Open Thread – No Pebble
Here’s a great video about the proposed Pebble Mine Project. A beautiful place, with riches beyond gold and copper.
November 21, 2024
Thursday, August 3, 2023
The Quitter Returns! -Monday, March 21, 2022
Putting the goober in gubernatorial -Friday, January 28, 2022
Here’s a great video about the proposed Pebble Mine Project. A beautiful place, with riches beyond gold and copper.
And can you believe Palin coming out with such a racist remark about Michelle Obama! She’s on her way down. Remember George Wallace looked credible until most people found out what he stood for. Whether his later epiphany was real or a political tool, I don’t know. But his early 60’s politics were odious.
Do you think we can effectively wipe racism out this time? We’ve overcome other prejudices, though there are toss that cling to the old ones, as well.
I was amazed when I read this article. What person(s) and what party does it remind you of?
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Walter-Rodgers/2010/1108/The-Arabs-worst-enemy-themselves/(page)/2
“Esteemed Jordanian journalist Rami Khouri caught the essence of the Arab dilemma when he cited a kind of cultural schizophrenia he described as “a strange combination of self-assertion and reliance on foreign actors.[govt. subsidies].”
Arabs hate the American govt and then rely on handouts. Hmmmmmmmm.
I have spent way to much time on this blog and others lately trying to keep up with the lying, grifting, weight gaining, foul mouthed, ghost written Palin women. And then I came home to an amazing piece of work that restores my faith and puts things in perspective.
I never post personal things here but this really moved me and I wanted to share it. A good friend just got back from six days in Haiti, volunteering at a clinic treating women who lost limbs in the earthquake. Her comments are first, and then a video that shows you what real women look like. Real women.
Please take a minute and enjoy.
” Hi everyone. Please scroll down to click on a link to a video slideshow I want to share with you.
Our friend Sandra Geroux made this while we were in Haiti. These are the eighteen women of the Amputee Camp (Haitian Amputee Mothers Alliance), part of the Foundation de Enfant Jesus, where we stayed. These women swept over us and captured us completely. All of these women are in the Camp as a result of the earthquake, where they will be fitted with prosthetics and provided with physical therapy. They loved being a part of this video and we all watched it together, in their tents, on our last night in Haiti. Each of their stories is heart wrenching, truly. And yet here they are. They screamed with laughter and cried with joy at seeing themselves and how beautiful they are. They are truly incredible women and we were so fortunate to be able to work with them and to be with them.
All of my love.
Jeanne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOoXjULvRco
Thank you so much for that. I just sent that link out ot everyone on my mailing list. It is a beautiful reminder that the world is inhabited by some pretty wonderful people.
Unfortunately I can’t watch the video so have no idea what it shows. While I have a certain sympathy or perhaps I should say understanding for many of the sentiments expressed here, in all my previous comments on this subject I believe I have made clear first of all that I am a member of the “enemy camp”, and second of all that it is my conviction that to oppose anything on the scale of Pebble you must thoroughly grasp what you are up against.
First the usual disclosure/disclaimer. I am an exploration geologist working on a large scale mining project that is similar in many respects to Pebble. This is not my area of expertise but I stumbled upon it while doing other work However, I am a consultant, I have no particular allegiance to any company of any scale except the small syndicate here that is trying to develop this project.
To the second point, the Pebble mine project is an awesome opponent. The Pebble mine is also an awesome source of future profits. Taken together those two elements mean for the people of Alaska that your government, the goverment that is already so in bed with the oil industry, has a new beau, who happens to own an asset conservatively figured to be worth between $500 and $600 billion. Anglo and their Canadian partner have already invested billions and are prepared to invest an additional $30 billion and more to develop this mine.
I want to add something to that grim inventory. Regardless of any of the financial facts, the true driving force behind this development is not so much the greed of the developers though it is a strong motivator. It is the demand for the resources that is willing to satisfy that greed. It is as simple as that. We are our own worst enemy. This relationship between supply and demand is very complex and worthy of much discussion but most people are utterly uninformed about it, perhaps understandably so, but perhaps not.
So having painted an honest if not very promising scenario, let me at least offer what is currently my best suggestion of what can be done and how to do it.
