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I agree; there is no such thing as safe tar sands oil. This sludge is so thick it has to be diluted before it can be sent through the pipeline! And comparing the damage the Keystone XL might cause if it ruptured, by comparing it to what we've been allowed to see in Arkansas, is pale. It's going to be much worse over time. That point was brought home to me a few weeks ago when I returned to a favorite camping site on the Gulf of Mexico in Florida, south of Panama City Beach. The place is called Indian Pass, near Appalachicola and Port St. Joe. I went there the first time upon graduating from college in 2004. The beach was pristine, the water a beautiful blue, clear and clean and absolutely the best swimming hole outside of northern Michigan during the summer. That was nine years ago, before the BP/Horizon toxic spill. Today the water is gray, not as bad as the water near Galveston or Texas City, Texas, where destroying the environment is a way of life(???), but the beauty this beach once had is ruined. A thousand miles from the spill, the damage still exists. The food harvesting industry of that region; oysters, fish, etc. has been damaged so badly the people are leaving in droves. Or trying to. We took a drive south along the coast and nearly every single house was for sale. Whether their livelihood was made by harvesting seafood or entertaining tourists, it is a Shell, (as in Oil) of its former self. It was one of the most sickening experiences I've ever endured. The Mayflower spill is pouring into Lake Conway, on its way to the Mississippi River and beyond, just like the BP oil spill spread throughout the region before it and just like the spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan emptied into the Great Lakes. We are rapidly destroying our natural resources, our water, one of our primary food sources - first into the bodies of water this crap seeps into where our seafood lives, then across the ground, where the rest of our food grows or grazes. People who immerse themselves in oily water or drink it, develop cancer at much higher rates than those who don't. We are literally killing ourselves directly with this poison, and it will lead to starvation as the food sources are destroyed and dehydration as the water supply disappears. All for the profits of the goddamned oil companies and their puppets in government.
You do know they are under ground don't you. it would be easier to blow up a gas station. Besides a terrorist would go after a refinery. Like I said there is thousands of miles of pipelines now nothing has happened what are you worried about. Remember the people who attack us do so because they want us to leave there countries. Become energy self sufficient and we leave their countries and they can go back to raping and killing anyone they what, they can stop young girls from getting educated again and they leave us alone.
Mellow guy....I second it! I'm a former smoker and do understand nicotine addiction. If it weren't for the invention of Nicorettes, I would probably still be smoking, going broke in the process, and carrying an oxygen tank wherever I go. Considering the price of cigarettes now, price does not seem to be a deterrent to these young people. However, I am opposed to putting a 95-cent per pack tax on cigarettes to pay for Obama's pre-K program particularly when Head Start is on the block all over this country. The youngsters in my neighborhood take advantage of Head Start Program and I cannot say enough for that program and how it energizes the youths to learn.
Ken Ware ~ From two days ago. Sorry my friend that I've been too busy to respond to you as well. Ha! Balancing the nations budget and working for a living is time consuming!
First off, I want to thank you for your response to my posting concerning my faith. I found it to be sincere, and very respectful. I deeply appreciate that! As a one time atheist myself, I know how tedious would be "bible thumpers" can be. I can honestly say you've exercised far more self control than I used to. I didn't realize that you were an atheist like Palindromedary. I will have to try to remember that when responding to either of you in the future.
That being said, I feel that you are confusing the ideas of Faith, Belief and Religion. Let me define these concepts. Religion is a social institution that is common among all societies yet diverse in nature. It's main function is to explain the unexplainable. It can be something as complex as the Catholic church, or as simple as a Witch Doctor. Faith is the personal belief in the supernatural. Although it is common for these two concepts to overlap in ones life, it is also common for people who belong to a Religion not to have Faith; as much as, people who have Faith not to belong to a Religion. You can consider myself as the later in this description. Personal Belief is independent of Religion and Faith; but also overlaps on the two. All people believe something; and, most of that is empirical; but, in the case of Faith it goes beyond the empirical.
My personal Faith is independent of any organized Religion because I, like you, have had very bad experiences with organized religion. In fact, I have found that in this country, organized religions are composed mostly of people who have no real Faith. They have a thirst for Faith that they quench with public displays of worship. In my personal experience, some of the most profound "pretenders" in this category tend to be hypocrites of such a high order, who;s individual lifestyles are so despicable they can only be described as spiritually phenomenal.
Yet I digress! I'm simply writing this to say that I think you err when you compare Faith to Religion and blame them both for being the "opiate of the masses," and preventing action politically. I will not waste your time defending Religion because in this case I agree with you 100%. However, you are completely wrong when you compare this effect with Faith. Faith empowers people more so than weaponry.
Case in point. The Great Saint, Saint Francis of Assisi. The Pope in his time sent him into the heart of Islam in order to preach Christianity to the Sultan of the Muslims. The Saint was captured unarmed and brought before the Sultan. The Sultan asked why such a brave man was inspired by Christianity. Saint Francis offered a competition with the Priest's of the Sultan. He suggested they build a huge fire and he would prove his Faith by walking into it with the Sultan's Priests. When the time came the Priests cringed in fear, but Saint Francis boldly strolled into the pillar of fire. The Sultan ordered his men to stop Francis. He demanded Francis explain his bravery so that he could create an army of men as brave.
