Hey Middle Class: I’m Baaack!

It was 2006 and I finally got to say to myself “Self, you’re officially middle class.” 2007 and 2008 were incrementally better. Then Jan 2009 and I was practically destitute, surviving on food that family and neighbors delivered to my door. 2009-2011, I was non-working poor. 2012, I was working poor. 2013, I returned to trucking and, for the most part, quit working. (“If you love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”) Early this week, I got a call from an accountant who works for the accounting firm I contract with. Among other things, he told me I had 7,500 dollars in my tax escrow account. Do you know how much revenue it takes to build that kind of tax escrow? Enough to put me back firmly into middle class. Barack Obama didn’t do that. Dingy Harry Reid didn’t do that. Richard Trumka didn’t do that. I did that. And you can, too. All it takes is a clean record, no DUIs in your past, and a desire to learn and put forth the effort. Basic stuff that was the norm just a few years ago.

I recently spoke to Dana over the phone and told him I will have spent 9 months with this truck as of today, and during that time I will have averaged over 20,000 miles per month. It will actually be a bit over 21,250 miles per month for the 9 month period.

A work ethic is all it takes. Not handouts from government (read stolen money from taxpayers who earned their money).

Enemy Aliens

This is a link to a comment wherein I harp a familiar chord, in somewhat more conclusive and less contingent and ironic terms than usual.

The original posting concerns the little North Korean tyrant. The mention of which, leads us to ask “Why is he still in power?”  A question to which we know the multifaceted answer. One critical facet being that North Koreans, or Koreans of any kind, are not the right kind of victim group for American political “progressives” to exploit on their own incoherently planned and socially totalitarian journey to nowhere.

Consider seriously: When we take what political progressives say about reality and human existence seriously, and then mercilessly apply those principles in axiomatic fashion to them; what in the final reduction do we find ourselves confronting?

What, when observed under the aspect of his own definitions, is the political progressive?

 

 

Update: Eric believes I’m fretting the fabric of progressive life needlessly.  He may have a point.

 

 

 

 

 

Ho-Ly Cow, Leftists Are Stupid

In case some of you missed it, I’ve returned to trucking for a career. Not only that, but I’m an Independent Contractor, having my own LLC and the first tractor in what I plan to be a fleet of tractors. I’m also a trainer. I take students who just got their CDLs and no experience and I teach them on the job, giving them a modicum of experience before they eventually head out on their own. To borrow a truism from the movies, training is like a box of chocolates: you never know what sort of student you’re going to get. Hoo boy, did I get a doozy recently. An out-and-out flaming Leftist. She didn’t last a week on my truck, but not because she was a Leftist, rather because– well, maybe it was because she was a Leftist. You’ll see soon.

So, as is my practice (to maximize my revenues and profits), I dropped off a student and picked one up immediately afterward. (Sometimes, one is trying to get his or her luggage into my truck while the other is still packing to leave.) This new student, let’s call her Sheila, enters my truck with – I kid you not – at least 250 pounds of luggage for a 30-day stay. I can roll with that because new drivers don’t know what they need. But I called her around 2PM to tell her I’d pick her up around 2AM, so she went out to Wal-Mart and rented a movie! She got on my truck telling me we had to stop at a Wal-Mart later that new day so she could drop the movie off. That’s what her boss had to do, my student demanded of me. I told her I knew of a few Wal-Marts I can take a truck to, but none on this route, besides which, the job was more important than a trip to Wallyworld.

After a couple hours driving, I pulled off and we both slept a while. Then was her turn to drive while I tried to teach her how to shift(!), how to pull out of an easy parking space without hitting anything, and whatever else a CDL-A holder should already know before getting on a real, working truck for the first time. Then her 11-hour shift ended and my abbreviated shift began (I had been awake her entire shift after getting 4 hours sleep). After about 3 or 4 hours of my driving, she declared she thought we were going to stop at Wallyworld so she could return her movie. I explained to her that I hadn’t said anything of the sort, but had rather strongly suggested the opposite. But to Sheila’s entitled little 50-year-old teen-aged mind, I had to stop because she demanded she needed to. Didn’t happen. What a shame the job came before her desires.

