This just in...
Luzerne County GOP
As far as I'm concerned, a marked improvement. Then again, the newly-reconstituted Republican Party in this county is a marked improvement of the no-show party of the recent past.
Later
Monday, November 30, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
We're in some real pretty (excrement) here, man!!!
It’s been a while since I bothered writing anything. It hasn’t been a case of writer’s block as much as it has been a matter of pure disgust.
I really didn’t see the need for me to weigh in on the daily Courthouse Blotters, the latest plea agreements, the latest rumors…the latest politicos to go down in flames before the investigating Feds.
At this point, it’s obvious that nobody ‘serves’ in this county. Damn near no one feels a calling to ‘serve’ the good people (dolts) of Luzerne County. None of the entitled upper class types are ‘fighting’ for us. Rather, they are lining their pockets in the most serendipitous of ways and laughing at us all the way to the nearest money launderer.
Meanwhile, the county is still deficit-spending. And we’ve got another near record budgetary shortfall that needs to be, ahem, half-heartedly addressed. Again.
And with that said, I was maddened and then some to read that one of our majority commissioners told an eager press that he trusted his hand-picked friends that have been dropping like DEET-encrusted flies in the face of the ever-widening corruption probe.
We entrusted him to manage this county. That is, to adeptly manage it. We trusted him to manage our money, to ensure a modicum of accountability and to stop the hemorrhaging of red ink. And now that it’s apparent that all of that was well beyond his limited management capabilities, he shrugs his massive shoulders and tells us he trusted his friends?
To quote a former president, “Trust, but verify.“ I say a high-profile resignation is long overdue.
If that’s not alarming enough, we’ve got a Fedrule Govmint that still refuses to recognize the fact that it’s broke and financially overextended. On the state level, fast-declining revenues have resulted in funding cuts across the board, funding cuts that will impact small municipalities far and wide. To quote a local official who spoke to me off the record, “It’s going to get worse. Much worse.”
And while our local budgets will likely face declining state and federal funding for the foreseeable future, while our county government flirts with financial insolvency, our county commissioners feign ignorance to the rampant corruption that festered on their watch.
Why haven’t I been writing?
Oh, I don’t know. The federal government is broke. The state government is broke. The county government is awash in tidal waves of red ink. You know, broke. Meanwhile, the fools in Washington D.C., putter along creating new entitlements that will result in further, still to be determined billions, perhaps trillions in deficit-spending. The solution in the state seems to be to throw a gambling table at every problem. And locally, our elected leaders are making with the ‘see no evil’ bit.
What’s not to like?
Everyone at every level is seemingly incompetent, and at each level of government, financial insolvency has basically been arrived at. What’s the difference between financial paralysis and financial insolvency? If there is a subtle difference, I fail to see it.
The prevailing attitude seems to be…we’re America, the economy is cyclical and we always bounce back. It’ll bounce back. It always bounces back.
Right?
Historical speaking, that mindset has always been proven correct. But when your solution to an economic depression is to print billions you don’t have and hand it all out to supporters of the party, and to create new entitlements the likes of which we‘ve never seen, I’m thinking the folks in Washington are to management what our suddenly befuddled county commissioner is.
And, for me, this is not a partisan thing, an ideological thing, if you will. It doesn’t matter which well-worn political stripes these people are wearing, Republican, Democrat, Independent or what have you. The fact is, I don’t believe that very many of them actually know what they’re going on and on about. And if you’re even close to sharing that opinion with me, you surely have reason for pause. You really should be concerned right now. Perhaps even frightened for our future.
And while I sit here and wonder where the unpaved financial trails will take us, all I keep reading is more and more partisan bluster. If we’d just put this party in charge, we’d all reach nirvana by tonight. If we’d just put that party in charge, life would be a continual orgy and the skies would rain beer. It’s all more of the same misguided swill: Party first, country second. Disingenuous, self-centered, self-important claptrap all.
To pull a quote from one of my favorite movies, Aliens, “We’re in some real pretty (excrement) here, man!!!” A quote that capably describes our current situation.
So, why haven’t I been writing much of late? Well, I find it difficult to do so when I have this annoyingly persistent feeling that all that needs to be said is that the end may finally be near.
But worry not. We’re America, the economy is cyclical and we always bounce back. It’ll bounce back. It always bounces back.
Right?
Depressed? Me? No, not at all.
A realist? Ding! We have a winner!
We’re in some real pretty (excrement) here, man!!!
Later
P.S.--While our entire financial house of cards teeters on collapse, the City of Wilkes-Barre just finalized a budget that included no tax increases and no increases in fees, and with no cuts in services. Although, I’m told that parking permit fees may have to be increased a tad, in the grand scheme of things, that’s barely noteworthy.
So, while all of the supposed leaders at every level of government seem powerless to correctly manage our fast-disappearing money, we need look no further than City Hall for lessons in financial responsibility.
Who knew?
I really didn’t see the need for me to weigh in on the daily Courthouse Blotters, the latest plea agreements, the latest rumors…the latest politicos to go down in flames before the investigating Feds.
At this point, it’s obvious that nobody ‘serves’ in this county. Damn near no one feels a calling to ‘serve’ the good people (dolts) of Luzerne County. None of the entitled upper class types are ‘fighting’ for us. Rather, they are lining their pockets in the most serendipitous of ways and laughing at us all the way to the nearest money launderer.
Meanwhile, the county is still deficit-spending. And we’ve got another near record budgetary shortfall that needs to be, ahem, half-heartedly addressed. Again.
And with that said, I was maddened and then some to read that one of our majority commissioners told an eager press that he trusted his hand-picked friends that have been dropping like DEET-encrusted flies in the face of the ever-widening corruption probe.
We entrusted him to manage this county. That is, to adeptly manage it. We trusted him to manage our money, to ensure a modicum of accountability and to stop the hemorrhaging of red ink. And now that it’s apparent that all of that was well beyond his limited management capabilities, he shrugs his massive shoulders and tells us he trusted his friends?
To quote a former president, “Trust, but verify.“ I say a high-profile resignation is long overdue.
If that’s not alarming enough, we’ve got a Fedrule Govmint that still refuses to recognize the fact that it’s broke and financially overextended. On the state level, fast-declining revenues have resulted in funding cuts across the board, funding cuts that will impact small municipalities far and wide. To quote a local official who spoke to me off the record, “It’s going to get worse. Much worse.”
And while our local budgets will likely face declining state and federal funding for the foreseeable future, while our county government flirts with financial insolvency, our county commissioners feign ignorance to the rampant corruption that festered on their watch.
Why haven’t I been writing?
Oh, I don’t know. The federal government is broke. The state government is broke. The county government is awash in tidal waves of red ink. You know, broke. Meanwhile, the fools in Washington D.C., putter along creating new entitlements that will result in further, still to be determined billions, perhaps trillions in deficit-spending. The solution in the state seems to be to throw a gambling table at every problem. And locally, our elected leaders are making with the ‘see no evil’ bit.
What’s not to like?
Everyone at every level is seemingly incompetent, and at each level of government, financial insolvency has basically been arrived at. What’s the difference between financial paralysis and financial insolvency? If there is a subtle difference, I fail to see it.
The prevailing attitude seems to be…we’re America, the economy is cyclical and we always bounce back. It’ll bounce back. It always bounces back.
Right?
Historical speaking, that mindset has always been proven correct. But when your solution to an economic depression is to print billions you don’t have and hand it all out to supporters of the party, and to create new entitlements the likes of which we‘ve never seen, I’m thinking the folks in Washington are to management what our suddenly befuddled county commissioner is.
And, for me, this is not a partisan thing, an ideological thing, if you will. It doesn’t matter which well-worn political stripes these people are wearing, Republican, Democrat, Independent or what have you. The fact is, I don’t believe that very many of them actually know what they’re going on and on about. And if you’re even close to sharing that opinion with me, you surely have reason for pause. You really should be concerned right now. Perhaps even frightened for our future.
And while I sit here and wonder where the unpaved financial trails will take us, all I keep reading is more and more partisan bluster. If we’d just put this party in charge, we’d all reach nirvana by tonight. If we’d just put that party in charge, life would be a continual orgy and the skies would rain beer. It’s all more of the same misguided swill: Party first, country second. Disingenuous, self-centered, self-important claptrap all.
To pull a quote from one of my favorite movies, Aliens, “We’re in some real pretty (excrement) here, man!!!” A quote that capably describes our current situation.
So, why haven’t I been writing much of late? Well, I find it difficult to do so when I have this annoyingly persistent feeling that all that needs to be said is that the end may finally be near.
But worry not. We’re America, the economy is cyclical and we always bounce back. It’ll bounce back. It always bounces back.
Right?
Depressed? Me? No, not at all.
