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It's the End of the World
Author: BobR    Date: 07/28/2010 11:53:56


Six O'Clock - TV hour,
Don't get caught in foreign towers,
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn...

-- It's the End of the World As We Know It, REM


Some days, writing this blog is easy, fun, and empowering. The passion and inspiration flow out my fingertips so quickly I can hardly type it all. Then there are days there is so much messed up shit going on I don't know where to begin, and fall into a malaise. This might be one of those days. I see news headlines and think: "It's the end of the world as we know it...". But I don't feel fine.

There's finally some light at the end of the pipeline - er, tunnel - down in the Gulf. The cap is holding and they've restarted drilling the relief well. Now they can really focus on cleaning up the mess... except: they can't. Why? Because a barge hit an abandoned oil well and started a new leak. No, I am not kidding. They should be able to cap it fairly easily, and the amount spilled is not huge... and they will be able to contain it with boom. So what's the problem? The problem is that all that boom is in the middle of the lanes the boats traverse when going to and from the slick from the BP well. Imagine a bunch of orange construction barrels blocking the road to the ER.

In case the land and water wasn't polluted enough, we have yet another spill, this time in Battle Creek Michigan:
The cause of spill is under investigation. The oil spilled into Talmadge Creek, which flows northwest into the Kalamazoo River. The site is in Calhoun County's Marshall Township, about 60 miles southeast of Grand Rapids.

"According to EPA officials, this is the largest oil spill ever in the Midwest," said Schauer. "The EPA is estimating 1 million gallons (spilled). ...

The cause is ostensibly a broken pipeline (which happened recently in China too). Ready for more drilling? How about Alaska's North Slope? No problem with leaking or breaking pipes. No problem with burning carbon fuels. No problem with climate change.

You may disagree with that last one if you lived in the northeast last week. We had temps over 100 and in the high 90s for several days (plus high humidity). The weather is crazy everywhere. Heavy rains in the midwest cause a dam to burst flooding a town and draining a lake. Waterfront property? How about mudflat front property?

While we're on a pollution kick, how about BPAs? Remember those? There's discussion in Congress about banning them from plastic water bottles. And yet - we still get exposed to them nearly every day via bank and cash register receipts:
The Environmental Working Group found BPA on 40 percent of the receipts it collected from supermarkets, automated teller machines, gas stations and chain stores. In some cases, the total amount of BPA on the receipt was 1,000 times the amount found in the epoxy lining of a can of food, another controversial use of the chemical.

Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the environmental group, says BPA's prevalence on receipts could help explain why the chemical can be detected in the urine of an estimated 93 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You'd think that would push Congress a little... but they aren't easy to push. Even with oil spilling faster than top-secret military documents, they still can't pass an energy bill without stripping it down to essentially "please replace incandescent bulbs with fluorescents". It's infuriating. Don't expect much luck with a "vote the bums out" approach either - they killed campaign finance reform so all the well-connected still have all the power necessary to get re-elected.

I guess it really isn't the end of the world. It just feels that way...

 

34 comments (Latest Comment: 07/28/2010 20:42:20 by Scoopster)
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Comment by BobR on 07/28/2010 12:22:14
ok - here's some good news from beyond our shores: Catalonia outlaws bullfighting

Comment by wickedpam on 07/28/2010 12:24:24
Morning

Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 12:41:47
Good Morning! Now may I just go cry in a corner?

Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 12:58:51
Today it's 100 days since the BP oil disaster...

Comment by wickedpam on 07/28/2010 13:11:58
Comment by TriSec on 07/28/2010 13:25:42
Ya know, I was all happy because the sun came up and the Sox won last night.



I'm sorry; I'll go rend my garments and throw dirt on my head now.





Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 13:34:22
Good morning, bloggers!!



BobR, we are having a lot of problems with our energy infrastructure. You might want to check Paul Krugman's column from Sunday on the failure to pass the energy bill.



