Two parents that have the magic

Last weekend, one of the daughters of two of my friends had a birthday party.  My friends are Dan and Wendy Boul.  Dan is the co-owner and founder of http://www.65amps.com/ but this is not abount amps.

This is really about how two people can raise children in today's world that are such amazing kids in so many ways.  Rather than elaborate on the qualities of Dan, Wendy, their children, their dogs and their home which has made so many feel so welcome I will just take a moment to mention the birthday party.

Dan and Wendy's daughter is in elementary school but has more empathy and is more observant than many adults. 

Her daughter requested that she did not want conventional gifts for her birthday.  She asked for donations for Union Rescue Mission to help the homeless.  Today I spent a bit of time telling Dan the best way to accomplish the donation.  Going to http://www.urm.org/ and hitting the donate button would step him through the process where he could put his daughter's name in the form so she would receive the thank you letter from Union Rescue Mission herself.

Don't assume that the Boul family are strangers to the homeless situation.  I stopped counting how many times they have helped me buy the snacks and items I take down to skid row in the evenings.  I'd like to take a moment here to just once again say thank you to the Boul family and to the folks at 65 Amps who have also helped individually and collectively.

Wendy and Dan Boul

Thank you again to Wendy and Dan.  You are darn impressive parents.  I cannot impress on you how impressed I am with both of you and your entire family.

School Shootings - was there a plan?

Update 2/1/11 - Officer accused of shooting hoax says gun accidentally went off

My thought - Accidently? Just the sort of person folks want walking around a school with a gun. And, it took this long for either him to come forward or the media to report this? I don't know which to question more.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/lapd-skeptical-of-school-cops-story-about-accidentally-firing-his-gun.html

Another story from today:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/02/lapd-detectives-skeptical-that-officer-accused-of-shooting-hoax-wounded-accidentally.html

Update as of 1/27/11 - The news is reporting that this event was a fake.  One would find it hard to count all the folks that were impacted by the individual who faked this.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/school-police-officer-shooting-.html

Even though this event was not true it still pointed out holes in the response and action taken by the schools which were locked down.

In the last few days there have been shootings at three Southern California schools.  Here are the links to a few of the stories.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-school-violence-20110120,0,5697218,full.story

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/bell-high-school-student-shot-near-campus.html

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/woodland-hills-manhunt-is-one-of-largest-searches-in-recent-lapd-history.html

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/18/california-school-shooting/

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0119-school-security-20110119,0,243783.story

I am big on safety and caution but the way this situation was handled created chaos, additional worry and concern for many and threw a little more gas on an already emotional fire.

I heard directly from people in the school locked down that if a student tried to go to the bathroom and did not follow the direction of law enforcement there was something of an over reaction on the part of law enforcement.  Don't people realize that students who are already tense, have not eaten and have not been allowed to "hit the head" might just adopt the plan of .... Hey buddy.  I am walkin' out of here for a minute to go to the bathroom.  What are ya gonna do about it?  Hit me with a club?  Taser me?  Shoot me?   

I heard many direct reports of bad judgement of many of those in charge.  Students were texting CNN until they were told to stop.  Did that sort of activity put the students in danger?  Nope.  But not allowing students to eat, drink or go to the bathroom was probably news that some did not want reported. 

Over reaction?  If this had happened in a South Central L.A. neighborhood or in Central L.A. they probably would have sent a half a dozen units and a command unit, maybe a bit more but nowhere close to what was deployed in West Hills.

In West Hills they sent dozens of units, an army of police locked down seven square miles. They locked down students where they had nothing to eat prior to lunch and were not allowed to go to the bathroom. The 101 freeway was even shut down for a while. Busses could have been deployed to bring students in geographic groups to sensible geographic locations hours earlier. In the case of El Camino High School most student had to find their way on foot to a McDonalds parking lot south of the 101 freeway which was a parking lot itself. 3,000 plus students walking down a street at night to a parking lot that was jammed, students who had to eat and go to bathrooms. Great thinking on the part of those who orchestrated this plan.

Over reaction? In my mind, you bet. No rational plan in place? That's a 10-4 as well. Overly sensitive due to the Gardena shooting the other day? Perhaps.

A lot of folks dropped the ball on this one and acted as if they really had no idea of what to do other than just fall into a reactive mode of response.

