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Jeff Gannon is his name.
There is a tar sands pipeline that runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to Pontiac, Illinois. It runs through my area between Malta, Illinois and DeKalb, Illinois. Two lines were laid, one for the crappy oil, and one for a dilution mix to run north and mix to thin out the junk.
I drove by the lines as they were being laid through corn and bean fields. I wondered about the welds in the lines. I wondered how the welds were tested. I am a welder, and have seen the inspection procedures that required that our laboratory to be evacuated as radioscopy was used on a line that was only 70 feet long. I have been assured that the lines are safe.
A thinned out mix of tar sand oil still contains abrasive components. When are we going to see a productive farm field turn black and dead from the very likely leaks? I don't know when, but I'm sure that it will happen. Fingers will be pointed, but the land will still be dead; the energy will still be lost.
You cited two examples, including Paul Ryan. Any stats on how many -- and which -- Republicans are doing this? I'm concerned that you may be painting the whole party with tar for the actions of a few. (And I'm a Democrat.)
Would we be expected to be the first reponders in the event that a huricane threatened them?
Here is a bit of "insider" history --
Back in the day (circa 1960's), my mother was the personal, executive secretary to a man name Rhea Howard. Now Rhea inherited, and all of his life ran, the only newspaper in Wichita Falls, Texas. As a result, he was a very close friend of Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ would often drop by the paper and meet with Rhea. He came to know and called my mom by her first name, gave her flowers, candy, birthday gifts, etc. Often mom would sit in on and take notes of meetings that Rhea and LBJ had.
The first time that LBJ came by to see Rhea, after he left office, mom was privy to the REAL reason he quit. As you may know, LBJ's political career was, beginning in 1941, completely financed by Brown & Root. When George Brown died, about 1962, Brown & Root was taken over by Halliburton. As you may also know, Halliburton/Brown & Root was one of (if not the only/main) contractor for the Viet Nam war. They were making fortunes off building bases, roads, airstrips, etc. in Viet Nam.
When Halliburton bought Brown & Root, LBJ was part of the package and he didn't like it worth a damn because Halliburton had NO intention of stopping the extremely profitable war. So, as LBJ told Rhea on afternoon, "The only way I could git out from under those hogs was to just quit suckin' on their tit." He saw that the longer he stayed, the more money Halliburton would siphon off from his "Great Society" and he REALLY wanted to leave a legacy for the poor and disadvantaged.
If corporations are people, they need to be prosecuted like people when they break laws, pay their taxes like people, follow the rules like people, not receive welfare unless they need it, clean up their messes when they leave them, treat others fairly and with respect, etc....
I'd compare this situation to a man having a sex change operation. He becomes a woman and gets to have the fun of being a woman--dressing up and using make-up--without suffering ANY of the REAL trappings of REAL womanhood.
CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE.
You don't really need to extend health benefits down to negative nine months of age; care for expectant mothers covers it.
All I can say is America doesn't need another jerk from Texas as president--we're still digging out of the hole the last dude left.
I agree. This is the number one thing we need in this country to begin really fixing anything. As D.R, says, "We have a bought government." We have to band together in some populist uprising or movement to demand our government make a constitutional amendment to end money in politics.
That will rattle the right-wingers on the Supreme Court who have rationalized the idea that "money = speech" is constitutional. It will also be news to Romney who said -- in Ames, Iowa -- that "corporations are people." Right. Just like Joseph Smith was a prophet.
This guy and the extremists he represents are not joking, and they WILL try to do what they say!
The good people of Texas (I almost married one, she and her people are real Americans) are helpless because ever since Karl Rover used Dubya's cuteness to rob Ann Richards of the governor's office, the state has been divided and sold to the lowest bidder. The laws are so altered that no citizen's effort seems possible, and the state supreme court is full of activist appointees of the perry.
These people hate and fear everything to do with America while wrapping that steaming pile in the flag. The Dominion Theology they would subsitiute for the Constitution is a mix of Caveman's superstitions and the Wild West/Railroad Baron era of the 1880s. Their "stone the virgin/revenge/holy war" mentality really predates the Old Testament (eg:, "an eye for an eye" replaced "kill his whole family" as a more measured response) and has the strange ideal that if you are born poor God must be punishing you for (whatever reason) so it's your fault. And if you are born of rich parents you must be one of the Elect, and a rightful ruler of the world.
They really want to take us back to an era when a black man could by lynched for "looking at a white woman"; when the black or the woman could not vote, own property, choose his or her lifestyle; when the Mexican, the "heathen Chinee", the Irish, the Italian, the Polish, the Peurto Rican, etc. were easy targets for an employer or a town to push around and use, etc.
I had a few teachers in junior high school who railed against smoking. My science teacher spoke of a close relative who was attached to a cigarette in nearly every photograph he was in. He also made insect killer from tobacco. Another teacher spoke of cigarettes and his addiction - he begged us to avoid the addiction because he had become addicted in WWII and just could not kick. None of that stopped me from smoking.
