the water department, the family came down to see San Diego. We visited Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo, watched tuna fishermen mend their nets down on the waterfront, and stayed at the Grant Hotel across from the Horton fountain.

I had never seen bums before, there being a serious lack of them in Merced. They lolled on the grass in the sunshine, occupied the benches, snoozing, chatting, whiling away the hours.

At some point, the city decided that this park had to be made less attractive to the homeless people who occupied the park. The benches and grass were removed. The nice grass was replaced with ground cover, and the benches weren’t replaced at all. Amusingly, the homeless were undeterred, and their presence persisted.

Today, an article in the Union Tribune reports that “business interests” downtown wish to make the park more attractive to visitors, downtown workers and residents. They not only want to renovate the park, but take over its maintenance and security as well.

This could be quite the conundrum; as a public park cannot dictate who may or may not enjoy its facilities.  The article opens by observing that, on a recent sunny day, the park is occupied solely by street people sitting on the curbs around the park. These are the only places to sit, and your downtown workers and tourists aren’t too likely to avail themselves of this meager amenity.

The problem is, if the park is renovated to make it more attractive, people will use it. Unfortunately for the downtown consortium of businessmen pushing for this renovation, the homeless are people too.

So, just how do they propose to deny them the use of a public facility? Will there be a dress code enforced by hired security guards? Will they establish a time limit for park visitors? Or install meters on park benches?

They want to make the park more attractive to some people. Their kind of people. The people who spend money downtown, dress nicely, and aren’t drunk or stoned. But, where does that leave the guy who sells little whirligigs made from found objects on the corner of 4th and Broadway? Where does it leave the Elvis guy and his friend, the guy in the elaborate cowboy hat who can be seen sitting on the curb at the park? Where does it leave the crew who is always there, hanging around the fountain? Can you renovate the park for some, and deny access to others?

When I lived in San Francisco for a while, there was a large plaza behind City Hall; shaded by numerous trees and studded with park benches. Gradually, the homeless congregated there, establishing encampments with tents, folding chairs, and piles of collected junk.

The complaint from the city was similar; nobody but the homeless were using the plaza. So, the city modified the park benches with partitions, so one would have to sit up to use them. That didn’t encourage visitors. Then they cut down all the trees, making it even more inviting. By the time I left, it was a dreary, treeless paved wasteland. They cleaned up the piles of goma collected by the homeless, and evicted their tents. Still, people did not flock to the area. It was even less inviting without trees. And the homeless persisted.

San Diego belongs to all its residents, including the homeless downtown.  It sounds like the downtown merchants have a proprietary attitude toward Horton Plaza Park. Westfield Corp. is proposing a $50 million dollar makeover for Horton Plaza. Stephen Fluhr, Westfield’s regional VP, is quoted as saying, “We’ve been racking our brains for the last year trying to figure out what we can do with the city to help activate it,” Fluhr said. “This is on our front door.”

“This” refers to Horton Plaza Park. “This” also refers to the “homeless problem” as they perceive it.

So, who died and left downtown merchants in charge? They formed the Downtown San Diego Partnership, which runs the ‘Clean and Safe’ program. According to their website, C&S works to remove litter and graffiti, as well as deter “nuisance crimes,” maintains landscaping, performs sidewalk washing and other services. Mayor Jerry Sanders is open to the idea of allowing this group to take over Horton Plaza Park.

I frequently visit Horton Plaza Park with my comrades from Anonymous. You may have seen us wearing Guy Fawkes masks as we protest the Scientology organization downtown. I haven’t seen many nuisance crimes committed by the homeless folk who congregate in the park.

Aside from the occasional inebriate, who aren’t always part of the homeless population, I see people sitting around on curbs talking, reading, or just enjoying the sunshine. Yes, they are homeless, but they’re not doing anything your good old upscale citizen might do in a park. So just how is the city going to exclude law-abiding individuals who happen to be homeless from a public space in favor of the people downtown merchants consider worthy?

This issue has a disturbing taint of elitism about it. The Downtown San Diego Partnership will have to be very careful that they do not violate the rights of the people they wish to evict from a public park. I, for one, will be watching.