Monday, November 17, 2014

KEYSTONE PIPELINE . . . SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL: MIDNIGHT QUAKE FELT ACROSS THE FLATHEAD VALLEY! DID YOU FEEL IT? . . . FUEL THE FUN! IF YOU WERE NOT MY SISTER-IN-LAW, YOU WOULD STILL BE MY BEST FRIEND! YOU WON'T HAVE RICHARD NIXON TO PUSH AROUND ANY MORE! REPUBLICAN GANG, WHO VOTED UNANIMOUSLY FOR THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE, GOING FROM CANADA THROUGH GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA, TO NEBRASKA, SQUARE OFF, IN A SHOWDOWN, AGAINST PRESIDENT OBAMA! PAYBACK IS A BITCH . . . YOU HAVE BEEN PUSHING US AROUND FOR 6 YEARS, AND DAMN IT, WE ARE PISSED! WE'LL SHOW YOU! BUT WHO IS WATCHING OUT FOR THE INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE? SOPHISTICATED THINKING IS NOT AN ATTRIBUTE OF CONGRESS, THANK GOD FOR A THINKING PRESIDENT! JUST SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT, BEYOND THE MANTRA OF DRILL BABY DRILL MENTALITY, JUST TO GET THE CRANIUM JUICES FLOWING . . .

"The upper classes are merely a nation's past; the middle class is its future!

I Thought a Fat Cat Jumped on My Bed!

Yeah, I felt the earthquake Friday morning in the wee hours, and I took crap for it, for a day, until the Sunday Daily Inter Lake Newspaper, came out with its, Shake, Rattle and Roll, headlines . . . thanks for coming to my rescue!  This old Marine was chiding me about the fact, that I woke up and asked everyone at the Samaritan House, during breakfast if they felt a quake or a tremor during the night.  Sarcasm was the order of the day, oh, you were just bumping the bed against the wall, doing what?  Or what was your roommate up to in the other room . . . are you on drugs?  Every time I passed this guy, he would come up with some smart ass comment, trying to get my goat, which is hard to do, because generally, I just consider the source . . . I hate being right, 97% of the time, and the other 3%, I don't care about!  LOL!  I couldn't wait to slam the newspaper down in front of this guy, who was eating crow, big time.  He said, what are you going to? do frame it, referring to the newspaper article, front page, bold headlines!  Yeah, I am going to frame it over your head!  LOL!

My 4th husband was a Marine, and just how do you think an attorney and a Marine living under the same roof went over . . . you are right, about like the discussion over the possible earthquake, and just as in this case, I was always, always, always, right!  It is more important for me to be right, than happy!  LOL!  And guess where the Marine is . . . he faked his suicide, to save face, for all his cop buddies, he was colluding with, to force, the Run Away Bride, of Allan Rex Bess, aka, Frank of Interpol, to stay home, willing to lock my ass in jail if needed, with total cooperation with the local cowboys in the Iron County Sheriffs Department, who were defending their mean ass narcotics cops, against this one bad ass con law chick, who sue their asses for $56.7 million for civil and constitutional rights violations while acting under color of law . . . yeah, it was ugly! 

But it was funner than hell too, and I wasn't the one who faked a suicide, making 3 phone calls after the time of death, neighbors never seeing a body, cops, or an ambulance, and other signs of a staged suicide, highly evident, especially, with no death certificate, and him collecting veteran's benefits!  LOL!  And who might you say, won, this War of the Roses, Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner, great movie!  Well, sophisticated thinking in politics, is just as unlikely as a Marine and an attorney getting along in a marriage, or living under one roof!  LOL!  Our home was like a battlefield, every time I came back home, he had taken over the kitchen, then, the front room, the bathroom, when I had relegated his smoking to the basement or outside, but hell, I had cases in 5 states, and was up to court, every other day in Salt Lake City, Utah!

