Here is a picture from yesterday I took off of the Palos Verdes peninsula. You can just make out Catalina island. It is about 21 miles from the coast. You can also see a freighter ship waiting to dock.  

Proposed Legislation for CBP Officers - My Opposition to 6-C Retirement.

Texas representatve, Sheila Jackson, recently proposed legislation before Congress that would drastically alter the current employment status of Customs and Border Protection Officers. In essense...if passed...the following changes would take effect.

1. CBP officers would again fall under FLSA overtime statutes.
2. CBP officers would be granted law enforcement retirement under (6-C) mandates.
3. CBP officers would retain full union bargaining rights
4. Immigration, Customs and Agriculture functions would be split apart again.

These are the main points. Of the proposed points....I am really only opposed to one...and that is the one that generates the most debate. The inclusion of CBP officers under the federal law enforcement retirement system...also called (6-C)...for the section of law which it would attach.

For decades immigration inspectors, customs inspectors and agriculture inspectors have fallen under the regular federal retirement system called FERS and the prior system before that.
Under the those systems there were no age restrictions so long as you could pass the tests, pass the screening requirements and could perform the duties of the job. But, under the (6-C) law enforcement retirement scheme, no one over the 37 would be eligible to apply for these positions unless they previously served in a civilian FEDERAL law enforcement position.

This means that no matter what shape the person was in, how competent he/she was, or how much experience they might have...they would be forever barred from these positions based only on the how old they were. 37 years old is really not that old. A person hired at 38 would be only 58 after 20 years in service. You can't even collect social security until you are 67.

Typically immigration and customs inspection duties are broken down in 3 major duty locations. 1. Airport inspection. 2. Seaport inspection and 3. Land border inspections. Of the 3 duty positions...airport inspections has the least to do with full time law enforcement and investigative duties. This was exactly the work I did at Los Angeles International Airport in the early 90s. The duties were not difficult and required little physical effort. Most of the time employees checked travel documents and visas of arriving passengers from overseas. Unless you were an advanced journeyman level...most of your shift was on the primary line. It was only after a person was referred to secondary inspection that any real investigative or law enforcement duties would arise. In my opinion, CBP officers assigned to airports should NOT be granted law enforcement retirement because so little of their everyday duties are actually law enforcement. Mandatory age restrictions based on non-merit factors will cut out a huge swath of people who whould otherwise be excellent employees in these positions. If passed, even preference eligible military veterans over 37 would be barred from getting this job...even if they were military police!

Land border inspections are a different matter. They actually do law enforcement duties on a more regular basis. Tons of drugs, guns and people are smuggled across the border points each year...especially the southwest border. I can see (6-C) coverage for these employees. It is far more dangerous work than in the primary lane at LAX. Further, land border insectors have always carried firearms on duty. This has not been true for airport inspectors. Prior to 9/11 only supervisors have been allowed to carry weapons on duty. It was only after 9/11 that all employees were allowed to carry weapons.

The US government currently has plenty of law enforcement type jobs with 6-C coverage for people who want them. DEA, Secret Service, FBI, ICE, Border Patrol and many other agencies have numerous 6-C covered positions for anyone under 37 to apply to. But only former immigration and customs inspectors...now CBP officers...allowed older americans, veterans and civilian police officers...the opportunity to work in quasi-law enforcement positions with the US government. Now...if the legislation is fully passed...this door will be closed forever. I know many potential applicants over 37 would be willing to remain under the regular FERS retirement and waive all rights for 6-C retirement if they could still be allowed to work as a CBP officer...just as they have been allowed to do for decades. I would be willing to waive the 6-C coverage for that opportunity again. I think it is an option that should be incorporated into the law if it is passed so people over 37 have an opportunity. The government currently employees thousands of people who have inspection or investigation related duties...such as District Adjudication Officers...who are under regular FERS with no age bar. These positions are every bit as investigative as a CBPO would be...probably more. In fact, ther grade progression for non-comepetitive promotion rises above a CPB officer...to GS-12, versus GS-11 for a CBP officer. The government has many positions like this...and they are not 6-C covered. In fact...many CBP officers transfer over to District Adjudication Officer (DAO) positions as soon as they can after being hired as a CBP officer. Unfortunately...CBP officer positions far outnumber the available DAO positions and as such...openings for these positions are very competitive.

I urge anyone who reads this to contact their representative or senator and voice their opposition to this unfair and discriminatory proposal. At the very least...military veterans...especially ones who were former military police...should not have to be denied the opportunity for these jobs because they are over 37. In my opinion...no one over 37 should be denied the right to apply for these jobs if they can otherwise qualify for them...especially at the airports across the country!

The rest of the model A oldies taking off to parts unknown.

My cousin in the rocks at Vasquez State Park. 

Vasquez Rocks State Park. This park is off the 14 Freeway heading toward Palmdale, California. 

An Old Timer. About a 1929 Model A Ford getting gas in Palm Desert. There were 10 of then traveling together. 