Then came a doozy. Sheila turned to me and said “Now don’t take this personally or as an attack, but you know how smokers never smoke in their homes? Well, I thought smokers never smoked in their trucks.” Smokers never smoke in their homes? Really? The vast majority of smokers do smoke in their homes. And why would the school give students a choice of smoker or non-smoker for a trainer if smokers didn’t smoke in their trucks? Not thinking logically, this Sheila, this wacko Leftist. She spent the next 4 days trying to get me to smoke e-cigarettes. Repeatedly. Continuously. Incessantly. She even went the relationship route in her attempts. Yeah, like that would ever fly. “You know we could be a couple if… I know you like your quiet. If you could just smoke e-cigarettes…” And I immediately cut her off. I declared “Never going to happen.” And that quiet thing? Heh. She never stopped talking. To herself, to me, to her toothbrush, to her glasses, to the truck, in her sleep, when I’m trying to get a 1-hour nap. Never stopped talking.

Then came the Loves card and the Pilot card, which give you points for every gallon of fuel purchased. Those points can be used like cash. Each point will reduce the cost of whatever you buy by a penny. They also give shower credits when enough fuel is purchased. And you can get a team shower, which is 2 people, 2 showers, 1 shower credit used. Sheila got mad because I wouldn’t let her use her cards to pump fuel into my truck and get points for herself. When I told her I paid for all the fuel going into my truck, and that those points were earned using my money, she was still mad. She was mad that the company charged my company for the fuel my truck ran (how unfair!) when she drove my truck and she was mad she still couldn’t get the points for spending my money.

We stopped at a Pilot and I handed her my Pilot card so she could get a shower (I was too tired after having too little sleep, then being awake for her driving shift and mine both.) and she came back from her shower declaring she would need my card again so she could get free internet! I told her it didn’t work that way since the truckstops have to pay for the internet. They only provide internet as a way of making a profit, not as a charity to people who work and earn a decent living. Sheila’s teen-aged 50-year-old entitled little mind couldn’t comprehend such a thing. It wasn’t fair.

We were parked and we had a little disagreement. I don’t remember what it was about. Job related, truck related, or my personal property related, one of the three. She told me, her boss and trainer, “Don’t worry about it!” to which I responded “Don’t tell me what not to worry about!” Under her breath, but forcefully, she declared “worrying is a sin.” And bathing in the blood of 55 million dead babies by voting for abortion advocates, including an infanticide advocate (Barack Obama) over Pro-Life supporters every time isn’t a sin? Constantly expecting/demanding freebies at someone else’s expense — and feeling entitled to them — isn’t a sin? Constantly violating Providence’s Tenth Commandment in thought, attitude, and deed isn’t a sin? (The rich pay less in taxes than the middle class. Upon seeing a country house in PA with more than one garage, demanding “how many garages do you need?”. And much more.)

She asked me a 7-word question and I almost immediately forgot what she asked because she spent the next 20 minutes (I kid you not) why it was not meant to offend, attack, accuse me of anything and it wasn’t personal. It was second nature for her to spend an inordinate amount of time proving she wasn’t trying to offend someone, most likely as I suggested and she admitted, because all her Leftist friends get offended at the drop of a hat. She would have gone longer in protesting her innocence had I not cut her off. And I don’t know what the question was.

It was a day or two after the shower brouhaha that I tried to explain how the shower credits work, and that I normally have to work the showers into my driving schedule since I normally don’t have all that free time. I explained all the free time was due to my need to sleep while the truck was stopped instead of my normal sleeping while the truck was moving. She needed my help more than my other students did. Sheila, like her Leftist friends, immediately took it personally and immediately commenced defending herself from a perceived attack. I tried explaining to her it was my job and I expect some of that from time to time. I tried explaining to her that I was only explaining how we had so much of that “my free time” as she called it instead of having to work showers into a tight schedule. But she couldn’t hear what I was saying. She was too busy defending herself for having taken a shower on “my free time, not your time”.

