Another Letter to the Editor at The Advocate

Reader's Views: Early bus could miss on-time riders

December 05, 2011

In Sunday’s People section, Nov. 27, Slater McKay, Forum 35 outgoing president, thought it “weird” a bus driver would stop “because she was ahead of schedule.”

I would hope Advocate writer Ed Cullen, who interviewed McKay and who is knowledgeable about such things, explained that buses have schedules just the same as airplanes and trains.
McKay would not want to get to the airport for his 8:30 flight to find it had left “ahead of schedule” at 7:30.

James R. Madden
information technology consultant
Baton Rouge


Comments (3)

1) Comment by phil - Monday, December 05, 2011

Gee, if someone goes to a bus stop on time and the bus has gotten there early and has already left, then that person will miss the bus. This seems to me to be a simple concept, and I am not worried one way or the other about it here too much. What I am worried about is spending $millions every year on a bus system that nobody can afford. For me CATS = Can't Afford To Support when you start talking about build-it-and-they-will- come economics.

2) Comment by tradewinns - Sunday, December 04, 2011

there is a schedule for a reason. elderly man, you must be important individual for them to hold a plane for you. i understood the only time an airplane could leave early was if ALL ticketed passengers were seated.

3) Comment by Elderly Man - Saturday, December 03, 2011

I get to the airport early to avoid feeling rushed. I have gotten to the airport so early that the airlines have rushed me onto an earlier flight. Once they even held the plane for me (here in Baton Rouge). Once on a return from a trip to France, I made an earlier connection and then waited five hours in Atlanta my destination for someone to met me at the time originally set.

###

LSU Student Basketball Band in the '70s

Smiley Anders for Dec. 1, 2011

Musical interlude

James R. Madden responds to a question about the name of the student band at long-ago LSU basketball games:

“In the mid-’70s, I played banjo with the informal LSU basketball band in the Assembly Center.

“I recall the group’s name being ‘The Court Jesters.’

“We were invited to participate in a Mardi Gras truck parade one year; it might have been in Algiers.”

(One word tells you all you need to know about this band: “banjo.”)

###

Letter to the Editor(s)

Letter to The Advocate:
Limit time for tax cuts to create jobs
November 05, 2011

The “tax cuts for the rich” have been in place since 2001 and 2003. Ten years should be enough time, don’t you think?

So, where are the jobs?

Don’t bring up any negative factors such as the housing bubble, bank bailouts, credit collapse, national debt. The tax cuts were put in place with the promise of “jobs will be created.”

So, where are the jobs?

All I see after 10 years is there are fewer people in this country with more of the money. Yet the call continues to keep in place “tax cuts for the rich” so jobs will be created.

OK, keep the cuts in place, but with a time limit. If jobs are not created in the next year, goodbye “tax cuts for the rich.”

James R. Madden
information technology consultant
Baton Rouge


Comments (6) as of 1600 CT, Sunday, 06 Nov 2011:

1) Comment by Scrooge - Sunday, November 06, 2011
jdk944: Make sure they bury you with "your money" to make sure no else will get it and only you can enjoy it.

2) Comment by Whatnow - Saturday, November 05, 2011
Gee, the unemployment was the least of Obama's concerns when the Democrats held both sides of Congress. His first priority was his Affordable Care Act, which has been proven to be a money pit. How many jobs did it create? Well, look at this .... http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/02/15/healthcare-reform-law-requires-new-irs-army-of-1054... \Maybe you could go work for the government with the IRS. Seems like the only place you can find a job now days.

3) Comment by Michael Gary Scott - Saturday, November 05, 2011
No nation has ever taxed itself to prosperity.

4) Comment by jdk944 - Saturday, November 05, 2011
Mr. Madden, my money is not yours and neither is anyone elses. Got it??

5) Comment by agagent - Saturday, November 05, 2011
Record federal government revenue and about 4% unemployment . . . “Blame” it on the Bush tax cuts. The current 9% unemployment and $1.3 trillion annual deficits . . . Give “credit” to Democrats controlling Congress since 2007 and 3 years of Obama’s policies.

6) Comment by Bighug - Saturday, November 05, 2011
Good points. Where are the jobs? Maybe somewhere between Russia and Japan?

Later Comments:

1) Comment by DMJ - Monday, November 07, 2011
James, you miss the point. It's not about creating jobs; it's about keeping taxes low for the rich. The whole "jobs" thing is bull. It's a distraction designed to keep those who would actually benefit from a fairer tax code against reform. What's really weird is how many people actually think that their taxes are subject to go up, even though they make nowhere near $250K/ year. The vast majority of Americans, including many of the anti-tax yahoos who post on these comment boards, don't make anywhere near enough money that they should have to worry about taxes on the rich going up. If they do make that much, then they know good and well that they could afford a small tax increase....or even a large one. The tax debate really comes down to either ignorance or selfishness.