Blog Spam...and Open Comments

Can you believe it? Blog spam...yes...blog spam. I have it and it is infuriating. With every new post...here comes the spam in my comments section. Anonymous comments for web sites that make it appear that someone visited your site...but then try and get you to visit some web site for a product or a service you want nothing to do with.

Because of this...I am restricting any comments to registered users only for the time being. Hopefully this will curtail some of the spam I have been getting lately. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Coincidence?

A small sidebar from my usual troubles...involves high school from many years ago. I was curious about the small city where Alma hails from...and found it interesting that the high school in that small town has the Bulldogs as it's mascot. By coincidence...that is also the same mascot for my old high school in Nampa, Idaho...the Bulldogs. It seems, however, that while her town has remained rather static in population over the years...my hometown has expolded in growth.
When I was growing up, Nampa had a population close to what her hometown has now. I just checked the census and it has exceeded 68,000. I believe the current population for her hometown remains around 16,000. Not much growth there.

Personally, I would have preferred Nampa to remain the same small town of my youth. I visited Nampa last year and found it looking like a minature Los Angeles....as in urban sprawl from Boise, Idaho all the way to Caldwell, Idaho. Houses are sprouting like mushrooms. Huge monster houses from out-of-staters. They look totally out of place against the backdrop of the type of houses you would normally find. Californians are cashing out their equity and moving there in droves...snapping up all available land and building "mansions".

Still...it is kind of weird that 2 people....her and I...growing up thousands of miles apart...have some parallels that long ago.

Just a little more of the cosmic connection that can bind two people.

Coincidences........sigh......

Can miracles happen?

That has yet to be seen. Can my worthless carcass be saved from the cold, wet streets of LA? Am I doomed beyond all hope as a bottom dwelling resident of the Empire of the United States?

Those questions are what befalls me now. A glimmer of hope...just a glimmer...may save Christmas for me after all. I will know in the next few days. To what extent then...I do not know. It is a precarious existence I am living. Walking on a tightrope so thin that barely a thread does it hold. Ever breathing the cold air of injustice...do I not feel the executioners' blade upon my throat?

Is it within the purvey of chance...or the will of the supreme being...though neither makes little difference to those destitute souls already feeling the sting of hypocracy and injustice. So it is that I feel the same blade. Marked as Judas...or celebrated as Christ. My treatise for such belief is shaky...at best. A small particle of dust am I...yet I feel as large as the moon in the blackened night sky. I am a target of the regime that has yet to be killed off...though try as they might.

Holding me down...pressing ever harder on the heart which continues to beat. That is the way of the regime. What they cannot kill of the body...they kill through the soul. Remove all hope...and life becomes a mundane chore. Remove all love...and life becomes an empty shell. A slow and agonizing death to be sure. It has been 14 years for me...yet still hope do I find...still love do I feel from far away. So long as her heart beats...so shall mine. The invisible link the regime cannot destroy.

Some things are stronger than regimes, empires and governments. Things crafted in the wisdom of heaven. Things universal throughout the world that rise above the petty differences of the nation-states. So I have come to witness one of those things...one which the regime cannot touch. Though the body may fall...the soul is immune from the abuses which all humans must endure on this earth. Kill my body...they may yet complete...but my soul and my heart will forever part from their grasp. Now in my darkest hours...as my belief fails...my hope fades...my faith waivers...do I understand the power of love. It rejuvenates my soul in times of need and desperation. It binds me to my purpose of life. It offers salvation when there is no other.

Be it of heaven...or of chance...it is of this realm of human existence that miracles can happen.
So it is I hope to be saved...that my love can cure the ills of which I suffer...that once again I can find life where now there is none. My soul of the moon...can you hear me calling?

The Landlady is back...unfortunately!

Well...the day of dread has finally arrived. The ultra-rich landlady (slumlord) has returned from a 5 month stay at her "away" home in Poland. I was informed last night by the de facto apartment manager that they were issued an order to serve me with a 3 day notice to pay or quit ASAP. Obviously I don't have access to about 4 grand in rent...so that won't be an option.
That being said...I can expect the eviction process to kick in shortly thereafter. The mean streets of LA are looking more like a reality each day. My options are few. I can probably delay forced eviction for 3 or 4 weeks...but after that...it's all downhill from there.

I really want to thank TSA for working me so hard I permanently injured my back. I also want to thank the Department of Labor, Office of Workers Compensation Program, for coldly and unjustifiably cutting off all of my compensation benefits after only paying for 2 months back in 2003. Further kudos go to the Social Security Administration for continually denying my disability claims. To all these agencies...I want to thank you for sending me to the ranks of the homeless. Additional accolades go to Kaiser Permanente...who terminated all of my health care benefits so I can't afford to see a doctor, therapist or anyone else for my problems. A real nice way to treat a former civil servant and military veteran. Meanwhile...please make sure that you continue to set up illegal aliens with homes, jobs and education.

Some merry f*cking Christmas this is going to be.