Tubularsock

aframall un-Ltd.

Posted: February 28, 2014 in CIA TERRORISTS, economics, Economy, Iran, IRAQ, Japan, Oil, SYRIA, TERRORISTS CREATED BY U.S.
Tags: Africa, al Qaeda, Big Oil, China, current-events, global arms trade, libya, North Africa, Syria, terrorism, war

Oh sure, Tubularsock was just sitting in his top floor corner office in his underground bunker over looking Washington, D.C. from Oakland, CA in a sea of tranquility from the aroma of his flowering hydroponic marijuana plantation. Few realize how much space happens to be underground and especially while overlooking Washington, D.C.

But enough about reality.

Have you ever noticed that AFRICA never gets into the news in the United States. Ok, maybe “never” is an overstatement but so little that it has earned its title as the “DARK CONTINENT” all over again.

Now for those of you who missed the history of the “Dark Continent” when you were not engaged in your early historical studies, here’s a hint.

The name “Dark Continent” was not given to Africa because of the color of the people living there, but because of the mystery that surrounded the place back when the Europeans visited there. And this holds true today.

Don’t think so? Ok, name ten African nations that exist right now ………..

Now we do get the news when the genocides happen or terrorist activities because that is a significant part of the accepted narrative. And the U.S. and Europe want to take those who are doing the genocides and terrorist activities and put them on trial as long as the U.S. and Europeans aren’t tried for the genocides and terrorists activities they create.

It has always been that way. And the U.S. and Europe doesn’t want to place any responsibility for these slaughters on those who sell the guns, rockets, and tanks to the crazy bastards that use them on their people. Primely the U.S., England, France, Israel, Russia and China do the gun running.

But it is most interesting but not at all that surprising to discover that there is and has been for some time a huge amount of corporate positioning in the entire continent.

You see, Africa has a shit load of natural resources that “we” want to “assist” them in removing them from their possession. What a surprise.

And on top of that …….. gosh, speaking of slave labor, and no worker safety or environmental regulations, well the place is awash with corporate capitalism at its best!

So here are some fun facts ……….

Tubularsock can’t report on Africa without sitting down with a bowl of Chinese noodles and some rice wine and list how much China is involved in the extraction movement in the “Dark Continent”.

The Chinese seem to have a stack of cash they have picked up from the war torn American Government and are investing heavily in East Africa’s recently uncovered stores of mineral resources.

Of course they have to compete with the Brazilian, Japanese, Indian, Irish, and Anglo-Australian investors. Gosh, everyone seems to love Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

According to the Wall Street Journal – ChinaRealTime once extraction projects are in full swing in 2020 the mineral wealth could be between $17-$24 billion a year.

But like all mineral wealth the damn stuff is under the fucking ground so the Chinese are prepared with the cash to partner up with the likes of Tullow Oil Plc. which is leading exploration activities in Uganda.

In Kenya the government awarded China’s Fenxi Mining Group development rights for coal reserves which will help Kenyan cement and steel industries to create the very same unbreathable air that the Chinese have developed so well in Beijing!

And then there are roads to be built and holes to be dug and train tracks to be laid and ports to be constructed all without those silly environmental considerations that slow progress down. Because we all know that humans are not responsible for climate change because there is nothing that we do that affect the world we live in except improve the GNP!

As you are well aware as jobs are created and the asphalt is spread the workers will need to be provided with 60” HDTV’s and iPhones and who can do that better than Walmart!

From the venture capitalist point of view, Africa is seen as the major investment frontier because of its young population, untapped resources and economic instability.

Now WALMART’s push for a foothold in Africa came a few years ago when it bought controlling interest in Massmart in South Africa and is currently pushing into Kenya. That attempt hit a hurdle after Kenyan retailer Naivas said it was no longer selling a controlling stake to the US company’s South African subsidiary, Massmart.

Naivas chairman Simon Mukuha had said in August they were looking to sell a majority stake, 50% plus one share, to Massmart, to bring in fresh blood and ideas.

“We are fattening our cow. As and when we are ready we will do that (sell) but as it is now we are not,” Gilbert Mwangi, the administration manager at Naivas, said. “They (talks with Massmart) are off. We are not selling now.”

Massmart CEO Grant Pattison, . . . said the company was still keen on entering Kenya.

“We are not rethinking our investment decision in Kenya. We are still looking for a partner . . .”. Massmart runs 29 stores in 11 African countries outside South Africa that contribute about 8% of its total sales.

A Massmart and Naivas deal could have fallen victim to the tightness of the market in the region. “Smaller supermarket chains are in such high demand that they would ask for a horrendous price.”

Now with all this Wall Street Journal gibberish you may have noticed there was NOT ONE reference to people. That is significant, in fact very significant. NOT ONE PERSON is considered! It’s all “. . . failed to keep up . . .”, “. . . still opening . . .”, “. . . 8% of its total sales . . .”, and “. . . major investment frontier . . .” !

In there lies the crux of the entire Capitalistic System and it’s eventual downfall from implosion!

One can only disregard PEOPLE so long and then the extreme shift takes place. Don’t think so ……. Tubularsock knows it’s true … proof is in the pudding. Just wait.

But even as Walmart worms it’s way into Africa that doesn’t change the fact that Robert Mugabe turned 90 and Zimbabwe spent about $1m on the celebration. And what better way to spend all that money than with releasing 90 balloons. Wow. Costly balloons.

Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and still can whip out an hour long speech with vigor. Holding his fist in the air he proclaimed that Zimbabweans didn’t hate the British, who were their colonial masters, but loved their own country more. Sounds like bull shit to Tubularsock.

