El Chapo Guzman and Al Capone; Martyrs?

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Kent

chapone

Only when addiction is a mental health problem and not a criminal justice problem will we stop the canonizing of gangsters. I suspect the personalities of gangsters are similar to money-grabbing businessmen than the saints who change the world by their personal sacrifice, but I do not know any gangsters so I can’t say.  It is clear that Al Capone was martyred to bring us the local package store.  His last words “You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can get with a kind word alone” do not compare with other famous martyrs like Nathan Hale or Bob Marley’s “money can’t by life”. Capone’s life work and lasting influence on the world is substantial nonetheless.

El Chapo plays the game as the government does and when he loses, another Capone will step up until the US educates and treats the addicts who will kill and die for what el Chapo sells.  Putting people in jail hasn’t worked so far.  Other countries have legalized all drugs but controlled their use through Health and Human Services, not criminal justice systems.  Such a control would solve a big part of our border security as well and allowing a large portion of our society to stand up and tell the world about the drug problem without fear of prison.

It would take a concerted effort, a grand public education campaign to bring the American public to the factual realization that an illegal drug is a drug after all, and drugs are sought out by everyone.  Our legal drug trade and our illegal drug trade are very similar in that people want to buy drugs enough to pay huge amounts of money and make those who trade in drugs very, very rich. Every one of the top 25 pharmaceutical companies made more money that El Chapo Guzman in 2014 and every other year..

Alcohol and marijuana have both been demonized by governmental and societal powers that be over the ages.  No one can say if it is a good thing or a bad thing that people are more free to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana today than they were in the 1960s.  By any measure life has gotten less free in the USA since then, however.

Public education and reasonable thinking have brought acceptance of the reasonable existence of those two formerly illegal drugs to a majority of Americans.  Many of us recognize that the lying, conniving government has much of its power over people, especially poorer people, with their control of drugs, prostitution and gambling.

Generally those who have less contact with the Police and the rest of the government accept the inevitability of drugs and have seen the disaster of addiction, and the rest of us haven’t.

 

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THE IRS, it’s T.H.E.I.R.S.

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Kent

Getting an early start on all the business taxes this year, State and Federal monthly and quarterly wage withholding( 940 and 941) , State Unemployment “insurance” (see below) and Federal Unemployment  Tax FUTA and , Sales tax, Business entity tax (which has two parts I can never remember the second part), The W-4 and the State W-4 of course.

My fav is the “Internet Quarterly Tax and Wage Report System” for which my business owes $23 this year, but if it is late there is a $25 penalty.

More taxes?  Well of course, the income tax and property taxes for those of us lucky enough to have property.  Just about everyone gets a car tax to pay.

I have been thinking about the difference between a tax and a mandatory insurance.  There is none.  It is the same system we have for health care insurance, you can buy all different plans, but you have to buy one.  Like car insurance, you need to have it or you are in violation of a couple laws, or a couple dozen laws, probably.

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Testosterone Hormone Replacement – A case history

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Kent

I was feeling lethargic but I know enough to NEVER say the word “depressed” to a health care professional.  I read that very low doses of a central nervous system stimulant can do wonders for a man my age, but of course no doctor wants to prescribe such a thing.  They are “dangerous” and I might hurt myself.  I mean, 40 years ago I would take everything, methamphetamine, cocaine, Dexedrine…  I liked them.  Then I became a religious fanatic for about 30 years and didn’t take anything at all, not even a beer.

I find it really just stupid that I can’t buy drugs myself but rather have to get an appointment with a professional who will evaluate me and decide for me whether or not I can try a drug.  If I wanted to abuse drugs I would go to a bar or a park to look for drugs, not a doctor and a pharmacy.  Sure we need to control drugs, but someone who has no history of drug abuse and wants to see if a drug will make me feel better just can’t.

Some people believe the hype and are afraid of drugs.  But the very reason for drugs is that they make people feel better.  We all want to feel better, and it is okay to try a diet of maple syrup, lemon and vinegar but not any extract of the coca plant found in Peruvian mountains.  I have been to Cuzco, Peru, where they sell candies made with small quantities of coca, and simply everywhere there is a tea made with the leaves to help with the altitude sickness.  I think I still have the T-shirt that says, in Spanish the coca is not cocaine.

I am not deluding myself or others about the dangers of drugs.  Perhaps the only thing that saved my life from drug abuse is the fact that I do not like pain killers and sedatives.  I like beer and liquor in the right situation, but I don’t like to get drunk.  I do like very mild stimulants like nicotine and caffeine.  I liked cocaine too when I was in High School and I liked the tea they gave away in Cuzco.  But try getting a doctor who will let me try a stimulant.  I told all of this to a few doctors and was offered no help.  One Nurse Practitioner suggested I see a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist who can prescribe stuff.  Soooo, I looked.  I really did.  I left voice messages at several places and they must be horribly busy because they did not call me back.  So a few weeks later I did it again, and talked to one receptionist who said the next appointment would be in six months.  Another said they did not take my insurance, which is the best in the world.  I tried to call back and say I would pay cash, but had to leave a voice message.

