flocke's blog

306 Woodbine crt

2011-11-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

306 Woodbine is for sale. Right now the owners are trying to sell the property for 200k.

Two retired women - sisters - apparently considered buying the property. Luckily their inspector warned them off.

The door is painted not changed. In a short while the fiction surface will start to rub the paint from the door, and the again there will be a lead problem. Hopefully children will not move in.
The leak in the ceiling is not fixed. To cover this up the ceiling has been "repaired" , apparently with the popcorn ceiling material. So the new owner will not see the problem, and only find out about the leak with the first serious rain.
The heating bills in the winter are close to $300 (for appx. 1300 sq ft ) because there are no storm doors and the old doors do not keep out the wind ! The house heats in a crazily irregular way. The living room and kitchen are cold. Bedrooms warm. And heating bills very high .

As usual, the owners of 306 woodbine do the minimum , cover their tracks, and look out for themselves. The house will still be a danger to children, and older people who cannot do work themselves will have a shock when winter comes.

Bubbles Kids Consignment Store in Greensboro NC

2011-10-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Lego purchased from Bubbles Kids Consignment Store had a strange sweet oder that was impossible to remove with washing - first with a mild detergent, second wiping each block, third, washing in a heavy duty cycle in the washing machine.

The owner of Bubbles did not seem concerned about this problem when contacted by email.

Flocke .... does not recommend Bubbles (1724 Battleground Ave. Greensboro NC).

Decent is as Decent Does

2011-09-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

Joan and Jack Knowles of Greensboro North Carolina claim to be "decent people".

Knowing that lead is harmful and can cause permanent brain damage to children, they rented a house that contained exposed and flaking lead based paint to a woman 8 months pregnant with twins. They did work on the house that left lead dust and paint flakes in a child's crib.

Knowing the house was potentiality hazardous they ignored warnings and labels on paint cans, tools, and home renovation materials for years. They simply closed their eyes to the danger and hoped for the best until finally a 9- month old girl was lead poisoned.

They ignored the dangers, but not to the point of ignoring their potential liability - they attempted to have a new lease signed that included a clause obliging the tenant (at the tenants expense) to have insurance if someone were harmed in the house.

And the original lease stated:

"although freshly painted , subsurfaces may contain lead based paint"

This sounds to Flocke like they actually knew that lead based paint existed in the house. They are legally obliged to disclose this information. But they did not. Not even to a pregnant women who would bring two infants home to that house.

Is it possible for someone who owns and rents numerous houses over a period of years to not be aware that pre-1978 houses could contain lead based paint? And that houses built in the 1920s almost certainly Do contain lead based paint.

Even after receiving a report showing lead levels thousands of times the EPA safe limits, and stating in summary that the house is a danger to children, their first response was to immediately re-rent the house to families with young children.

Checking numerous sources Flocke finds decency defined as follows:

Characterized by conformity to recognized standards of propriety or morality.
Marked by moral integrity, kindness, and goodwill.
Behaving towards other people in an honest, fair, and nice way.
Following moral standards that are acceptable to society
Conforming to approved social standard
Morally correct or acceptable.
Conforming with generally accepted standards of respectable or moral behavior.

Yet they claim to be "decent people".

Self interest and a desire for profit in this case trumped decency ... or so it appears to Flocke.

If Joan and Jack Knowles are decent people, they should be ashamed of their behavior.

Decent behavior would include an apology.

Lead Paint and Joan and Jack Knowles of 110 Beverly Pl., GSO, NC

2011-09-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

Joan and Jack Knowles of 110 Beverly Place Greensboro N.C , rented out a property 306 Woodbine Court. A lead inspection showed that lead levels in the house were thousands of time the EPA safe limit.

They broke the law:

They did not provide a lead hazard disclosure statement.
They did not disclose information about lead based paint.
They did not have certification to do renovations on a pre - 1978 house. They installed a small air conditioner unit next to a crib. They scraped the lead based paint and did not protect a 9 month old baby's crib. Essentially, they rained lead paint and dust down on an infant's crib. They did not protect the crib with plastic, let alone use lead safe work practices.
They did not provide a pamplet called "Protect your family from lead based paint".