In contrast, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi nationalized the oil industries and attempted to create a United States of Africa. With his image of a revolutionary, Col Gaddafi inspired South Africans to fight for their liberation, funding and arming the anti-apartheid movement as it fought white minority rule.

Funny how Libya just happened to have a civil war and Gaddafi found himself dead ………… maybe balloons are the way to go!

Which brings Tubularsock to the role of the United States in Africa.

And what is that role?

Destabilization!

Now in order to counter the Chinese and other nations from moving in on Africa’s natural resources The United States rushes in to “PROMOTE DEMOCRACY”.

The United States has long maintained influence and indirect control in Africa through financial institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and African Development Bank. These financial institutions are the tools the U.S. keeps Africa in debt.

Over the last decade, America has quietly expanded its military presence throughout Africa. And the main tool of this conquest ……… AFRICOM!

Now this goes back to Baby-Bush’s Reign of Error period. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Theresa Whelan stated in 2007,

“AFRICOM is about helping Africans build greater capacity to assure their own security.”

But in truth Vice-Admiral Robert Moeller, in 2008 stated that AFRICOM’s goal was “protecting the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market.”

And in 2010, Moeller wrote “Let there be no mistake. AFRICOM’s job is to protect American lives and promote American interests.”

A good example of American interests is the US-sponsored break up of Sudan and the creation of South Sudan.

With the oilfields being located primarily in the south of the country, the US led the charge to dismantle Sudan and create a South Sudan that would be dependent on US finance and military muscle for its very survival.

The United States has attempted to destabilize Zimbabwe throughout the last decade, going so far as to impose crippling sanctions and attempt regime change in order to block China’s influence.

And all this is well represented in the perfect news allegory out of Ghana.

Now, Tubularsock does admit that his own habit of following news out of Ghana is sketchy at best but how could he not report to you this top news story from GNA (Ghana News Agency).

It was reported that Two lovers got stuck during sex in Sunyani.

Now granted, it wasn’t a big news day in Ghana.

“A man and a woman who were having sex in a guest house in Sunyani were reported to have got stuck on Wednesday when the man could not remove his penis from the woman’s vagina and that it took the timely intervention of the police to whisk the inseparable lovers from the scene.”

An attendant at the guest house said that the two lovers booked the room for 30 minutes but when their time elapsed, they failed to come out.

He said he knocked at the door but heard some unusual sound from the room and informed some traders in the market.

“When we forced the door open we saw the unexpected as the two lovers were lying on the floor in torment,” the attendant said.

When the Ghana News Agency got to the scene at 2:30pm, activities at the market had halted and people had gathered at the guest house.

The police moved in, put the two inseparable lovers in a vehicle and drove them away.

Some of the market women said the woman was a trader from Berekum who sells soap every market day. But the man seemed to have been not from this area due to his hair style.

Some of them suspected that a curse might have been placed either on the man or the woman and said rituals had to be performed before they could be separated. Seems reasonable to Tubularsock when asked on his return flight from Ghana.

But there is a clear message in this story. Tubularsock sees that whenever the United States gets involved in “protecting it’s interests” it just doesn’t know “when to pull out”!

Yes, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq are all good examples of GETTING IT STUCK!

And it will be the same outcome in Africa, I’m afraid.

But the U.S. destabilization work isn’t the only gang-bang taking place in Africa to thwart the Chinese.

France and Japan have agreed to cooperate on military and economic issues as was stated by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida when he said in Paris recently, “The agreement will open up a new dimension for our cooperation on security and defense.”

Which means that these current France-Japan talks focused largely on a stepped-up imperialist intervention in Africa. Japan pledged to support ongoing French wars in two former French colonies, Mali and the Central African Republic.

Well it’s good to have friends.

And the beautiful thing about the military build up in Japan is how it is explained ………

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calls it “proactive pacifism”. Now what could possibly go wrong with THAT?

But let’s not forget Great Britain and her African adventures. And they are many but the one Tubularsock is most fascinated with is the ARMS-SALES INSURANCE SCAM.

This is priceless.

The English Government in the last fifteen months have shipped 44,000 guns to East Africa. And like any good government agency the House of Commons Arms Export Controls Committee admitted that the government’s Business Department which “approves” these massive weapons exports stated that in order for this river of arms to keep flowing it, “. . . did not thoroughly assess where the weapons were going”.

Some of these guns happened to end up into the hands of the “rebel” fighters in Libya and Syria but that isn’t the fun part ………… many of these weapons have ended up into the hands of Somalian pirates.

Now hold it ……… that’s still isn’t the fun part.

Here’s the fun part …… “Who benefits from Somalian piracy in the Gulf of Aden? According to a study conducted by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), insurance companies have seen a windfall in profits from the Somali pirate attacks, with insurance premiums sharply increasing.

And the English Government is providing arms to the Somalian Pirates?

Another oddity here reported in Forbes Magazine in 2010 is that if one was willing to buy from Willis Group Holdings plc. their highest insurance package per voyage ($35K) somehow, you would completely avoided being targeted by Somali pirates.

Funny how shit works, isn’t it.

But the Somalian Pirates are just the diversion. So when you are looking for which nut shell the Pirates are under in the shell game the British Government has funnel £2.2m into the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime’s, “counter-piracy program”, in Somalia to help fund the reinforcement police and maritime forces which will defend British interests in the region.

Now Tubularsock just can’t help from noticing that the terms “counter-piracy program”, “counter-insurgency program” and “the war on terror” all seem to sound alike. Hmmm ……… Could there be something going on here?

It may be as simple as all these governments use the same Public Relations firm in London …… what do you think?

So how does Tubularsock see the future of Africa?

EASY!

aframall, un-Ltd.

