HURRICANE IRENE PART I

Day 1 Saturday

Batten down the hatches, she’s on the way…already made landfall in NC, about 7:45 a.m.  200,000 people without power already, 3 tornadoes touched down in NC, six houses damaged by one tornado; a death in NC, apparent heart attack while preparing for storm; death in VA, a surfer—they would, wouldn’t they?

Amy and Lloyd have decided to stay at their cottage on the bay, Amy in particular loves storms, Lloyd would err on the side of caution, but I guess he wouldn’t want to leave her there alone.  Austin and Julia are staying at the house in Quaint Acres, with the dog, Snowball, and cat, Kagan.  Amy says their house is 18 feet above sea level, so she feels they are safe.  She is setting up the webcam so that we can watch what is going on.  Of course, I will worry about them.

I had emailed Bruce in New York, wondering if he was in the evacuation zone and what precautions they were taking, but it seems he and family are vacationing on Nantucket Island, and are planning to stay there.  I have not heard of any evacuation orders for that area, but I did see a clip of empty ferry boats heading to Martha’s Vineyard to bring people into the mainland.  Of course, I will worry about them.

I emailed Chuck, in Florida, to see how he was doing and asking him to keep safe.  He emailed me back from New York to say he was there instead, and was hunkering down quite safely, he thought.  Of course, I will worry about him.

How come everyone is in the wrong place?

I love the ocean,  I love the crashing waves when the wind or a storm comes in.  I love the ocean in all weather and season, not just the summer.   So I can understand when people want to be there—especially people who live there through all seasons—it must be hard to give it up for a while, to go to some lesser place.

Early afternoon, Saturday, here, there has been fitful sun, or perhaps I should say, fitful clouds, but now it is getting really overcast, and the wind is picking up.  Bear, the big dog, is very restless.  He does not like thunder storms, and can often anticipate them, but there is not thunder or really any unusual portents at the moment.

Mama Peeps and her babies are coming up from the pond now, so I shall go down to the barn and shut them in the pen.  I like to be sure they are secure when a storm is coming up, rather than on the loose.  I worry anyway when they are down at the pond, have lost two many ducks and ducklings there.  But who can deprive them of this great pleasure in their lives?

I am really impressed with the accounts from FEMA’s Fugate, DHS’s Napolitano, NYC’s Bloomberg, and others up and down the coast about their extensive and intensive plans for this storm, “Preparation, Response, Recovery” they call it.   Mayor Bloomberg has a great command of person and language when he is explaining what they are doing, what they will do, and telling people what they must do.   Mass Trans shut down, possibly bridges if winds pick up, utilities if there is flooding, areas evacuated, especially nursing home residents and the elderly, boats at the ready for rescue, shelters open for 70,000 people, though he says they may be a little short on beds.  National Guard called in.  Nearly all states with mandatory evacuation for residents of islands and low lying areas.  Maybe people did learn something from Katrina.  Several states have requested from the administration, proactively, emergency disaster declaration. 

There Must be a Plan

Although I have heard no forecast about any possible effects in this area from the hurricane, I know we do often get wind and rain on the side, so I decide to follow my own disaster plan.  Who knows?  Perhaps out of solidarity with those who must do so seriously.

It goes without saying that I had contemplated an emergency run into town the first thing this morning, but I really couldn’t think of anything I needed that badly.  Plenty of poultry feed, bird seed, dog and cat food.  Milk, bread, ketchup, and bath tissue.  Freezer and pantry full, hardly likely to run out of food anytime soon.

I gather up lawn furniture and bring them up onto the porch, turn over the round table and leave it where it is, fold up the Weber grill and leave it where it is, but don’t do anything with the big gas grill. Take down the hammock, roll it up and put it on the porch.  Take down hanging baskets on the front porch and tuck them away at the back of the porch, behind the furniture.    Check security of trash cans.  Make sure poultry feeders and waterers are full in case I can’t make it down to the barn for a day or so.  Check for batteries in flash light and weather alert/radio.  Check the wind-up radio, it doesn’t work.  Fresh water in thermoses.    Propane lantern handy.  Landline phone plugged in.   Don’t forget to put flashlight by bed.   (I did.  Forget, that is.)

And as well, cooked myself a good supper that will provide three or four meals, though I am fortunate in having a gas stove so I can still cook if power goes off.  Supper of veal meat loaf, vegetarian jambalaya, and a zucchini, tomato, and cheese dish. 

Ah well, it’s all a good exercise.  A dry run. 

2:14  wind and rain, heavy rain, wind NW, our forecast did not say anything about wind or rain today.  For about a half hour.

6:30  wind and rain again, for about a half hour.

About 2 million evacuated on east coast, some refuse to go.  NJ Governor Christie exhorting those in Atlantic City to leave, “You’ve got enough tan…Get the h--- off the beach.”  Kind of silly, but as the day wore on he handled the situation commendably and with stature, giving details of preparations being taken for the storm.  In Atlantic City some 600 elderly had refused to leave, and one reporter interviewed some in a condo, where 92 refused to evacuate.  What feisty little old ladies, (was that a man in the background?) elegantly dressed and coifed, saying, in effect, “H--- no, we won’t go.”  They felt that they were safe, and one of them said that people had come by begging them to leave, ready to evacuate them, but the places they could be taken to were worse than where they were (which engendered visions of  them sleeping on cots in a gymnasium, lining up for meals at food laden tables, accepting doled out water—unthinkable!!).  You go, Girls.  I mean, You Stay Girls, more power to you.  And if you are swept away in the storm, you will have no regrets.  Way to go.  Or not.