Now, for a good news story that I posted at UNN. (I let the admins know a few names to look out for in case anyone registers. Feel free to contact me here, at AAP, RRMB, the Ed Schultz Show Message Board, or Facebook if you are having registration problems there.)



While it is not a world record for surviving a fall, a New Zealand teen is doing remarkably well after a 16-story fall. I imagine that his friends have to consider him the luckiest person they know.



Here are some details from the New Zealand Herald.

Report: Teen who survived 16-story fall walks days later



By Isaac Davison

4:00 AM Monday Jul 26, 2010



A teenager miraculously survived with minor injuries after falling 16 storeys from his family's Manukau City apartment through a carpark roof on to a concrete floor.



The 15-year-old was in a stable condition in Middlemore Hospital this morning, four days after the 40m- to 50m-plunge from the top floor of the Proximity Apartments in Amersham Way, near the Westfield Manukau mall.



He is believed to have suffered only a broken wrist, a broken rib, a gouged leg and internal injuries. Medical experts are amazed he was not killed.



The building manager, Jason Epps-Eades, said the carpark roof broke the boy's fall and probably saved his life. "He's going to be okay. It's just incredible that he survived."





Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 13:34:49
Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 13:38:23


Does America miss B*sh? It appears that they don’t.

Comment by TriSec on 07/28/2010 13:39:50
BTW, we got approved for MassHealth this week...so I guess some thanks is due to Governor Romney.







Comment by wickedpam on 07/28/2010 13:43:55
Quote by Raine:



Does America miss B*sh? It appears that they don’t.






the moustache just adds

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 13:49:30
This is perhaps appropriate for today's blog title:





Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 13:51:33
The last video is NOT safe for work, due to one expletive.



Let's hope that it is wrong. Although sometimes I wonder if some of the policies pursued by our societies in the pursuit of growth will lead to it. I just finished Thom Hartmann's The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, so I should try to write something about it soon.

Comment by Scoopster on 07/28/2010 13:51:59
Quote by Raine:



Does America miss B*sh? It appears that they don’t.


Rock on Minnesota!

Edit: Aaaand morning all! It's been a busy busy few days here and I missed you guys!

Comment by TriSec on 07/28/2010 13:57:03
Quote by Raine:

Say Tri, what do make of this?



Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College






Sounds like a good thing to me. I think elections have been skewed since the system moved to "winner take all". But wouldn't it be unconstitutional, I wonder? At the very least, the system should move back to proportional voting like what, two other states still do?





Comment by BobR on 07/28/2010 14:03:04
Quote by Will in Chicago:

This is perhaps appropriate for today's blog title:







Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 14:25:58
Okay, something weird happened just now with 99.9 FM, part of the WCPT stations. Part of the interview with the guy from Meida Matters looped for several minutes, interrupted by a beeping, then went back, then to an electronic noise. I turned the radio back on and the show was back. Did anyone else get this?

Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 14:36:30
Quote by Will in Chicago:

Okay, something weird happened just now with 99.9 FM, part of the WCPT stations. Part of the interview with the guy from Meida Matters looped for several minutes, interrupted by a beeping, then went back, then to an electronic noise. I turned the radio back on and the show was back. Did anyone else get this?


I am streaming out of Chicago, and it was fine here.

Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 14:39:46
Good news!!!



Obama Cancels Offshore Oil Lease Sales in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico

Feds Acknowledge Greater Environmental Protection Needed for Drilling



SAN FRANCISCO - July 27 - The Center for Biological Diversity praised the Obama administration's announcement today that it is cancelling two offshore oil and gas lease sales: one in the Atlantic off the coast of Virginia and another in the Gulf of Mexico. The Atlantic lease sale was part of a controversial area that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved for expanded offshore oil development after the Bush administration lifted the moratorium on drilling in the Atlantic. The Gulf of Mexico lease sale was scheduled to take place in mid-August.



"Obama's decision to cancel these lease sales recognizes that risky offshore drilling needs reform," said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center. "Halting controversial lease sales is among the most proactive steps that Obama has taken toward the Gulf disaster."


Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 14:51:40
Quote by Raine:

Quote by Will in Chicago:

Okay, something weird happened just now with 99.9 FM, part of the WCPT stations. Part of the interview with the guy from Meida Matters looped for several minutes, interrupted by a beeping, then went back, then to an electronic noise. I turned the radio back on and the show was back. Did anyone else get this?


I am streaming out of Chicago, and it was fine here.




Maybe it was just that one station? Chicago's Progressive Talk broadcasts out of 820 AM (weak 24 hour signal and source of the stream), 92.5 FM in the Western Suburbs, 92.7 FM, and 99.9 FM, from about 5 AM to 10 PM.

Comment by Al from WV on 07/28/2010 15:27:02
Quote by TriSec:

Quote by Raine:

Say Tri, what do make of this?



Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College






Sounds like a good thing to me. I think elections have been skewed since the system moved to "winner take all". But wouldn't it be unconstitutional, I wonder? At the very least, the system should move back to proportional voting like what, two other states still do?





Here's the problem... Quote from the article, as to what they believe they are accomplishing... "Presidential candidates now "ignore wide swaths of the country" they consider strong blue or red states and focus their campaigning on contested states, Eldridge said. If the president were picked by national popular vote, he argued, candidates would spread their attention out more evenly."



Calculate the populations of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and stop when you have names enough big cities so that (with their suburbs) you get to to 50% of the population of the US (and it won't take many). Those are your new battleground areas, even swap for the old ones. Same problem, same issue, EXCEPT that now the citizens in Alaska, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming don't matter at all, instead of only mattering a little bit.



The other issue, although I don't really expect it to resonate with much of anybody anymore, is that the fundamental structure of the United States is that of 50 sovereign states that yield a portion of that sovereignty to the federal government. Do this, and that fundamental structure is gone. That should be enough alone to make every American who loves their country cringe and fight against it like it was a uniformed invasion of the country's shores (because it is a legislative invasion of the country's structure). That won't happen, and the low rumbling you hear when this becomes widespread enough to be fact is the founding fathers rolling over in their graves because of the failure of the American Experiment.





Comment by BobR on 07/28/2010 15:35:41
Quote by Al from WV:

Quote by TriSec:

Quote by Raine:

Say Tri, what do make of this?



Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College






Sounds like a good thing to me. I think elections have been skewed since the system moved to "winner take all". But wouldn't it be unconstitutional, I wonder? At the very least, the system should move back to proportional voting like what, two other states still do?





Here's the problem... Quote from the article, as to what they believe they are accomplishing... "Presidential candidates now "ignore wide swaths of the country" they consider strong blue or red states and focus their campaigning on contested states, Eldridge said. If the president were picked by national popular vote, he argued, candidates would spread their attention out more evenly."



Calculate the populations of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and stop when you have names enough big cities so that (with their suburbs) you get to to 50% of the population of the US (and it won't take many). Those are your new battleground areas, even swap for the old ones. Same problem, same issue, EXCEPT that now the citizens in Alaska, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming don't matter at all, instead of only mattering a little bit.



The other issue, although I don't really expect it to resonate with much of anybody anymore, is that the fundamental structure of the United States is that of 50 sovereign states that yield a portion of that sovereignty to the federal government. Do this, and that fundamental structure is gone. That should be enough alone to make every American who loves their country cringe and fight against it like it was a uniformed invasion of the country's shores (because it is a legislative invasion of the country's structure). That won't happen, and the low rumbling you hear when this becomes widespread enough to be fact is the founding fathers rolling over in their graves because of the failure of the American Experiment.





I've always thought the best way to get even distribution of attention to all states is to have the large states use proportional apportioning of electoral votes and have small states use winner-takes-all. That way each state has approximately the same number ofelectoral votes in play for each party.



Comment by Al from WV on 07/28/2010 15:40:57
Quote by BobR:

Quote by Al from WV:

Quote by TriSec:

Quote by Raine:

Say Tri, what do make of this?