DYLAN’S ITALIAN AMERICA

Posted: February 16, 2014 in Advertising, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Super Bowl 2014 ads, Woody Guthrie
Tags: Advertising, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Super Bowl 2014 ads, Woody Guthrie

Dylan’s Italian America

Well ……… Tubularsock has found it. In Bob Dylan’s song Mississippi on his 2001 album Love and Theft the catch phrase is “ . . . the only thing, that I did wrong was stay in Mississippi a day too long”.

Now the SECOND thing Bob has done wrong was sell his questionable idol image to the Chrysler Commercial bullshit ad for the 2014 Super Bowl.

The catch phrase in the “Nostalgic” Chrysler ad bullshit is, “Is there anything more American than America.”

Now the reaction has been swift from the “liberals” and “progressives” about Bob SELLING OUT.

For Christ sake are they kidding?

Tubularsock never saw Bob Dylan as ever really BUYING IN so how could he SELL OUT.

Let’s get something straight ……….. Bob Dylan is no Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie!

These men were writing and singing their songs because they were believers in what their song’s messages were about …….. they sang their songs and walked their talk!

You would have NEVER EVER seen Pete or Woody do a Super Bowl Ad! It would have been total sacrilege of everything they believed in and dedicated their lives to attempt to change in this “America than American”!

But Dylan wrote some incredible and powerful songs but he was a performer and song writer not a true crusader. Even during his civil rights years it was Joan Baez that was the crusader not Dylan.

Now don’t get Tubularsock wrong here, Dylan stands alone as the sage of the 1960’s.

He not only chronicled the period but his work defined and advanced it.

But he himself only realized that his work was created as a creative “third”. He put voice to the feelings of the time and captured for eternity the essence of the moment.

It was others that kept trying to contain Bob Dylan not Dylan himself.

That entire “going electric” thing was the “static fan base” trying to keep creative performance from developing. Dylan was into growth not tradition. Which is surprising when you compare the “Nostalgic” Chrysler ad bullshit of today.

But times do change as The Times Are A Changing.

Even Pete Seeger and his Weavers played the Thunderbird in Las Vegas in 1951.

And Bob Dylan over the years has passed through Las Vegas many times. After all business is business.

But where Pete Seeger was always pushing an agenda until his recent death Bob Dylan moved from a sage into a businessman.

His recent work doesn’t come close to the grandeur of his early work but THEN he was a conduit of the times and those times have changed into the narrow self-centered money-hungry egotistic psychopathic times we are witnessing today.

To make money off your past fame for several million dollars is considered “normal”.

Embarrassing to those who READ INTO Dylan’s persona, much like those that READ INTO Obama’s persona. Your projection is not reality! You really haven’t been fooled, you have misread what they were about. THAT is not their fault!

It is YOU that is at fault. Wake the fuck up!

But that is not the fun part of the “Nostalgic” Chrysler ad bullshit. The fun part is that after they boringly run this non-creative advertisement about nostalgic America , with James Dean, and Route 66, and American Diners the over-voice of Dylan then says,

“So let Germany brew your beer. Let Switzerland make your watch. Let Asia assemble your phone. We . . . will build . . . your car.”

Wow. Tubularsock even saw the American flag waving over “Car-Lot-America” until he realized that Chrysler is a wholly owned subsidiary of Italian multinational automaker Fiat!

“Is there anything more American than America.”

YEAH …………. ITALY!

WHO TO BELIEVE

Posted: February 11, 2014 in Uncategorized

Tubularsock has found the Associated Press report today shocking!

News photos digitally altered?

What will they think of next?

The images in question were released through the government-run Estudios Revolucion, an entity that distributes photos of Cuba’s top leadership.

“We have concluded that a number of official photographs of Fidel Castro were manipulated” stated AP vice president and director of photography Santiago Lyon.

“Removing elements from a photograph is entirely unacceptable and is in clear violation of AP’s standards unless we do it” Santiago Lyon did not say.

Now Tubularsock is a firm believer that under AP standards, photos must depict reality and cannot be manipulated to add or subtract elements that alter that reality. But the nature of reality is relative and one’s “reality” is not necessarily the same as the reality of another.

The photos under question show clearly in the original, high-resolution image files a thin wire snaking into Fidel Castro’s ear that was missing from the altered photo released through Estudios Revolucion.

Tubularsock wants to make it perfectly clear that ALL PHOTOGRAPHS within the pages of Tubularsock, “. . . first hand coverage, second hand news” are ALL original photos taken by Tubularsock himself with a standard flash camera used in the “good ol’ days” when the TRUTH of reality was real.

TRUST ME!

PART TIME WORK STANDING

Posted: February 9, 2014 in Uncategorized

Wow. Tubularsock just picked up another part-time job. In this economy getting employment in a field that one is qualified to do is not always that easy.

So Tubularsock put out, yet again, another resumé and listed his qualifications.

First off Tubularsock wanted something in the field of JUSTICE and FREEDOM.

Standing all day on the job is acceptable.

Having people in your head from time to time between 9:30AM and 3:30PM is acceptable as long as they have made advanced reservations.

Being supported by a concrete reenforced supportive structure, helpful.

Being allowed to sleep on the job during non-public hours helpful.

Security protection on the job site acceptable.

Having no direct verbal-response required, handy.

Speaking and/or knowledge of the French language no longer required.

Only day off, Christmas is acceptable.

So, I start Monday ……………

WISH TUBULARSOCK LUCK ……………… NO ONE DOES IT BETTER!

GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT AMERICA

Posted: February 6, 2014 in American Exceptionalism, Dick Cheney, Iran, Iran Revolutionary Guard, IRAQ, John Kerry, Justin Bieber, Kayne West, Keystone XL, Kim Kardashian, Obama, Oil, Race, State of the Union Address 2014, XL Pipeline
Tags: al Qaeda, barack obama, Big Oil, bull shit, Dick Cheney, Iran, Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Keystone XL pipeline, Kim Kardashian, race, terrorism, Vogue

Tubularsock was out of his top floor corner office in his underground bunker overlooking Washington, D.C. from Oakland, CA. for several days due to an intense family emergency. It was worse than having to eat dinner with the Cheney’s. It was hell personified and Tubularsock doesn’t even believe in the hell concept but it is the best descriptive for a quick picture.

Happily all’s good now and I’m back in the bunker viewing the collective mess that we live in and feel good that nothing has changed for the better which is rather comforting.

You know, the shit you live in in the collective culture is shit we’re familiar with and just like any abusive relationship it’s still home. Yes, we’re sick mother-fuckers!

So while Tubularsock was focused elsewhere he missed:

The State of the Union Address..

The flair-up Kanye West created in his quest to get Kim Kardashian on the Vogue Cover.

Some football game with a lot of custom ads.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, a top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards boasting that Iran “ . . . have targets within America.” But so does Tubularsock!

The Justin Bieber’s DUI.

And the State Department’s release of the XL Keystone Pipeline environmental report written by the oil industry for the occasion.

Wow. Turn your back for just a minute and the shit just keeps hitting the fan!

So where does Tubularsock start?

Where-else Justin ………….

MSNBC was in the middle of an interview with Congresswoman Jane Harman about the NSA spying scandal when they interrupted that interview to bring forth a BREAKING NEWS story.

And what was that BREAKING NEWS?

The judge was reading the charges against Justin Bieber at THAT MOMENT!

Really, need Tubularsock say more about this crap?

Sure.

There was also a big discussion about Justin having zits that showed up on his mug-shots. It appears that the cops don’t air-brush out blemishes. What a travesty.

How is Tubularsock going to handle that a 19 year old boy who drives a yellow Lamborghini has zits?

And not to overplay this cathartic bull-shit but the White House had to pay attention to the incident because of enough people had signed an on-line petition demanding that Justin be DEPORTED back to Canada for being a “bad influence on American youth”. Like a border make’s a difference.

It seems that the White House has a page that citizens can present grievances and if the numbers are great enough then the White House will take some type of action.

Well, bottom line …….. a DUI just doesn’t rank high enough in the pantheon of crimes to warrant deportation. Zits, however …….. you may have a case!

Then the State of The Union Address.

Gag Tubularsock with a spoon. The bull shit was stacked so high that even Joe Biden couldn’t add to it with his inept personal deficiencies.

I don’t know about you but Tubularsock just has trouble listening to abstract when I’m stepping over the homeless on the streets whenever I go out. Now granted, riding a bicycle puts me more in tune with the direct environment than say riding around in your SUV with the music on and the tinted windows but even you have to get out to buy your food.

At times Tubularsock thinks he’s in India as he criss-crosses a human sea of men and women with card-board signs asking for help.

And to have Obummer say that women aren’t getting paid as much as men for the same work ………. well no shit Dick Tracy.

“Let’s make this a year of action,” Obummer says. Sure. What has changed from last year?

Well according to Bummer’s intro, A teacher has helped her student, AN entrepreneur does her part to create 8 million jobs, An auto worker fine tuned some of the most fuel efficient cars in the world to do his part to help America to WEAN ITSELF OFF FOREIGN OIL. And on and on until we come to the military families who tuck their children in bed and remember fallen comrades BUT NOT REMEMBER ALL THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN THEY WASTED AS THEY MURDERED THEIR WAY THROUGH IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

And all the while the camera flashes over the dumb shit that can’t clap but beats his chest with his hand instead because he’s the poster-boy of the deformed and maimed “military-hero” who still doesn’t get it. Nor does his stupid bloated father standing next to him. He may be even more of a fucking dumb shit than his son!

When will they wake up? What a price to pay to be cannon fodder. You get the President to point out what a hero you are for getting yourself blown to shit and then forgotten when the lights go out and the cameras are put away.

A State of the Union Circus would not be complete without a freak show so they propped up Cory Remsberg the current military excuse of a hero and the Congress that sent him and so many to die and become crippled all applauded and thereby absolved their collective guilt.

What a sad commentary on the nation.

And it is that propagandistic bull-shit that is continually pushed and as long as everyone focuses on the sacrificial, emotional horse shit ol’ Cory will be rolled around as an example and Cory says he still wants to serve his country.

Well, Cory ……… you are still severing the ends of the war profiteers. The fact that you and your father are both fucking brain dead helps push the war agenda. Congratulations.

But without a chance to rest your mind let Tubularsock deal with the flair-up Kanye West created in his quest to get Kim Kardashian on the Vogue Cover.

Kanye for some reason is not the brightest crayon in the box. Recently he has punched a couple of guys for comments they have made to him. One was in a chiropractor’s office of all places.

It seems guys say shit to Kanye, then he punches them, then they sue him, and then they collect an out of court settlement of $125,000.00.

Sound like a plan? Tubularsock is working on his retirement program. Where does Kanye hang out?

Well the hip-hop artist allegedly confronted Vogue’s chief editor Anna Wintour at the Beverly Hills Polo Lounge, and got right up in her face over the issue of Kim not being placed on the current cover of Vogue.

Because Anna is a personal friend he can’t see why she isn’t willing to do him this personal favor and put Kim on the cover.

In truth, Tubularsock can’t figure out why Anna won’t put Tubularsock on the cover of Vogue. It just seem like the right thing to do.

Now who would believe a guy named Salami? It sounds like baloney to Tubularsock. And all this Iran’s Revolutionary Guards shit. Remember how Saddam Insane’s Revolutionary Guards were this huge danger to our troops before our invasion of Iraq?