Why is it that, after a hurricane, no one ever goes back to interview those recalcitrants who refused to leave, to see how they fared and if they regret their decision, or if they thumb their noses at those cowards who left?

What if we didn’t have NOAA and the attendant satellite/forecasting system to tell us a hurricane was coming?  What if we didn’t have FEMA/DHS/Coast Guard/National Guard/Police and fire departments/mayors and governors to do the PRR (Preparation/Response/Recovery)?  And the media to help us keep track of what’s going on?  Government to do what we, as individuals and communities with all the best intent in the world, could not organize and accomplish on such a scale by ourselves.  Because government is the people.  They are us.  We are them.  Of the people, by the people, for the people.

Good night, all.  Keep safe, sleep well, keep in touch.

GREAT AUGUST EARTHQUAKE 2011 PART II

West Coasters are pleased to laugh at us for our “over” reaction to this earthquake, just as we would laugh at them for their “over” reaction to six inches of snow, but this is not to be taken lightly.   The Washington Monument sustains several prominent cracks (though it is not tilting as Fox News reported, but did we believe that?), the Washington Cathedral has damage that could cost in the millions of dollars to fix, and they have no insurance.   Many other buildings damaged.  Water pipes broken at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt and Pentagon.  Roads, rails, and bridges mostly seem to be intact.  Renewed concern about the safety of nuclear reactors.  In Louisa County, officials counted four houses within five miles of the epicenter destroyed, another 65 with severe damage, and 125 with moderate damage.  Schools in the area are closed till September 12 to repair damage.  Estimates of the damage from this earthquake range from $10 to $100 million.  But that may be low-ball estimates.

Some people whose property is damaged by the earthquake may be shocked to find their homeowner insurance does not cover earthquakes.  Or other natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods—you had better check your policy now.  You probably have to buy a separate rider for these possibilities.  But good luck with that now—this earthquake probably will be cited as “pre-existing condition!”  I wonder if evacuation of the city, everyone leaving at once, was done as wisely as could be, but I don’t know if the gridlock was really that much worse than usual “rush hour” traffic.  Perhaps one of you kept track of that?  Rail service in the DC area was slowed, because of concern about damaged tracks, just at a time when it would be most needed.  What about all those government workers and others who depend on rail to get home?  There must have been a huge out flux of tourists and visitors, since all museums and monuments closed.  Do they have a plan for such contingencies?  It seems to me that some kind of rolling evacuation, dismissing an area at a time, perhaps beginning at the periphery, might be wiser.   What would they do if they had to evacuate the whole city on short notice?  Does Homeland Security just say “GO!”

So what triggered the earthquake?  Was it just time for another? 

 I heard someone say that the earthquake was caused by the Founding Fathers rolling over in their graves!

 A friend of mine quipped that it was an Act of God, in order to create more jobs for construction workers!

 Rev Pat Robertson thinks the earthquake is a sign of the end times—noting that the cracks in the Washington Monument could be a sign from God.

 Someone else thought it might be punishment for Rep Eric Cantor, in whose district  was the epicenter of the earthquake, who had said after the Joplin MO tornado, that indeed government might help with recovery effort, but that there would have to be comparable cuts in the budget elsewhere.  Indeed, after the earthquake, he appeared in his district to reassure his constituents that of course the government would help, but there would have to be cuts elsewhere to pay for the help.   

 I emailed Valerie, in Spokane, when I heard that MLKjr memorial, which was holding opening ceremonies, had to evacuate,   “ How long will it take the right wingers to say that the earthquake and Hurricane Irene are God’s  punishment for the installation of MLKjr memorial on the Washington Mall?  I think opening ceremonies were today, I understand people had to run out of the building when the earthquake hit, and the big dedication is this weekend, when Irene is likely to hit.

Watch for it…”

 But I haven’t really heard that one yet.  Although yesterday (Thursday) a commenter on a blog raised that very same question.

But more seriously [it was bound to come], the publisher of the conservative website WorldNetDaily, Joseph Farah, writes, "Washington, D.C., deserves more than the wallop it got today [because of declining morals]. It needs a much bigger shaking up than it got." And a Brooklyn rabbi, Yehuda Levin, blamed the earthquake on the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, citing the Talmud as saying that “one of the reasons that God brings earthquakes to the world is because of the transgression of homosexuality.”  But I expect He could find plenty of transgressions that need punishing.  Why does no one ever suggest that He sends these calamities to punish us for our wars/invasions/occupations?  Or because we have the death penalty?  Perhaps he is punishing us for allowing 1% of the population to control 80% of the wealth of the country, for allowing such a disparity between the rich and the poor?  Or perhaps because our legislators are bought by corporations, or because those corporations dare to buy and own the government?  Perhaps he in punishing the oil,  gas, and coal industry for polluting our air, water, and land?   Perhaps he is just trying to wake us up to our follies in carrying our “dominion over the earth” to the extremes of destroying it ourselves, by showing that He can do it even faster?
And as to acts of man, I have read in the past that such things as constructing a dam, with all its weight, can increase frequency of earthquakes.  Such things as injection wells and fracking have been cited as causes, as recently in Arkansas.  (See http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/312-16/7166-fracking-could-have-caused-east-coast-earthquake).  Perhaps, in some vulnerable areas, the mere weight of the huge cities we build.  Do we tempt fate?  I caught something in passing, about a plan to build a huge new facility at Los Alamos, but, because the ground there is volcanic ash, which is very soft, they would have to remove all of that ash and replace it with tons of concrete.

