Detour-Mind

Tar Balls Wash Ashore At Cocoa Beach!!

2010-07-07T05:25:00.001-07:00

Tar Balls Wash Ashore At Cocoa Beach, WESH Channel 2 NBC Orlando, July 6, 2010:

More than a dozen tar balls have been found in a 2- to 3-mile stretch of Cocoa Beach during the past two days, according to Brevard County authorities.

Cocoa Beach, FL (News 13 Orlando)

Lifeguards said some beachgoers collected the tar balls in buckets. One woman said she found one that was as big as a roof shingle.

The tar balls have washed ashore at Lori Wilson Park, and also along the shore from 6th Street southward to the Cocoa Beach Pier.

“I don’t like it at all. They are ruining our beaches — even all the way up here on the East Coast,” one beachgoer said

Fresh Tar Ball (News 13)

Kimberly Prosser, a spokeswoman for Brevard County, said the tar balls will be examined to determine if they came from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Results are expected back within the next couple of days.

“We don’t know what the source is. Because of the fact that several pieces have washed up in the same area, it is apparent that it is from the same source, but we don’t know what that source is,” Prosser said.

She said the tar balls could be from the BP oil spill or processed oil from a boat spill. A few weeks ago, a shrimp boat sank off of the Brevard coast, and it is possible the oil could be fuel from the tank.

Video here: http://www.wesh.com/green-pages/24159259/detail.html

BREAKING: Tar balls wash up on Cocoa Beach, WDBO Radio Orlando, July 6, 2010:

Dozens of tar balls have washed ashore at Cocoa Beach.

Ocean rescue in Brevard County is reporting that about two grocery-sized bags filled with tar balls were taken by the Coast Guard this afternoon.

“This is an unusual amount of oil that has washed up”, said Elisen Witcher, who is the assistant ocean rescue chief for Brevard County. “Usually we get small amounts from possessed oil but not this much.”

Witcher says they do not know if the oil is coming directly from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The coast guard has taken the tar bars to get processed and tested to see exactly where the tar balls are coming from and those results are expected to be back within a week.

"Another theory is that the tar washed in from a shrimp boat that sank in May." -- bwahahahahaha. RIIIIGHT.

>> http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100707/NEWS01/7070329/1006/Tar+balls+on+Cocoa+Beach+tested+for+BP+spill+connection

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/july/118652/Tar-balls-wash-up-on-Cocoa-Beach

One beach regular said he collected five pounds in a plastic shopping bag in a short amount of time.

Three samples from Satellite Beach, Patrick Air Force Base and Melbourne Beach were sent for Coast Guard testing.

BP can still drill in Arctic.

2010-06-18T10:58:00.001-07:00

BP, apparently, still has the go-ahead to drill in the arctic this fall. They plan to use "a high-tech drill from a gravel island in the Beaufort Sea, it plans to reach two miles deep, turn and bore another six to eight miles horizontally to tap an oil reservoir in federal waters." The moratorium on drilling applies to not just deepwater projects, but also to Arctic waters -- as Shell recently found out. But, wednesday, "the US government confirmed the drilling 'pause' does nor apply to BP's new project, called Liberty." (
http://alaskadispatch.com/dispatches/energy/5533-bp-plans-to-move-ahead-with-offshore-oil-drilling-in-arctic )

At the moment, however, BP may not be doing a thing -- they havent even gotten (or applied for) the required permits.

Let's hope they keep it that way.

On another note:

BP was/is a MAJOR supplier of aviation fuel for US defense operations ( http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/search.asp?pg=2&type=dn&criteria=bp&rc=78&prevpage=1 ) winning a $125 million contract as late as April 6th 2010 ( http://www.defense.gov/contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=4253 )

BP also was the biggest winner in the Iraqi Oil Field Sweepstakes(tm) ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/5701252/BP-wins-biggest-Iraq-oil-contract.html )

Since Deepwater Horizon sank Shell has come out as the forerunner in these defense fuel contracts -- at the same time they get the "go ahead" to begin Arctic exploration.

So, BP, the US defense's "top dawg" for fuel, gets a "free pass" to drill dangerously never-before-drilled depts to maintain it's contract obligations (fuel our wars) while Shell gets a "free pass" for the Arctic to (possibly - if BP falls) do the same?

.... and now they tell me BP is getting a green light for Arctic drilling?!

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!

OMG -- The Environmentalists were right!!

2010-06-10T12:38:00.001-07:00

hahahah.

Controlled Burns, Fumes, and Evacuations...

2010-06-09T05:54:00.000-07:00

FROM http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10863243

BP Plans to Burn Some Oil Pumping up to Surface
BP won't collect and sell all the oil it pumps to the surface from leak _ some of it will burn
The Associated Press
Post a Comment
By RAY HENRY Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS June 9, 2010 (AP)

... To burn it, the British oil giant is preparing to use a device called an EverGreen Burner, officials said. It turns a flow of oil and gas into a vapor that is pushed out its 12 nozzles and burned without creating visible smoke.

... Depending on which model is used and its settings, it can handle from 10,500 to 630,000 gallons of oil a day, according to promotional materials by Schlumberger Ltd., the company that makes the device and whose website touts it as producing "fallout-free and smokeless combustion."

It's unclear how many times the EverGreen burner has been used, but it has been proposed for at least one offshore rig in the North Sea to get rid of unwanted gases produced during oil processing.

Environmental documents produced as part of that project, an exploration well proposed by Total E&P of Britain, said burning the oil posed "a moderate risk to the environment" that would release sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and other chemicals.

But Wilma Subra, a chemist with the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, said BP should avoid burning the captured oil — which she said raises new health risks — and instead bring in more processing equipment.

"This is one of those decisions that will have negative impacts," she said. "Even though it's crude dispersed in water, the burning of crude will raise some health issues."

From http://www.examiner.com/x-17299-Hernando-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m5d9-Gulf-Oil-Spill-2010-Plans-to-evacuate-Tampa-Bay-area-expected-to-be-announced

Florida Gulf oil spill: Plans to evacuate Tampa Bay area are in place

Updated: May 22, 2010

Gulf Oil Spill 2010: Plans to evacuate Tampa Bay area are in place

As FEMA and other government agencies prepare for what is now being called by some, the worst oil spill disaster in history, plans to evacuate the Tampa Bay area are in place.

The plans would be announed in the event of a controlled burn of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico, if wind or other conditions are expected to take the toxic fumes through Tampa Bay.

This practice is common for the US Forestry service, when fire and smoke threaten the health and well being of people.

The elderly and those with respiratory problems would be more susceptible to health risks, in the event of a controlled burn.

Estimates of the rate of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill have varied. SkyTruth.com, estimates the numbers at more than 1 million gallons a day, based on satellite and Coast Guard images.

Since the April 20th explosion, which resulted in the sinking of the rig, there have been more than 650,000 gallons of chemicals poured into the Gulf of Mexico in efforts to break up the spill. However, the chemicals have come under some scrutiny recently, because of their own toxic nature.

It is not certain if the massive slick will have to be set on fire near Tampa Bay, but the possibility has not been ruled out. BP has been using controlled burnes as a way to control the oil spill since the crisis began more than a month ago.

Oil Odors: If You Smell It, Is It Toxic?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-solomon/oil-odors-if-you-smell-it_b_605007.html

Hazard Summary-Created in April 1992; Revised in January 2000
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/glycolet.html

Assessing Personal Exposure
Metabolites of 2-butoxyethanol can be measured in urine. (8)
Health Hazard Information
Acute Effects:
Acute exposure to high levels of the glycol ethers in humans results in narcosis, pulmonary edema, and severe liver and kidney damage. (1)
Acute exposure to lower levels of the glycol ethers in humans causes conjunctivitis, upper respiratory tract irritation, headache, nausea, and temporary corneal clouding. (1)
Chronic Effects (Noncancer):
Chronic exposure to the glycol ethers in humans results in fatigue, lethargy, nausea, anorexia, tremor, and anemia. (1,5,7)
Animal studies have reported anemia, reduced body weight gain, and irritation of the eyes and nose from inhalation exposure. (4)
EPA has not established a Reference Dose (RfD) for 2-methoxyethanol, 2-ethoxyethanol, or 2-butoxyethanol. (5,7,8)
2-Butoxyethanol
EPA has calculated a provisional RfC of 0.02 mg/m3 for 2-butoxyethanol based on hematological effects in rats. (6)

Reproductive/Developmental Effects:

No information is available on the developmental effects of the glycol ethers in humans.
A possible effect on sperm quality and testes size in workers exposed to glycol ethers has been reported. (5,7)
Animal studies have reported testicular damage, reduced fertility, maternal toxicity, early embryonic death, birth defects, and delayed development from inhalation and oral exposure to the glycol ethers. (2,4,5,7)

Cancer Risk:
No information is available on the carcinogenic effects of the glycol ethers in humans.
Another animal study reported pheochromocytoma of the adrenal medulla in female rats, hemangiosarcoma of the liver in male mice, and forestomach squamous cell papilloma or carcinoma in female mice exposed to 2-butoxyethanol by inhalation. (11)
EPA has not classified the glycol ethers for carcinogenicity.

Environmentalists didn't push oil production into deeper waters...

2010-06-08T10:53:00.001-07:00

...oil company performance did.

1979 Ixtoc I Oil Spill
3rd Largest oil spill EVER.
Shallow water spill -- 160 feet -- 11 months to cap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixtoc_I_oil_spill

2009 Montara Oil Spill - Timor Sea, Australia
Shallow water well -- 250 feet.
Nearly 3 months to cap well by using "relief" wells.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/us/03montara.html

Free Unlimited Oil Changes!!

2010-06-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.cafepress.com/freeoilchange
Get your "Free Oil Change" Tshirt and stickers now and contribute to cleanup efforts

Get this and other great anti-BP graphics now!

End the Ecocide.

2010-06-02T09:01:00.001-07:00

BP has turned things upside-down in the Gulf -- so now we turn BP upside down.

Life in the Gulf of Mexico will be "dead quick" -- "dq"

Get your sticker today!!

http://www.cafepress.com/deadquick

bp-cocide

2010-05-28T07:28:00.001-07:00

The unending gusher of crude and the application of toxic dispersants into the Gulf of Mexico is bound to be felt for years after the leak is stopped.

150+ sea turtles. 24+ dolphins. Pelicans. Seagulls. Fish. Coral. Dead and dying.

This is nothing short of ecocide.

Get your bp-cocide stickers today -- http://www.cafepress.com/bpcocide

Never forget bp-cocide in the Gulf.