Weather or not Saint Francis' words fell on mute ears is conjecture. However, the powerful commitment and sheer number of today's Islamic suicide bombers is more than enough evidence to show you that Faith is probably the most powerful motivator there is to use for political change. It should also be more than evidence in and of itself that any people who share such faith cannot be conquered by anyone. The fact that the American public has failed to reach this conclusion itself is evidence as to how poorly educated, lacking in critical thought, and devoid of any real Faith they are.
Imagine the resolve and commitment it would take to strap a bomb to yourself and set it off, or to march into a wall of flame. If the American people were capable of these actions our Government would think twice before cutting benefits to their loved ones.
I respect your beliefs, Ken. I only ask that you respect the power of Faith; and, realize that it--in and of itself--can serve your cause well. Please don't discount the potential contribution of those of us with Faith. Thank you. D A M
Oh, sorry folks! The Keystone XL Pipeline. Oh La La! Has any environmentalist who really are committed to stopping this stupid project considered blowin the damn thing up one section at a time? After all, it's just one really long pipe bomb. It's about as vulnerable as vulnerable can be. Dinamite is cheap. Make it an extra expensive endeavor and the Capitalists will give it up. They can't baby sit such a huge project and make money. Besides the fireworks will be fun!
Taxes should be used to pay for medical care of tobacco related illnesses.
chuckle8 ~ wrote: "WHY DOES ANYONE WANT TO BALANCE THE BUDGET?"
Sorry I didn't have time to respond to that question yesterday or today. I've had to work. To address your question, I'm not sure if I understand where you're coming from. A balanced budget is essential for the financial stability of any entity--be that an individual, a single family household, or a nation.
Personally, I disapprove of any credit. I consider it usury and a preliminary tactic used to secure slavery. I have never relied on credit; except in situations where a credit card was the only medium acceptable to pay for a good or service. I then always make it a priority to pay off that debt at the first chance I get. I call this approach, "Responsibility."
There is nothing wrong with a nation borrowing money to invest in something that has a reasonable enough return on investment if it is able to repay that loan in a timely fashion. The sooner the loan is repaid the less money is wasted on interest, and the sooner the nation can begin to profit from the investment. This idea is called, "not wasting money."
The popular idea that perpetual debt is an acceptable condition is ridiculous. Perpetual debt--that is, simply paying off the interest of a loan without ever repaying the principal--is nothing more than permanent indentured slavery. With all due respect my friend, only a fool would defend such an idea.
Quite frankly, our budget must be balanced with a surplus just to free our people from the yoke of slavery.
We are 10K they are just finalizing the last few environmental studies. We have one to the west coast already and the new "northern Gateway" will be up and running soon I hope.
We do refine here already. this is the second largest oil reserve in the world there is lots to go around. Right now you are receiving about 800,000 barrels a day through the gulf from Venusula this would replace it and be less risky. Plus remember NAFTA we have to sell you a certain percent of what we produce. For the record we are all ready shipping about 750,000 barrels a day by pipeline to your refineries in the mid west.
Sorry but if you take the emotion out of this it is the right thing to do. Think about it if we became energy self suffencient in North America we could get the hell out of the Middle East for good. It would become China and Europes problem.
Look I don't care if Keystone gets built we will build one to the West coast and probably to the east, This industries brings trillions to our economy It has to go somewhere. It's not like you don't need it down there.
Timing is everything. Has anyone noticed in today's news that suddenly the Pentagon has discovered that N. Korea has the ability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. We are all in danger!
BS. 24 hours after President Obama proposes a $200 Billion cut in the defense industry. How stupid do they think we are? This is an insult to our intelligence. Ironic that this insult comes from our "intelligence."
Personally, I think we should cut $250 Billion from the Defense Department just for gross incompetence brushing this matter off the past month. Idiots!
Does anyone out there buy this tripe?
http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-nkorea-could-launch-nuclear-missile-183109878--politics.html
Kend , Why won't your country allow the pipeline to connect to your own North Pacific Coast? Why our Gulf of Mexico? Why don't you guys refine the oil in your own country? By the way, studies show that much of this product will get shipped out of the United States.
they are buildiones pipeline to the west coast of Canada, China is glad to get our enviromemtly responsible oil. America I guess would rather get it from the worst country in the world for environmental damage Nigeria.
No you don't have to get your military to guard it Canada has been sending oil through pipelines down there for 60 years. There are shut off valves every few miles so if there's is a drop in pressure they shut down reducing the amount of spillage.
Hartmann, first of all it is our Prime Minister, not our Premier. The oil sands have the smallest environmental footprint in t.he world. It is the largest engineering project the world has ever seen and with out it your gas would be at least 30% more. Keep in mind about 40 % of your fresh water comes from here maybe we should dam that off to save you from the toxic sludge that is in it.
I hate to break it to you but Canada doesn't care if the Keystone pipeline gets approved the Chinese pay a lot more. Because of NAFTA we have to offer it to you first.
