Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Sideways Approach
legislators on crack legislative analysis
A group of lawmakers today proposed to reduce litter in oceans by banning Styrofoam containers for restaurant take-out orders, charging a 25-cent fee for the use of plastic or paper bags at the grocery store and forbidding beverage makers from using detachable bottle caps.
-- AB68 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, would require shoppers to pay a 25-cent fee at the grocery store checkout stand for using paper or plastic bags. Low-income shoppers who receive food stamps or WIC would be exempted. The money would be used to fund programs encouraging use of reusable bags.
-- AB925 by Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, would require beverage manufacturers to use bottle caps that are part of the container or attached to the container.
-- AB1358 by Nava and Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would ban the use of Styrofoam containers for take-out food.
-- AB283 by Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, D-Arcata (Humboldt County), would require manufacturers to come up with a plan to address how their products can be recycled.
I’d support Chesbro—recycling or rapid-degrading containers are a fine idea. 25¢ grocery bags - just another tax to be wasted. Why not find out how all that crap gets loose [it can’t all be beach-goers… srsly] and tax the crap outta that a-hole?
The bottle cap thingy might be more difficult. If they just attach ‘em with a little plastic thingie, they’ll be “legal” but irritating and folks’ll rip ‘em off and toss ‘em anyway. Not sure that water bottle pop-up nipple would work so well with carbonated beverages. ...or Scotch.
Anyone remember pop-top art?
Life is YUMMY!!!
what the hell
As Life in America gets harder and Freedom of the Individual goes swirling down the drain, Life can still be Grand!
Slow-smoked beef ribs ‘b’ double-chocolate cookies
Corn Chowder [yep—that’s bacon]
Eve of Justice
no peace
In:
Chico Costa Mesa Delano Fort Bragg Fresno Kernville Long Beach Los Angeles Mariposa Miami, Florida Modesto Napa New York Palm Springs Palo Alto Phoenix, Arizona Riverside Roseville Sacramento San Diego San Francisco San Jose San Luis Obispo San Mateo Santa Barbara Santa Cruz Santa Maria Stockton Thousand Oaks Tulsa, Oklahoma Tucson, Arizona Tuolumne Ukiah Ventura Visalia
Wednesday, March 4 is the day before the California Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the validity of Prop 8. That evening, we’ll stand together and send a unified message to our fellow Californians
wait… Tucson? Tulsa?!?
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Fools to the Left of Me -- Grabbers All Around
stuck in the middle with PM’s
To fight climate change, the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity Thursday opened a new law institute in San Francisco and announced the dedication of an initial $17 million to the project.
The Climate Law Institute will use existing laws and work to establish new state and federal laws that will eliminate energy generation by the burning of fossil fuels - particularly coal and oil shale.
Get that wind-powered MaddMaxx car ready…
Burning these materials emits greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that have already raised the planetary temperature, threatening the widespread extinction of species, sea level rise and ocean acidity, food and water scarcity, heatwaves, wildfires and floods.
“Global warming is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. It is the defining issue of our time,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center.
No. I didn’t rename the exec.
"To meet the challenge, the Center for Biological Diversity has created the Climate Law Institute to extend the reach of current environmental and human health laws to encompass global warming, pass new climate legislation, and reinvent America’s approach to protecting endangered species and public lands,” he said.
By which they mean all lands they force folks off with their dust/water/bio-habitat regulations. Not laws, mind you; laws can be changed by throngs of pitch fork wielding citizens dialoguing with legislators. Regulations are created by bureaucrats not answerable to, well… anyone.
"The planet can not afford a single new coal-fired power plant,” said Suckling. “It can’t even afford existing coal plants. Working with partners in government and the environmental movement, the Center for Biological Diversity will ensure America moves beyond coal energy as rapidly as possible. Our lives depend on it."
Your “human health laws” will be comforting as you freeze yer a$$ off in the new warmed climate.
Kassie Siegel testifies on behalf of polar bears
before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence
and Global Warming.
