Why won't Congress even consider progress?
By THP Danielle
President Obama sent Congress a $3.9 trillion dollar budget. Although his 2015 plan has been deemed more politics than policy, it's a blueprint of how to start repairing our economy. The 2015 fiscal plan would move us away from austerity, and start us back on a path of investing in our nation again. This budget has obvious benefits, but Congress isn't even going to consider it. Congressman Paul Ryan dismissed it as nothing but a “campaign brochure,” and the Chairwoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee, Barbara Mikulski, said that Congress “will adhere to the spending caps” in the Murray-Ryan deal.
The President's plan calls for higher taxes on the rich, strong investments in our roads and bridges, more money for education, and tax breaks for the working poor. When he announced the plan at an elementary school in Washington, President Obama said, “As a country, we've got to make a decision if we're going to protect tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, or if we're going to make smart investments necessary to create jobs and grow our economy, and expand opportunity for every American.” And, although his plan won't be taken seriously by lawmakers, he's finally talking about what Americans really want, and what we need to make our economy work for the 99 percent.
At the very least, the President's budget provides a strong platform for Democrats in this year's elections. They have the opportunity to show Americans that they stand for progress – and that they support plans that benefit those who aren't part of the one percent. It's a shame that our lawmakers view the President's strong ideas as unrealistic. It's up to us to make them see that ending austerity and embracing investment is a plan that provides real benefits to all Americans.
Comments
#2
Sorry Palin it is called "lac beauvert ". Or lake Beauvert in English. A lot of the early explorers where French So there is a lot of French names. Google Fairmont Jasper Park lodge and you will see the pictures. The life is right in front of the cabins. . It is the color of a emerald I guess it threw me off.
#3
Kend:
I believe I have located the old Lodgepole blowout well of Oct.17, 1982
It is located just 352 meters to the north of the current well. And it looks like the current well was built on top of the burned out area of the fire that looks to have blown southeast.
The documents (below) tells where the incident happened even providing very crude drawings. Also it says that it was located near where the Zeta Creek connects with the Pembina River.
Google coordinates:
old well: 13-12-048-12W5
Latitude: 53° 8'3.47"N
Longitude: 115°37'47.57"W
new well: 00/11-12-048-12W5/0
Latitude: 53° 7'51.62"N
Longitude: 115°37'44.25"W
#4
Kend: Yes, I saw Lac Beauvert and several other lakes in that area. Thanks for the correction. Those lakes are really beautiful and so is the whole area.
#5
Prof.Hartmann what ? 3.9 Trillion in one year! Now what to spend it on?the Millau Vaiduct 500$million Millau Viaduct - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia the American people could BUILD 900 a YEAR (450 billion goes to servicing the Debt every YEAR) Each Country pays to a Few Families !!The World is A Debt Slave
3.9 Trillion Wake UP WORLD!! Down with the DEBT SLAVERY
#6
Palin I remember that one but the one I was talking about was just north of a town (gas station and church back then) called Cynithia and south Edson a fairly good size town. all I could find was a small article from a Edson paper. The blow out was on Aug 31. 1986. The rig was a service rig called Westwood rig 4. The guy I knew who passed was Brian Morton. He was missing a few fingers from a different accident Great guy but a little careless. This whole conversion has brought back some great memories of some great times. Back then the money was falling out of our pockets but we worked hard. After that fire the tool push Glen Blakey if I remember right started a safety company. Great guy for the job as he had scares from the fire. Soon after it was manditory that all workers wore fire resistant coveralls. Before that we wore oil soaked sweats or jeans In the summer and oil soaked insulated coverall in the winter.
#7
Here's the smoking gun on what I was talking about http://www.democracynow.org/2014/1/14/dog_whistle_politics_how_politicia... it contains previously unavailable audio of Lee Atwater, chairman of the Republican National Committee in the '80s, eplicitly instructing Republican operatives on how to use racism to get voters to vote against their fellow Americans rather than their big business exploiters and would be enslavers and instead of for themselves.
