Post Office, Cabezon by Evangeline Chavez

The village was started in the 1870’s and was originally called Posta, (the post),  It was the focal point for farming and raising sheep. It was also a stage stop between Santa Fe and the military outpost at Fort Wingate. It quickly grew with the mandatory saloons, blacksmith shop, stores.  Richard Heller ran the Heller Store and post office for a good many years.  Cabezon flourished  until the 1940’s. Mr. Heller died in 1947, and the Rio Puerco dried up. The post office officially closed in 1949

Two things about me:

1.  I LOVE reading the comics.

2.  I prefer sharpened pencils.

Check out my thoughts on the second one over at The Post.

Some unexpected coverage in Scottish Newspaper ‘The Sunday Post’ at the beginning of this month.

Nil’s shot of the Organic Moose hat and mittens was amazingly good quality on the page, I’ve never seen such a sharp image in newsprint! Shame about some of the other brands, not really the same idea we’re going for……but seriously Gilly, don’t look a gifthorse in the mouth! haha

Casual workers at the Royal Mail.  System is in disarray.

“There’s no induction, no training and no health and safety brief,” according to a SkyNews undercover reporter. Read the report here.

One of Royal Mail's rivals

Royal Mail’s rivals have admitted that they might not be able to cope with the extra business that is coming their way as a result of postal strikes.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/6336332/Postal-strike-Royal-Mail-rivals-say-they-cant-cope.html

Still from 'Night Mail'

The classic film made by the GPO film unit.

Words by WH Auden. Music by Benjamin Britten.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmq6mFAEqNQ

The case against news editor, Chansa Kabwela, from Zambia’s newspaper The Post has  been thrown out after the court failed to prove their case against the journalist.  Kabwela faced pornography charges and jail time after sending graphic photos of woman giving birth on a pavement to the country’s president.

The photos were taken during the country’s doctor strike in June, which left many in the country without proper medical help.  The infant, unfortunately suffocated and later died.

Ms Kabwela told reporters, including those from The Telegraph,

“This victory to me is a victory for those that suffered during the strike. I was confident that I would be acquitted.”

The Post is Zambia’s only private newspaper and there is speculation that the charges may have been a politically move to halt the reporting of corruption in the government.

In article in The Post, Professor Muna Ndulowritten, an Ivy League law professor, writes,

“The average person in Zambia, while no doubt being shocked and disgusted by the picture, would not regard the publication of pictures of a woman giving birth in order to expose the plight of ordinary people during a national strike by medical personnel as being prurient and having the effect or as intended to deprave and corrupt morals.

Instead, the pictures should lead to outrage and anger at those who were not making maximum efforts to end the strike.”

Click here to hear more about the strike earlier this summer in an interview from the BBC.

The Washington Post on BHO’s Asian trip

The second most liberal newspaper in the nation, The Washington Post, has this to say in its editorial on Saturday November 21, 2009 about BHO’s trip to China:

“BHO was elected in part because he promised a more cooperative and pragmatic leadership in world affairs, but he should also be willing to stand up to Beijing.”

Are you surprised? I am because The Post has been in the pocket of BHO from .the early days of his presidential campaign. I was particularly shocked to see this kind of language from The Post:

“He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results.”

Let me also remind you that he also

• Didn’t get any help in Iran’s nuclear weapon matter,

• Didn’t get any cooperation on Copenhagen conference,

• Didn’t achieve his goal of asking China to limit North Korea’s nuclear weapon program and

• Didn’t press hard enough to have China raising the value of RMB.

His speech and town hall meeting weren’t broadcast live. Questions weren’t allowed at his press conference. Knowing all this, he went along with China’s decision which showed his beta male and appealer characteristics.

The Post also said in it Editorial:

“He was too deferential; he didn’t speak out enough on human rights; he failed to press Beijing firmly on revaluing its currency; he achieved no concrete results.”

Other words in the editorial were: “especially disappointed”, “dispiriting” and “acquiescence.”

The Post concluded its editorial with this:

“But the American president must always be willing to stand up to Beijing in defense of core American interests and values.”

In other words, The Post finally realized that this was the worst performance ever for an American President in the world stage.

Oh yes, I forgot about his other accomplishments from his vacation in Asia:

He agreed with South Korea not to engaging in endless talks with North Korea but didn’t offer any proposal to bring this matter to a satisfied conclusion. He also said that The U.S. and its allies will send a “clear message” to Iran on its nuclear weapon program.

He also bowed to Japan’s emperor. He remembered having an ice cream in Japan. He reminded the world his tie with Indonesia. He couldn’t give up the chance to tell Asian people that he came from Hawaii. He even told Chinese about his Kenya father, Kansan mother and his sister who is ½ Indonesian and married to a Chinese-Canadian. He even said that “So when you see family gatherings in the BHO household, it looks like the United Nations. As if these personal issues matter to Chinese people.

