There was the insipid announcement of MaRIE, that embarrassing offering of LANS' "bold new vision" for the lab. Nothing to see there, move on.
There was another spate of Espanola-bashing on the Espanola Mayor post, but this time some of the comments had a bit more substance to them. Given that Los Alamos, and Los Alamosans have been under the microscope for several years, I picked the comment below from that post to give our fellow Northern New Mexicans some time in the spotlight.
The opportunity exists for those so inclined to engage via comments on this post in a meaningful discussion of the realities of Espanola society versus Los Alamos society. Not that I expect any meaningful discussion to occur, but I felt obligated to point out that the opportunity existed.
--Gussie
____________________________________________________________
In addition to being a community that has traditionally under-stressed the importance of education, Espanola has always been a center for drug trade. Espanola is currently the end of one of the pipelines for Mexican heroin coming in to the country.
As a result of the high incidence of drug usage in the Espanola/Chimayo area, there is an abundance of drug-related crime: theft, wars between competing dealers, drug-fueled violence of all sorts.
All in all, the Espanola area does not have much of a heritage to be proud of, nor does there seem to be much interest from the Espanolans to change their culture of drugs, violence, ignorance, and poverty.
Go ahead: call me a racist. I don't care, I'm not. I've lived in northern New Mexico all my life, and the rest of you who have lived here for a while know that I am, if anything, being gentle in my characterization of Espanola. That is because I know fine, intelligent, hard-working people who live there. They are, unfortunately, in the minority.
As a result of the high incidence of drug usage in the Espanola/Chimayo area, there is an abundance of drug-related crime: theft, wars between competing dealers, drug-fueled violence of all sorts.
All in all, the Espanola area does not have much of a heritage to be proud of, nor does there seem to be much interest from the Espanolans to change their culture of drugs, violence, ignorance, and poverty.
Go ahead: call me a racist. I don't care, I'm not. I've lived in northern New Mexico all my life, and the rest of you who have lived here for a while know that I am, if anything, being gentle in my characterization of Espanola. That is because I know fine, intelligent, hard-working people who live there. They are, unfortunately, in the minority.
57 comments:
Let's not forget that Espanola opened its arms to Los Alamos during the Cerro Grande fire evacuation, taking in anybody who needed shelter.
I'm sorry, but I'm kind of sick of hearing this "prostitute with the heart of gold" style excuse invoked whenever someone points out the obvious about the Espanola/Chimayo area. Sure, they valley showed great compassion by helping people at a time of dire need. I just don't buy that excuse -- would you buy a similar excuse if a dealer who sold crack to kids also helped an old lady across the road once? Of course not. Fire, schmire - it's still a drug infested dump.
There are no drugs in Los Alamos and certainly no dump.
Oh wait, nevermind.
This post made it suddenly obvious to me that there are both significant similarities, and significant differences between Los Alamos and Espanola.
Similarities:
- Both communities have an "entitlement" mentality. Los Alamos from the big, fat, sloppy DOE tit, and Espanola from, well, that same big, fat, sloppy tit.
- Both communities are in denial. Los Alamos from the real world, and Espanola from the reality of their drug-fueled economy.
Differences:
- Los Alamos is full of rich white people. Espanola isn't.
- Los Alamos sees the value of education. Espanola doesn't.
Too bad Los Alamos--the town, didn't burn away completely during the Cerro Grande Fire and Los Alamos--the forest, get spared. That in itself would have made the world a better/safer place.
PS Espanola can't be all that bright if in fact it opened it's arms to such an ingrate community as this one (yes I live here, but looking to move out ASP). Stupid!
Education? You call those greedy bastards in Los Alamos educated? Try talking to one. No common sense. No compassion. No sense of balance or fair play. It's me..me..me, and only me type mentality. I lived among them a long time and so I know first hand...too long. Fortunately I'm now out of that sick commuity. No longer in that idiotic State either, where that sorry community resides. Surrounding communities get puked on by the Lab, and they lap it up like dogs. Good riddence to the whole bunch. The sooner Congress shuts down that place (Los Alamos) the better. Our tax dollars would be better spent repairing bridges than being wasted on that place anymore.
