Letter to the Glendale City Council

Since I was on a letter writing campaign, here is another letter to the Glendale City Council in response to this ridiculous situation I read in the LA Times. I got called by the Glendale News Press so I think my letter might have been published in their letters to the editor section. Who knows since I don't even read the GNP.

Hi Glendale City Council,

I just read the article regarding the Collard's incredible fine of
$347,600 for trimming trees and I would highly recommend you folks
getting a grip on common sense. Even though I read that the city has
backed down on seeking litigation, the conclusion of the article
implied that there might still be a "small" fine to the tune of
$10,000. Are you kidding me?! I live a couple of miles away in
Silverlake and if you folks insist on this boneheaded course of
action, I will need to reconsider visiting my favorite Glendale haunts
like Porto's bakery or the Galleria. I mean I might accidentally
knick a tree and be charged half a million dollars!

Sincerely yours,
Ben Luc

Letter To Diane E. Watson, my local California representative

This letter was in regard to this article I read on CNN.

I am concerned about the Bush administration's plan under Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to freeze "teaser" rates for five years. Although I feel for homeowners who might lose their homes, the government cannot in any shape or form bail out people who make bad or stupid decisions. The real estate market, especially in the one in California, is over-valued. We must let the market play out for it to return to equilibrium. This plan is ill-conceived and smacks of a political ploy to gain popularity in an election year. In addition, since a good percentage of the segment of the borrowers this plan targets are already behind in their payments, freezing the rates for five years will not really help them. In my analysis, who this really helps are the lenders who can squeeze more interest from their properties for five more years and hope the market will correct before then.

I have also been concerned about Democratic presidential candidates, namely Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, making statements that this plan is not enough and that we should do more to help borrowers in trouble. As an independent voter, I will NOT support any presidential candidate or elected official who would forward a plan to solve this market imbalance through government interference.

Popcorn in a Wok

Free Burma

Crackdown in Burma

So, while I was checking out Slashdot, I came upon a comment on the lack of news coverage in the US on the crackdown on the monk protesters in Burma. Surely I read a few articles about the military junta shutting down internet and other communications but the demonstrations died down and everything is back to normal right? Well, after following the two links below, it seems that the only things that have died down are the hundreds (possibly in the thousand) of monks who have been killed and their bodies dumped in the Burmese jungle.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=484903&in_page_id=1811

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/10/01/burma.html?ref=rss

So as of 8:13am local time, I checked out LA Times, CNN, and Fox News and the only mentions, if you look hard enough, are of a Junta General meeting a UN envoy or old articles I have already perused. The only reason I can think of why this is not being reported in our major news outlets is that these massacres have not been confirmed. However, if the UK and world news outlets think the reports are credible enough to publish online, why not our own US of A news sources.

I am not a conspiracy theorist (yet).

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Surgeon General's Warning: Eating microwave popcorn can be hazardous to your health

Below is an email I sent to a coworker after he noticed me prepping a snack of microwave popcorn. He told me his health and safety instructor warned that eating popcorn may lead to lung cancer. I was pretty sure he was mistaken and laughed him off. As I was working my way through the bag, I decided to google it just in case. You have been warned.

Clem,

Ok, I googled it and found this website:

http://lungdiseases.about.com/od/generalinformation1/a/artificial_flav.htm

This article mentions direct inhalation exposure to the butter flavorings for popcorn industry workers.

This other scarier article:

http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2005/nov/science/rr_popcorn.html

mentions that the waxy coating used in microwave popcorn bags are precursors to a chemical that is a likely carcinogen. It mentions that eating a bag a week over the course of 5-10 years results in a measurable amount of this carcinogen in your blood. Although that seems to be more popcorn than a normal person (such as I) would consume, the bad news is that the FDA cannot say for sure how much of this might actually cause cancer.

So looking down at my half eaten butter flavored microwave popcorn, I'm going to have to pass on eating my third favorite evening snack and do something else to curb my evening hunger pangs--smoking.

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