My internist suggested a testosterone therapy and gave me a phone number.  Easy, more than easy.  Very quickly I got an appointment and the adventure began.

 

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Open Letter to Robert Rubbo Director of Health, and the City of Torrington

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Kent

A group headed by you Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health, Torrington, CT and several as yet unknown city officials made false statements, threats and by their uniformed presence intimidated tenants into allowing you entrance into their home on August 11, 2015. Your purpose was to find evidence of hazardous materials on the property to be used for my arrest.

Undeterred by not finding hazardous quantities of lead or any other hazardous materials, and continuing the conspiracy and fraud; armed only with unsubstantiated claims of finding minute and non-hazardous quantities of lead, I was threatened with fines and arrest in an ORDER which I received August 20, 2015.

The second paragraph of the ORDER cites Connecticut State Statutes Section 119a-111 et seq. then quotes a part of 119a-111c (a) omitting from the ORDER the “interim controls” that will help a child who has high lead content in her blood. The following quote from Connecticut law was NOT quoted in the ORDER. “For the purposes of this section, “remediation” means the use of interim controls, including, but not limited to, paint stabilization, spot point repair, dust control, specialized cleaning and covering of soil with mulch.” The ORDER and the threats it contained certainly did not include the possibility of “interim controls” It seems your point is not to help a little girl but rather scare me by misleading me with lies. The question is: “Why?” Do you have investments or friends in a lead abatement company? Are you a school-yard bully?

In previous correspondence I have asked you if you consider the law and the “use of interim controls” sufficient for lead abatement. You do not answer. I could either follow the law or your ORDER to “Adequately abate … ALL DEFECTIVE … MATERIAL … as more specifically described in the attached document” (CAPS are quoted as written in the ORDER”.)

There was no attached document. An unsigned, undated document followed accompanied by a letter dated August 31, 2015, listing areas of the apartment as “defective” making the clear implication that you do not expect interim controls as called for by Connecticut law. So the question remains if you expect me to follow the law or to follow your ORDER of August 18, 2015. Those are very different things.

By telephone you told me that you were required by law to send the threatening ORDER and you referred me to 119a-111-2 Applicability of regulations quoted in the ORDER sections (a), (b), (c) and (d) (both times omitting the very important section (e) which I quote below). This is the same passage you sent to me in a 16 page Xerox highlighted in purple with a very short letter dated September 2, 2015. There is nothing in this passage which directs the Department of Health or any other person to do anything.

Prominently mentioned in your ORDER are “toxic levels of lead”. So please direct me to the law which specifically states what levels of lead found on “exterior surfaces”, “common areas”, “interior dust”, “drinking water” and “exterior soil” are toxic levels of lead. In the law I found Section 119a-111-4 (j) “Risk Assessment-For the purpose of assessing the level of risk from lead dust, a lead dust hazard is present when the concentration of lead in dust is equal to or exceeds the following. (A) floors – 40 mg/sq. ft. (micrograms per square foot); (B) window sills – 250 mg/sq. ft. Obviously these are not measurements that you used. In your undated, unsigned testing from my property you state, for example, that the Living Room “Front Door jamb = 1.0 (defective)”. We need to know how many mg/sq. ft is your reading of 1.0.

Also please explain why drinking water and dust were not tested, or if they were tested, why those tests were not included in the unsigned report of testing you sent me. I have previously asked you to tell me about any testing done NOT included in the reports, such as toys, utensils, clothing, especially shoes, soil, and who besides you can verify the testing. You do not answer.

Your ORDER continues “Pursuant to Section 19a-111-3 (f) … authority is vested in the local code enforcement agency…” This is most curious since Section 19a-111-3 (f) is titled “Post Abatement Inspection” and mentions nothing about enforcement of any kind. So please let me know by what authority you wrote this ORDER against me of August 18, 2015 because it is NOT 19a-111-3 (f) as you claim.

You ORDER me to “Eliminate LEAD DUST HAZARDS” although you do not refer to any lead dust hazards in any communication. Then you say to “Adequately manage... as more specifically described in the attached document”. I have notified you before that no such document has been found. Then “FURTHER, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that” and you quote from 119a-111-2. Again your ORDER is misleading because you leave out a good portion of that section of law, the section (e).