And no, I didn't get fired. I just got sick of the place and left. I had the guts to do that, and am better off for it. I have a better job in industry, making more money, and actually feeling damn good about myself at the end of the day because what I do now helps improves people's lives, not kill them. Move on if you can, or just shut up! The rest of the world could care less about your broken fingernail complaints.
A very good book comparing Los Alamos, Espanola, and the Pueblos is
"Nuclear Borderlands" by Joseph Masco.
Some people in Los Alamos fit the stereotypes listed above. Many do not and are very nice people.
"And no, I didn't get fired. I just got sick of the place and left."
But seem compelled to return to this blog?????
You know, after you've invested a sizable chunk of your life in a place like LANL, you still have a morbid fascination with it after you leave. Usually, by leaving, you finally begin to realize how fucked up it is.
Or you are just looking to validate your poor decisions. However, one that claims to have left all of this crap behind yet can't seem to resist coming to this little pathetic blog and spewing strikes me as someone that (a) has not really left but desperately wants to or; (b) is in need of some serious therapy.
Most people that have moved on and feel good about themselves as you claim to do not return to blast away at the past. They really do move on. Get some help.
Ah, the legend of Los Alamos just keeps getting better and better, no matter what happens on the other side of Los Alamos Canyon. Not only do we have more Ph.D.s per square yard (no, make that square meter), more millionaires than any other place in the country (because there's no place to spend the money), husbands who claim they are going to visit "the other woman" when they are really going off to play some more at the lab, and a hospital located at the town's busiest (and therefore most accident prone, in theory) intersection, but now we must have the fattest birds in the nation!
Reading this letter makes me think the people who have good jobs and make millions worked hard to get there....a PhD is in no fashion easy, and then they continue to work hard.
My question to those that complain and whine - do you work as hard? Maybe if you did you would be as successful instead of wanting the easy money.
Seems that all this blog is good for anymore is arguments about race and meaningless comparisons of one community with another. How pathetic. No wonder there is such an undertow of comments anymore, even awful ones. The only thing that seems to stir people up is the ability to blast away at the "privileged" that live in Los Alamos because they have it better than the one living elsewhere or those that live in Los Alamos "haughtily" blasting away at those that live elsewhere.
The only comfort I can take is that those that are engaging in this behavior here are the exception, rather than the rule, in both communities.
"Too bad Los Alamos--the town, didn't burn away completely during the Cerro Grande Fire and Los Alamos--the forest, get spared. That in itself would have made the world a better/safer place.
PS Espanola can't be all that bright if in fact it opened it's arms to such an ingrate community as this one (yes I live here, but looking to move out ASP). Stupid!
8/29/07 6:56 PM "
You are a very sick and sad human being. Please get some help. Do this for you, your family, and the rest of the world. How can you look in the mirror? Ask yourself a simple question, if you never existed would the world be a better/safer place.
Nice try...Even the Espanola comments are not going to save this blog. It is dead. Too much environmental crap (Gussie, is that where you work??)
Perhaps you can bring back drug testing and polygraphs. Maybe that will bring back the crowds.
LANL: The End of the Story
I can't tell you how many people I know who wished their houses burned down after the fact. I know guys that retired on the FEMA lottery. I love those huge houses rebuilt almost to the lot line interspersed with houses that didn't burn down. Neighborhood looks ridiculous.
9:41,
When I quit blogging or the hit counter quits incrementing, then the blog is dead.
When LANL environmental stories stop appearing in the news they will also stop appearing on this blog.
If you have something you would like posted about drug testing or polygraphs, email it to me and I'll see what I can do.
Pinky
More race-baiting by the crew of Pinky and Gussie. How very, very sad. None of the previous LANL blogs stooped to this type of thing, but you two seem to take sick pleasure in it. Gussie, in particular, seems to be a very bitter man who spends his retirement hours poisoning the community which gave him a lucrative livelihood. What a way to spend those precious golden years.
