SouleD Out

   Thursday April 17th 2008 should have been marked as an official holiday to every Teamster brother and sister in America! This was the day that Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President, came down to our home town of San Pedro to show his support, plans and fight for the thousands of workers and Unions and their rights.  San Pedro was not the only town to be graced with his presence.  The rally which began in Hollywood, CA and ended in the Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro was the scene for thousands of Teamsters from all walks of life.

Hoffa presented his speeches at various locations during this three-day "March From Hollywood to the Docks" that united the working class from every industry imaginable.  The support of this rally was phenominal and the energy was ignitable.  There were women, children, farmers, electricians, food industry, laundry and drivers.  There were even "soon-to-be" Teamsters showing their pride with a T-Shirt sporting the Teamster logo's.

"We believe the fight for workers’ rights must be a top priority among lawmakers in this country,” Hoffa said. “Our most immediate struggle is taking place now, as bad trade deals are taking the jobs of so many Americans in this country.”

Hoffa also mentioned that Americans seriously needed a president who will put workers first and end bogus trade deals, in the event where OUR Companies shut down their domestic plants and ship the jobs to foreign countries. The Teamsters have endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president.  I personally am hoping for Hilary Clinton, but still got chills after seeing the love, support and unstoppable power that took over our Port in San Pedro on April 17th!

United Airlines mechanic Rich Petrovsky was one of the guest speakers at this rally along with Janice Hahn and many others. Rich spoke out to the crowd and informed them that he voted to join the Teamsters because of the union’s efforts to battle outsourcing of maintenance work. Last month alone more than 9,000 new members joined this local union.

Port driver Oswaldo Hernandez spoke also, saying that he hoped to join the Teamsters very soon. The port drivers have been trying for more than 20 years to gain union representation for better wages and working conditions. I have in the past been against this.  I have since changed my mind.  I saw the support of the community, leaders and Teamsters and thought to myself, "why not?" If we can bring better wages to the people once thought of as competition, then we truly can unite, eliminating competition and awaking the giant that all this could be.

“We need a stronger voice in our workplace to keep our jobs safe,” Hernandez said. “We must all stand together in solidarity and fight for workers’ rights.”  I too agree! This is something our country lacks.  This could be such a great country but everyone is too busy fighting for what they believe is theirs, when in reality, it is OURS.  We all need to take a stand, unite and create such a force that needs to be reckoned with, that Corporate America will bow down!

Hoffa said the Teamsters would not rest until the union gained economic justice for all workers. Hoffa remarked on the string of organizing victories the union has racked up this year alone—at United Airlines, UPS Freight, DHL and with school bus drivers nationwide. I am waiting for a "Homeschooling and Cheerleading" Union now...then we are set!

The Teamsters rally had hundreds of  members driving their trucks, roaring in on their  motorcycles and walking with signs to lead the union’s contingent to the march’s final event. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Chris Griswald, Bill Piercy, Jim Hoffa and many other Teamster Officials showed up, showed their support and walked with their fellow brother and sisters.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

  The ocean is a miraculous and beautiful world all it's own, but deep below the surface is a world sometimes made up of man-eating creatures, poisonous endeavors and deadly beauty. Sharks have been the subject for everything from Hollywood movies to cable documentaries, and now is the subject of every headline across America.

In an interview on ABC News, the U.S. Coast Guard said it sent a rescue helicopter to pick up the man on Sunday after receiving a "mayday" call from the Florida based charter dive boat "Shear Water" who runs an adventure dive service, saying that a man had suffered a shark bite wound. The man who was attacked is identified as Markus Groh, 49, a lawyer from Vienna. The Coast Guard that arrived on the scene also gave a statement that the victim was flown from the scene, about 5 miles north of Great Isaac Cay in the Bahamas, to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he was pronounced dead, the Coast Guard said.

According to several reports, the man was on a diving trip aboard the Shear Water, owned by Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures. This Company schedules dive trips in which the crew and patrons put food or "chum" into the water to attract sharks of all species, such as hammerheads, tiger sharks, blue's and even great white's whom are nortorious to have been found in the waters of Florida. Once the sharks arrive, the divers have the opportunity to "swim with the sharks" or get dangerously close to these man-eaters.