You quote heavily from 19a-111-2 (and sent a purple highlighted copy) but omitted section (e) which begins “Intact surfaces … are not required to be abated by these regulations. However when a child resides in the dwelling the owner shall have a lead management plan…” It seems to me this is the only workable part of the law and should have been prominently mentioned in your ORDER of August 18, 2015. Or better you could have told me about it, or given me a pamphlet. Having a lead abatement plan within 60 days of finding hazardous lead on any property seems a reasonable request for a health department. I wonder why such was not included in your ORDER but is clearly stated in the laws you reference by Section and number but do not quote. There are also pamphlets available from the Connecticut Health Department to explain the law. Apparently you need those pamphlets to educate yourself about the law.

Your ORDER then cites 19a-111-4 and 5 “of the regulations” as if such sections of law support your ORDER that “A written lead abatement plan prepared by a Lead Professional must be submitted to the Director of Health within 15 working days of the receipt of the completed lead report.” I know of no such report nor any law that would require anyone to make such a plan in 15 working days. This is clear over- reach of authority and you have never shown that you have authority under Connecticut law. Clearly the law does NOT say such a thing, but you do. The question remains where you derive your authority since you do not cite law to support your authority. And why on earth you are doing this to me. Your ORDER of August 18 is a travesty and an embarrassment to any who believe in the laws of Connecticut.

Headed in bold caps, fourth paragraph after “YOU ARE THEREFORE, HEREBY ORDERED” is this: “TORRINGTON AREA HEALTH DISTRICT LEAD POSIONING PREVENTION REGULATIONS Section 4-2 Lead abatement and Lead management plans allow the Director of Health to order the owner to engage the services of a Lead Professional to design a lead abatement plan and/or management plan in accordance with the requirements of the RCSA Lead Poisoning and Prevention Control Regulations_ The lead abatement and management plans must be submitted to the Director of Health within the timetables specified in this order.” I can find no such Regulations. The often quoted section of applicable law with the closest numbering system to “Section 4-2” is 19a-111-4 (2) Containment – The abatement area shall be properly contained… Obviously this is not the Section 4-2 to which the ORDER of August 18, 2015 refers. So please refer me to the Torrington Area Health District Lead Poisoning Prevention Regulations Section 4-2 that your ORDER refers to.

Your clearly defective ORDER of August 18, 2015 against me, under threat of arrest and fine, gives me no recourse under the law except appeal. If you believe I could have handled the situation differently please tell me how one handles a bully like you. Perhaps you expect me to call you and beg you to please change the ORDER of August 18, 2015 into something that can be performed so that I can keep you happy and avoid fines and jail time. It certainly seems like this is your purpose in writing the ORDER. The other possibility is you have friends or investments in some local lead abatement firm.

I am not a lawyer but I am familiar with the Federal Courts and the laws. If I can find no other way to stop your actions against my neighbors I will try to find other recourse to stop your future actions and the actions of those present with you when you bullied your way into my tenants’ home. Perhaps the City of Torrington which is responsible for your actions will have comment. I believe you willfully deprived me of my rights and conspired to deprive me of my rights with those present when you committed fraud and threatened these good people if they did not allow entrance. Then you tested for lead that you did not find, fraudulently reported minuscule and unverified findings, and proceeded to write the ORDER referred to above.

Unlike a lawyer nothing you or anyone else says to me is confidential in any way and I will not hide from you my purpose. I will announce to you all my actions. I think it is only right that a person such as you is sufficiently punished publically for such egregious acts against me and my Torrington area neighbors. Torrington City Policy should change thusly:

City Authorities should not attempt to enter homes under threat and/or with police escort unless armed with a Warrant.

Verbal and written representations of law by City officials should be accurate and complete.

Orders should name specific violations of law if they exists, and should name specific reasons under the law for writing the Order. If a danger to the community exists an Order should clearly state a danger and a remedy under the law.

All testing should name the equipment used, who used it, who verified the readings, date and time used, subject to perjury laws.

I will be forwarding this letter to others including the Department of Public Health, Public Health Hearing Office, 410 Capitol Avenue MS 13 PHO P.O. Box 340308 Hartford, CT 06134-0308, The Torrington Mayor, and the Register Citizen.
Sincerely, Kent Johnson
233 East Main Street
Torrington, CT 06790

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Suit against Torrington and Robert Rubbo

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Kent

I intend to sue officials of the City of Torrington in Federal Court for willful deprivation of my rights  and conspiracy to deprive me of my rights. The suit will ask for an injunction to cease their attempts to enter homes under threat and/or with police escort unless armed with a Warrant. Stop using untrue, inaccurate and misleading verbal and/or written representations of law to area citizens.  Future Orders against area citizens signed by city officials must name specific violations of law, must clearly state the danger making the Order necessary and the expected remedy. Any evidence presented against an area citizen in such an order must name any equipment used, who used it, and who verified. gathered and reported the evidence subject to perjury laws.  And punitive damages.

Headed by Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health, Torrington, CT several as yet unknown city officials made false statements, threats and by their uniformed presence intimidated tenants into allowing entrance in order to find evidence of hazardous materials to be used for my arrest.

