Rambling Into The New Year

The Artist as a young man.

The Artist as a young man.

Well, here we are in 2013 and already things are changing. Today’s Big Story is the closing of Cirino’s Restaurant in Nevada City, and the rumors surrounding Jerry’s decision to bail. In his ad in The Union, Cirino cites the Affordable Care Act as one of the deciding factors. This does not surprise me. I’ve known Jerry for many years, back when he was a contractor with aspirations of chefdom, and he’s always been a somewhat conservative guy. I’m sure the government barging into his business decisions played at least some part in the downsizing. Then again, maybe he’s ready to slow down after 30 years. He’s not getting any younger.

Fizzled Cliff – After all the handwringing and hurled expletives, Congress passed a truncated tax bill in the wee hours of the new year. Republicans who painted themselves into a corner with the Norquist “no tax” pledge reasoned that the higher rates for all went into effect at pumpkin time on the first, so their yes votes were actually lowering the taxes for everyone but the hated evil rich fuckers.

Speaking Of Evil Rich Fuckers – One fellow who didn’t make it under the wire was Big Al Gore, who tried to unload his failed TV network to the Qatar Oil Barons before the balls dropped. The former Veep loves the color green, as long as it’s on a US dollar.

Did I Miss Something? – A couple of loose ends from last year…First, did they ever publish the results of the Nevada City “happiness” survey? Could be they did and I missed it. Unlike some bloggers, I am not infallible. Second, how come nobody ever blogs on the CABPRO site anymore? There hasn’t been an entry since Todd left many moons ago. I know CABPRO likes to keep a low profile, ala “skull & bones”, but you’d think they might have something to talk about from time to time. Are we critics too intimidating?

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11 Responses to Rambling Into The New Year

  1. Todd Juvinall says:

    Hey RL, you mentioned my name and not in vain! Happy New Year and I and many others look forward to many more skewerings. LOL! To your good health at 84!

  2. Steve Frisch says:

    RL, I think the lack of blogging at the CABPRO site has something to do with Doomsday Preppers not really having a vested interest in people knowing who they are or where they live. As they have shifted from constitutionalists to drop outs, or as McD would say “going Galt”, and George would say, “embraced the Divide”, they reduced profile. They seem to only show up now when any combination of numbers and symbols add up to or are derivative of “21”. I expect to see blogging there again when the dried fruits and powdered mushrooms they have stored begin to hit their 5 year shelf life, or when the County enters into a contract to purchase a helicopter.

  3. TD Pittsford says:

    Bob, the so-called “fiscal cliff” crisis was and is total bunk. All the fighting between the two parties was NOT about making things better for Americans, it was about making things better for those who contributed huge amounts of money to the various political campaigns. If you look at it, there’s more pork in this legislation than in a Kansas City stockyard. There are tax breaks for motorsport venues (racetracks), movie producers to encourage films to be made in this country, rum producers in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and for those buying 2 or 3 wheeled plug-in vehicles such as Segways, and electric scooters, all-in-all some 67.9 BILLION dollars for just about everybody except to the American people. Add to that the fact that the vote to approve this insanity came only hours after the 154 page proposal was sent out, hardly enough time to read or much less understand the proposal. They voted on it anyway…just like the Affordable Health Care Act which is going to come back and bite us all in the ass. This entire last minute BS should have clued us in to the fact that this was all nothing more than political drama allowing backstage deals to be made ultimately to the detriment of the American people. I don’t know how much clearer it has to be before people see how our government has become even more corrupt than ever before; that we have been betrayed by virtually every branch of government, legislative, executive, and the judicial who showed it’s true colors when it determined that corporations were the same as individuals. The really depressing aspect of this REAL crisis, is that it doesn’t look as if it’s going to get any better especially when we allow ourselves to be distracted from what is actually going on in our country’s government and continue to to accept the divisiveness which I have no doubt has been engineered by the rich and powerful for their own ambitious agendas. The bottom line is that we stand to loose everything we hold dear if we don’t get off our collective butts, forget our petty differences and prejudices, and make our leaders do the jobs for which they were “hired.”

  4. TD Pittsford says:

    PS, has anyone commented that your picture makes you look a great deal like Peter Billingsley? Tell me, did you ever get that Red Ryder B-B-gun? (I’ll give you mine if you want, but be careful, you could put your eye out.)

  5. Russ Steele says:

    RL

    The New CABPRO web site is here: http://www.cabpro.net

    CABPRO is no longer blogging. Chuck Shea the new Executive Director thinks that blogging is just a waste of his valuable time. He will be posting links to the CABPRO newsletter on the webpage. Hope this helps.

  6. Judith Lowry says:

    I guess I’ll weigh in on the closing of Cirino’s.
    They had a good run, but we haven’t gone there much in the last decade.
    I am hopeful that I will never again have to look at that piece of dirty shag carpeting someone tacked to the wall of the restaurant.
    I am hopeful I will never have to view the kitchen or experience the “ladies room”, in their present states again.
    Neglecting those things conveys a message to patrons, i.e. “We don’t care.”
    It would be nice for some young folks to take it over, like they did at the Curly Wolf coffee house, give it new energy and freshen up the aesthetics.
    Also, in a small town with few restaurants, it’s nice to see specials on the menu.
    Creating specials is more work, but they attract more business volume.
    Main Street Cafe is good though, and we often drive to GV just to eat there.

    • TD Pittsford says:

      Judith. If you think the “facilities” at Cirino’s is bad, you should have seen them during the Duffy’s days. There used to be a ladies room just to the left at the end of the bar. When Jim Morales “remodeled” he simply walled over it. It is still rumored among Duffy-ites that there is a dead biker chick that got walled up via “The Cask of Amontillado”. Later when the restrooms had been moved to the very back of the room (where the pool table used to be) Annie the swamper got so sick of all the “water” on the floors that she grabbed an antique brace and bit from the display on the wall and drilled holes at the low point, allowing the fluids to drain. Problem solved!

      As far as Jerry’s explanation that the Affordable Care Act was responsible for closing the iconic Nevada City location, I don’t doubt it but I do wonder if he is closing the Grass Valley location as well and for the same reason. Anyone have any info on that. Regardless of the reason, Jerry deserves every bit of his retirement. He’s worked hard on every endeavor he has undertaken. Good luck, Jerry.

  7. Russ Steele says:

    Re: Nevada City Happiness.

    According to the web site the result were to be posted on twitter. Searching twitter for “nevadacityhappy” produced zero results. I think this was just a happy assed idea that failed with out a whimper.

    • Judith Lowry says:

      I agree, the “Happiness” survey was one of those “busywork” projects that had little relevance to the problems we are facing as a community.
      We just need money and lots of it, that’s all.

  8. George Rebane says:

    Happy New Year Robert! the year promises to be a doozy for the Republic. Lots to talk and draw about.

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