Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A Keystope Pipeline Solution

WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES 


Memo to Big Oil, We The People are NOT going to be Bullied!

That is right, We The People will not be bullied! We The People will not allow Big Oil to destroy our lives in the name of profits!

You may have the Politicians in your pockets, but We The People are the ones being put in jeopardy.We will NOT let you TAKE our land! We will NOT let you endanger our lives! And WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN TO YOU!!!

Let Us Be Politically Direct!


The Keystone Pipeline puts the Ogallala Aquifer in harms way!
This Aquifer supplies water to MILLIONS of people, it irrigates the crops MILLIONS of us live on! We can not let this injustice happen!

“With so many unanswered questions about the safety of this project, perhaps it’s time for the U.S. to hit the brake pedal,” Randy Thompson, a cattle buyer in Nebraska, wrote in testimony for a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in May. “And perhaps it’s time that our government starts placing the concerns of American citizens over and above those of a foreign corporation.” 

A Simple Solution!

There is no arguing the need we have for oil, as much as we want to rely on other renewable sources we still need it. Rather than Pump oil through our the ground down to Texas, lets move it by train.
Why by train? Well by building a rail system that is capable of hauling the crude oil to the refinery, other industries will be able to use the system to transport other goods. Accidents will be mitigated by there being an efficient rail system, any accidents will be more easily managed, and to top it off more than oil will be able to be transported on these railways. Plus, the necessary infrastructure already exist.

With rail being as efficient as it is when it comes to transporting goods, it is a shame that America has had to cut back on its rail system. The cutback has more to do with the federal funding of roads and not railroads. We need to create a public rail system open to be used by ALL rail companies. In so doing we will usher in an era of rail competition, but back to oil.

STOP THE EMINENT DOMAIN BY TRANSCANADA!

As many may or may not know, TransCanada has been threatening landowners with eminent domain. Check out the NY Times Article, TransCanada currently has 34 eminent domain actions against landowners in Texas and an additional 22 in South Dakota.

David A. Domina, a Nebraska lawyer whose firm represents 45 landowners, said there was “no way” that TransCanada has eminent domain powers under Nebraska law, and that the company was “acting in bad faith.” 

Norman Ladd, a lawyer in Tyler, Tex., whose firm represents more than a dozen landowners, said the company has low-balled on prices and threatened to use eminent domain “instead of coming down here and saying we can work with you.”

In addition to enraging those along the proposed pipeline’s 1,700-mile path, the tactics TransCanada is using have many people questioning whether a foreign company can pressure landowners without a permit from the State Department, the agency charged with determining whether the project is in the “national interest.” A decision is expected by year’s end on the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Alberta to American refineries.

An East Texas landowner, Eleanor Fairchild, said that a TransCanada representative arrived at her house a few days before her husband died of Alzheimer’s in 2009. At first, she considered the $42,000 offer, later raised by $18,000, for a 50-foot easement on her 425 acres. But she said that the more she learned about the pipeline, the less she wanted it on her land.

“It was a hard decision whether I wanted to fight and spend all this money even though I could lose the thing,” Ms. Fairchild said; “But somebody needs to fight them. I decided it would be me.” 

TransCanada’s condemnation suit against her is still pending. 



Thursday, February 23, 2012

Sandra Fluke Testifys at Women's Health Hearing

Sandra Fluke
Today on Capital Hill, Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke was able to testify before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on women's health and contraception.

As most of us know, She was blocked from testifying at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee the previous week on the 2010 health care law regulation requiring employers and insurers provide contraception coverage to their employees. The first panel of the hearing only had men as witnesses.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, turned down a request last week from Democrats to have Fluke testify at his hearing prompting the hearing today (2-23-12).

Sandra was able to provide testimony on how important birth control is, not just for pregnancy prevention, but for hormonal regulation. Sandra spoke about her friend, and her friends horror when she found out birth control was not covered under her healthcare plan when she needed it for medical reasons and not as pregnancy prevention.

Sadly, today's testimony was not approved to be televised...


Dems: GOP won’t let us televise contraception hearing
From: http://www.politico.com

Pelosi aides say the House recording studio has denied a request to broadcast the event, “apparently” at the behest of the Republican-controlled Committee on House Administration.

