Mike's Two Cents Worth

Mexico is America’s second largest supplier of oil.  Do you think there is a problem?

New photos of the 911 “attack” were just released, showing the dust cloud just after the collapse of one of the twin towers.  It prompted me to think again about something I don’t think about much anymore.  I don’t think about it, or discuss it because it frustrates and angers me every time I do.  The majority of Americans, including most of my friends and family, still buy the bullshit story that 911 was a terrorist attack.

Now take a look at these two photos.  The first is one of the newly released photos of New York City on 911.  The second is of the pyroclastic flow of a volcanic eruption.

The dust cloud on 911

You may be wondering “Okay… so what’s the point?”   The point is that this photo absolutely proves there were huge amounts of explosives involved in the collapse of the twin towers on 911.  But like any evidence it is only proof if it can be added to an understanding that leads to a conclusion.  One has to know that a dust cloud is not just a dust cloud.  There are differences.  The dust clouds in both of these photos are of the same kind.  They are pyroclastic flows.

Pyroclastic flow at Mayon Volcano

So what is a pyroclastic flow?

A pyroclastic flow (also known scientifically as a pyroclastic density current) is a common and devastating result of certain explosive volcanic eruptions. The flows are fast-moving currents of hot gas and rock (collectively known as tephra), which travel away from the volcano at speeds generally as great as 700 km/h (450 mi/h). The gas can reach temperatures of about 1,000 C (1,830 F). The flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill, or spread laterally under gravity. Their speed depends upon the density of the current, the volcanic output rate, and the gradient of the slope.

One of the identifying features of a pyroclastic flow is the distinct boundary between the cloud and the surrounding air.  A plain old dust cloud has a “fuzzy boundary” of dust particles and air mixing.  I’ve been in a dust storm in Iraq and seen the approaching wall of dust driven by the wind.  Fuzzy boundary.

The bottom line is that there was an enormous amount of heat energy in both of these dust clouds.  Much much more than could be generated by the relatively tiny amount of jet fuel in one jetliner.

You just can’t bring yourself to believe it… so you don’t.  And I’m tired of talking about it.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t have to vent my frustration when I’m reminded of it.  So I come here to my quiet corner of the web and blow off a bit of the lava that boils within my mind when I think of how the bastards got away with the most evil crime in the history of America so that once again its citizens would rally round the flag and defend their freedoms.

If they were only free to think for themselves.

February 12, 2010

I haven’t ranted for more than a week now because I’ve been busy.  I’m dusting off some old skills and having a good time doing it.  I’m designing and making handbags.  Yes, one of the many hats I’ve worn over the years was that of handbag designer/manufacturer.

It’s now March 17th and Kili and I have a website and a line of handbags.  You can see them here Vagabond Handbags.

When I was 26 I was losing my ass in the motorcycle helmet wholesale business.  The manufacturer was my very own father.  He was one of the first two manufacturers to mold helmets from polycarbonate plastic, which meant his helmets were stronger and cheaper than fiberglass.  He had ignored the motorcycle dealers in favor of selling to the large sporting goods wholesalers.  I saw the potential, built a network of wholesalers, was making good money, became my father’s second largest customer in my first year, with a half million in volume.  Soon my customers discovered my source… my dad… and one by one they began buying helmets from him.  For the same price he was charging me.  How stupid was that?

I was on my ass financially and looking for some way out.  I woke up one morning with the idea of making leather belts.  It was more than an idea, it was a certain knowledge that that was what I was going to do and that it would save me financially.  Everyone thought I’d lost my mind.

Handbag from a used sail trimmed in leather

The year was 1972 and the hippy thing was hot, with bell bottom jeans and latigo leather belts and bags were huge.  I’ll shorten the story… though there’s a lot to it.  I made some sample belts, having never made a belt before in my life.  Went to a trade show, established a crew of sales reps, added handbags to the mix and within one year had a $100,000 dollar month.  It was frantic.

The heavy leather look died and I transitioned into soft leather bags, and cloth bags.  One of my hottest lines was bags made from old blue jeans, lined with bandana.  How hot?  I was buying jeans from a rag dealer in Denver in 2,000 lb bales… one bale a week.  My last collection was quilted burlap trimmed in soft leather.  The returns were killing me.  Burlap is not a tough material and won’t take the abuse women give a bag.

I had three great years and then the economy went very bad during the oil embargo of ‘75.  I had bought an old line manufacturer in Newburgh New York and was commuting between Colorado Springs (where I had moved my factory from Olathe Kansas), and spread myself too thin, and grown too fast… etc.  I was for a time one of the largest and hottest brands in the market. Applescraps was the name.