It is clear to me that when things start to come apart so did a lot of people making the decisions.

Here we go again. Unemployment rises UNEXPECTEDLY?

Today there was a story in Reuters by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa.  The story contained those magic phrases and words ... seasonally adjusted.  Unexpectedly.  

1930

2010

I have watched the unemployment picture since mid 2008.  I have been in the middle of the situation during EVERY season almost three times now.  I don't understand why the situation always seems to be seasonally adjusted.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October while food and energy costs boosted producer prices, pointing to lingering headwinds for an economic recovery that had been showing renewed vigor.

A surge in exports to their highest level in two years helped narrow the trade deficit, however, an encouraging sign.

Despite the more positive outlook for growth in recent weeks, the job market still appeared to be struggling.

The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said on Thursday. It was the biggest one-week jump in about six months, confounding analyst forecasts for a small drop to 405,000.

U.S. stock index futures added to losses after the jobless claims data, while government debt prices rose.

"The jobless number highlights the patchy recovery we've seen in the job market and reinforces that it will be a slow process bringing down the jobless rate," said Omer Esiner, market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington. "The one bright spot was a further decline in the trade deficit, which should contribute positively to fourth-quarter" growth.

A Labor Department official did note the rebound in benefit claims occurred following the holidays, which may have hindered new applications and created a backlog. Without the seasonal adjustment, claims were up by nearly 200,000 to 770,413.

The story goes on to continue to spin the problem, add all sorts of "facts" that are the typical smoke and mirrors tactics which illustrate how our government has firm control over most big media.

The story went on to report:   The U.S. economy has been expanding since the summer of 2009, but the pace of growth has not been sufficient to put a significant dent in the unemployment rate, which remains at an elevated 9.4 percent.

I have lost count of how often I see the same phrase used ...

...filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly ....

Unexpectedly.

It is no comfort that our government, labor department and media have no view of the problem.

Almost a half a million NEW folks filing for unemployment each WEEK yet somehow the government publishes figures of 9.4 or 9.6 percent? The reality is that about 1 in 4 Americans are out of work. The 99ers are no longer counted as are those who just gave up looking for work.

I walk the streets of skid row in Los Angeles many times every week. I see the number of people on the street increase.

Stories like this turn my stomach. The word "unexpectedly" just make me ashamed of our government.

The crowd is growing.  Many EDD offices have added armed security people on the floor.

First post of 2011. Things have been busy.

It seems as if this is the first time I have had to post in 2011.  Life has been busy. 

My two boys were in Japan over the holiday season for almost two weeks.  Having them back home and spending time with them again has been a great activity.  While my boys were in Japan I spent a lot of time on Skid Row in Los Angeles and over at Union Rescue Mission.  I posted a few items on those activities. 

Even though things have been busy I kept uploading mobile status updates and photos to facebook and twitter.  Electronic media and social networks keep the information flowing to some degree.

There is a lot of activity at 65 Amps as they have two new amps; the London Pro and Empire.  The London Pro is the first amp in the Working Pro line, the red label series of amp designed around the working professional.  The Empire is part of the blue label series.  Since my own shop is within the 65 Amps complex I am generally aware of some of what goes on over there.

London Pro head on red label cabinet.  Empire prototype on the left in tomato colored head shell.

Both of these amps will be shown at NAMM.  Dozens of London Pro amps have been shipped in the last month.  NAMM is next week so things have been quite busy at the complex to say the least.

 

End of the year update from Andy Bales of Union Rescue Mission

Andy Bales; CEO of Union Rescue Mission.  I love this shot of Andy from Don Garza.  This was the hottest day in Los Angeles recorded history.  It was 113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles and Andy Bales was pushing the water cart in this photo, about 1500 pounds.  This is the sort of image that comes to my mind when I hear the name Andy Bales

I have posted these videos before but felt it warranted posting again on this last day of the year.   Click "more" to see this entire post with the terrific videos.

On the last day of 2010 things are as confusing as ever

Today there is a story in the National Examiner.  I would have posted a link to this story but there were so many pop-ups and spam when trying to read the article that I just copied and pasted the article and will not be looking at anything from them in the future.

Jobless claims drop; ranks of 99ers seeking tier 5 unemployment extension grow

All dressed up and no place to go.  People from all walks of life

This was a bit of a contradiction.  More smoke and mirrors on the way in 2011?