In addition, Republicans divide America on the basis of class by stigmatizing poverty and villifying the poor and by fomenting tremendous class insecurities in Americans, so much so that many Americans choose to deny their relative disadvantage and suckering and instead harbor an illusion that they are "temporarily inconvenienced billionaires" rather than struggling middle class or even poor. This does very much to prevent any unity or solidarity among working people and average Americans.
#8
Isn't that just what a good, union job should be? Money falling out of your pockets but working hard. I was a Teamster in college, in the '70s, and it was like that. A lot of the guys started businesses with that money.
#9
Thank you, Kend, for that information. I have revised my search and have found this:
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1986/Natural-Gas-Well-Blows-Out-Killing-2/i...
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http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1243&dat=19860831&id=Vo9TAAAAIBAJ&...
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http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19870217&id=Hr8yAAAAIBAJ&...
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And here are some other articles that may take a little bit more effort to read....when you first get there...you see a lot of black...just go down and you will see the printed matter. With these old newspaperarchive websites...they do show the articles all jumbled together and you have to search on key terms once you get to the site..oftentimes, they will begin the article then, without any notice, jump to some other page when they will put more parts of the article. I think that if one were to subscribe to this newspaperarchive..they may show the paper as it would look normally. But, at least, the information can be found without having to subscribe...it's just harder.
http://newspaperarchive.com/ca/alberta/medicine-hat/medicine-hat-news/19...
(note: the report starts at line 20 and ends at line 38.)
http://newspaperarchive.com/ca/alberta/medicine-hat/medicine-hat-news/19...
(note: the report starts at line 46 and ends at line 56)
http://newspaperarchive.com/ca/alberta/lethbridge/lethbridge-herald/1988...
(note: the report starts at line 6 and ends at line 12)
In each of these, there could be more to the story further on down or on the next pages.
The news sources say that the blowout well was 25 miles due south of Edson. So that would put it about 40 miles west of Cynthia. And so that would also make it about 32 miles west and a little north of the Lodgepole blowout of 1982. One thing about the Westwood blowout was that it was not as severe as the Lodgepole blowout. For one thing the fire was put out fairly quickly and for another it was considered a "sweet gas" rather than a "sour gas" well..very little H2S compared to the Lodgepole blowout.
#10
Right along with wag-the-dog is the dog-whistle-politics! Doggon it!
#11
Kend: You might also be interested in this:
http://www.fieldlaw.com/articles/LFM_ABnewOHSregime.pdf
Check out the last paragraph on the right side on page 8..and check out page 9.
This has to do with Harold Spicer and Glen Blakely. This document is the first time I've have been able to find any mention of "Westwood" in relation to this well.... The companys involved: Westwood Wells and Lac Minerals
#12
Palin you are amazing. I didn't know Glen went to court. I was told by the boys they cut a corner they shouldn't have it was A huge mistake that caused it. There has been many changes to safety rules since then of course. Canada is very strict when it comes to work place safety. there is no doubt it would be Toolpushers (glen) fault. He did manage the rig and the crew. Spicer was engineer or the "company man" as we called them the oil company hired him to supervise the rig. He would also have all the well programs. We hated those lazy #%& holes. Always in the way.
there was a lot of sour gas in that area. if I remember right there was a lot in the Brazeau area just south of that location. I remember wearing a air pack well you worked in some areas. dryed out your throat. Hated them.
I inhaled a lot of that shit over the years might explain some of my comments on this blog LOL.
Ya the good old days Mark . Where did they go. The only way to get high wages back is demand. in those days if you could fog a mirror with your breath you where hired.
Thanks for the great memories Palin. I think I'll pour a stiff rum and coke in honor of Morty. Thanks again
#13
Aliceinwonderland ~ This may be off topic but I attended a city meeting this weekend at your old stomping ground Castlemont High School. When it was over we took our time and toured the place. A very beautiful school I wouldn't mind attending myself if I were young enough. Everything is brand new from the gymnasium to the sports field. The meeting itself was held in the theatre which was spacious clean, had an ample stage, and brand new upholstered seating. In the back, near the sporting ground, there was also an organic student garden. We walked all around the campus; and, the most striking part of the campus was the extensive murals along the walls. I took several pictures for myself but couldn't figure out how to share them here on this forum so I googled "murals castlemont high" and found this link:
https://www.google.com/search?q=murals+castlemont+high&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS445&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Rz4mU7CyF8_loASP4oLwBA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=785
Sadly the most striking mural isn't on this page. It was a painting of an eye with a green iris, The pupil in the center was the world. Most provocative.