Also

They did not apologize for their behavior which seriously harmed a small baby, potentially for life.
When informed of the harm they had done they said "...do you know how much money this will cost us ..."
They snuck into the property without warning, to try to "fix" certain areas. They gave no notice that they would come in, or even notice that they had come in. Presumably they did not want to give warning, so no pictures of the dangerous areas could be taken. They left dangerous lead paint chips on the floor...
After receiving a report showing that the house was Dangerous for Children, immediately paraded 3 families with young children though the house, intending to rent to them immediately.
Upon receiving the report about lead hazards in the house, threatened eviction (they did not use the term eviction but rather 'you will have to leave in 3 days' ) upon refusal to sign an 'addendum to the lease' . The addendum was in fact a portion of the lease they should have originally supplied, and had language in it intended to disclose to tenants the hazards of lead. Not intended to be used when tenants inform the Landlords that the house is dangerous and they are therefore leaving.
Only decided (or so it appears from the timing of their behaviour) to do something about the house when the public health department was informed because of an elevated blood lead level of a 9 month old girl.

Their behavior was not only illegal but just WRONG.

Do decent people, threaten to throw a family out on the street - two young children - whom they have potentially harmed with their negligence ? Do decent people threaten a mother who wants to leave a house that has harmed her children??

Flocke does not think so.

For unsuspecting tenants - consider checking references of your landlords before signing a lease ... ?

And if you have young children, learn about Lead based paint hazards. Do not count on your landlords to do the right thing.

See:

Document which explains the responsibility of landlords and sellers regarding lead based paint in a home.
Document which describes how to keep your family safe from lead.

Flocke will not forgive such unethical behavior ...

Flocke read

2010-08-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

... Hersi Ali's Nomad and looked at the latest Time Magazine article on women and the return of the Taliban

The Profit said, "I looked at Paradise and found poor people forming the majority of its inhabitants; and i looked at Hell and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women" Hadith -- Sahih Bukhari 4:464

Destructive thinking??

Definitions: socialism, irony, hypocritical

2010-07-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

“Believe it or not – this was in the '60s – we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn't that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.” -- S Palin, 2010

It is certainly not ironic in my sense that Palin's parents would do what they could to find health care for their kids... certainly not contrary to what one might expect of a parent.

But it is ironic that that Palin would speak of it in this way. Since she also talks about the terrible Canadian health care system..

Maybe Palin needs to check some definitions: socialism, irony, hypocritical

... or so flocke thinks while basking in the Mediterranean

Yes, please ...

2010-07-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

life of animals raised on industrial farms improves in california

Muslims, Christians, and Tea Partiers

2010-06-21T20:01:00.000-07:00

The tea party ... they talk about the constitution as if it were a religious document.. the founding fathers as if they were prophets. As if the words they wrote at that time.. should stand forever unaltered. Not unlike radical Muslims or Christians who interpret the Koran and Bible ... as if every word is a direct line from God, that should stand forever unaltered regardless of changing times.

flocke is an independant

Flocke looks left and right

2010-06-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

... and sees far leaning liberals and angry tea-partiers

... both are imagining a world that doesn't exist

According to a Newsweek article by Andrew Romano

"Tea partiers are driven by the belief that the America that elected Barack Obama isn't their America, and Beck comforts them by telling them they're right: that the America they love, the America they now feel so distant from, the America of faith and the Founders and some sort of idyllic Leave It to Beaver past, is still there, waiting to be awakened from Obama's evil spell. "

Flocke becomes a born again feminist

2010-05-20T19:33:00.002-07:00

After reading Infidel, I am Nujood Age 10 and Divorced, A Thousand Splendid Suns, ... , etc.

