Tarsands is not oil, is worse for the environment than oil, and will cost more to refine. There is no guarantee the US will enjoy benefits from using tarsands 'oil' instead of oil from the Middle East. TransCanada has had 11 spill accidents in 1 year on a new pipeline using the same technology planned for KXL. Canada does not want a pipeline to deliver tarsands to their West Coast! Why would we want it to cross 6 US states and 2000 miles. A tarsands spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan has left the river unusable for drinking water after a year, and 300 hundred families were forced to leave their homes near the river. The longterm effects on health of tarsands exposure are unknown.
Seven thousand of the jobs 'associated' with KXL are jobs that produced the pipeline KXL will use, already purchased from South Korea. TransCanada admits onlly 6500 construction jobs of 2 years duration will be created for the project. 'Spin-off' jobs are over-estimated based on the number of jobs created by the Alaska pipeline, which created many jobs as a result of being built in an isolated area with few existing services available. We cannot expect the same number of new 'spin-off' jobs for KXL!
We should leave this muck in the ground, and focus on clean, renewable energy sources. Abandon the KXL project!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Are We Living in Extraordinarily Difficult Times?
Response to Krautheimer in WaPo, " Bad Luck? Bad Faith?"
When you consider that our current president has faced multiple calamities all in less than 1 term, and not spread out over the 2.5 decades of your examples, I agree with the President. He has faced extraordinary challenges. You didn't even include in your examples the diastrous effects of tax-cuts we couldn't afford, and wars, unpaid for. Couple that with a party whose leader announces his mission is to make this President a one-term President, and I think there is a very good argument that, whatever good-intentions the other party has are on hold until this President is out of office, and unable to claim any of the credit for anything well done. It became clear what was happening when the republicans refused to even come to the table to talk about healthcare reform. It is time for this Congress to stop holding the American people and our economy hostage to the extreme right. We see what is happening. We know that moderate republicans, including Speaker Boehner, have no control. We are under attack from an extreme ideology of racism and religion. I haven't voted for a Democrat for President since my first-time vote for Jimmy Carter! But, I will be voting for President Obama in 2012!
(I didn't follow this up promptly, but I beloieve this was written in response to accusations that President Obama is a whiner in the face of ordinary circumstances. And I don't believe that is true.)
When you consider that our current president has faced multiple calamities all in less than 1 term, and not spread out over the 2.5 decades of your examples, I agree with the President. He has faced extraordinary challenges. You didn't even include in your examples the diastrous effects of tax-cuts we couldn't afford, and wars, unpaid for. Couple that with a party whose leader announces his mission is to make this President a one-term President, and I think there is a very good argument that, whatever good-intentions the other party has are on hold until this President is out of office, and unable to claim any of the credit for anything well done. It became clear what was happening when the republicans refused to even come to the table to talk about healthcare reform. It is time for this Congress to stop holding the American people and our economy hostage to the extreme right. We see what is happening. We know that moderate republicans, including Speaker Boehner, have no control. We are under attack from an extreme ideology of racism and religion. I haven't voted for a Democrat for President since my first-time vote for Jimmy Carter! But, I will be voting for President Obama in 2012!
(I didn't follow this up promptly, but I beloieve this was written in response to accusations that President Obama is a whiner in the face of ordinary circumstances. And I don't believe that is true.)
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
We don't need the EPA! Leave corporations to their own devices.
"We don't need the EPA! Leave corporations to their own devices. They will do the right thing." Why I don't think that is true:
In 1996, when I was a student at one of the top private universities in the US, I took a class called 'Present Moral Problems.' It's the kind of class you take at the end of your college career to fill distribution requirements, and prove you really can communicate in English. One day in class we were discussing what one's moral responsibilities at work would be if asked by an employer or stockholders to pollute the environment. Most everyone in the class immediately responded that they were the holders of their own moral compass, and would, of course, do the 'right' thing. But one student, sitting on the opposite side of the room, separated himself from the rest of us immediately by saying, "If I am the CEO of a corporation, it is my job to make as much money for my stockholders as I am able. So, if I had waste that would cost a million dollars to dispose of, and the fine for dumping it in the local waterway was only $250,000, then I am being paid to save money. So I would dump waste in the stream."