Undeterred by not finding hazardous quantities of lead or any other hazardous materials, and continuing the conspiracy and fraud;  armed only with unsubstantiated claims of finding minute and non-hazardous quantities of lead, I was threatened with fines and arrest in an ORDER written by Rubbo.

Link to Order

From: Kent Johnson 233 East Main Street Torrington, CT 06790, August 23, 2015.

Dear State of Connecticut Commissioner of Public Health,

This is a NOTICE OF APPEAL according to CGS section 19a-9-14b (attached).I hereby notify you of the impending appeal of the ORDER issued to me by the Town of Torrington. I received the ORDER Thursday August 20, 2015.  The first business day “after the date of…receipt of such order” is Friday August 21.  By statute I have until end of business Tuesday, August 25, 2015 for you to receive this NOTICE.

The information required by Sec. 19a-9-14(attached) follows

  1. Kent Johnson, 233 East Main Street, Torrington, CT 06790 (860) 626-8486.
  2. Torrington Area Health District, Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health.
  3. The order is confusing and incomplete, to wit referring to “attached documents” which cannot be found and applications for the LAMPP project attached. Also the house and apartment to which the order refers has already been through lead abatement.  A more complete listing of problems will follow with the appeal required by the practice book 19a-9-1 through 19a-9-29.
  4. This NOTICE refers to the ORDER dated August 18, 2015 sent to the aggrieved named in section 1 above sent by the authority named in section 2 above.
  5. This appeal is grounded in the fact that the ORDER is illogical, unreasonable, incomplete, unclear and impossible to perform. Clearly the “authority” who wrote it had no intention that it be followed. It is merely a threat of arrest, the sort of bullying that CGS Sec. 19a-229 is meant to abate.

For your convenience I will follow up with a “telephonic notice of appeal” and a faxed copy before the tenth business day, which is September 4, 2015.

I also require a notice that this Notice of Appeal has been received so that I will not be arrested by Torrington Authorities for not following a nonsensical ORDER.

               Thank you for your kind attention —  Kent Johnson

For your convenience all of this will be posted online under my AgainstGoliath brand.  Please note no communication with me is confidential in any way.

Attached Connecticut State Statues

****************************************

Connecticut General Statutes § 19a-229 states, “(a) Any person aggrieved by an order issued by a town, city or borough director of health may appeal to the Commissioner of Public Health not later than three business days after the date of such person’s receipt of such order, who shall thereupon immediately notify the authority from whose order the appeal was taken, and examine into the merits of such case, and may vacate, modify or affirm such order.

Sec. 19a-9-14: Appeals of orders issued by a town, city, borough, or district director of health.
(a)  Any person aggrieved by an order issued by a local director of health may appeal said order to the commissioner.
(b)  The notice of appeal shall be filed with the commissioner not later than three (3) business days after the date of such person’s receipt of such order.
(c)  The notice of appeal shall state:
1. the name, address, and telephone number of the person claiming to be aggrieved;
2. the name of the issuing authority;
3. the way in which the order adversely affects the person claiming to be aggrieved;
4. the order being appealed; and
5. the grounds for appeal.
(d)  Telephonic notice of appeal to the office of the commissioner shall be satisfactory as the initial notice of appeal, provided written notice of appeal from the person claiming to be aggrieved is received by the department within ten (10) days of the telephonic notice.
(e)  An appeal from an order issued by a town, city or borough, or district director of health shall be a de novo proceeding in accordance with the regulations governing contested cases as set forth in section 19a-9-1 through 19a-9-29 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.
(f)  Any order issued by a town, city, borough, or district director of health shall include a notice of the right to appeal which shall indicate the name and telephone number of the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee, and shall be accompanied by copies of sections 19a-9-8 and 19a-9-14 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.

*****************************************************

Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health
Torrington Area Health District
350 Main St. – Suite A
Torrington, CT 06790

Telephone (860) 489-0436 I 482-9787                                              August 24, 2015
Dear sir,
Imagine my surprise to receive your Order with no warning. If you need to contact me or you would like help of any kind from me or my employees or tenants I would appreciate a call or a note. I am very easy to find at the address and phone number below.
I assure you all lead that I could find has been removed from all three of my houses. Windows have been replaced and new sheetrock has been installed. I know of no lead problems and your Order of August 18, 2015 is to “Adequately abate … as more specifically described in the attached document”. There was no document attached. Your Order also mentions a “completed lead report” that I have not found.
Please forward to me those documents and any information you have about lead on my property as soon as possible so that we can take care of any lead problems.
In the mean time please do not further visit my property without me present. It is my belief that your only reason for visiting my property is to find evidence against me, as supported by your Order of August 18. Such actions will not help a little girl avoid getting lead in her system, I hope you agree and we can work together to that end.
In order to avoid arrest I have filed an appeal according to CGS 19a-229, attached. I certainly wish we could have handled this differently, but I don’t want to go to jail.
Sincerely,
Kent Johnson
233 East Main Street
Torrington, CT 06790