First of all, now that it has been discovered and extensively characterized the development of this mine is inevitable. The most you can hope to accomplish is to a) delay it for as long as possible to allow time to reconsider its most egregious shortcomings and b) restructure the rules to see to it that the extraction of this resources has the maximum benefit to Alaska in trade for what will be put at risk and ultimately what will be lost.
Both of these approaches absolutely depend upon a plurality of citizens acting to ensure that their political representatives are not simply bought off by the special interest. Actually, in a very real sense, I should restate that to be, ensure that their political representatives who have already sold out are replaced with ones who cannot be bought off.
In more practical terms: Pebble has already gone through years of permitting by the DNR in Alaska but that whole process needs to be examined minutely. Anyone who is serious about mitigating the damage from Pebble will have to organize a reasonably well funded, closely coordinated and qualified group of people who can challenge the permitting process to date, challenge the current rules and implementation of those rules and examine the potential conflicts of interest on the part of appointed and elected officials who sign off on the process.
In terms of restructuring the rules, two things spring to mind that will have immediate effect but one of them at least is difficult to manage. First of all I think that at least in terms of mineral projects over a certain scale, let’s just say $500 million arbitrarily, the royalties collected by the state should be on par with the oil royalties. At present they are not. Second to that, is the issue of bonding. The bond system is flawed because the bonding agency can always default. It happens all the time. So instead of bonds, reclaimation, restoration and disaster contingency fees should be equivalent to what it might actually cost and set aside on a yearly basis into independent interest earning accounts with a lifetime slightly greater than the lifetime of the mine. Starting at least one year before the mine is developed.
In an ideal world it might be possible by honestly addressing all of the true costs of unlimited growth, to find a point that is very close to equilibrium instead of seeking to maximize profits which is to say push the limits of growth as far beyond equilibrium as you can before everything implodes.
I am straying off topic. We can’t stop the Pebble mine, but we can have a profound influence over the harm it does or does not do.
Completely logical and easily understood, once again, KN…but where to begin? It seems as if the mine operation is inevitable, but there are steps that can be taken to *mitigate* some of the negative impact(s) it will [inevitably] have…is it too late to start implementing them? And how would one even *begin* to go about doing that? Railing against the twinkling of stars seems about as useful, at this point. Please day it ain’t so. beth.
not day…say. b.
beth –
Your assessment is correct and of course you asked the big question. Having no track record with this kind of thing I can’t say I have any basis for my responses except logic and some general understanding of what the problematic aspects of making a mine are. So this is how I reply to your question.
First of all I think what will be required will be unity. I haven’t studied the situation because frankly I am unable to use google effectively any more, they appear to have started using some kind of technology that crashes my browser whenever I go to the site. Pity. I can’t upgrade my browser from here because my connection is too slow and my operating system is too old. However, I believe there is a stoppebble.com website or something like that, which it seems to me would be a logical point of coordination. Everyone who wants to affect the outcome of this mine should be willing to cooperate with others who have the same goal but may have very different motives. So there needs to be some centralized body that is capable of coordinating the different efforts that are required. I don’t wish to encourage paranoid thinking but the reality is that any such coordinating effort has to be aware that industry will offer up trojan horses to subvert the purpose.
As to the purpose, what are needed are people with some legal expertise, people with some knowledge of the AK DNR system, people with engineering expertise, people with experience in publicity and advertising, and of course people with money to pay for everything, or people who know how to raise money.
To some extent all of this is probably already in place, I just can’t tell you where to find it at the moment for the reasons explained above.
In my opinion, the place to start is in reviewing all the regulatory and permitting filings that are on record to date with the DNR.I advocated for this in a previous post some months ago and even at that time could provide links to the many documents already available but also considerably out of date. I can, however give one example of how a coordinated effort to question the permitting process would delay efforts to open the mine.