BP "Top Kill"... Will it work?

2010-05-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

BP tells us that it's going to stop the leak by pumping "mud" into the well in a "top kill" procedure never tried at these depths -- just like everything else this with this disaster.
They also tell us that the mud will be pumped at a rate of 40 to 50 barrels a minute.(http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/if_successful_top_kill_will_pe.html

Remember, this well is said to be leaking at 5,000 barrels a day by the mainstream media -- or as much as 95,000 barrels by some estimates.(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/25/gulf-oil-spill-how-much-o_n_588587.html)

There are 1,440 minutes in a day.

5,000 barrels a day is almost 3.5 barrels a minute. Good change of the mud outpacing the oil/gas...

60,000 barrels -- almost 42 barrels a minute.

100,000 barrels -- almost 69.5 barrels a minute.

Will 40-50 barrels a minute of mud be able to compete with the unpadded estimates of gushing oil/gas??

BP leaked Gallons of Oil into the Gulf so far...

2010-05-24T08:10:00.001-07:00

326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water on Earth.

2010-05-17T13:29:00.001-07:00

(326 million trillion gallons)

(http://www.howstuffworks.com/question157.htm)

Now, supposedly, "[i]t only takes one quart of motor oil to make 250,000 gallons of ocean water toxic to wildlife." (http://pesn.com/2010/05/02/9501643_Mother_of_all_gushers_could_kill_Earths_oceans/)

Assuming the above is true, 1 gallon of oil can make toxic 1,000,000 gallons of water toxic. We've dumped, according to conservative estimates of 5k barrels daily, about 5.25 million gallons -- or enough to make toxic 5.25 TRILLION gallons of water.

The next most conservative estimates say the well is leaking at least 25k barrels a day, or 26.25 million gallons -- enough to toxify 26.25 trillion gallons.

The highest estimate I've seen -- 70k barrels -- 73.5 million gallons -- or enough to toxify nearly 75 TRILLION gallons of water.

Lets assume there's 1 billion barrels (42 billion gallons) of crude in BPs broken well (I've heard reports of "10s of millions of barrels" and an unstopped leak going on for "years")

If BP cannot stop the gusher, and the well exhausts itself -- we're looking at toxifying 42,000 TRILLION gallons of water.

........ but hey, look on the bright side -- my math could be wrong.

BP Defense Contracts from 2000-2009

2010-05-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

BP Products North America Inc -- 17 contracts -- $3,623,904,862 -- http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/bp_west_coast_products_llc_100371298.asp?yr=09

BP OIL INTERNATIONAL LTD -- 8 contracts -- $1,469,752,831 -- http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/bp_oil_international_ltd_227095270.asp?yr=09

BP ENERGY COMPANY -- 21 contracts -- $571,172,643 -- http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/bp_energy_company_formerly_am_625275755.asp?yr=09

BP EXPLORATION AND OIL COMPANY(TX) -- 9 contracts -- $85,983,466 -- http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/bp_exploration_and_oil_company_804411650.asp?yr=02

BP EXPLORATION AND OIL(OH) -- 9 contracts -- $69,161,864 -- http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/department/defense/bp_exploration_and_oil_151343530.asp?yr=07

Even MORE at: http://www.governmentcontractswon.com/search.asp?pg=2&type=dn&criteria=bp&rc=78&prevpage=1

WHO is the BIGGEST supplier of fuel to US military?!??

2010-05-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

BP!

April 06, 2010 -- "Air BP, Warrenville, Ill. is being awarded a maximum $124,754,182 fixed-price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for aviation turbine fuel."

http://www.defense.gov/contracts/contract.aspx?contractid=4253

16-Aug-2009 -- "BP West Coast Products (dba Arco) in La Palma, CA won a maximum $516.8 million fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (SP0600-09-D-0512) for aviation fuel."

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/US-Defense-Energy-Support-Center-Awards-Up-to-904M-in-Fuel-Contracts-05707/

August 24, 2008 -- "Air BP, Warrenville, Ill. is being awarded a maximum $12,446,821 fixed price with economic price adjustment contract for jet fuel.Other location of performance is Grand Junction, Colorado.Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, federal civilian agencies and National … "

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-183593856.html

September 14, 2005 -- "BP West Coast Products LLC, La Palma, Calif., is being awarded a maximum $587,804,938 fixed price with economic price adjustment for JP8 Turbine Fuel and F-76 Fuel for Defense Energy Support Center. "

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-136245757/usa-bp-west-coast.html

AIR BP: http://www.bp.com/homepage.do?categoryId=6100

BP the BIGGEST contract for aviation turbine fuel. WHY do you think the gov't isn't gonna hack BPs head off?

Get your hand screened BP* Shirts!

2010-05-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

Contact me for details!

"Bathed in Petroleum."

2010-05-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

Stickers, Buttons & More!!

Get yours today!

http://www.cafepress.com/BathedinPetrol

Global Insurer's take on Climate change (2005)

2010-05-06T05:46:00.001-07:00

"The first impact scenario, or CCF-I, portrays a world with an increased correlation and geographical simultaneity of extreme events, generating an overwhelming strain for some stakeholders."

"Taken in aggregate, these and other effects of a warming and more variable climate could threaten economies worldwide. In CCF-I, some parts of the developed world may be capable of responding to the disruptions, but the events would be particularly punishing for developing countries. For the world over, historical weather patterns would diminish in value as guides to forecasting the future."

"The second impact scenario, CCF-II, envisions a world in which the warming and enhanced variability produce surprisingly destructive consequences."

"Some of the impacts envisioned by the second scenario are very severe and would involve catastrophic, widespread damages, with a world economy beset by increased costs and chronic, unmanageable risks. Climate-related disruptions would no longer be contained or confined."

"CCF-II would involve blows to the world economy sufficiently severe to cripple the resilience that enables affluent countries to respond to catastrophes. In effect, parts of developed countries would experience developing nation conditions for prolonged periods as a result of natural catastrophes and increasing vulnerability due to the abbreviated return times of extreme events.

Still, CCF-II is not a worst-case scenario.

A worst-case scenario would include large-scale, nonlinear disruptions in the climate system itself — slippage of ice sheets from Antarctica or Greenland, raising sea levels inches to feet; accelerated thawing of permafrost, with release of large quantities of methane; and shifts in ocean thermohaline circulation (the stabilizing ocean “conveyor belt”)."

http://www.climatechangefutures.org/pdf/CCF_Report_Final_10.27.pdf

Sponsored by Swiss Re "Leading Global Reinsurer" "with focus on risk transfer, risk retention financing, and asset management"

Does that worst case scenario sound familiar??

BP and Big Oil on Safety Regulations.

2010-04-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

"We believe the industry's current safety and environmental statistics demonstrate that the voluntary programs... have been and continue to be very successful."

Richard Morrison, BP VP

September 14, 2009

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/35951483/MMS-2008-OMM-0003-00111

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/MMS-2008-OMM-0003-0030.3.pdf

"Drill Baby, Drill"

2010-04-29T06:41:00.001-07:00

Hurry BP, "Drill Baby, Drill!!" Stop your damned leak. Stop the damage. --- "Much more oil may be leaking from a Gulf of Mexico drilling site than first estimated, BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said on Thursday."

"It may be as much as a new estimate of 5,000 barrels a day that the government first provided late Wednesday, he said."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36800673/ns/us_news-environment/
------

That's 210,000 gallons a day.

Last Tuesday through end of today -- potentially 1.89 MILLION gallons of crude into the Gulf.

This is gonna top Valdez -- which spilled a whopping 10.8 million gallons.

Robots can't shut it down, they're gonna have to drill. Estimates of 45 days(9.45 million gallons of crude) to 90 days(18.9 million)to drill and plug the leak -- don't forget it took 3 months to fix Austrailia's oil disaster last year... .

What to do with those who chanted "Drill Baby, Drill" -- Kill Baby, Kill.

Pathetic Attempt at Cleanup

2010-04-28T11:44:00.001-07:00

"More than 1,000 employees of federal and state agencies and an oil industry consortium are working to contain and track the spill.

Crews on 49 vessels were using more than 29,000 feet of boom to trap floating oil, which had created a rainbow sheen atop the Gulf with a circumference of 600 miles.

As of late Tuesday, roughly 157,000 gallons of mixed oil and water had been recovered."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100428/ARTICLE/4281038/2055/NEWS?p=2&tc=pg

-------

29,000 feet is just 5 1/2 miles. Almost.

5 1/2 miles of boom to contain a spill 600 miles in circumference?! What a JOKE!!

They'd need some 3 million feet of boom to contain the spill -- IF it doesn't expand.

157,000 gallons is almost 3,750 barrels. The blown rig is losing 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) of crude a day. 8,000 barrels or so should have been lost since last Tuesday's disaster.

How many gallons of oil/water mix is created by pumping 336,000 gallons (8,000 barrels) of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico?

Business survival...

2010-02-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

Of course businesses cannot survive by cutting of the revenue stream of those who actually buy their goods/services.

Why then do we have so many proponents of greed who care more about protecting corporate CEO salaries than about the income of the lower classes which support the higher ones?

"But, but, but, 'greedy capitalists aren't doing it on purpose' it's 'totally counterintuitive to greed'"

I agree. Greed won't intentionally cut off the consumer hand which feeds it. (I'm not suggesting workers want to cut the corporate hand that feeds it, either) But, I suggest those at the HIGHEST levels of Corporate America have cushioned themselves from the immediate effects of such greed, and may, in fact, intentionally cause such catastrophe...

The lowest income group has been effected the hardest by unemployment, some 30%.. the next lowest bracket suffers from 20% unemployment. The top? only 3%... so, the top (the greediest) isn't too worried about it's practice of ripping off the low guy.

It's most likely, too, that the smallest businesses will be effected the most. They'll be the ones closing their doors, and when they do, we'll see the kind of predatory acquisition and consolidation we saw after the bank meltdown.

Crisis, as we all know, creates great opportunity at great risk -- the bigger the risk the bigger the payoff...

I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying that those at the top would gladly bet it all if they could own it all.

FW: Florida Energy Associates

2010-02-10T12:42:00.001-08:00

Below are this years lobbyists for Florida Energy Associates LLC so far this year... I've listed the lobbyists as well as some of the other suspect groups they lobby for.