Handing a megaphone over to race-baitors can never be ethically justified. This blog keeps descended to new lows every day.
In "Does Los Alamos National Lab Help or Hurt the New Mexico Economy?" (Working paper, 504 KB pdf, July 2006, at http://www.lasg.org/LANLecon_impact.pdf), footnote 20 quotes Angela Garcia's “Land of Disenchantment” article in High Country News of 4/3/06. She suggests that proximity to Los Alamos is a (not the, but a) possible cause of drug abuse in Rio Arriba County.
[quote begins here]
“Why heroin? Why here? Ask any Hispano, addict or not, and you are bound to get an earful.
The first reason is probably the least surprising: the great disparity of wealth in northern New Mexico. The Española Valley itself has never been a wealthy area, but in recent decades tremendous amounts of money have poured into nearby towns, such as Santa Fe and Los Alamos.
Severe drug addiction in poor communities adjacent to affluent ones is a pattern that social scientists have documented worldwide. Some credit the struggle of living in severe poverty while others enjoy lives of ease. Others describe the stigma of crossing the lines between rich and poor, and the abuse that frequently accompanies this crossing.
Anthropologist Philippe Bourgois has documented this pattern of drug use in New York and San Francisco — cities where neighborhoods of extreme wealth and poverty border each other. Harmful public policy weakens local economies and the social welfare system, and leads to the vast disparities in incarceration rates among different races and ethnicities. This creates what Bourgois calls “an aura of apartheid.” Even neighborhoods that were once vibrant and healthy are socially and economically marginalized; drug use becomes endemic.
Last year, the World Health Organization launched the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Echoing the long-held view of local activists, researchers and health providers, the commission found that living conditions — social, political and economic — play a major role in drug addiction. “It is poverty and social inequality that kills,” says Nancy Krieger, professor of public health at Harvard University. According to Krieger, inequality “deprives individuals and communities of a healthy start in life, increases their burden of disability and disease, and brings early death.”
In the Española Valley, the inequality is palpable. Many locals blame the Los Alamos National Laboratories for the region’s deepening chasm between rich and poor. Since the 1940s, the Labs have demanded a local “nonprofessional” work force — maintenance and security crews, for example. Today, the Labs are the largest employer of Valley residents. During rush hour, the Old Los Alamos Highway, which connects Española with the “Atomic City,” is bumper-to-bumper with frustrated commuters.
Meanwhile, back at home, many of the old family farms lie untended.
Los Alamos is the wealthiest county in the United States, with a median household income of over $93,000 and a below-poverty rate of under 3 percent. Rio Arriba County, which encompasses much of the Española Valley below, is among New Mexico’s poorest counties, with a median income of $29,000. One in five Valley residents lives below the poverty line.
[quote ends]
I have not followed up on this line of thought. My line of thinking is mostly political: I see generations of poor leadership in New Mexico, with the congressional delegation taking a hugely untoward interest in the labs vs. the serious poverty here and all that naturally goes with it. In most other states it would not be tolerated, but here... Perhaps others would like to speculate as to the relative amount and quality of attention given to Espanola and Los Alamos by our senators and congressman, and why.
I know no one who has thought or written adequately about any of this.
Greg Mello
"I can't tell you how many people I know who wished their houses burned down after the fact. I know guys that retired on the FEMA lottery."
I do not know a single person who
wished their home burned down in the fire. Not one. You the hell are you?
10:06,
If Gussie were as you picture him, I would have nothing to do with him. Were I a racist I'm sure he'd have nothing to do with me. Thanks for the chuckle, though!
Pinky
7:11pm
"And no, I didn't get fired. I just got sick of the place and left."
I would bet that you got placed on a RIF list and had to leave. Now you are just very bitter. Is it possible that you are the sole reason that your life is miserable
and that it is not the fault of
Los Alamos, the United States, or your mother. Has it ever occured to you that you need to own up to the life decisions you made and stop hurting those around you for you own faults and mistakes. You keep pretending that all this rage againts LANL is for some greater good of the world, but you and I both know that is not the case. You are doing this because all you have left in this world is bitterness after a lifetime of failure which is really of your own making. I truly pity you.