Mass. Legislature approves plan to bypass Electoral College






Sounds like a good thing to me. I think elections have been skewed since the system moved to "winner take all". But wouldn't it be unconstitutional, I wonder? At the very least, the system should move back to proportional voting like what, two other states still do?





Here's the problem... Quote from the article, as to what they believe they are accomplishing... "Presidential candidates now "ignore wide swaths of the country" they consider strong blue or red states and focus their campaigning on contested states, Eldridge said. If the president were picked by national popular vote, he argued, candidates would spread their attention out more evenly."



Calculate the populations of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and stop when you have names enough big cities so that (with their suburbs) you get to to 50% of the population of the US (and it won't take many). Those are your new battleground areas, even swap for the old ones. Same problem, same issue, EXCEPT that now the citizens in Alaska, Delaware, DC, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming don't matter at all, instead of only mattering a little bit.



The other issue, although I don't really expect it to resonate with much of anybody anymore, is that the fundamental structure of the United States is that of 50 sovereign states that yield a portion of that sovereignty to the federal government. Do this, and that fundamental structure is gone. That should be enough alone to make every American who loves their country cringe and fight against it like it was a uniformed invasion of the country's shores (because it is a legislative invasion of the country's structure). That won't happen, and the low rumbling you hear when this becomes widespread enough to be fact is the founding fathers rolling over in their graves because of the failure of the American Experiment.





I've always thought the best way to get even distribution of attention to all states is to have the large states use proportional apportioning of electoral votes and have small states use winner-takes-all. That way each state has approximately the same number ofelectoral votes in play for each party.



I think there is a fair amount of good sense in that idea. One would hope that sensible leaders would see that and it would simply happen because of good leadership throughout the various states. That, however, leads me back to my lack of leadership and lack of ability to recognize/elect it where it does exist rant, and you've all heard that before, so I stop here.

Comment by Scoopster on 07/28/2010 15:48:18
Interesting article..



Of course, then you remember that the Teabaggers would be motivated to create a Ayn Rand-themed MMO...



Comment by livingonli on 07/28/2010 15:53:56
Good morning folks. A former colleague of mine was bartending last night and I went to see him so I ended up being out late last night. I'm not hung over but my body's feeling the sleep issue this morning.

Comment by TriSec on 07/28/2010 16:17:56
Av-dorkery....this was just an aviation footnote until September 11.





A United States military plane crashes into the Empire State Building on this day in 1945, killing 14 people. The freak accident was caused by heavy fog.



The B-25 Mitchell bomber, with two pilots and one passenger aboard, was flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City. As it came into the metropolitan area on that Saturday morning, the fog was particularly thick. Air-traffic controllers instructed the plane to fly to Newark Airport instead.



This new flight plan took the plane over Manhattan; the crew was specifically warned that the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the city at the time, was not visible. The bomber was flying relatively slowly and quite low, seeking better visibility, when it came upon the Chrysler Building in midtown. It swerved to avoid the building but the move sent it straight into the north side of the Empire State Building, near the 79th floor...





Comment by TriSec on 07/28/2010 16:26:11
Ah, and more av-dorkery.



First flight of my baby, in 1935!



http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/web/040130-F-9999B-001.jpg


Comment by TriSec on 07/28/2010 17:06:28
Hey Ridley, got any Beemans?





Comment by Scoopster on 07/28/2010 17:49:08
Comment by Raine on 07/28/2010 18:45:10
Quote by livingonli:

Good morning folks. A former colleague of mine was bartending last night and I went to see him so I ended up being out late last night. I'm not hung over but my body's feeling the sleep issue this morning.


Glad you got out and had a little fun, Liv!

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 18:51:37






This is indeed good news. Later, I will see what the Phoenix New Times has on it.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 19:32:04
TriSec has been posting some great links on the messageboards at UNN. They are worth checking out.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 07/28/2010 20:25:56
Maybe it is time for a new poll on the site, as Sarah Palin has been out of office for a while?

Comment by Scoopster on 07/28/2010 20:42:20
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