An Internet Globetrotter

Has this country gone completely daft? While riding the B-Line this morning, I caught this price on the corner of Skyway and Wagstaff, a sure indication that the $5 end of summer price prediction is likely to be reality.

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

As a starving student at Chico State, I haven't had the money to run a car for quite some time. Still, I held onto the hope that such a convenience would come my way. Prices like this completely dash the dream and confine me to a bus driver as chauffeur for the foreseeable future.

While walking slowly on the streets of the Ridge, I see all these bricks with wheels speeding past and muse on how they can afford to keep their piece of the road running. The traffic hasn't seemed to have diminished over the last couple of months so there must be an out somewhere.

Another writer I read this morning ranted about the increased cost of corn flakes. With me it's wheat bread and meat, but everything else I can eat increases its presence in my budget as well. And yet there is no movement yet to do anything about this.

The sign I pictured here is from Conoco/Phillips Union 76, all of which used to be separate service stations. Isn't this the way things got out of control a hundred years ago when the reformist movement broke up Big Oil? I fear what will happen when the American people reach their breaking point this time.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photos by Gary D. Brune, Adjutant Post 259, Paradise copyright (c) 2008

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photos by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

This is a thank you to Bob Barrett, whose information proved to be correct, Commander Thor Sparre of American Legion Post 259 who put me on this story, and David Little of the Enterprise Record, whose timely Blog Log post got Jay Sulzmann from Representative Wally Herger's office to overcome technical difficulties and relay the report that H.R. 3380 has been passed by Congress and was signed into law

Yes Mr. Barret, veterans can now salute the flag in or out of uniform.

Veterans in Paradise celebrated Memorial Day by raising 13 flags at the Veteran's Hall and firing off a 21 gun salute at the Memorial Day ceremonies at the Paradise Cemetery.

To quote from Sulzman's dispatch this morning; "I wanted to let you know that the text of H.R. 3380 has actually passed Congress and become law. It was included as Section 594 of H.R. 4986, the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2008, which was signed into law by President Bush on January 28 of this year. I believe the language was originally added as an amendment by Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma when the bill was going through the Senate.

This information is a wonderful way to celebrate Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

As the veterans of Chico celebrated the opening of their new Veteran's Hall on Armed Forces Day 2008, they reminded me of the status of H.R. 3380, which is still stalled in the House of Representatives. There are 13 members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and all have out of district e-mail blocks in their website.

Last week I dashed off an email to Wally Herger explaining the problem and asking for status. So far he has not gotten back to me. It seems that nobody in Congress is interested in helping American veterans honor our flag.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Right now Chico and Chicago have one thing in common; both have $4 gallon gasoline. There are experts predicting that it will reach $5 by summer. If it keeps going up, the Republicans won't have to worry about the White House or Congress, because there will be such a groundswell of resentment about this that most people will strike out against who they see as causing this mess.

ohotos by Gary D. Brune copuright (c) 2008

California has historical precedent for such a reaction. Starting in the late 1800s, Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins, four men who became known in California as the Big Four, set up the Southern Pacific Railroad, the first major thoroughfare to run the length of our state. They took advantage of this effective monopoly to control business, charging whatever the traffic would bare to anyone who wanted to ship goods across the state.

If the farmer or businessman could not pay the confiscatory shipping costs, their goods rotted in the field or gathered dust in their facilities. These egregious practices led directly to the 1910 reform movement in California, whereby regulation demanded by the people stopped the strangulation by the Big Four and lead to California's golden age.

While Stanford University and the Mark Hopkins Hotel still remain as reminders of this time, what is more important is what this portends for the future. The people of the United States will not take the egregious gasoline prices forever and will demand reform. They will have no choice.

When it costs more than $40 to fill the 8.7 gallon tank of a Smart Car, we will see the amount of traffic Director John ford illustrated in The Grapes of Wrath. As it is, poor people like me cannot afford to buy the vehicles currently available. But when more well to do people can't afford to fuel up their cars to go to work, then all hell will break out.

It was nearly 100 years ago that the reform movement broke out in California and across the country. Some people never learn, do they?

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 07:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

San Francisco Radio Station KGO has announced the former and long time talk show host Bernie Ward has, on advice of his attorney, agreed to plea guilty to the charges filed against him on December 7 by the Bush Justice Department.

The effect of this federal victory is that significant criticism of the federal government has been quashed, our rage over being screwed by high gas prices has been silenced, and any voice of protest has been muted. The conservatives and republicans have won with their complete domination of the media.

And this is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

photo by Gary D. Brune copyright (c) 2008

Bob Barret from New Hampshire just asked; " I heard recently that this honor to the flag has been approved. Can someone confirm or deny that fact? I think it is a special honor to the flag and ever Vet I have mentioned it to agrees as well. I am Navy Vietnam Era Vet."

After researching this issue in the House of Representatives wbsite, I found that it was sent to the House Judiciary, Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties on September 10. GovTracks.us showed no further action for H.R.3380/S.1170l at the moment.

Both bills have identical text under the title; SECTION 1. CONDUCT BY MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES AND VETERANS OUT OF UNIFORM DURING HOISTING, LOWERING, OR PASSING OF FLAG.

The bill itself is simple; ?Section 9 of title 4, United States Code, is amended by striking `all persons present' and all that follows through the end and inserting `those present in uniform should render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present but not in uniform may render the military salute. All other persons present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Citizens of other countries should stand at attention. All such conduct toward the flag in a moving column should be rendered at the moment the flag passes.'."

This is a 40 member committee chaired by Representative John Conyers, Zoa Lofgren and Daniel Lungren are the only Northern California Representatives. I will try to contact Lungrne to see tne current status of this bill, and will report the results.

Posted by Gary D. Brune at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)