“Feminism has fought no wars. It has killed no opponents. It has set up no concentration camps, starved no enemies, practiced no cruelties. Its battles have been for education, for the vote, for better working conditions . . . for safety on the streets . . . for child care, for social welfare . . . for rape crisis centers, women’s refuges, reforms in the laws. If someone says ‘Oh, I’m not a feminist,’ I ask ‘Why? What’s your problem?’”

- Dale Spender

The Best Health Care in the World?

2010-03-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

According to Glen Beck:

"...America has the best health care system in the world. Is it perfect? No. But it's still the best. Yet we're about to throw it all away in favor of... government-run health care..."

According to David Frum:

"...Rarely are the American people reminded that we have the highest cancer survival rates in the world. That success is the product of an entrepreneurial spirit, something that Obamacare and its drift toward government control will inevitably weaken. There is little compassion in giving grandma access to a procedure while making that procedure half as likely to save her life; conservatives should say so."

And Flocke thinks:

Conservatives should also note that Grandma has a greater life expectancy in 38-47 countries - most of which have universal health care coverage.

America's life expectancy is ranked 49 th in the world according to the CIA World fact book and ranked 38 according to Wikipedia.

Why does America's life expectancy rank so low - below even communist Cuba?

"Which grandmas" are going to benefit from these excellent cancer survival rates? The grandmas under 65 among the 30-40 million uninsured Americans? Do these grandmas represent America? Are there Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians among them in equal proportion to the population of the country?

How does the "best health care in the world" translate into one of the lowest life expectancies in the industrialized world?

How common are these views among the GOP?

2010-03-25T13:07:00.001-07:00

Waterloo but for who ?

Republican leaders disdain Harvard and San Fransciso !

2010-03-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

" ...Republican leaders dismissed any suggestion that the [health care] bill would hurt the party over the long term.

Someone at Harvard or in San Francisco might think that, but not the rest of the country,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. ..."

What other universities and cities do they disdain?

The Right Thing to Do

2010-03-22T02:41:00.000-07:00

A lot of people are protesting in Washington for and against health care reform. You can always tell the difference when you look at the crowds. All-white crowds carrying American flags with ugly slogans ("abort obama" in huge letters and then a small bracketed 'care") are against reform. Flocke has yet to see an image of a multi-ethnic crowd (which might better represent what America is) protesting the health care bill. Is it non American to provide health insurance for the poor, uninsured, non - whites of this country ? Many Catholic nuns in this country (and flocke) don't think so.

Health Care Reform in America

2010-03-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Flocke is waiting for Sunday's vote. She is hoping for health care reform in America. She LIKES "hopey changey things". Though she would never say it quite like that...

( palin on hopey changey and strategies for america)

Flying American

2010-03-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

Why is flying on an american regional jet like riding a third world bus - except the attendants don't wear flipflops? Flocke wonders.

How to fix America's problems

2010-02-16T03:51:00.000-08:00

“It would be wise of us to start seeking some divine intervention again in this country, so that we can be safe and secure and prosperous again.” --- Former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, February 2010

First Lady of Zimbabwe punches photographer

2009-01-17T15:00:00.000-08:00

On a shopping trip to Hong Kong the first lady of Zimbabwe punches a photographer repeatedly in the face while her body guard holds him down.
Read article

Apparently the first lady likes to shop, but with sanctions agaist travel in Europe she has moved to the far east:

'Once, when asked why she spent thousands on expensive Ferragamo shoes while her people starved, she replied: “I have very narrow feet, so I wear only Ferragamo.” '

Zimbabwe - January 2009

2009-01-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe has just released $10 trillion note. The country has the worst inflation in history. It will soon release $20 trillion, $50 trillion and $100 trillion notes ($10 trillion worth $8US today).
John Robertson, an independent economist Zimbabwe, estimates rate of inflation is eight quintillion percent.
World health organization estimates 60,000 people could be infected with Cholera.
Robert Mugabe claims the disease is now under control.
Schools and hospitals are closed in Zimbabwe. Teachers and medical people have stopped going to work because their salaries are worthless. Soldiers are rioting because they too have no salary.
Human rights activists are being arrested and thrown in jail. Stories of torture while in detention are surfacing.
One in four children has lost one or both parents - one of the highest orphan rates in the world (the highest is not clear since various countries claim this status) - mostly due to AIDS. But the public health system is now collapsed and cholera is raging though the country.