2010 Legislative Principal
Florida Energy Associates, LLC
Lobbyists representing principal:

Brian H. Bibeau

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Gulfstream Natural Gas System, LLC

Paul R. Bradshaw

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Florida Solar Energy Industries Association

TECO Energy, Inc

Christopher F. Dudley

Carlisle Development Group, LLC

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Florida Solar Energy Industries Association
Florida Trucking Association

Mosaic Fertilizer LLC

Standard Renewable Energy, LP

TECO Energy, Inc

Towson Fraser

Disaster, Strategies and Ideas Group, LLC

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Florida Trucking Association

Mosaic Fertilizer LLC

Standard Renewable Energy, LP

TECO Energy, Inc

Steven J. Madden

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Florida Solar Energy Industries Association

Florida Trucking Association

Mosaic Fertilizer LLC

TECO Energy, Inc

Frank E. Matthews

Florida Electric Power Coordinating Group, Inc

Florida Independent Petroleum Producers Association

Florida Water Environment Association Utility Council

Progress Energy Florida

R. Paul Mitchell

Matthew R. Montgomery

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Wise Gas, Inc

Sean A. Pittman

Peoples Gas System, Inc

Tampa Electric Company

TECO Energy, Inc

David A. Rancourt

Disaster, Strategies and Ideas Group, LLC

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Florida Solar Energy Industries Association

Florida Trucking Association

Mosaic Fertilizer LLC

TECO Energy, Inc

Dan R. Stengle

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Exxon Mobil Corporation

Stacey S. Webb

Florida Automobile Dealers Association

Florida Trucking Association

Mosaic Fertilizer LLC
TECO Energy, Inc

http://199.44.254.204/Lobbyist/index.cfm?Lobbyists=View_Principal_Info&Tab=lobbyist&Submenu=2&Principal=Florida%20Energy%20Associates%2C%20LLC&Lobbyist_ID=000116&Title=->2010->L->Florida%20Energy%20Associates%2C%20LLC

A Capitalist Carol

2009-12-15T08:24:00.000-08:00

FW: Who controls our water?

2009-11-18T07:46:00.001-08:00

Stock Symbol - Veolia Environment - VE - http://finance.aol.com/lookup/veolia/usa

From http://www.tradeobservatory.org/waterprivatization/index.cfm?state=fl >>

Florida

Local company Utilities, Inc. of Florida

National parent company Utilities, Inc.
610.337.1000 (Valley Forge, PA) jswope@ugi.com www.ugicorp.com/

Multinational parent company American International Group (AIG)

Contract status: May 2005 Utilities Inc. no longer privately owned but publicly traded corporation acquisitioned by AIG (for more information go to www.citizen.org/cmep/water/general/majorwater/aig)

Tampa, Florida

Local company N/A

National parent company United Water Resources
www.unitedwater.com

Multinational parent company Suez

Tampa (St. Petersburg and New Port Richey), Florida

Local company Tampa Bay Water Surface Water Treatment System

National parent company Veolia Water North America
800.522.4774 (Houston, Texas); general.information@veoliawaterna.com; www.veoliawaterna.com

Multinational parent company Veolia Environnement

Contract type: 15 year agreement; design, construct and operate
Date of privatization: 2000
Number of people served: 1500000

Veolia, aka Vivendi --

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DTI+Partners+with+USFilter+for+Integrated+Operations+and+Water...-a0102675138

...risk that Veolia Environnement may incur environmental liability in connection with its past, present and future operations, and the risks related to Veolia Environnement's relationship with Vivendi Universal...

Vivendi, as Veolia, gains access to Tampa's water:

April, 2007

Florida's Tampa Bay Water selects Veolia Water to manage a $158.4 million design-build-operate surface water treatment plant

The Veolia Water North America - South LLC (Veolia Water) project will nearly double capacity at the Tampa Bay Water Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant from 72 million-gallons-per-day (MGD) to 120 MGD. Veolia Water designed, built and now operates what will be the regional water authority's largest treatment facility and among the world's most technologically sophisticated, having led a team of companies first selected in 2000. The contract amendment amounting to $158.4 million over its term was unanimously approved by Tampa Bay Water's board of directors, making the Brandon, Fla., treatment facility the nation's largest DBO project, sharing the honor with Seattle Public Utilities' 120-MGD Tolt Treatment Facility. The project also reunites Veolia Water with Camp Dresser & McKee, the project's design engineer of record. Tampa Bay Water provides wholesale water to the public utility systems of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa. Veolia Water North America - South, LLC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Veolia Water North America, providing services to more than 14 million people in approximately 600 communities. The company is part of Veolia Water, the No. 1 water company in the world, serving more than 108 million customers. Veolia Water is the water division of Veolia Environnement

http://www.ncppp.org/cases/tampabay.shtml

After evaluating several proposals, the water authority selected the Veolia Water North America (formerly USFilter Operating Services, Inc.) team of Tampa-based general contractor The Clark Construction Group, engineer Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (CDM) of Sarasota, Fla., and, of course, the water treatment system and service provider and project leader Veolia. The $144 million, 15-year agreement with an optional 5-year renewal is one of the largest water treatment DBO contracts in the United States.

http://www.veoliawater.com/press/case-studies/collectivites/2268,tampa-bay.htm

Tampa Bay Water is Florida's largest public wholesale water supplier, drawing approximately 632,000 cubic meters/day of water from numerous surface water sources and serving 1.5 million customers.

... the authority developed a $609 million Master Water Plan to address new water sources. The first phase ....concentrates on surface water. Looking ...the authority entered into a 15-year design-build-operate (DBO) agreement with a team led by Veolia Water for a 250,000 cubic meters/day regional surface water treatment plant. As part of the March 2000 agreement, Veolia Water carried out the design and construction of the plant and today provides for its day-to-day operation.

The public-private partnership is the second-largest water production DBO contract in the United States.

http://www.veolia-finance.com/press-release-657.html

Tampa Bay Water has selected Veolia Water, through its American subsidiary, Veolia Water North America – South LLC, for the project extension (design, build, operate) of its regional surface water treatment plant, Brandon, in Florida, which will nearly double its capacity, from 72 million-gallons-per-day (MGD) to 120 MGD. Planned completion and acceptance of the facility is scheduled for the end of 2010 at the latest, the date when plant operation will commence for a period of 13 years. The contract is worth US$158,4million

" We are delighted that Tampa Bay Water has renewed its confidence in the company by awarding us with the capacity extension of this big plant. "

http://tampabay.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/04/30/daily19.html

The Brandon treatment plant blends a mixture of water from the Alafia River, the Tampa Bypass Canal, the Hillsborough River and the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir through a 72-inch diameter pipeline to the plant. Upgrades to the plant are expected to be finished in 2010, with the current contract with Veolia in place through 2023. It will directly serve Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa.

Veolia is the top supplier of water in the world with more than 108 million customers. It is a division of Veolia Environnement (NYSE: VE) with revenues of $38.7 billion in 2006.

http://usmayors.org/usmayornewspaper/documents/07_14_08/pg18_MWC.asp

Tampa Bay Water selected Veolia Water of North America as the private partner. The partnership arrangement commits Tampa Bay Water to expand surface water capacity by 120 million gallons a day (MGD). The project involves two design-build phases. The first phase involves developing 97 MGD between 1998 and 2007 at a cost of $85 million. This has already been accomplished. The second phase involves developing an additional 25 MGD between 2006 and 2011 at a cost of $80 million.

http://www.vwsmppsystems.com/en/References_pressreleases/?news=1417&src=vwv2_portal

http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Veolia-Water-Contracted-For-Design-Build-Oper-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO

Water privatization and harm, etc:

http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org/pdf/wpn01.pdf?bcsi_scan_9FD9C5E691C6A12F=0&bcsi_scan_filename=wpn01.pdf

- Great Britain's environmental agency rated Great Britain's environmental agency rated Vivendi Vivendi one of top 5 one of top 5 polluters.

- Argentina faulted Vivendi for poor performance and poor water Argentina faulted Vivendi for poor performance and poor water quality in quality in Tucuman Tucuman. . Vivendi Vivendi took Argentina to international dispute took Argentina to international dispute center under bilateral agreement with France claiming Argentina center under bilateral agreement with France claiming Argentina had had not fulfilled its obligations. not fulfilled its obligations.

- In New Orleans, US Filter subsidiary PSG had contract with city. In New Orleans, US Filter subsidiary PSG had contract with city. In In July 2001 PSG diverted raw sewage into Mississippi River for two July 2001 PSG diverted raw sewage into Mississippi River for two hours after electrical fire.

- Suez/ United Water, Vivendi/ US Filter, RWE/Thames (the German/ Suez/ United Water, Vivendi/ US Filter, RWE/Thames (the German/British conglomerate) were major contenders to take over Ne British conglomerate) were major contenders to take over New w Orleans water system.

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/Water/general/majorwater/veolia/

Veolia Environnement operates hundreds of private sector water projects in almost 50 countries around the world, reaching an estimated 110 million people. Until 2002, Veolia, formerly known as Vivendi Environnement, was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vivendi Universal... But whatever distance the water company manages to put between itself and Vivendi in the eyes of the financial community, the company can't distance itself from its recorda record reflecting a corporation that views water not as a right or a necessity of life, but as an opportunity for monopoly profits. While Veolia's focus remains developed urban markets in Europe, the US, and Asia, the corporation is hedging its bets with increasingly substantive roles in service delivery in the developing world, often in collusion with the World Bank.

http://www.lapress.org/articles.asp?art=5366

Social organizations define water as a public good that should be managed by national governments, but international finance organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) say that only private sector investment to the tune of US$50 billion a year can guarantee universal water access in Latin America.

In the 1990s... many Latin American and Caribbean countries passed their water sources, drinking water services and bottled water supply over to private multinational water companies, such as French companies Vivendi and Suez and their many subsidiaries, as well as large food and beverage corporations such as Nestlé, Danone, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

In all cases, a common scheme was followed. It began with the self-destruction of the state-run water companies in order to justify low-cost privatizations.

Later came an increase in water service fees, the breach of concession contract because of a lack of investment, ending with the reselling of the companies, indebted and obsolete, back to the governments that granted the concessions.

After the Compañía de Aguas, a subsidiary of Vivendi, ran the Aqueducts and Sewer System Authority of Puerto Rico from 1995 to 2001, it left a legacy of operational and maintenance failures in the drinking water and sewage treatment plants.

The company's successor, another French company, Ondeo, a Suez subsidiary, did no better, and in 2004 the government cancelled the contract and transferred the company to public hands.

Nestlé and French company Danone already dominate the bottled water business in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

http://www.hermes-press.com/water.htm

http://www.pbs.org/pov/thirst/special_neweconomy.php

There are a handful of major international private water companies, but two French multinational corporations dominate the sector: Vivendi SA (soon to be called Veolia Environnement) and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux (soon to be called Ondeo). These two companies own or have interests in water projects in more than 120 countries and each by their own claims provide water to around 100 million people.

