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"Fracking" itself is not the problem. Dropping an explosive down a new water-well to loosen the water-seams at the bottom is an old technique with negligible or no environmental contamination.
Rather than ritually dismiss some named well-development technique out-of-hand, those interested in this problem should focus on setting and enforcing drilling, development, leakage, inspection and enforcement standards.
Rules should be written; performance criteria set; and then manditory enforcement required (and budgeted). THAT is where the problem lies. We waste way too much effort playing slipery word-games; rather than manditory compliance.
Many industries have the expertise to meet requirements; however, it is government's responsibility to set the requirements and then require (through inspection and effective penalties) compliance. And it's the people's responsibility to demand that their needs be met rather than government serving the biggest bribe-contributor. We people must focus on effective process and results, rather than just playing one side of the talk-game.
I guess all this means that we're assured of plenty of natural gas for the cars in the funeral processions.
Meanwhile the Department of Energy is in the process of destroying one of our best (alternative) escape routes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p49Sq7mbpE
we're so "fracked"!
FOUND IT at http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13127-reagans-welfare-queen-found
Thanks bunches.
I would love to see your Walmart is the welfare queen the press has been searching for rant posted where it could be shared.
Just as I thought, you democratic socialist would rather somebody else pay for your healthcare. Sooner rather than later you will run out of other people's money to spend. 62 million people now on Medicaid, wait until Obamacare kicks in and the states have to shoulder more people. Which states will go bankrupt first? My guess it will start with California and continue right through the Blue states.
Having read your posts, I've identified you already as one who shares my democratic-socialist world view. Stalinism is simply irrelevant to me. Stalin was just a dictator; he had nothing remotely to do with socialism! It amazes me how so many boomers believe McCarthy's twisted version of that. Back in McCarthy's day, most of us were too young to even join the debate. Just goes to show the lasting impact of right-wing propaganda, designed to keep us all dumbed down and misinformed! Like you, I don't believe most people are greedy, jealous types. Certainly not on the liberal side of the fence! Conservatives are constantly projecting their own negative traits & behaviors on the rest of us.
For this country to claim status as a world leader while leading only in negatives like debt, incarceration and military size is PATHETIC. But there's a whole other discussion... - Aliceinwonderland
Even if we could afford the ridiculous price tag on those premiums, I wouldn't pay it because it is a rip-off. Having been insured in the past, I vividly recall how crazy-making the system is. Frankly, I refuse to play the game. Being insured didn't improve our access to care that much anyway, with the deductibles and all... Even if you're insured, there's no guarantee you won't be bankrupted anyway, which makes it especially no-win. The system is so abusive. I just can't stomach the idea of anyone, other than me and my doctor, making medical decisions in my behalf; ESPECIALLY when that third party lacks medical training and isn't even a care provider!! Completely insane. They can take their premiums and shove 'em "where the sun don't shine"! In my view, mandatory, private for-profit health insurance is nothing more than government-sanctioned extortion.
Like you, my husband and I lack health insurance and for the same reason. I got very frustrated and angry with Obama three years ago, when he took single payer "off the table". Worse yet, he did it before the discussion had even begun! I strongly believe a single-payer system is the only way out of this mess. Living just one illness or injury away from financial ruin is intolerable; I view it as a form of financial terrorism.
Hi "No Fraud"... I apologize for all the posts. Whenever I try sending something longer, it doesn't go through; if just goes "POOF!" and then I have to type it all over again.
So sorry to hear about your injury. Whatever it was, I hope it doesn't leave permanent scars; on your person OR your wallet!
The healthcare Obama care appearantly is here to stay In some form. The mob rule mentality made that clear as it was rammed through by one party. My objections without getting into a 1000 word dissertation is it is total government over reach into the sovereignty of the individual and it is another huge government program that will be a budget cost forever. When I say beuracracy I mean brick and mortar government buildings more hired government workers pensions etc etc.... Not paperwork Although that will keep most of them busy. This society has become so focused on all the wants and needs that it ignores the cost. As someone once said "you can ignore reality but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring that reality" We can not afford more big government programs And government hand outs. This economy does not have enough GDP to tax away to feed this beast. Bush was also a reckless spender. As I have said before, the rich guy down the street is not your enemy although with Obamas Sal Alinski tactics he is easy to demonize and divide. The real culprit comes down to our own government out of control spending policies and the federal reserve accommodation of this behavior. How do you think printing 40 billion dollars a month is going to effect your savings. With my experience and a third grade education I can tell you that inflation will be eating your back side away in no time. That is what has eroded the middle class and of course as you mentioned paying for tv, Internet, cell phones etc. check out the inflation charts over the last hundred years. coincidentally 1913 - 1914 the same time the federal reserve was created and actually this country got going with a withholding income tax system. Inflation before 1913 is hard to define unless you look at the price of gold but it was not much of a factor. Our own pressure on legislators to solve problems through government intervention have released the hounds of spending and political power. That my friend is the circle of life we have created. 1913 Federal Reserve -- will get you free money spend -- 1914 income tax withholding to pay the piper -- big government massive programs, military industrial complex, more government spending to solve social inequities -- 16 trillion in debt and no way to tax our way out of it. As far as the spending cuts that may happen next year or the year after, they are not cuts at all -- they are cuts to the rate of growth. If they project a rate of growth at 8 percent they will make it just 5 percent. What a sick joke. Enough..... Break the chains and reform these massive black hole programs before they destroy us.
