Saturday, December 01, 2012

OMG

and why am i suprised......i am trying to figure why the pale, stale and male righties aren't salivating....more to be revealed. shame shame shame....don't know how we are going to save this home for our descendants....the fossil fuel orgy will continue until our land air and water can no longer support live as we know it. shame shame shame....
wake up fellow citizens of Earth....

Secretary of State Candidate Has a Major Financial Stake in Canadian Tar Sands
 BY SCOTT DODD
November 28, 2012
 BUSINESS & POLITICS

 Susan Rice, the candidate believed to be favored by President Obama to become the next Secretary of State, holds significant investments in more than a dozen Canadian oil companies and banks that would stand to benefit from expansion of the North American tar sands industry and construction of the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline. If confirmed by the Senate, one of Rice’s first duties likely would be consideration, and potentially approval, of the controversial mega-project. Rice's financial holdings could raise questions about her status as a neutral decision maker. The current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Rice owns stock valued between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada, the company seeking a federal permit to transport tar sands crude 1,700 miles to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing fragile Midwest ecosystems and the largest freshwater aquifer in North America. Beyond that, according to financial disclosure reports, about a third of Rice’s personal net worth is tied up in oil producers, pipeline operators, and related energy industries north of the 49th parallel -- including companies with poor environmental and safety records on both U.S. and Canadian soil. Rice and her husband own at least $1.25 million worth of stock in four of Canada’s eight leading oil producers, as ranked by Forbes magazine. That includes Enbridge, which spilled more than a million gallons of toxic bitumen into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in 2010 -- the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history.    full article

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

NO COAL!!!

my input to the scoping process........

Rail Infrastructure
I am very concerned about the effect on Amtrak passenger service of the increased number of trains using our rail infrastructure if GPT starts shipping coal and using our rail infrastructure to get increasing amounts of coal from Wyoming and Montana. I have had the pleasure of using Amtrak to travel from my home in Ferndale, Wa. This is especially true in the winter, when travel may not otherwise be possible for me. It is my understanding that freight has precedence over passenger rail traffic.  We pulled over in “the middle of nowhere” a few times to wait for rail freight to pass.   I can't imagine what the trip south from Bellingham will be like with the increased freight.
I would also imagine our infrastructure would have to be improved to accommodate the increased load.  It is my understanding that the railroad is only responsible for 5% of this cost and we the people are going to get the bill for the rest.  I am very concerned that the increased, extremely heavy coal traffic would put a lot of stress on our rail infrastructure.  Who will pay for upgrades and repairs? I hope the scoping attention will be very seriously focused on all aspects of rail use and especially the increased load that the increased coal shipping would have on our rail infrastructure. I am very concerned there will be no passenger rail if our infrastructure is dominated by this increased freight.
I would like to know that Amtrak service will continue and, as it becomes more important to me in my senior years, it would be my hope that our rail infrastructure would serve we the people in that way.
Diesel
As a resident of Ferndale and Whatcom County, I am very concerned about the increased diesel particulate in my atmosphere with the increased rail traffic, very large loading and unloading machines and giant ships in the harbor 24/7.  It is my understanding that ships are fueled by bunker oil, which is a very heavy substance left over after other fuels have been distilled from crude oil.  It has high sulfur content and causes serious air quality concerns when burned as fuel.  It is also speeding the devastating acidification of our oceans. The increase of dangerous particulate, very small in size, from regular diesel and the even dirtier bunker oil will go deep into the lungs of all, causing serious increased health issues. As a mother and grandmother of humans living in the wake of this pollution, I am very concerned about the health risks and degraded environment. Please put a serious amount of scoping attention on the extremely dirty bunker fuel used by the giant deepwater shipping vessel and all the increased diesel used from the coal extraction to it's destination in China.
Overall Irresponsibility
I live in Ferndale Washington. I am very close to the proposed coal shipping terminal and rail path and I am concerned about being a conduit to this irresponsible project. We are long past peak atmosphere and it's time to take the effects of this fossil fuel orgy we have been on seriously. From the barbaric extraction of coal from a river basin and all the environmental damage there, to the impacts along the rail transport, to the diesel and bunker diesel particulate burned into our atmosphere, to the 80 acres coal pile waiting to be loaded on giant deep water ships and ultimately burned in China this is a shameful legacy to those who come after. Coal, as a form of energy production, should go the way of whale oil, if we value the lives of our descendents.

I have also written specifically about the huge increase in diesel particulates degrading our already endangered oceans and atmosphere and the affects on our rail infrastructure, but I think the big picture overall devastating consequences should stop us from considering this insanity.

I hope all the externalities, especially the degradation of our land, air and water, will be given the highest level of attention and not just swept under the rug and put on our descendants credit cards.
At the very least, we should be compensated. If the pipeline is to go through our state, shouldn’t the citizens be paid annually, much like the citizens of Alaska are paid to have the pipeline pass through their state? Arguably, the impact of rail conveyance of millions of tons of coal annually would be much more invasive than the pipeline.