This guy was a student in a top tier business school, and I knew him to be a very good student. He is probably out there somewhere doing his job very well, and according to the moral compass instilled in him by his desire to be successful according to what his school was teaching. This is why we must have regulation. Business schools in those days really were teaching their students that it was their job to do the best thing for their corporation, because the government was "expected to balance that with regulation." This is what a professor in that school told me.
In 1996, when I was a student at one of the top private universities in the US, I took a class called 'Present Moral Problems.' It's the kind of class you take at the end of your college career to fill distribution requirements, and prove you really can communicate in English. One day in class we were discussing what one's moral responsibilities at work would be if asked by an employer or stockholders to pollute the environment. Most everyone in the class immediately responded that they were the holders of their own moral compass, and would, of course, do the 'right' thing. But one student, sitting on the opposite side of the room, separated himself from the rest of us immediately by saying, "If I am the CEO of a corporation, it is my job to make as much money for my stockholders as I am able. So, if I had waste that would cost a million dollars to dispose of, and the fine for dumping it in the local waterway was only $250,000, then I am being paid to save money. So I would dump waste in the stream."
This guy was a student in a top tier business school, and I knew him to be a very good student. He is probably out there somewhere doing his job very well, and according to the moral compass instilled in him by his desire to be successful according to what his school was teaching. This is why we must have regulation. Business schools in those days really were teaching their students that it was their job to do the best thing for their corporation, because the government was "expected to balance that with regulation." This is what a professor in that school told me.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
It's Our Own Damn Fault
I'm not really into writing, so I usually try to use what others have put out there to support my opinions. In looking for material to explain what is happening now in Washington, I was unable to find what I sought. So I'll do my best.
I keep encountering people complaining about President Obama's policies. They don't understand why he isn't keeping his campaign promises. Well, the simple truth is he can't because we dropped the ball. We didn't get out and vote for the right people in the last election so that the balance of power remained in his favor. I don't have the level of knowledge needed to give a civics lesson on the topic, but I know he has to have the majority of Congress on his side on any topic in order to win on any position. And, thanks to us, he doesn't have that. Couple that with Senator McConnell's pledge to make President Obama a one-term president and there is no hope of advancing a liberal agenda in the current political arena.
So what can we do now? Two things seem obvious to me. 1) Continue sending messages to Congress in hopes that they will listen and perform in accordance with our wills. 2) Let President Obama know that he still has our support. After all, we did, very publicly, withdraw that support when we allowed the Tea Party and Republicans to take over the House of Representatives. I believe a President Obama who believes we have faith in him will make a bold move when the next opportunity arises. I also believe he won't do anything bold in the face of uncertainty.
It may very well be that the best we can do in the near future is limit the damage the Republicans and Tea Party can do, and re-establish a more beneficial balance in the next election.
I keep encountering people complaining about President Obama's policies. They don't understand why he isn't keeping his campaign promises. Well, the simple truth is he can't because we dropped the ball. We didn't get out and vote for the right people in the last election so that the balance of power remained in his favor. I don't have the level of knowledge needed to give a civics lesson on the topic, but I know he has to have the majority of Congress on his side on any topic in order to win on any position. And, thanks to us, he doesn't have that. Couple that with Senator McConnell's pledge to make President Obama a one-term president and there is no hope of advancing a liberal agenda in the current political arena.
So what can we do now? Two things seem obvious to me. 1) Continue sending messages to Congress in hopes that they will listen and perform in accordance with our wills. 2) Let President Obama know that he still has our support. After all, we did, very publicly, withdraw that support when we allowed the Tea Party and Republicans to take over the House of Representatives. I believe a President Obama who believes we have faith in him will make a bold move when the next opportunity arises. I also believe he won't do anything bold in the face of uncertainty.
It may very well be that the best we can do in the near future is limit the damage the Republicans and Tea Party can do, and re-establish a more beneficial balance in the next election.
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