The Fruit of O's Democrapic Socialism...Zombie Thieves Dependent on Dparty! No Self Respect!!!

Tyranny Or Liberty The Choice Is Ours...

 

By: William P. Frasca

 

 

 

 

Has Obama and the kool-aide Socialist Liberal Marxist Democrats drinkers have finally awaken a sleeping lion called the American people or the so-called silent majority. The resent government shutdown showed with undisputable evidence that no matter how much the Democrats and the Progressives blame the Republicans, and deny their sick actions, they can not easily become Pontius Pilot washing their hands of their guilt. They reverted back to their adolescent behavior of taking their bat and ball and going home if they didn’t get their way, except their bat and ball belong to the American people and not theirs to hoard.

 

Their despicable act of closing The Veterans War Memorial, denying veterans’ death benefits, obstructing vacationers visiting federal parks from taking photos of natural wonders, disrespecting veterans and architecting while sadistically creating unnecessary havoc and hardships on the American people must not be camouflaged. Especially when the incoherent self centered, self serving Harry Reid refused to allow the Senate to vote on reinstating the Veterans’ Death Bill, and Obama threatened to veto it. What can you say but “What Jerks?”

 

The Democrats proved they are not leaders but brutal, cruel dividers, and unfortunately for them whatever creditability they had with the American people went trickling down the sewers in which they came.

 

The liberal media coverage of the peaceful constitutional rights of protest events that happened to the veterans is appalling. They proved to be unprofessional, untruthful and bias lapdogs to Obama of the first degree. They are despicable maggots, and leeches sucking off the residue of Obama and the Liberal Marxist Socialistic Democrats. They are an embarrassment, with no honor, dignity or respect for themselves and their profession.

 

When the Veterans pulled down the barricades blocking their entrance to the Veterans War Memorial in which was erected by the people showing their ultimate respect to all those who fought for our freedoms was a great victory for the United States Of America. They fought, some made it home safe and sound, others came home disabled and some gave the ultimate sacrifice to keep America free. They would not be denied access to the people’s Memorial. So the took the barricades down and brought them to the White House dumping it in front the Whitehouse gate, and the liberal media of course condemned this action as racist and blamed it on the Tea Party, which had nothing to do with their protest and legitimate outrage. What can you say to liberal media “What lying Buffoons”?

 

This was only one incident of non-violent demonstrations which were erected in a short period of time. There were the truckers protesting together with on a separate occasion two million motorcycle bikers united throughout the country against the Obama closure of Veteran War Memorial. Yet liberal media coverage was slim to none, with constant criticisms, false accusations and fabricated reports. except for Fox News, fair and balanced!

 

When Obama and the Democrats needlessly attacked the Veteran did they actually awaken a sleeping lion? Let’s hope and pray these peaceful acts of American protest will continue and slowly bring back our scared Constitutional rights as free Americans, taken away by this Obama Administration. We as Americans should be sick and tired of forced compliance, dictatorship, tyranny Executive Orders and one party rule! The famous words of Thomas Jefferson should be etched in every free American’s mind, with never even the slightest case of amnesia, “When the people fear their government there is tyranny, when the government fears its people there is liberty”.

 

William P. Frasca

Copyright 2013

 

katwrapper@yahoo.com

http://www.politicalandsocialopinionsbywilliampfrasca.yolasite.com/

 

Dear Ditherer-Chief, his Incompetence, and Democrapic Socialism Did This to US,

The sun is setting on dollar supremacy, and with it, American power - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeremy-warner/10378666/The-sun-is-setting-on-dollar-supremacy-and-with-it-American-power.html

World risks 'historic mistake' on Iran,...