So the other day my daughter suggested I make handbags from used sails.  It made sense to her since I am a sailor and once made handbags.  It appealed to me because my creative itch has needed scratching and… speaking of scratch… I could use a little more of it.

My girlfriend lives in California – near L.A. – and although she would love to move to Mexico and join me on my boat she can’t just yet.  So since she can’t come to Mexico I’m spending two-thirds of my time in California.  I brought my portable sewing machine so I could begin making handbags, and on the way up from Mazatlan I stopped in Guymas to visit friends with a boat in the “marina seca” (dry marina) and while I was there I bought a used sail from the owner of the marina.  He’s got lots of used sailing gear.  It seems from time to time a gringo abandons his boat and never returns.  So with sail and sewing machine in hand I arrived at Kili’s place and set up shop about the end of January.

The first thing I did was sell my sewing machine and buy a more powerful one.  I got lucky and found a used Mitsubishi commercial walking foot machine with table, motor and a great articulating light, all within an hour of Kili’s house.  The portable brought enough to cover the cost of its replacement.  Within a week I was sewing on a machine very similar to the Juki of my younger days.  Like riding a bicycle, it all comes back to you like it was yesterday.

Now I’m in the design process and I’ve come up with one I like.  It can be a frustrating process but the reward is worth it.  And, though I never have, nor do I intend to carry one, I enjoy making things that are functional.

This morning Tim Geithner helped the White House unveil a $3.8 trillion government budget for the coming fiscal year. If approved, the fiscal year 2011, which starts in October, will ring in a record $1.6 trillion deficit.

Has anyone pointed out that close to half of next year’s Federal budget is freakin’ borrowed?

And then consider this:

The U.S. Senate voted last week to raise the limit on how much the government can borrow to keep itself running, a move that while necessary has become highly political.  Senators voted 60-39 to increase the ceiling on the nation’s debt by $1.9 trillion, boosting the government’s borrowing power to a total $14.3 trillion, the highest in history.

But they really didn’t have a choice:

Speaking in favor of raising the debt limit, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said there was little choice: “The money has been spent and now it must be repaid.  We have gone to the restaurant, we have eaten the meal, and now the only question is whether we will pay the check. It is that simple.”

And billions of what they intend to borrow next year will be to create jobs.  Does it really make sense to borrow money to put the unemployed to work doing jobs that our economy says aren’t worth doing – because if they were worth doing there would be a demand for them and THEY WOULD ALREADY EXIST!  Why don’t we just do what the Soviets did and give everyone a job.  We’d have full employment then.  But wait.  That would be socialism.  And Americans are capitalists.  But capitalism is like… like… survival of the fittest – let the strong survive.  And recessions are really just corrections according to the rules of capitalism.  But what if you don’t let a correction correct?  Don’t you just make the ultimate correction worse?  Like the drunk who drinks more because he’s beginning to sober up and his head feels like it’s about to explode.

We’ve all had personal recessions.  Like when you’ve still got month left over at the end of the money.  It means you’ll spend the next few days in a recession, eating peanut butter and jelly samiches, until you get paid again.  You could borrow some money, but hey guess what… you’re just borrowing from another paycheck.  And if you do it too often you could get behind two paychecks… or three… or if you’re the U.S. Government… a whole freakin’ three year’s worth of paychecks.

Yep… they raised the debt ceiling to 14.3 trillion dollars.  And coincidentally, the projected GDP for 2010 is the same amount – 14.3 trillion!  Which isn’t really like Uncle Sam’s annual “paycheck”, but rather every goddamn dollar’s worth of total goods and services produced in the U.S. in a single year.  The paycheck would be more on the order of… well… the 3.8 trillion dollar budget they announced this morning.

So what that means in terms we can understand is that they’ve borrowed… let me do the math here… 14.3 divided by 3.8 equals… holy crap!  That’s 3.76 years worth of paychecks!  I think that might be financially irresponsible.  Or more like out of control.

Maybe I’m wrong but it seems like America’s problem is debt.  They’ve spent too much time on the midway.  Just look at this chart.  If you turn it upside down you’ll see American’s are falling off a cliff, but guess who lands on the rocks below.  Our children (if you’re my age) and grandchildren. 

So if debt is the problem does it make sense to rack up another trillion dollars worth?  And even if it was the answer, would it make sense to let the morons in Washington decide where to spend it.  For example they’ve budgeted $734 million to install 1,000 new full body scanners at airports.  Why?

Because some nutjob stuffed his panties full of pentaerythritol tetranitrate and got past those geniuses at airport security.  Personally I don’t think he could have brought down an airplane.  I mean seriously… look at the photo.  There is, however, little doubt that he could have done irreparable  damage to his dick.

But hey… thanks to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab they are now hiring at the body scanner factory.