Anyway, this gives us plenty to ponder, as we await the next great catastrophe, Hurricane Irene.

GREAT AUGUST EARTHQUAKE 2011 Part I

So, what are they going to call this earthquake, which occurred at 1:51 p.m. on Tuesday, August 23, 2011, was felt in 22 eastern states, where live about one-third of the population of the United States.

The first I knew about this great earthquake was when Dale called a little after 2 p.m., from the house where she is house-sitting, in Slanesville.  “Mom, have you heard anything about an earthquake?”  She said there had been a rumble and the house started shaking, and the chandelier was swaying.  She had thought at first it might be a passing truck, but from where she was she shouldn’t have been affected by a truck passing on the county road.

I then checked google news, and tv news, and heard the account of the 5.8 category earthquake, centered in Louisa County VA, and felt in about 22 states from Georgia to Ohio, and affecting a third of the population of the United States .  People evacuating buildings everywhere, In DC and New York and elsewhere, though since then I have heard that during an earthquake you should stay inside.  But what do we Easterners know?

I had felt nothing, and in response to email and phone queries, I could find no one else on Rannells Road who had felt anything, but heard from persons in Capon Bridge, including Harry,  who was sitting in his car at Capon Bridge Market and thought there was something the matter with the car when it started shaking, and Elaine, who said: the house shuddered -- I thought maybe it was an explosion somewhere at first -- it lasted here about 40 seconds -- then, I remembered that I had felt the same thing when we lived in Vancouver, B.C. and realized it was an earthquake.  Augusta, including Mike, who has a crack in a second story ceiling where tape pulled apart, Slanesville, Kirby, Burlington, Levels, Paw Paw, Stoney Mountain, and Romney--at the Courthouse, Sheriff’s Department, and Committee on Aging.  Jersey Mountain Road.  At  Mountain Top and at the Regional Jail.  From people who had been in Cumberland or Short Gap at the time.  Rick, up Grassy Lick Road, did not feel anything, but Bill, across the road on Nathaniel Mountain, was sitting out in his tepee and thought a bear had gotten in under the floor.  Scary!    One of our Hampshire young people who is now living in Morgantown felt it there, some people had things fall, tall buildings especially felt the sway, and buildings at WVU were evacuated.  She commended the local emergency system and radio station, who were on the ball notifying people and checking up on experiences.  Someone suggested that the closer you were to a river or water source, the stronger the tremors were, can anyone else bear that out?   

Elsewhere, my son-in-law, Lloyd, at Goddard was working in the basement of the building at the time, and experienced the surreal sensation of rolling waves below him and at the same time awareness of the huge building above him.  Son Bruce and his family were in his office in a 15-story building in New York, and felt the building sway.  That passed and they went on with their work, but the Courthouse next door, and other buildings around them were evacuated.  Halle writes, from Annapolis:  I was very scared.  I was talking to someone at the front desk and I thought someone was moving stuff upstairs and then I saw the glass doors shaking and the whole building.  We went to an inner office without windows and got under a table and we could feel the floor shaking.  Then someone pulled the fire alarm so we went down the stairs (we are on the 2nd floor) and headed outside.  By then it had ended.   Halle was especially worried about her boys at home; they told her afterwards that the little dogs freaked out.  And Amy, on the bay:  My office of 25 people had just stepped onto a sailboat for a 3 hr. bay adventure (reward for working hard) when it happened and then immediately everyone got flooded with texts about it, though we felt nothing ourselves.  And yes, of course we continued our adventure. 

My brother, Jack, in Lebanon, Penn thought his wife had overloaded the washer, but when he checked, it was empty.  His wife, who was in the yard, felt nothing.    My niece, Donna, who lives about 19 miles from the epicenter of the quake, had some pictures fall off the wall and some glass breakage, but others in the area fared worse.  (See in Part 2).  Niece Tami, in Martinsburg, on the top floor of a three-story building, felt the tremor before the rumble, and a co-worker who was in the restroom at the time said all the automatic toilets flushed.  Great-nephew, Cody,  attending college in North Carolina about 350 miles from the epicenter was on the 4th floor of the Bio bldg and says the whole thing swayed for several seconds.   Elaine’s son in Richmond, who is a psychiatric social worker, was sitting with a client in his office, when things fell off the shelf, etc. He said he didn't have time to react, because he had to comfort his client who was quite shaken in more ways than one.  Her daughter in Columbia, MD, felt it at work, but others in the area did not.  My sister, Lois, in Hagerstown could see the loveseat, on which she was sitting, moving back and forth from the wall, but her son elsewhere in the same city felt nothing.  Brian, in Augusta, who had lived through earthquakes in California, ran outside and could see his house swaying.  His wife Val, working at FEMA in Winchester, says their building shook BIG TIME, they evacuated for about an hour, then returned to work.   They had to!!  They're FEMA, after all.

It is amazing to think of how such events, lasting only seconds, impinge themselves on our memories, while our minds try out and discard several theories as to what is going on, before we settle on the right one, or perhaps, only find out  later.  And though we come through unscathed, those few seconds make us feel an affinity with others, even those who may suffer far more than we do.