A realist? Ding! We have a winner!
We’re in some real pretty (excrement) here, man!!!
Later
P.S.--While our entire financial house of cards teeters on collapse, the City of Wilkes-Barre just finalized a budget that included no tax increases and no increases in fees, and with no cuts in services. Although, I’m told that parking permit fees may have to be increased a tad, in the grand scheme of things, that’s barely noteworthy.
So, while all of the supposed leaders at every level of government seem powerless to correctly manage our fast-disappearing money, we need look no further than City Hall for lessons in financial responsibility.
Who knew?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
KD fracking update
From the e-mail inbox:
Markie:
I wish I could write a long-fingered commentary on the WV$A's plan to accept, treat and discharge drilling frackwater into our Susquehanna River. Unfortunately, the reality of my weekends as of late is such that we've been on the road with college visits or other obligatory trips for the last month, and now I have to play catch-up on things at home. I also have some major electrical work staring me in the face once I walk away from the keyboard, so I'll keep it brief.
The online articles in the CV & TL about the WV$A mention potential revenue multiple times, but they barely reference the quality of the treated frackwater that "might" be discharged into the Susquehanna. I think the revenue:water quality ratio of comments in one article was ~7:1. That pretty much $um$ it up; it'$ all about money...period.
As far as the science goes, I'll leave it at this: treated frackwater is to regular sewage plant effluent as Drano is to Ex-Lax. Okay...maybe prune juice. The one ( anonymous, of course ) comment about the treated frackwater being cleaner than what the WVSA is already discharging into our river is not only sad if you think about it, it is an outright lie and typical of the oil industry's mouthpieces and most of those who seek to profit from drilling.
By the way, New York is currently holding hearings on their plans to allow drilling in the headwaters of the Susquehanna. Guess where the NY Department of Environmental Conservation is recommending the drilling companies send their frackwater for disposal? Hint: it isn't NY.
Markie, over a year ago, I said this was going to get ugly. I openly admit to all the good and law-abiding citizens of Circumlocutiondom and bloggers everywhere I was wrong...dead wrong. With so much profit to be realized by so few, and with so much money (billion$) already on the streets and under contract if and when drilling begins at the levels projected, it is poised to progress far beyond the boundaries of ugly. I think "ramming speed on steroids" might sum up the weeks and months ahead.
BTW...happen to notice that most of our elected "leader$" are steering clear of this subject?
Don Williams, a/k/a Kayak Dude
Thanks for weighing in. I remember reading about that plant that was proposed for Eaton Township, a plant which would have been constucted for the expressed purpose of treating fracking water/fluids. While many of the details escape me now, what I do recall was that no matter how it's gussied up for public consumption, the end result was that sullied waters would be released directly into the Susquehanna. Less than pristine water, and in unimaginable quantities.
Or as my moonshine-supplying buddy Lonesome Redneck Mark might say, That ain't fargin' right.
And by the way, I did notice that it's been mum's the word on this issue from our local elected leaders. Especially noteworthy is the silence from Chris Carney, since this is already happening in his own back yard. You know, the occasional explosions, the contaminated wells and the numerous violations of the drilling outfits.
Not to single him out, but it is an issue that can reach out and tough his personal water supply. Perhaps he's still researching the issue for himself. Of perhaps he's got other priorities a look at his campaign contributions might disclose. I dunno.
As for Kanjorski and water quality issues goes, that's like trying to blend water and oil. More succinctly, like mixing raw sewage and water, damming it all and then calling it a recreational lake.
Again, thanks for the brief update. Keep us advised when you can.
Oh yeah, I am not a strict vegetarian. And while my favorite pizza toppings are mushrooms and onions, I have been known to cross over to the dark side by downing some of that delicious pepperoni pizza Wifey whips up from scratch.
Last night we were experimenting with our dough recipe and ended up with a soft and chewey thin crust, dittos on the deeper dished pizzas and a pie that I dubbed a Pizza Loaf. Damn thing was a good three-plus inches deep.
And to yet another e-mail I would respond, sure, while it might not have been fair to go off on Dr. Joe, I'm really getting good and sick of people stepping forward and spouting off about how they know how best to run my life.
And I take extreme exception to anyone who takes the incremental steps of demonizing what they do not personally do, and then tell us that those habits should be deemed punishable by them. And how is it remotely constitutional to target others for unfair and confiscatory tax rates simply because they say so? Who are they to dip into our personal finances simply because they see the drinking of soda pop, the downing of fast food or the consumption of 'sinful' things such as alcohol damaging to society at large?
And what about the convoluted logic that since you have health insurance but consume items not on their personally approved list, then you should be required to pay for someone else's health care in addition to our own? Gee, no tyranny creep going on there.
As far as the demonization of smokers goes, what's more expensive? A career smoker who is diagnosed with lung cancer, treated and then is dead within two years? Or one of those non-smokers who ends up in a personal care home for a decade, possibly much longer?
I personally know people who have lost their homes because of the exorbitant cost of keeping their spouses in assisted-care facilities long term. It's not bad enough that they, for all intents and purposes, lost their loved ones. But then they lose their homes, too?
Smoke this!
Later
Markie:
I wish I could write a long-fingered commentary on the WV$A's plan to accept, treat and discharge drilling frackwater into our Susquehanna River. Unfortunately, the reality of my weekends as of late is such that we've been on the road with college visits or other obligatory trips for the last month, and now I have to play catch-up on things at home. I also have some major electrical work staring me in the face once I walk away from the keyboard, so I'll keep it brief.
The online articles in the CV & TL about the WV$A mention potential revenue multiple times, but they barely reference the quality of the treated frackwater that "might" be discharged into the Susquehanna. I think the revenue:water quality ratio of comments in one article was ~7:1. That pretty much $um$ it up; it'$ all about money...period.
As far as the science goes, I'll leave it at this: treated frackwater is to regular sewage plant effluent as Drano is to Ex-Lax. Okay...maybe prune juice. The one ( anonymous, of course ) comment about the treated frackwater being cleaner than what the WVSA is already discharging into our river is not only sad if you think about it, it is an outright lie and typical of the oil industry's mouthpieces and most of those who seek to profit from drilling.
By the way, New York is currently holding hearings on their plans to allow drilling in the headwaters of the Susquehanna. Guess where the NY Department of Environmental Conservation is recommending the drilling companies send their frackwater for disposal? Hint: it isn't NY.
Markie, over a year ago, I said this was going to get ugly. I openly admit to all the good and law-abiding citizens of Circumlocutiondom and bloggers everywhere I was wrong...dead wrong. With so much profit to be realized by so few, and with so much money (billion$) already on the streets and under contract if and when drilling begins at the levels projected, it is poised to progress far beyond the boundaries of ugly. I think "ramming speed on steroids" might sum up the weeks and months ahead.
BTW...happen to notice that most of our elected "leader$" are steering clear of this subject?
Don Williams, a/k/a Kayak Dude
Thanks for weighing in. I remember reading about that plant that was proposed for Eaton Township, a plant which would have been constucted for the expressed purpose of treating fracking water/fluids. While many of the details escape me now, what I do recall was that no matter how it's gussied up for public consumption, the end result was that sullied waters would be released directly into the Susquehanna. Less than pristine water, and in unimaginable quantities.
Or as my moonshine-supplying buddy Lonesome Redneck Mark might say, That ain't fargin' right.
And by the way, I did notice that it's been mum's the word on this issue from our local elected leaders. Especially noteworthy is the silence from Chris Carney, since this is already happening in his own back yard. You know, the occasional explosions, the contaminated wells and the numerous violations of the drilling outfits.
Not to single him out, but it is an issue that can reach out and tough his personal water supply. Perhaps he's still researching the issue for himself. Of perhaps he's got other priorities a look at his campaign contributions might disclose. I dunno.
As for Kanjorski and water quality issues goes, that's like trying to blend water and oil. More succinctly, like mixing raw sewage and water, damming it all and then calling it a recreational lake.
Again, thanks for the brief update. Keep us advised when you can.
Oh yeah, I am not a strict vegetarian. And while my favorite pizza toppings are mushrooms and onions, I have been known to cross over to the dark side by downing some of that delicious pepperoni pizza Wifey whips up from scratch.
Last night we were experimenting with our dough recipe and ended up with a soft and chewey thin crust, dittos on the deeper dished pizzas and a pie that I dubbed a Pizza Loaf. Damn thing was a good three-plus inches deep.
And to yet another e-mail I would respond, sure, while it might not have been fair to go off on Dr. Joe, I'm really getting good and sick of people stepping forward and spouting off about how they know how best to run my life.