People need to remember that sharks are dangerous creatures of our ocean's, and should be treated as so. So many times man goes in and "plays" with these creatures and never makes it back out, as in the case of this story. It is unfortunate that it takes the media to remind us that something is dangerous, but where does the liability fall in these types of cases? With the owner of the boat? The diver? Or nature?

The Charter service was contacted about this fatality, and declined to speak with reporters, I too, contacted them and was also declined an interview at this time. Sharks are not toys, there are no resources for compensation when something fails or goes wrong, we need to respect nature, respect the species that we already know can be hazordous to our health and most importantly , use common sense when entering into a potentially dangerous situation.

Ever since I was a teenager, I was involved in Marine life. When I was 13 years old I volunteered at Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro along side of the legendary John Olguin. I later moved on to working at Marineland in Rancho Palos verdes. I learned so much about marine life and most definately sharks. I loved to frequent the beaches and ocean for swimming, surfing and boogie boarding. With the ocean comes sharks and I learned to be aware of my surroundings.

The origin of the word "shark" and its meaning? The word "shark" actually comes from the German word "schurke" which means "villain". The smallest shark in the world is the "dwarf lanternshark" which measurements can vary between 6 and 7.5 inches (16 and 19 cm) in length depending on its gender. How about one of those in your fish tank? That would be great if they were not illegal.

The largest shark circling around in our oceans is the whale shark which has an average length between 40 and 45 feet but can reach as long as 65 feet long or more. Worried about how many sharks we have waiting to add you to their menu? There are between 300 and 500 shark species. The species most likely to "tuck their napkin in" and "sharpen their knife and fork", for you is the Great White shark, the Bull Shark and the Tiger Shark.

People have wondered what the swimming speed of sharks is, well unless your surfboard or fins our equipped with a motor, you still could be out run by a shark, even with the slow speed of 5 to 6 mph although some species like the Shortfin Mako shark can swim at a speed as high as 20 mph. The average longevity of a shark living in the wild is 25 years.

What species of shark is known to dive at the deepest level? Great question! The Portuguese shark, one we rarely hear about, is the one specie that has been known to dive at depths reaching 9,000 feet or 1.5 mile. A shark's percentage of its body weight by consumed food is about 2% which compared to humans is actually a smaller portion of food.

The reality is simple, sharks are more confused when the attck us, they are curious creatures trying to figure out what we are. Surfers wear wet suits that when combined with a surfboard resemble a nice plump seal, from below. Sharks use their keen sensory to identify prey, and sometimes "nudge" the wrong prey. Humans are not prey they are an "intruder" to the shark's neighborhood.

We often call shark's man-eaters but what they really are, is dumb. They are the most beautiful, graceful and mystifying creature there is in our ocean, but their brain must be questioned. They will chomp down on a piece of hard plastic if it comes too close to them. If you are lucky, a simple "punch in the nose" can deter a shark looking to put you on the menu.

There are a few detrimental tips to ward of the monster below, and if you spend any time in the water, may be a good idea to follow. Here is myth #1: Sharks are only in deep waters. Wrong! Sharks can creep up on you in as little as 3 feet of water, especially if blood is a factor. Myth #2: Sharks will let go after an attack after they realize you are not food. Wrong again! Sharks will indeed go away once they realize what they are biting is not their usual diet, however blood is a delicitesson among sharks. Myth #3: Sharks will never swim where there are dolphins. Oh I love this one, most definately wrong! I personally swam, or rather surfed where dolphins swam around me, and let me tell you I am not sure which was more frightening...the dolphins or the fact that I found out later on the local news that there was a shark sighting in the exact spot I was surfing in.