Texas a Model for the Nation

It seems that Texas does do something right; this program should be a model for the nation, not just for states but perhaps for federal regulation.  Some interesting history here, including that this regulation is written into the state Constitution, which explains why Gov Perry and his predecessor didn't, because they couldn't, undo it.  The following is excerpted from http://mediamatters.org/research/201108220034?lid=1178083&rid=63138410  

Strict Home-Loan Regulation Helped Shield Texas From Housing Boom And Bust

Wash. Post: "Tight Regulation Of Home Equity Loans" And "Tightly Regulated" Mortgage Lenders Helped Shield Texas From Housing Bubble.From The Washington Post:

Texas was shielded from the worst of the housing-market bust by the state government's tight regulation of home equity loans, which were not permitted until the late 1990s and are limited to 80 percent of a homeowner's equity. Elsewhere, property owners often took out riskier home equity loans and mortgages that left them financially crippled when housing prices collapsed, causing damaging ripples across the economy.
At the same time, mortgage lenders in Texas are tightly regulated, which prevented abuses that were prevalent in many parts of the country. Taken together, the regulations helped keep Texas housing prices in check. [The Washington Post, 8/20/11]

Wash. Post: Housing Problems In Texas "Are Orders Of Magnitude Less Than They Would Have Been Without The Home-Equity Limits." From The Washington Post:

But there is a broader secret to Texas's success, and Washington reformers ought to be paying very close attention. If there's one thing that Congress can do to help protect borrowers from the worst lending excesses that fueled the mortgage and financial crises, it's to follow the Lone Star State's lead and put the brakes on "cash-out" refinancing and home-equity lending.
A cash-out refinance is a mortgage taken out for a higher balance than the one on an existing loan, net of fees. Across the nation, cash-outs became ubiquitous during the mortgage boom, as skyrocketing house prices made it possible for homeowners, even those with bad credit, to use their home equity like an ATM. But not in Texas. There, cash-outs and home-equity loans cannot total more than 80 percent of a home's appraised value. There's a 12-day cooling-off period after an application, during which the borrower can pull out. And when a borrower refinances a mortgage, it's illegal to get even a dollar back. Texas really means it: All these protections, and more, are in the state constitution. The Texas restrictions on mortgage borrowing date from the first days of statehood in 1845, when the constitution banned home loans.
[...]
Until 1998, Texans couldn't take out home-equity loans at all. The roots of this fierce resistance to debt's temptations go deep in Texas history. Seven years before the republic joined the Union in 1845, many homesteaders lost their property because of a bank panic and the resulting foreclosures. Drawing from Mexican codes protecting landholders, the new constitution of the state of Texas forbade lenders from peddling mortgages to homesteaders.
The home-equity restrictions have not only helped keep cash-out refinances a rare breed in Texas; other risky mortgages were scarce there, too. The home-equity borrowing restrictions helped keep home prices from overinflating, and home buyers therefore didn't need to turn to exotic mortgages with such features as 2/28 ARMs, interest-only payments, or negative amortization in order to buy a home. Even when they did, Texas law requires these risky features to be clearly disclosed. Fewer than 20 percent of Texas subprime mortgages included any of them.
That's not to say that Texas borrowers didn't get into bubble trouble. Plenty bought overpriced houses, which is why one in eight Texans now owe more than their home is worth. And it was easy enough for lenders to get around the home-equity borrowing limits by using creative appraisals that pretend a home is worth more than it really is. But the casualties are orders of magnitude less than they would have been without the home-equity limits. [The Washington Post, 4/4/10]

The Good Life

In the comic strip “For Better or Worse,” the little boy, shopping with his mother for school supplies, asks her, “How come we gotta go back to school so soon?  Why can’t we have 2 months of school an’ 6 months of holidays?”  Mom replies: “Because then you’d be a very old man by the time you graduated.”  Says the little boy, “Yeah, but I woulda had a good life!”

For those of you who are returning to school—grade school, high school, college, post grad…may you have a good life anyway.”

A Run for the Sunday Papers

A Run for the Sunday Papers

One of the blessings of living in rural West Virginia is the difficulty of getting newspaper delivery.  I can get daily delivery of Cumberland Times-News, and the weekly Hampshire Review is delivered by mail, one day late.  If I want to subscribe to the daily Martinsburg Journal, which I have done intermittently, it would have to be by mail, arriving one day late.

But Sunday papers require a run to the store, and you have to hope you make it there before they run out.  The most convenient place if I want only the Washington Post is Slanesville General Store, which is just 8 miles away.  Or I could make the trip to Mountain Top Truck Stop, which is about 11 miles.  The first couple of years after I moved here, I made it a Sunday ritual to do my weekly grocery shopping at the Food Lion, just east of Mountain Top, pick up a donut and coffee there (I know, I know, I can make coffee at home), and the Washington Post.  But they quit carrying the Post, and then the coffee, and then the donuts.  Now, although they reinstated the coffee pot, they still don’t have single donuts or pastries, and still don’t carry the paper, so if I do go shopping there, I still have to make a stop at Mountain Top to get the paper.

More recently, because I also want to pick up the New York Times, I have been making the run to Sheetz in Romney, which is another couple of miles.  And I have to go really, really early, like by 7 a.m., if I want to be sure to get a copy.  They don’t get more than three copies, so they disappear quickly, which makes me puzzle over why they don’t get more.  So my run culminates in a charge of $11.02, for the Post, the NYT, and Journal, and a doughnut.  Preferably a chocolate covered, custard-filled one.  One recent Sunday when I arrived there at 7:15 they were out of the NYT and the custard-filled donut.  Bummer.  I might as well have gone to Slanesville.  Two weeks ago they posted a notice that they were no longer going to carry the daily Post and NYT, that the number of copies taken was not worth the stop.  And this is on Route 50, for Pete’s Sake. 