Walkin' down the street with yer dress tucked in your pantyhose...
should someone say something?
“President Obama sent a secret letter to Russia’s president last month suggesting that he would back off deploying a new missile defense system in Eastern Europe if Moscow would help stop Iran from developing long-range weapons, American officials said Monday."
Cuz we’re really dealing with Dmitriy Anatolyevich Medvedev and he’s totally reliable and trustworthy ‘n’ stuff.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Never Seen It?
it is an engineering marvel
Tales from my travels.
The California Aquaduct: It’s deep and wide and goes for more than 600 miles.
That’s from an overpass on I5.
70 percent goes to urban users and 30 percent goes to agriculture. 32 storage facilities, reservoirs and lakes; 17 pumping plants; 3 pumping-generating plants; 5 hydroelectric power plants; and about 660 miles of open canals and pipelines. *
Here’s your new power source. [note the stillness of the machines]
These are out by Travis in the Central Valley [near Sack-a-tomatas]. Last year there were a couplafew of these monsters [about the height of a large transmission tower] scattered about the cow/sheeep pastures and this year they stretch for miles toward Mt Diablo in the distance. Lotta bux been dropped there in a short time. *cough*Pelosi*cough*Pickens*cough*federaltaxbreak*cough* Dang - green empty wind gives me such a cough.
Pretty, huh?
These are at the top of the Tehachapi [teh-hatch-a-pee] Pass and run all the way down onto the Mojave [moe-ha-vee] Desert. Note, also, their stillness.
And here’s another, largely gratuitous, more uplifting example of human engineering…
We call ‘em “Dirt ‘n’ Fire” cuz that’s what they’re made of: dirt, fire, and human ingenuity. They make my jaw drop ever’ single time.
Beauty, eh?
Oh - and there goes your fireplace
and our Porch BBQs
...The decision is “a victory for the breathing public,” said Paul Cort, a lawyer with Earthjustice…
The court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider its standards for the pollutants, fine particulates, which are linked to premature death from lung cancer and heart disease and to other health problems including asthma.
What with gubbmint-restricted health care, the problem would moot anyway.
...In a statement, the E.P.A. said only that the standards for particulate matter are “extremely important” and that the Obama administration would review the matter “to ensure that the science and the law will be properly followed.”
Among other sources, fine particulates come from diesel engines, power plants, certain industrial processes and even fireplaces. ...
These pollutants are regulated under the Clean Air Act, but there is no generally agreed safe level of exposure. So in some ways, setting standards is a value judgment more than a scientific decision.
*runs in dry, dusty circles*
can’t holler - coughin’ dust
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.
But don’t worry—Angelinos will still be washing their driveways and sidewalks and the fountains out front of the gas stations will still flow.
As many as 95,000 agricultural jobs will be lost, communities will be devastated and some growers in the most economically productive farm state simply are not able to plant, state officials said, calling the current drought the most expensive ever.
Considering Ahnold terminated up to 40% of their water rights last year…
Legislators have also revived a $10 billion bond package to build new dams, fund conservation programs and build plants to recycle waste water and recharge aquifers.
That would be good nooz… if they weren’t talking about forcing growers to use tertiary-treated water in run-off and high groundwater areas. [tertiary-treated water from the cities is still full of ...well, crap.]
California produces more than half the nation’s fruits, vegetables and nuts, and farmers in recent weeks have been staggered by reports that the main federal source of irrigation water will go dry this year and the top state water project will not fulfill more than 15 percent of requested water.
The Central Valley, a fertile but arid region stretching some 500 miles from Bakersfield to Redding, is the agricultural heartland of California, which ranks as the nation’s No. 1 farm state in terms of the value of crops produced—more than $36 billion a year.
Oh - but wait. Here comes the EPA to save the day.
...federal regulators...are refusing to exempt growers from new environmental regulations. Under rules imposed in 2006, rural areas would be kept to the same standards as urban areas for what the Environmental Protection Agency calls “coarse particulate matter” in the air.