World risks 'historic mistake' on Iran, warns Netanyahu - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/10378844/World-risks-historic-mistake-on-Iran-warns-Netanyahu.html

Borderland Beat

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• 541 Syndicate Part 2
• The 541 Syndicate Part I
• El Universal Reveals,Sandra Ávila Beltrán, a demanding, entitled Queen

541 Syndicate Part 2 Posted: 14 Oct 2013 10:12 PM PDT An excerpt from a story written by Adán Germán for Borderland Beat   In 1996, California became the first state to legalize the possession and consumption of marijuana for medical use, with a doctor's recommendation. By 2012, sixteen US states had legalized the medical use of marijuana for certain physical ailments, and in some states, specific mental issues.  However, marijuana was still considered illegal under federal law, and according to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug, claiming it has a high potential for abuse and has no acceptable medical use. By 2012, every state on the US West Coast had legalized the medical use of marijuana, and the states of Washington and Colorado had legalized recreational use for anyone over the age of 21. Legalization was coincided by precipitous declines in the wholesale price, as well as demand in general. Young people in Seattle and San Francisco were no longer willing to pay $100 for a quarter ounce of green bud, when it was readily available by the pound through just about any college kid from a rural county. Legalization clearly had it's advantages, but also forced the Díaz family to reevaluate their business model. Fortunately a few cousins from Chicago had connections on the streets of Pilsen and Little Village who would take as much high-grade "kush" as possible, as long as it was on a front [on credit]. Early on they tried boxing up 10-20 pounds at a time and sending it by Fedex or UPS, but this was quickly found to be an indiscreet method with severe limitations on the amount of product that could be moved every month. This problem was exemplified when a package containing 2.5 pounds of marijuana was tracked from Northern California to the home of a Cincinnati Bengals player in suburban northern Kentucky in 2011. By 2006 SUV's with out of state license plates were rolling into the South Side with 200 pounds of high-grade marijuana carefully packaged and boxed for transport at $500,000 a load. However, this method also proved troublesome, because a dozen 16 pound boxes in the back of an SUV were raised immediate suspicion if any law enforcement contact was made, no matter how carefully the smell was covered up. The group lacked the resources to start their own commercial tractor-trailer trucking company, especially since there was little demand for this service in the rural mountains. So, they rented and purchased box vans or covered pickups that could easily carry up to a ton of product, while remaining fairly inconspicuous. As marijuana became legal, grower shifted from rugged and shady mountain canyons, to verdant farmland However, the Northern routes on Interstates 80 and 90 proved perilous. In 2009 a woman was pulled over 100 miles east of Salt Lake City on Interstate 80 with 400 pounds in the back of pickup covered by a fiberglass canopy. The fact that the search was conducted without probable cause allowed her to avoid a lengthy jail sentence after pleading guilty. Continues next page One driver made it all the way to Joliet in a box van, when he realized he needed gas. He supposedly failed to signal, and Joliet city police made a large seizure. In 2011 a Diaz cousin was detained on Interstate 90 in South Dakota with more than 300 pounds in the back of a U Hall truck. He faced up to 25 years in state prison, but was able to cut a deal for 6 months in county lockup in exchange for a guilty plea. The lawyer charged $50,000 for his services.   In 2009, some relatives uninvolved in the family business were arrested in Boise, Idaho with 15 pounds of Marijuana from Southern Oregon. They received 3-5 years, and their children remained in Idaho state foster care for a year before the grandparents in California regained custody.  The next year, Adán Díaz's brother-in-law was arrested in Northern Idaho on Interstate 90, literally pulled over as he crossed the Washington state line. The back seat and trunk divider had been removed from the rented car, and police found close to 100 pounds of high-grade marijuana when they searched the car. His bail was set at $1 million, while those accused of violent crimes, such as child rape, in the same jail had their bail set at $250,000.  No bail bondsman was willing to post a bond without 100% collateral, preferably real estate. When DEA agents arrived at the home he and his girlfriend shared, she was shocked that this accomplished professional chef, who had never even had a speeding ticket, was accused of being a drug runner. While the supply of people able to run loads began to dwindle, the Díaz family faced another problem. The DEA and state narcotics agents had begun to find ways to raid their farms, even when they had less than 100 plants. State law allowed a grower with 96 plants to possess up to 24 pounds of "usable marijuana", and for years the feds had been unable to prove how much a plant actually weighed, until they raided a farm, seized the plants, dried them, and then weighed the processed marijuana. After several such raids, federal authorities were confident that any farm with a high number of large plants would be found out of compliance. The feds began to raid Díaz satellite farms, and found 400 pounds, 600 pounds, or even 1,000 pounds was not an unusual yield for 96 plants. To make matters worse, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division subpoenaed bank records, and found that these farms were grossing well over $1 million a year, EACH. The feds were particularly quick to point out that this was just the cash deposited into bank accounts. With their pool of drivers being whittled down to local college girls, who may or may not be trusted to keep their mouth shut, and their pool of growers ending up under indictment, the Díaz family slowly found themselves with nobody to turn to, except the local rednecks and hippies they had avoided at all costs. Continues next with  Part 3 to read part one link here