"I know no one who has thought or written adequately about any of this."
I don't either and thanks for moving the discussion forward!
10:13pm
Hi Greg,
Thank you for the post and for raising questions that are very interesting and thought provoking.
I do have a problem with the article from Angela Garcia. This article completely misrepresents what the social scientists actually said or implied. It also uses very poor logic. I should first point out the the artilce by
Garcia has not been published in a peer reviewed setting or scholarly journal so one should keep this in mind. Let us examine what was actually said.
"Severe drug addiction in poor communities adjacent to affluent ones is a pattern that social scientists have documented worldwide. Some credit the struggle of living in severe poverty while others enjoy lives of ease. Others describe the stigma of crossing the lines between rich and poor, and the abuse that frequently accompanies this crossing."
First off why should we believe this is true? Is there some citations to other bodies of work that have shown this. There is also no proof of causation. Pehaps it is the fact that a community is poor that causes drug use. You would have to compare two communities of equal poverty. One next to the wealthy community and one not and see if the one next to the wealthy community has a higher fraction of drug abuse. Also it is known that poor communities can have very high rates of drug abuse and not be next to wealthy communities. There are also many examples of poor neighborhoods that have been next to wealthy neighborhoods that have become very vibrant and prosperous themselves. How could you explain this phenemena? A case can just as easily be made that a poorer community next to a wealthy community would have significant advantages over a poor community that is not next to a wealthy community. One could be access to higher paying jobs. Higher paying jobs can lead to better education and better nutrition. A second could be outreach from the more wealthier community. A third could be inspiration in that people can see the direct consequence of a better education.
"Anthropologist Philippe Bourgois has documented this pattern of drug use in New York and San Francisco — cities where neighborhoods of extreme wealth and poverty border each other. Harmful public policy weakens local economies and the social welfare system, and leads to the vast disparities in incarceration rates among different races and ethnicities. This creates what Bourgois calls “an aura of apartheid.” Even neighborhoods that were once vibrant and healthy are socially and economically marginalized; drug use becomes endemic."
In this passage Dr. Bourgois, never says drug use arises from a poor nighborhood being next to a wealthly one. It says harmfull public policy does. We also do not get to hear any of the other points that Dr Bourgois raises. New York and the Bay area also have every combination of wealthy poor, and average communties bordering one another. One would have to make a detailed comparison with these.
"Last year, the World Health Organization launched the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Echoing the long-held view of local activists, researchers and health providers, the commission found that living conditions — social, political and economic — play a major role in drug addiction. “It is poverty and social inequality that kills,” says Nancy Krieger, professor of public health at Harvard University. According to Krieger, inequality “deprives individuals and communities of a healthy start in life, increases their burden of disability and disease, and brings early death.”"
This is a misinterpretation of
what the commission and Prof Krieger mean of the term inequality. What they are actually saying is that it is poverty that leads to poor health and drug use and so on. She does not actually mean that inequality itself causes drug use and early death. For example a very wealthy neighborhood can be next to a an average neighborhood so there will be a large wealth inequality however it does mean that the people in the average neighborhood will be heavy drug users and have an early deaths. A very poor community in a vacuum will have no wealth inequality at all if everyone is equaly poor. However it will lickly have drug and related problems.
"In the Española Valley, the inequality is palpable."
This confuses cause and effect. By removing the Los Alamos and Santa Fe communities you would reduce the inequality, however you would not remove the poverty so the problem remains. By saying that inequality is the problem than if we could make Beverly Hills appear next to Santa Fe than Espanola would be worse off and have more poverty.
"Many locals blame the Los Alamos National Laboratories for the region’s deepening chasm between rich and poor. Since the 1940s, the Labs have demanded a local “nonprofessional” work force — maintenance and security crews, for example. Today, the Labs are the largest employer of Valley residents. During rush hour, the Old Los Alamos Highway, which connects Española with the “Atomic City,” is bumper-to-bumper with frustrated commuters.