2) Comment by Whatnow - Monday, November 07, 2011
@Scrooge, my money that I don't want to share with people with the ridiculous desire for what belongs to me will be left to my children. It's called planning ahead and the love of family. What's wrong with that? Why should I share the money made by hard work go to those who refuse to work? The jobs will probably come back when Obama is out of office.

Aren’t they precious?

Smiley Anders for September 17, 2011

Smiley Anders, Advocate columnist

Aren’t they precious?

Dear Smiley: Of course (as you said) most of your “cute kid” tales come from grandparents, not parents.

In the relationship between parent and child, the cuteness is expended mostly to ensure the child makes it through the early years — as in, through gritted teeth, “Oh, how cute! Junior just washed the remote in the toilet.”

J.R. MADDEN
Baton Rouge

Hampton Inn Cary, NC (RBC)

"Formal" towels in the bath area:

DELTA sent me a survey asking about my most recent flight delay ...

Under Comments, I added something similar to the following:

On Monday, 25 July 2011, my 1552 CT flight from BTR to ATL, DL 4983, was delayed till 1830 CT. I found this out from the Departure Display at BTR (my 'notification' of the change in my itinerary from DELTA). I called DELTA and was put on standby for a flight to MEM connecting on to RDU.

The BTR gate agent tried to book me on a later flight to ATL but found the connecting flights to RDU were both oversold. He response was "Yuck!" I was able to board the flight to MEM, DL 5540, and then connected on to RDU arriving about an hour later than was my plan.

DELTA should stop using 'weather' as an excuse for flight delays. The overall DELTA schedule only works when the weather is perfect. DELTA as no slack, no cushion ... there are no allowances for anything to be delayed. One delay messes up the whole system. DELTA is trying to maximize revenue from its aircraft while risking non-service to its customers. It is somewhat like a restaurant that tries to save money by not having a roof installed. When it happens to rain, the restaurant blames the non-service on the 'weather' rather than their trying to make the most money by cutting costs.

-30-

Smiley Anders for July 26, 2011

Smiley Anders
Advocate columnist

Thought for the Day

From James R. Madden: “In this era of downsizing, shrinking budgets, deficit reduction and so on, we should keep in mind the following:

“If one really could always ‘do more with less,’ then one would eventually be able to ‘do everything with nothing.’ ”

What ever you do, don't mention the "S" word!!!

Some folks will go to extreme lengths, it would seem to avoid using the word "sugar" ...

No, not on this side of the package.

Can you read the Fourth Ingredient?

It is "All Natural Evaporated Cane Juice."
In Louisiana, that is called "sugar." Maybe five
words are better than one.

Recognizing GFEBS Instructors’ Efforts in Japan

GFEBS staff is prepared to overcome a variety of obstacles while deploying GFEBS. But no one could predict a natural disaster hitting our instructors during Instructor-Led Training (ILT) delivery in Japan. Five GFEBS instructors were delivering ILTs to Okinawa, Yokota Air Force Base, and Camp Zama when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Sendai struck the Tōhoku region of Japan on Friday, 11 March 2011. These natural disasters caused serious damage at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Since then, Japan has experienced ongoing aftershocks, disruption to transportation and continued damage to its nuclear power plants, along with rolling power outages, and shortages of food, water, and gas.

Throughout this devastation and the subsequent health and safety concerns, the instructors, Ed Kuligowski, Oshara Helton, Les Burleson, James Madden, and Carmen Lugo, demonstrated great spirit and dedication to the GFEBS deployment mission. They remained committed to their goal of providing pre-deployment training support to the commands in Japan, and completed ILT delivery for these sites before returning home to America.

In honor of their efforts, GFEBS Project Leadership hosted a recognition ceremony on Tuesday, 5 April 2011. COL Patrick Burden, GFEBS Project Manager, highlighted the instructors’ hard work and dedication while being the “ambassadors of GFEBS…the face of GFEBS, and interacting with end-users on a day-to-day basis.” Accenture’s Project Manager Stephanie Kennedy commended the instructors’ on their ability to persevere through the unexpected earthquake and represent the project well.

The ceremony was followed by a light reception, and these five instructors will receive certificates for their efforts.

L to R Oshara Helton, Ed Kuligowski, Les Burleson, Carmen Lugo, James Madden

The color purple ...

Smiley Anders for April 11, 2011
By SMILEY ANDERS
Advocate sportswriter
Published: Apr 11, 2011 - Page: 1B

The color purple

J.R. Madden says, “While working on Okinawa recently, I learned of the Okinawa purple sweet potato.

“According to my guide, during a famine some 600 years ago the purple sweet potato mystically appeared and saved the population of the island.

“The potato has a light brown skin and unusual purple flesh. It is nutritious and surprisingly sweet. Technically, it is a yam.

“I would have thought it would have long been used in south Louisiana to make purple-and-gold sweet potato pies during LSU football season.”

###

Smiley Anders ...