Anyway, we were just thinking about you while there and had to drop a description of the day. Take care.
#14
Kend: Thank you for the very interesting adventure. I learned a lot. I think I have narrowed down my search for the well you worked at between using Google Earth and https://www.welltriever.com/wells/ One thing I remember reading was that they couldn't get a crane into the well site because of the two bridges were not strong enough for the weight. And I am thinking they are referring to some simple road bridge very close to the site. I know there are a number of little lakes in the area at about the 40 kilometer (25 miles) area due south of Edson. And the welltreiver web site shows the abandoned wells along with the productive wells. I've got a bunch of abandoned wells marked on Google Earth in that area. It doesn't take long for the foliage to obscure these sites.
You said that you hated wearing those air packs and those 2 guys at the Lodgepole blowout, who got killed because they had removed their air pack respirators, probably removed theirs for the same reason...and it killed them. I don't know... just my guess. I know how hard it is just to have to wear a simple surgical mask...a face mask that we had to wear all the time in the fabs we had to work in. In those cases, it was more for protecting the product (the surfaces of silicon wafers) from hairs, or saliva, or skin cells. When dealing with micron or sub-micron sized detail...a simple hair or dust or even a skin cell could destroy the device.
One good thing is that the safety regulations now call for workers to wear special fire resistant clothing rather than the old oil soaked clothing. That's got to be pretty miserable to work under those conditions! I guess that's why they have to pay them so much. At least I hope they still pay them a lot.
Were you working there at that site that day? The reports say that about 8 other men were sent to the hospital in Edmonton. How many men work at these sites at the same time? I hope those 8 other men fully recovered.
#15
ya this was tank air very dry. I would be more afraid of the lab. All those bugs. One of my sons works on the pipelines and he has to go every year for re certification of what we call H2S alive, confined spaces, and first aid, and hazardous goods, those courses cover all of that if you don't have your ticket you don't work, period. He just did it a couple of weeks ago. He was impressed that I remembered so much. There is five steps. 1 evacuate. 2 pack up, 3 sound alarm, 4 retrieve victims 5 revive victoms. In other words always know which way the wind is blowing and run. Safe your self first like on a planE
You are probaly right about that accident. We didn't where are packs as much as we should have.
#16
I noticed that the welltriever link I left in my last message did not work. I guess a better place to start is at the home page:
https://www.welltriever.com/
Wow! 762,000 wells drilled in Canada. Amazing!
(note: After you select Alberta, or any of the other provinces, you have to zoom in about 9 times before you can start to see the well symbols. And if you click on a well symbol it gives information about that well.)
I sure do wish your son a lot of good luck and hope he never has to experience any of those blowouts!
By the way, I had initially called it a "lab" but meant to say "fab"...I changed it...A "lab" might have bugs...like viruses or bacteria (hopefully always contained)...but a "fab" rather than those kinds of bugs has lethal gases (again, hopefully contained) that our masks wouldn't have done anything to protect us if an accidental leak happened.
The fabs normally have loud warning alarms like Klaxtons that go off when the sensors detect a gas leak. And we have to evacuate the fab immediately. I have been through a few fab evacuations in the over 25 years I worked in that field. In one case, however, the fab's alarm didn't go off and I was working down behind a piece of equipment when they came through the fab to tell us to evacuate. So, they missed me. And when I finally came up from behind the equipment, I came face to face with a person wearing a haz-mat respirator. She was very alarmed that I was still there. I evacuated immediately. I guess, since I'm still here, it must have been a false alarm. Thank goodness!