(860) 626-8486

*******************************************************

August 28 received a call from Robert Rubbo about 11 AM.   He was nice enough and said that he believed he was required by law to do what he did.  I said I didn’t want to argue with him, and I believed that he believed he had to do something like what he did.  That I just wanted to avoid arrest.  He said I am not going to be arrested.  I said the Order said I would, and he said, well, if I didn’t respond I would have to appear somewhere and the police might issue a citation.  In any case the papers that were attached are a pretty good deal.  I got them in front of me, they were what he sent with the order, the LAMPP Project application.  I said they appeared to be for the parents, for the tenants in my apartment.  He said, well, maybe, but there is a part for the owner as well.  I don’t see that part.  Well, he said, he did not have it in front of him, but if I needed help filling it out he would call me back.  He said in no uncertain terms there was something for the owner of the property to fill out.  I said I would await his call.

About an hour later he called back and asked how he could help me with filling out the form.  I said that all I see is a form for the tenants who are supposed to name the owner of the property.  He said yes, but it is a very good deal and I should fill out the form.  I stopped him and said this has nothing to do with me.  All I got was an order that I cannot fulfill so I filed an appeal.

He said, okay, see you at the hearing.  Goodbye.

***********************************************************

 There is a Title 19a which is also called Chapter 368a, which I think is it.

In that section: “The Commissioner of Public Health shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to establish requirements and procedures for testing, remediation, abatement and management of materials containing toxic levels of lead. For the purposes of this section, “remediation” means the use of interim controls, including, but not limited to, paint stabilization, spot point repair, dust control, specialized cleaning and covering of soil with mulch.”

Chapter 54 is UNIFORM ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT which states how regulations of the sort that will guide the abatement of lead should be written.  The adopted regulations are not found.  It does refer to appeals of lead abatement orders 19a-229 (b) which I cannot find.

Not cited in the ORDER: Sec. 19a-110. (Formerly Sec. 19-65e). Report of lead poisoning. Parental notification. Availability of information regarding lead poisoning. (a) Not later than forty-eight hours after receiving or completing a report of a person found to have a level of lead in the blood equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter of blood or any other abnormal body burden of lead, each institution licensed under sections 19a-490 to 19a-503, inclusive, and each clinical laboratory licensed under section 19a-30 shall report to (1) the Commissioner of Public Health, and to the director of health of the town, city or borough in which the person resides: (A) The name, full residence address, date of birth, gender, race and ethnicity of each person found to have a level of lead in the blood equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter of blood or any other abnormal body burden of lead; (B) the name, address and telephone number of the health care provider who ordered the test; (C) the sample collection date, analysis date, type and blood lead analysis result; and (D) such other information as the commissioner may require, and (2) the health care provider who ordered the test, the results of the test. With respect to a child under three years of age, not later than seventy-two hours after the provider receives such results, the provider shall make reasonable efforts to notify the parent or guardian of the child of the blood lead analysis results. Any institution or laboratory making an accurate report in good faith shall not be liable for the act of disclosing said report to the Commissioner of Public Health or to the director of health. The commissioner, after consultation with the Commissioner of Administrative Services, shall determine the method and format of transmission of data contained in said report.

(b) Each institution or laboratory that conducts lead testing pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall, at least monthly, submit to the Commissioner of Public Health a comprehensive report that includes: (1) The name, full residence address, date of birth, gender, race and ethnicity of each person tested pursuant to subsection (a) of this section regardless of the level of lead in the blood; (2) the name, address and telephone number of the health care provider who ordered the test; (3) the sample collection date, analysis date, type and blood lead analysis result; (4) laboratory identifiers; and (5) such other information as the Commissioner of Public Health may require. Any institution or laboratory making an accurate report in good faith shall not be liable for the act of disclosing said report to the Commissioner of Public Health. The Commissioner of Public Health, after consultation with the Commissioner of Administrative Services, shall determine the method and format of transmission of data contained in said report.

(c) Whenever an institutional laboratory or private clinical laboratory conducting blood lead tests pursuant to this section refers a blood lead sample to another laboratory for analysis, the laboratories may agree on which laboratory will report in compliance with subsections (a) and (b) of this section, but both laboratories shall be accountable to insure that reports are made. The referring laboratory shall insure that the requisition slip includes all of the information that is required in subsections (a) and (b) of this section and that this information is transmitted with the blood specimen to the laboratory performing the analysis.