The 541 Syndicate Part I Posted: 14 Oct 2013 10:28 PM PDT Written by Adán Germán for Borderland Beat              Northern California mountain streams, ideal for marijuana plant irrigation (foto by Adán) When Adán Díaz Herrera started first grade in the small rural school in the mountains straddling Northern California and Southern Oregon, he was the only Mexican in his class. In fact, not even his teacher spoke Spanish, along with the entire crowded class of 31 students. His classmates, mostly children of loggers, many whose parents had come from Oklahoma or Arkansas during the Dust Bowl, derided him as a "wetback", even though he was a 3rd generation American. The children of local hippies, who flocked to the area to escape the urban decline of the day, were no more ingratiating.  Adán had come with his parents, from Chicago, who themselves had followed their grandparents from the Mexican state of Durango. Finding little opportunity in the lower West side  neighborhood of Pilsen, they founded a thriving business as subcontractors for the US Forest Service, replanting the trees that were clear cut to provide the jobs and tax revenue that supported the local economy. Soon cousins and other relatives came to help, some from Chicago, but mostly from Mexico.  While planting the hillsides with millions of Douglas Fir seedlings, the workers began to recognize that the lush verdant countryside would provide an opportunity, similar to the mountains of Durango, for the planting of small plantations of marijuana.    As they crisscrossed the rugged mountains planting trees, they became familiar with the location of every spring, and recognized that the south-facing hillsides that would provide needed sunlight. They knew the movement of Forest Service and law enforcement personnel, and they had a legitimate reason to be in the forest, day in and day out.  Adán’s father, Eugenio, "Gene" Díaz, learned from an uncle how to remove the male plants early in the season, eliminating the pollen sacks that fertilize female buds, this resulted in the highly prized "sinsemilla" marijuana that made a small Sinaloa group very wealthy in the 1970's.  Pilsen, a huge gateway section of Chicago for migrants  where more than 80% of residents  are Mexican On the streets of Seattle, Washington and San Francisco, California, the product produced by the Díaz family was renowned for its excellent quality.  After a decade or so, dozens of family members planted trees during the day, and guarded, watered, and tended to marijuana at night. This system worked well, until the family became part of the middle class, owning real estate, small businesses, and no longer faced the underlying prejudice experience by many Mexicans in rural America. Hardworking and dedicated to their work of regenerating the forest, local loggers and hippies alike offered their grudging respect.  While the Díaz family prospered, many other new arrivals prospered as well. Hippies and other counterculture types moved to the area from all over the country. Some were escaping the urban decay that was permeating American cities, but many also came to take advantage of one of the best Marijuana growing climates in the world. Marijuana soon supplanted other crops as the most valuable agricultural commodity in several states. While law enforcement authorities soon took advantage of massive federal grants to target the growers, there were other threats as well.  In 1971 there was a small hippie commune that dominated the area. It was populated by self-sufficient back to nature types, as well as Viet Nam vets and outlaw bikers, who were drawn to the Wild West culture and what they thought was an ample opportunity for free love. One early morning, during one autumn's marijuana harvest, a large crop was found missing. The garden was planted by a rough group not welcome in the commune, including a Viet Nam vet who had been dishonorably discharged.  The following morning, the severed heads of two hippies were found on the river bank downstream from the commune, under the green bridge. They belonged to two well-known commune members, known as Old Moses and Rainbow Bob. Their badly beaten bodies were found near their homes, six miles upstream. The bodies exhibited evidence of the kind of torture known to be used by US forces in Viet Nam.  The murders were never solved, and the Díaz family paid little attention, because they were neither friendly with the commune members, nor did they like the moral attitude that seeped from the anarchist culture. Several other violent incidents were tied to the growing of marijuana, but this was minor compared to the drunken brawls that local loggers engaged in on a regular basis.  