And I take extreme exception to anyone who takes the incremental steps of demonizing what they do not personally do, and then tell us that those habits should be deemed punishable by them. And how is it remotely constitutional to target others for unfair and confiscatory tax rates simply because they say so? Who are they to dip into our personal finances simply because they see the drinking of soda pop, the downing of fast food or the consumption of 'sinful' things such as alcohol damaging to society at large?
And what about the convoluted logic that since you have health insurance but consume items not on their personally approved list, then you should be required to pay for someone else's health care in addition to our own? Gee, no tyranny creep going on there.
As far as the demonization of smokers goes, what's more expensive? A career smoker who is diagnosed with lung cancer, treated and then is dead within two years? Or one of those non-smokers who ends up in a personal care home for a decade, possibly much longer?
I personally know people who have lost their homes because of the exorbitant cost of keeping their spouses in assisted-care facilities long term. It's not bad enough that they, for all intents and purposes, lost their loved ones. But then they lose their homes, too?
Smoke this!
Later
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Dr. Joe gone rogue
From the e-mail inbox:
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:
The Lu Lac Political Letter: The LuLac Edition #1003, Nov. 11th, 2009
Date:
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:43:40 -0500
From:
Doc Leonardi mailto:leonardifamilychiro@mac.com
Reply-To:
yournewphysique@me.com
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2009/11/lulac-edition-1003-nov-11th-2009.html
Hi Everyone,The above link is to an interview I recently did. Please if you can, I will be on WVIA tonight at 7pm discussing childhood obesity:
Thursdays 7pm on WVIA-TV
State of Pennsylvania with WVIA President Bill Kelly and Correspondent Suzanne Kapral-Kelly is the only regional interactive public affairs and news program providing an in-depth look at important issues in the Commonwealth.
Tonight, Nov. 12 at 7pmNEPA's Obese Children: What Can We Do?
Guests include:Dr. Joe Leonardi - Leonardi Family Chiropractic, Adjunct Faculty, Luzerne County Community College, and owner of Yournewphysique.comJoy de Soto, MA - Human Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, Owner of Visions Personal Fitness Training
This is going to go over like a lead balloon. Like I care.
First of all, achieving a significant weight loss is not exactly rocket science. In all honesty, what’s harder? Losing 10, 20, say, 50 pounds, or improving upon High-Velocity Impact Shielding?
Do you want to lose weight? Okay, count calories, work (physically) hard and play even harder. Done.
I’m not saying what Dr. Leonardi achieved is not remarkable, what I’m saying is that you don’t need to pay anyone any sum of money to closely mimic what he has accomplished.
While reading his interview published at the Lu Lac, I took great offense to the following response Dr. Leonardi provided to one of David Yonki’s questions:
I would maintain current Medicare taxes and additionally impose a 15 - 20% tax on junk foods, alcohol and tobacco. Probably video and computer games too. Tax the activities that make us an unhealthy, slothful nation that stresses our health care system disproportionately. Then take that money and put it in a dedicated fund solely for the new Medicare. In addition to water the foods that would remain tax free are basically what you find along the perimeter of the supermarket: fruits, veggies, certain dairy, beef, seafood, poultry, eggs etc... This is a one paragraph answer to a solution that requires much more detail.
Now...now I understand why Dr. Leonardi decided to bolt from the GOP, and start making frequent noise about him becoming a proud Democrat. Because, all of a sudden, he’s decided to embrace unchecked, unrepentant tyranny.
Many moons ago, I went from 217 pounds to 165 and in only a four-month span. And to manage as much, I needed no advice, no books, no videos, no Web sites, no new equipment, no specialty products, no Dr. Joe and what he's selling, but most importantly…I needed no government intervention.
But when anyone, Dr. Leonardi included, tells us that people who eat Fruit Loops should be taxed at a higher rate than people who suffer through a bowl of Cardboard Bran-like Flakes, I’m here to tell those folks they are supporting tyranny in the name of public health. Or, in this case, for profit.
And this subjectively tyrannical suggestion, that we should impose a “15 - 20% tax on junk foods, alcohol and tobacco. Probably video and computer games too,” is frightening in it’s shortsightedness and tyrranical implications.
Follow the mission creep that is tyranny: First, we tax the politically incorrect smokers. And then we go after the politically incorrect NASCAR crowd, the drinkers. And if that doesn’t deliver us, as a nation, to some sort of Utopian Nirvana almost overnight, then we target the people that actually enjoy a Big Mac every now and again.
But why stop there? While we’re at it, why not target people who enjoy their Play Stations? Those people don’t eat fruits and vegetables while they’re enjoying some of the highest frame rates ever imagined. No, I’ll bet you they are chomping on chips and pretzels and guzzling soda pop. Off with their heads! Uh, I meant, tax them at a higher rate because they don’t believe what we believe to be important.
Or as our newest among the suddenly growing legions of health care champions, our so-called experts put it, tax the activities that make us an unhealthy, slothful nation that stresses our health care system disproportionately.
Actually, what stresses our health care system disproportionately, the country in general, and will for the foreseeable future, is people who see tyranny as the answer to a problem in lieu of workable solutions.
How should we fix this, Dr. Joe?
Uh, since Markie enjoys his cigarettes, his beer, his Play Station and his Fantasy Football, I say the fix is to first vilify all that he shamefully and shamelessly enjoys, and then stick our grubby little fingers into his wallet just a little bit deeper.
We, the people who think we know it all, have deemed his usual activates as some sorts of crimes against humanity, so he should have less rights than we hold so near and dear for ourselves. We have accused him of crimes, we have rendered our verdict, so have at his wallet.
Thanks, Dr. Joe. Rather than offering any real solutions, you have made yourself the judge, the jury and the tax-collecting executioner. While you may have noticeably slimmed down in the physical sense, your cognitive processes have become, in my opinion, grotesquely fat-headed.
Or, to thumbnail it, you have become a Democrat.
You know, a tyrant.
Bye
Editor’s note: Pepperoni pizza and beer tomorrow night. Woo-hoo, I can’t wait.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject:
The Lu Lac Political Letter: The LuLac Edition #1003, Nov. 11th, 2009
Date:
Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:43:40 -0500
From:
Doc Leonardi mailto:leonardifamilychiro@mac.com
Reply-To:
yournewphysique@me.com
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
http://lulacpoliticaletter.blogspot.com/2009/11/lulac-edition-1003-nov-11th-2009.html
Hi Everyone,The above link is to an interview I recently did. Please if you can, I will be on WVIA tonight at 7pm discussing childhood obesity:
Thursdays 7pm on WVIA-TV
State of Pennsylvania with WVIA President Bill Kelly and Correspondent Suzanne Kapral-Kelly is the only regional interactive public affairs and news program providing an in-depth look at important issues in the Commonwealth.
Tonight, Nov. 12 at 7pmNEPA's Obese Children: What Can We Do?
Guests include:Dr. Joe Leonardi - Leonardi Family Chiropractic, Adjunct Faculty, Luzerne County Community College, and owner of Yournewphysique.comJoy de Soto, MA - Human Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, Owner of Visions Personal Fitness Training
This is going to go over like a lead balloon. Like I care.
First of all, achieving a significant weight loss is not exactly rocket science. In all honesty, what’s harder? Losing 10, 20, say, 50 pounds, or improving upon High-Velocity Impact Shielding?
Do you want to lose weight? Okay, count calories, work (physically) hard and play even harder. Done.
I’m not saying what Dr. Leonardi achieved is not remarkable, what I’m saying is that you don’t need to pay anyone any sum of money to closely mimic what he has accomplished.
While reading his interview published at the Lu Lac, I took great offense to the following response Dr. Leonardi provided to one of David Yonki’s questions:
I would maintain current Medicare taxes and additionally impose a 15 - 20% tax on junk foods, alcohol and tobacco. Probably video and computer games too. Tax the activities that make us an unhealthy, slothful nation that stresses our health care system disproportionately. Then take that money and put it in a dedicated fund solely for the new Medicare. In addition to water the foods that would remain tax free are basically what you find along the perimeter of the supermarket: fruits, veggies, certain dairy, beef, seafood, poultry, eggs etc... This is a one paragraph answer to a solution that requires much more detail.
Now...now I understand why Dr. Leonardi decided to bolt from the GOP, and start making frequent noise about him becoming a proud Democrat. Because, all of a sudden, he’s decided to embrace unchecked, unrepentant tyranny.
Many moons ago, I went from 217 pounds to 165 and in only a four-month span. And to manage as much, I needed no advice, no books, no videos, no Web sites, no new equipment, no specialty products, no Dr. Joe and what he's selling, but most importantly…I needed no government intervention.
But when anyone, Dr. Leonardi included, tells us that people who eat Fruit Loops should be taxed at a higher rate than people who suffer through a bowl of Cardboard Bran-like Flakes, I’m here to tell those folks they are supporting tyranny in the name of public health. Or, in this case, for profit.