(d) The director of health of the town, city or borough shall provide or cause to be provided, to the parent or guardian of a child reported, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, with information describing the dangers of lead poisoning, precautions to reduce the risk of lead poisoning, information about potential eligibility for services for children from birth to three years of age pursuant to sections 17a-248 to 17a-248g, inclusive, and laws and regulations concerning lead abatement. Said information shall be developed by the Department of Public Health and provided to each local and district director of health. With respect to the child reported, the director shall conduct an on-site inspection to identify the source of the lead causing a confirmed venous blood lead level equal to or greater than fifteen micrograms per deciliter but less than twenty micrograms per deciliter in two tests taken at least three months apart and order remediation of such sources by the appropriate persons responsible for the conditions at such source. On and after January 1, 2012, if one per cent or more of children in this state under the age of six report blood lead levels equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter, the director shall conduct such on-site inspection and order such remediation for any child having a confirmed venous blood lead level equal to or greater than ten micrograms per deciliter in two tests taken at least three months apart.

************************************

I copied the forms (included in the link above) and took them to the tenants advising them to call Robert Rubbo at (860) 489-0437 which is the number he called me on.  I told them Robert Rubbo had said he would help them.  

**************************************************

Robert Rubbo, MPH, Director of Health
Torrington Area Health District
350 Main St. – Suite A
Torrington, CT 06790

Telephone (860) 489-0436 I 482-9787 August 28, 2015
Dear sir,
Thank you for your phone calls today, and your offer to help my tenants. I have passed the forms for the LAMPP project that you sent me with your ORDER of August 18th on to them, as you asked me to do on the phone today. These forms are not meant for me and sending them with the ORDER was your mistake.
Also thank you for clarifying that you do not believe Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 19a-230 means I can be arrested even though it says “Any person who violates any provision of this chapter or any legal order of a director of health or board of health, for which no other penalty is provided, shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor.”
You also said you believe the law requires you to issue the ORDER you wrote against me. It seems to me your obligation under the law is stated clearly in CGS Sec. 19a-111j (d)”A local health department’s educational services shall include the distribution of educational materials concerning lead poisoning prevention to the parent, legal guardian and the appropriate health care provider for each child with a confirmed blood lead level equal to, or greater than, ten micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood.” I see no other requirement under the law. Please correct me if I am wrong.

It may very well be true, as you say, that the LAMPP project is a good program. However I am not in a position to judge that. You promised to help my tenants with the program if they should decide it is advisable to do so. That is not my decision.

So let me be clear with you again, please do not enter my house without me present. I am very easy to find as you now know. My tenants and I are very concerned about lead found in their child’s blood. You have offered to help my tenants. I hope we can concentrate on that issue alone.

Also please give me copies of any data, reports or evidence that you have of hazardous materials in or near any of my houses. I would do the same for you.

Thank you for your kind attention. Kent Johnson 233 East Main Street Torrington, CT 06790 (860) 626-8486

*******************************

September 2, 2015 I got more information from Robert Rubbo Link To Info

 

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Alternative Energy in the Real World

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Kent

Social media, the news and the internet are all full of good hearts who believe cows or soccer balls or solar cells or bicycle generators or ocean, windmill or rain will solve our energy problems and quench our addiction forever. They believe a government investment will change the world.  But the science does NOT add up.

Personally I have installed solar panels and sky lights with lead acid batteries in the hopes of generating enough electricity to do something useful. But alas, unless you want to invest the money you will spend in a decade electric bills you can do no more than get a couple of lights and maybe a radio or TV.

Refrigerator? Only if you are very careful, or you have a physical ton of batteries.  The newer lithium are lighter but will still take up the space of a bedroom if you want to have a microwave.  Forget about a clothes dryer, air conditioner  or keeping warm in the winter with solar.

If the roof of a house in New England to the precise angles to  catch optimal winter sun how many solar panels will it take to power a microwave for one minute at night?

I have tried to do the math.  I hope someone tells me I am wrong, and my mat is all wet, but I believe you would need to devote 50 square feet of solar panel in full winter sunlight for an hour to provide enough power to run a microwave for one minute.  If anyone will check my math I would appreciate it.

I commented on a site devoted to living off-the-grid electrically and got lots of angry responses from people who have homes off the grid.  But if any of them had air conditioners or electric clothes dryers or microwaves they would not say so directly.  And they all lived in the sun belt, not in New England.

mainly depending on how many batteries you buy. I am not talking about five batteries, I am talking about 50 batteries or more….