Republican Gang Voting in Unison vs. President Obama, A 6 Year Nemisis

Well it looks like we are heading for what the news refers to as a showdown, whatever that means?  Now, I don't know about you, but I fucking don't want a showdown, a battle, a fight, a war, in Congress, when there are big time issues that need to be considered, when allowing the Canadians, to run a monster metal or whatever pipeline, through Montana and South Dakota, to Nebraska . . . ugly, ugly, ugly!  So, Montana is one of the most beautiful places on earth, in my opinion, and we are going to allow, another country, not a U.S. company, taking oil, out of Canada, via, a huge motherfucking pipe, laying on top of the ground, from all the pictures I have seen, and white trash America for the Canadians to make money on oil?  I just don't think so, call me vain, but right now, America is one of the top producers of oil, and will continue to do so, I have heard, and don't quote me on this, the top producer of oil, by the year 2020!  

Right now, there is a glut in the oil market, with prices, for the first time since, who knows when are down below $3.00 per gallon, which is great news!  Do we really want to glut the market, and water down the prices for American companies, the greedy assholes they are, with $60 billion dollar profits, but, at least they are Americans, and do we really want Canada, along with that comes the Brits, who remember, are their mother country, our allies, but also, earlier in history, our foes, we can't be too careful.  Do we really want to be dependent on any other country, when we have great oil reserves in this country.  Just the other day, and again, I can't validate or give veracity to my sources, but someone told me, maybe the Marine, so be careful, but he does watch TV a lot more, controlling the remote at the shelter, so he sees more news, but someone told me that an oil reserve, was just discovered in Texas, that makes the Bakken Oil Fields of Montana and North Dakota, look like nothing!  So, why in the hell, do we want Canadian oil, companies, or control over our soil . . . and I don't care, how much fucking taxes they pay, we need to just quit giving tax breaks to the oil companies in America, and we could cure the national debt, but, that would be asking the Republican gang, to actually concede to the President for the good of the country, and tax their damn favors, the rich!

Big Concern, Access, Around the Damn Thing?

So, we have this, what thousand mile pipeline . . . and, from what I have seen, it is all above ground, burying the hideous monstrosity, would be cost prohibitive, so, how do we travel across, over, under, around it? What is the proposed route, is it going through Glacier National Park, or other amazing parts of the state?  Or are you going to follow, Utah's dumb ass lead, and do, kind of like they did, putting 800 oil drills or pumps, in the middle of the Uintah Forest, and on one of my favorite places on earth, up on Mount Baldy, that I have loved and hiked since I was a child?  Oil pumps on the way to Moon Lake . . . why not, hell, it is all the more money for the state of Utah, kind of like the toxic waste dumps, the rich fat cats, and Energy Solutions, polluting the west desert, outside of Salt Lake, building an basketball arena for the Utah Jazz, in exchange for taking vitriol tailing's, waste, and toxic materials from all over the country, with nobody else stupid enough to take the shit, in exchange for a few years of basketball arena, then, like the Copper Kings, industrialists of the olden days in Montana, just took the money and ran, back east with it!

In all seriousness, how do we get passed this thing . . . what will it do to travel in the state, cut western Montana off from eastern Montana?  The fourth largest state is already big enough, so just where is it entering and where is it going, and what will that do to transportation in the state?  Who is paying for underpasses, overpasses, tunnels, or bridges?  The tax payers of Montana, to have the honor of a gas pipeline through their state, benefiting Canada?  I know, that the Flathead loves the Canadian shoppers, and rightly so, they bump up the economy, but do we have to take a pipeline in exchange, what is the deal, what are the back room, smoke-filled sacrifices we are going to have to pay for just WHAT?  What are we getting, just the Republican mantra, the way of the rich man, or are we thinking, from all angles, from outside the money box, and looking at how many jobs, for how long, and is is worth it?  I have heard that the 40,000 proposed jobs, will actually only amount, really to about 4,000 jobs in the long run, and who will get those jobs, people who have been with the company, Canadians, just staying in temporary trailers, as long as there is work, leaving us with the blighted scenery, no jobs, a pain in the ass to get around, and no money for oil?  We need someone to do a cost benefit analysis . . . in the long run, it may not be worth it!