From my point of view, the weakest aspect of the mining plan as I understand it is the proposal to construct two huge earthen dams to form containments for mine waste slurry. Such an approach invokes two enormous risks that are not addressed. First and foremost is that Alaska is a very seismically active region and these huge dams would be built in proximity to known seismically active zones. The risk of seismic failure of these proposed dams is not even mentioned so far as I can tell in the permitting process. Correct me if I am uninformed. The second problem with these containments is that they are so large that they cannot possibly be lined, that is underlain by an impermeable membrane such that the concentrations of environmentally destructive compounds are not constrained from entering the water table and dispersing down gradient. Essentially what that means is that even if the dams are never breached the presence of the chemically anomalous reservoirs behind the dams communicates with the entire downstream drainage and over time, the chemistry of the waters down stream at surface and below will be slowly but certainly altered. Having no expertise in biology I cannot speculate as to the consequences of this gradual alteration. Thus more emphasis on the need for coordination with others who have such knowledge.
No doubt, there are several other lines of approach that can be pursued but I won’t attempt to describe them because they are every farther removed from my knowledge base.
I am getting out of my depth here to some degree but based on experience I have to say, the key thing is not just whether the project is profitable, but how profitable it is. The point being this, if the tailings containment plan can be shown to be deeply flawed or in fact even illegal, then the profit margin for this mine will be reduced accordingly. Since the only thing that matters to those who are developing this mine is profit, if the predicted benefit falls below a certain point, it will get mothballed until conditions change.
That is the best I can do. I did not address the politics because there I am totally at sea. I cannot even imagine how to behave as a politician.
I’ll post a pointer somewhere more recent to draw your attention to this answer in case you would otherwise miss it.
http://www.renewableresourcescoalition.org/
is one of a couple groups attempting to deal with many of the questions in an organized unified manner.
There is now a precedent for the tailings dams here in Southeast after a Supreme Court decision which allows a similar setup for a mine at Berner’s Bay, the Kensington.
At present Alaska law is quite skimpy to non-existent on ways to measure effects of extraction of one resource on the continued viability of another and getting Parnell back for another 4 years is not making me feel we will gain any ground there without a real fight.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/032610/sta_596556203.shtml
Appointing Sullivan to head DNR doesn’t do much to make me feel encouraged either…
I don’t think all is lost but politically Alaska needs to get past adolescence and grow up as regards the way it looks at natural resources. Compartmentalizing fish and wildlife away from mining and oil extraction is NOT a way to manage all of Alaska’s resources for the maximum benefit of Alaskans or anything else except short term profit.
Yes I am aware of the Kensington decision and in my opinion it is just another example of the SCOTUS being just plain wrong. They obviously have no idea how ground water works. A lake, any lake, is an expression of the water table at the surface just as is any river or stream. Turn a lake into a settling pond for mine waste and what you get is a sediment sponge saturated with heavy metals and various acidic compounds that slowly but inexorably leaks those into the water table down stream. Water moves more slowly through the ground than it does in a river or stream or lake but it still moves. Over time a “slug” of contaminated ground water progressively pollutes everything down stream from it, and it is virtually impossible to “clean up”.
This is just another example of the externalization of a cost of mining. In the case of Kensington, a relatively small watershed will be contaminated but the contamination will last for decades if not centuries after the mine has closed.
I have not been able to use the mudflats forums for some reason, my browser must be too primitive. But that might be a good place to centralize an on-going discussion here at mudflats that would have more coherency that comments in unassociated threads.
Good evening, mudpuppies. I have a favor to ask of those of you who get migraines, or deal with those of us who do. I’m looking for some new pain management ideas. Respond here or PM me in teh forums if you can help.
I was diagnosed 15 years ago. I get a sparkling, twinkling blue aura, followed by a lovely psychedelic light show that is actually quite lovely if it weren’t followed by blinding pain and extreme sensitivity to light, sound, smell, and motion…all of which trigger commode-hugging nausea. Right now, I feel like an icy white hot ice pick has been pounded into my skull through the center of my left eyebrow…and the ice pick seems to be sending out feeler-like roots. My neck and shoulders are so tight they crack.
I know my triggers. This one came on with a change in barometric pressure and a “cold” front. I drink plenty of water, and some caffeine when stricken. I had an Rx, but it’s old school and no longer on the market. My insurance won’t cover Imitrex, but it didn’t work for me anyhow. I start with Excedrin migraine or ibuprofen migraine, and have had some success with Percogesic. My doctor prescribed fiorecet (sp?), but after 6 timed doses starting in the middle of last night, still no relief. Her next suggestion is an anti-seizure medication that I would have to take every day, and I don’t want to go there.
