Thursday, May 24, 2007

Caveat Emptor


The beautiful trees, the kennel with spacious lawns and the poorly maintained rentals next door are being replaced by 24 new cheek by jowel homes starting at just $750,000.
Paying three quarter of a million dollars for a place to hang your hat to me seems like madness. There is no view or city beat that might justify the price. Having watched this project stagger into its third year of waste and mismanagement, I conclude that developers in the still hot Seattle market have no incentive to be fiscally responsible or to give buyers value for their money.
Major bucks were spent on elaborate site preparation, cherry trees, sod(they killed or removed all the native vegetation) and fake gas lite lamposts. A small park sits atop a large drainage reservoir they constructed.
They cut corners on the sidewalks required by the city by hiring non union labor from south of the border. Those sidewalks are all ready crumbling because they used the wrong kind of cement.
Within the last three days, a half a dozen foundations have sprouted out of the mud also using Mexican labor. I was shocked to the poor quality of the work. The cement wasn't smoothed properly and the rebar was stuck in any old way. This is what is holding up your 3/4 of a million dollar castle.
It's not that Mexican workers can't do a good job. I have seen houses built by Mexicans in the American Southwest that are works of art. They were working using indiginous materials and techniques. Greedy developers are too busy exploiting the cheap labor pool they represent to even bother to train them or to care about the outcome when they don't.
In the Washington State legislature, the Speaker of the House held a buyer's rights bill hostage until the legislature adjourned. The most powerful lobbying group in WA state is the building industry. He and his family enjoyed a nice vacation as a gift from fellow legislators for doing such a great job.

Monday, May 21, 2007

To Do List

Read David Sirota's reports on the Democrat's shoddy imitation of the GOP screwing American workers.
Write Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell and Jay Inslee and tell them NOT to vote for this trade deal on pain of excommunication.
Write Charlie Wrangel and tell him its his last term in congress.
Write Rahm Emmanuel and tell him you are going to donate to Green Party until he resigns any and all leadership positions.
Thank the handful of brave Senators who are standing against this damaging legislation.
Give money to the labor, environmental, and human rights groups that oppose this legislation.
Pray to whatever Gods you are in communication with to curse the Democrats for not stopping the senseless bloodshed in Iraq, restraining Bush from attacking Iran and putting the whole Bush mafia in jail.
Pat yourself on the back for being all the citizen you can be.
Plan vacation. Watching your country go down the tubes is exhausting. You need a break.
carol

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A couple of questions

this blog is a personal effort to ask the right questions.

i don't like capital letters. why should one word be more important than another? language is clearly a cooperative, symbolic form.

why do thinking people follow the lead of the right wing spinmiesters?
why are they discussing winning a war that is clearly a crime against humanity.
how does one win a war like that? what could the mission possibly be?
how can "supporting the troops" get translated into turning them into war criminals?
how can leaving america defenseless possibly be interpreted as "protecting america?

why does a cold drizzle begin every time I pack away my sweaters and take the down quilt off my bed. nine months of cold and rain should be enough of a sacrifice to mollify the most demanding of storm Gods.
what do they want?
carol