And this subjectively tyrannical suggestion, that we should impose a “15 - 20% tax on junk foods, alcohol and tobacco. Probably video and computer games too,” is frightening in it’s shortsightedness and tyrranical implications.
Follow the mission creep that is tyranny: First, we tax the politically incorrect smokers. And then we go after the politically incorrect NASCAR crowd, the drinkers. And if that doesn’t deliver us, as a nation, to some sort of Utopian Nirvana almost overnight, then we target the people that actually enjoy a Big Mac every now and again.
But why stop there? While we’re at it, why not target people who enjoy their Play Stations? Those people don’t eat fruits and vegetables while they’re enjoying some of the highest frame rates ever imagined. No, I’ll bet you they are chomping on chips and pretzels and guzzling soda pop. Off with their heads! Uh, I meant, tax them at a higher rate because they don’t believe what we believe to be important.
Or as our newest among the suddenly growing legions of health care champions, our so-called experts put it, tax the activities that make us an unhealthy, slothful nation that stresses our health care system disproportionately.
Actually, what stresses our health care system disproportionately, the country in general, and will for the foreseeable future, is people who see tyranny as the answer to a problem in lieu of workable solutions.
How should we fix this, Dr. Joe?
Uh, since Markie enjoys his cigarettes, his beer, his Play Station and his Fantasy Football, I say the fix is to first vilify all that he shamefully and shamelessly enjoys, and then stick our grubby little fingers into his wallet just a little bit deeper.
We, the people who think we know it all, have deemed his usual activates as some sorts of crimes against humanity, so he should have less rights than we hold so near and dear for ourselves. We have accused him of crimes, we have rendered our verdict, so have at his wallet.
Thanks, Dr. Joe. Rather than offering any real solutions, you have made yourself the judge, the jury and the tax-collecting executioner. While you may have noticeably slimmed down in the physical sense, your cognitive processes have become, in my opinion, grotesquely fat-headed.
Or, to thumbnail it, you have become a Democrat.
You know, a tyrant.
Bye
Editor’s note: Pepperoni pizza and beer tomorrow night. Woo-hoo, I can’t wait.
Brace yourself...
Nice. The Times Leader has broken the story that yet another politico in Luzerne County is, for lack of a better word, corrupt.
Former Luzerne County Deputy Clerk charged with accepting bribe
SCRANTON - Former Luzerne County Deputy Clerk William Brace has agreed to plead guilty to accepting a suit valued at $1,500 in exchange for helping a contractor obtain a contract with the county sometime between June 2007 and May 2008.
According to charges filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney's office, Brace supported the contractor, who is not identified, in obtaining a contract with the county valued at more than $5,000. In exchange for his support, Brace traveled to New York City, where the contractor had Brace fitted for a tailor-made, monogramed suit. The charges do not identify the tailor.
Brace has a long history of public employment. He served as chief clerk for Wilkes-Barre City until 2001, when he retired. He then took a position as chief deputy for Clerk of Courts Bob Reilly. He stayed in that position until Decmeber 2005, when he took the position as chief clerk for the county commissioners. He retired in November 2008 to take a position as registrar of vital statistics for the state.
This is just out of hand. Unreal.
And it leads me back to a fair question and a fair assertion that WILK’s Sue Henry has been repeatedly tossing at her listeners for months:
The question: How much is enough?
The assertion: (paraphrasing), Remember, despite all of these arrests, plea agreements and what have you, good people do in fact work at the Luzerne County courthouse.
Sue, sadly, apparently there is no such thing as having enough money for these longtime party apparatchiks.
And as for the assertion, I ask again…Sue, are you prepared to identify THAT good person that toils away under the big dome?
It’s getting to the point that the taint, the all-permeating and sickening stench that seems to taint everything political in this county is now THIS close to fouling the entire lot of them.
I say to you that, good people or no good people, everybody knew that one gigantic scam was afoot for all these years. How could they not have known? Not everyone who is employed by the county is deaf, dumb and blind.
Or are they?
Another one bites the dust. Yet another reason why it might be time to take up residence in Alaska, kiddies. Hmm, now there’s an idea: Circumlocution for Eskimos.
Me, the mush dogs, the frozen, wind-slept expanse of nothingness, the copious amounts of whiskey, a kerosene-powered personal computer and Muckachuck...my new bride.
Muckachuck! You hot 'lil bitch! Fetch me another pint of Mad Dog, will ya!?!
Later
Former Luzerne County Deputy Clerk charged with accepting bribe
SCRANTON - Former Luzerne County Deputy Clerk William Brace has agreed to plead guilty to accepting a suit valued at $1,500 in exchange for helping a contractor obtain a contract with the county sometime between June 2007 and May 2008.
According to charges filed this morning by the U.S. Attorney's office, Brace supported the contractor, who is not identified, in obtaining a contract with the county valued at more than $5,000. In exchange for his support, Brace traveled to New York City, where the contractor had Brace fitted for a tailor-made, monogramed suit. The charges do not identify the tailor.
Brace has a long history of public employment. He served as chief clerk for Wilkes-Barre City until 2001, when he retired. He then took a position as chief deputy for Clerk of Courts Bob Reilly. He stayed in that position until Decmeber 2005, when he took the position as chief clerk for the county commissioners. He retired in November 2008 to take a position as registrar of vital statistics for the state.
This is just out of hand. Unreal.
And it leads me back to a fair question and a fair assertion that WILK’s Sue Henry has been repeatedly tossing at her listeners for months:
The question: How much is enough?
The assertion: (paraphrasing), Remember, despite all of these arrests, plea agreements and what have you, good people do in fact work at the Luzerne County courthouse.
Sue, sadly, apparently there is no such thing as having enough money for these longtime party apparatchiks.
And as for the assertion, I ask again…Sue, are you prepared to identify THAT good person that toils away under the big dome?
It’s getting to the point that the taint, the all-permeating and sickening stench that seems to taint everything political in this county is now THIS close to fouling the entire lot of them.
I say to you that, good people or no good people, everybody knew that one gigantic scam was afoot for all these years. How could they not have known? Not everyone who is employed by the county is deaf, dumb and blind.
Or are they?
Another one bites the dust. Yet another reason why it might be time to take up residence in Alaska, kiddies. Hmm, now there’s an idea: Circumlocution for Eskimos.
Me, the mush dogs, the frozen, wind-slept expanse of nothingness, the copious amounts of whiskey, a kerosene-powered personal computer and Muckachuck...my new bride.
Muckachuck! You hot 'lil bitch! Fetch me another pint of Mad Dog, will ya!?!
Later
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
It's Veteran's Day: time for Obama to grow a pair
It’s Veteran’s Day.
And as a longtime blogger, experience has taught me that I’m supposed to write something appreciative in nature, if not, downright tear jerking about the sacrifices our veterans past, present and future have made and will make for the sorry likes of us.
Don’t hold your breath.
I read this story this morning, Gorbachev Says Obama Should Start Afghan Withdrawal, and I damn near giggled myself sick-like.
Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev sent tanks into Afghanistan to support a Marxist regime in 1979, betting superior firepower from the ground and air would keep the country within Moscow’s fold. Soviet aims were thwarted by an Islamist mujahedeen movement supported by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
While there was support in the Moscow establishment, Gorbachev as the general secretary of the Communist Party concluded that Soviet objectives couldn’t be achieved.
“We thought that that would lead nowhere,” Gorbachev said. “So we started to disengage our troops from any kind of hostilities in Afghanistan.”
The pullout began in 1988 and ended in February of 1989, nine months before the Berlin Wall fell.
Here’s the scoop on that purposeful rewriting of history.
Yes, the Soviets suffered through their own version of Vietnam in Afghanistan, but not initially. Sure, they needed just as many body bags in Afghanistan as we needed to deploy to Vietnam, but there is a tactical difference that needs to be made mention of.
In Vietnam, we were passing out candy bars and trying to win hearts and minds while our determined opponent was wagering that a war of attrition would cause us to pull up stakes, lick our wounds and go home.
In Afghanistan, the Soviets were bombing the militants and the civilian population into oblivion from the onset of the war, that is, until the CIA introduced Stinger missiles into the theater. And with those Stingers being forward-deployed, the Soviet air superiority disappeared almost overnight.
Point…shoot…dead. Done.
And being that Soviet ground tactics were fatally outdated, being that they were stuck in the WWII mindset of establishing a front line and then extending it forward by way of ground troops and their overrated armor, they suffered mass casualties at an alarming rate, and they eventually pulled out of the country with what was left of their tattered tails dragging on the ground behind them.
The point is, without air superiority, thanks to those Stingers perched and waiting for them on mountain peaks the country over, the war of attrition worked to perfection. Without air support, ground troops are fodder to be chewed upon in such a unique, mountain-dominated landscape.