Zyxomma suggested some aroma therapy and some ancient Chinese therapy that helps if I catch it early…the aroma is helping, but too late for the other. I use a tea “prescribed” by a Lakota Sioux medicine man which will help me sleep for several hours.
I’ve used some accupressure points that sometimes help, and DH Happy has worked on the kinks in my neck and shoulders. I haven’t resorted to my Grandpa’s 2 hat cure because the very idea of an alcoholic beverage makes me gag.
Has anyone tried accuPuncture? A friend told me about a local practitioner, and though I’m not fond of needles, they don’t scare me either.
The tea has brought the sandman calling, so I’m fixin’ to crawl back into my bed, pull the covers up over my head, say my prayers, and cry for my mama to make it all better. (She’s 500 miles away, but always in my heart.)
Even if you are not a medical professional, if you have any experience or suggestions with pain management, please Do Share. I can already feel the mudpuppy love surrounding me, and that is a blessing and a comfort.
Good night, dear ones. Thank you…and sweet dreams.
much love,
thatcrowwoman
First, I am so sorry for your suffering.
I have a great deal of trouble with Asthma, and had relief through accupuncture. I am a fan of anything cat can bring relief without drugs. I have gone to the accupuncurist in distress, and been albe to come away breating better. It does not free me completely from the meds I have to take, but it does help. I recommend trying it. The needles are not painful, really the opposite. It is a very relaxing experience if done correctly.
Good luck.
I used to get awful migraines. I turned to my Bible to help me, yes, really. I took that first chapter of Genesis to heart and decided I had been given dominion and I was going to use it. I rejected and still reject that I was descended from Adam and Eve and refused to believe I could have anything to do with a curse or suffering. I have not had one inkling of a migraine since. Not a twinge. If you don’t think I’m happy about that, well, I don’t know what. I expect my religion to be practical while it helps me be a better person.
Crow, I know you’ll find an answer that’s right for you. We were created fully supplied, and that means we’ve got what we need to take care of ourselves. You’re so precious! Much love.
Soooo sorry to hear about your headaches and I can definitely sympathize as I have been there myself.
I had similar problems several years ago but, when I was prescribed a very low dose of beta blockers for borderline hypertension, the migraines all but went away (woo hoo!). I went from having them about once a week to having them 2 or 3 times a year. During the summer when school is out and I’m only doing some subbing and freelance work, my BP goes down low enough that my PCP tried a few years ago to take me off my meds for those months. Bingo…the migraines came back. Now I halve my dosage and, as the pressure goes down, go to one half dose every other day. It’s not enough to really drop my BP low enough to make me pass out, but it still staves off the headaches.
The one thing I’ve found helpful when I get them, other than covering the windows, crawling into a fetal position in bed and moaning pathetically, is a reusable ice pack. I also had issues with barometric pressure and could always feel as a new front was approaching. My symptoms (ice pick, sensitivity, nausea) were almost exactly like yours (except I only had auras a few times) behind my right eye, which would tear and also make my nose drip…such a delightful experience! I bought two resuable ice packs (easily found in the first aid section of any store) that are made of cloth and are kept in the freezer. When the pain hits, I place one in a bandanna which I tie (gently) around on my head just over the spot on my forehead with the worst pain. As that one warms, I switch it with the second one. I always keep them both frozen so they’re both ready at all times. I also found that a baby’s teething ring would work if the pain was in my cheek because it would surround my eye with coolness but had the open center where my eye was. Looked bizarre, but I didn’t care!
The ONLY positive thing about my migraines was that it kept me thinner…at least one day a week I was so nauseous that I couldn’t eat a thing. I’ve put on quite a few pounds since the headaches stopped!
My sister also had migraines but heat packs worked better for her than cold, so you might want to try that if the cold doesn’t help.
I know how utterly debilitating migraines can be and I am sending all my positive Happy Healing Thoughts winging your way.
If the anti-seizure medication that is being recommended is Lamictal there are a few things you should know:
1) IF you develop a rash, you have to stop it IMMEDIATELY and contact your physician.
2) if you can safely take the drug, you do NOT have to declare it when you have contact with the motor vehicle administration, or the FAA, or anybody else.
