Calhouns Can(n)ons

It’s Not The Gong Show, But It Should Be

Our long national nightmare is almost over, but not quite. We’ve got, what? Three presidential debates and somewhere a veep debate to get through. Though that latter is one I’m sure everyone’s looking forward to – the Moose Shooter vs. Mr. Motormouth.

After watching the debate last night, it was clear that what’s needed are a couple of people from Factcheck.org or some other Jes’ The Facts, Ma’m-type organization tstanding on stage next to a couple of HUGE gongs and when either candidate started fudging they’d hit the HUGE gong a good lick. Donnnngggggg!!!! Then a stentorian voice would ring out, “WRONG! THE CORRECT ANSWER IS . . . !” And so forth. That would save a lot of the embarrassing, “Senator, you’re wrong. No, Senator, you’re wrong” back and forth.

Which brings me to this question: Was it just me, or did last night’s debate begin to resemble a Marriage Counseling session, complete with defensive whining, rights-fighting and history-dregding (I always took better care of the kids than you did. You never visited my mother when she was sick. You forgot to mention back in 1953 when I took out the garbage for eight straight days. Don't be naive. I worked my fingers to the bone for this marriage and you never noticed. I never said that. You just don’t understand. You don't understand anything!) Oy!

LOCSD Candidate Meet ‘N Greets

The Red Barn in the South Bay Community Park will be jumping this weekend. The Bay News reports Today, Saturday, Sept 27, from 1 -5 pm, Marshall Ochylski and Maria Kelly are offering up eats with their meet n’ greet. Any questions, contact maria@maria4csd.com or http://www.restore-the-trust.com/

Then Tomorrow, Sunday, Sept 28 from 2 – 4pm, candidate Karen Venditti will be holding her eat ‘n meet n’ greet at the Barn. Any questions, call 528-7116.

And for info on all the CSD candidates, go to http://smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/slo/race/072 or stop by and meet them and ask them whatever in person.

Da Plane! Da Plane!

Well, not quite, but apparently we’re near to at least one settlement with one of the contractors who were hired to build the canceled “Tri-W” sewer plant. Reports the Sept 26 Tribune, Whitaker Contractors of Tempelton was claiming $6.9 million and the arbitrator, George Calkius with the state office of Administrative Hearings, ruled that Whitaker can claim about $1.3 million in legitimate start-up/work actually done/stand-down expenses.

The other two contactors, Barnard Construction and Monterey mechanical, which have claimed gazillions,still remain in arbitration.

What makes this interesting is whenever the Tribune so much as mentioned Los Osos and Sewer and Bankruptcy, they always tossed in the claimed figures $45 million in debt or $60 million or whatever number they were using that day, as if they were real numbers. What they never bothered to make clear was that these were whatever amount in claims the various parties wished to submit (no matter how cockamamie) and claims are not debts, they’re claims. If Whitaker and the CSD sign off on this arbitrated amount, THEN it'll become debt. Big difference.

The same sort of muddlment is taking place in the comment section of this blog whenever somebody calling himself Richard posts some TaxpayerWatch lawsuit/legal document then crows about it being a fact! No, until a judge rules or a jury rules (and/or an appeals court rules) the information contained in the sixteen-gazillion pounds of paperwork submitted by attorneys on either side of a case are merely claims, or factoids-out-of-context, followed by counter-claims and more factoids-out-of-context. It’s a very expensive legal version of, Uh-Huh, Nuh-Huh, Is So, Is Not, Neener Neener So’s Yer Momma. And there is no requirement that anything in the documents must be true, only “true” so far as whoever’s signing them “believes” them to be true, which gives everybody HUGE amounts of prevaricating wiggle room in a constantly changing field-of-belief-masquerading-as-fact.

Just part of the legal game.

Speaking of which, the Medean “Taxpayers Watch lawsuit filed personally against LOCSD board members, will have (unless it’s postponed again) a Hearing on the motion for summary judgment, Oct 1 at 8:30 a.m. at the SLO Vets Hall, followed by a Hearing on discovery motion October 8 at 9 a.m. also in the Vets hall, with the actual Trial itself scheduled for Nov 10, unless Judge La Barbara rules on something or other on Oct 1 or 8 or the whole things is postponed again so as to run the clock out or keep adding to the expense in hopes of bankrupting your opponent & etc. Also part of the legal game.

In this case, the taxpayers, the ones Taxpayers Watch are claiming to be looking out for, will be getting the bill, but I haven’t been able to figure out what benefit they’ll be getting. Medean Revenge will be on tap for the members of TPW, certainly, but what’s in it for the taxpayers and will the price be worth it to them?