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Connecticut 236 UTZ August 6, 2015 in Woodbury 7:30 AM

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Kent
From a Facebook Post:
This asshole pulls up behind me 2 ft off my bumper on my way to work, passes me and 4 other cars in a row in the center of Woodbury with his lights on then turns them off. Gets stuck behind another car, stops her at a green light then passes her on the right and yells out his window as he drives thru the now red light. He then proceeded to drive lights off 60 thru Southbury to the State barracks. Must be ok to drive like an asshole in a State vehicle if your late to work. WTF??
236UTZ
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  • Dale Hardisty I know a few guys that are cops and they are good dudes. But you get some assbags like this and it’s like wtf?
  • Kent Johnson Same goes for any group of people. Assholes come in all colors and all job descriptions. Sometimes the same people are good AND bad.
  • Kent Johnson But more than any other group, cops should be reported to the cops. 236 UTZ about 7:30 this morning in Woodbury
  • Dale Hardisty Unfortunately I was also running late for work so otherwise I would’ve definitely pulled in and said wtf man
    I would have bailed your out, Dale, and you would have given the cop a good reason to be late to work.  — Kent
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Global Warming: Both Sides are Wrong

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Kent

The earth is warming about .05 degrees Celsius per decade and has warmed almost a full degree Celsius (or a total of about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1880 .  A large consensus of scientists estimate the average global temperature will increase 0.3 to 1.7 °C (0.5 to 3.1 °F) by 2099.   We can debate the amount of warming, but satellite data is pretty good.

It is a safe bet that SOME of the global warming is due to human activity. Test results have shown that human activity has caused local temperature increase, so we can only debate the amount of global warming that is due to human activity.  Other causes of global warming are solar activity and geological and volcanic emissions.  But here we will mainly discuss global warming due to human activity or our production of greenhouse gases.

Simply everyone believes natural global warming is somehow better than human-caused global warming.  The discussion of climate change centers on blaming humanity and not on artificial methods of global cooling.  Solutions proposed for global warming are necessarily highly contrived and unnatural.  For example, if the problem is global warming there are ways to cloud out sunlight to cool off the world using water vapor or a shade devices on a large scale on the earth surface or in space. These are not common proposals, however.

Whatever the cause of global warming, and the blame, and possible solutions, the discussion mostly centers on human production of greenhouse gases.  Most people recognize five greenhouse gases and  the most common greenhouse gas is water vapor.  Besides the possibility of unnaturally generating huge clouds of water vapor all over the earth to slow global warming there aren’t proposals concerning water vapor on a global scale.

Some people consider some synthetic gases produced only by humanity to be greenhouse gases.  This appears more to be the argument of what is or is not natural, and not many believe removing or generating more of these gases is a solution to global warming.  Regardless, the production of many of these gases has been dramatically slowed by environmental laws prohibiting their production

Although they are wrong, the overwhelming majority of those who advocate changing human behavior because of global warming make these assumptions:

1: Daily weather is changed by global warming.

2: Global warming and climate change are the same thing.

3: Colder than normal temperatures and extreme weather are related to global warming.

4: There are large groups of organized people who deny climate change.

5: If we all make small changes in our behavior such changes will mitigate global warming.

Predicting specific weather events is problematic, much less weekly or monthly trends.  Computer models are pretty good at getting the weather three days in advance, but not much more.  So even if our daily weather were changed by global warming there is no way to show what that change is.

Global warming is a fact, proved by using thermometers and mathematics. Climate change however is a difficult concept.  Whose climate and what change?  One can assert that warmer temperatures is a climate change itself but surely that is misleading.  Temperature is only one aspect of climate.

If our temperature has changed because of global warming then the temperature is therefore warmer.  To say that colder temperatures are brought to us by warming is a logical anomaly.  By what process does a warmer temperature make a colder temperature?  And it is not possible to have an informed opinion about whether or not extreme weather conditions have been brought by global warming without identifying the process or mechanism that brought the extreme weather.  I know of no such process or mechanism.

There are crackpots and unthinking public figures who make silly and outright stupid off-hand remarks daily.  There are others who try to shock and still others who think illogically.  Many do all three. But I know of no effort anywhere to hide the facts surrounding global warming.  There does seem to be a concerted effort, however, to make those who want to see those facts and understand the issues for themselves look foolish.  Citations available on request.

But the largest misconception we all face about global warming is that our individual actions may change the climate.  This is the issue at hand, and the complicated reasoning that makes nearly all of us misunderstand are the ideas that we will consider, beginning with the biggest of all:

Human generated carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas

Most of the efforts to mitigate climate change and global warming are aimed at reducing carbon emissions.  We understand that burning fuels adds carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  It does not matter if the fuel is fossilized like coal or oil or recently grown like ethanol from corn.  There is a finite amount of carbon and the theory appears to be that the carbon is better buried under the ground than in the atmosphere.

We are told that trees take in carbon dioxide, which is true.  And when we burn those trees they give us back the carbon dioxide.  The most efficient way to keep the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere would be to bury the old growth (new growth takes more carbon from the atmosphere than old growth).

Any place that sequesters or removes carbon from the atmosphere is called a Carbon Sink.  Nearly 40% of all the carbon dioxide that is removed from the atmosphere is stored in the oceans, which makes the oceans the largest carbon sink on earth.  The .  This is causing Ocean Acidification and is thought to soon be responsible for the bleaching of coral reefs and causing repressing the metabolism of jumbo squid and  increasing the growth rate of seat star and shell plankton.