Despite Vivendi's dominant position in water privatization, water activities are a small part of the larger company, Vivendi Universal, which was created in December 2000 when it merged with the Seagram Company to form a global media and telecommunications company. The total annual revenue from the interlocking subsidiaries of Vivendi in 2000 exceeded $37 billion, of which more than 25 percent came from the water business.⁴

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/dirty_water.pdf

Vivendi's water  division - Vivendi Water - was formed from Vivendi Water Systems, Compagnie Generale des Eaux and US Filter .

BRIBERY -

... in July 2001, Alain Maetz, a senior manager in Vivendi's water division, was convicted for bribery and received a prison sentence of one year and eight months with conditional discharge. Judges said that Mr. Maetz had paid a bribe of ITL 25m (about £8,000) to Mr. De Carolis, the president of Milan city council, who expected to receive up to ITL 200m (over £64,000) to favour OTV, a subsidiary of Vivendi) in the bidding procedure for the contract for a wastewater treatment plant in the south of Milan.

In July 1997, a junior French minister Jean-Michel Boucheron was jailed for two years, with a further two suspended, and fined one million francs (£94,800) for taking bribes from companies bidding in public tenders. Boucheron reportedly had received fees of 327,000 francs (£31,000) for a fictitious job by Compagnie Generale des Eaux (Vivendi) in exchange for giving the utility a water distribution contract in Angouleme.

http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/GlblH20grab.pdf

http://www.serconline.org/waterPrivatization/fact.html

Hingham and Hull, Massachusetts

Massachusetts-American, an American Water Works subsidiary, more than doubled water rates over a five-year period, claiming the increase was needed to build a new water treatment facility. There is evidence, however, that the company inflated the costs of the new facility to increase its profits.(2)

Huber Heights, Ohio

In 1993, American Water Works purchased Ohio Suburban Water, a small outfit that provided water for 40,000 customers in Huber Heights and parts of the Mad River Township. The city opposed the sale, concerned that the company would raise rates and extend service to areas beyond the city limits without annexation, thus impairing the city's ability to grow. The city's fears soon materialized the company increased its rates by 30 percent. At the same time the company moved to contract with Industrial Water to deliver up to 2 million gallons of Huber Heights' water a day to the Wiley Industrial Park, located outside the city.(2)

Pekin, Illinois

In 1982, Illinois-American, another subsidiary of American Water Works, acquired Pekin's water system from a local private owner. In the 18 years that followed, rates increased by 204 percent. At the same time, the company failed to keep infrastructure up-to-date. The company's behavior negatively impacted the city's economic growth and added to its expenses.(2)

One of the main arguments for privatization of water systems is that it will save municipalities millions of dollars. For example, the Mayor of Stockton, California, a proponent of privatization, claims that the city's 20-year, $600-million deal with OMI-Thames Water, which went into effect on August 1, 2003, will save the city as much as $97 million compared to continued public utility operation. Several studies suggest that this may not be true. A study by the Pacific Institute finds that Stockton stands to lose $1.7 million over the life of the deal.

Veolia:

http://www.veoliawater.com/press/press-releases/press-2007/20070315,1372.htm

Veolia Water has won a contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a seawater desalination plant using reverse osmosis. The plant will be located at Campo de Dalías in the province of Almeria in southern Spain.
The Campo de Dalías project is part of the national desalination plant program launched by the Spanish Ministry for the Environment through Acuamed, the public water agency responsible for the development of the plan.

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies will be in charge of the process components, and Spanish companies Sando, Inypsa and Montajes Electricos Crescencio Perez will be responsible for the construction, civil engineering and management components. On completion, Veolia Water will operate the plant.

Veolia Water already has three major references: Ashkelon in Israel, (320,000 cubic meters/day), the world's biggest reverse osmosis desalination plant, which has been in operation since September 2005; Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia (delivery end-2008, 125,000 cubic meters/day), and Sur in Oman (delivery early 2009, 80,000 cubic meters/day). This new success confirms the company's position as world leader in seawater desalination.

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/pubs/reports/veolia-environnement/

http://www.globalwaterintel.com/archive/5/7/companies/veolia-plots-a-new-us-strategy.html

The company has been built up on the rationale that there were significant synergies between supplying water equipment and operating water services.
The equipment business benefited from a captive customer, while the operating services business benefited from in-house technologies

http://www.globalwaterintel.com/archive/2/8/general/industrial-outsourcing-win-for-vivendi.html

http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/02/23/daily29.html

By the end of 2010, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District and Veolia Environmental Services plan to open a 17-mile, $80 million methane pipeline from Muskego to the Jones Island Water Reclamation facility... Veolia is the private contracting firm that operates the MMSD Jones Island water treatment plant.

http://www.polarisinstitute.org/files/rwe%20september%202005.pdf (search for veolia, starts around page 12)

RWE acquired Thames Water and American Water ... Thames Water (now officially known as RWE Thames Water), based in the UK, has regularly topped that country's list of the worst polluters and annually forks out undreds of thousands of Pounds in fines to the British Environment Agency.

In Australia, for example, where the company is part of a consortium made up of Veolia Environment and Halliburton's Kellogg Brown and Root, Thames Water is involved with the problem (and odor) plagued privatization experiment in Adelaide. Thames has also come under pressure in Indonesia over poor water quality and raised rates.

RWE Thames Water may be looking to expand in these areas if it can limit its financial risk. If recent contracts for the construction of desalination plants in the US (Florida) and the UK are any indication, the company's technical expertise is expanding into new arenas.

RWE Thames has entered into a number of joint ventures with the world's two water giants, Suez and Veolia/Vivendi.

In 1995, Adelaide privatized its water services when it awarded United Water, a consortium of Vivendi (now Veolia Environment), Thames Water and Halliburton's Brouwn and Root, a $1.5 billion contract. United Water failed to deliver on many of the promises that were at the centre of its contract bid. While water prices quickly went up and jobs were cut by 33 percent, United Water began making excellent returns off of the project. Since the project began, United Water's profits have increased every year. In 1997, just over a year after winning the contract, the city was overwhelmed by a strong sewage smell. The odor remained for over three months and was eventually tracked to Adelaide's largest wastewater treatment plant. Equipment failures and a lack of monitoring allowed raw sewage to run directly into settling lagoons for six days while a gate was being repaired. The State Government eventually paid $72 million to upgrade the plant.

Other Vivendi recent news:

http://www.france24.com/en/node/4924829

Happy 10th Anniversary of Glass-Steagall Repeal -- an email exchange.

2009-11-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

------------------------
My Original Email
------------------------
On 10th Anniversary of Glass-Steagall Repeal, Watchdog Says Bailout “Almost Certainly” Will Result in Taxpayer Loss
The top oversight official for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout says the program will “almost certainly” result in a loss for US taxpayers. Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky also says he’s conducting sixty-five probes into possible fraud by bailout recipients. Barofsky’s comments came on the tenth anniversary of the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, a key deregulatory move widely seen as helping lead to the nation’s financial collapse. The repeal ended the separation of commercial and investment banking. In this clip from before the 1999 vote, Senator Byron Dorgan of South Dakota predicted how the repeal would be remembered on its tenth anniversary.

Sen. Byron Dorgan: “We are, with this piece of legislation, moving towards greater risk. We are almost certainly moving towards substantial new concentration and mergers in the financial services industry, that is almost certainly not in the interests of consumers. And we are deliberately and certainly, with this legislation, moving towards inheriting much greater risk in our financial services industries. And so, I come to the floor to say that I regret that I cannot support the legislation. I think we will, in ten years’ time, look back and say we should not have done that, because we forgot the lessons of the past.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/13/headlines#7

-------------------
His Response:
-------------------

There was a lot of controversy surrounding that decision back then.

Not everything that led to this crisis is because of that repeal.

Remember that the government propped up Fannie and Freddie and allowed people who cannot afford to buy a home, afford one.

If Fannie and Freddie don't exist, derivatives are not rated AAA that were not truly AAA and so banks and businesses aren't caught with these.
The financial picture would be different.

Many would say if Fannie and Freddie did not exist, many people couldn't afford a house. To that I say sorry. Save more while renting like the rest of us did.

-------------------
My Response:
-------------------

It's a very odd system really. Fannie and Freddie aside, I think our monetary system is tragically flawed. It works, and has worked for us well, but we've laxed regulations that used to control known flaws -- and today, I feel, those flaws have been exploited.

As we discussed already the Fractional Reserve system of Banking...   some 95-97% of all money in "circulation" is commercial money created when consumers chose to take on debt.
Knowing this allows us to understand that basically all US currency is the Principal of a loan.

In circulation we have P but owe P + I

In order for citizens to acquire the money needed to pay the Interest in addition to the Principal more money must be injected to the system -- the ability to easily allow consumers to make payments on P+I owed is done by contributing to inflation.

The Federal Government can borrow from the Federal Reserve and add additional currency by giving public jobs to citizens, or consumers themselves can take on loans from the bank, resulting in the creation of commercial money -- regardless, this new money represents only the Principal of a new loan... adding again to the total P + I collectively owed creating the need for even more inflation.

Unless we wish to allow defaults on loans, foreclosures, bankruptcies and a general loss to the public at large -- a self perpetuating loss of consumer confidence to borrow and spend -- we must maintain an ever growing injection of debt to give us the ability to pay the P + I on our debt money.   Again, we can either increase government spending (through tax and spend, or Federal Reserve borrowing) or increase the available commercial money by an increase in consumer loans.

Those who disagree with idea of government borrowing and taxing in order to spend are likely to promote consumer borrowing -- which we saw first through massive credit programs which allowed many a "new" car, followed by the ease of obtaining a mortgage and the housing boom -- in order to inject more currency into circulation.

All of this commercial money created through this boom of consumer debt had made so much money available it had been easy for consumers to maintain their payments of P+I owed. More money in turn was available to these businesses to spend on goods and services which provide jobs... more money too was borrowed by businesses because there wasn't some percieved near-future inability to pay back these debts... . homeowners gained lots of equity in the housing boom as well, allowing for even more loans.. .    you know, this self perpetuating cycle of success through the creation of debt.

But, something happened.

Even though so much more money was created, it all wasn't being kept in circulation. Much of the Interest on these loans is kept as profit, it isn't all spent -- it is saved and invested and otherwise kept out of circulation. Also, during the boom years, we saw such a vast majority of the record profits going very disproportionately to the already wealthy -- not distributed amongst those who need it to pay the debts they owe.

