Larry Lavender, Republican staff director, House Financial Services Committee
This story sent along by a friend. Read it and laugh? Weep? Well, misery loves company and it’s nice not to be alone in a sewer swamp. Here’s an excerpt and the link
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/13/news/economy/Birmingham_brink_Whitford.fortune/index.htm
“ In the beginning, the people of Jefferson County weren't asking for anything special, just a working sewer system - one that didn't overflow whenever it rained, spilling raw sewage into the creeks that drain the Jones Valley basin where Birmingham lies. Lawsuits by environmentalists forced the issue, and in December 1996, Jefferson County signed a consent decree, agreeing to clean things up within ten years. Early estimates of how much it might cost ranged all the way from $250 million to $1.2 billion. In other words, no one had a clue. . . . . .”
The Nimrods Are Back
About a month ago, the small murder of crows who hang around their established territory looking for their daily small snack of dog food kibble disappeared. They still checked out the flower pot but then would leave. So I figured they’d gone away to nest and sure enough a few weeks ago the noisy gang returned with their nimrod offspring.
Ah, nimrods are nimrods are nimrods. And I’m glad to see this gaggle of sillies back in town.
Posts
4 comments:
We used to sit in the back yard having a ball watching the young ones (Nimrods) learning to fly. There were some that played with stones on the tin roof where I worked, taking a pebble to the top an watching it roll all the way down,
When we lived in the desert you could watch them do aerobatics in the thermals, looping, flying upside down and tumbling.
Crows are great.
Yup. They're amazing. Watching two of the little goofs pulling at each others feathers, stabbing feet, poking each other (Did so! Did not! Did so! Did not! Mawwww, make him stop! Waaahhhh!) while waiting for their turn at the kibble pot, what a laugh. Yup. Crows are great.
Just above the crows...The quote at the top of the blog entry about the Birmingham sewer bankruptcy debacle is more intriguing read in context. After relating a story about an ill-fated and hideously expensive sewer scheme gone awry Larry Lavender said, "It's hard to steal as much as you can waste."
The report continued, "Perhaps, although there was lots of stealing too. Most of the convictions to date have been variations on the age-old theme, hardly unique to Alabama, of graft: public officials 'taking care' of their friends in the construction business."
And just below that:
"When all was said and done, Jefferson County had its sewer system. But the commission found itself staring down $3.2 billion in debt - or roughly 100 times the sewer department's annual capital budget. County officials knew they couldn't lay that whole burden on the system's 146,000 customers, many of whom live in Birmingham's blighted western neighborhoods."
The Nimrods are Baaaaaak
Chirp cheep chortle Caa-Caaak
Coo-Coos and Magpies preen and hack
Mo-theeer, he’s Looooking at me.
He started it!Make him stop!
Are we there yet?
Post a Comment