Meanwhile, back at home, many of the old family farms lie untended."
The section makes little sense but
let us look more closely "Many locals blame the Los Alamos National Laboratories for the region’s deepening chasm between rich and poor" Let us not put words in the locals mouths. If I live in a poor community and suddenly a rich community appears there will be a wealth chasm. It will not change the fact that the original community is poor.In fact the presence of the wealthy community will increase the wealth of the poor community even though there will be a disparity. In Los Angeles there is also a deepening chasm between the super rich and everyone else. We could blame the presence of Beverly Hills on that. "Today, the Labs are the largest employer of Valley residents." How is this a bad thing? Before people worked on very low imcome farms now they can make alot more money working at a lab. This would to less people will be living in poverty not more!
We will end with this.
"Los Alamos is the wealthiest county in the United States, with a median household income of over $93,000 and a below-poverty rate of under 3 percent. Rio Arriba County, which encompasses much of the Española Valley below, is among New Mexico’s poorest counties, with a median income of $29,000. One in five Valley residents lives below the poverty line."
I can only guess that the implication is that Los Alamos is the reason for the poverty? If Los Alamos and Santa Fe did not exist and there was no other nearby wealth community and Espanola had the same population than it would be certain that the poverty level would be much higher than it is now. How can communities like Santa Fe and Los Alamos make a another community more poor by
providing more jobs?
7:47PM asks a good question. I'm guessing it's kind of like the rubber-neckers at an accident scene. Humans seem to get some sort of ghoulish pleasure in other people's misery.
As for those who dislike Los Alamos, can't blame them. It's a pretty sick community but hey, you got feed your family. So you keep driving up that steep hill every day knowing that at the end of the tunnel is retirement--the light (or death--the train). Beats working in the sewer (barely).
Answer for 9:18PM
I just looked at myself in the mirror, and I do love what I see. Thanks for making me look again.
PS I voted for GW. You probably did too. So go figure. Maybe we're all just a bunch of sick bastards!
Where did 10:13PM come from? Common sense on this blog for a change? Get him out of here...quick, before the rest of us actually learn something!
More half-truths from Greg Mello. Nothing new there.
A later poster makes the statement that, yes there is more poverty in Rio Arriba County than in Los Alamos County. That poverty is not the fault of LANL. Without LANL there would be even more poverty.
There are many similarly poor counties in the us, all characterized by lack of education.
And, many of us, myself included, came from poor counties to get a good, well-paying job at Los Alamos. We could have stayed where we were born and continued to be poor.
Anonymous said...
"I can't tell you how many people I know who wished their houses burned down after the fact. I know guys that retired on the FEMA lottery."
I do not know a single person who
wished their home burned down in the fire. Not one. You the hell are you?
8/29/07 10:16 PM
Answer: I'm the guy who initiated the controlled burn back when Los Alamos still had a forest. So I know about these things, believe me.
Once again 12:49AM restores my faith in Los Alamos--a community that can rationalize anything, deflect all criticism, ignore all directives, waste taxpayer resources faster than Superman can outrun a locomotive, capable of sidestepping any and all analyses that suggest anything other than what Los Alamos, itself, wants to believe. Once again another self proclaimed "expert" (with a PHD no doubt) comes to defense of the indefensible. And so no need to contemplate. No need to look within. Things are just peachy-keen as they are. Ignore the rest of the world. We're the best and brightest. We do the world’s best science at Los Alamos. The rest of the world is just envious. We're different after all…we’re Los Alamos. So there! Now let’s all back to sleep.
It's a pretty sick community but hey, you got feed your family.
OK Jackass - substantiate that comment.
You're absolutely right 8:28AM. I don't mind spit-shinning the massrs shoes so long as he lets me warm my po aching bones in front of his living room fire every once in awhile. Wowas me, I used to be po, but no mo. Yea the man took away my land, but now he lets me work it for a share of the crop. Life sho is good now.