After 3 days, she had had enough. She called the training placement coordinator and explained she didn’t know smokers smoke where smokers smoke. We would be routed to the nearest school so she could wait in line for a new, non-smoking trainer. Sheila told me she wouldn’t let my Dispatch Manager know until after we got where we were going, thinking she was saving me some face or some rot. But I immediately messaged my DM about the plans and contacted another placement coordinator so I could line up a new student. Guess what Sheila thought? That’s right. She said “you’re in that much of a hurry to get rid of me? You’re that happy to see me off your truck?” Always personal with those Leftist types. Never once did it occur to her that my revenues and profits are maximized with students on my truck.

On the 4th day in the truck, she left. But not without more Leftist stupidity. Once again, Sheila fueled my truck. And once again, Sheila declared how unfair it was that she couldn’t get the points on her card for spending my money on my truck. She drove to Indianapolis, and around the outer belt. She saw a sign that said:

I-69
Fort Wayne
1 mile

and declared “The world said I would never go to Fort Wayne, but here I am!” (Honey, there are 7,000,000,000 people in this world, and 6,999,999,000 of them don’t even know you exist. The other thousand? They don’t care enough to attack you like that, and with that nonsense.) I told her we weren’t in Ft Wayne and she said “Who’s raining on my parade? This guy!” What? Then she declared we were only 1 mile away, and I had to explain that, being in Indianapolis, we weren’t even close. The sign said I-69 going to Ft Wayne was 1 mile away. “Who’s raining on my parade? This guy!” Again, what?

As we approached the place where she’d be leaving my truck, she declared she wanted to take my cooler with her. I told her she could go to a truckstop and buy her own for 100 dollars. No, she declared, she didn’t want to buy her own. She wanted mine. Never going to happen. But she kept arguing the case, until I got fed up and raised my voice at her. Then she told me that was her way of saying she appreciated my letting her use it. By demanding that she get another freebie at someone else’s expense!?

So it could’ve been her flaming Leftism that made her leave my truck, but it was none of my doing. All on her.

Lena Dunham photoshop charges

 

“Make sure your first time is with Obama” girl, Lena Dunham, has been taking flack according to various news reports – which we have unsuccessfully tried to avoid – for a series of photographs appearing in some magazine or other, and which some people have claimed were adjusted in order to make her look … well, less like herself.

Now, it’s probably a fair point to say that none of us here have ever seen Ms Dunham in action anywhere other than in that contemptible Obama endorsement.

Nonetheless, most news readers do probably more or less know who she is; i.e., “That neurotic Democrat chick who parlayed a persona built on a facade of studied vulnerability overlying an innate obnoxiousness, into a career.”

Anyway, we won’t settle that issue now.

We merely reproduce here an image capture, so that readers may draw their own conclusions concerning the Photoshopping controversy.

Liberal Democrat female trying to look attractive? Photoshopped or not?

malicious accusation made concerning photographic manipulation

Mandatory Congressional Clothing – See NASCAR

This should be mandatory for Congress. Heard this yesterday, forgot who said it, but thanks for the tip. Congressional dress code should be as NASCAR Drivers Dress. This way, we’ll know who the Corporate and other backers are.

Solopower

The saga continues, as they say:

 

REUTERS, September 24, 2012:

SoloPower Funding: U.S. Poised To Hand Over $197 Million To Another Solar Panel Start-Up

LOS ANGELES, Sept 24 (Reuters) – A tiny solar company named SoloPower will flip the switch on production at a U.S. factory Thursday, a major step toward allowing it to tap a $197 million government loan guarantee awarded under the same controversial program that supported failed panel maker Solyndra.

SoloPower has initiated a strategy to differentiate it from struggling commodity players in the solar panel industry. Still, there are several similarities between SoloPower and Solyndra – which became a lightning rod in the U.S. Presidential campaign this year after taking in more than $500 million in government loans and then filing for bankruptcy.