In 1981, three loggers named Clark, Scott, and Cox, got into an altercation with a long-haired man named Vander Jack at a bar, called the Rusty Spur. They had a reputation as crazy drunken louts, who give people an ample beating just for amusement. Vander Jack left in a hurry, but was found hitchhiking a few miles down the road, as Clark, Scott, and Cox left for home. They picked him up. Accounts vary, but most of the three assailants agree they took Vander Jack down to the river for a good old fashioned ass stomping. Apparently, Vander Jack did something to anger Terry Cox more than usual,  and Cox had a reputation for chasing friends around with a revved up, running chainsaw, while threatening to cut their head off.  Cox pulled the seat forward on his Ford F-100 pickup and pulled out a tire iron and a hammer. Later, in court, he testified that the tire iron went into Vander Jack's skull, "like a spike pushed into a watermelon." Scott and Clark testified against Cox and were given suspended sentences. Clark was convicted of manslaughter, but on appeal a trial error meant he was released after serving a little under 4 years in state prison.  By 1987 federal grants to local law enforcement for the war on drugs had reached staggering levels. Small planes and helicopters crisscrossed every inch of forest, public or private, using professional spotters to locate as few as 2 marijuana plants. On such spotter located a small plantation on federal land that had been recently replanted with Douglas Fir seedlings. Ground crews found far more marijuana plants once they scouted the area on foot. As the fall harvest neared, state and federal agents staked out the plantation, waiting for the growers to reap the crop. Unwitting crews of tree planters hiked in with backpacks to begin the harvest, they found themselves surrounded. Gene Diaz had made the unfortunate decision to oversee the work. Many of the workers were able to slip into the surrounding hills, but Díaz quickly found himself in handcuffs. The easy money then came to an end.  The Díaz family found themselves under unprecedented scrutiny. Their rental properties were seized by the IRS Asset Forfeiture Program. Gene Díaz was sent to federal prison for nearly a decade. His wife and children moved to Costa Rica and his eldest son was sent to a preparatory school in Brazil. Many of the extended family moved to the California Central Valley city of Stockton. Many became involved in drugs and alcohol and several cousins and an uncle were killed over drug debts or alcohol fueled vendettas.  Shortly after Díaz emerged from prison, much older and almost broken, marijuana was legalized for medicinal use in several western states. Gene Díaz had a back injury from his tree planting days that resulted in a herniated disc in his spine, and he was one of the first in the area to receive a state permit allowing him to possess and grow marijuana. (continues next page) Díaz had long instilled in his children a disdain for alcohol and hard drugs, particularly methamphetamine. His children and anyone working for him were absolutely forbidden from using alcohol to excess, and must abstain during the workday.  The use or sales of hard drugs was viewed as grounds for immediate excommunication. Ironically, Gene himself had developed a nasty black tar heroin addiction, he developed as he self-medicated to relieve his back injury. He and his wife's parents from Durango were old school heroin dealers in Chicago, and they had pioneered many smuggling methods still in use to this day.  With the state legalization of medical marijuana, the Díaz family was no longer relegated to the rugged mountains for growing their product, and now they could take advantage of the fertile farmland and ample water supply that the valleys were endowed with. While the state placed no limit on the number of patients a marijuana cooperative could grow for, it was well known that growing more than 100 plants was a federal crime punishable by a 10 year minimum sentence.  The ample sun and water afforded by bottom land meant that each plant yielded an average of 10 pounds, or about 5 kilos, of high-grade marijuana, when a 1 pound plant grown guerrilla-style was considered exceptional. Each plant required a 10' x 10' growing area, with 5 feet between rows for working, meaning a 96 plant garden would only require 1/2 acre of usable space, but would yield about 1/2 ton of high-grade marijuana, which dealers in Chicago would call Kush, and sell for $15 a gram, no matter what strain it was.  Soon cousins, uncles, and other associates could grow 1,000 pounds of marijuana, or more, even if they live in a rented trailer on one acre, at the edge of town. With a value of $1,000 a pound locally, there was profit to be made, where dealers in Chicago would buy 200 pounds at a time for $2,500 a pound, and in New York they would pay $4,000 a pound, wholesale. This was nowhere near the profit that came from a $20,000 kilo of cocaine, bought for $1,500 in Colombia, but with dozens of family members producing massive quantities, at a producer cost of $250-$300, there was still money to be made.  200 pounds of high-grade marijuana delivered to Chicago in the back of an SUV would wholesale for $500,000, while 2,000 pounds sent in a tractor-trailer, would bring $5 million. The stage was clearly set for a profitable enterprise that involves little risk.  coming soon part 2