8:36AM poster.
Your little rant offers nothing in the way of actual facts. You offer no substantive arguments and do not back up your statements with any kind of reason or logic. In short you contibute nothing other than drivel. Thank you for non-insights and vacant thoughts.
8:36AM poster.
Your little rant offers nothing in the way of actual facts. You offer no substantive arguments and do not back up your statements with any kind of reason or logic. In short you contibute nothing other than drivel. Thank you for non-insights and vacant thoughts.
8/30/07 8:54 AM
Reminds me of the Espanola mayor - always slinging blame and acusations - why doesn't he just try to make a difference. I wonder how many people would get on that bandwagon? I bet more than you think, and yes, alot of them would come from Los Alamos
8:36 practically took the words out of my mouth. I continue to be astonished at the extent to which Los Alamos people can rationalize away the problems in and around Los Alamos.
Claiming that because Angela Garcia's work was not "peer reviewed" that it was therefore invalid is a huge cop-out. Christ, man open your eyes! The sharp boundaries between poverty and wealth are well known to be the root source of innumerable problems in practically any society where they have occurred, drug abuse being one of the primary issues that invariably occurs.
With attitudes like 8:36 demonstrates, it is no wonder that the fucking cone-heads at Los Alamos are held in such low regard by the rest of the world.
10:07AM
"Christ, man open your eyes! The sharp boundaries between poverty and wealth are well known to be the root source of innumerable problems in practically any society where they have occurred, drug abuse being one of the primary issues that invariably occurs."
How can the boundary between wealth and poor be the root source of innumerable problems? If a poor community is not boarded by a wealthy community than it can still have drug problems. It is the fact that a community is poor that causes the problems not a boundary with another community. A more likely case is that if the same poor community is not bordered by a wealthy community than it would be much poorer. A wealthy community than adds to the economy of a poorer community.
"With attitudes like 8:36 demonstrates, it is no wonder that the fucking cone-heads at Los Alamos are held in such low regard by the rest of the world."
This is a very nuanced intellectual gem you have provide to the blog readers. I am glad that you put so much thought into it your post. However the evidence points to the opposite. Many people at LANL have had very nice jobs offers elsewhere. Some have taken them others have not. In general I would guess that most TSM's or "fucking cone heads" as you so eloquently refer to them would easily find jobs elsewhere. This sort invalidates you point that the world has a low regard for the staff at Los Alamos.
10:07 here again.
10:42 is of the same ilk as 12:49, so much so that I suspect they are one and the same. You could benefit from studying a bit of sociology. You will not find a city on this planet where sharp boundaries exist between the rich and the poor that do not exhibit the problems which have been discussed here with regards to Espanola.
Have you ever been to Rio de Janeiro?. How about Mexico City? If those two examples are too distant and abstract for you, how about Los Angeles or New York?
Denying that wealth inequities cause the societal problems that we have been discussing only makes you look foolish and causes people like me to hold you in low regard.
And, BTW, your readiness to espouse reality-blind opinions such as you have been doing here is how the phrase "fucking Los Alamos cone-head" came into common use. There simply are not any other words that do justice in describing the blind, self-centered mindset that permeates Los Alamos society.
10:58AM
Let us go through this slowly.
(1) A very poor community will have most likely have drug and other social problems.
(2) A very poor community that is located next a wealthy community will likely have drug and other social problems.
(3) A very poor community that is not located next to a wealthy community
will likely have drug and other social problems.
Therefore you cannot conclude that that a poor community located next to a wealthy community will have drug and other social problems due bordering a wealthy community. It would be consistent to argue that it is the fact that a community is very poor that causes the drug and other social problems.
Again a wealth inequality itself cannot cause social problems. Poverty causes \social problems. In a nation where every single person is poor there is no wealth inequality yet there will be social problems.
"There simply are not any other words that do justice in describing the blind, self-centered mindset that permeates Los Alamos society."
Can you please provide some substantial quantitative evidence for this statement?