Well, in the words of a common Chinese saying” ”他丟盡了美國的臉! ta1 diu1 jin4 le1 mei3 guo2 de1 lian3“ or lost face on behalf of all Americans.

Well, what else can you expect from a beta male?

I also can not ignore his accomplishment in the U.S.:

He will raise our taxes, our children’s taxes and our grandchildren’s taxes. He has quadrupled nation’s deficits. He will pile on record deficits for as long as our eyes can see. He is on the verge of drastically increase the size of the federal government. He may take over our health care. He will greatly push America into socialism. He has raised nation’s unemployment rate to 10.2%. He hasn’t created any jobs with his $787 billion stimulus plan.

Americans should be ashamed to have such a spineless president. Chinese should be proud of China’s firm stand against the strongest nation is the world.This is in far starker contrast to China in 1842 at the end of opium war. The signing of Treaty of Nanking “南京條約 nan2 jing1 tiao2 yue1″ marked the beginning of more than 60 years of the darkest history of China’s 5,000 years of history.

China has come out of that dark shadow and every Chinese should be proud of this moment in our history.

Book cover

Roy Mayall’s book now available to order on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Granny-Smith-Letter-Postman/dp/190602197X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258530300&sr=1-1

Senate intern rolls over opponent to win Wellston city council seat (Tristan Navera, The Post)

Talking to an 18 year old who won political office is intimidating. I wasn’t anywhere close to accomplishing something like this three years ago, and I lamented on my own life’s accomplishments while writing this story. I look forward to seeing where Luke Scott’s political career takes him in the future, talking to him definately gave me the sense that he has a lot of ambition.

Back to work

The postal strike is off. You don’t need me to tell you that. What you may not know is how this has affected us posties.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2009/11/11/roy-mayall/out-of-kilter/

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary CWU

You’re our union so listen to us posties.

Postal workers fear the CWU is not interested in their position. Here are a few suggestions as to how it could enter negotiations.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/10/union-posties-postal-workers-cwu

TNT postal worker

Postmen in Holland are losing their jobs. Fixed contracts are being replaced by ‘flexible’ contracts, full-time postmen by ‘freelance’ postmen. People who have been doing the same round for 31 years are being got rid of and made to reapply for their jobs, but on a freelance basis.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2009/11/02/roy-mayall/going-dutch/

No chocolate today (but Lisa is still hosting it if you need a recipe).  Sorry if you came looking.  I totally forgot.

This weekend we have no soccer (cause it’s over).  Wow, I love soccer, but it will be nice to have our weekends back!  The honey-do-list is quite long!

Sunday we get to set the clocks back and gain a whole hour.  That will be lovely and I’m looking forward to having more sunshine in the morning.  Does your state have this?

I have been knitting pumpkins, Ms. A’s sweater, and Rich’s socks (they should have been finished but I ran out of yarn 9 rows till the end!!!!!!!!!  I think I should give him pink toes, what do you think?).  I’m determined to start work on Ms. S’s Ella Coat this weekend, cause you know I need another project!

And don’t forget – today is the last day to nominate a blog for The Homeschool Blog Award.  If you’ve forgotten, hope on over NOW and make that nomination!

How was your week?  Glad it’s Friday too?

Picket line

The reason this strike is unique is that it has nothing to do with pay. It is about the future of the Royal Mail itself, something which concerns all of us.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/24/postal-worker-blog-innovation-idiocy

The Athens NEWS and The Post have endorsed Republican Randy Morris for Athens City Council’s Fourth Ward seat, and so have I. We’ve all made some compelling arguments for why Morris is the best candidate. Yet no one could make a more compelling argument for Morris than the Athens County Democratic Party and its disdain for transparency and accountability — in fact, its disdain for voters. While Athens Dems have provided voters with a litany of reasons to seek change on city council, Third Ward Councilwoman Nancy Bain has added some rich icing to the layer cake.

On August 17, an e-mail exchange — obtained through a public records request — took place between Mr. Morris and Athens City Auditor Kathy Hecht. Morris was wondering how council plans to pay for the $1.75 million it’s planning to borrow for its proposed purchase of 600 acres from the University Estates (UE) development project. (For background on the controversial UE purchase, see this article from the Athens NEWS as well as Randy Morris’ August 27 letter to the editor). Hecht’s response confirms Morris’ conclusion, that council does not yet know — or at least isn’t telling us — how it’s going to pay for the land grab.

