Monday, March 31, 2008
Chickens And Foxes
Isn't it a comfort to know that the Federal Reserve is going to be the head watchdog of the financial markets? That's like sending in an Air Force pilot to find out who dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. It's the feds who are mostly to blame for the financial market tanking in the first place. First they lowered interest rates to the level where any greedy person in the real estate game made out like a bandit and then they balked at raising the rate when cracks began appearing. Who the hell do they think they are kidding? I guess now they want to oversee the destruction to make sure that their rich buddies get out before the collapse. Can't anyone be honest enough to say that America is dead broke? The American bank is empty so now the thieves have created a global economy to make it easier to raid the coffers of other countries around the globe. What a racket!!! One question left in this whole mess is: Where the hell is all that gold we once had stored in Fort Knox, huh? Maybe someone should start asking.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Lights Out
Attention,
On March 29th, the citizens of this planet are getting together and showing their governments that we want something meaningful done about global warming and the destruction of our environment. So on this date every person is encouraged to turn off their lights, television sets, computers, etc from 8 to 9 PM. Show the governments what our future might look like if we continue on our path of destruction and perhaps they will understand that the future belongs to all people, not just greedy corporations.
Think about it and then act. Now is your chance to get involved. No excuses!
On March 29th, the citizens of this planet are getting together and showing their governments that we want something meaningful done about global warming and the destruction of our environment. So on this date every person is encouraged to turn off their lights, television sets, computers, etc from 8 to 9 PM. Show the governments what our future might look like if we continue on our path of destruction and perhaps they will understand that the future belongs to all people, not just greedy corporations.
Think about it and then act. Now is your chance to get involved. No excuses!
What A Guy
The Bush Administration is allowing domestic corporations to destroy our environment at an alarming pace. Here is a very small sampling that he and his corrupt administration has done to further destroy the environment and thus the future of our children and grandchildren:
Suspended the right-to-know regulation requiring utilities to inform consumers about arsenic in their water.
Cut 200 positions from the EPA’s enforcement division.
Killed funds to support environmental education in public schools.
Altered rules so the Energy Dept. no longer has to prove that Yucca Mountain is geologically safe for storing nuclear waste.
Announced mining rules stating that the Dept. of the Interior can’t deny a corporation’s permit, even if its mining could result in substantial irreparable harm.
Relaxed nationwide permit rules for coal companies, developers, and others who now can fill in thousands of streams, swamps, and other wetlands, without public notice or comment. (We all know about the destruction of the wetlands surrounding New Orleans and the cataclysmic consequences of that action when Katrina roared through.)
Sent a lobbyist of the country’s largest utility polluter to testify before Congress and defend cuts in the EPA’s enforcement budget.
Tried to end the federal requirement that states test poor children on Medicaid for lead poisoning.
Eliminated scientific committees that disagreed with his policies, stacking new committees with scientists who have ties to regulated industries, including one PG&E hireling who fought Eric Brockovich.
Sided with America’s largest cat litter manufacturer, Oil-Dri, against local officials in Reno, Nevada, who had ruled that a proposed cat litter mine would pollute the air and water.
Instructed the EPA to discount by 63% the value of lives of senior citizens when assessing whether to impose new restrictions on industries that pollute the air.
Sent memo to all EPA employees urging them to “express support for the president and his programs,” when off duty.
Put industry-backed amendment into Homeland Security Bill that effectively exempts chemical plants, utilities, and other polluters from the public’s right-to-know laws, which require corporations to tell their neighbors what poisons are being spewed on them.
Bush called the Constitution, and I quote, “Just a goddamn piece of paper."
Suspended the right-to-know regulation requiring utilities to inform consumers about arsenic in their water.
Cut 200 positions from the EPA’s enforcement division.
Killed funds to support environmental education in public schools.
Altered rules so the Energy Dept. no longer has to prove that Yucca Mountain is geologically safe for storing nuclear waste.
Announced mining rules stating that the Dept. of the Interior can’t deny a corporation’s permit, even if its mining could result in substantial irreparable harm.
Relaxed nationwide permit rules for coal companies, developers, and others who now can fill in thousands of streams, swamps, and other wetlands, without public notice or comment. (We all know about the destruction of the wetlands surrounding New Orleans and the cataclysmic consequences of that action when Katrina roared through.)
Sent a lobbyist of the country’s largest utility polluter to testify before Congress and defend cuts in the EPA’s enforcement budget.
Tried to end the federal requirement that states test poor children on Medicaid for lead poisoning.
Eliminated scientific committees that disagreed with his policies, stacking new committees with scientists who have ties to regulated industries, including one PG&E hireling who fought Eric Brockovich.
Sided with America’s largest cat litter manufacturer, Oil-Dri, against local officials in Reno, Nevada, who had ruled that a proposed cat litter mine would pollute the air and water.