Like Solyndra, SoloPower is a Silicon Valley start-up and uses the same non-traditional raw material in its solar panels. And, like its now-defunct peer, SoloPower is one of just four U.S. panel manufacturers to clinch loan guarantees under the Department of Energy’s $35 billion program to support emerging clean energy technologies. The DOE payments to SoloPower will come on top of the $56.5 million SoloPower has collected in loans, tax credits and incentives from the state of Oregon and the city of Portland, where its first factory will be located.

 

THE OREGONIAN, April 22, 2013:

SoloPower, the startup pitched as the most innovative player in Oregon solar manufacturing, will suspend its Portland operations in June and gut its remaining workforce.

 

It’s unclear whether production will ever start back up, or whether the state will recoup millions of dollars in incentives meant to fuel the company’s growth and create hundreds of well-paying jobs.

 

The development apparently came as a surprise Monday to the two state agencies charged with tracking its performance.

 

 

THE OREGONIAN, Jan 30th 2014:

SoloPower Systems, with cash infusion, faces Feb. 1 deadline to make state loan payment

Long-idled Portland manufacturer SoloPower Systems Inc. says it has lined up bridge financing as executives work to turn the power back on at its solar-panel factory.

State officials say, however, that they still don’t anticipate the company will make a $119,000 payment due next week on its $10 million loan.

SoloPower made the announcement Wednesday in a statement posted to its website. Chief executive Rob Campbell described the funding as “a runway to finalize our longer-term financing plans.”

The company offered few other details, such as the size of the investment, or the timing of any larger deal needed to ramp up operations.

A message left at a number listed for SoloPower has not been returned.

The spokesperson originally named on the press release said his public relations agency has not worked with SoloPower for a year.

Executives had been seeking upwards of $50 million to resume manufacturing at the factory, which has largely been idled since June. As recently as last week, the parking lot at the company’s North Marine Drive headquarters and factory was empty.

SoloPower restructured its operations in July after striking an agreement among its top private investors and the state, which has backed the company with $30 million in loans and tax credits. Under the restructuring deal, SoloPower received a much more flexible timeline to meet the production and hiring benchmarks required by the state.

The Oregon Department of Energy also agreed to delay payments on a $10 million loan partially backed by the City of Portland.

 

PV TECH, February 7 2014

Solopower claims new finance could re-open shuttered thin-film factory

Solopower is confident it will be able to resume manufacturing soon. Source: Solopower.

 

Thin-film manufacturer Solopower has announced that it is close to reopening its factory in Portland, Oregon.

 

The firm claims to be finalising an agreement with new investors that will allow it to re-staff the facility that has remained largely idle since last year. It has arranged a round of interim financing as the first stage of that process.

 

“This bridge financing provides us with the runway to finalise our longer-term financing plans,” said Rob Campbell, president, Solopower Systems in an official statement. “Our proprietary Solopower technology and lightweight flexible PV CIGS products serve many new and underserved markets, from which we continue to receive very strong interest.”

 

“We’re excited that this latest show of commitment from our investors will enable the large volume production needed to satisfy pending orders from Europe, MENA, the Americas and Australasia,” he added.

 

Earlier this week a deadline passed on a debt owed to Oregon’s department of energy. It was unclear whether the remaining sum, in excess of US$100,000, had been paid within the five day grace period that followed the 1 February deadline.

 

 

Meanwhile in California, a short notice sale of a “110,000 SqFt Thin Film Solar Manufacturing Plant”

 

	2009-2011 Thin Film Manufacturing Facility Featuring: BoostSolar Laminating Line, Jeol SEM & Polisher, (2) Smit Reactor Furnaces, (3) Ixmation Interconnect Lines, Dalux Auto Web, Slitting, Screen Printing, Water System, Support Equipment, Lab and Plant Support.

 

 

Sale Type Online Auction	Sale Location 5981 Optical Ct. San Jose, CA 95138 Map/Directions	Currency USD	Online Bidding
Date & Time Start: Mon. 02/17/2014 10:00am (PST) Closing: Wed. 02/19/2014 10:00am (PST)	Inspection/Preview Mon. 02/17 & Tue. 02/18 (9am – 4pm) Contact: tracym@newmillcapital.com

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Featured Items

• SHORT NOTICE AUCTION – Equipment 2009 – 2011

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