I finally quit when I was convinced that my family would suffer from my addiction.
Everyone quits smoking. Some quit before they die.
"Big Tobacco is demon from Hell." says Me-tea.
What are these "Graphic Images"? Pictures of blackened lungs, or cartoonish depictions of coffins, skull and crossbones? I don't know if I can agree with the concept, the spirit of the idea yes, but the actual results I just don't know. Its been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, depending on the picture put on the package, the interpretation may not be so obvious. What if they put a cross on the package saying its representative of a grave, sure that may be what is intended, but I may look at it and say hey Jesus wants me to smoke cigarettes. Now perhaps the graphic already determined and is quite straight forward and difficult to mistake, perhaps an image of the Grim Reaper put on it. My concern is that putting images on products to convey its dangers may be fine if the graphic is universal, but what do we do when we want to graphically convey the dangers of hi-fructose corn syrup, or partially hydrogenated oil, preservatives, etc... at a certain point the pictograms become irrelevant.
I think that the education of the effects of smoking has been quite adequate, and to a certain point there is a desire for the anti-smoking advocates to do just about anything to prevent people from ever wanting to pick up the habit. I don't smoke, I understand the consequences, most grade-school students understand the consequences. If someone today is going to go buy a pack of cigarettes for their first time, I seriously doubt that a graphic on the pack is going to make them suddenly think twice about it. I'd rather see the cigarette packages have a complete list of all the ingredients added to the tobacco, that would probably be far more scary to even current smokers and encourage them to drop the habit:
Picture that on the box.
N
The response to folks like Mitt Romney, when they glibly say "corporations are people" should be:
"A corporation is a person in the same sense that a flamethrower is a firefly."
Yes, I'm quoting myself again, and thanks for the book, Thom.
Of course, laughter and jeering at a town hall meeting works for liberals as well as conservatives. It would be nice if the corporate media would cover these things equally.
Well, it's true that Bernanke, as the head of a consortium of corporate banks that control America's money and credit, isn't exactly a patriot. Problem is, Rick Perry isn't a patriot either, and has no business being in politics. He should be performing autopsies on road kill, it's the only job he's suited for. No, wait- there's another job that Rick Perry is ideally suited for: professional wrestling. He can stand up there under the camera lights that he loves so much and yell and scream threats at other professional wrestlers and pretend to fight with them. Everyone will expect him to act like a psychotic clown, and he wil fulfill that expectation.
But I wouldn't have any problem with Perry being president, as long as when he, in his first five minutes in office, declares war on Syria or New York or whoever, he is a first lieutenant, leading the charge and taking bullets for the cause that he CLAIMS to believe in. But Rick Perry doesn't really believe in anything, and he would never personally fight for any of the causes that he SAYS he supports. He's just another lying monster in human clothing.
The rick perry (doesn't deserve the honor of a proper name) is little more than a bully that is a wholly owned subdidiary of foreign bodies who have proclaimed intention to destroy the US government by any means available.
The perry threatens little old men with violence for doing their jobs. Not even brave enough to face his "foe" in person, but uses TV to threaten the life of a US government official for doing his job. This is EXACTLY like Billow Riley being responsible for the murder of Dr. Tiller just as if he paid that loony money to do the job. (Whatever we may think of Mr. Bernanke or Dr. Tiller they are professionals doing a legal job these ersatz Christians have not been able to get outlawed.) Are we in an old mob movie where some little shopkeeper gets roughed up by the "boss" for not "playing ball"?
BTW: the perry, and Michelle Moonchild, and others are preaching this twised Dominion Theology. Look it up. It's a mess of Bronze Age prejudices and superstitions, a hatred of everyone and everything in "the world", and a suicidal desire for this Rapture to come any moment (that they think destroying the environment and wiping out whole populations is somehow fulfilling prophecy). They hate everything about the Constitution, the laws, and our "libertine" way of life. Their conception of the America they want to "take us back to" is something like a cross between the 1880s Gilded Age of the Robber Barons and a theocracy just like Iran under Khomeni and Achmedinnajad (or however their names are spelled).
Are we seeing the fulfillment of Robert Heinlein's darkest visions: the tele-evangelist Nehemiah Scudder who rose to power as the First Prophet, turning the US into a theocracy, pretty much taking the world back to the Dark Ages of Europe on steriods for centuries? Apparently it was so dark Heinlein couldn't bear to write it, and all we have is a few short passages in other stories and an outline. Sounds like the Third (or Fourth) Reich and it's mellenium of power that some still whisper about.
You are a fair poet Sketicrat. I wonder though why you didn't plant your roots in Texas whilst hitchhiking thru. There must have been something you did not like about those "fiercly independent freedom-loving constituents of Texas".
I believe Perry answered your question - Texas is the world's 13th larget economy - so they's dropped 4 ranks since your hitchhiking days. Outsourcing?
If Texas somehow managed to secede, they would most likely be reclaimed by Mexico. Texas would no longer benefit from the largest economy in the world, hence the US Military would not defend a turn-coat "lone wolf country". Of course when those Texans tried to escape into the United States of America - they would now be illegal aliens. hopefully the states bordering Mexico (Texas) would lock 'em up for a number of years without due process and eventually send 'em packin'.