But this morning I didn’t make the run at all.  Hard to justify sometimes, a gallon at least of gas just to pick up the papers.  And donut.  I could buy a book for that total.  After all, I can read the papers online.  But it’s just not the same as holding the real, honest-to-gosh newspapers in my hands.  Sigh.

We are creatures of nurture, perhaps.  I remember long ago, when I was a child and we lived in Prince George’s County Maryland, about 30 miles from DC.  My dad, a Marine, was stationed at Navy Department in Arlington.  At that time, we got home delivery of Washington Post, and every day on the way home from work Dad stopped and picked up the Times-Herald, the Evening Star, and the Daily News.   This was really, really important to him, so it is not surprising that it should still be really, really important to his daughter.   

Rick Perry Slander on Scientists--taken back

I have modified the following news item.   I have crossed out some words in the original, and added some of my own, all of which are italicized.

Rick Perry Slander - 'A Substantial Number of Climate Scientists Who Have Manipulated Data'

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 04:00 PM PDT

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry suggested Wednesday that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by scientists who are motivated by cash.

"There are a substantial number of scientists pseudo scientists , think tanks, Republican legislators, and right-wing talking heads, who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects pockets from the oil, coal, and gas industry," the Texas governor told a group of supporters at the "Politics and Eggs" Breakfast in Bedford, New Hampshire.

"I think we are seeing it almost weekly or even daily, pseudo scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea, from real scientists, that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change," Perry added. "Yes, our climate has changed. They And it has been changing for ever since the Earth was formed, but never more so than now since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution."

"But I do not buy into a group of pseudo scientists, who have been, in some cases, found to be manipulating this information. And the cost to the country and to the world of not implementing these anti-carbon programs is in the billions if not trillions of dollars at the end of the day. And I don't think, from my perspective of ignorance, that I want America to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory, even though it may be based on substantive investigation and evidence, that has not been proven, although of course, by the time it is, it will be too late, and from my oblivious perspective, is more and more being put into question."

“Also,” he went on to say, “I don’t believe the earth is round, because, if  it were, then when I shine this flashlight in that direction, straight ahead, the light from it would go all around the earth and shine on my backside.”

Municipal governments have no say

These were posted at Mike Hasty's hampshireindependent.blogspot.com on Saturday.

I must confess I am completely baffled that a municipality has not the right to decide what industry to allow in their city.  Councils are elected to serve the citizens, to protect the citizens, the city, the environment.  One would think.  But clearly corporatocracy rules.  It doesn't bear thinking about. 

Gramma Windy

Citizen setbacks

The efforts of local West Virginia citizens to exert some control over Marcellus gas drilling in their own communities received two serious blows this week.

The first one came Tuesday night, when industry pressure convinced the Wellsburg city council to rescind its fracking ban.

http://www.wvmetronews.com/news.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=47084

The second occurred yesterday, when a Monongalia County circuit court judge ruled that "the ordinance passed by the city of Morgantown [banning fracking within one mile of the city limits] is pre-empted by state legislation and is invalid." City officials are reviewing their options. You can find the story here:

http://www.frackcheckwv.net

 

http://wvgazette.com/News/201108151613 

Biodiesel Plant Proposed for Hampshire County

Perhaps some of you residents of Hampshire County WV have heard of this project, as it has been written about in the local Hampshire Review weekly, and this past week, August 10, saw many letters and an ad of protest about the project.    Following is some info sent out by a citizen about a demonstration to be held on Wednesday, the 17th, at 7 p.m., at the Courthouse in Romney.

Do You Own Property or Live in or Near The Potomac Highlands?

Do You Live east (downwind) of Romney, West Virginia

Do you love clear sky, clean air and water?

You are about to lose it if you do not act now!

Get informed… Get organized before it’s too late?

We have news about a waste processing company that has entered into an agreement with the Stump family on River Road. Thermoselect is the company name of the waste incineration/gasification company that is planning to build a 20 acre building 5 stories high less than 1/2 mile from Romney on River Road along the South Branch of the Potomac.

The Stump family has formed a corporation and the plant will be located on their existing farm. The plant is supposed to process garbage and industrial waste from NY, NJ etc. 2000 tons of this garbage will be brought in by truck and rail every day. It will use 200,000 (or up to 400,000) gallons of water a day to cool the process. The waste water produced could be catastrophic to our river not to mention the dioxin and heavy metals, cyanide and other noxious chemicals that will be produced by this facility.

 The plant is supposed to be 20 acres under roof with another 20 acres of lighted woodyard along River Road. The night sky will not be seen any longer, the drive along River Road will be industrial, the traffic noises of trucks and rail cars banging will be all night long. An offline for the train and new bridge across the river will be built for this. We are told the plant will use 2000 acres of woodland for fuel and 50 million gallons of natural gas to run it per year.
Please go to the following link for environmental information:

http://www.greenaction.org/incinerators/documents/Factsheet_ThermoselectRealityCheck.pdf

Please google Thermoselect which is the name of the company. Please note that the Karlsruhe plant and the plant in Italy are closed. The only working plants are in Japan whose DEP is nearly non existent. 

If this is such a safe process, then why isn't this plant being built in NY or NJ where the garbage is being made?  We have children and grandchildren who live in this area and want safe water and air and a clean environment for them.  

West Virginians unite and don't allow our state to be a dumping ground for toxic trash.

We are just finding out about the plans for this plant that have been in the works since March. We need your help to keep our river and environment clean and safe for future generations.