But this exchange gets even more interesting when Dr. Bain steps into the fray. Hecht forwarded Morris’ e-mail to Bain and inquired as to where he came up with the $1.75 million figure. Bain, clearly ignorant that the figure had been published in the Athens Messenger earlier that day, sent Hecht this colorful response:

Hi, The anount (sic) was discussed in executive session and should not be released. Tell him to go to and stay put!
nancy Bain

Emphasis is my own, and much more — including additional comment from Dr. Bain and Mr. Morris — beneath the fold…

Let’s leave aside questions about where exactly Bain thought Morris should “go to” and “stay put,” as well as questions about whether this public record was edited before being turned over. Those questions are actually tangential.

The real question for Bain and Athens County Democrats, including Christine Fahl, is this: Was this response appropriate? Sure, maybe if Randy Morris was only a political opponent from a different party this would have been the response he deserved. But let’s not forget, Randy Morris isn’t just a Republican running for council. He’s also a citizen, taxpayer, and voter in Athens. Doesn’t he have a right to a real answer, rather than sniping behind his back? Don’t we all have a right to a real answer?

Nancy Bain doesn’t think so. According to an e-mail I received from Dr. Bain yesterday, “such information is generally considered privileged under the Sunshine Law.” When asked directly if she believed in hindsight that her response was appropriate, she gave me an unequivocal “yes,” adding: “I never was asked, nor did I respond the (sic) Candidate/Citizen Morris.” Ah, that’s true! She didn’t respond to “Candidate/Citizen Morris.” Instead she dismissed him altogether and made a derogatory statement about him to her Democratic colleague, the city auditor.

Believe it or not, though, Bain decided to dig an even deeper hole for herself, her party, and her Fourth Ward colleague Christine Fahl. When I pointed out to Bain that the $1.75 million figure is now widely known to the public and asked if she could now answer Morris’ original question — that is, how council intends to pay for the purchase — this was her response:

That is, of course, privileged information under the Sunshine rules. But if you review the the (sic) tapes of the meeting you will find your answer.

In case you’re missing the audacity, let me point it out to you. Bain is using a law that exists to ensure transparency in order to evade it. And she’s not even doing that well! She insists that she cannot tell me how council will pay for a $1.75 million purchase because it’s “privileged information,” then turns around and says that this “privileged information” is actually open to the public in recordings of council meetings. If that’s the case, Dr. Bain, why don’t you just answer the question? And maybe you better get Kathy Hecht to sit down and take a listen to those tapes, since she was as clueless as the rest of us on August 17.

Are you seeing a pattern here? The Athens County Democratic Party thinks it is politically untouchable, and therefore politically unaccountable to Athens voters and taxpayers. Their party chair is under indictment and not one of them — not Nancy Bain, not Christine Fahl — has asked her to at least temporarily step aside. They can do that, because they’re untouchable and unaccountable. Their councilwoman insists that Athens voters and taxpayers have no right to know how their city council plans to pay for a planned $1.75 million purchase that was authorized with no public input. She can do that, because she’s untouchable and unaccountable.

Randy Morris responded to my request for comment, specifically addressing whether or not Bain’s response was appropriate. In his response he demonstrates that he sees what the rest of us should see, “a lack of regard . . . for the public’s right to know what the council is up to.” Here, in part, is what he had to say:

As to your question, since the e-mail was not sent to me directly I suppose it was not “improper,” but it does seem to show a lack of regard by Nancy Bain for the public’s right to know what the city council is up to. It doesn’t appear she likes to have her decisions questioned.

As of this writing, Christine Fahl has not yet responded to my request for comment. Yet she has a responsibility to Athens voters to first tell us where she stands on Bain’s flippant dismissal of voter concerns, and second to explain to us how council plans to pay for the UE purchase. Bain made this bed, but Fahl is the one who is going to have to lie in it as the only council member in a contested election this November. We’re waiting, Mrs. Fahl.

While we wait — and I would advise you not to hold your breath — it’s time for Athens voters to tell Nancy Bain, Susan Gwinn, Christine Fahl, and the entire Athens County Democratic Party that they are not untouchable and that they will be held accountable. The best way to do that, to borrow Dr. Bain’s language, is for voters to head to their voting precincts this November and tell Randy Morris to go to city council and stay put!

Haven’t been to The Post?  Now is the time to check it out!  Today till the end of the month the authors are hosting a give-away party!  So hop on over and check out the other give aways.  You can join to!  Just host a give away on your blog and link up at The Post.

My give-away is a book I purchased when I was looking for some other food ideas for my little ones.  It takes you from foods for babies all the way through toddlerhood!

All you have to do to enter is post a comment.  Contest is open till October 30th and the winners will be announced on the 31st!  Good luck!