Basically, not enough money was made available to those who took the loans. I think there are a couple ways to correct this -- as I suggest above, we could be distributing the profits a bit more evenly to workers as well as owners/CEOs/etc, or we could tax those who benefit most from the current system and allow the government to create public jobs (not simply award contracts to the largest players in the industry if we can avoid it -- much would be lost on its long trickle down to those at the bottom of the economic ladder.) -- either way would put more money in the hands of consumers and minimize loan defaults, bankruptcies, and the loss of confidence that results in a self perpetuating cycle of failure.

I do have a point to this rambling -- it's very likely that, while you (and many others) would blame Fannie and Freddie, consumer borrowing was something heavily promoted in order to keep the monetary system from collapsing earlier.

Roots of Revolution in a global shift of paradigms

2009-11-11T07:58:00.001-08:00

"More than 29,000 people in 27 countries were questioned. In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands."

"only 11% of those questioned across 27 countries said" capitalism was working well.

"23% of those who responded - feel it is fatally flawed."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8347409.stm

--------------

People the world over are well aware of the problems that arise from free market capitalism. Even those of us in the western world are being forced to accept this reality. The people should now know that the hope the world once saw in Obama was false -- this is clearly expressed by the words of Obama himself:

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: "I fundamentally disagree with their view that the free market is the source of all ills. "
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/28/nearly_200_arrested_as_police_unleash

This shift in attitudes towards capitalism is only going to gain momentum as the recession continues, unemployment rises, and the corpo-political corruption is exposed more and more.

Commission on Presidential Debates (a threat to democracy)

2009-11-02T10:42:00.001-08:00

"...was established in 1987 by the Democratic and Republican parties to establish the way that presidential election debates are run between candidates for President of the United States who garner at least 15% support across five national polls. The Commission is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) entity as defined by Federal US tax laws, whose debates are sponsored by private contributions from foundations and corporations.

The Commission sponsors and produces debates for the United States presidential and vice presidential candidates and undertakes research and educational activities relating to the debates. The organization, which is a nonprofit, bi-partisan corporation, has sponsored each of the presidential debates held since 1988. The Commission has moderated the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 debates. Prior to this, the League of Women Voters moderated the 1976, 1980, 1984 debates.

The Commission is headed by Frank Fahrenkopf*, a former head of the Republican National Committee, and Paul Kirk**, a former head of the Democratic National Committee."

"In 1988, the League of Women Voters withdrew its sponsorship of the presidential debates after the George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis campaigns secretly agreed to a "memorandum of understanding" that would decide which candidates could participate in the debates, which individuals would be panelists (and therefore able to ask questions), and the height of the podiums. The League rejected the demands and released a statement saying that they were withdrawing support for the debates because "the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter."[4]

Christopher Hitchens speaking at a September, 2000 third party protest at the Commission's headquarters.At a press conference announcing the commission's creation, Fahrenkopf said that the commission was not likely to include third-party candidates in debates, and Kirk said he personally believed they should be excluded from the debates."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Presidential_Debates

* Frank Fahrenkopf, Jr is currently is president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, the national trade association for the commercial casino industry.

** Paul Grattan Kirk, Jr - From 1985 to 1989, he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). On September 24, 2009, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick appointed Kirk to fill the vacant seat of the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy; the term expires when a special election, held on January 19, 2010, is concluded

Hope, Change and Obama

2009-10-30T13:20:00.001-07:00

Personally, I feel too many bought into this mascot representing "hope" because they cannot stir it up from within themselves. Change starts with us -- don't expect it to come from Obama.

We've been involved in the mid east for a long long time. We installed Saddam Hussein after we helped overthrow a democratically elected government -- much like we tried to do in Venezuela -- and helped end a blooming democracy.. remember: "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier" -- and oftentimes it's easier to deal with a corrupt dictator that'll side with wealth than to actually convince a well educated democratic public.

Obama dances to the same drums of war and songs of the US dominated multinational corporations. He's a kinder, gentler, face on the same US dominance and western led globalization. We shouldn't expect a whole lot from him.

The game is stacked against the public. There is a state sanctioned 2 party system that makes it next to impossible for 3rd party candidates to be heard -- they cannot even get into the debates unless welcomed by the two dominant parties. We are being played by the two party duopoly by some twisted good-cop/bad-cop scheme. They blatantly run things into the ground under the Republicans allowing everyone to see the evil, and then clean things up with their 'good' democrat and continue the same policies, hoping no one will notice.

Expecting change from Obama is like expecting Single Payer Healthcare Reform, or real energy independence through mandated solar installations -- it's not going to happen.

When you borrow from Banks...

2009-10-30T11:10:00.001-07:00

... you contribute to inflation.

When you sign for a loan, the bank creates money-- yes, CREATES -- to cover your loan amount, adding to the pool of currency and contributing to inflation.

Through Fractional Reserve Banking a bank can theoretically take $10 million dollars and turn it into $90 million in this 'commercial' monopoly money. This fact coupled with the fact that our government BORROWS from the Federal Reserve, at interest, proves that all money is debt money.

All debt is expected to be paid back -- plus interest.

If there is $X in 'circulation' we collectively owe back $X + (X*interest rate) -- but with only $X in circulation we can never pay it back.

More money must be borrowed from the Fed to cover interest... . and so the cycle continues.

The inability to pay off debts amounts to indentured servitude -- just a kinder term for Slavery.

Learn more about Fractional Reserve Banking at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking

Knowledge is power...

2009-10-23T13:11:00.001-07:00

... and we know that people with power will generally attempt to retain their power and try to gain even more.

In order to hold onto power we should expect the powerful to hold onto knowledge; to suppress it.

After all, knowledge is power -- and money is an expression of this power.

The suppression of knowledge is therefore beneficial for any entity wishing to accumulate money -- like corporations.

To deny this is idiocy.

It would then be a logical conclusion to agree that energy sources that promote independence would be suppressed to maximize power accumulation through profits.

So, I don't buy into the BS about solar and wind being unable to harness enough energy needed to supply our daily needs -- the technology has been suppressed.

Independence does not produce a recurring customer base and revenue supply, dependence does.

No corporation in their right mind is going to promote freeing customers on their dependence in their corporation.

Fractional Reserve Banking --

2009-10-23T06:42:00.001-07:00

The different forms of money in government money supply statistics arise from the practice of fractional-reserve banking. Whenever a bank gives out a loan in a fractional-reserve banking system, a new sum of money is created. This new type of money is what makes up the non-M0 components in the M1-M3 statistics. In short, there are two types of money in a fractional-reserve banking system:

1. central bank money (physical currency, government money)
2. commercial bank money (money created through loans) - sometimes referred to as private money, or checkbook money

Reserves are deposits that banks have received but have not loaned out. In the USA, the Federal Reserve regulates the percentage that banks must keep in their reserves before they can make new loans. This percentage is called the minimum reserve. This means that if a person makes a deposit for $1000.00 and the bank reserve mandated by the FED is 10% then the bank must increase its reserves by $100.00 and is able to loan the remaining $900.00. The amount of money the banking system generates with each dollar of reserves is called the money multiplier, and is calculated as the reciprocal of the minimum reserve. For a reserve of 10% the money multiplier, followed by the infinite geometric series formula, is the reciprocal of 10%, which is 10.

Example: Bob has 10 US $100 bills which represents $1000 central bank money. He then deposits it. Since the minimum reserve is 10%, the bank will keep $100 in it's reserve, and the remaining $900 can be loaned.

When the bank loans the $900, $900 in commercial money has been created. When that $900 loan is deposited, the bank will have $900 deposit of which $90 must be reserved and $810 can be loaned... and the process will go on until that $1000 becomes $10,000 ....

*poof*

Debt = money........ and inflation.

---

Let's not forget, loans must be paid back -- at interest.

But there's only enough money in 'circulation' to cover existing debt -- not the interest it generates as more debt.... so there's never enough money in circulation to cover all debts and more money must be borrowed.... and so the cycle continues.

Debt, and inability to pay it are built into the system.

We are being scammed.

Worse yet, involuntary servitude, is slavery -- even if we're unaware.

Economic Shock Therapy

2009-10-22T08:14:00.001-07:00

“In the name of global economic rebalancing and reform at home, the Obama administration is seeking to cut the consumption of the working class, slash production costs and drive up US exports.

“This amounts to subjecting American workers to the type of economic ‘shock therapy’ that the US-dominated International Monetary Fund has prescribed for a host of indebted Third World countries over the past quarter century. Currency devaluation, accompanied by cuts in state expenditure for social services and the use of mass unemployment to drive down wages and increase exploitation—these are the methods that are now being employed against the American working class.”

-- Barry Grey
World Socialist Web Site -- 22 Oct 2009
-------------

"Let me tell you what Adolf Hitler did when he came to power... he cut taxes for the rich, he increased corporate subsidies and corporate profits, he destroyed labor unions, he increased armament spending, he pursued wars of aggression, he privatized the public sector."

Now does any of that sound familiar?

"it can happen in different ways in different political cultures but you're operating for the same things: which is to keep the hegemonic power of that society in tact."

--- Michael Parenti (PHD Political Science Yale 1962)
Jan 2008

-----------------

"The theory of economic shock therapy relies in part on the role of expectations on feeding an inflationary process. Reining in inflation requires not only changing monetary policy but also changing the behavior of consumers, employers and workers. The role of a sudden, jarring policy shift is that it quickly alters expectations, signaling to the public that the rules of the game have changed dramatically - prices will not keep rising, nor will wages."

— Naomi Klein (The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism)

More of the same

2009-10-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Dontcha love it when ex-execs get to regulate those they used to work with?!

Goldman Sachs Exec Tapped to Top Post at SEC 
Another former Goldman Sachs executive has been tapped for a top post in the Obama administration. The Securities and Exchange Commission has named twenty-nine-year-old Adam Storch as the agency’s first-ever chief operating officer of the enforcement division. For the past five years, Storch worked at Goldman Sachs, most recently as vice president in Goldman’s Business Intelligence Group.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/19/headlines

Look more countries looking to escape the stranglehold of the dollar:

Latin American Leaders To Create New Currency

Leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean have agreed during a summit in Bolivia to create a regional currency to make Latin America less dependant on the dollar. Leaders from Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba and other nations met at the two-day Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas summit in Cochabamba. The new currency will be known as the sucre.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/10/19/headlines

Dollar Troubles?