When will it end ?

Does flocke have something in common with bo

2009-01-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Kute

2009-01-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Whenever the Obama transition team does not want to answer a question they say :

"There is only one president at a time"

Apparently this seriously annoys Barney Frank, a Democrat, who says

"Obama says we have one President at a time, but I'm afraid that seriously overstates the number of Presidents we have right now."

And reported in BBC

Flocke had a flu .... but wishes everyone a

2009-01-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
Happy New Year

Knut had an exciting week

2008-12-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

visitors

Mugabe claims

2008-12-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

that cholera outbreak is biological warfare perpetrated by Britain.
time online

Treatment of Cholera ....

2008-12-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

The World Health Organization says:

Cholera is an easily treatable disease. The prompt administration of oral rehydration salts to replace lost fluids nearly always results in cure. In especially severe cases, intravenous administration of fluids may be required to save the patient's life.

600 people have died.
thousands are sick
Unicef warns that 60,000 more cases could emerge in the next few weeks

Government officials talk about the evil colonialists while people die.

While Zimbabwe suffers

2008-12-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

the African Union says the only solution to the Zimbabwe crisis is the power-sharing

unemployment is 90%
the capital has no power, water, or sewage
garbage piles up in the streets and sewage runs freely
people are starving and dying of disease
600 people have died of Cholera, thousands more deaths are expected, and disease is spreading to surrounding regions
Zimbabwe inflation rate is 230,000,000 % and expected to rise to the trillions
limits on bank withdrawals mean line ups to get bus fare
the government prints trillions of dollars to pay government workers
the Zanu-PF lost a democratic election
Mugabe's party has no solution for the problems in his country and it is hard to believe they care
the rest of the world will not help Zimbabwe until a regime is in place that they can talk to

The Zimbabwe Information says:

" After squeezing and strangling the country with sanctions and contaminating it with cholera and anthrax, the West is seeking to use the window of opportunity provided by the disaster to justify military intervention."

Anyone can Say anything, but

When is enough enough?

flocke wonders along with the rest of the world...

Flocke reconsiders Canadian crisis...

2008-12-06T18:26:00.001-08:00

Flocke dreams of a perfect Christmas.....

2008-12-05T11:39:00.001-08:00

Hmmm....

2008-12-04T04:27:00.000-08:00

Harper has asked for and received permission from the Governor General to suspend the parliament in order to avoid a no confidence vote.

In a televised appeal last night Harper said:
"At a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada,"

Flocke wonders what Separatists have to do with a no confidence vote. Isn't it the minority governments job to find a compromise ... even with The Separatists

flocke is not happy...

Flocke keeps abreast of recent developements

2008-12-03T12:38:00.000-08:00

Obama and Hillary

Gauntanamo

2008-12-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Vandeveld tells why he quit as a Guantanamo Bay prosecutor

(ps flocke was pleased that GM and Ford left the jets at home)

flocke in solidarity sits in her cell...

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T10:55:00.001-08:00

If something cannot go on forever

2008-11-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

it must stop -- Herb Stein

According to the U.S. national debt clock the outstanding public debt as of 24 Nov. 2008 at 10:43:09 PM GMT is:

$10,667,356,322,960.55

(when flocke checked on Nov. 19 it was about $6,938,468,488 less )

Squanderville and Thriftville

-- Warren Buffett explains the trade deficit

Warren Buffett

2008-11-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

The third richest man in the world, Warren Buffett believes he pays too LITTLE in taxes.

A survey in his own office showed that he paid on average 17% whereas his secretaries paid more than 30%.