The mass media played that wild card and pumped up everyone until when we invaded they weren’t even there. Another crack intelligence failure. OR a sly propaganda ploy by American for Americans.

Pretty much all Tubularsock can recommend to assist Iran with suggested targets within the United States is to call 1-800-al-Qaeda and leave a message.

Ah, yes. That football game with the custom ads. The least said the better. I was hoping that Iran would have taken that out but alas Tubularsock can’t have every new years resolution come true.

And while no one was looking including the State Department the environmental impact report produced by the oil industries was rubbered stamped out by the State Department and in general the conclusion ……… what impact?

The fact that the XL pipeline crosses over 1700 bodies of fresh water, ahh ……. just what could go wrong. And the argument goes like this ……… it would be more dangerous to transport this shit oil by train so leaky pipelines that will be thoroughly inspected maybe once (if they can spare the time) will be way safer.

Well the unions want it because they’ll get almost 2000 new jobs for ten minutes and then years of catastrophic leak repair which the pipeline owners will have only limited liability before the federal and state governments put up the bucks.

EVERY oil leak in the current pipeline coming out of Canada that has leaked has caused irreparable damage to the environmental balance of the areas involved that can not be corrected for a hundred years. Now who has that kind of time?

And yet you’ll see Obummer sign off on this XL pipeline ……… why? Oh come now. Haven’t you noticed yet?

Barack Obama is the first black president in white-face and as long as the-slave-boy keeps up the “good-nigger” role the white power structure will let him play golf with them.

Yes’em massa!

Come on everyone …………. let’s sing the blues.

SCHEDULE BRIBE

Posted: January 23, 2014 in Uncategorized

Dawn was just crossing over into existence when Tubularsock heard a soft rap on the door of his top floor corner office in his underground bunker in Oakland, CA overlooking Washington, D.C.

Immediately after the soft rap a small bundle of papers were slipped under the door and true to form the messenger was so stealth that no traces remained of the visit except the bundle of papers.

“Drat”! was the expression one would have heard being emitted from Tubularsock’s mouth “but there weren’t nobody around!”

Now Tubularsock has to admit that when it comes to Steamfitters and Boilermakers Tubularsock has limited exposure of just what they do on the job.

The only knowledge of steamfitting is when Tubularsock goes to the WestEnd Gym and attempts to fit into their rather small steam room. And as far as boilermaker all you have to do is bring up Dick Cheney’s name and it makes-Tubularsock-boil. So lets call this for what it happen to be ……… limited knowledge and experience.

Well lucky for you and Tubularsock someone who does know the ins and outs of the Steamfitters and Boilermakers Trades has come to the rescue.

Stamboul is a retired Boilermaker. He was kind enough to send Tubularsock the following information and it is a fascinating peek into refinery work.

Also Tubularsock in his previous blog post had stated that at times to save money the oil refinery will have the workers install smaller pipes in the run. This was incorrect. What they do do is slip in a lower schedule (thickness) pipe as Stamboul will explain. All pipes in a refinery are required to have a proper schedule (thickness) as designed for their use.

Thank you Stamboul for this contribution and your insights.

Let me tell you a story: After WW-2, many of the local home boys returned to Richmond, Martinez, Concord, Pittsburg and Antioch. Many were Italian and Portuguese and the refineries in the bay area put them to work. Back then all the refineries had excellent training programs and they all had their own Boiler shops on the premises. The new hires worked an 8 hour day then went to training school in the refineries for another two hours with pay. After a five year apprentice program where they were trained to be Boilermakers and steamfitters on the job, they graduated and were master mechanics.

When I broke into the trades in the late 70’s these men were unit foremen’s and supervisors. Working out of the Boilermaker’s Union for Union contractors hired by the refineries to do maintenance work, I came across these old paisans in the various units I worked in. Here is what I observed about them: they knew there units backwards and forwards; they were master mechanics, and believed in union craftsmanship and would never hire non-union workers to repair their units; they were hard headed son of a bitches and yelled all the time, but if you worked hard and knew your shit, they would back you 100% and finally, they believed in running maintenance and were constantly repairing their units when things went wrong. One more thing about them, they were able to make decisions on the spot and most of the time they were right.

Things changed around 1985. The refineries force retired all these guys, imported crackers from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana to run these units. These jerks didn’t know their ass from a hole in the ground, didn’t have the nuts to make any decisions without checking first with Houston or wherever and ran these units into the ground.

The refineries here made a concerted effort to take maintenance work away from the unions and hire nothing but non-union contractors. These contractors in competition with each other bribed the unit foremen and I personally witnessed this myself at Chevron, Shell and Tosco. The refineries took a position of no more standing maintenance work in the units, and let the units go to hell until they exploded and then let the insurance pay for the repair.

I’m not going to get into it, but I worked many of the explosions that killed workers especially at Tosco and the causes were mostly utilizing the wrong schedule wall thickness of the pipe in the repair.

No one puts the wrong size pipe in, but they do cheat by using the wrong schedule and bribing the inspectors who x-ray the pipe.

SAFETY FIRST — A PARODY

Posted: January 20, 2014 in 2012 refinery fire, Beth Rosenberg, Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso, CHEVRON, economics, Economy, European model of industrial safety, Keystone XL, Mark Griffin, Oil, U.S. Chemical Safety Board
Tags: Big Oil, Keystone XL pipeline, Richmond CA Chevron refinery fire

SAFETY FIRST — A PARODY.

Lets say you went off to buy a car and you found one that looked real nice and was perfect for your needs. So you asked the dealer about its mechanical reliability and he says it runs well and it’s safety features are good.

