Comments by Eckermann
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Posted on May 21 at 12:38 p.m.
So Spiritwalker, you got a D in the easiest subject in school? That explains a lot.
Posted on May 20 at 7:56 p.m.
Whoever you are Spiritwalker, you are a piece of work. First of all the Iraq WMD fiasco was not a conspiracy, it was a con job. Those who were paying attention, knew that there were never any WMDs and we all now know that fact, therefore there was never any secret conspiracy. We will all know when Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon because at that point Israel will destroy the facility producing it. If you think that pot is the only thing coming up from Mexico on panga boats, you are not listening. Plenty of immigrants have arrived by that method and most of meth in this Country comes from Mexico and a lot of it comes by panga. Finally, I have not heard anyone suggest that we need added security on our beaches. Considering the vastness of the Southern California coastline, that would be a fool's errand and a waste of money. The panga's are what they are: a wild crap shoot that when successful pays off big but which has a high chance of failure because of many natural and human factors. On the other hand Spiritwalker, have you thought that maybe aliens from outer space are sneaking into the USA via panga? Maybe the government is covering that up.
Posted on May 20 at 9:34 a.m.
I am going to give this wacky string one last infusion of logic. As Occam observed, the most simple explanation is most likely the correct one. As Napoleon is supposed to have observered, "Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence." Too many people would have to be involved in a panga boat conspiracy to have it remain secret for long, so that explanation is much to complicated. As far as the idiots landing on inaccessible beaches and abandoning the weed, well that business does not attract the brightest bulbs. They just screwed up and ran in panic. Please people use logic and reason, emotional modes of thinking almost never produce the correct answers.
Posted on May 19 at 11:21 p.m.
I agree that the stupid war on drugs has actually made it worse by driving up the price and making the illegal drug trade more attractive to ner' do wells and violent jerks. However, anyone who holds the notion that law enforcement officers are piloting panga boats up the coast in some kind of vast conspiracy to increase their budgets, is either crazy, stupid, or has been taking too many drugs that have warped his or her mind. Finally, let us not forget that it is the demand side of this economic equation that driving the illegal drug trade. If the demand was not there, the supply would dwindle to nothing. However, like alcohol back in the 20s, it does not appear that the demand is going to go away anytime soon, so we should probably look at changing policies and treating meth heads, junkies, and motivationless pot heads like public health problems rather than criminals.
Posted on May 19 at 10:09 a.m.
Hey spiritwalker, maybe it's aliens. Seriously dude, have you even seen one of these panga boats up close? They are 15 to 20 feet long and have at least 4 feet off freeboard. They are very seaworthy and not even close to being "rowboats." Paranoia at your level is a serious disease, you need help.
Posted on May 16 at 8:12 p.m.
In my humble opinion, the left hand exit safety problem is not so much a problem of people changing lanes or slowing down to get off the freeway. It is rather the need that most drivers feel to drive 75-80 mph. I drive to Ventura a lot and I avoid commute times in the mornings and afternoons and seldom experience congestion, even with construction going on between Mussel Shoals and Carpinteria. Most of the safety problems that I encounter have to do with intolerance of most drivers to be behind any other driver. Sometimes, when I am feeling particularly zen, I get in the slow lane and put my cruise control on 57. That way, I never catch up to any trucks and most people can merge from on ramps ahead of me. People do not tailgate me and neither do they scoot in front of me and slow down. The hurried world passes me by and my drive to Ventura is mellow and pleasant without encountering any safety issues. It's quite nice, I recommend it. Perhaps if everyone did it, we would not be spending so much money widening the freeway.
Posted on May 16 at 3:28 p.m.
If density were the main factor in home price, then it would follow that my 4-bedroom tract home with a huge backyard in beautiful, attractive, crime-free Goleta would be worth more than a 2 bedroom Butterfly Beach condo. Alas, the densely packed Butterfly Beach condo is worth nearly 4 times what my home in an undense neighborhood is. Absent socialist control of prices, the market will determine the price of homes regardless of how densely packed together they are. This experiment is like believing that Newton was wrong about gravity and dropping apples to determine if one might fly up rather than fall down.
Posted on May 16 at 7:14 a.m.
Oh come on people, this is the good old USA where money talks and other stuff walks. Caltrans was always going to have to deal with the well-healed Montecito residents, by ignoring them, Caltrans just made the rich more angry and determined. It is past time for Caltrans to sit down and negotiate with these people. Is it fair that the rich have more power and rights than the rest of us? No it is not. Is it the just the way things are? Yes, afraid so.
Posted on May 15 at 7:31 p.m.
This is all a very humorous reminder of the costs of human arrogance. First you build an airport in the middle of what used to be a deep water bay that was later turned into a tidal estuary due to human development upstream. Now you have to pay lots of money forever draining the swamp to keep the runways dry and keep the geese and ducks from flying into aircraft. In the mean time (which according the Jimi Hendrix is a groovy time) everyone is gnashing their teeth over tax rates and high cost of government programs that include the annual draining of swamps. Hahahahaha. We are a funny species.
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Posted on May 21 at 8:02 p.m.
All I have is facts. Fact #1: Abandoned panga boats continue to show up on the Gaviota Coast. Fact #2: Nearby several of these panga boats there were found large amounts of pot. Fact #3: Mexican nationals who have arrived on our shores in panga boats have been apprehended by the authorities. Fact #4: Panga boats are a common form of seafaring in Mexico and other underdeveloped countries and are known to be very sea-worthy. Fact #5: There is evidence on the pangas captured of adequate fuel supplies to navigate a panga boat from Mexico to the Gaviota Coast. Fact #6: There is a market for Mexican produced drugs in the USA and there is also a market to smuggle immigrants into the USA from Mexico. My next statement is not a fact. However, I believe it to be highly unlikely that Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department could conspire to plant panga boats on the Gaviota Coast without somebody spilling the beans. After all, not even CIA agents and SEAL Team 6 members are able to keep their mouths shut.
On Panga Found on Arroyo Quemada Beach