It's not my fault that I'm a poor, uneducated drug junky. Those evil people up there in Los Alamos did this to me by living the good life. I'm just a victim, that's all. In fact, I should be given a big, fat entitlement due to the wrongs that have been done to me by the rich, educated people on the Hill. I don't have any plans to better myself, but, no matter. It's not my fault and others should take the blame and pay for my care. Victimhood feels sooo nice! It's almost a good as the drugs and just as addictive.
Nope, you're on your own, 11:22. I gave up trying to make blind people see years ago.
--10:58
BTW, 12:49: point taken.
"Nope, you're on your own, 11:22. I gave up trying to make blind people see years ago.
--10:58"
So what you are saying is that "No I cannot provide any facts, analysis or data to back up my claims and accusations. I am simply rant drivel and when called out on it I have no
reply other than saying, because I said so"
Your incoherence, ignorance and sloppy use of logic sound very much like the barrage of letters written by some very loopy ex-lab employees. My suspicion of these people is that they could care less about minority issues, the American tax-payer or the welfare of the citizens of New Mexico. In this sense they are utterly dishonest and despicable. They will use any issue they can to hurt Los Alamos, they will distort the truth, lie, and continuously ignore facts. Such people should not be taken seriously.
12:49 pm -
Thank you, you beat me to it!
As long as all are throwing around the word "poor" and "poverty", how about characterizing the official definition? To wit -
46 percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
Only six percent of poor households are overcrowded; two thirds have more than two rooms per person.
The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.
97 percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
78 percent have a VCR or DVD player.
62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
89 percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.
10:42 - "In general I would guess that most TSM's or "fucking cone heads" as you so eloquently refer to them would easily find jobs elsewhere. This sort invalidates you point that the world has a low regard for the staff at Los Alamos."
I would guess that the fact that most TSM's have stayed under the current crap-storm indicates that they cannot easily find jobs elsewhere.
This sort [of] invalidates you[r] point that the world has a high regard for the staff at Los Alamos.
(OTOH, maybe they can't get other jobs because they can't write very well).
The problem with educated people is that they often lack common sense. Some have said Los Alamos is the epicenter of bigotry. Perhaps it's also the epicenter of babbling stupidity, as evidenced by the Espanola/Anti-Hispanic ashers that love to display their stupidity on this blog. Keep displaying you morons. Let the world see your true colors (so to speak).
Anonymous said...
Let's not forget that Espanola opened its arms to Los Alamos during the Cerro Grande fire evacuation, taking in anybody who needed shelter.
8/29/07 4:22 PM
All I ever heard during the Cerro Grande fire were complaints about those arrogant bastards up on the hill and how dare they let the fire that is bruning their town blow smoke in our direction.
You just crossed the asshole line by trying to pull that bullshit game 4:22.
Anonymous said...
The problem with educated people is that they often lack common sense. Some have said Los Alamos is the epicenter of bigotry. Perhaps it's also the epicenter of babbling stupidity, as evidenced by the Espanola/Anti-Hispanic ashers that love to display their stupidity on this blog. Keep displaying you morons. Let the world see your true colors (so to speak).
8/30/07 6:21 PM
Yes, and the Hispanic voice is one of intellect, reason, and common sense.
Again, don't pick a battle you will lose
"And no, I didn't get fired. I just got sick of the place and left.
But seem compelled to return to this blog?????"
i still work at LANL, and have tried to stop looking at this blog because so many of the comments are so poisonous, but i find myself coming back--it's like rubbernecking at the scene of a grisly car-wreck--disturbing, but hard to look away!
I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel like a shrink moderating a group therapy session. Then along will come someone with something witty or intelligent to say that moves the discussion forward. Fortunately it happens often enough that I don't get too jaded. Thank you to the folks who leave those great comments!
Espanola/Chimayo is a dump that has no interest in helping themselves - they just bitch and moan until someone else does the hard work for them. Get real people -- we're adults. Take some responsibility for your own lives instead of shifting the blame to everyone else at every possible chance.