The Hampshire County planning commission meets this Wed at 7 pm at the courthouse in Romney WV.  It is too late to be on the agenda, BUT we are obtaining a city permit to assemble and hope to have a show of support with as many participants as possible.  Bring signs of your choosing. 

TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS TO ASSEMBLE ON WED AS A SHOW OF SUPPORT.  WE NEED VISIBILITY!!!!! 

Take a look at this site: http://www.no-incinerator.org/  Citizens in Frederick MD were SUCCESSFUL with this campaign and a friend suggested we emulate their approach:  website + yard signs + door hangers + ads in the newspapers + phone calls/personal contacts --not unlike a political campaign.  After you look at this page (the full page add they ran), be sure to click past the ad and go to the home page to see the example of the door hangers and other info links. 

Information Provided by Patty Anderson, Romney WV     

A Moment from Republican Debate

If you watched the debate among the eight Republican candidates for president on Thursday night, you would have caught this amazing moment, as discussed below by Mark Karlin, of Buzzflash.  Would have been interesting if they had also asked: "How many of you do not believe in global warming/climate change?"

Gramma Windy

How radical and cultish are the declared Republican candidates for president?

The answer is clear from a question that came 48 minutes into the FOX sponsored Iowa "debate" on Thursday.

According to a TIME magazine blog of the event, the moderator, FOX's Bret Baier, asked "everyone to raise their hand if they would oppose a debt deal that offered $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Everyone raises their hand, though Pawlenty's hand bobs up and down a bit."

In one infamous moment of ignorant and cowardly group-think the radical and destructive financially anarchistic outlook of the GOP was revealed.

"No new taxes (or really no taxes)" has been the lynch mob call to arms (and votes) for national Republican candidates for years, but it has reached a feverish and pernicious pitch.

Think about it, all the GOP candidates for the presidency (and Rick Perry and Sarah Palin would have held their hands up too, you can be sure), would turn down, let's say, a trillion in cuts in federal spending if they had to also vote for just 1/10th of that amount in tax increases on millionaires and billionaires.

The rational responses to this craven tomfoolery are too numerous to detail in a short commentary. Suffice it to say, the anti-tax mantra has become a political/religious symbol that defies logic or common sense. In a time when the nation is beset by enormous financial problems, it is a placebo pill that removes the challenge of finding multi-faceted and inventive solutions to an immensely complex problem.

By raising their hands in unison in opposition to a modest increase in taxes on the most wealthy, big oil, and hedge funds (because that is whom a $1 in tax increases for $10 in revenue would likely affect), the GOP candidates affirmed themselves as snake oil salesmen. And snake oil doesn't cure anything; it only enriches the person selling it (or in this case, might help them attain the power to run America).

As the TIME blog noted at 121 minutes into the exchange in Iowa, "Baier mercifully ends it all."

But unfortunately, it was only the debate that concluded. The long delusional nightmare for America continues.

Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout

Portrait by a Neighbor

Edna St. Vincent Millay - Portrait By a Neighbor

Before she has her floor swept Or her dishes done, Any day you'll find her A-sunning in the sun! It's long after midnight Her key's in the lock, And you never see her chimney smoke Til past ten o'clock! She digs in her garden With a shovel and a spoon, She weeds her lazy lettuce By the light of the moon, She walks up the walk Like a woman in a dream, She forgets she borrowed butter Any pays you back in cream! Her lawn looks like a meadow, And if she mows the place She leaves the clover standing And the Queen Anne's lace!

On Reading Sunday Comic

On reading Sunday Comics August 7, 2011

The Washington Post has 8 pages of comics, the Cumberland Times-News just 4.  Yet ctn has more comics that I read than does WaPo.

“Zits” is funny for those of you with adolescent/teen age boys, or who can remember those growing spurts.  Or for those who remember those growing spurts themselves.  The young man is shown with outsize legs, then with arms dragging the floor, then feet expanding so that they burst his shoes—he is just wishing his growth spurts were more coordinated.  For myself, I remember feeling very awkward at about age 14, and even thought of myself as looking like a horse, until, at age 18, when I was working for Quinn and Wise Insurance in D.C., my boss lady was worrying about whether I was really a good risk as employee because I might get sick, “you don’t look like a horse, you know.”  Revelation!!  Though maybe too late, I don’t remember if I looked at myself any differently after that.

Did you read “Baby Blues?”  Her husband can’t tell the difference between mascara and eye liner.  I remember when I was teaching at the Indian School in White Shield, and  never having been known as a makeup artist, one time I put on some mascara, and one of the girls remarked to a fellow teacher, a young man who taught geography, “Guess what?  Mrs Cutler is wearing mascara today.”  And he said, “What’s mascara?”

In Doonesbury two old geezers are discussing roof colors; one is advocating for white roofs to deflect heat in the summer, but wondering wouldn't that make for house harder to heat in winter..  Which reminds me that when Paul built our house in Cedarville in 1954, he installed a white asphalt roof, to deflect the summer’s heat.  And everyone was amazed, “White roof?  Who ever heard of a white roof?”  Hmmm, I wonder if it still has a white roof.  After all these years, should have needed a replacement by now.

Then there’s Pickles, and the problems of seniors learning how to use a computer; Grampa is saying:  “Oh, shoot?  I think I just deleted the whole darn internet.”   I know my children are familiar with my cries for help. 

How about Baldo?  Papa is going around the house, sees the daughter playing video games, the son talking on cell phone, the gramma on the computer, and says:  “That’s it.  I’m tired of all this digital stuff!  We’re spending time together as a family the good old-fashioned way!”  So they sit together on the couch and watch TV.