3) it can work wonderfully
But I’m with you that it should investigated only after you’ve exhausted all other possibilities.
Have you tried massage too? Particularly hot rock massage? Or working with a GOOD chiropractor?
My chiropractor is awesome. I have scoliosis and years ago I had unbelievable lower back pain. I was eating Aleve like candy. Had to have the kids put my socks on because I couldn’t! Anyway–I was worried that it had advanced, or something terrible was going on. Went to a sports physician who took x-rays, asked me about my level of activity and normal range of motion (lots of exercise, very flexible and limber), who was stumped. No obvious reason for the pain.
I took my x-rays to the chiropractor. He slapped them up there and said, “Look at your neck”. Lo! Turns out my neck was kinked (in addition to losing curvature) and that was the root of the problem. 4 months later (3-4 visits per month), not only were my curves reduced from 15 & 17 degrees down to 5 & 6 degrees (!), my pain was long gone, my neck was no longer kinked and I was well on my way to normal curvature in it.
Do you eat pork? That can also be a trigger–although barometric pressure changes are your #1 trigger, it could “boost” the effect. This may not be applicable to you at all, but it was worth mentioning.
“…like an icy white hot ice pick has been pounded into my skull through the center of my left eyebrow…and the ice pick seems to be sending out feeler-like roots. My neck and shoulders are so tight they crack….”
Can you tell me a little more about the feeler-like roots, and the accupressure points you use, and the technique you use to do it?
It’s unlikely that a library near you will have a copy of ‘Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual’ (Volume I) by Travell & Simons (ISBN 068308366X) unless you live near a university. If you can get a hold of one, though, it’s a most excellent resource for bodywork. (If DH Happy is also ‘handy’ ;), tell him it’s a Chilton Manual for humans!)
Here’s a page that has decent charts of some points and their referred pain patterns: http://www.triggerpoints.net/symptoms-head-neck-shoulders.htm
(Scroll down to the headaches/migraines section. Click on each link and work your way through all of ’em.)
But HOW you apply accupressure matters nearly as much as finding the right spot to apply it to. You have to ease into it slowly enough that the tissue ‘lets’ you in, too much force too quickly will cause ‘guarding’, so take your time. Yes, it’s going to hurt anyway, but try to keep it at a 7, on a scale of 1 – 10 (1 being not-painful-at-all, 10 being “OWWW!!!“). 🙂
You’re going to hold the pressure for about 15 seconds (if the pain diminishes before you hit 15, increase the pressure until you’re at a 7 again and start the count over). Release the pressure suddenly and count to 8 to let the muscle rest, then slowly stretch the muscle you just worked on. The stretch should be eased into gently. (I usually stretch it in 3 stages; hold a gentle, comfy stretch until the feeling of stretch dissipates (usually somewhere around 15 seconds), then I lengthen the muscle a little more until it feels like a stretch again and hold it for another 15 seconds or so til it fades again, then ease it into one final stretch before I let the muscle return to neutral.
If you want, we can meet up in the treehouse and we can ‘talk’ about it more in detail. I hope you feel better soon!
http://social.macys.com/believe2010/#/santas-post-office
Macy’s is collecting Stamped Letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole for every letter they will donate $1.00 to Make-A-Wish up to $1,000,000.00
I am wishing that all members of the blog Will write a letter to Santa
There is a wonderful and deeply insane juxtaposition in our spending billions of dollars to try to find ways to colonize the Moon or Mars or some hypothetical earth like orb beyond our own solar system, so that we can survive as a species once we have destroyed the fecundity and life on Earth.
Whether or not God made the earth, it is an extraordinary gift, a rare and priceless gem beyond value.
None of the alternative “back up” earths is even remotely as hospitable to human life much less the lives of plants and animals that we need to survive, and the plants and animals that those plants and animals need to survive, so that we can survive.
We are willing and eager to destroy a planet that is uniquely capable of supporting hundreds of trillions of living organisms. And part of the cause of the destruction is the need for wealth and raw materials to create the vehicles we will need to escape our results of our destruction.
We are a deeply flawed species.