Well! Well! The closet Ku Klux Klan (KKK) that advocate white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, etc. in Los Alamos are out again! By day they pretend to be ethical citizens and by night they put on their white cloaks, pointed hats and advocate hate!
6:50PM. "Don't pick a battle you will loose?"
What that hell does this mean you moron?! You oviously don't know what the you're talking about. Don't pick battles you can't win? Is that what you're saying? Like the RIF dipute of 1995? Or how about the pay disparity case of 2004 (just settled). How many more butt-kickings do you require from Hispanic activists before you figure it out? You're no longer in Kansas, moron! Face it. You've met your match here in northern New Mexico, and then some. But you and you're ilk are just to damn stupid to know it. Must be a PHD.
8:56AM failed to mention that the "butt kicking" was well deserved. Had the layoff not been conducted in a racially biased manner, and had the Lab not been so discriminatory in its promotion and raise practices, neither of these "battles" would have ensued. Unfortunately, if this blog is any indicator of things to come, there will likely be more battles along these lines in the future. Indeed, while some battles have been won and lost, the war clearly continues. As said before, we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
Word up. The budget situation for FY08 is more dire than most people at LANL fully realize. We may be looking at the need for some layoffs by Christmas and you can take it as a given that we'll be seeing significant layoffs by early Spring '08. LANL's budget for FY08 is shaping up to be extremely shaky especially for the weapons budget. We are about to enter the Perfect Storm.
Beware of sugar-coated comfort words coming from LANS management over the next two months. Start preparing as best you can for the financial storm that is headed our way. It will hit with a bang beginning on October 1st.
This is, without a doubt, the worst budget situation I've ever seen at LANL and I've been here long enough to see the peaks and the valleys. It's going to create an all out panic among a large segment of the workforce. I"m not trying to scare folks. It's just that being forewarned can help some people better cope with the bad situation we are about to face. At a minimum, you really need to keep all your employment options open as this next year unfolds. Your going to need every single one of them.
4:45pm
Funny I heard the opposite. You seem to the guy who keeps saying how we are all doomed every month. Maybe you are histrionic or you are just trying to scare people.
"Funny I heard the opposite." - 9:47 PM
What were your sources, 9:47 PM? Mine came direct from upper management levels. It's not water cooler talk. I don't like creating alarm, but I do think people need to be prepared for what is ahead of us in FY 08. Perhaps you have better info and sources. If so, let's hear it.
The budget for next year will be anything but business as usual.
http://www.rotor.com/Default.aspx?tabid=510&newsid905=55888
Appropriations Showdown Coming in September
For the second year in a row, Congress will be facing a full plate of appropriations bills after Labor Day, just as the current fiscal year heads rapidly to its September 30 close. Lawmakers departed town against this year without sending any of the spending bills for the next fiscal year to President Bush.
Many lawmakers and Washington observers are predicting a “train wreck” this fall, with a possible government shutdown. The only certainty this year is that a continuing resolution will be needed to keep the government running when the new fiscal year begins on October 1.
A veto fight over appropriations bills would be more politically risky for Democrats. After a 1995 spending showdown between President Clinton and a Republican-led Congress led to two brief government shutdowns, Capitol Hill suffered most of the blame. To date, Democrats refuse to even discuss the possibility of resorting to temporary stopgap bills to keep the government operating in a similar scenario.
10:07pm, I don't see you listing your sources either. "Heard from upper management" is not a real source. I therefore don't see your prediction as carrying anymore weight than another anonymous poster who does not list sources either, other than yours is more in line with some of the facts we see today.
Having said that, I will make my own prediction. This is just me speculating, however.
We will probably be under a continuing resolution which will mean we will get a monthly allocation nearer to the lower mark. I don't think the Senate has passed anything yet, but the lower mark would be the House mark anyway. My guess is that we will try to ride this storm out using reserves carried over from this FY, but it will be a very risky gamble depending on how the final budget shakes out. Spring 08 will be interesting for sure, maybe even end of CY07.
But that is just a guess on my part.
Why can't we just all get along?
--signed Happy Face
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