Dolphins may be good at acting like "guardian angels" for swimmers and surfers alike, but they will not prevent a serious shark attack. the obvious: If you see sharks feeding or doing anything else, for that matter just immediately get out of the water! When swimming, surfing or diving, the experts suggest some precautions. Stay in groups and stay close to shore because sharks are more likely to attack "lone" individuals, and if you're far from people you're also far from help. Don't swim between dusk and dawn, when sharks are more likely to be feeding or dining, they will mistake you for fish. Avoid wearing shiny jewelry, which can resemble shiny fish scales and in many cases, you should refrain from swimming or surfing if you are menstrating or have open wounds or cuts. keep in mind sharks like areas around sandbars and steep drop-offs because that is where many schools of fish hang out.

Stay aware of where you are. Remember that they live in the ocean not us and most importantly, educate yourself before going into their world.

      Airlines have so many issues to worry about these days such as terrorism, national security, bomb scares and now beauty. This is according to an 18 year old USF student Nisreen Swedberg and her good friend Sarah Williams. They claim that on a Southwest Airlines flight to Los Angeles from Tampa Bay on February 14th, the crew had it out for them from the start. The reason was not because they were a threat to crew or passengers, they did not have immigration issues and they didn't even try to smuggle a bomb onto the plane, the reason according to the girls was they were just too beautiful to fly.

This unfortunately is not the first time Southwest Airline has had this type of accusation against them, another beautiful bombshell named Kyla Ebbert , not too long ago went through the very same thing, guess what? She is rich off of the media and rich from Playboy now. I can't help but wonder if these two pretty young things are after the same attention, publicity or cash. Southwest Airlines should hold a large amount of stock in Playboy, with all the accusations they are getting from beautiful voluptuous girls who later go on to do interviews with "Today's Matt Lauer", "NBC Nightly", "Jay Leno" and ultimately make it into the centerfold of Playboy Magazine. Let's use a few of the other incidents that happened, again according to Swedberg and Williams.

The young beauty Nisreen claims that when she asked for water, the attendant told her to wait until the rest of the passengers had been served. This does not sound like an Airline Stewardess from any airline, not just Southwest Airlines. There would have to be a justified reason for making a bold statement like that. Then another situation, Sarah Williams needed to use the restroom, but quickly noticed it was already in use, she waited about 15 minutes and knocked on the door, when the man who occupied the restroom came out, she claims he was enraged and screaming profanity at her, now this could very well be true as I had that experience on a plane before myself. People just tend to get cranky on long flights.

I believe what Williams was upset about was the fact that when she yelled back at him, the flight crew only questioned her, not the gentleman that first started the verbal fight. Can you say Paris Hilton anyone? These girls may be beautiful, they are definitely young, but are they being reasonable? We may never know. What I question is the statements below made by them, quoted from the young girls themselves from a website called TampaBays10.com.

"I think they were just discriminating against because we were young decent-looking girls. I mean, nobody else on the plane looked like us except us," she said. "[The flight attendants] were like older ladies. We were younger. Who knows, they could have been just jealous of us because we were younger."

Were they serious? "The flight attendants were-like-uh-older ladies" I am really hoping that these girls have someone in their corner to help with this claim, lawsuit or case. I traveled to Washington DC from Los Angeles back in August of 2007. I too, traveled by Southwest Airlines. My experience was wonderful with the occasional disturbance from passengers very much like these two young ladies. The crew was fabulous, the security checkpoint phenomenal and the cocktails...even better!

I do recall having to use the restroom and someone else was occupying it, when they came out to find me waiting at the door for them, they started hollering cranky obscenities at me, I just smiled and said, "excuse me Sir, I really have to go" and that was the end of that heated moment, guess there was no chance of a "Mile High Club" experience there. I believe my point is simple, people really do copycat other situations. This case is so similar to the other "pretty woman" case and probably many others that have just not made it to our media stream yet.

Southwest Airlines does however, defend the incident by saying the women caused a disruption on the flight. They also go on to say that the girls were treated fairly due to the circumstances at hand. When the plane landed in Los Angeles, the women were escorted off the plane by four uniformed Police Officers and later questioned by the FBI and about two hours later released without any charges being filed against them.