MIT Joint Frackademia - dollars and science
http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2012/12/03/mit-joint-frackademia/
MIT tested 4,000 new wells that were less than 10 days old...Alas, new wells are not what vents fugitive methane. http://blog.shaleshockmedia.org/2012/12/03/mit-frackademics/
The former pipeline executive who spoke on condition of anonymity laughed when asked about first responders finding leaks. “This unodorized gas can soak into the ground around the pipeline. You can’t see it, smell it, taste it. And then boom! http://www.fwweekly.com/2012/11/28/what-runs-beneath/
The Times Are A Changing.
...Unfortunatly ya gotta be of the upper 2% in order to keep up!
Alice this response is to your latest 5 or 6 post; which are based on the same subject.
First I want to say that is was both Global and I that started the discussion on Healthcare and have been debating back and forth...Glad you got involved with the discussion. If you have read my posts you will find that you and I both share a simmilar view regarding Single Payer Healthcare. As well you and I also understand that Stalinism was not the Socialism that Marx and Engles spoke of. Unfortunatly Stalinism is what most of the baby boomers tend to relate to when it comes to Socialism...Thanks to the paranoid McCarthy era rehtoric which carelessly tied Socialism to Communism. And no we (Americans) don't want Stalinism. What we want is what Howard Zinn (paraphrasing Marx and Engles) described as a Social Democracy; A democratic elected government, equalization of resources, and to help people by leveling the playing field that has been stolen by the Robber Barrons under an absolute Corporate Capitalist system. Unfortunatly - as Global points out - most Americans are too greedy and jealous for Socialism to work. HOGWASH! Though it is true ALL humans can be greedy, and jealousy is a natural emotion, especially under an unregulated Capitalist system and two tierd Justice System that exploits us and allows for people with money and something to gain to get away with looting and plundering others for profit, most people - including Global - want essentially the same thing...Life, Liberty, and Happiness. And yes under a Social Democracy there still can be gain and profit, but at least it is more balanced and not so slanted towards those greedy scum bag Robber Barrons.
And when it comes to Healthcare...Why shouldn't EVERY American have coverage. I myself - like many other working class Americans - do not have Health Ins because I cannot afford the cost. But Life still happens...Just 3 weeks ago I suffered a terrable injury that caused me to have to go to the ER. Now as I was being cared for I never once thought about the expense, however 15 hrs later as my wife and I were leaving we placed bets on how much this was going to cost us. I said (optomistically) under $10k she said $15k. Fortunatly I won, but it was bitter sweet since we now have to pay off a $9k medical bill. Our combined gross income is just over 38k per year and we don't live above our means (which means we don't have luxury items and credit debt, yet we still can not afford Healtcare Ins). Now we were able to get 10% nocked off the bill and we "plan" to pay it off over the next year, which isn't too bad, but what if it was worse, and often times it is. What does a person without Healthcare Ins. do with a medical bill that is much more than $10k. Or what does one do when tests and on going treatment(s) and medication is needed. What would Global do???(assuming he didn't have Insurance).
There is absolutly no reason for any American to go bankrupt over medical treatment or be denied medical treatment do to not being able to afford healthcare Ins.
In my opinion any developed and organized country that considers itself to be "world leaders" and does not provide affordable Healthcare and Education for all, yet spends trillions of dollars engaging in unnecessary and illegal wars is far from being a "world leader". The reality is is that the United States IS NOT a world leader. We are not even in the top ten when it comes to our Healthcare and Education system on a whole. But we do lead the developed world in debt, incarceration, and defence spending. We spend more on defence than all our allies combined. This is disheartening.
Right on! Aliceinwonderland! All good points!
The neo-con Tea Party message is all about scarcity, competition, distrust and strife. They live in a world where any personal triumph that's ever achieved comes at someone else's loss or expense. It's a Ayn Rand sort of world where self-interest is all that matters. And they can have it. Beam me up, Scotty!
Global, you make awfully ominous predictions of the "crappy" health care we'd all have in store, if those wicked socialists ever took over the system! Haven't you noticed how crappy it already is, under our current status quo?! Then there's that worn-out argument conservatives like Mr. G fall back on again and again, imploring us to "imagine the bureaucracy" of a universal system... as if everyone automatically covered would mean more paperwork! My gosh. Don't they see how the current system fits that profile?! It's nothing but a big-ass bureaucracy!! A bureaucracy whose sole purpose it is to maximize their profits by denying us care. And you can bet your A$$ they're operating behind closed doors. As for death panels, we've already got those. They're called INSURANCE COMPANIES. Those are the real death panels. They're into controlling costs all right, and an awful lot of people are dead because of it.