To even be considering this use of the earth's finite resources is the height of irresponsibility and greed. We can and should do so much better if we care about out descendants future.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

dear president obama

and all who care about our descendants home..... late at night when i read an email asking for feedback i thought sure, i'm rich with opinions and ideas .  i think mostly it was trying, as near as i could tell,  to just plug me in to a campaign slot and i zoomed thru most of it, only answering the odd question.  n finally there was a last question to the effect of what's on your mind..... here's my "let's get started" list.....

 we must save the planet for our descendents.

 stop barbaric extraction. coal should go the way of whale oil yesterday.

 end the fossil fuel orgy

 hemp is not a drug, we should immediately start growing this plant as if our descendents future depended on it. (watch the movie "hemp and the rule of law" to understand)

 quit using our precious water supplies for barbaric extraction (hydraulic fracturing) and dangerous expensive nuclear energy production.

 no dirty tar to go thru our country.

 single payer healthcare

 end the "industrial complex profit everything" for anything that involves our commons.

 all of the above would be a good start

Monday, November 19, 2012

Naomi

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Absurdity Today with Julianna Forlano

→thank you for this link citizen steve....i've found a place to go when i can't pretend we are not destroying our descendants home as we continue with business as usual with no limits on their credit cards. by human design, we are all involved. absurdity today nails it.

 i got linked to Julianna today right after screaming to no one in my room as a bp oil commercial is marketing good intentions and sunny daze ahead, kinda like morning in merica' in the early 80's when we cranked up the fossil fuel orgy.  hmmm...what was dead-eye dark side dick doing then????

  truth with humor are my antidote to the fucus group produced marketing rigged to cast a spell over the masses.......

 we are all involved

 

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Whatcom Peace & Justice And VFP Chapter 111 Welcome Author and CODEPINK Cofounder Medea Benjamin

→I had the good fortune to hear Medea speak about the use of killer drones as they become the latest product of the military industrial complex worldwide.  I remember how horrified I was when 60 minutes showed the new way.  It looked like youngsters I've seen playing video games.  Medea speaks about the place we find ourselves with conviction, passion, humor and is incredibly well informed.  She inspires me to keep trying to save the planet so all our descendants have a home.  There is no planet B

Increasing alarm is widespread among activists and intellectuals nationwide about the use of killer drones in modern warfare. Medea Benjamin will address this in a presentation of her new book Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control, a comprehensive look at how drones are being used to assassinate people around the world, the legal and moral implications, and how to build a movement to rein in the drones. It also looks at how drones are coming to local police departments, and what that means for our privacy rights.

“In this remarkably cogent and carefully researched book, Medea Benjamin makes it clear that drones are not just another high-tech military trinket,” Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, wrote about the book. “Drone Warfare sketches out the nightmare possibilities posed by this insane proliferation.”

Drone Warfare explores the growing menace of robotic warfare, with an extensive analysis of who is producing the drones, where they are being used, who “pilots” these unmanned planes, who are the victims and what are the legal and moral implications. In vivid, readable style, the book also looks at what activists, lawyers and scientists are doing to ground the drones, and ways to move forward.

In reality, writes Benjamin, the assassinations we are carrying out via drones will come back to haunt us when others start doing the same thing—to us.    


Whatcom Peace and Justice or find them on Facebook



check out Medea at Global Exchange and Code Pink  and drones at Code Pink

Get your copy of Medea's book  Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control  at Global Exchange

“In this remarkably cogent and carefully researched book, Medea Benjamin makes it clear that drones are not just another high-tech military trinket. Drone Warfare sketches out the nightmare possibilities posed by this insane proliferation.” —Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

check out Knowdrones for activism tools

Friday, June 22, 2012

Monday, March 26, 2012

Advice to our youth....???

Geraldo gets how many news cycles??? Is this our advice to certain identifiable youths in our society today....."dress right and be polite" Hmmmm.....


Friday, February 24, 2012

Bread and circus

while Rome burns.....many of the young people i know get their news from John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. this bit from Colbert is brilliant!!!

Saturday, February 04, 2012

Republican Legislators Say 'truck you' to Hiway Safety


Our 42nd Legislative District three stooges(R) [Senator Ericksen, Rep's Overstreet & Buys] are in lockstep with Republicans in the U.S. Congress. They want to allow big-rigs to get even bigger, tearing up our hiway's and putting all our lives at greater risk.

Here are the Bill's they're sponsoring:

SB 6138 - 2011-12 - Increasing the allowable maximum length for vehicles operated on public highways.
Sponsors: Senator Ericksen
Companion Bill: HB 2430

HB 2430 - 2011-1 - Increasing the allowable maximum length for vehicles operated on public highways.
Sponsors: Representatives Overstreet, Armstrong, Clibborn, Buys, Moscoso

CNN has the story of the U.S. House Republicans transportation bill:

New transportation bill creates safety concerns over bigger rigs

By Greg Clary, CNN

February 2, 2012

Washington (CNN) -- Could tractor-trailer rigs almost as long as Boeing 737s be driving on a highway near you? If a new transportation bill proposed by House Republicans passes, the
answer is yes, and the safety ramifications would be astronomical, say congressional opponents of the bill and the AAA Auto Club. ...

... While statistics from 2010 show overall traffic fatalities declining across the nation, truck crash fatalities actually increased 9%, to 3,675, according to statistics from the Truck Safety Coalition. ...

... Besides safety issues, opponents also say bigger trucks would put further stress on already deteriorating roads and bridges. ...