The other major carbon sink is underground as we said above.  Also when we remove trees to make lumber for construction we have removed or sequestered that carbon from the cycle.

 

 

 

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If You Are Not a Telemarketer Press ONE

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Kent

If You Are Not a Telemarketer Press ONE

My sister had something like that 10 years ago.  She no longer has it and I don’t know why.  I did some shopping and apparently my answering machine is capable of doing something like that, but I have to let it ring through, which isn’t good for business.

So I called my phone company Frontier.  Spoke with a personable enough person who was not able to help me, so I suggested she bring it up at the next meeting.  Anyway she offered to look at my account to see if I could get a better deal so long as we were on the phone.  But she couldn’t because I needed to have the four digit code and I didn’t want to go to the filing cabinet.

So they called back with a robocall to ask if the representative was helpful, and of course I said no.  Then they had the long message, How could she have been more helpful   1 if she could have suggested a service….  So I pressed one, but it didn’t register that presumably because  I need to listen to all the options… 2 if she could have been more aware of my needs.  That’s it.  Press 2 and nothing happens of course so I wait, then it gets to five if Other is the option.  Then comes the clincher:

You can hear the options again if you need to.

Press the number key.

Okay, so maybe that is clear.  Maybe I shouldn’t have hit the number key, but I did, and it started the five part message all over again.  So I hung up.

Found www.nomorobo.com

 

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I Like Drugs – A Libertarian View

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Kent

Many countries allow limited access to recreational drugs and their societies have not collapsed.  Some countries  hardly regulate drugs and alcohol at all and we may say those countries are lawless, but no countries have evident, systemic problems related to unregulated, open and conspicuous drug and alcohol use.

We all freely admit that it is very easy for some people to find illegal drugs in the USA which makes it difficult to argue our laws against recreational drug use have any effect on society beyond astronomical costs to taxpayers.   No reasonable people are arguing to make drugs MORE illegal.  It is time to talk about making them less illegal.

Drug addiction can destroy families as well as individuals and the laws we have are not helping those families. The war on drugs also has untold victims and costs to all of us even if we don’t use drugs.  Families are torn apart when our relations are imprisoned and every sector of society has those who avoid authorities because of their own drug use or the drug use of someone close to them. Racism and bigotry is tied to drug use because “they” use drugs but not “us” so all of “them” are bad, a very common racist motif.  International relations and immigration are complicated because families all over the world are accused and generalized as drug smugglers because drug smugglers bring drugs to the USA from every other country.

The war on drugs has NOT limited the availability of illegal drugs in the US.  We all know we are losing a very expensive war.  Moreover most of us can admit that our efforts to criminalize drug use have not curtailed addictions, eliminated overdoses or stopped other drug related damage to society.  It can be easily shown that restricting access to drugs legally will do much more to limit the availability of drugs than to pass a law that too many people ignore.  If we register drug users we will do much better than if we continue to imprison drug users.

I am not advocating drug use.  I am advocating a libertarian attitude toward drug use.  I do not know more than you what drugs you or anyone else should take.  I don’t believe any medical doctor has that sort of knowledge either.  Beyond the effects of drugs, and their dosages, which anyone can find from multiple sources these days, a doctor does not have any other magic information.  I believe any person can study and learn and live with and some might say benefit from occasional  recreational drug use.  Although I believe medical doctors and the science of medicine can tell people a lot about drugs and their effects I do not believe the medical profession should have a monopoly on the right people have to treat and use their own bodies.

We need to re-examine making criminals of recreational drug users.  And we also need to re-examine the underlying reasons for the war on drugs.  Logic and science tell us that alcohol and marijuana and aspirin as well as lots of herbal remedies and over-the-counter drugs are as dangerous in many ways as illegal drugs.  Although is it true that opiates are more addictive than alcohol most other common and/or popular drugs do not cause a physical dependency.  The main danger to oneself or others with non-opioid abuse is strange behavior and/or overdose or psychological dependence.

Our government is NOT the only or the best way to regulate drug use.  But the government war on drugs makes our government very expensive with policing and imprisoning illegal drug users.

People pay a lot of money and take huge legal risks to obtain and use recreational drugs.  Families are the main line of defense against addiction, not the government.  It is the family that can reach an addict much better than police or our educational systems mostly because an illegal drug user will avoid authorities to avoid prison.  But even without a family to reach our addicts, prison is the worst solution available to get help to a non-violent drug addict.

Since the beginning of humanity people have used drugs of all kinds for all kinds of purposes.  In the case of the war on drugs in the US we are talking about SOME kinds of drugs that are used recreationally, like alcohol and marijuana.  And what I want to propose is that all drugs can be useful for lots of reasons, and there is no reason any more for full scale war on drugs.

 

 

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