The classic rebuttal is that the people who make a lot of money, in the process end up supplying jobs to others. Warren Buffett says -- that is true of many people in the world. They work hard and make money for others. But does that entitle them to a tax break? And would they stop working if they paid higher taxes. Buffet says he doesn't think so.

Neither does flocke.

Flocke is shocked by IOUSA

2008-11-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

"To the U.S. economy what 'An Inconvenient Truth' was to the environment" -- Reuters

USA National Debt Clock

Bush when asked in 2007 about the possibility of recession says:
'You know, you need to talk to economists. I think I got a B in Econ 101. I got an A, however, in keeping taxes low and being fiscally responsible with the people’s money."

(in fact Michael Rosten claims his transcripts show a C-)

(canadian debt is less per capita despite universal health care)

Times have changed

2008-11-19T18:50:00.000-08:00

As of 11/18/2008 American public debt is $10,660,417,854,472.29

There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.

Richard Feynman
US educator & physicist (1918 - 1988)

They should have left the jets at home

2008-11-19T18:42:00.000-08:00

GM and Ford and Chrsyler head to Washington to ask for $25Bn

Another comment from Alaska

2008-11-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

Rail'n about Palin when the party starts trail'n and the strategy starts fail'n and the government is bail'n [out wall street]

2008-11-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

Palin was not knowledgeable about world affairs, economics, geography, history, and so on, and many democrats, republicans, Canadians (and even bears) felt that makes someone unqualified for the job of vice president of America.

But is it fair that the republicans now tear her apart and leak all the sordid details of the campaign - out of context - and blame her for the failed election? This is bad. What about the mistake they made in picking someone who was not qualified for the job, and considering how and why those mistakes happened.

(now flocke cannot make fun...the frivolity is over...)

Frivolity

2008-11-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

Election Night in America

2008-11-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

flocke can sleep tonight... and even consider frivolity...

Flocke sees Capitol Steps

2008-11-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

Flocke went to see Capitol Steps to learn about Campaign and Suffering, American Pie, Huckabee and Haris Pilton and the Bort of Spaceball

Look at some old Lirty Dies such as Gush and Bore

Ishmael Beah talks at UNCG

2008-11-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ishmael Beah, the author of a A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier spoke at UNCG on Oct 3, 2008

He read a passage from his book - about the day he realized war had begun and the world changed. He talked about his exasperation when he realized that this terrible violence was occurring and many people in the world did not even know where the country of Sierra Leone was ( his perspective several years later, in New York where he lived when he left Africa) People should know, should educate themselves and others about what is happening there and elsewhere. This was the thread I saw throughout his talk and the questions afterwards.

Musee des Beaux Arts W.H. Auden 1940

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Fall of Icarus Pieter Breughel

has anyone tried Office Live ?

2008-10-31T11:19:00.001-07:00

Office live

flocke has not tried yet.. but will report back soon...

Does Google Know Too Much ?

2008-10-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Read this
.... Enough to make even a bear wonder

Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin have something in common?

2008-10-31T08:40:00.000-07:00

Robert Kegan

2008-10-30T04:30:00.000-07:00

Kegan interview

What does Kegan mean when he says other countries [in Europe] would like to see Obama elected president of America but would not elect someone like that in their own countries?

Defenders of the Iraq war always say things like - 'you cant seriously believe the world would be better off with S. H. in Iraq' . The world would better off without many dictators - how can that be a defense of the war.

Is it true that the surge was accompanied American payments to tens of thousands of fighters to turn their backs on AlQuada and stop attacking American troupes?

2008-10-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

obamacons

2008-10-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

Couric asked whether the bailout money might be better spent on the middle class instead of making it available to the banking system.

"That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out.
But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the -- it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

2008-10-26T00:51:00.000-07:00

Say what?

"Oil and coal? Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first."

--Sarah Palin, answering a question at a town hall meeting Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sept. 17, 2008

2008-10-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

mccain and palin ?

paranoid cardasian or misguided klingon...

ambitious ferringe or tina faye ...

2008-10-23T15:29:00.000-07:00

Pinniped