Better Houston to have taken Mexico - but the gov't said "No - just disgrace them" and set a line at the Rio Grande.
FreeDictionary:
The United States has no specific law on secession, but the federal government and state governments maintain laws that punish Sedition and other forms of insurrection against the government. On the federal level, for example, chapter 115 of title 18 of the U.S. Code Annotated identifies Treason, rebellion, or insurrection, seditious conspiracy, and advocation of the overthrow of the government as criminal offenses punishable by several years of imprisonment and thousands of dollars in fines. These are the types of crimes that can be charged against persons who attempt to secede from the United States.
I am curious though - are you in favor of a second civil war? You know the first one killed more Americans than alll other wars combined.
Peace!
Perry is Bush on steroids... he's a bigger asshole (if that's possible), a more arrogant Texan, a faux Christian crusader taking advantage of desperate people and a state level killer licking his chops at the chance of becoming an international mass murderer like Bush. But as long as killers like Bush can waltz away from the presidency with no investigation and justice brought upon them, killers like Perry will always be potential threats to confiscating the US Presidency while further establishing the fascist (corporatism) state wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
Ironic that former bed fellow Bush's brain Karl Rove is at odds with Perry.
Gee, it so easy to be a fascist! Remember Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler? These are the heroes of the Right Gone Wrong . . . and, today,
Rick Perry is the Star Fascist of the States of America (sorry folks the mask is off, we are no longer United . . . sad). Watch him climb and watch his following . . . best that you know your enemy . . . as my wise latino grandfather always told me:
"TELL ME WHO YOU HANG AROUND WITH AND I'LL TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE"
I was hitchhiking through Texas back in the '80's and got picked up by a guy who was a Texan secessionist. He said that if Texas was considered an independent country, they would be the ninth richest country in the world. I don't know where they'd rank today, but Texans would likely stand to gain more than they would lose. You can't blame the fiercly independent freedom-loving constituents of Texas from wanting to get unshackled from the leftist ball-and-chain of Washington DC.
Frankly, I don't think we should pay any more attention to Perry that we should to Bachmann, Palin, Paul or Cain. I think they are all off the wall. The Repub establishment lets them yammer away and shoot themselves in the foot which they do every day. And when it gets really stupid, they put a little check on them. Even Rove opened his mouth today about Perry. I guess he can take Bachmann's faux pas about Presley on tomorrow, although that was so brainless it isn't even worth mentioning. They are all just a bunch of clowns.
Hmmm, Why would anyone be upset with the Federal Reserve for printing money?
I suppose that the Department of the Treasury has outsourced that function to save money. Sure, why not just let the banks print their own currency as they once did.
No wonder our electorate thinks replacing the most effective politician with someone from the other side might improve things. But then.... wasn't it a whole slew of folks from the other side that mishandled an awful lot of stuff. Not everything, but a whole bunch of things got so screwed up that the only way we'll dig out is if we stop throwing dirt on the folks in the hole.
.nuff said
Peace!
Rick Perry is digging a hole to place his own casket as a candidate. This man is too extreme to serve as president of the United States. The more often he speaks so imprudently the sooner his campaign will be buried. Only insane people will chose to follow this man. He is a male version of candidate Michelle Bachmann. How can a man who suggests that it would be good for Texas to secede from the United States run for president? People will not forget the imprudent comments he makes to get his name in the news. These terrible statements reveal the way he thinks; most Americans are better than he is and will reject his candidacy. He only succeeded in Texas because he got so much money from Texas billionaires . . . they apparently want to purchase another man in the White House as they did with George W. Bush. This time it will not work.
Philip Henderson, Ethical Magician
From Merriam Webster: Treason: the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance...
Bernanke aside, could a Fed Chairman by overt acts of monetary manipulation, attempt to overthrow the government to which he owes allegiance? Certainly the Fed Chairman is in a better position to do it than most people. What horrible problems could an inept chairman cause accidentally, or a cold and calculating chairman accomplish by design?
Some time ago while writing about a dream of death inspired by leftists and their policies I wrote:
..."They've" robbed me of spirit, of fortune, and cheer,
the networks still fill me with unfounded fear,
while skewing the news and adjusting the facts,
"they've" massacred all that I've ever held dear.
"They're" printing up laws in two-thousand page stacks,
and Federal Reservists from Goldman and Sachs,
are robbing the rest of us hard working slobs,
"they're" always the first to skip out on THEIR tax.
Such arrogant globalist, socialist snobs,
who've pulled the wrong strings and who've turned the wrong knobs.
asserting their actions were all for the best,
have ended up wiping out thousands of jobs....
I don't think this quantitative easing is for the best, and I don't think Bernanke is a fool. "Treasonous" could apply, but I think to prove it one would need to be able to demonstrate some dubious motive of the accused which a careful man in such a high position would not be likely to expose.