Now let us fast-forward to Afghanistan, 2009.
In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been losing ground troops at a greatly accelerated rate of late. And those increasing number of KIAs are what we’d call veterans. Deceased veterans, but veterans nonetheless.
And now the generals are calling for a surge, an influx of 60,000 additional ground troops, to stem the tide of gains the well-entrenched enemy has been making of late.
But you might be wondering, why have we suffered so many casualties in recent days. And what is the sitting president going to do about it? Is it as Gorbachev says it is, that we cannot win in Afghanistan? Should Obama deploy another 30,000 troops, perhaps 45,000 troops, or should we just cut our losses and get the hell out of there?
The way I see it, there is one unmistakable similarity between the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, and our recent spate of casualties, which has some wondering if the war can be won.
When the Soviets lost their air superiority a la the CIA-supplied Stingers, it was downhill and fast from there. The thing is, on a modern battlefield, ground troops deployed in insufficient numbers are dead ducks without close air support. Much like how surface warships are totally dependant upon air cover or Phalanx and Aegis air defenses for their continued deployment. Er, their continued survival. For instance, an aircraft carrier would survive for all of five minutes in a live shooting war without the aircraft it houses providing cover for it.
In Afghanistan, our troops have no front lines from which to retreat for some much-needed rest and relaxation. Rather, except for a couple of large staging areas, air bases and major cities (which are few), they are forward-deployed to forward fire bases that are easily overrun without close-in air support.
Our ground forces there are too few in number, too spread out, forward-deployed, but very quick on their feet and very rapidly deployed. But rapid deployment is not possible with large numbers of troops, and smaller, more mobile numbers of troops are vulnerable when outmatched, or simply put upon by the terrain. And that’s where the close air support comes in. That’s what guarantees that no matter what skirmish they find themselves enveloped in, they’ll likely live on to fight another day.
But, when all we seem to care about is not offending the natives, when all that we seem horrified by is the politically insensitive collateral damage that is sure to come about when your aircraft are busily seeing to it that the troops on the ground don’t get slaughtered right quick, then we should be able to follow why our casualty rate has been higher of late.
Gorbachev is a clueless poser and a bald-faced liar.
We have not lost air superiority in Afghanistan, and we have not lost the advantage or the initiative in Afghanistan, as did his forces way back when. We still have the upper hand in this conflict, but thanks to the stifling political correctness that is fast, fast choking the last useable brain cell out of this country, we are now reluctant to use it…air power. Air superiority.
Yes, rather than cause a regrettable collateral damage pogrom that might get serious play on CNN, we’ll continue to make with the kinder and gentler bombing runs. Meanwhile, the ground troops will continue to get tagged and bagged and sent home to mom.
We either have the stomach for it, or we do not. And if we do not have the stomach for it, then get those American boys and girls out of there, like, right now! Either bomb them, the enemy, back to the stone ages as the situation on the ground clearly dictates, or get them, our kids, the hell out of there.
It’s Veteran’s Day. And it makes no sense to have our leadership lollygagging along when what they should be doing is seeing to it that the newest of the veteran’s survive the current conflict.
We either play to our strengths, or we go home.
Obama…pick one. Grow a pair. Politics, political correctness or correct tactics.
Pick one.
Sez me.
Later
And as a longtime blogger, experience has taught me that I’m supposed to write something appreciative in nature, if not, downright tear jerking about the sacrifices our veterans past, present and future have made and will make for the sorry likes of us.
Don’t hold your breath.
I read this story this morning, Gorbachev Says Obama Should Start Afghan Withdrawal, and I damn near giggled myself sick-like.
Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev sent tanks into Afghanistan to support a Marxist regime in 1979, betting superior firepower from the ground and air would keep the country within Moscow’s fold. Soviet aims were thwarted by an Islamist mujahedeen movement supported by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the U.S.
While there was support in the Moscow establishment, Gorbachev as the general secretary of the Communist Party concluded that Soviet objectives couldn’t be achieved.
“We thought that that would lead nowhere,” Gorbachev said. “So we started to disengage our troops from any kind of hostilities in Afghanistan.”
The pullout began in 1988 and ended in February of 1989, nine months before the Berlin Wall fell.
Here’s the scoop on that purposeful rewriting of history.
Yes, the Soviets suffered through their own version of Vietnam in Afghanistan, but not initially. Sure, they needed just as many body bags in Afghanistan as we needed to deploy to Vietnam, but there is a tactical difference that needs to be made mention of.
In Vietnam, we were passing out candy bars and trying to win hearts and minds while our determined opponent was wagering that a war of attrition would cause us to pull up stakes, lick our wounds and go home.
In Afghanistan, the Soviets were bombing the militants and the civilian population into oblivion from the onset of the war, that is, until the CIA introduced Stinger missiles into the theater. And with those Stingers being forward-deployed, the Soviet air superiority disappeared almost overnight.
Point…shoot…dead. Done.
And being that Soviet ground tactics were fatally outdated, being that they were stuck in the WWII mindset of establishing a front line and then extending it forward by way of ground troops and their overrated armor, they suffered mass casualties at an alarming rate, and they eventually pulled out of the country with what was left of their tattered tails dragging on the ground behind them.
The point is, without air superiority, thanks to those Stingers perched and waiting for them on mountain peaks the country over, the war of attrition worked to perfection. Without air support, ground troops are fodder to be chewed upon in such a unique, mountain-dominated landscape.
Now let us fast-forward to Afghanistan, 2009.
In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been losing ground troops at a greatly accelerated rate of late. And those increasing number of KIAs are what we’d call veterans. Deceased veterans, but veterans nonetheless.
And now the generals are calling for a surge, an influx of 60,000 additional ground troops, to stem the tide of gains the well-entrenched enemy has been making of late.
But you might be wondering, why have we suffered so many casualties in recent days. And what is the sitting president going to do about it? Is it as Gorbachev says it is, that we cannot win in Afghanistan? Should Obama deploy another 30,000 troops, perhaps 45,000 troops, or should we just cut our losses and get the hell out of there?
The way I see it, there is one unmistakable similarity between the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, and our recent spate of casualties, which has some wondering if the war can be won.
When the Soviets lost their air superiority a la the CIA-supplied Stingers, it was downhill and fast from there. The thing is, on a modern battlefield, ground troops deployed in insufficient numbers are dead ducks without close air support. Much like how surface warships are totally dependant upon air cover or Phalanx and Aegis air defenses for their continued deployment. Er, their continued survival. For instance, an aircraft carrier would survive for all of five minutes in a live shooting war without the aircraft it houses providing cover for it.
In Afghanistan, our troops have no front lines from which to retreat for some much-needed rest and relaxation. Rather, except for a couple of large staging areas, air bases and major cities (which are few), they are forward-deployed to forward fire bases that are easily overrun without close-in air support.
Our ground forces there are too few in number, too spread out, forward-deployed, but very quick on their feet and very rapidly deployed. But rapid deployment is not possible with large numbers of troops, and smaller, more mobile numbers of troops are vulnerable when outmatched, or simply put upon by the terrain. And that’s where the close air support comes in. That’s what guarantees that no matter what skirmish they find themselves enveloped in, they’ll likely live on to fight another day.
But, when all we seem to care about is not offending the natives, when all that we seem horrified by is the politically insensitive collateral damage that is sure to come about when your aircraft are busily seeing to it that the troops on the ground don’t get slaughtered right quick, then we should be able to follow why our casualty rate has been higher of late.
Gorbachev is a clueless poser and a bald-faced liar.
We have not lost air superiority in Afghanistan, and we have not lost the advantage or the initiative in Afghanistan, as did his forces way back when. We still have the upper hand in this conflict, but thanks to the stifling political correctness that is fast, fast choking the last useable brain cell out of this country, we are now reluctant to use it…air power. Air superiority.
Yes, rather than cause a regrettable collateral damage pogrom that might get serious play on CNN, we’ll continue to make with the kinder and gentler bombing runs. Meanwhile, the ground troops will continue to get tagged and bagged and sent home to mom.
We either have the stomach for it, or we do not. And if we do not have the stomach for it, then get those American boys and girls out of there, like, right now! Either bomb them, the enemy, back to the stone ages as the situation on the ground clearly dictates, or get them, our kids, the hell out of there.
It’s Veteran’s Day. And it makes no sense to have our leadership lollygagging along when what they should be doing is seeing to it that the newest of the veteran’s survive the current conflict.
We either play to our strengths, or we go home.
Obama…pick one. Grow a pair. Politics, political correctness or correct tactics.
Pick one.
Sez me.
Later
It's official: nobody knew
Okay, it’s official: nobody knew.
Er, everybody appointed knew. But nobody who was elected knew. Or something or other.
