THE STEEL DEAL

Burnin' Down the House

Red tape fuels forest fires

Reposted from 10/12/06

Second reposting 10/21/07

Recently, the DC-10, you see on the left, was successfully used in California, to battle the massive 'Day Fire' in SoCal, which is still burning. This fire will be one of the largest forest fires in this nations history, already burning nearly 300,000 acres on state and federal land. The fire started on Labor Day and is costing $1,000,000 a day to fight.

This was the debut of jet fire fighting in the United States. The DC-10 is capable of carrying over four times as much water as conventional air tankers and has a much faster turnaround time. It does the job of five C-130 Hercules tankers. But it is only allowed to fight fires on state land.

After the crash of two C-130s two years ago, due to wing fatigue, the Federal government has all but banned the entrance of any new aircraft into the fire fighting arena. Which federal bureacracy is holding this advance up?

The United States Forest Service. The USFS is responsible for contracting fire fighting equipment, such as trucks, tractors and crews on fires on federal land. They are requiring additional inspections, above and beyond those for regular commercial aircraft, thereby imposing an almost insurmountable barrier to bringing the DC-10 and even more advanced air tankers online.

Four years ago, a fire burned in Southern Oregon, in terrain that was  without any roads and almost impassable, for two months. At that time, the Russians offered the use of two of their huge Ilyushin-76TD 'Waterbombers' to the USFS. The offer was declined. The Forest Service stated that the Russian craft were designed to fight fires in Siberia, in relatively flat terrain. Even though, the Waterbombers had been successfully used for years thoughout Russia in all terrains.

  The Russians apparently think more of their forests than us, for they have now developed an even more advanced jet platform with which to fight fires. An amphibious jet. The Beriev BE-200. Because it is amphibious, it requires no airfield, therefore eliminating long turnarounds for fueling, allowing it to stay on the fire much longer. The BE-200 has been ordered by several European nations and used recently in Greece. One U.S. company, Hawkins&Powers, has signed a letter of intent to purchase 8 of these craft. H&P is at this writing financially unable to fufill this agreement, and is near bankruptcy.

Evergreen Aviation, is developing the 747 Supertanker. And while, much larger and able to carry 3 times as much as the DC-10 and not nearly as difficult to certify, the Supertanker costs 20 times as much and is unable to work in as rugged terrain, and more importantly, unable to work out of rural airfields. Most forest fires burn far from urban airfields with long enough runways to support the 747. Thus the turnaround time is greatly extended.

So, we have the Russians willing to let us use a tried and true firefighter and we decline.

We have a US company, which was practically founded by the C.I.A. (Evergreen Aviation), building a Supertanker, which will have limited potential.

And  we have a tried and true workhorse of an aircraft, the DC-10, readily available, easily refitted, very well adapted to all but the most rugged terrain, able to land and takeoff from most airfields and any number of qualified pilots available - already equiped to fight fires NOW. And the DC-10 has proven itself on actual fires in front of thousands of television viewers via news footage of the Day Fire.

And yet, the United States Forest Service continues to stand in the way of putting out the fire.

Author's note. Why is this? While it should come as no surprise, the US government is so wrapped up in redtape, that it has almost ceased to function, this question of fire fighting tankers is one that will become more pressing each year. This is due to the protections for the spotted owl and disallowance of clear-cutting and recent court decisions barring the building of roads into national forest land. All of these factors contribute to an ever denser and more vulnerable forest. The fires will move faster, burn more, destroy more habitat, buildings and wildlife. Being unable to improve the equipment with which to fight these future fires will result in the destruction of all of that which those many regulations sought to protect.

It is analogous to requiring on the New York City Fire Department use horse drawn equipment..Editor's Note: This is reposted from 10/12/06 - Ironic, isn't it?.Update: Nothing's changed, except Hawkins&Powers went belly up. The DC-10 is still the only jet tanker.And the fire season just started.Sad, huh?Spread the word! 

White man speak with forked 'tongue' ...

BEAVERTON, OR - Nike on Tuesday unveiled what it said is the first shoe designed specifically for American Indians, an effort aiming at promoting physical fitness in a population with high obesity rates.

The Beaverton-based company says the Air Native N7 is designed with a larger fit for the distinct foot shape of American Indians, and has a culturally specific look. It will be distributed solely to American Indians; tribal wellness programs and tribal schools nationwide will be able to purchase the shoe at wholesale price and then pass it along to individuals, often at no cost.

"Nike is aware of the growing health issues facing Native Americans," said Sam McCracken, manager of Nike's Native American Business program. "We are stepping up our commitment ... to elevate the issue of Native American health and wellness."

Nike said it is the first time it has designed a shoe for a specific race or ethnicity. It said all profits from the sale of the shoe will be reinvested in health programs for tribal lands, where problems with obesity, diabetes and related conditions are near epidemic levels in some tribes.

Nike designers and researchers looked at the feet of more than 200 people from more than 70 tribes nationwide and found that in general, American Indians have a much wider and taller foot than the average shoe accommodates. The average shoe width of men and women measured was three width sizes larger than the standard Nike shoe.

As a result, the Air Native is wider with a larger toe box. The shoe has fewer seams for irritation and a thicker sock liner for comfort. Link

Let's examine this story in more detail. First, you should go read the whole thing.