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill pointed to a July 2008 decision in which the committee lifted restrictions on use of the studio.
“If Chairman [Dan] Lungren has reversed this policy, he has done so in secret and not consulted with CHA Democrats,” Hammill said in an email. “This leaves us only to think that the House Republican leadership is acting out yet again to silence women on the topic of women’s health.”

Salley Wood, a spokeswoman for Republicans on the Committee on House Administration, said the policy wasn’t updated in 2008. Instead, she said the recording studio is operating under policies set in 2005.

Wood said the committee did not play a role in the decision not to broadcast this week’s hearing.
Pelosi’s office said this event is the first in which the studio has not covered a hearing or told Democrats that it couldn’t because of other commitments.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

What Would Have Happened If The Banks Were Not Bailed Out?

Dead Wall Street Bull
With the economy in the state it is in, and the actions that our Government has taken to protect the rich, it may be fair to say that capitalism is dead.
Failed businesses are supposed to be allowed to fail and in their failure other entrepreneurs step in and replace them. However, rather than allowing the banks to fail our government was convinced to bail them out, to protect the rich.


What would have happened had the Bailout NOT occurred?

Had the bailout NOT occurred, what would have happened is.... Well we don't know, but theories regarding what would have happened depend on which economist you talk to.

Scenario 1

Top Bailout Recipients
Not all banks would have "collapsed", you get a depression as banks won't be able to give credit since they will have a 'real' approximation of how much money they have to give out.
Mortgage payments would spiral while companies cut back or went bust unable to take loans that are used to cover costs.
In the long term you'd get massively lower spending causing further economic contraction leading to a depression lasting years, similar to that of 1929. The major worry in the event of a depression is that there may be a run on the dollar which would deepen said recession.

Lets Break it down: (paraphrased from: Why the Bank Bailouts Were Necessary, by: James Altucher)

  • Banks would have gone bankrupt. Forget about fault for a second....
    Morgan Stanley (MS) would have definitely gone bankrupt. Then Wachovia. Then Citigroup. Then Goldman Sachs. Then Bank of America (BAC), etc.
Would this have been a good thing or a bad thing? NO! Very bad.
  • Many Fortune 100 companies would have gone bankrupt If the company did not go bankrupt, they would have had to scale back all of their operations drastically. General Electric (GE) is a prime example. They would have lost their access to the commercial paper and short-term financing that they have used to finance their business on a day to day basis for decades. The entire commercial paper market was frozen and would have remained frozen for months, in turn putting companies like GE out of business.
  • Many small businesses (20-1000 employees) would have gone bankrupt.
    Not only are large fortune 100 companies reliant on short term lending, but small businesses are able to operate only because of Short term lending. Many small businesses do not get paid for their work until it is completed, because of this simple fact, they need
  • Millions of people would have lost their insurance. Companies like AIG would have gone out of business, millions of people would have been without adequate healthcare coverage. Not to mention life insurance, property insurance, and other insurances that would have been lost, and obligations that would never have been paid or would have taken years to settle in bankruptcy courts. Sure, AIG’s competitors could have picked up the leftover business. But anyone with an outstanding obligation or a preexisting condition would have been in trouble. Pain would have occurred to tens of millions of people.
  • Unemployment would have instantly gone to 20-25% or much higher. Not this mythical “U6” that everyone keeps talking about but real unemployment, as 50%+ of businesses would have had to close down or drastically scale back.


Scenario 2

Wall Street Drowning Taxpayers
  • Banks would have possibly gone bankrupt.
    Morgan Stanley (MS) would have definitely gone bankrupt. Possibly Wachovia. Then possibly Citigroup. Then possibly Goldman Sachs. Then possibly Bank of America (BAC), etc.
  • FDIC
    The FDIC would have covered the individual accounts from being completely wiped out. Although banks would have failed, middle class Americans would not have lost all of their savings.
  • Credit unions and solvent banks would have stepped up
    With some banks unable to provide the credit businesses need, credit unions and solvent banks would seize the moment and begin lending. The beauty of CAPITALISM is that entrepreneurs are able to CAPITALIZE on OPPORTUNITIES. Many opportunities would have arisen that would have enabled groups of people to collect there money together and start their own bank, like Gateway Bank in Florida.
  • Toxic Assets Would Have Been Liquidated
    Toxic assets, like homes that were underwater, would have been liquidated. Homes that are liquidated would have been sold at a severely discounted rate and bought by families who could afford them. Other liquidated assets would have been sold to various individuals or businesses that could use and afford them at the discounted rates. Supply and demand would have created market prices for the toxic assets, the assets would have become affordable again and the economy would recover.
  • Millions of People Would Be Fine
    Even though we may have experience a year or two of hardship, programs like unemployment security, social security, food stamps, medicaid and medicare would have kept things from getting unbearable. 