The Republican Position . . . Jobs & Energy Security

Now, I would venture a guess that the President, the people, and even the Democrats in Congress, are all about more jobs and energy security, as if the President hasn't been harping on alternative energy sources, domestic oil, and other sources, making us less reliant on foreign oil, especially oil from the Mid-East.  I would also agree, that I would prefer to purchase my oil from Canada, our neighbor and an ally, rather than purchase our oil, from an Arab country; however, if the option for obtaining oil is between a Canadian company, and an American company, buy U.S.A.!  Someone, besides me, who is not trained in economics, or oil exploration and acquisition, nor future energy sources, oil exploration and extraction, and geo-related issues, needs to look into this further.  I think the Prez. is all about all of the things that the Republicans want, but as what sacrifice . . . with a steady job growth, taking the country back to the unemployment rate, prior to the 2008, economic melt down, that was caused by the policies of a Republican president, who took the reigns from President Clinton, who handed him an economy and a job market that was unprecedented in American history, post-WWII booms!

We all agree, but, what are the President's concerns, and thoughtful, smart, constitutional law attorney, who thinks from outside the box, worried about climate control, the environmental issues, and is waiting for the environmental impact studies to be completed, before making a final decision, whether to veto the bill for the Keystone Pipeline or not, that is what we pay him to do, think, and then, in the act of the executive branch, in an act to balance power, veto any lame ass act of Congress!  The Republicans may be flexing their muscles, after their win, a few weeks ago, thinking that the Koch Brothers buying congressional seats, with the aide and help of the Citizens United ruling, of unlimited campaign contributions, as free speech for the corporate greedy asses, who see dollar signs, $$$$$$$$$, with the pipeline, always, ignoring the environmental issues, kind of like, BP oil, leaving an oil ring on the bottom of the ocean, off the coast, the size of New Jersey, kind of environmental protection!  That was just discovered, conveniently, after the elections!  We need to think, think, think, in a sophisticated manner, that will benefit generations, not just go for the almighty fucking dollar, there are bigger issues at stake, like our air, water, and soil!

To the Republican Dominionists

Okay, there is a segment of you, who are hard core creationists, and shun all scientific evidence, that goes contrary, number one, to money and American greed, and number two, to your alleged religious beliefs. You believe, that man was given dominion over the earth, the water, the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, etc. So, why in the fuck, don't you give a rat's ass about the environment?  Science aside, just your God given responsibility of being the alleged higher species, with a brain, why don't you use it.  I don't think, the Book of Revelations, in the Bible, woe, woe, woes, are going to come from God, a vengeful and angry God, they are going to come from BP oil and their buddies, Exxon, Chevron, Texaco, and carbon emissions from the rest of us, you know those little vehicle engines that are lending a hand to global warming . . . I grew up, for a time, around the Los Angles area, when I lived near earthquakes of Christmases past, in Northridge, where the earthquake of when, I can't remember, hit the elementary school I attended, and the college just up the street on Zellza Avenue, spelling, don't remember, but I do remember taking field trips on the bus, into the LA valley, and the whole way to out destination and back, we all had to put our heads on our forearms, so the air pollution didn't harm our health!