   Few corporations are as adept at marketing as Nike - Phil Knight is a certifiable genius. This new line of shoes will be very expensive, more so than the run-of-the-mill (sorry) athletic shoe. The greater cost will be ascribed to the usage of more material, the research conducted, the separate ad campaigns and the fact that it is a 'niche item' and thus cannot be produced in as great a quantity as the more widely sold lines, hence smaller profit margin. Okay fine.

   But that is all bullshit. The actual cost of a pair of Nikes is around $5.00 - the rest is all hype and profit. And you can expect these 'injun' shoes to cost close to $200.00, if not more. Nike is trying to give the impression that they will offer discounts to Native America organizations. Newsflash! Native Americans have the highest ratio of poverty and public assistance of any race (ack) in America. That means that these will be paid for with taxpayer money, by and large (oops). Rest assured that local, state and the federal government will find ways to fund the purchase of these race-specific shoes. The Americans with Disabilities Act will come into play eventually. And I have no qualms about that at all.

   I've said it often enough hereon, that I personally find the situation on the reservation abhorent AND that I am mostly Indian myself. So when I see the white man trying to blow smoke up my ass, I go on the warpath. Here's the real deal. This 'foot size and structure' issue is NOT isolated to Native Americans. Most people in this nation have Native American blood and thus, there are MILLIONS of Americans with this 'bigfoot' affliction. (You knew THAT was comin') Nike is merely doing something that should've been done decades ago. Make shoes designed for real people.

   I had a girlfriend who was a shoe model, and as with clothes models, she was diminuitive and had tiny feet - Size 4 1/2 - and THAT's why she was a shoe model. shoes are designed for small feet - ask ANY woman. Men too, have to buy work boots a half or whole size bigger because their toes get crunched - ask any guy who has worn steel-toed boots. Not only that, I once was very good friends with the CEO of one the largest shoe manucturers in the world at the time - 'I Miller' - so I know a little something about this. Basically, what Nike is doing is making a product they should have been making all along, appealing to our collective sympathies, playing the race card, pretending to be a corporate angel, acting very self righteous and getting a huge amount of free publicity. When in actuality, they are planning to rip off taxpayers, pandering to liberals, patronizing Native Americans and offsetting some of that ugly publiicty which keeps raising it head regarding forced and slave labor in Third World countries.

   All that said - I've lived with 'injun foot' all my life, but nobody ever put a name to my affliction - hell, I just thought I had big feet. I'm glad that the problem is being addressed and if could afford these shoes - I'd probaby buy 'em, just like 100 million other Americans. But I sure don't appreciate a bunch of corporate toadies tryin' to pull a fast one. And you know what really pisses me off? They will not only get away with it, make boatloads of money doing so, but will also be able make people buy this 'kinder gentler' corporation bullshit.

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Days to Remember

   Sooo ... there I was, just searching around for something and I noticed the 'Google' logo on its search page was different - in the manner of how Google celebrates special days and holidays. But I couldn't figure out exactly why September 27th was important. But the second 'g' in Google has obviously been replaced with a pinata - that papier mache vessel filled with candy which you strike at with a stick while blindfolded, so I assumed this must be some Spanish or Mexican holiday. I searched for an answer. It was more difficult to find than you'd think.

   Mexican Independence Day is celebrated in Mexico on September 16th and that is the official day designated as Mexican Independence Day - the day Mexico declared independence from Spain. However, the actual day that event occurred was September 27th, 1821.

   But guess what? The pinata is there to celebrate Google's ninth birthday. But Google's actual birthday is September 7th but apparently the date is arbitrarily chosen each year, determined by when the employees at Google want to throw a party. Cute huh? The 'pinata 9' looks like a small 'g'. Now, I have seen other birthdays marked by Goggle before and a birthday cake with candles was used. Does the coincidence of Google using a pinata to mark their company's birthday strike anyone else as odd, considering that the date is ALSO the very day Mexico declared independence?

Of course, I won't mention that Google does NOT mark Veteran's Day OR Memorial Day in any fashion..Spread the word! 

The Yin & Yang of 'the Bills'

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Piss on him ...

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HILLSBORO, OR - A fire hydrant painted as an American flag has been removed from a dog park after complaints it was disrespectful to let dogs use it for what dogs do.

The new leash-free park was named for Hondo, a police dog killed 10 years ago chasing a suspect, and the flag-painted hydrant was intended as a tribute to him. "We put a lot of effort into it," said artist Jason Ross.

However, after a photo of the hydrant appeared Sunday in The Oregonian newspaper, e-mails started arriving at the parks department.

"That gallant dog must be turning in his grave at the thought of the flag being desecrated every time a dog pees on that hydrant!" wrote Louanne Douris, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer.

Parks officials had thought of that problem, and had put the red, white and blue hydrant on an 18-inch-high base, surrounded by "dog- unfriendly" shrubs including prickly barberry bushes.

Another hydrant was placed at ground level for the dogs' convenience.

Parks officials said there had been no reports of dogs urinating on the flag hydrant.

"I think the overall message was support for the dog park and support for honoring the police dog-the fallen police dog-but the concern (was) over the perception of a dog peeing on a hydrant painted with an American flag," said Corrine Bloomfield, the department's community resources manager. She said the city hadn't decided where to place the hydrant. Link

   Why do I suspect that 'artist' Jason Ross was laughing under his breath after 'selling' this art project to the City of Hillsboro? Hillsboro is a suburb of Portland Oregon. Portland Oregon is as liberal a city as exists in the West outside of the San Francisco Bay area. If he could've put a picture of George Bush on that fire hydrant - he would've. Call it a hunch.

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