Instructed the EPA to discount by 63% the value of lives of senior citizens when assessing whether to impose new restrictions on industries that pollute the air.
Sent memo to all EPA employees urging them to “express support for the president and his programs,” when off duty.
Put industry-backed amendment into Homeland Security Bill that effectively exempts chemical plants, utilities, and other polluters from the public’s right-to-know laws, which require corporations to tell their neighbors what poisons are being spewed on them.
Bush called the Constitution, and I quote, “Just a goddamn piece of paper."
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Going Postal
Free Recycling Through the Mail
U.S. Postal Service Starts Service in 1,500 Post Offices
WASHINGTON, DC —Free and green. Those are the goals of a pilot program launched today by the U.S. Postal Service that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.
The “Mail Back” program helps consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers use free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage.
Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a “zero waste to landfill” policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills.
It was this philosophy that won Clover the contract with the Postal Service, besting 19 other companies, said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for the Postal Service.
“As one of the nation’s leading corporate citizens, the Postal Service is committed to environmental stewardship,” Bizzotto said. “This program is one more way the Postal Service is empowering consumers to go green.”
The free, postage-paid Mail Back envelopes can be found on displays in Post Office lobbies. There is no limit to the number of envelopes customers may take.
The pilot is set for 10 areas across the country, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego, but could become a national program this fall if the pilot program proves successful.
The Postal Service recycles 1 million tons of paper, plastic and other materials annually. Last year, USPS generated more than $7.5 million in savings through recycling and waste prevention programs. The nation’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Postal Service eight WasteWise Partner of the Year awards, the agency’s top honor.
U.S. Postal Service Starts Service in 1,500 Post Offices
WASHINGTON, DC —Free and green. Those are the goals of a pilot program launched today by the U.S. Postal Service that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.
The “Mail Back” program helps consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers use free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage.
Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a “zero waste to landfill” policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills.
It was this philosophy that won Clover the contract with the Postal Service, besting 19 other companies, said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for the Postal Service.
“As one of the nation’s leading corporate citizens, the Postal Service is committed to environmental stewardship,” Bizzotto said. “This program is one more way the Postal Service is empowering consumers to go green.”
The free, postage-paid Mail Back envelopes can be found on displays in Post Office lobbies. There is no limit to the number of envelopes customers may take.
The pilot is set for 10 areas across the country, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego, but could become a national program this fall if the pilot program proves successful.
The Postal Service recycles 1 million tons of paper, plastic and other materials annually. Last year, USPS generated more than $7.5 million in savings through recycling and waste prevention programs. The nation’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Postal Service eight WasteWise Partner of the Year awards, the agency’s top honor.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Cutting Our Own Throat
The Atchafalaya Basin in the southernmost part of Louisiana is about ten times larger than the city of Chicago. It is a fantastic area of wetlands that is home to more than 300 migrating species of birds. In fact, half of all migrating birds in North America use the basin to nest, mate, and rest up on their journey. Besides that important ecological function, the wetlands act as a buffer from ferocious storms such as hurricanes. Throughout this basin stand thousands of one-hundred foot tall cypress trees, some over 500 years old. A stand of cypress just the size of a football field can lessen a twenty-foot high storm surge by ninety percent. In other words, it acts as an excellent defense against hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina’s full force was directed at this basin, not at New Orleans as some people believe. Despite the intense winds, these wetlands lost no cypress trees. None. That’s because the trees are very strong and lessen the impact of storms surges, thus protecting the inhabitants of the area from devastating hurricanes that come ashore. Animals including bobcats, foxes, alligators, minks, armadillos, coyotes and other species make the Atchafalaya their permanent home. So why are human beings cutting down these life-saving cypress trees at the rate of 20,000 trees annually?
Most of the clear cutting is legal, some not. Of course the companies responsible for such devastation are required to replant the cypress trees when they are done reaping the hardwood. The only problem with that is the new saplings never live. They die soon after they are planted because of an incursion of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico that seeps into the wetlands after each tree is harvested. Bottom line: cut down a cypress tree and it’s gone forever.
If the onslaught continues, Louisiana’s strongest barrier between it and a hurricane will disappear within twenty years, leaving that area naked of any protection from the unforgiving sea.
One final irony…While the state of Louisiana is begging the federal government for funds to shore up its buffer zones along its coastline, the state is allowing the best defense against another hurricane to slowly disappear.
So what is the cypress used for? Mulch. That’s right. The stuff that homeowners spread around their flowerbeds and gardens, that’s the main use. Hey, only in present day America, eh?
Most of the clear cutting is legal, some not. Of course the companies responsible for such devastation are required to replant the cypress trees when they are done reaping the hardwood. The only problem with that is the new saplings never live. They die soon after they are planted because of an incursion of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico that seeps into the wetlands after each tree is harvested. Bottom line: cut down a cypress tree and it’s gone forever.