But then you noticed that the tires had been painted to look new and they were rather worn and the dealer tells you that the Safety Committee had given them the “OK”.

Relieved you go with the dealer on a test drive and you notice that the brakes are spongy and that the brakes didn’t always engage when you stepped on the brake pedal. And the dealer says that the Safety Committee had inspected the brakes and had determined that they still had life in them and put out a memo stating that the brakes should be inspected again during next years safety update. But for now the Safety Committee had given the brakes an “OK”.

Comforted by the “OK” sticker you decide to buy the car but as you are driving off the lot you notice that the windshield wipers were not working so you call this to the attention of the dealer. He informs you that the dealership will take full responsibility for their replacement during the next routine safety check. The dealer tells you that the Safety Committee will be informed that this replacement has been schedule and because it is not raining now it should be fine.

Not convinced you say, “are you sure?” The dealer says that to replace them now would cost far too much because it would require a crew to be pulled off the regular repair rotation schedule and set back regular repair maintenance. This may jeopardize safety.

And it’s not raining so it should be fine. And in order to relieve your fears he adds, “DON’T BE CONCERNED, WE DO IT ALL THE TIME”.

As you are driving away the sales manager places a big red “X” on the sales performance chart and “high-fives” all around. The sales manager reminds the head of the Safety Committee of their golf date tomorrow followed with a night out on the dealership expense account to THE SUCKY-SUCKY, a Japanese sushi and lap dance lounge. Everyone is happy.

And you are happy too. You rush home and gather the three kids and wife and Fido and head off on your vacation. Driving down the California coast on Highway 1 the family marvels at the majestic views and the exciting curves with the sheer drop of the cliffs to the Pacific Ocean below.

All of a sudden you hit a thick fog patch and in your attempt to slow your left front tire blows and you swerve. Your visibility being limited, due to the failure of your wipers, the moisture masses on your windshield as you attempt once again to brake ……. only to discover your pumping action is to no avail and your car plunges off the highway and down the sheer drop with you and your three children and wife and Fido to a fiery death below.

Sadness abound and all morned the death of you and your three children and wife and Fido.

Questions arose about the safety of Highway 1 and the safety of your car.

CALTRANS puts out a press release stating, that while driving Highway 1 you must be careful. All protection barriers were in place and had been maintained to the specifications of the State Safety Commission.

The automobile dealership put out a press release stating, that like ALL autos sold by the dealership your auto too had been fully inspected and had passed their extensive safety check procedure.

However one young journalist who hadn’t been in journalism long enough to understand that the dealership was a major advertiser in her newspaper over-reported. She discovered by investigating beyond the standard coping and “reporting” verbatim from the press releases that other issues about the “track record” of the dealership safety procedures had been called into question several times before.

The dealership called the editor of the newspaper and discussed a possible reassignment for the young journalist to obituaries and the newspaper agreed. The dealership placed an additional order for a larger Labor Day ad. The newspapers sales manager placed a big red “X” on the sales performance chart with “high-fives” all around. And everyone was happy.

However, to ease public pressure the dealership stated that it would cooperate with the Safety Committee’s investigation of safety procedures because the dealership’s highest commitment was to SAFETY.

The Safety Committee set it’s staff to the task of doing a complete investigation of the safety procedures of the dealership and to submit a report back to the Committee when it had been completed. And everyone was happy.

Two years later the staff presented its report to the Safety Committee along with its recommendation for improvement and a meeting was called to inform the public of the safety findings.

The staff recommend that rather than shoring up the existing safety procedure that allows the car to go over the cliff and then responding to the accident that maybe changing to a new procedure based on the European model of safety that focuses on continually reducing accident risk by replacing parts with the best parts and keeping the upgrade current rather than reacting to safety problems after the accident has occurred.

The dealership immediately rejected the recommendations as too confusing and too costly. Following the European model where the dealership would replace parts with the highest quality replacement is not as good as what we do now by getting by on the old parts until they need replacing and then replace those parts with reasonably priced after-market product. THAT WORKS FOR US!

The Safety Committee voted down it’s own staff and told them to rewrite the safety recommendations to be more in line with the current agreed upon system. And everyone was happy.

Oh, I forgot. The Safety Committee all got really good deals on lease/buy contracts from the dealership. And none of the Committee ever took a drive on Highway 1 and they all lived happily ever after ………… the end.

In Richmond, Ca in 2012 a massive Chevron Oil Refinery fire occurred which sent 15,000 to the areas hospitals and shut down one of California’s major crude oil refineries units for months.

The cause was CORRODED PIPES NEGLECTED BY CHEVON.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board had its staff investigate the fire and create recommendations for improved safety.

This report was released to the public on January 15, 2014.

The key recommendations:

A. Replace the current California patchwork of largely reactive regulations with a more rigorous, performance based system. (A European model of safety)

B. Inspectors would have technical training and experience that is on par with the personnel employed by the oil companies. (What a concept!)

C. Safety case reports generated by the oil companies would be rigorously reviewed, audited and enforced.

Well Chevron and the oil industries, the “scientific” community, The United Steel Workers Union, and political interests all protested any real change.

Now let Tubularsock guess why this motley crew would oppose changes that would improve safety from the current hodge-podge.

Well for Chevron and the oil companies ….. profit! Chevron made more money when the refinery was closed down because the price of gas in California increased because of short supply and increased demand. As well as not paying out fort costly repairs until something blows up. PROFIT at the risk of people’s lives. Thank you so much Chevron.

Now, let me see …… what “scientific” community? Why would a scientist be in favor of corroded pipes? Well, only scientist who work for Chevron that’s what kind of scientists.

But, The United Steel Workers Union? Jobs! Now you’d think that a union would want to protect the safety of their workers ……… no ……… JOBS that is all that is important!