El Universal Reveals,Sandra Ávila Beltrán, a demanding, entitled Queen Posted: 14 Oct 2013 03:01 PM PDT Borderland Beat During  Sandra Avila Beltran's fleeting stay in El Paso's immigration processing center, reports show "the Queen of the Pacific" is not a woman content with just anything. As laid back as she has appeared in early videos since her arrest, she seemed to act more entitled than others in the El Paso facility. Among her requests, Avila Beltran demanded guards bring her better clothes, "something more comfortable to wear" and make up.  Even after the repatriation program had already provided her customary clothes, "the Queen of the Pacific" was able to mobilize FBI agents to go to the closest Walmart and bring her a pair of tight  skinny jeans, a white sweatshirt, a make up case with eyeliner and eyebrow accentuating pencils Sandra was in El Paso prison "limbo" because she had served her formal sentence, and was waiting to be returned to her country. When extradited prisoners are deported, they pass through an ICE processing centre before stepping back on Mexican soil. She was waiting to board the plane that would send her to a Mexican prison, where her attire would be a  brown uniform. During her stay at the immigration Center, U.S. and Mexican authorities exchanged a series of emails regarding how to meet the personal requirements of Sandra Ávila Beltrán, La Reina del Pacifico. UNIVERSAL had access to that correspondence. Sandra Avila arrived at the ICE protection center on August 14.  After spending more than five years in Mexican prisons. A year earlier she had been extradited to the United States,. She pleaded guilty to financially helping her boyfriend, Colombian Diego Espinoza Ramírez, El Tigre, one of the big drug traffickers who was arrested in 2009. Her tour of US prisons began in July 2012, when she was transferred to a processing center in Louisiana, then to another in Miami,  and, finally, to El Paso, Texas, her last, where she stayed for six days. Sandra Ávila Beltrán, as any other inmate, was given facility appropriate clothes, from  PRIM (procedure of repatriation to center)...but she demanded something else all together.  She wanted skinny,  tight jeans, a sweatshirt and a make-up kit. So the emails began, Thomas Homan, Reginald Buck and Arturo Fierro, the three heads of the ICE sent the request to the FBI. Consulted emails read by UNIVERSAL show that agents of the Federal Bureau of investigation went to a Walmart and bought the Queen's requirements. The Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) in a correspondence to their San Antonio office writes that Sandra Avila Beltran hates to be left alone, and perhaps, is terrified at finding herself in that situation. An email that came out of the correspondence from PGR with the San Antonio Office, said she had beaten her head intentionally in order to be moved from an isolation cell to another cell in "General population", and one night, she asked for sleeping pills to sleep. Doctors evaluated her and decided that they would give them to her. They brought her  two capsules purchased from a Walgreens pharmacy so she could finally relax. The next day she asked to speak to her lawyer. ICE authorities once again evaluated her request. They agreed that the staff would place calls under the condition that they would be recorded, with the exception of the calls to her lawyer. Since 2007, when she was captured by Federal Police as she was getting into a BMW, Sandra has been refused almost nothing. Apart from freedom, of course. A source from the PGR, in DF, told a journalist friend that when they brought her in the back seat of a Suburban without the Federal logos, she was composed and smiling. She asked to use the agents phone to warn her son and her mother to expect to see her on television that evening because she had been arrested. Then, in the Santa Martha Acatitla prison, Sandra would use the previously mentioned blackmail tactic of hitting her head against the wall while threatening to lodge a complaint against the