Saturday, February 18, 2012

This Just In, Old MEN Debating WOMEN'S Health.

all-male panel at committee hearing
How come all people debating WOMEN'S health (birth control) are all MEN over 50?

Better yet, who do these old virgin men in dresses (the bishops) think they are? Having a doctorate does not make you a medical doctor!

How come vasectomies are covered (which the only medical benefit of is pregnancy prevention) but birth control (which has multiple medical benefits other than pregnancy prevention) can't be? 

Medication should be between a Patient and Doctor
not Patient and Politician 
not Patient and Priest 
and not Patient and Uninformed Biased Opinions.  




Attack of the Republicans
all-male Oversight and Government Reform Committee panel


Sen. Patty Murray

Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA., said that while the recent “attacks” on women’s health care seem “swift and sudden,” she believes they are not.

“There is nothing new about these Republican attacks on our family planning decisions. In fact, from the moment they came into power, Republicans in the House of Representatives have been waging a war on women’s health.”






Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., spoke regarding the all-male Oversight and Government Reform Committee panel


“I’m disappointed. I know it’s a disappointment that’s shared by millions of women across this country,” “I’m saddened that here we are in 2012 and a House committee would hold a hearing on women’s health and deny women the ability to share their perspective.”




The Women Strike Back!


Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand

Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., promised that Democratic women senators will continue to stand up.

“If our Republican colleagues want to continue to take this issue head on, we will stand here as often as is necessary and draw a line in the sand that the Senate, the women of the Senate specifically, will continue to oppose these attacks on women’s rights and women’s health care.”


Sen. Barbara Boxer

 Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Ca., said her 16-year-old grandson saw the photo and instantaneously knew something was off. “It’s all dudes,” Boxer said, quoting her grandson.







Tuesday, February 7, 2012

GO GIANTS!!! Stop being a sore loser Gisele, Eli owns your husband!

So the Giants won this year's Super Bowl and quickly Tom Brady's Wife is attacking the rest of the team for the loss. From The Seattle Times

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots contend there is no finger-pointing after their Super Bowl loss, even if supermodel Gisele Bundchen won't abide by that code.

The wife of New England quarterback Tom Brady complained dropped passes doomed the team to a 21-17 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday — the Patriots' second loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl in five seasons.

Bundchen was caught on video by TheInsider.com saying, "You (have) to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball. My husband cannot (expletive) throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time.
"I can't believe they dropped the ball so many times."

Bundchen was the target of a pro-Giants heckler at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis after the game.
New York quarterback Eli Manning was voted the game's most valuable player, as he was when the Giants beat the Patriots 17-14 in the 2008 Super Bowl.

According to multiple media reports, the heckler shouted "Eli rules!" toward Bundchen and added, "Eli owns your husband!"

Brady was not available for comment Monday, when the team traveled from Indianapolis by plane and arrived at Gillette Stadium on buses. Asked if the team had any comment, Patriots spokesman Stacey James pursed his lips together and shook his head from side to side.

Manning completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown; none of his passes were intercepted. Brady was 27 of 41 for 276 yards and two TDs; he had one pass picked off.
Late in the game, usually dependable receiver Wes Welker dropped a Brady pass; tight end Aaron Hernandez and receiver Deion Branch also had their struggles.

Welker's drop came in a second-and-11 situation at the Giants' 44-yard line, with New England leading 17-15 and 4:06 remaining.

Brady's pass was slightly behind him, but Welker said, "It hit me right in the hands. I mean, it's a play I never drop, I always make. Most critical situation and I let the team down."
 Patriots defensive back James Ihedigbo said, "You can't point fingers at anybody. Wes made amazing plays all season."