Wait! I know. Everybody knew excepting for the people that knew. Um, let’s try that again. Everybody knew excepting for the people that are paid and trained to know. No, I got it. Everybody knew the same exact thing…Me know no nothin’. Or knew. Argh!!!
What a fu>king farce!
Court system gone awry
PLAINS TWP. – Luzerne County Judge David Lupas, who had been district attorney, conceded Tuesday that some people see juvenile hearings as “kiddie court.”
District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll grew almost combative at times defending her department, warning that past events cannot be judged “in a vacuum.”
And Chief Public Defender Basil Russin admitted activities in juvenile hearings had been “troubling,” but bemoaned a lack of manpower and money as impediment to his ability to do anything.
All three said they could not explain why problems that led to one of the nation’s biggest court corruption scandals festered for years without anyone in their staffs noticing or complaining.
Two central themes emerged: They assumed things were OK, and the actions of one judge were widely popular and thus hard to assail.
You know, the stench emanating from this thing is becoming suffocating. And we haven’t even heard the testimony of the offending judges yet!
As far as I see it, both Judge Dave Lupas and District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll need to be summarily dispatched at the very first opportunity. Fired, that is.
And her getting all saucy and defiant while staring down these commission members…it makes me want to vomit. It makes me want to vomit because I know damn well that those commission members knew they were listening to two-days worth of cover-your-ass prevarication.
They know full-well that Luzerne County, the judiciary and otherwise, is clearly the asshole of the entire state. They see the people that testified before them as the incompetent pretenders that they all were, and apparently still are.
Yes, it’s official: nobody knew.
Cut me a fu>king break! What did you know and when did you know it?
Uh...know what?
And then we have this insufferably tedious gibberish…
Petrilla: No mass layoffs planned
Luzerne County’s proposed 2010 budget is two weeks away from adoption, and there’s not a peep about how commissioners will close a $29 million gap.
Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said nobody’s talking because there is no firm plan yet, though she’s certain the county won’t be cutting 150 workers – one of the options suggested by an outside financial consultant.
“If there’s room not to fill vacancies or to downsize a little, we’d consider that, but there will not be a mass layoff,” Petrilla said. “That’s pretty much all we know for a fact.”
Petrilla said she believes another large layoff would hamper county services, though commissioners are urging department heads to voluntarily suggest staff cuts. The county’s 2009 budget laid off 72 workers.
“Downsizing last year had a great impact on our offices,” Petrilla said.
Hey, not a problem Mrs. Petrilla. Raise taxes by a gazillion percent, and then float another uninsured $20 million bond late next year. Not a freaking problem!
In lieu of adept, fiscally responsible management, we’ll put up with the likes of you. Or will we?
How do you hold the unaccountable accountable? They wanted to adopt a zero tolerance policy? Yeah, so why shouldn't we do likewise?
Fire their dead asses!
Later
Er, everybody appointed knew. But nobody who was elected knew. Or something or other.
Wait! I know. Everybody knew excepting for the people that knew. Um, let’s try that again. Everybody knew excepting for the people that are paid and trained to know. No, I got it. Everybody knew the same exact thing…Me know no nothin’. Or knew. Argh!!!
What a fu>king farce!
Court system gone awry
PLAINS TWP. – Luzerne County Judge David Lupas, who had been district attorney, conceded Tuesday that some people see juvenile hearings as “kiddie court.”
District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll grew almost combative at times defending her department, warning that past events cannot be judged “in a vacuum.”
And Chief Public Defender Basil Russin admitted activities in juvenile hearings had been “troubling,” but bemoaned a lack of manpower and money as impediment to his ability to do anything.
All three said they could not explain why problems that led to one of the nation’s biggest court corruption scandals festered for years without anyone in their staffs noticing or complaining.
Two central themes emerged: They assumed things were OK, and the actions of one judge were widely popular and thus hard to assail.
You know, the stench emanating from this thing is becoming suffocating. And we haven’t even heard the testimony of the offending judges yet!
As far as I see it, both Judge Dave Lupas and District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll need to be summarily dispatched at the very first opportunity. Fired, that is.
And her getting all saucy and defiant while staring down these commission members…it makes me want to vomit. It makes me want to vomit because I know damn well that those commission members knew they were listening to two-days worth of cover-your-ass prevarication.
They know full-well that Luzerne County, the judiciary and otherwise, is clearly the asshole of the entire state. They see the people that testified before them as the incompetent pretenders that they all were, and apparently still are.
Yes, it’s official: nobody knew.
Cut me a fu>king break! What did you know and when did you know it?
Uh...know what?
And then we have this insufferably tedious gibberish…
Petrilla: No mass layoffs planned
Luzerne County’s proposed 2010 budget is two weeks away from adoption, and there’s not a peep about how commissioners will close a $29 million gap.
Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said nobody’s talking because there is no firm plan yet, though she’s certain the county won’t be cutting 150 workers – one of the options suggested by an outside financial consultant.
“If there’s room not to fill vacancies or to downsize a little, we’d consider that, but there will not be a mass layoff,” Petrilla said. “That’s pretty much all we know for a fact.”
Petrilla said she believes another large layoff would hamper county services, though commissioners are urging department heads to voluntarily suggest staff cuts. The county’s 2009 budget laid off 72 workers.
“Downsizing last year had a great impact on our offices,” Petrilla said.
Hey, not a problem Mrs. Petrilla. Raise taxes by a gazillion percent, and then float another uninsured $20 million bond late next year. Not a freaking problem!
In lieu of adept, fiscally responsible management, we’ll put up with the likes of you. Or will we?
How do you hold the unaccountable accountable? They wanted to adopt a zero tolerance policy? Yeah, so why shouldn't we do likewise?
Fire their dead asses!
Later
'Frickin' fracking?' revisited
Before I even happened upon the Times Leader story, "WVSA may treat wastewater from gas-drilling," I had received an e-mail alert from Kayak Dude pointing me in that direction.
While I'm no expert on the ramifications, or environmental impacts of such an undertaking, I do know that Kayak Dude is. And when he suggested that we "blogswarm" on this topic, I got all lazy and whatnot and suggested to him that perhaps he should write the corresponding story, send it to me and I'd post it. So far, that anti-fracking manifesto is yet to arrive in my e-mail inbox.
But, since the locals are finally getting themselves up to speed on all things hydro-fracking, I figured I'd republish what I posted way back on 7/26/2008, a hodgepodge of a thing I titled "Frickin' fracking?"
Take it away, Markie!
Reprint on!
Frickin‘ fracking? I’ve never been so hurt in my life. At the tail end of an email exchange yesterday, Kayak Dude hit me with the following: “You have finally evolved into a progressive, liberal environmentalist.”
Ouch!
Needless to say, I immediately became hysterical and went out to the kitchen hunting for a bottle or two of Drano to drink. We didn’t have any, so Wifey put it on the grocery list. And since I’m typing this now, that means my purposely and ridiculously elevated BAC didn’t deliver the desired result either. Rats!
So I followed the link he sent me and read the story on drilling for that much-ballyhooed Marcellus Shale in very, very southern New York state. That very same Marcellus Shale that is supposedly sitting directly under our backyards. That very same Marcellus Shale that will be discovered after we lease out our backyards to companies drilling for natural gas. That very same Marcellus Shale that will make us all richer than our wildest of wild dreams not including Godzilla, Marcia Brady or Laurie Partridge.
Now, as far as drilling for natural gas is concerned, I pictured a drill bit just a tad bit longer than Wilkes-Barre or something thereabouts. But that’s not how this thing works. To break through the rock formations and expose the shale deposits, fracking is the latest available know-how.
Fracking, which is short for hydraulic fracturing of bedrock, involves high-pressure injection of chemicals, grotesque amounts of water siphoned from local tributaries and sand to fracture rock formations. And after those rock formations are fractured, nobody really knows where those chemicals might end up at. Water aquifers are the most likely place, as in, the water table could become rendered unusable by human beings and furry animals alike. And we wouldn‘t want to make all of the furry little animals rabid as all hell, would we?
So, if and when you lease your land to a drilling company, you’re inviting said company to pump a frightening chemical cocktail into the soil beneath you. And if that’s not enough of a cause for concern, fracking requires millions upon millions of gallons of water to be successful. Water that can only come from our local streams, ponds and rivers.
I sent an email requesting drilling specifics to Chesapeake Energy Corp. one of the largest leaseholders in the Marcellus field, but I received no reply. Shock of shocks, no?
On a somewhat personal note, after the protracted battle to deep-six the inflatable dam at Wilkes-Barre resulted in a glorious victory for the River Rats and their unsung leader, Kayak Dude, I figured he was thoroughly satisfied with his doggedly Herculean efforts and was heading off to the environmentalist retirement home. Yeah, I figured he’d be content with hugging trees and raising spotted mosquitoes from here on out.