In the Bible, there is to be a time, when a third of the fish in the sea will die, a third of the birds in the air will fall, etc.  Well, I remember several times in Australia and I think here, that a huge number of birds just dropped out of the sky.  Could it be due to car emissions, air pollutants, or chem-trails?  And didn't a ton of sea life die, being covered in oil, ducks, water fowl, and there had to be fish dead.  Every so often, we see whales beached, far from their normal migration patterns, just flopping up on the sand.  There is another scripture, that says, in the Book of Revelations, from John the Revelator, a great song by DePeche Mode, that the Mother Earth would groan under the weight of man . . . what in the fuck do you really think that means?  I would venture a guess that the earthquakes, a rare occasion in Montana, are due to the fracking in the Bakken Oil Fields!  Oklahoma had 700 earth tremors, due to fracking, another debate I had with some asshole, that doesn't give a damn about the environment!  I think God, knowing the beginning from the end, knew damn well, that greedy whore mongers, or money grubbers are going to bring down the world, with their avarice, lame ass attitudes, John, back 2,000 or so years ago, just didn't know how to describe what would cause the earth to groan, with weight, just that it would happen.

End of timers, birthers, and creationists, training lawyers at Christian universities, in biblical law, rather than constitutional law, the EPA, came in a forced LA and other cities to clean up their air!  There have been times in Salt Lake City, another drill, baby, drill state, when I have pulled into the Salt Lake Valley, and the air looked like mud, a bowl of mud!  Yes, we want less government, but there are some things that government can do best, and only government can do, like force health insurance companies to insure people with pre-existing conditions, open the capitalist markets, for competition in health care systems, driving prices of insurance down, if we are smart enough to keep that system, with health care that can actually follow you around the country, or give you liberty, to not be tied to a job, simply to have health care coverage, giving you the liberty to start that new business, you know the small businesses that create the greatest amount of jobs, the ones who get hit by taxes, while the big guys, like Amazon, and Walmart, push for the Market Fairness Act, eliminating their mom and pop, company competition!

Nick & Big Sky Environmental Group, Blocking Coal Trains

I met Nick, at least two years ago, on the bus/shuttle, going from Las Vegas, in route to Kalispell, somewhere around Salt Lake City,  Nick Englefinkle, or some strange last name, sorry Nick, is well known around Montana, for organizing environmental groups to fight key legislation and issues, like the number of coal trains, passing through Missoula each day, and one time, getting arrested, a common occurrence for this group, recently for holding hands, and somehow, either impeding a coal train, or getting so close the train had to stop, with the small group of protesters getting arrested, and I think jailed.  Which they tend to just laugh off.  But, Nick and crew, invited me to a city council meeting in Missoula, with Mayor Engen, for a final vote on whether to allow more coal trains per day, to cross, literally, right through the city, as it does in Helena, about 72 times a day, going up, I believe, to about 93 coal cars a day.  

I wasn't intending to say anything, but as usual, I have an opinion on everything, so after a registered local nurse got up and addressed some of the health issues, related to exposure of coal dust to the lungs, and other parading of the potential horribles that we don't really want to think about while we are making jobs and money, often raping the environment, and injuring the health of our citizens, years down the road, I took the stand, and told the city council, that I had a home, in Parowan, Utah, one of the epicenters of the towns and people effected by the nuclear bomb testing in the Nevada west desert, the pink clouds, that people made picnics, and took their kids to watch, later developing cancer at an unprecedented rate, birth defects, if not outright sterility . . . all you men, who want your quivers full of arrows!  The Biblical equivalent of having a shit load of children, to populate the world, like the sands of the sea, and Abraham!

I challenged the council, to make their decisions, not based on what we want today, but what this decision will do 5 years from now, 10 years from now, and 50 years from now, the time it took for the nuclear fallout to get to the people of Parowan, Utah, and other southern Utah residents.  A woman sitting next to me, said that her husband had worked for the railroad for 40 years, and all the coal cars have covers over the cars . . . what the hell do I know about coal, so I told this woman, put your two cents in, that might make a difference, coming from someone who thinks in hybrid fashion, can we make both sides happy, that sounds like a viable alternative, cover all the coal cars, stopping the amount of exposure, cutting into the railroads, profits, but making them be good neighbors, and good companies, taking care of the people who hear the sounds, deal with the dust and get exposed through enemy air-born illnesses!