2009-10-14T09:29:00.001-07:00

Russia not against being paid for gas in roubles

http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSLE32179420091014 >>

Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:14am EDT

BEIJING, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Russia is not against the idea of selling its gas for roubles, and would be happy to pay in yuan for Chinese goods, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Putin, speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing, added that China has proposed discussion on launching international electronic foreign currency payments in a supranational currency.

Currently the dollar is the main currency in international trade. Big oil producing nations denied a British newspaper report earlier this month that Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the dollar with a basket of currencies in trading oil. [ID:nSYD421795] (Reporting by Daria Korsunskaya; Writing by Toni Vorobyova, Editing by John Bowker)

----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e272eaa74dccc30f21c6ff7638b0f37b.461&show_article=1# >>

"The United Nations called on Tuesday for a new global reserve currency to end dollar supremacy which has allowed the United States the "privilege" of building a huge trade deficit."

"China had called in March for a new dominant world reserve currency instead of the dollar, in a system within the framework of the Washington-based IMF."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSp9VoPeHquI >>

"UN countries should agree on the creation of a global reserve bank to issue the currency and to monitor the national exchange rates..."

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32020&Cr=financial+crisis&Cr1 >>

"high-level United Nations commission on the world financial crisis today called for a new global reserve system that does not rely on a single currency like the dollar, a new global credit facility to complement the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and a new global coordination council that would be more inclusive than the current G20 bloc of countries."

----------------------------------------------------------

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/schultz-paints-bleak-picture-of-future >>

Harry Schultz Letter -- "Some U.S. embassies worldwide are being advised to purchase massive amounts of local currencies; enough to last them a year. Some embassies are being sent enormous amounts of U.S. cash to purchase currencies from those governments, quietly. But not pound sterling. "

----------------------------------------------------------

The Goal

2009-10-08T11:21:00.001-07:00

"...the goal was to distract and deter the social democratic impulses of working people. Big business was elevated from its public reputation as a kind of mafia to that of a patriotic force. 'Free enterprise' became a divinity. "

"...Obama's unerring theme has been not 'change'.. but America's right to rule and order the world... he says, 'we lead the world in battling immediate evils and promoting the ultimate good... At moments of great peril in the past century our leaders ensured that America, by deed and by example, led and lifted the world, that we stood and fought for the freedoms sought by billions of people beyond their borders.'

Since 1945, by deed and by example, the US has overthrown 50 governments, including democracies, crushed some 30 liberation movements and supported tyrannies from Egypt to Guatemala... Having stacked his government with warmongers, Wall Street cronies and polluters from the Bush and Clinton eras, the 45th president is merely upholding tradition."

-- John Pilger
( http://www.johnpilger.com )

Anti-American:

2009-10-08T10:35:00.001-07:00

"It's what governments and their vested interests call those who honor America by objecting to war and the theft of resources and believing in all of humanity. There are millions of these anti-Americans in the United States. They are ordinary people who belong to no elite and who judge their government in moral terms though they would call it common decency. They are not in vain. They are the people with a wakeful conscience, the best of America's citizens. They can be counted on. They were in the South with the civil rights movement, ending slavery. They were in the streets, demanding an end to the wars in Asia. Sure, they disappear from view now and then, but they are like seeds beneath the snow. I would say they are truly exceptional."

-- Martha Gellhorn
American war correspondent & humanitarian

FW:

2009-09-29T09:24:00.001-07:00

	Income
	Top 1 percent	Next 19 percent	Bottom 80 percent
1982	12.80%	39.10%	48.10%
1988	16.60%	38.90%	44.50%
1991	15.70%	40.70%	43.70%
1994	14.40%	40.80%	44.90%
1997	16.60%	39.60%	43.80%
2000	20.00%	38.70%	41.40%
2003	17.00%	40.80%	42.20%

Share of capital income earned by top 1% and bottom 80%, 1979-2003 (From Shapiro & Friedman, 2006.)

Share of capital income flowing to households in various income categories
	Top 1%	Top 5%	Top 10%	Bottom 80%
1979	37.80%	57.90%	66.70%	23.10%
1981	35.80%	55.40%	64.60%	24.40%
1983	37.60%	55.20%	63.70%	25.10%
1985	39.70%	56.90%	64.90%	24.90%
1987	36.70%	55.30%	64.00%	25.60%
1989	39.10%	57.40%	66.00%	23.50%
1991	38.30%	56.20%	64.70%	23.90%
1993	42.20%	60.50%	69.20%	20.70%
1995	43.20%	61.50%	70.10%	19.60%
1997	45.70%	64.10%	72.60%	17.50%
1999	47.80%	65.70%	73.80%	17.00%
2001	51.80%	67.80%	74.80%	16.00%
2003	57.50%	73.20%	79.40%	12.60%
Adapted from Shapiro & Friedman (2006).

distributism

2009-09-21T06:43:00.001-07:00

"According to distributism, the ownership of the means of production should be spread as widely as possible among the general populace, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (indirect socialism) or a few large businesses or wealthy private individuals (capitalism). A summary of distributism is found in Chesterton's statement: 'Too much capitalism does not mean too many Capitalists, but too few capitalists.'

Essentially, distributism distinguishes itself by its distribution of property (not to be confused with redistribution of capital that would be carried out by most socialist ideologies). Distributism holds that, while socialism allows no individuals to own productive property (it all being under state, community, or workers' control), and capitalism allows only a few to own it, distributism itself seeks to ensure that most people will become owners of productive property." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism

'Dear Devil' letter to Baucus...

2009-09-18T13:41:00.001-07:00

Copy and Paste the following here: http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

Dear Devil (and co-incidentally, the ones who read this for you):

You silly old sell out.

I cannot believe that in this day and age you did everything possible to bend over for the Health Insurance Industry. We can't even keep up with other industrialized nations. With piss-poor reform like that you've proposed, what gives us the right to call ourselves the 'First World?'

You are a disgrace to the American people, to your fellow democrats, and many would cheer your removal from office.

Furthermore, you make a disgrace of your fellow Americans.

The bill you've currently outlined is full of concessions for the beloved Corporation.

I usually wouldn't resort to belittling, but you, sir, are most deserving of it.

People like you make me ill. You are diseased; infected by greed and the inability to help your fellow man.

Worst wishes,
...
PS. Enjoy the heat.
-- ..

FW: FW: Teabagger Socialist-Free Purity Pledge

2009-09-18T13:33:00.001-07:00

Too all you crazies out there that are so terribly concerned with socialism, take the pledge:

I, ________________________, do solemnly swear to uphold the principles of a socialism-free society and heretofore pledge my word that I shall strictly adhere to the following:

I will complain about the destruction of 1st Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 1st Amendment Rights.

I will complain about the destruction of my 2nd Amendment Rights in this country, while I am duly being allowed to exercise my 2nd Amendment rights by legally but brazenly brandishing unconcealed firearms in public.

I will foreswear the time-honored principles of fairness, decency, and respect by screaming unintelligible platitudes regarding tyranny, Nazi-ism, and socialism at public town halls. Also.

I pledge to eliminate all government intervention in my life. I will abstain from the use of and participation in any socialist goods and services including but not limited to the following:

Social Security
Medicare/Medicaid
State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP)
Police, Fire, and Emergency Services
US Postal Service
Roads and Highways
Air Travel (regulated by the socialist FAA)
The US Railway System
Public Subways and Metro Systems
Public Bus and Lightrail Systems
Rest Areas on Highways
Sidewalks
All Government-Funded Local/State Projects (e.g., see Iowa 2009 federal senate appropriations)
Public Water and Sewer Services (goodbye socialist toilet, shower, dishwasher, kitchen sink, outdoor hose!)
Public and State Universities and Colleges
Public Primary and Secondary Schools
Sesame Street
Publicly Funded Anti-Drug Use Education for Children
Public Museums
Libraries
Public Parks and Beaches
State and National Parks
Public Zoos
Unemployment Insurance

Municipal Garbage and Recycling Services
Treatment at Any Hospital or Clinic That Ever Received Funding From Local, State or Federal Government (pretty much all of them)
Medical Services and Medications That Were Created or Derived From Any Government Grant or Research Funding (again, pretty much all of them)
Socialist Byproducts of Government Investment Such as Duct Tape and Velcro (Nazi-NASA Inventions)
Use of the Internets, email, and networked computers, as the DoD's ARPANET was the basis for subsequent computer networking
Foodstuffs, Meats, Produce and Crops That Were Grown With, Fed With, Raised With or That Contain Inputs From Crops Grown With Government Subsidies
Clothing Made from Crops (e.g. cotton) That Were Grown With or That Contain Inputs From Government Subsidies
If a veteran of the government-run socialist US military, I will forego my VA benefits and insist on paying for my own medical care

I will not tour socialist government buildings like the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

I pledge to never take myself, my family, or my children on a tour of the following types of socialist locations, including but not limited to:

Smithsonian Museums such as the Air and Space Museum or Museum of American History
The socialist Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson Monuments
The government-operated Statue of Liberty
The Grand Canyon
The socialist World War II and Vietnam Veterans Memorials
The government-run socialist-propaganda location known as Arlington National Cemetery
All other public-funded socialist sites, whether it be in my state or in Washington, DC

I will urge my Member of Congress and Senators to forego their government salary and government-provided healthcare.

I will oppose and condemn the government-funded and therefore socialist military of the United States of America.

I will boycott the products of socialist defense contractors such as GE, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Humana, FedEx, General Motors, Honeywell, and hundreds of others that are paid by our socialist government to produce goods for our socialist army.

I will protest socialist security departments such as the Pentagon, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, TSA, Department of Justice and their socialist employees.

Upon reaching eligible retirement age, I will tear up my socialist Social Security checks.

Upon reaching age 65, I will forego Medicare and pay for my own private health insurance until I die.

SWORN ON A BIBLE AND SIGNED THIS DAY OF __________ IN THE YEAR ___.

_____________ _________________________

Signed Printed Name/Town and State

2009-09-16T10:54:00.001-07:00

FL Energy Associates LOBBYISTS for offshore OIL in FL!

2009-09-08T05:29:00.001-07:00

They're pushing for offshore oil drilling again here in Florida -- 5 miles off the coast!.

Florida Energy Associates, a group lobbying for this garbage is working hard to get this legislation pushed through.

The lobbyists representing them can be found here: http://199.44.254.204/Lobbyist/index.cfm?Lobbyists=View_Principal_Info&Tab=lobbyist&Submenu=2&Principal=Florida%20Energy%20Associates%2C%20LLC&Lobbyist_ID=007437&Title=-%3E2009-%3EL-%3EFlorida%20Energy%20Associates%2C%20LLC

Discovery Night Launch - SUCCESS!!