But when that aforementioned email exchange included this blurb, “This is gonna get ugly”, I thought to myself, Rutro! The napping behemoth sleeps no more. Can “no fracking” t-shirts be in the works before very long? We shall see.
Anyway, this is the first I’ve heard of “fracking” and fracking fluids. But, with practically everybody with any available land to speak of currently courting these drilling outfits in hopes of becoming modern day Beverly Hillbillies, I think we need to get ourselves up to speed in a big, big hurry.
I can do without energy to a great degree. I can ride a bike and leave the motor vehicle parked right where it is. I can turn down the thermostat during the coldest of winters. And I can ignore the heat during the hottest of the hot summers. But I can’t do without a safe water supply.
Now here’s some necessary reading:
From The Times Leader, July 2, 2008:
State, gas drillers discuss water, land protection
Experts have known about the Marcellus Shale layer, which runs from upstate New York into Virginia and touches northern Luzerne County, for decades. They believe it contains enough recoverable gas to supply America’s natural gas demand for two years. However, technology has only recently advanced enough to tap the shale, which lies as much as 8,000 feet below the surface.
J. Scott Roberts, DEP deputy secretary in the Office of Mineral Resources Management, announced additions to the agency’s usual drilling permit specifically for Marcellus Shale that include detailed estimates of water use.
Paul Swartz, the river basin commission’s executive director, said companies need to make timely applications and factor the permitting process into their drilling timelines. Two permits were approved at the commission’s meeting on Thursday, he said, but another 84 – about a year’s worth of work – still await approval. Though there is a water-use threshold for requiring a permit, he said any work in the Marcellus would exceed that threshold and require a permit.
From NBC Channel 34, Binghamton, New York:
"This is going to make the plume in Endicott look like a walk in the park."
That's because retrieving natural gas from Marcellus Shale - one of the largest gas reservoirs in the world - uses a process called fracking, where water, sand and chemicals are pumped into a well.
Fractures in the wells, either naturally occurring or ones created through fracking, could potentially contaminate drinking water aquifers.
From Salon.com:
Haire's doctor blames her health problems on the scenery's relatively recent addition: 600 natural gas wells, drilled by oil companies over the past two years. Every few feet, 150-foot-tall drill rigs, graced with American flags, rise upward into the sky. Compressor stations, banks of rectangular huts with five-foot-diameter fans, sit back from the road and pump the gas into underground pipelines.
Haire is not alone. Several dozen people in the area blame a rash of health problems on the wells, says Colorado lawyer Lance Astrella. For 15 years, Astrella was a successful attorney for the energy industry. For the past 15 years, he has been defending citizens like those in Garfield County, who blame the wells near their homes for their cancerous tumors, rectal bleeding and chronic headaches. Between January and March of this year, eight people called the Garfield County oil and gas department, complaining about black smoke and strong chemical odors they worry are making them sick.
Scientists and environmentalists say the health hazards of the natural gas wells stem not only from air pollution but "fracking fluid," a mixture of carcinogenic chemicals, used in many of them. Laura Amos, 43, an outfitter who lives 20 miles from Haire, recently developed a tumor in her adrenal gland, which she blames on her exposure to the chemicals. Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a half century-old process in which a gas company injects water, sand and the chemicals into the wells. Developed by Halliburton, the corporation formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, fracking loosens the rock and maximizes the flow of gas to the surface.
At least 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lie in the tight sand and coal bed formations below Garfield County, according to gas companies and industry geologists. Over the next eight years, energy companies expect to build more than 10,000 additional wells in the county.
From The River Reporter.com:
What’s in that fracking fluid?
Take, for instance, a substance called ZetaFlow. It’s a compound produced by a Texas-based company called Weatherford Fracturing Technologies, which is added to the millions of gallons of water that are used, under high pressure, to fracture the deep-lying shale deposit. The Durango Herald in Durango, CO has identified ZetaFlow as the agent that sent a nurse to an intensive care unit for several days in April.
According to an account in that paper and other news sources, a nurse at Durango’s Mercy Regional Medical Center came in contact with a gas worker who was allegedly doused with ZetaFlow. The nurse, Cathy Behr, became ill and within five days she said she went into liver, heart and respiratory failure.
Trust me, that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg whereas available links and information are concerned.
The question is, is this fracking safe? Or do we need to band together and tell the EPA to funk the fracking already?
I leaning towards, yes, we do.
Note: There you go, Dude. I fired the first shot. When can I expect my bumper stickers and t-shirts?
End reprint!
And there you have it. Gort brought it up, I've weighed in all over again, and we'll see just who else might read some of this stuff and feel sufficiently outraged to go and run a bit further with it. While that may not qualify as a "blogswarm," it's better than nothing.
Now go hug your favorite tree (a nubile boxelder?), and I'm heading back to Art Bell-land, where the documented crazies all hang out at this time of night.
G'nite
It's official: everybody knew
The public hearings of the Interbranch Commission of Juvenile Justice at the Best Western East Mountain Inn in Plains on Tuesday provided us with the following eye-opening testimony, courtesy of the Times Leader and the Citizens' Voice.
'Zero tolerance' policy accepted
(By Dave Janoski Projects Editor) Published: November 10, 2009
Former Luzerne County judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. toughened his "zero tolerance" policy for juvenile offenders just three days after the opening of a for-profit detention center whose owner allegedly paid him kickbacks, a former county juvenile probation official told a state panel Monday.
The tougher policy, which required detention for juveniles who missed school or curfew while on probation, swelled the number of detainees and payments going to the for-profit center, former probation official Sandra Brulo told the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, which held the first of two local hearings on the kids-for-cash scandal Monday.
"We would have more children going in," said Brulo, who is one of 18 people charged in a broad federal corruption scandal stemming from the kids-for-cash case. She has pleaded guilty to altering a court record and is awaiting sentencing.
Oh, well. Wouldn't want to risk my job by blowing the whistle, would I?
She would have been better served by pleading the fifth and then jumping off of a bridge. I originally saw her as a sympathetic character, somebody caught up in the fast-widening scandal by accident. A victim of circumstances. But no longer.
UPDATE: Russin says Luzerne County "has a systemic problem."
Mark Guydish
Chief Public Defender Basil Russin rejected the suggestion that he didn't really want to know what was going on while juveniles were denied rights in judge Mark Ciavarella's courtroom, but admitted "in hindsight I should have known."
Russin paused when asked "what's the mindset" in accepting the written waivers and lack of colloquies now known to be common but improper procedure under Ciavarella, then recounted an early experience as an attorney and said it is his habit to trust others in the system.
Commission member Jason Legg suggested that the very fact everyone seemed to embrace the zero tolerance policy was cause for a public defender to step forward and raise questions "for the little guy." Russin said his attorneys should have been asking if defendants wanted to appeal, and he was never told they did.
Russin closed by saying "what we have here in Luzerne County is a systemic problem. .. We still have a mindset in prosecutions and police and juvenile probation "that going to court is always a way to solve problems. "We have to stop that."
"It's a terrible thing that happened, I'm extremely upset ...being there puts a knot in my stomach. ... I'll never practice law the way I did for the past 36 years."
Ah, it must really suck when it becomes public knowledge that these high-brow, prestigious folks were all phoning it in.
But wait…there’s more…
Revolting as it may be…there’s more…
UPDATE:Probation chief admits attending questionable party
Mark Guydish
Luzerne County Probation Department Deputy chief of Administration John Johnson said he was invited and did attend a party thrown by Mid-Atlantic Youth Services at Big Ugly's, but could not recall how long it was, whether judges or county commissioners were there, or what type of food was served. He did say alcohol was provided, and that the party came around the time Luzerne County was sending juveniles to Western PA Child Care, one of two private detention centers at the heart of the judge corruption scandal.
Luzerne County choose Mid-Atlantic to run Pa Child Care in Pittston in 2005, after agreeing to lease the facility. One of the original developers of PA Child Care is Greg Zappala, who also reportedly owns Mid-Atlantic. The deal with Mid-Atlantic was approved by County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, and Big Ugly's is owned by his father, who has testified before a federal grand jury investigating corruption in the area.
In hindsight, Johnson said, such a party was problematic because of the connections, but he did not see anything wrong with it at the time because the previous department head had given the OK for probation department staff to attend.
Commission Chairman John Cleland asked if there had been any instructions to recommend placement at Western PA Child Care the year placement from Luzerne County spiked. Johnson answered no. He said he did not no why recommendations were made to place children so far away, other than the fact that County Commissioners had not OK'd placement to a closer facility previously used.