In Snuffy Smith, the old geezer explaining to the parson how he used to be such an angry feller, but now he doesn’t have an enemy in the world.  Because he outlived them all.

on growing old

Says Wallace Stegner:  "If you're going to get old, you might as well get as old as you can get."

Poem by Edna St Vincent Millay

MY CANDLE

by Edna St Vincent Millay

My candle burns at both ends, 

It will not last the night,

But ah, my friends, and oh, my foes,

It gives a lovely light.



Letter from Michael Moore--The Day the Middle Class Died

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died ...a letter from Michael Moore

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Friends,

From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.

Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."

Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.

And they've succeeded.

On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.

It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?

Reagan had been backed by Wall Street in his run for the White House and they, along with right-wing Christians, wanted to restructure America and turn back the tide that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started -- a tide that was intended to make life better for the average working person. The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.

Reagan promised to end all that. So when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he seized the moment. In getting rid of every single last one of them and outlawing their union, he sent a clear and strong message: The days of everyone having a comfortable middle class life were over. America, from now on, would be run this way:

* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.

* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.

* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help -- or not.

* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.

* You want to go to college? No problem -- just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!

* What's "a raise"? Get back to work and shut up!

And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:

The AFL-CIO.

The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers -- they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.

Reagan and Wall Street could not believe their eyes! Hundreds of thousands of working people and union members endorsing the firing of fellow union members. It was Christmas in August for Corporate America.

And that was the beginning of the end. Reagan and the Republicans knew they could get away with anything -- and they did. They slashed taxes on the rich. They made it harder for you to start a union at your workplace. They eliminated safety regulations on the job. They ignored the monopoly laws and allowed thousands of companies to merge or be bought out and closed down. Corporations froze wages and threatened to move overseas if the workers didn't accept lower pay and less benefits. And when the workers agreed to work for less, they moved the jobs overseas anyway.

And at every step along the way, the majority of Americans went along with this. There was little opposition or fight-back. The "masses" did not rise up and protect their jobs, their homes, their schools (which used to be the best in the world). They just accepted their fate and took the beating.

I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back in 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, "Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!"? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled.

But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30 years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 30 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had its beginning in 1981 (here's a little scene to illustrate that from my last movie).

It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?

Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? Forget about the 20% who support the Tea Party -- we are the other 80%! This decline will only end when we demand it. And not through an online petition or a tweet. We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets (like they've done in Wisconsin). Some of you need to run for local office next year. We need to demand that the Democrats either get a spine and stop taking corporate money -- or step aside.

When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you?

Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school? Is there any better day to start than today?

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Here are a few places you can connect with to get the ball rolling:
Showdown in America
Democracy Convention
Occupy Wall Street
October 2011
How to Join a Union, from the AFL-CIO (They've learned their lesson and have a good president now) or UE
Change to Win
MoveOn
High School Newspaper (Just because you're under 18 doesn't mean you can't do anything!)

What I've learned

Robert Frost says:  "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:  it goes on."  (as quoted in Susan Wittig Albert's An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days.)

Morning Musings

Morning Musings Friday 5 August 2011

Why should Wall Street react negatively to anything going on in government?  I mean, they are in control of government, aren’t they?

And please remind me of why we should be worried about what happens on Wall Street, as opposed to what happens on Main Street.  I mean, on Wall Street they’re just playing with money, right?  On Main Street, they would like to have some money to at least think about playing with it.

Republican Gov Chris Christie, of New Jersey, did something commendable.  He not only appointed a Muslim judge to a court, he stoutly defended his appointment, the qualifications of the judge, and said that all that stuff about Sharia Law is “crap.”He is not backing down.  Do you suppose the president could take some pages from his playbook?  Think:  Dawn Johnsen.  Van Jones.  Elizabeth Warren.  Shirley Chisholm .   Richard Cordray.   Watch Lawrence O’Donnell http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44027940#44028012

They love to chant uncertainty.  It is uncertainty about taxes and regulations that causes big bidness to withhold investment in expansion, hiring, and so forth.   But does anyone even mention uncertainty on Main Street?  Does anyone care?

For once, we can be glad that Congress was in pro forma session this holiday; although the strategy was to prevent the president from making a recess appointment of Richard Cordray to CFPB, ultimately it allowed for a special procedure  to authorize FAA without everyone having to come back to DC.   On the other hand, I was wondering why the airlines hadn’t put the congresspersons on the “No Fly List.”  Although Delta should have been giving them free tickets, because Delta’s employees are not unionized so they supported the Republican goal of gutting union procedures for FAA.

Is anyone talking about GE transferring their entire XRAY department to China?  How many workers lose their jobsE?  And GE’s own CEO Jeffrey Immelt is Obama’s man in charge of creating jobs in America.  I’m sorry, my head is exploding.
Do you suppose US hospitals and doctors could be persuaded to boycott purchase of XRAY machines made in China?

Exxon-Mobil has a display ad:  Exxon Mobil Taking on the World's Toughest Energy Challenges.  Exxon Mobile is proud to be a supporter of the National Math and Science Initiative.  Does this mean they will encourage schools to teach about global warming/climate change, and encourage students to take on the challenge of devising means of combatting the effects of these changes? 