As far as Airlines conducting business in this manner, I really do find it doubtful. My experience had been on a flight from Southwest Airlines to Washington DC, a 5 hour flight from Los Angeles. I can honestly say some of the people you meet on board these carriers can sometimes resemble the strange freak shows found in many circuses. There are many different walks of life, young and old, bold and beautiful and even at times people that you just want to know how in the world they even made it onto that plane, so there is no question that these two girls or even myself ran into a few of them.

The difference between me and those girls is that I am not trying to gain exposure, money or fame by saying that the Airliner acted improperly, even though my "rum & coke" was a bit watery, the food, well what food actually? and I am starting to think that the whole "Mile High Club" theory would ultimately be impossible on a airline restroom anyway. The world is full of beautiful people, so I could safely bet that this will not be the last we here of the "Beauty and the Airline" stories.

   KNAC.COM and TMZ.COM have reported that the Van Halen concert in Dallas at America Airlines Center has been officially "postponed, I guess to fans everywhere we are calling it canceled! The date has been moved to Thursday, April 24th 2008. Unfortunately there are no whispers about any new dates in the future either, what does this mean for Van Halen enthusiasts everywhere?

TMZ.com was quick to deliver the sad news and sources tell them that the reason for the tour cancellation is that Eddie is having personal issues. This has been proven also by the last three shows, Eddie acting "zoned out " and guitar riffs off. Unfortunately according to KNAC.COM, Official Reps could not be contacted for any comments.

I have been to many Van Halen concerts - back in the day that is. I think that with age creeping up on these guys, something has to give and that "something" is going to be their quality performances. Van Halen along with many other National acts before them should realize the time to lay the guitar to rest and let us enjoy them as the legends they are. The concerts were on fire, their charisma was phenomenal and everyone knows their stage presence was off the hook! I never had a dull moment at one of their concerts ever. But as with anything, all great things must sometime come to an end.

The energy needed to perform in front of millions on stage, takes stamina, incredible physical and mental health. Once these rock stars come to a place in their lives where they rely on ben gay, Advil or a heating pad to get up in the morning, my guess is that their show that night will suffer. These guys are past the thresh hold of "young rock stars" and have moved to a new phase of their life, what they should be doing is enjoying all the proceeds and riches from royalties produced from their incredible musical journey.

I believe everyone everywhere is hooked on the legendary Van Halen, women crying for them, ripping their clothes off in front of the stage to young boys desperately learning, "hot for teacher" on their "air guitar". Been there done that, time to move on. There are many more new acts coming out waiting to fill the shoes of Van Halen, Eddie get some rest now.

Spencer's Gifts, sounds like your normal gift store in the mall right? Wrong! There has been an ongoing investigation, outraged parents, hundreds of them to be exact and now The Attorney General notified.  What in the world is all the hype about at Spencer's in the mall? Sex Toys that's what!

People are getting worked up and rightfully so. Police, news, parents and the Attorney general have a huge problem on their hands, the fact that Spencer's is selling adult items in their stores, right in the reach of our children too. Spencer's Gifts is a nationa chain of stores that is known for it's gag gifts, unique gifts and well, now adult toys and gifts.

Times have apparently changed for the unique gift store located in most malls...Spencer's now sell adult games, sex manuals even adult oriented toys. Jay Peters is one of the upset parents. "To know that he can walk into Spencer's and buy something like this is very alarming." He is not the only one screaming, every parent everywhere has something to say. In one particular store a clerk was asked if they actually are allowed to sell these items to children and he said, "oh yeah the only thing we can't sell them is lighter fluid."  Lighter fluid? Are you kidding me?

I know as a parent that I would be mortified if my child walked up to me with a "toy" or "manual" on this subject and asked what it was, or worse, asked if he could have it! Something has went seriously wrong in our world these days to allow such behavior and acceptance. Values are gone from families, morals have completely disappeared along with the days of eating together as a family.

I am writing articles that are free to read, free to search and may sometimes, such as this one, not be suitable for young children, so i am no saint on censorship.  However, I do know what should and shouldn't be sold on accessible shelves for every 12 year old to obtain.  It is essentially up to the parents to monitor what their children are viewing on the internet, buying in music stores or learning about in school, it shouldn't have to be up to the parent to not shop in a store directed at today's teens!