I have tried to educate you guys about this topic but I give up. Heat and cool your homes, pave your roads, build your cell phones, computers, tv, bottles etc with wind and solar at 10 times the cost. I am sure you will all feel warm and fuzzy freezing in the dark in your homes.
As a non-smoker it is easier for me to say, but anything we can do to help peoples health we should. Anything we can do to discourge smoking is a benefit.
Cigarettes are poison to everyone the poor would be hurt more by harming their health.
How can they even protect the pipeline from, perhaps "homegrown", terrorism? Thousands of miles of unguarded pipeline could very easily be a target anywhere along it's length. Some people might be a real headache to those who own the pipeline and to politicians who supported it. It wouldn't take very many "attacks" before it would be too costly to maintain. What are they going to do bring all our troops home to guard the pipeline?
I've had high quality garden hoses spring leaks from water pressure. Can you imagine the pressure pushing this crap all those miles through pipes with metal fittings?
We should tell that bush crime family member, harper to shove his pipeline up his @ss. I would prefer to see the U.S. make a large donantion to the opp;osition party to get rid of that @sshole.
Why wont they just build it thru canada to the west coast since china is going to be buying the garbage anyway?
We are too broke to spend money for canada's benifiet.
Punching numbers into the free version of turbotax seems so straightforward. I think the difficulty arises by trying to get the maximum deductions. I must admit I have no clue what a non-resident goes through.
Do you have any examples of how one province's medical needs are different than anothers?
6 trillion is an interesting number. It is the amount of revenue that would be generated if they let all the Bush tax cuts expire. It seems like blaming Bush is exact.
When I said long term greed, I was referring to business practices. The tax structure of the 1950's encouraged long term greed behavior. The nutshell version is that a business person facing a 92% tax if he takes out the profit and zero tax if reinvests it in his business might think it would be a good thing to invest in his business for the long term..
Larry Beinhart in several articles for Alternet describes this process in a little more detail and provides the data support the hypothesis. Dylan Ratigan in his book "Greedy Bastards" has many more suggestions.
"Long term greed"! I like this idea. So how would you propose this idea to the Credit Card Generation (my generation) and "disposable" generation (those younger than 30). Both these generations know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
That's not optimism you're admirering, OUTBACK, foolishness yes, but more so diminished expectations! I mean c'mon the dude (DANNEMARC) even admits he cast his vote out of pure fear, admitting that he (Obamney) had already proven himself not a man of his word nor a leader with true concern for the middle/poor working class, elderly, and ill, during his first 2 years in office when he had both the House and the Senete in his pocket.
"IF" hell freezes over and pigs take to flight then maybe, MAYBE, Obama will do an about face and prove himself a leader of the average American.
That being said, I am going to place my bet with Obamneys track record.
As Kenny Rodgers once sang; You got to know when to hold 'em...Know when to fold 'em...Know when to walk away...Know when to run.
Sports franchises and Sports teams are revenue generators. Any studies stating otherwise are slanted and deceiving.
All you need to do is see how many people are at any sports event from out of town. They're in our city spending money. It is ridiculous to believe that same money would have been spent in the area without the stadiums or teams to support it. Every time I go to a game, I meet people who follow the opposing team who flew in specifically to attend the game(s). I also have friends who take annual 'baseball trips' to visit other stadiums. They would not have visited those cities without sports.
So besides the people who work at the games, there's the resturant owners, their employees, hotels, car rental agencies and shops that all benefit from sports. This isn't counting the hundreds of workers employed building these stadiums or staffing them. The area around Seattle's stadiums were full of old warehouses and art studios. We've manage to maintain the studios in the new, vibrant neighborhood that has emarged around the stadiums.
Finally, I am insulted at the idea that liberals and progressives can't be sports fans too. I am passionate about my favorite teams and I'm passionate about better government, too. They are not mutually exclusive. When we were discussing building a new stadium for the Seattle Mariners, a group named 'Citizens for More Important Things' made a big splash about the public money that would be spent on the project. Funny thing - those 'Citizens' never raised extra money for those more important things. Conversely, each year, sports fans donate hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities that were started by one of the local Sports stations and from athletes' charities. This money would not have been donated without the local teams and indirectly the stadiums they play in.
Stan near Seattle, WA
Of course just thinking about progressives, liberals and conservatives uniting brings to mind visions of four horsemen. It's unfortunate that cooperation only comes with efforts to make things worse rather than better.
I know there have to be reasonable ways to cut spending and raise revenues that don't involve pulling food and prescriptions out of the mouths of the disabled and retired. What's wrong with closing some control towers, the traffic on the road is worse that in the sky and we make it home pretty safely. How about a federal license for gun owners, $200 a head, that'll raise some revenue, tax the bullets, dump the lobbyists, quit paying for "crap" and BALANCE THE "GD" BUDGET!
Youth is wasted on the young and politics is wasted on the politicians!
WHY DOES ANYONE WANT TO BALANCE THE BUDGET?
I think the motive here is the same motive that drives a student to get an A grade. That is, the only measure of their (board of directors and the CEO) performance is the amount of profit they create in the next quarter.
I think government needs to convert that short term "greed" into long term "greed". The tax structure of 1950's did that for the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's.