City Government. Also she would complain about being bitten by the insects that lived in her cell. she called them "noxious fauna." There was one request by "The Queen" that was denied by the ICE El Paso processing center. After Sandra Ávila Beltrán was demanding to be given the date of repatriation to Mexico, email reply was negatory "for safety reasons, the exact date could not be given," says one of the emails. Sandra's demands spurred a writing frenzy between Mexican and U.S. authorities during her stay at the immigration processing center. She contacted high level executives as Thomas Homan, head of the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Washington, Reginald Buck, assistant of the center of detention in West Texas, Alfredo Fierro, director of the Centre, and Cano Salvador, from of the PGR in Texas. All of them maintained 24 hour contact for six days. Emails were sent to each the PGR attaché and then forwarded to Mexico. Their talks showed the details of Ávila Beltrán's time in the El Paso facility. A source of the PGR gave UNIVERSAL access to these sensitive posts, under the condition of not taking a single photograph, copying or printing them.  They were not opposed to taking notes in a notebook. For a couple of hours Universal was able to consult files as to whether there was special treatment for Sandra Avila, in comparison to other deportees. They questioned the source who allowed them to see the electronic correspondence and found there was such a thing as special treatment. They found an email which says 15 agents escorted Sandra from the ICE processing center, each carrying long range weapons, joined by 11 operatives from the El Paso International Airport. That is 13 officers more than unusual. -It was a special operation, but nothing preferential- says the source. UNIVERSAL found 10 letters from the ICE processing center where Sandra Avila was stayed,. All relate to similar stories during the past two years: Those awaiting transfer were tired of waiting in "limbo" and wanted to return home. ICE statistics  showed that the average time an "undocumented" who passes through a detention center was about one month. The process almost doubled in length after September 11 attacks. Letters written by hand on sheets of notebook paper demonstrate that writing is one of the few vehicles available to the undocumented to complain about poor treatment inside the center, such as of being denied food or medical treatment.  They suffer verbal and psychological abuse by the guards and often are not paid for cleaning-a dollar a day wage, for weeks without payment. The ICE processing center of El Paso is on Mountain Avenue, in the northeast part of the city. It is a fenced, wired, filled with cameras, a patrolled complex,  away from civilization, near the Fort Bliss military base. There are few differences between a prison and this facility. This processing center is the place where the undocumented immigrants come after they have been arrested in different cities in the country, or those who have entered the self-deportation program. Also those who are fleeing violence in Mexico and ask for political asylum in the United States go to this facility.  But Sandra Avila Beltran is different. In the morning, she was to be transferred with 20 others by a bus, property of the Sheriff's Office, to the El Paso International Airport She no longer looks like "The Queen of the Pacific", not like the first time she appeared on video proud and lofty, with dark nicely cut brown hair, the envy of some women who have remained in prison down trodden and walked over. The grey hair has appeared, however much she wants to conceal it. She is still smiling but it is not really working, even with makeup and everything. The heads of five law enforcement agencies - FBI, DEA, ICE, CBP and PGR -  greet one another for the last time at the El Paso  the international airport, where Sandra will tackle the steps of a white plane without logos, 90 windows. Some 39 prisoners has not touched the window, but "Queen," yea.