My son recently needed a news article for school. he asked if he could visit my website to obtain one of my articles, I said sure and "escorted" him to the page where he could copy my "Shark Article". He then was told to go do the article, I monitored what he searched for on even my own website.  News is news...so is my website.

Large Nationwide chains like that of Spencer's should have some type of policy to abide by.  They need to be held accountable for what they sell.To be fair to Spencer's, I must include that not all the stores in all areas will allow the kids to checkout with these items, but it truly will depend on who is behind that register. One thing that should be behind the register is those items!

As for Spencer's Gifts, they responded to Troubleshooter Diane Wilson  from Eye Witness News 11 with this statement:

"Since 1947, Spencer's has been committed to creating an exciting, entertaining and unique store experience for our core 18 to 24 year-old guests. Within our broad, eclectic mix of merchandise, a small percentage has an adult theme and has been available in Spencer's for decades. By policy, Spencer's management and associates have had an obligation and responsibility to the community to discourage the sale of items with an adult theme to persons under the age of majority. Spencer's understands its obligation to maintain an environment of trust appropriate for the over one hundred million guests annually who patronize our six hundred stores nationwide. In every location, Spencer's informs its guests, before entering that a small portion of adult-themed merchandise is on display in the rear of the store. In this way, Spencer's will continue in its sixty-year tradition as the authentic destination for fun, humor and unique merchandise targeted to our core 18 to 24 year-old guests, while respecting the interests of all individuals who visit our stores."

RateMyCop.com is doing more than just playing good cop, bad cop...they are creating quite the stir within local and statewide Police Departments too.  I am the first one to agree that our City needs to crack down on bad cops, but not necessarily this way, I believe.  There are so many websites out there that do this sort of thing, and quite honestly I am surprised that it is even legal!

Rating a Department as a whole, would be a much better idea than listing Police Officer's names individually.  I believe it exposes them more than they already are.  Vice President of the San Francisco Police Officer's Association, Kevin Martin gave this statement, "Will they be able to access our home addresses, our home phone numbers, our marital status, whether or not we have children? Which is always a big concern"

Creators of the site say no personal information will be on the site. They gathered officers names which are public information from more than 450 police agencies nationwide. Some listings also have badge numbers along with the officers' names. I have volunteered for the Police Department as well as worked with an Anti-Gang Program through the Los Angeles Police Department, and I can say first hand that this will be a dangerous website.

Now days people can gather information on ANYONE, regardless if they have their personal info listed or not.  Families can be in harms way if this website is not careful. Rebecca Costell speaks on behalf of the website RateMyCop.com and clearly says in a statement that the site helps people rate more than 130,000 officers nationwide by rating them on authority, fairness and satisfaction. She also adds, "our Web site's purpose is to break the stereotype that people have that cops are all bad by having police officers become responsible for their actions. We will screen the site for any inappropriate comments."

Well guess what?  How many people do you think are going to go on this website to "be nice"? Speak wonderful things about "Ofcr. Johnny Jones"? PLEASE! People are going to go on there and trash the living daylights out of these Officers they feel have wronged them.

"Any kind of publication is protected as long as it is not publishing privileged information,"  this is a statement I read on the site as well...here is another shocker...This is FALSE! There are websites out right now that allow you to "rate" just about anything, and personal information, for example...YOUR ADDRESS is clearly available.

Rotten Neighbors.com is another one I recently stumbled across after seeing it aired on the morning news. You can trash your neighbor from here to the moon, if you like. No laws, no screening, no NOTHING.  Your address is listed, even a photograph of it from Google, and people can write whatever they want about you.  This is an outrage! My neighbors were subjected to this unfair practice and I can say it should not be legal.  Most people should take the "sources" into consideration before calling judgement on anyone, anyway...but not everyone does. 

The First Amendment would be the site's protection.

Time to say GOODBYE?

Debt Advice...HAHA!

Starting A Business? Or is it Love?