 

The seasonally adjusted number of initial jobless claims last week was 388,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 422,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported yesterday.

 

There was that phrase which is so commonly used in the media spin ... seasonally adjusted.

Thankfully the article went on to explain and stated the obvious; the unemployment rate continued to rise.

The Winter Shelters of Los Angeles

Below:  A video from my friends at http://www.urm.org/ - Andy Bales

Christmas evening. What has changed in a year?

I spent most of Christmas Eve Day downtown in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles.  I wrote a blog post about the day with some photos of the activities at Union Rescue Mission. 

All of the missions were having celebrations and there were a lot of terrific activities and meals being served.

Last year I spent the same period walking the streets of the area.  I thought that it might be interesting to pick a specific area where there was no street activity last Christmas and see what has changed in the last year if anything.

There was one factor which would slant the observation.  Last year it was not raining.  This year record rain had fallen in Los Angeles over the last week.  It had been dry on Christmas but Christmas night the rain started once again.  I have decent rain gear so I headed downtown about the time the rain started coming down heavy.

Even if there had been no rain I was ready to find people in the area this year where there were none last year.  The economy has not improved, many folks have lost what unemployment benefits they were receiving as their 99 week clock ran out.   I had walked the same grid less than six weeks ago and found that there were folks on the street in the evenings.

In any case, perhaps folks had found shelter for Christmas night.

In 1984 and 1985 I was a reserve Sheriff.  I wrote the database software for the Sheriff Department at the time.  Dbase II to Dbase III to Oracle and beyond.  I learned a bit about reporting and districts, patrol areas and having friends in LAPD Central Division gave me some additional insight to their procedures.  I utilize their grids and areas for my own outings.

I finished up my conversations that I was having with some folks on facebook via computer.  Many times before I head downtown I let folks know where I am going to be.  There are times when some folks meet up with me.  There are also folks that follow the night in real time once I go mobile via texts, cell photo and cell video.

I headed for car area 1A29.  This area has boundaries to the freeway on the North, 7th street to the South, San Pedro St. to the West and the river wash to the East.  This area is broken down into maybe a dozen areas the LAPD refers to as basic car areas. 

It is easy to get to this area via the Metro Gold Line and get off at Little Tokyo Station.  It is a short walk to Alameda and 1st.  I headed to reporting district 139, one of the areas within 1A29.

Why is the homeless situation not improving. I know!

Today was my second Christmas Eve on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

There were more people on the street and more people in line for food than last year.

The Los Angeles Mission was putting on a large street event.  There were presents for the kids, food for everybody and entertainment.  The other mission in the area were putting on their own events. 

I was heading to Union Rescue Mission which is the oldest and largest of the Los Angeles missions and perhaps the oldest in the country.

I spent some time talking to Andy Bales, the CEO of Union Rescue Mission when he had a moment of free time.  Andy was busy on the roof of URM while 1,800 steaks were being grilled for the meal later in the day.

I looked out over the city from the roof at Union Rescue Mission.

Some of the largest corporations in the USA can be seen from the roof of Union Rescue Mission in the heart of skid row.

Talking with Andy Bales and looking at the view I figured out why the homeless situation is getting worse rather than better. 

Yes, I figured it out.

How far does our government think people can be pushed?

A little earlier today I came across a story in the Los Angeles Times

Tax deduction for mortgage interest could be on the chopping block

I posted the link to the story on facebook.

The story was by By Don Lee, Los Angeles Times on December 20, 2010. 

The first paragraph in the story:

It's been around since 1913, but its time may be up. Such a change would generate billions of dollars in federal revenue that could be used to cut the deficit while inflicting little pain on most middle-class homeowners.

Little pain?  Was this a quote from some idiot that the author just passed along or was this the thinking of the author?  Most people in the USA live in houses that are not as pricy as they are in some major urban areas.  Why inflict any additional pain on people.  Our government needs to start thinking rather than just continuing with panic knee jerk reactions to save a sinking ship.

In any case I read further.  I am just a few small steps from joining the revolution myself.

Reporting from Washington — Fifteen years ago, Carol Nietmann and her husband bought a spacious house in Maryland near Chesapeake Bay. And thanks to the time-honored tax deduction for mortgage interest, she said, their new place was a little bigger and a little nicer than they would otherwise have thought they could afford.