INCREASE IN JIHAD TATTOOS ON PRISON INMATES “ONLY HALF THE STORY”

(Geller, Atlas Shrugs) by Pamela Geller Yesterday I wrote about a disturbing trend in US prisons, a noticeable increase of tattoos on prison inmates, particularly in the Southwest, with script written in Farsi and with Read more of this post

One Citizen Speaking...

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LOS ANGELES QUAKE DANGER: THE LAST THING THE DEVELOPERS AND POLITICIANS WANT IS A SEISMOLOGICAL BUILDING SURVEY Posted: 13 Oct 2013 08:55 PM PDT Have you ever wonder why Earthquake fault maps do not have conventional street addresses? You may wish to ask the politicians, developers, and real estate agents why they lobby for lesser disclosure rather than more disclosure. It is not an unknown danger to the residents of Los Angeles as I have written before … July 24, 2013 -- Earthquake Danger: can progressive stupidity get you killed in Los Angeles? February 28, 2011 -- Earthquakes: Is Christchurch a wake-up call for Los Angeles? October 27, 2010 -- Earthquakes: A reminder of a deadly question ... May 24, 2008 -- NEW QUAKE SCENARIO: COLLAPSE OF LOS ANGELES HIGH-RISES IS A CREDIBLE SCENARIO! August 31, 2007 -- PROBABILITY: THE UNCERTAINTY FACTOR IN SCIENCE -- SCIENTISTS CLAIM 1,000-YEAR EARTHQUAKE LULL IN LOS ANGELES -- INDICATOR OF INCREASED RISK? August 23, 2007 -- KNOWLEDGE IS RESPONSIBILITY: ARE LOS ANGELES OFFICIALS HIDING THE TRUTH ABOUT HI-RISE EARTHQUAKE VULNERABILITIES? So why are the politicians, developers, property owners, and real estate agents still fighting against a seismological building survey? I can see the obvious. The developers do not want “seismo” restrictions on their property that would impact profitability. The property owners do not want the costs of mitigating the dangers and bringing older building up to a modern building code. The real estate agents do not want to tell their prospects that their property values are constrained by “seismo” restrictions or are greatly reduced in value. And, the politicians are just following the money that supports their campaigns. The politicians would rather blame “global warming” for the types of natural disasters which cost time, effort, money, and most importantly, lives. Not overtly mentioning that much of the property damage is caused by improper siting in known danger zones, building codes that are grossly inadequate for the known risks, older structures that do not meet current building codes, and zone which increases the population density and the number of lives put at risk. Look at what the Los Angeles Times is currently reporting on October 13, 2013 …    Many older L.A. buildings could collapse in an earthquake -- The city has rejected calls to make a list of concrete buildings at risk of collapsing in a major quake, but a Times analysis finds there could be more than 1,000 — many of them homes and offices. Hundreds of old concrete buildings could collapse in a major quake, killing or injuring thousands in L.A. Officials have known about this for 40 years and have failed to act.  The city has rejected calls to make a list of concrete buildings at risk of collapsing in a major quake, but a Times analysis finds there could be more than 1,000 — many of them homes and offices. More than 1,000 old concrete buildings in Los Angeles and hundreds more throughout the county may be at risk of collapsing in a major earthquake, according to a Times analysis. By the most conservative estimate, as many as 50 of these buildings in the city alone would be destroyed, exposing thousands to injury or death. A cross-section of the city lives and works in them: seamstresses in downtown factories, white-collar workers in Ventura Boulevard high-rises and condo dwellers on Millionaires' Mile in Westwood. Despite their sturdy appearance, many older concrete buildings are vulnerable to the sideways movement of a major earthquake because they don't have enough steel reinforcing bars to hold columns in place. Los Angeles officials have known about the dangers for more than 40 years but have failed to force owners to make their properties safer. The city has even rejected calls to make a list of concrete buildings. In the absence of city action, university scientists compiled the first comprehensive inventory of potentially dangerous concrete buildings in Los Angeles. The scientists, however, have declined to make the information public. They said they are willing to share it with L.A. officials, but only if the city requests a copy. The city has not done so, the scientists said. Recent earthquakes have spotlighted the deadly potential of buildings held up by concrete. A 2011 quake in Christchurch, New Zealand, more than two years ago toppled two concrete office towers, killing 133 people. Many of the 6,000 people killed in a 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, were in concrete buildings. In 1971, the Sylmar earthquake brought down several concrete structures, killing 52. Twenty-three years later, the Northridge earthquake wrecked more, including a Bullock's department store and Kaiser medical office. Seismologists said a bigger quake is overdue.  