2009-08-29T06:34:00.001-07:00

After many many many failed attempts at catching a shuttle launch we FINALLY saw Discovery take of in a marvelous night launch at 11:59pm August 28th 2009!

Delta II Launch

2009-08-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

FINALLY saw a launch after running to about 5 would be launches that ended up scrubbed.

The Delta 2 sent up another GPS satellite this morning at 6:35am.

A Look at the INCOME GAP!

2009-08-10T13:16:00.001-07:00

... part of a long email discussion that started about big bank bonuses... eventually worked it's way around to greed and income disparities in the US.. this is what I found.. . .

Take a look at these snippets from http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/03/29/163:

"... in 2005... the top 1 percent, .... incomes rose to an average of more than $1.1 million each, an increase of ... about 14 percent."

"the top 300,000 Americans collectively enjoyed almost as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, the top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, nearly doubling the gap from 1980."

"the top 10 percent of Americans collected 48.5 percent of all reported income in 2005... up from roughly 33 percent in the late 1970s. The peak for this group was 49.3 percent in 1928.

The top 1 percent received 21.8 percent of all reported income in 2005, up significantly from 19.8 percent the year before and more than double their share of income in 1980. The peak was in 1928, when the top 1 percent reported 23.9 percent of all income" (greatest income disparity since the Great Depression - coincidence? I think not - especially in a time when we're in the midst of the worst economic crisis since!)

'That such a large share of the income gains are going to the very top, at a minimum, raises serious questions about continuing to provide tax cuts averaging over $150,000 a year to people making more than a million dollars a year, while saying we do not have enough money" to provide health insurance to 47 million Americans and cutting education benefits.' -- Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

or from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/03/earlyshow/living/money/main4068795.shtml:

"According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, income for the bottom half of American households rose six percent since 1979 but, through 2005, the income of the top one percent skyrocketed - by 228 percent."

or even from http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/incomegap/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories:

"Incomes, on average, have declined by 2.5% among the bottom fifth of families since the late 1990s, while inching up by just 1.3% for those in the middle fifth of households, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute"

"The wealthiest slice of Americans... saw their incomes rise by 9%."

"Wages have not kept up with inflation, families have loaded up on debt"

I think it's time for some change. A step away from a mindset that seeks wealth, fame, and power and towards a new outlook that is far more selfless than the aforementioned goals. A new direction towards cooperation, sustainability, and greater empowerment for all would be nice.

Free Speech

2009-08-10T09:07:00.001-07:00

Bank Bonus Culture.

2009-08-05T09:28:00.000-07:00

Just a small snipped of wealth taken from a report by Andrew M Cuomo, Attorney General of NY, "NO RHYME OR REASON: The 'Heads I Win, Tails You Lose' Bank Bonus Culture" dtd July 30, 2009

"Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan Chase - 2008 bonus payments were substantially greater than the banks' net income. Goldman earned $2.3 billion, paid out $4.8 billion in bonuses, and received $10 billion in TARP funding. Morgan Stanley earned $1.7 billion, paid $4.475 billion in bonuses, and received $10 billion in TARP funding. J.P. Morgan Chase earned $5.6 billion, paid $8.69 billion in bonuses, and received $25 billion in TARP funding."

Yeah, take a look at that! Companies paying more in bonuses than they've earned. Wow. As a taxpayer I might as well just send these guys my paycheck in the mail.

Letter to Monsanto

2009-08-05T05:05:00.001-07:00

After watching Food Inc and stumbling upon some of the spin from the food industry - www.safefoodinc.org & http://www.monsanto.com/foodinc/ - I just had to write someone a letter.. .

. .. ...so I sent one to Monsanto:

Wow. I just got done reading portions of your site that debunk Food Inc. Really informative. I can't believe that your company does such good things for our country, and with good cause.

Clearly you expect the average American consumer to buy into your lines of manipulation and misinformation.

How dare you suggest you work for the good of all those you feed.

If only it was as easy as picking up a package and seeing that Monsanto had anything to do with it I would cease supporting your company completely.

Fortunately, I can easily find and support those who seek to stop you.

You can guarantee I will, at every opportunity, inform my friends, family, co-workers, and every passerby possible about the ills Monsanto, and corporations like it, pushes on the world and it's people.

-- DetourMind

Yeah, my letter is a wee bit rushed and rather reactionary, but hey, I just felt the need to tell someone, so I filled out their web form and sent it to everyone on their list.

Didn't expect to get a response, but the next day, poof, this is in my inbox:

From: AIRASCA, SANTIAGO [AG-Contractor/1000] <santiago.airasca@monsanto.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 10:24 AM
Subject: Monsanto
To:

Detour-Mind ,

You said that ‘you don’t believe’ that Monsanto does good things for America? It is not a matter of faith; there are facts that prove that Monsanto’s is working to provide American farmers the tools to produce safe and healthy food. Did you try asking real farmers how their lives have changed since Monsanto became an ag company? Do you want to chat with Monsanto’s employees? Do you know how many people is now making a living producing food and other commodities only because biotechnology companies are providing them with the tools to do it, especially small farmers?

Please, if you have the time, could you explain me why are you saying that our website is manipulating and misinforming the average American consumer? Do I have to assume that you are not an average consumer?

I won’t suggest, but state that WE WORK FOR THE GOOD OF ALL THOSE that consumes food produced using our products (we are not food producers, we are a seed company).

I would really appreciate if you take the time to look for real and serious sources before providing your friends, family, co-workers and everybody else bias information. I guess you want them to know the facts and not some anti-xxxxxxx propaganda.

If you have any particular question or concern I will be more than happy to provide you good information from respectful sources about these topics.

Regards,
Santiago

Santiago Airasca
Ph: 314-694-2581
santiago.airasca@monsanto.com

This e-mail message may contain privileged and/or confidential information, and is intended to be received only by persons entitled to receive such information. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately. Please delete it and all attachments from any servers, hard drives or any other media. Other use of this e-mail by you is strictly prohibited.

All e-mails and attachments sent and received are subject to monitoring, reading and archival by Monsanto, including its subsidiaries. The recipient of this e-mail is solely responsible for checking for the presence of "Viruses" or other "Malware". Monsanto, along with its subsidiaries, accepts no liability for any damage caused by any such code transmitted by or accompanying this e-mail or any attachment

It may just be me, but it seems I hit a sore spot at Monsanto. Apparently someone needed to make sure I wasn't sharing my views and opinions on Monsanto with everyone I come into contact with. They suggest that I should speak to some real farmers, but unfortunately, less than 1% of Americans are farmers (http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/demographics.html), so that should prove rather difficult.

After receiving this email from Santiago of Monsanto, I thought I better see who this guy was. A quick Google search of Santiago Airasca produced some interesting results.

Apparently, this guy is the "Issues Manager at MONSANTO" and worked as "PR Manager at Medanito S.A." - an Oil & Energy co in Argentina once associated with Chevron (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/santiago/airasca). So, I should trust a the former PR guy for Big Oil when he tells me about the goodness of Monsanto - the maker of the Round Up, Round Up Ready seeds, and the terminator gene?

I think not.

$100 Million Bonus?!

2009-08-04T15:04:00.001-07:00

Well, looks like my letter to the editor made it into the free paper from the St Pete Times - the TBT.

I wrote them regarding this article:

$100 million bonus?! that's outlandish... I just had to comment...
so I sent this to the editors:

YES, it is too big.

First, $100 million is 5% of $2 billion, but Andrew Hall made an average of $400 million a year ($2 billion over 5 years) and, unless he doesn't get a yearly bonus, that would make his $100 billion bonus 25% of what he had brought in. Even if his bonus only rolls around every 5 years, one should ask themselves what kind of income comes BEFORE the $100 million bonus.

Second, not only is this man in the highly unregulated business of speculation, he happens to work for those same bailed out banks that lost billions last year and are raking in record breaking billions this year, largely in part, due to government handouts and cheap loans from the Fed - both at taxpayer expense.

Last year big business logic took more than $81 billion in losses and decided it was worth more than $32 billion in bonuses and the people just let it happen. Looks like they're on track to see the same kind of big bonuses again this year - who will stop them?

Detour-Mind

As luck would have it, they printed it... well, almost, some editing had taken place..

Here it is:

Of course, they left some things out... but so did I.

I should've included the fact that $100 million is 4000 times a $25k salary!

Peace out

Food Inc

2009-08-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Went to see Food Inc this weekend at Tampa Theatre. Not a bad movie, but if you've been following the food industry it's not really anything new. Great flick you should check it out.

I kinda find it funny that the food industry has struck back rather quickly, even opening a http://www.safefoodinc.org website. Monsanto too has it's own page dedicated to debunking this movie.

Oh yeah, great previews too.

You've got to see the Cove. Preview below:

For those of you in Tampa it opens at the Tampa Theatre August 14th.

Execs, Top-Earners Account for More than Third of All U.S. Wages

2009-07-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Execs, Top-Earners Account for More than Third of All U.S. Wages

The Wall Street Journal is reporting the nation’s corporate executives and other highly-compensated employees now account for more than one-third of all salaries earned in the United States. According to Social Security Administration figures, top earners pulled in $2.1 trillion of the total $6.4 trillion paid in 2007. The numbers don’t include several types of stock options and other benefits that would add hundreds of millions to the top bracket’s earnings. From 2002 to 2007, the average worker saw a 24% pay increase—half the 48% increase for the highly paid. The rising pay for top-earners appears to be adversely affecting Social Security. With more wages beyond the maximum that can be taxed to contribute to the Social Security trust, less money is available to fund retirement benefits for American workers.

( http://www.democracynow.org )

WSJ article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124813343694466841.html

Think about your annual salary... multiply that by 10 and you've got a nice chunk of change - enough to be rather rich in my circle of friends, but far from close to a measly $1 million annual income - which would take 40 years for on an annual salary of $25k. Let's not forget - there are people out there raking in millions of dollars in bonuses alone, but they can do nothing better than complain about a disproportional tax on their wealth?

The top 6% of income earners are taking more than a third of all wages earned yet they want the relatively poor public majority to see this as fair?! People that don't find these large disparities in wages alarming must "[l]ike Joe the Plumber... suffer from the delusion that by identifying with people more powerful than oneself, one might magically become them."

Wake up people, you are not rich, you likely will never be rich, so quit thinking and voting as if you were rich.