No - they’re not talking about Unicorn Farts or Bollshiite. They’re talking about DUST.
evidence of harm caused by dust in rural areas hasn’t been determined.
But the U.S. District Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Tuesday that the EPA had already provided the evidence necessary to determine farm dust “likely is not safe.”
Michael Formica, a lawyer for the pork council, said this means farmers now face the daunting task of proving a negative — that the dust is not harmful.
“Likely not safe.” That’s all they needed to say and *boom* /food production.
EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn said the changes are not just a matter of regulating dust. They serve the public’s well-being and, regardless of whether someone lives in a rural or urban area, the threshold for unsafe levels of dust in the air must remain consistent nationally.
Why they must remain consistent nationally, deponent sayeth not.
A Firm Grasp of the Obvious Is the Cornerstone of Sanity
what? cornerstones now taxed? sanity now politically incorrect?
WASoF…
The president delivered a fiery, populist radio and Internet address today that depicted his critics as champions of “the interests of powerful lobbyists” and “the wealthiest few.” ...
Standing alone, any one of these proposals would trigger a brawl in Congress and fierce debates outside Washington. Obama wants the proposals done largely in concert, as an interrelated plan to undo major elements of Ronald Reagan’s conservative movement.
Brawl? Discussion, even?
"We’re struck with how bold and courageous a budget it is,” said James Horney of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which supports the president. “There are a whole lot of things that are going to be extremely difficult because there are very powerful vested interests out there that will fight them."
Well, at least that fella has a fall-back job; he could clean up oil spill with that tongue.
Obama is not simply proposing a budget that assumes a jaw-dropping deficit of $1.75 trillion this year, a quadruple increase from the year before.
It’s BushCo’s fault!!!!
He’s trying to redirect strong currents in American society.
The wealthiest 5 percent would pay a whopping $1 trillion in higher taxes over the next decade, while most others would get tax cuts.
Until they stop producing… next year.
In 2002… the top 5 percent of taxpayers paid more than one-half (53.8 percent) of all individual income taxes, but reported roughly one-third (30.6 percent) of income.
The top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 33.7 percent of all individual income taxes in 2002…
the top 50% of taxpayers by income paid over 94% of all individual income taxes.
[Before ∏eh W∅n {BO}] ...the share of taxes paid by the bottom 50% of taxpayers will fall from 4.1% to 3.6%
Under ∏eh W∅n, it will fall to ∅.
Working *Within* the System
bombs are obsolete
[∏eh W∅n’s] budget director [Peter Orszag, the director of the Office of Management and Budget] said the White House would consider using a Senate procedural tactic so that only 50 votes would be rquired to pass major healthcare and energy reforms. ...
Because they can not be filibustered, budget reconciliations only require 50 votes to pass the Senate. Democrats hold strong majorities in Congress, but still come up short of the 60 votes necessary in the Senate to end debate, which makes it easier for Republicans to block legislation. House rules in comparison make it harder for the minority party to stop bills.
...On healthcare, the plan calls for a $634 billion reserve fund to pay for a first step on healthcare reform.
The president would pay for it in large measure by raising taxes on wealthy people and businesses by about $1 trillion over 10 years.
...The budget plan calls for a cap on carbon emissions, for example, and projects $645 billion in revenues from an auction of pollution permits that a variety of business groups, including oil companies, large manufacturers and utilities, would have to purchase.
Way to stimulate the economy, ....
The president would pay for it in large measure by raising taxes on wealthy people and businesses by about $1 trillion over 10 years.
Oh yeah—that’ll work. Think that domicile-challenged bum under the bridge will give ya a job?
ToDaZeD WTF'nF?!?!
cuz there are not more pressing problems...
...the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors… is scheduled to issue a proclamation by Supervisor Michael Antonovich making the first week in March No Cussing Week.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
*beep*beep*
*vrooooom*thumpthump*
*
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{/if}