Read more at Many older L.A. buildings could collapse in an earthquake - latimes.com This is nothing short of criminal negligence and the failure of those we elect to political office to protect and serve the residents of Los Angeles and surrounding communities. Perhaps, we should hold our politicians, their appointees, and the professionals working for the government responsible the loss of lives and any property damage should a quake occur and destroy one of these suspect buildings. And, it doesn’t appear it is going to end. Again, from the Los Angeles Times …  Century City tower site runs into quake fault questions - Los Angeles approved a residential tower without a fault review. But an MTA study suggests the site might lie over an active fault. When Los Angeles officials approved plans for a 39-story luxury residential tower in Century City, they declared the site suitable for development without a review of underground earthquake faults. Not long after, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority examined the area as the site for a subway station. It was alarmed at what it found: an earthquake fault running below Santa Monica Boulevard. The MTA concluded that the area was too hazardous for the subway station. The agency's research also shows a strand of the Santa Monica fault runs underneath the tower property. Responding to questions from The Times about the site, the city acknowledged Tuesday that it did not require a fault investigation before the City Council approved the tower in 2009. Such a study would determine definitively whether the fault is actually below the proposed tower. City Planning Director Michael LoGrande said in a statement "there may be new fault information revealed by other more recent nearby projects" that could prompt the city to require a fault study before the developer is given construction permits. The tower development illustrates a loophole in state law banning new buildings directly above faults. Experts say structures built on top of faults can be torn in two during a large earthquake as the ground splits. Los Angeles is sliced by multiple active fault lines. The Santa Monica fault, which runs about 25 miles from the Pacific Ocean to Century City, is considered active by the state. Seismologists believe it is capable of producing an earthquake greater than magnitude 7.0.But California has not yet drawn the fault on its regulatory map. As a result, the Century City property is not covered by the state's building ban known as the Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Zoning Act. The city is already facing criticism over its decision to approve several developments in Hollywood without having required detailed fault studies despite their proximity to the Hollywood fault. Like the Santa Monica fault, state officials say the Hollywood fault is active and should be covered by the zoning law. Read more at: Century City tower site runs into quake fault questions - latimes.com This is pure bullshit! I grew up in West Los Angeles and my Junior High Science teacher took the class to stand on Santa Monica Boulevard, looking up at the Los Angeles Mormon Temple. You could clearly see the fault’s escarpment (An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from faulting and resulting erosion and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.) that forms the Temple’s lawn. Then we followed the fault lines to Hollywood and saw evidence of faulting near the iconic Capitol Records building. “Soon we come to the beautifully manicured lawn of the Mormon Temple sloping down to Santa Monica Boulevard. Yup, you guessed it. This is the best-landscaped fault scarps in the world.” The building on the flatter side of the escarpment with the grey band is our local UPS depot. “In downtown Hollywood the Hollywood fault, which exhibits several strands in this reach, is just north of, and parallel to, Hollywood Boulevard. Look north up any of the streets west of Vista del Mar and you can see the scarp to your right. It is especially prominent on Vine and Ivar Streets, and we may get out and briefly discuss the fault  while standing near the corner of Hollywood and Vine (1 block south of the fault). With the Capitol Records Building in the foreground this is a great photo stop.” For those living in Los Angeles, you may wish to read “Faults of Los Angeles” by James Dolan (USC/SCEC) or more formally: FIELD TRIP GUIDE: ACTIVE FAULTS AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS OF THE NORTHERN LOS ANGELES METROPOLITAN REGION JAMES F. DOLAN Department of Earth Sciences and Southern California Earthquake Center University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740 Bottom line … I knew from an early age where some of the most prominent faults in the area were located, including the Newport-Inglewood Fault said to be capable of producing an 6.0 – 7.4 magnitude (moment magnitude scale) quake that could topple Los Angeles. And, there are others. That our corrupt politicians take money for the special interests to hide these natural disasters waiting to happen is both criminal and unconscionable. Quit playing games with people’s lives and hoping you will be out of office when the big one hits. Of course, the disaster response will be so overwhelming, most of these crooks will probably resign and hightail it to a safer location before the significant aftershocks that accompany any strong quake begin. -- steve