CIS - Crazy Ignorant Security

2009-07-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

I've recently had a run in with the security patrol people in my apartment complex. These not so professional jokers are based out of Clearwater, FL

C.I.S. - Critical Intervention Services - these jokers ride around in wanna-be police cruisers, in full black uniforms, with everything except an actual police badge - complete with an overinflated sense of authority.

As I found out, these guys feel they can harass and intimidate people for smoking outside of their apartment... little did they know they were barking up the wrong tree.. .

For your reading pleasure, I've posted below my email contact with CIS:

To: dwyerbc@cisworldservices.org
Subject: Complaint.

I've recently had an incident with one of the CIS officer's that is apparently here to protect the community property in which I reside. From my understanding there job here in the Laurel Oaks Apartment homes is to protect the property from damage and to keep the 'hoodlums' at bay - a job they do quite regularly.

This particular incident - me, sitting on the stairs in the stairwell of which I reside, is particularly annoying to me. I do not pay a rather high premium to live in an apartment complex in which I cannot enjoy to the fullest. I should not be harassed by your patrols when I belong on this property and am doing no damages. I do not appreciate your 'officers' means of 'enforcement' and I see them as somewhat of a joke.

Thank you for your time.

to which Mark Puetz, "Director of Risk Management and Professional Standards," replied:

Ms. Detour-Mind,

Please feel free to call us at 727-461-9417 to discuss your concerns in more detail. We would be happy to explain the community rules and something of our approach to keeping your neighborhood safe for you and those around you.

Be sure to ask for "Professional Standards."

Clearly Mark had little intent of looking into my complaint, asking me instead to inconvenience myself and phone him. Instead I respond:

Thank you for your number -I may call- but I feel written communication is a much better means of conveying my dissatisfaction with your company's operations where I reside.

From my understanding, CIS is not in my complex for the purpose of "keeping [my] neighborhood safe" your people are there, as a Laurel Oaks letter stated, to protect the property of Laurel Oaks - not for our safety. Mostly your patrols cruise around to keep the kids of the surrounding neighborhood from using the pool facilities located in our residence and/or damaging it's property.

Your employees are regularly seen chasing off playing children from the surrounding community and disproportionately stopping youths of color - both of which I find somewhat distressing. But now, it seems, your patrolmen have nothing better to do than harass the residents of the very apartment community who, through their rent, pay your salaries.

This particular incident involved me sitting with my girlfriend on the steps of the apartment building in which I reside - where I sit regulartly to smoke. Your officer drove by, turned around, and while driving by informs us we cannot sit on the stairs. (I'm sitting down, minding my own business, doing no harm and a CIS employee tells me -a resident- that I can't sit on the stairs for the few moments it takes to smoke a cigarette?!!) Because I continue sitting and smoking he stops, opens his car door, and walks over to confront me - asking me where and how long I've lived there, asking questions about my job, and telling me sitting on the stairs is a "fire hazard." (As if, in the event of a fire, I would just sit there and burn to death...)

After my insistance that sitting on the stairs momentarily should not be a concern to him he continues to insist it is, and demands to know in which apartment I reside - at which time I walk away. He then follows my girlfriend as she walks inside and writes down the apartment number on our door.

Later, as he writes his 'incident report' about me, the sitting smoker, he threatens my girlfriend and I by telling us that he "hopes [we] like [our] home because you probably wont be there much longer."

Not only must I be harassed for not staying inside my apartment this particular CIS employee with an overinflated sense of authority threatened us - threated to get us kicked out of our apartment.

How professional.

Now, it should be noted that close these emails with my name.. but this guy here is either thick headed, or intends to insult by addressing me as "Ms":

Ms. Detour-Mind,

Thank you for your more detailed explanation of your concerns. As a general response, you will note in the same letter you referenced from your property management that the fourth paragraph lists some of the property rules our officers enforce. The first listed among these is loitering. As you have expressed it here, the behavior you described constitutes loitering and it is within our officer's purview to address it.

I hope this addresses your concerns. My offer to speak to you via phone remains open, but I will not continue an e-mail exchange. There are too many incident specific details in any case to address fairly in this sort of medium.

Loitering? Are you sure? This guy here... "too many incident specific details," he means to say "I prefer not to type anything that could get me and my company in legal trouble - phonecalls don't tend to be recorded."

CIS and it's team of 'professionals' are obviously not interested in my issues, so I speak to a friend in the security industry... Upstairs Jim. He tells me CIS is known for it's bad behavior and has a bad reputation in the security world. My good buddy, UJ, also drops a name: State of Florida Division of Licensing. These are the guys to who license the security folks - this is where I take my formal complaint. Won't Ms Mark be so happy?

As I respond, I realise this will likely be my last email, so I address it to every email address I can find on their website - all the way up to CEO:

to Mark Puetz
cc letchelk@cisworldservices.org,
cgundry@cisworldservices.org,
tim@cisworldservices.org,
moconnor@cisworldservices.org,
dwyerbc@cisworldservices.org,
employment@cisworldservices.org,
wrs@cisworldservices.org,
kc@cisworldservices.org,
ceo@cisworldservices.org,
rodrighb@cisworldservices.org,
mannhl@cisworldservices.org,
oconnowk@cisworldservices.org,
vighke@cisworldservices.org,
doughemj@cisworldservices.org,
osmundk@cisworldservices.org,
cismis@cisworldservices.org,
frankedm@cisworldservices.org,
petersl@cisworldservices.org

date Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:48 PM
subject Re: Complaint.

To whom it may concern:

In my last attempt to contact your offices by phone, I was hung up on. I may be willing to try that route again, but I have little patience for being hung up on.

Situations like that mentioned above make e-mail a much more preferred means of communication as it allows me a receipt of this contact and removes any confusion as to what has been stated.

First, let me address the falsehood of your email, particularly where you stated:
"...the behavior you described constitutes loitering ..."

By definition loitering means to "linger aimlessly."

When you say that I was loitering, you are suggesting that I was idly hanging about purposeless, which is totally incorrect. I had a purpose - smoking - and was outside my dwelling smoking a cigarette - nothing unusual or suspicious about that.

Of course there's the dictionary version of loitering and then there's the law, which I have provided below. Although you may previously have been an actual law enforcement officer, you likely are not, and as such you may be unfamiliar with the loitering law here in Florida. To help refresh you (or, in the event that you were totally unaware, inform you) it reads:
856.021 Loitering or prowling
(1) It is unlawful for any person to loiter or prowl in a place, at a time or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals, under circumstances that warrant a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.

I may not be too well versed in legal issues, but it would seem to me that smoking a cigarette outside one's own (albeit rented) home during daytime hours is "usual for law-abiding individuals" and should cause no "concern for the... property in the vicinity" which your employees are here to secure.

With that stated, there was no need for your 'officer,' DEW-219, to speak to me, let alone step out of his car in an attempt to intimidate me. Furthermore your 'officer' has no right to try and interrogate me, and certainly crossed the line by threatening me with eviction.

It speaks a great deal about your company when it's employees are uninformed of the law and regularly step outside of their bounds of duty. Even more is said about your company's character when you have such willingness to degrade a person's usual, law abiding, activity as something criminal - when you say I was loitering.

I have called your number, but, as I was hung up on, it is becoming ever more evident that CIS has no actual intent of investigating my complaint. It might be of great interest for you to know that I have contacted the State of Florida Division of Licensing and have filed a formal complaint against unit 25, DEW-219 and your company.

Should an attempt be made by your employees to intimidate, threaten, or harass me by any means, I shall call an actual law enforcement officer so that they might assist me in resolving any situation that may arise.

Thank you for your time,
Detour-Mind

Again this guy responds with similar BS:

Ms. Detour-Mind,

I cannot explain your account of being hung up on. If that did indeed happen, you have my apologies. I am in the office Monday through Friday, 9:00am-5:00pm.

Let me be clear, though, we are not law enforcement officers. We enforce the rules of the community in which you live. Those rules prohibit loitering. While I understand your frustration, I simply cannot discuss your incident here, though, as there are too many details that may be at play. I would ask that, in the interest of civility, you refrain from insulting us or our professionalism. That lends nothing of value to the conversation and moves it from one of an attempt at understanding to one of confrontation. My preference is always for the former as it tends to make for stronger and more positive relationships between us and the community.

While you are always welcome to seek recourse through the Division of Licensing or the assistance of a law enforcement officer, I must express my disappointment that you have filed a complaint without speaking with me first.

As of this writing, I have made two offers for you to call and speak with me. The offer remains open.

Mark E. Puetz, MBA
Director of Risk Management and Professional Standards
Critical Intervention Services
1261 South Missouri Avenue
Clearwater, FL 33756
727-461-9417
Fax: 727-449-1269
www.cisworldservices.org
www.safetampabay.com

Still this guy insists on calling me "Ms" and still cannot discuss my incident in an email.. "refrain from insulting us or our professionalism" - yeah, right. Loser.

Next time these people try and pull some more BS with me over sitting outside my apartment smoking, I'll be calling the law.

Wonder how much fun being charged with harassment and/or impersonating a police officer is?

Florida
Local company	Utilities, Inc. of Florida
National parent company	Utilities, Inc. 610.337.1000 (Valley Forge, PA) jswope@ugi.com www.ugicorp.com/
Multinational parent company	American International Group (AIG)

Contract status: May 2005 Utilities Inc. no longer privately owned but publicly traded corporation acquisitioned by AIG (for more information go to www.citizen.org/cmep/water/general/majorwater/aig)

Tampa, Florida
Local company	N/A
National parent company	United Water Resources www.unitedwater.com
Multinational parent company	Suez

Tampa (St. Petersburg and New Port Richey), Florida
Local company	Tampa Bay Water Surface Water Treatment System
National parent company	Veolia Water North America 800.522.4774 (Houston, Texas); general.information@veoliawaterna.com; www.veoliawaterna.com
Multinational parent company	Veolia Environnement

Contract type: 15 year agreement; design, construct and operate Date of privatization: 2000 Number of people served: 1500000

to		Mark Puetz
cc		letchelk@cisworldservices.org, cgundry@cisworldservices.org, tim@cisworldservices.org, moconnor@cisworldservices.org, dwyerbc@cisworldservices.org, employment@cisworldservices.org, wrs@cisworldservices.org, kc@cisworldservices.org, ceo@cisworldservices.org, rodrighb@cisworldservices.org, mannhl@cisworldservices.org, oconnowk@cisworldservices.org, vighke@cisworldservices.org, doughemj@cisworldservices.org, osmundk@cisworldservices.org, cismis@cisworldservices.org, frankedm@cisworldservices.org, petersl@cisworldservices.org

date		Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:48 PM
subject		Re: Complaint.