Most Steam-Fitters and Boilermakers that Tubularsock have discussed refinery safety with will tell you that the only thing that stands between the oil company and a worker’s safety is the foreman and the shop stewart. If they are strong willed they won’t put their work team in danger.

They also have plenty of stories where the company will use undersized pipes and fast repairs in order to keep production going even at major risk to life and public safety.

And then “political interests” which mostly is about campaign donations. What else is there for a politician?

So what is the end result of this 115 page report?

The Chairman of the 3 member U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Rafael Moure-Eraso voted in FAVOR of a new direction to a broken system.

But his fellow two Board members, Beth Rosenberg and Mark Griffin voted for business as usual.

So the Board told the staff that they had 120 days to oil it down.

Progress is our most important product ……… bend over!

LONE SURVIVOR BULL SHIT

Posted: January 11, 2014 in Uncategorized

Be careful what you read. By pure accident Tubularsock was sitting at a bus stop waiting and right next to me on the bus bench was a copy of the Oakland Tribune which is considered by the brain dead the “local” newspaper.

Now in truth it is made of paper and it is “local” but if one wishes to get into say something like journalism well ……….

But it was just lying there and Tubularsock was just sitting there and the bus wasn’t due for another fourteen minutes, if that really means anything anyway.

So Tubularsock casually reached over and picked it up. And it was only the front section and that was all. No advertisements, no sports page, no travel, cultural, or movie sections. Just the front page all alone on the bus bench.

And the dominate story on the front page was a movie review of a new film Lone Survivor. Which is a new movie about the same old propagandistic shit. The film is about the failed June 28, 2005 mission, Operation Red Wings conducted by SEAL Team 10.

A title that would have explained the truth of the operation better should have been Dumb Shits Die Defending Aggression.

Not to give away the plot but they all got themselves blown to bits. Ok, except for Marcus Luttrell who to this day says he still struggles from survivor’s guilt.

If the guy would wake up to what he did by joining the military his guilt might just overtake him! But he’s still lost in his own ego shit.

The Tribune’s story covers some local boys that got themselves all dead and their parents justification why their sons aren’t at Christmas “no more”.

It’s this kind of bull shit that makes younger people gravitate toward “joining up” but this type of aggrandizement has always been used. Lattrell says that the movie is as real as it can be and war is the lowest common denominator but “It happened and that’s what I did for a living. It’s business as usual.”

And that should be the take away ……. It’s business as usual.

As for the parents rather than wake up to the fact that their children were gunned down by their own stupidity and the government that sent them there are war criminals seemed to have missed their sentimental brains. No they are being quoted about their loss like it couldn’t have been avoided.

Of course they still all gathered with long faces and grief-stricken at annual barbecues for SEAL families but they have NEVER faced the true facts …….. their sons were the aggressors and occupiers of Afghanistan and the Taliban lived there!

Will this ever change ……… not until those parents who have lost children face the facts that their government lied to them and pumped them all up thinking that their dead children are heroes. And what do they have to show for it?

A folded flag, a couple of medals, a coffin and some memories that haunt. A very poor investment if you ask Tubularsock. Maybe it is time for military families to wake up to the fact of what their loved ones are really doing!

Not protecting America but protecting American Empire for the rich.

VACATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Posted: January 8, 2014 in debt, economics, Economy, Obama
Tags: barack obama, Family Vacations, Hawaii Vacation, Jobs, Michelle Obama, Obama Vacation, Travel Hawaii, Unemployment

Now come on. Just because you are unemployed and you’re getting your $256.00 a week from the federal government you act like somehow Barrack and Michelle shouldn’t rush off for a couple of weeks to Hawaii to get out of the cold.

If you are so upset about it then get a job. Then you too can take a vacation.

Now the President says that we are recovering and hell yes! Even Tubularsock can see recovery from the golf course in Hawaii! If some of you working poor would take up golf then you might be able to see recovery too.

Now I’m sure you are aware that Congress is working hard at not working. And they do do a nice job at it. Pretty professional if you ask Tubularsock.

The Democrats want to extend the emergency unemployment benefits for 1.3 million people. These are unemployment benefits that kick in AFTER state unemployment benefits are cut off. Just how much money do these unemployed people need?

As Peter Morici, an EMPLOYED economist and professor at the University of Maryland School of Business stated in a UPI analysis, “with the recovery in its 55th month, the emergency is over. Additional taxes to pay for more unemployment benefits would impose a terrible burden on the working poor”.

Wow. Those poor working poor. You see Morici contends that, “Unduly long unemployment benefits in an economy the president says is picking up steam encourages many unemployed to postpone serious employment searches. From Wall Street to Main Street, white collar professionals have delayed accepting lower pay and changing occupations by running down savings and collecting maximum unemployment benefits of about $300 a week.” A princely sum indeed!

So if only those “white collar professionals” would get off their fucking high horses and take a job at McDonalds or WalMart or even change their occupations to say being an economist then life would be good!

It is so simple if you just think about it from an ivory tower or a golf course from Hawaii don’t you know.

But with all this unemployment talk one can miss some of the more positive aspects of the Washington, D.C. scene.

Now Barrack and Michelle went off to Hawaii for vacation on Air Force One.

According to Congressional Research Service the cost of flying a Boeing 747 is $181,757.00 per flight hour. Travel time direct from Washington, D.C. to Hawaii is about 9 hours. So one way the cost, JUST TO FLY, is $1,635,813.00. Oh sure, they have to come back so add an additional One Million Six Hundred And Thirty Five Thousand Eight Hundred And Thirteen Dollars to the mix. Envelope pleze ……. the grand total is ……… THREE MILLION TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND TWENTY TWO DOLLARS! And that is just for Barrack and Michelle to fly to their vacation and home again. I guess they may have had to max out two credit cards.