Johnson also said that, if a child failed to pay restitution, they were put in detention. He said there were hearings on restitution but could not recall how often. Johnson said he never heard that the detention center would call and say it had beds available, or that, as Cleland put it, "An officer called the detention center and asked "this is a detention day, how many beds are available."
Johnson closed by recommending standardization of the detention process across the state.
So, long story short, these people are reinforcing my point about why we needed to vote no in the most vociferous of manners, no matter which judges were up for retention.
The dirty little secret is, while kids were being sent to the new-and-improved for-profit hoosegow for bucks, basically, everybody knew.
Everybody knew.
And isn’t it convenient for our recently retained judge that these hearings are being held a week after we voted on the question of whether or not to retain judges?
Everybody knew.
Told you so.
Buh-bye
'Zero tolerance' policy accepted
(By Dave Janoski Projects Editor) Published: November 10, 2009
Former Luzerne County judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. toughened his "zero tolerance" policy for juvenile offenders just three days after the opening of a for-profit detention center whose owner allegedly paid him kickbacks, a former county juvenile probation official told a state panel Monday.
The tougher policy, which required detention for juveniles who missed school or curfew while on probation, swelled the number of detainees and payments going to the for-profit center, former probation official Sandra Brulo told the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, which held the first of two local hearings on the kids-for-cash scandal Monday.
"We would have more children going in," said Brulo, who is one of 18 people charged in a broad federal corruption scandal stemming from the kids-for-cash case. She has pleaded guilty to altering a court record and is awaiting sentencing.
Oh, well. Wouldn't want to risk my job by blowing the whistle, would I?
She would have been better served by pleading the fifth and then jumping off of a bridge. I originally saw her as a sympathetic character, somebody caught up in the fast-widening scandal by accident. A victim of circumstances. But no longer.
UPDATE: Russin says Luzerne County "has a systemic problem."
Mark Guydish
Chief Public Defender Basil Russin rejected the suggestion that he didn't really want to know what was going on while juveniles were denied rights in judge Mark Ciavarella's courtroom, but admitted "in hindsight I should have known."
Russin paused when asked "what's the mindset" in accepting the written waivers and lack of colloquies now known to be common but improper procedure under Ciavarella, then recounted an early experience as an attorney and said it is his habit to trust others in the system.
Commission member Jason Legg suggested that the very fact everyone seemed to embrace the zero tolerance policy was cause for a public defender to step forward and raise questions "for the little guy." Russin said his attorneys should have been asking if defendants wanted to appeal, and he was never told they did.
Russin closed by saying "what we have here in Luzerne County is a systemic problem. .. We still have a mindset in prosecutions and police and juvenile probation "that going to court is always a way to solve problems. "We have to stop that."
"It's a terrible thing that happened, I'm extremely upset ...being there puts a knot in my stomach. ... I'll never practice law the way I did for the past 36 years."
Ah, it must really suck when it becomes public knowledge that these high-brow, prestigious folks were all phoning it in.
But wait…there’s more…
Revolting as it may be…there’s more…
UPDATE:Probation chief admits attending questionable party
Mark Guydish
Luzerne County Probation Department Deputy chief of Administration John Johnson said he was invited and did attend a party thrown by Mid-Atlantic Youth Services at Big Ugly's, but could not recall how long it was, whether judges or county commissioners were there, or what type of food was served. He did say alcohol was provided, and that the party came around the time Luzerne County was sending juveniles to Western PA Child Care, one of two private detention centers at the heart of the judge corruption scandal.
Luzerne County choose Mid-Atlantic to run Pa Child Care in Pittston in 2005, after agreeing to lease the facility. One of the original developers of PA Child Care is Greg Zappala, who also reportedly owns Mid-Atlantic. The deal with Mid-Atlantic was approved by County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak, and Big Ugly's is owned by his father, who has testified before a federal grand jury investigating corruption in the area.
In hindsight, Johnson said, such a party was problematic because of the connections, but he did not see anything wrong with it at the time because the previous department head had given the OK for probation department staff to attend.
Commission Chairman John Cleland asked if there had been any instructions to recommend placement at Western PA Child Care the year placement from Luzerne County spiked. Johnson answered no. He said he did not no why recommendations were made to place children so far away, other than the fact that County Commissioners had not OK'd placement to a closer facility previously used.
Johnson also said that, if a child failed to pay restitution, they were put in detention. He said there were hearings on restitution but could not recall how often. Johnson said he never heard that the detention center would call and say it had beds available, or that, as Cleland put it, "An officer called the detention center and asked "this is a detention day, how many beds are available."
Johnson closed by recommending standardization of the detention process across the state.
So, long story short, these people are reinforcing my point about why we needed to vote no in the most vociferous of manners, no matter which judges were up for retention.
The dirty little secret is, while kids were being sent to the new-and-improved for-profit hoosegow for bucks, basically, everybody knew.
Everybody knew.
And isn’t it convenient for our recently retained judge that these hearings are being held a week after we voted on the question of whether or not to retain judges?
Everybody knew.
Told you so.
Buh-bye
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Valley Santa
I’m reprinting this here without permission because, even though I was disappointed now and again as a kid on Christmas morning back before the advent of electricity, nothing frightened me more as an adult than the thought creeping into my head that maybe, just maybe, I may had been about to disappoint my children on Christmas morning.
Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a spiritual thing not ruled by it’s over-commercialization. But with the economy being in the toilet like it is, and being that children know not of the tug-of-war between spiritual needs and what they’ve come to expect of Christmas morning, I’m going to go all Clinton on you and say that we need to do this…for the children.
I’ll be sending along a check.
Please join me in these respects.
VALLEY SANTA PROGRAM
Help Line will once again coordinate volunteers for the Valley Santa Program. Listed below are volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups.
Letter Reading is done on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting at 7:00 p.m. Up to ten volunteers are needed each evening. (starts 11/1/09)
Shopping is done on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings starting at 7:00 a.m. (starts 11/2/09) Up to six volunteers are needed each morning.
Gift Wrapping is done on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings starting at 5:30 p.m. (starts 11/2/09)
Up to twenty volunteers are needed each evening.
For groups under the age of 12, there needs to be 3 adults for every child.
If you wish to volunteer please contact Help Line (829-1341 or 1-888-829-1341) and reserve the activity and date you desire. Dates fill up quickly and only a certain number of volunteers can be scheduled for each activity.
If you wish to make a donation to Valley Santa send your contribution to:
Valley Santa Inc.
PO Box 5276
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18710
no new or used toys can not be accepted due to space limitations.
To Request help from Valley Santa: Write a letter explaining the need that exists in as much detail as possible. You MUST include your name, the names, ages and genders of your children, you FULL address, zip code and telephone number. The letter must be co-signed by a clergy member or case/social worker and must include their address and evening telephone number for confirmation.
Requests will be considered for children 12 years of age and younger. NO telephone requests will be accepted. Deadline for letters will be December 15, 2009.
Send your letters to:
Valley Santa
PO Box 5268
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18710
(Editor's note:) Later
Yes, I know it’s supposed to be a spiritual thing not ruled by it’s over-commercialization. But with the economy being in the toilet like it is, and being that children know not of the tug-of-war between spiritual needs and what they’ve come to expect of Christmas morning, I’m going to go all Clinton on you and say that we need to do this…for the children.
I’ll be sending along a check.
Please join me in these respects.
VALLEY SANTA PROGRAM
Help Line will once again coordinate volunteers for the Valley Santa Program. Listed below are volunteer opportunities for individuals and groups.
Letter Reading is done on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting at 7:00 p.m. Up to ten volunteers are needed each evening. (starts 11/1/09)
Shopping is done on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings starting at 7:00 a.m. (starts 11/2/09) Up to six volunteers are needed each morning.
Gift Wrapping is done on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings starting at 5:30 p.m. (starts 11/2/09)
Up to twenty volunteers are needed each evening.
For groups under the age of 12, there needs to be 3 adults for every child.
If you wish to volunteer please contact Help Line (829-1341 or 1-888-829-1341) and reserve the activity and date you desire. Dates fill up quickly and only a certain number of volunteers can be scheduled for each activity.
If you wish to make a donation to Valley Santa send your contribution to:
Valley Santa Inc.
PO Box 5276
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18710
no new or used toys can not be accepted due to space limitations.
To Request help from Valley Santa: Write a letter explaining the need that exists in as much detail as possible. You MUST include your name, the names, ages and genders of your children, you FULL address, zip code and telephone number. The letter must be co-signed by a clergy member or case/social worker and must include their address and evening telephone number for confirmation.
Requests will be considered for children 12 years of age and younger. NO telephone requests will be accepted. Deadline for letters will be December 15, 2009.
Send your letters to:
Valley Santa
PO Box 5268
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18710
(Editor's note:) Later
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