If walking around as "targets" is something we come to accept, along with gloom & doom predictions of deprivation, squalor and chaos, these shall indeed become self-fulfilling prophesy. Like most progressives however, I say no thanks to that. Our healthcare crisis is as glaring an example as one could find to illustrate the inevitable consequences that occur when vital public services get sucked into the so-called "free market". Yeah it's free all right, but not for us "ordinary" folks; only for the goons & tycoons who own it and lord it over us. Their sole purpose is to extract as much profit as they can, from every aspect of our lives. Thus our entire healthcare system has been hijacked, by entities that hold no regard for our interests or collective wellbeing. Yet Global decries the "slippery slope" of government regulation, preferring we wear that target on our hides as if this were a problem with no possible solution. Enough already! I'm just not buying it.
As for Global's assessment of our "uniquely American" healthcare crisis, our views diverge on a number of points: for starters, Medicare not reimbursing doctors and hospitals enough. The reason for this is quite simple. It's only because our corporate-controlled Congress refuses to fix it, failing to make necessary adjustments in Medicare's budget or to allow effective negotiating with Big Pharma that could bring drug prices down. Not enough health care professionals?! Baloney. We need only make higher education more affordable again, and return healthcare to the commons where it belongs (preferably as single payer!). We'll have all the doctors & nurses we need. And oh by the way... Hooray for Planned Parenthood! They've been there for me.
While healthcare here was never part of tax-supported infrastructure (unlike all other developed nations! Ahem...), it was still non-profit when us Boomers were growing up. Paying doctor bills was no big deal back then. I don't recall, as a child or young adult, ever hearing of anyone bankrupted by medical bills. Unlike all members of my generation, I've a basis of comparison rooted in first-hand experience. Our current system is as different from that as night from day.
As a Baby Boomer I've witnessed and lived through quite a transformation in this society. I remember it was the state, not parents or teachers, who covered the cost of children's school supplies: textbooks, paper, pencils and so on; and we had a school nurse, all paid for by tax revenue. I remember a time when higher education was virtually free in this country. Even television was free... No satellite or cable bills to pay! (Imagine that!!) I recall living in a society & economy where one job, one person's income, could support a family - even in blue collar occupations - and where most working class folks owned the houses they occupied. People had pensions and other retirement benefits provided by the companies they'd worked for as well as Social Security. Ahh, the golden days of the middle class! Seems light years behind us now. (SIGH)
Behold the freak show unfolding all around us, and the depths of corruption this country has sunk itself into! Wow-we, what a mess. I've watched it develop & grow literally for decades. Ever hear that fable about the frog that boils to death? He gets cooked because the water he sits in heats so gradually, he fails to notice before it is too late. Well, that story reminds me of where we're headed as Americans. Throughout my adult life I've watched with growing concern as the most basic functions of society and our public domain have gradually been taken over by oligarchs. What remains of the commons, owned by everyone and no one, is now the target of corporate privatization schemes. Through the decades, especially since the 1980s, these forces have grown ever larger and more powerful. This is what I, and like-minded people, perceive as the real threat to freedom... not to mention the toll it has taken on our democracy.
Since Mr. Global has brought health care into this discussion, I say, bring it on! That issue has been a thorn in my side for some time now. I welcome the opportunity to counter these neo-con talking points Mr. G articulates so well. Just the same old stuff corporatized media has hammered at us for years. I've grown sick of the gloom & doom, fear mongering bull crap neo-con pundits never tire of spewing from their ivory towers, echoed by their converts in the trenches below. Medicare, headed for a train wreck?! Only if we allow good-ole-boy Republican hacks and their Blue Dog buddies to get their thieving hands on it. Same goes for Social Security. Be very afraid.
Its a fiscal obstacle course as the fiscal 'cliff' is entirely a misnomer since ALL portions will be subject to review without penalties once the new U.S. federal Congress convenes. That said--be sure to sign petition telling Bonehead (Boehner--the alcoholic driven to delusional pursuits)to get with the action 98% of Americans want--NOT Bonehead's teaparty agenda!
Unfortunately I had to learn the hard way that copying & pasting into this blog from a Word document doesn't work, at considerable cost of time &effort. Even now, having finally figured that out, I'm still reluctant to send long messages all in one piece; hence these segments. After reading Mr. Global's latest comments, I've a hunch this response will be longer than most.
Before going any further, I'd like to tip my hat to Thom as host of this blog, giving us all a platform from which to share thoughts & ideas while debating the issues. I doubt there's been a time in the history of this country when the need for discussions of this sort have been greater.
Since I live on the Gulf Coast I was disgusted by our local leaders getting paid off by BP. I thought of it as Shut up money. I'm overjoyed that they are making it harder for BP.