Do we expect the Committee of 12, established to deal with the deficit, to accomplish anything?  The Supercommittee, or Supercongress, as it has been variously dubbed?  Congress already has 45 committees that can't seem to get anything accomplished, we need another?   This committee, to be equally divided between house and senate, and between Republicans and Democrats, is supposed to look at all ways to reduce the deficit, including raising of revenues.  But Speaker Boehner and Senate Minority Leader McConnell have already assured Grover Norquist, who is not an elected official, nor indeed any kind of a government official, that they will not choose anyone for the committee who is "willing to give ground on raising taxes.  Now since the aforementined unelected Grover Norquist has extracted a pledge from Republicans in both houses not ever, under any circumstances, to raise taxes,--specifically, 233 out of 239 representatives have signed the pledge, and 39 out of 46 senators have signed the pledge,--that leaves precious few to appoint to the committee.   Now does that leave the Democratic leaders to appoint only those who will not consider a plan that does not raise revenue/taxes?  Or that will not allow any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid?   Senator Reid wonders if perhaps they should not appoint anyone; Speaker Pelosi says:  "I'm not drawing any lines in the sand.  When  12 clowns are in the ring and a sane person jumps into the ring, he looks like the 13th clown." 

Happy 50th Birthday President Obama

On turning 50: I was already a grandmother age 48 when I started teaching vo ag in a rural school in North Dakota, and the boys delighted in teasing me about my age.   Of course, I knew better than to take offense.  The day after my 50th birthday, I walked into the classroom and asked: "Would you believe I was a day over 50?"

Just heard, re FAA debacle

Just heard from a caller to Bill Press (XM-Air America):  The Republicans just misunderstood what they were supposed to do.  They thought they were supposed to feed the poor to the rich, and when they start to run out of poor, they have to make some more.

About Debt Crisis

Following are two messages I received from my very irate friend, Gale, about what was going on during the “debt crisis”.  Following her two messages is a link  to an article; 10 inconvenient truths about debt ceiling.

Message #1

This so-called debt deal does nothing to solve our trillion dollar deficit and ends up only "kicking the can further down the road!"  It will only cause more unemployment, more income and wealth inequality and will lead us back into another "great recession."   If anything, our Congress proved to the world just how dysfunctional they truly are. Our Congress has placed this country at a greater risk of losing its superpower status, and, as I stated twenty some years ago to a disbelieving supervisor at the State Dept., China will replace the U.S. as a superpower!  And who do we have to thank for all of this---the Tea Party!  We have allowed this extremist group to hold our Congress hostage, and that is totally inexcusable!  How can a handful of extremists, out of 260,000,000 eligible voters, dictate what Congress can and cannot do?  They are the minority, not the majority, but yet their voices are heard high above the rest of ours, and that is totally inexcusable!

The following article appeared on the 'Net this morning:

"Twenty-two protesters were arrested Monday after disrupting the opening of the House debate on a bill to resolve the debt limit crisis, Capitol Police said.  Police quickly removed the protesters from the House spectators' gallery after they interrupted the floor debate by unfurling a banner and chanting. They could be heard shouting "Boehner, get off it. It's time to tax corporate profits." House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was not on the House floor at the time. He has opposed any tax increases to help balance the federal budget. The group National People's Action later issued a statement saying the protesters had come to Washington to demand that Boehner and Republicans stop protecting the wealthy and Wall Street and look for solutions that create jobs and raise revenue to help Americans in need."

Instead of 22 protesters, there should have been hundreds of thousands of us on the steps of the Capitol!!!  That is the only way we can silence the Tea Party!

Message 2

 I am very angry with Obama for not invoking the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling.  Since Congress failed to come up with a satisfactory plan that was fair to ALL people, he should have done what Harry Truman did--invoke the 14th Amendment and raised the debt ceiling!!! It would have shown the American people and the world that he is a LEADER and not a FOLLOWER! Even a group of House democrats called for him to invoke the 14th!  I agree with Senator Boxer when she said that "[i]f [Republicans] want to make this country a deadbeat nation, this president shouldn't allow it, none of us should allow it."  He should not have taken this option off the table so fast irregardless of whether his counsel had advised against it.  According to the 14th, "the debts of the U.S. shall not be questioned," so since Congress failed to come up with a satisfactory plan that was in the best interests of ALL Americans, Obama should have vetoed the plan and invoked the 14th!  The poor and the middle class were sold out, AGAIN!  We are left shouldering the burden, AS ALWAYS!  Look, I'm not asking for a "bailout" from our government.  I just want them to make life just a little bit easier for us; make the playing ground a little more even.  I want those who CAN afford it to make the same damn sacrifices I am asked and required to make.  I honestly don't think that is too much to ask of Congress, do you?  But, when Congress only has ears for a minority group and disregards the voices of the majority, then this country has a serious problem.  It appears that we now have a Congress who is being held hostage by a minority right-wing extremist group who is hellbent in turning a democratic country into a fascist state, and that cannot be allowed!!!!!

The establishment of a 12-person "bipartisan" committee is a joke and an insult to our intelligence!  I wonder how many of those six who will be representing the Republicans are members of the Tea Party or whose election (reelection) was financed by the Tea Party?  And, exactly what will be accomplished if the Tea Party is allowed to also dictate the terms of said deficit reduction policy?  How will this benefit ALL Americans?

These are truly frightening times!

Following is the article, preceded by a quote from a commenter.

There is no constitutional requirement for, nor fiscal need to have a debt ceiling.

Since Congress levies all revenue and spending measures, the debt ceiling is
(pick your favorite):

1) A feel good smokescreen
2) A ruse on the populace
3) A potential source of mischief for opponents of any administration with sufficient votes in at least one house of Congress.

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/10-inconvenient-truths-about-debt-ceiling