Now what’s a vacation without the amenities of home. So a USAF C-14 cargo aircraft is needed to transport the Presidential limos (you can’t go on vacation without your ride!) and support equipment.

A C-14 has an estimated operating cost of $12,000 per hour and the flight time between Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is at about 21.5 hours roundtrip. So that is $258,000.00.

And don’t forget that the United States Marine Corps provides a Presidential Helicopter which is transported by a C-17 cargo aircraft for an additional $258,000.00.

Now that doesn’t include the 6 member helicopter crew’s per diem and hotel.

Wow ……… this vacation thing is stacking up some costs.

Tubularsock needs to take a break here. Just checking my wallet.

Ok ……… now that we’ve got them to Hawaii there is a bit more expense.

The taxpayers must cover the costs for housing U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Seals in beach front and canal front homes around where the President stays.

That cost runs about $200.00 per bedroom per day which comes to $21,600.00 per day. That’s about $21,600.00 per average home for a nearly three week period, with special forces renting at least 7 homes. Which comes to $151,200.00 Plus $25,200.00 for the security that arrives ahead of the President. Costing taxpayers about $176,400 for the length of the visit.

The President’s staff and White House Press Corps typically stay at one of Hawaii’s oldest and most elegant hotels, the Moana Surfrider. And wouldn’t you know it is during high season so there is no discount government rate during this holiday period! So the taxpayers are covering more than $131,600 in hotel bills for some two dozen staff.

Now like any good government operation there are some costs that can’t be released by the White House to the general public for SECURITY REASONS!

For example, the President’s security usually rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua on the canal during the president’s stay. And you know just how important it is to not let anyone know what rents go for in Kailua. Lives could be lost!

And then there is the cost for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at a Waikiki Hotel. If these facts were allowed to be leaked well, lives could be lost!

And there are additional travel costs Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President that may involve strip clubs and whores being vetted that must be kept secret because lives could be lost!

But if you take the total known cost for Barrack and Michelle’s Hawaii vacation it adds up to over FOUR MILLION DOLLARS!

But hey, before you get all pushed out of shape here just remember that that is only about $307.60 for each of the 1.3 million unemployed that have lost their coverage.

And that is only $7.60 more than their maximum amount per week.

So for the cost of Barrack and Michelle’s vacation 1.3 MILLION people would have had one week more of unemployment benefits to feed their families. Fuck’em!

But like Tubularsock likes to say ………. There’s More!

You see, Barrack and the girls returned to Washington, D.C. and Michelle stayed on in Hawaii. Which may end up costing the taxpayers an additional $126,000.00.

Michelle in the past has used an Air Force C- 40B Special Mission Aircraft when she has flown before to Hawaii, the cost of a flight from Honolulu to Washington would be about $63,000. If the C-40B must be flown out to Hawaii to retrieve Michelle, as would seem likely, the first lady’s travel costs could amount to about $126,000, assuming the jet is dispatched from Washington.

And then there’s the Secret Service and personal staff ….. ahh, the price keeps going up.

Rumor has it that the Presidential couple were not in matrimonial bliss during their several million dollar vacation.

Some attribute it to the Mandela Memorial and other photographs in the press, it seems that Michelle is not very happy with the President of late. Michelle remaining in Hawaii away from the President is just fueling speculation that they may be heading for a divorce in 2014.

Obomas and tube plus

But what TMZ Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment News should have reported is that there may be more to this entire situation. A photo acquired by Tubularsock News Corp. from sources that are not authorized to provide photos of the Hawaii Vacation presents an entirely different scenario that must be considered.

It has been rumored that Michelle and an unknown political gigolo have been having some “quality” time after Barrack and the girls left for Washington. But Michelle’s staff have categorically denied any such thing.

WADER’S CONFERENCE 2014

Posted: January 3, 2014 in General Keith Alexander, James Clapper, LOVEINT, NSA, Obama, Rose Garden
Tags: barack obama, LOVEINT, NSA, Rose Garden

WADER’S CONFERENCE 2014

Many don’t realize just how influential Tubularsock actually happens to be in Washington, D.C.

At the current Wader’s Conference 2014 at the White House Tubularsock was lecturing the First Lady Michelle Obama on just how her current husband, the President of the United States has completely lost the ability to recognize BULL SHIT. Both his own which he is obliviously stepping in all the time and that of the Director of the NSA, General Keith Alexander and the that of the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.

As both Alexander’s and Clapper’s wives have been reported as saying, as reported by a staff member who was not authorized to speak on bull shit, “Our husbands spit out more BULL SHIT from their mouths on any given day than a bull with diarrhea.”

Wow. Now just how can Tubularsock get such information from their wives ….. hey just trust Tube! I only collect Metadata. No really!

So President Obama still insists that NASA’s collecting every phone call, email, tweet, and everything else on every America is only done to protect us all from the massive terrorist threat that is US!

And this information collected will ONLY be used to stop the terrorist except for the twelve known incidents called LOVEINT a flippant term used to describe NSA analysts who misused their surveillance powers to spy on romantic interests instead of terrorists.

But hey, NSA is only collecting metadata right?

Well some NSA analysts were busy focusing on a little more than meta! One analyst was spying on nine women over five years, a woman analyst was spying on prospective boyfriends, another analyst was checking on whether his girlfriend was “involved with any government officials”, and another woman analyst was spying on her husband to see if he was cheating on her. Do you get the picture? Tubularsock just doesn’t have time to make this shit up!

Metadata my ass!

A favorite photo Tubularsock took as he and Michelle and the President landed in the Rose Garden this weekend.