Well, several months ago, on a nice beautiful fall day, I left the Spokane bus and train station, and the air was clean, crisp, and cool, the water on the lake in Cordelane Idaho, was sparkling, the green pines, majestic, and the air fresh and pure . . . but as we came into Missoula, all the sudden, and even before that, but there was a marked change in the air quality, it was dingy, dirty, smokey, and not cool, nor pretty, just ugly.  And all the passengers, on the bus noticed the drastic change . . . my first reaction was, the coal trains!  As we came into town, there was a train, with well over 100 cars, and car after car, had exposed coal, and all the sudden, what Nick and crew were fighting became more than just a side of an argument in the political arena, and the reality of the coal dust to children and college students, not to mention, the frail, older population, became a real concern to me.  I would say, as I neared downtown Missoula, and noticed, that the first 25 or so cars, did, in fact, have covers, but after the attention span of most Americans, especially those of the Sesame Street generation, you know the ones, who are fighting the coal trains, with a 15 second focus, would, look at the trains coming into the town, and say, oh, yeah, they have covers, what in the hell are those nut bag, environmentalist talking about!  Was this a sneaky joke, or what?

I believe, I heard, in passing, or on the bus, that a railroad train, tipped over in a river, or something like that, down, in Missoula . . . just like me looking crazy for bringing up the earthquake, before anyone else, could substantiate it, Nick, has long fought this war, to protect the environment . . . this guy has a masters degree in something like, natural resource management, perhaps he has some thing to say, worth listening to!  Like I say, I love the young people, they are the revolutionaries, and so many times, like in Vietnam, they were right, a war, we didn't need to get into, for the reasons we did, with many more casualties than we were told about until about ten years later, America, stop killing your prophets!

Delayed Gratification is a Characteristic of Success

Do we risk, our health, environment, our lives, our childrens' lives, and their childrens' lives, for a buck today?  Even for jobs, as much as we all want people to work?  We need to think, long term, from 16 positions around a table, getting the most people or players to the table, taking into consideration all their conditions for buying in on this Keystone Pipeline bill.  This is fucking complicated, black and what thinkers need not apply!  Nick also protested the Otter Creek Coal Mine, that will take out ranches and farms in the area, with 1 in every 5 Montanans, making their living on a ranch or a farm, with the coal mine possibly polluting the water the cattle drink, meaning, we are getting tainted beef!  But the company paid the state of Montana, $85 million dollars, to start mining, I think, I listened in the legislative session, and came late, but it cost the state of Montana, another coal, baby, coal state, and rightly so, with many jobs depending on it, but it cost the state $40 million, just to put the road in to the coal mine, as part of the state road system the state has to maintain.

And with further research, this was or is a company from back east, bringing it, its own employees, again raping the Treasure State's natural resources, not providing jobs, and shipping coal to China!  Oh, hell no . . . but, at least last week to the surprise of the newly formed Congress as of January, acting like the American people voted them in as a clear statement, that everything they wanted, was the will of the American people, hell, they just didn't do anything for 6 years, and like the alleged duping of the electorate, got elected in record numbers, like they did in 2010; however, maybe, that is because, they didn't see you do anything but fight with the Democrats, they new, that with or without Congress, President Obama could act through executive order, therefore, moving forward with our without Congress, but giving the Republicans a chance, to actually do something controlling both houses, but with the Prez. able to veto their stupid acts, like the Keystone Pipeline!

The Democrats Have Not Gone So Extreme, 31 Backed the Bill, While 161 Rejected It . . . Republicans All Voted For It!

Rachel Maddow, another smart chick, of MSNBC, showed a graph, before or after the 2012 elections, of the course, of both parties, who used to be just right or left of center, back in the day, when they just saw things from a bit different position, but till very close to the center line politically speaking, but Maddow, showed the red and blue lines, indicating, the fact that the Democrats over the last 20 or so years, had remained, about where they always had, politically speaking, just left of center.  The Republicans, however, had gone off the charts, off center mark, and were out in a field of never, never, land, so far from center, that their fellow Dems in Congress, just could not side or vote with them, making reaching across the isle, so far, that it just became a showdown, shut down, or stand still, inert and lethargic!