#17
Palin 762,000 wells and that is nothing compared to what the oil sands produce. We send about 2.2 million barrels a day to the US by pipeline every day. Google Ft McMurray. The oil sands is the biggest engineering project in the world. Come up and take the tour it will blow your mind. That's why I get so mad when I here "tar sands dirty oil" is is far from that it is a engineering marvel. Very environmentally sound. This is Canada you been here we take great pride in our beautiful Counrty.
#18
I think it is sad that the American people seem to have forgotten that America once was great. We did Big things, we invested in our people and in the country's infrastructure that serves people. The money in politics has made people feel ineffective and depressed. Who can compete with the Koch brothers? The complacency and apathy shown by the American people today is astounding.
#19
1941. America is still great. That's why millions want to immigrate there. Don't give up yet
#20
Woof, woof
#21
I'm sorry to ruin this but I've just gotta start some shit, LEAVE IT IN THE GROUND!
There, now we can go back to the happy talk format.
#22
Maybe I can help mark. look at the oil sands as the largest enviromental clean up in earths history. All that dirty oily sand cleaned up. Can't we all just feel so much better knowing we are spending all that money to help the enviroment.
#23
Kend: YeGads! I just saw the biggest piles of Sulphur I've ever seen...I thought the ones in Saudi Arabia were pretty big. Do a Google image search on syncrude sulphur pyramids. I checked out Ft. McMurray and ventured up north a bit where Syncrude and CNRL have Tar Sands mines ...
When I was in Saudi Arabia driving down southwest of Dhahran..I think it was somewhere down around ABQAIQ...I saw what looked like some very misplaced giant buildings in the distance..they were very yellow....the closer I got the more I realized they were not buildings but giant blocks of sulphur quite a few stories high.
They can sure make a lot of matches, or other extremely flammable things, with all that sulphur.
By the way, here is an interesting web site:
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/what-you-need-to-know-about-t...
#24
Quote Kend:Maybe I can help mark. look at the oil sands as the largest enviromental clean up in earths history.
Kend ~ I do believe that the "largest environmental clean up in earths history" will occur when the ice age repeats itself and buries Canada and North America under a one mile high sheet of ice... Better brush up on you Eskimo.
#25
But see, Kend, the idea behind the "leave it in the ground" slogan is that burning that oil will push us over several environmental tipping points of no return. Even extracting it requires up to 20% more carbon in the atmosphere than conventional oil extraction. It's estimated that burning all 1.8 trillion barrels of oil sands oil would raise the global temperature up to 0.5 degrees Celsius.
In addition, a tremendous amount of water, 349 cubic metres per year in Canada, is used to separate the oil from the sand most of which ends up in tailing ponds. The Pembina Institute estimates that by 2022 a months output of waste water could result in a toxic lake 11 feet deep and the length and width of New York City's Central Park (840.01 acres or 339.94 ha or 3.399 km²).
Jacobs Consulting, an engineerig firm and pro industry research group, found that extra carbon emissions fro crude from oil sands to be 12% higher than from regular crude. The EU in considering labelling oil sands oil a "highly polluting" oil found it to be 22% more emitting of GHG's. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences in 2014 showed the EU figures to be not high enough.
Furthermore,
Quote Wikipedia:The bulk of the research that defends the oil sands development is done by the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP). RAMP studies show that deformity rates are normal compared to historical data and the deformity rates in rivers upstream of the oil sands.These results are dubious, however, as RAMP is funded largely by those energy companies with direct interests in the relevant environments. Further, unlike academia, where peer review happens on a per study basis, RAMP does a peer review of the entire organization only once every five years. Hence, RAMP cannot be said to meet widely accepted scientific standards.
#26
If democrats were as aggressive at winning elections as Republicans are at rigging elections; I'm guessing a competent charasmatic democratic party working harmoniously would make this country more productive than it already is.
#27
I hear ya, Mark. Sometimes we've gotta start shit. Happy talk is fine and dandy... but ya know, it's those of us who are willing to "start some shit" that keep social progress alive. History proves that, overkill. And that is what Thom's blog is really supposed to be about. There's always the other side of the picture, the side most people still aren't hearing much about.