If the onslaught continues, Louisiana’s strongest barrier between it and a hurricane will disappear within twenty years, leaving that area naked of any protection from the unforgiving sea.
One final irony…While the state of Louisiana is begging the federal government for funds to shore up its buffer zones along its coastline, the state is allowing the best defense against another hurricane to slowly disappear.
So what is the cypress used for? Mulch. That’s right. The stuff that homeowners spread around their flowerbeds and gardens, that’s the main use. Hey, only in present day America, eh?
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Strange As This Weather Has Been
John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, made America aware of the struggles that a small group of poor Oklahoma farmers were experiencing. Called Okies, they were driven off their land by greedy developers and they had no choice except to relocate. Trouble was, they had very little money and no place to go. As they spread out and tried their luck in places like California, an entire culture was uprooted and died a slow death. Steinbeck continued to write and gain popularity rivaled only by Samuel Clements.
This week I came across another novel that is similar in nature, where an entire culture is being destroyed, this time by greedy, government-backed, coal mine owners. The book is called, Strange As This Weather Has Been. The writer’s name is Ann Pancake. And no, her name is not a pseudonym. She got her PhD from the University of Washington and hails from West Virginia. She tells in fictional form what is happening to the American landscape in that part of the country.
Instead of drilling a mine shaft inside a mountain and extracting the coal, these good ol’ boys, the captains of industry, blow the tops off of mountains. The owners tell you that it’s a more cost-effective method of doing business and that‘s why they do it. What they choose not tell you is that the toxic material from the operation, including such things as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, copper, selenium, chromium, and nickel flows into haphazardly-constructed containment ponds. The slurry leeches out during good weather and gushes out on rainy days. The sluice then flows down the side of the mountain and into local streams, polluting the water supply. Local dead zones are created; smaller than the zone off the Louisiana coast, but just as toxic. That’s not all. These wonderful American entrepreneurs blow up the tops of mountains using the same ingredients that Timothy McVey used in Oklahoma. The reverberating shockwaves from the frequent blasts are felt by citizens living below the mountain, down in the hollows. Cracks appear in the foundation of their houses, ceiling plaster repeatedly cascades down onto floors that buckle and shift. Sheds and other small structures are washed away by the frequent floods from up top. Those poor individuals are left owning a less-than-worthless home that’s often been in their family for perhaps 150 years and longer. The land and houses are now all but uninhabitable.
The southern part of West Virginia and the eastern part of Kentucky is where the devastation is taking place and Ms. Pancake walks you through the local history of why the land means so much to those folks. By putting in a garden and harvesting the food that nature supplies on those mountains those people of Appalachia had all they needed to survive, that is until the coal companies decided their stockholders had to enjoy more wealth. But, in the end, there's an old saying: whatever goes around, comes around.
Note: For more information check out these websites: www.ohvec.org; www.kftc.org; www.ilovemountains.org; and www.crmw.net.
This week I came across another novel that is similar in nature, where an entire culture is being destroyed, this time by greedy, government-backed, coal mine owners. The book is called, Strange As This Weather Has Been. The writer’s name is Ann Pancake. And no, her name is not a pseudonym. She got her PhD from the University of Washington and hails from West Virginia. She tells in fictional form what is happening to the American landscape in that part of the country.
Instead of drilling a mine shaft inside a mountain and extracting the coal, these good ol’ boys, the captains of industry, blow the tops off of mountains. The owners tell you that it’s a more cost-effective method of doing business and that‘s why they do it. What they choose not tell you is that the toxic material from the operation, including such things as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, copper, selenium, chromium, and nickel flows into haphazardly-constructed containment ponds. The slurry leeches out during good weather and gushes out on rainy days. The sluice then flows down the side of the mountain and into local streams, polluting the water supply. Local dead zones are created; smaller than the zone off the Louisiana coast, but just as toxic. That’s not all. These wonderful American entrepreneurs blow up the tops of mountains using the same ingredients that Timothy McVey used in Oklahoma. The reverberating shockwaves from the frequent blasts are felt by citizens living below the mountain, down in the hollows. Cracks appear in the foundation of their houses, ceiling plaster repeatedly cascades down onto floors that buckle and shift. Sheds and other small structures are washed away by the frequent floods from up top. Those poor individuals are left owning a less-than-worthless home that’s often been in their family for perhaps 150 years and longer. The land and houses are now all but uninhabitable.
The southern part of West Virginia and the eastern part of Kentucky is where the devastation is taking place and Ms. Pancake walks you through the local history of why the land means so much to those folks. By putting in a garden and harvesting the food that nature supplies on those mountains those people of Appalachia had all they needed to survive, that is until the coal companies decided their stockholders had to enjoy more wealth. But, in the end, there's an old saying: whatever goes around, comes around.
Note: For more information check out these websites: www.ohvec.org; www.kftc.org; www.ilovemountains.org; and www.crmw.net.
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