We, the American People, have put some power in Republicans hands, a balance of power, the way it is suppose to be, this is not the okay corral, and you are not cowboys, we sent you to Washington, D.C., the entertainment capitol of the world, and we expect better than drill baby drill, pump baby pump! The United Nations, and I am as skeptical as the rest of you, with Agenda 21, sustainability, and all, and this is coming from conspiracy central, me, just came out with their 13th study or report on global warming and climate change . . . now, I have published on this blog, the results of talking to two local physicists, who totally believe, that nature, not man, is responsible for the ice melt, and the glaciers melting, with only 27 of 125, that really concerns me, as evidence of global warming, but, they said, it took 1500 years to melt the first ones, therefore, those 27 will remain for a long time.  But, I think we owe it to ourselves, to at least consider that man, is somewhat responsible, like the two greatest users of coal, America and China, who just signed a deal to try to cut back on the amount of carbon emissions they are emenating and emitting into the atmosphere!  It is a worthy goal, we can all do something to help, green is the color we want, clean, fresh, water, air, and soil.

We are all in this together, we all rise and fall together, what China does matters in America and visa versa, so we need to work together for a cleaner, better, kinder, more cooperative world, to save the planet!

Rubbing it In, Republicans Control Both Houses In Montana Too!

I had to laugh, Daily Inter Lake, article, After-hours GOP caucus meeting raising questions . . . Lawyer says gathering of legislators violated state law.  I love his quote, "It's no surprise Republican leaders are hiding in smoke-filled back rooms to keep their out-of-touch, reckless agenda from he people of Montana!  I can't agree with him more.  The Republican majority, held a secret meeting at a hotel in Helena, and claimed, when questioned that they didn't violate any open-meetings laws, sunshine laws, or transparency laws, because they met off Capitol Hill, or not in the building where the legislatures meets. REALLY?  Are you kidding.  Any law that is repugnant to the Constitution, is void, and any law or act in this case, that is consistent with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, is constitutional!

The Republican majority, is meeting, making plans, and getting a head start on the 2015 legislative session, they were, in fact, acting as elected officials, for the state, and doing, or conducting official state business if you will, regardless of the place or time!  I always think it best to take the moral high road, and that is to abide by the basic tenants, principles, concepts, of liberty and justice.  Holding little meetings, at a hotel, as if that washes the fact that they are colluding together, against the Democrats, or if this wasn't some coupe, they would just wait until open session to work out the details of proposed legislation, laying out the bill, the issues, and the arguments for all to see, read, think through, kind of like our American system facilitates!

Now, if they were just getting together to meet the new members of the Legislature, there would be nothing wrong with that, a nice luncheon, on state money, okay, but discussing the 2015 legislative session, NO, in fact, you can tell, the other is tongue in cheek to, work sessions, outside the hallowed halls of the legislature, should be on the dime of the elected officials, who are just having lunch together.  Really, just avoid the very appearance of evil, not in the hear no evil, see no evil, or speak no evil manner, but in a open, fair, candid, transparent, sunny, meeting, without the smoke filled back room, wheeling and dealing.  Keep it all above board, in the light of day . . . if what you are doing, can't withstand the light of day, don't fucking do it!

The Keystone Pipeline is Huge . . . Think, Call Your Congressional State Delegates, You May Come UP with the Winning Argument, FOR or AGAINST!

FOR GOD SAKE, GET INVOLVED! 

Local newspaper articles, just from today . . . EPA newsletter raises concerns; Rock Creek given air quality permit, and Jewel Basin sale trimmed down . . . once this stuff is gone, it is gone! 

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