Guys like Kend who've been in the fossil fuel buiz tend to get sentimental and wax poetic over things like LNG tankers and tar sands pipelines. This is exactly what we can expect from those who's profited from fossil fuel, with a vested interest in that status quo. Fossil fuel shills never miss an opportunity to jump into these forums with their bullshit and tell us how neat tar sands oil, "clean coal" and liquified natural gas supposedly are, while in reality, they're not really all that great for the rest of us. As the other side of the picture clearly illustrates, these products suck for the environment, our wallets and our health, not to mention their negative impact on socioeconomic stability worldwide. And that's why we have to keep "starting shit", Mark. It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it. Usually the most important side of any issue is precisely what's being ignored by a corporatized media that does not have our interests at heart. So it's on people like you, Thom and me to keep "starting shit", 'cause... tag, we're it. - Aliceinwonderland
#28
Marc, how nice of you to think of me! I have not set foot on Castlemont grounds since I was fifteen years old. Sounds like the place has been kept up very well, maybe even undergone a complete remodel/overhaul. I clicked on the link you included, and what a feast for the eyes! Looks like that place has had no shortage of artistic talent. I wonder if they still have their legendary school choir, and whether they've continued doing those messiah concerts every Xmas season. Do you know if they've still got that swimming pool?
Thanks for sharing all that with me, Marc. - AIW
#29
"Leighmf" says "And don't forget to boycott all bottled and canned beverages. That'll fix the Wells Fargo Wagon."
I never knew there was any connection between a bank and such beverages. Could you explain this for me? I'm genuinely curious.
My husband and I don't touch canned or bottled beverages. They're loaded with sugar and chemicals, pose a health risk to consumers and are a waste of money. - AIW
#30
Aliceinwonderland ~ I don't know about the messiah concerts; and probably won't till next Xmas. All I could think about in that theater hall was how great music would sound from the stage. A swimming pool was mentioned at the meeting; however, I didn't get a chance to see one on campus. Is it an indoor one possibly? There are areas that we missed on our brief tour. (There was a soccer game in the athletic field where some of the parents were selling taquitos and enchiladas freshly made. We stayed a while to watch the game. It was delicious.)
You're most welcome! Happy to share.
#31
Palindromedary and Aliceinwonderland ~ From last Wednesday's blog: In reference to titles I would agree with Alice on this one. Mr. and Ms. are probably the most respectful ways of addressing mature adults in this country. However, I've always prefered the titles of respect used in Mexico to those used here. They seem to carry greater respect. Of course I am referring to Don and Dona. For instance Don Juan is simply the way of addressing a gentleman named John. Dona (the "n" is actually an n with a ~ over it and is pronounced slightly slurred.) refers to the female. Dona Clara for instance would refer to a lady named Clare. Less formal addressing uses the pronoun Senor; yet, still carries extreme respect. (Again the "n" has a ~ over it and is pronounced with a slight slur.) The female version is Senora. Roughly translated means Sir, and Lady. However, If you consider the meaning of the homonym of the name Senor which means "Lord" as in addressing "God" you can begin to understand how much reverence and respect the pronouns actually connote. Go Espanol! One of the worlds greatest languages of simplicity and respect
#32
Marc, it's been close to a half century since I was a student at Castlemont. But back in the mid-sixties, they had an outdoor pool, if my memory is accurate.
I'm heartened by your updates. In this day & age while so many schools are left to rot, or being shut down, Castlemont seems to have fared very well. I don't know how they've pulled this off but it is great news; especially since it appears the majority of students there are still black. Black kids have been shortchanged in the education department, throughout so much of this country and for so long. I'm glad to know that Castlemont's students are now enjoying such a beautiful environment in which to learn. Double thumbs up, and kudos to my old home town! - Aliceinwonderland
#33
more happy talk? ;-}
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Kend: Google Earth shows an Emerald Lake about 120 miles southeast of the Emerald Lodge in Jasper but none near Jasper.