Heads up, folks. A new post up at Ask Margaret and Helen! “Palin’s Denial Park”
http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I couldn’t play the above video, which is the same one at you tube posted by NRDC. Here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubgg2XJW2KA
and the website is http://www.stoppebble.org (I should know; practically every good environmental organization in the country, and some outside it, has me on their email list ;)).
Health and peace.
*Psst*
For all the Canadians reading this–one of your own won the Medal of Science. Mortimer Mishkin.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2010/11/17/honoring-science-technology-and-innovation
Very cool.
GotP failure #1:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/18/republican-defund-npr-fails_n_785453.html?ir=Politics
Pebble? No. No. No. No. NO!
My fears exactly:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sheldon-filger/what-if-sarah-palin-was-e_b_784443.html
gotta love those palinisms…
http://www.slate.com/id/2275431/
I wonder if she listens to herself sometimes.
If she does listen to herself, I’m sure that she smiles at the sound of her voice and nods at the wisdom that she shares. I think that her soul mate is Newt Gingrich who speaks with more than two forks in his tongue.
What I find amazing about the wench is that she does not accept that Obama and Clinton have been through the media wringer with more ferocity than she has. She is being treated with kindness by all media people who are granted a few minutes with her…even Katie Couric was beyond nice to this fraud. When Palin fails, she simply plays her victim card (kind of like a get-out-of-jail-free thing) and everyone backs off while her fans chant poor Sarah.
Never.
She keeps getting paid for speaking, so I think she doesn’t care. Watching someone like Palin making millions while disputing experts on things she doesn’t know much about is really, really sad. Her looks have carried her–pitiful.
More Palin hypocrisy is showing in her latest meddling:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/sarah-palin-wall-street-bailout-tarp
Why doesn’t someone just play a montage of every clip that she has ever made that is offensive? They could create an entire website on this fact.
Donald Trump added that “he really likes her.” I guess if you’re attractive and dislike the President and make your job and life goal insulting him. That is attractive to a lot of people. Wow. So, I guess we just need to hire a bunch of gorgeous Democrats and have them create Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to insult the next Republican President. What a mess. Would the adults please stand up…
Oh wait, there is a thought out there that Dem women are not attractive.
What a mess. The very fact that she could run and not be underestimated is mind boggling. Maybe we should give her the peace price for uniting the Dems and Repubs after all. I was crossing my fingers for Murkowski versus Miller.
prize… and price
I’m not only a democrat, I’m a registered Greenie. I’m ten years older, and one heckuvalot prettier. I also wash my hair, bathe regularly, and held down a full time teaching job while taking care of my family and raising two girls who didn’t get pregnant in high school, nor became unwed mothers as adults. They are both well educated and, if Ms. Palin had lived in CA and not had a govt. health plan, she may have been begging at one of my daughter’s feet to help her to get her health insurance company to pay up for the extra care she needed while pregnant and to cover the baby when he was born. My daughter is, fortunately, very good at her job and very persistent (I think she wears them down) but there are still an awful lot of women out there that think they’re covered and find out they aren’t.
I also have a life and don’t just play a person that has one on TV. I hike, ski, bike ride, body surf, and used to rock climb. I read books and do real research with real paper, pencils and computer both in and outside. I also have a job–two actually, part time–and am responsible for the happiness and welfare of many, many people. Each member of my family makes at least one other person’s life better on a daily basis–someone frequently that is a stranger to us. Sarah, name one person not in your family whose life you improved today. One. Waiting, Sarah, just one.
Oh, and I’m a whole lot nicer than she is.
I posted this on the other thread “Sarah Palin believes she could beat Barack Obama” too.
The more I mull it over, the more I suspect that the same people that support her now, are the same people (or those with a similar mind-set) who thought Oliver North was “heroic” for NOT answering questions from Congress.
“Ooh…that’ll show them snooty Congress-people! Yeah! Stick it to “them”!”
Completely overlooking the fact that every single one of those members of Congress were elected and represented Every. Single. American. So to not answer to “them” was to thumb his nose at all of us.
Sarah’s learned. It worked for him. It could work for her–but only if the press and most of us permit it to work for her (in the event of a presidential run).
Booked my holidays for next year. You sound lile the perfect host…:)
Joking!
Dr. Andy Harris. Maryland (Eastern Shore).
I don’t know if you can do a search for posts with my name, but I posted a bit about this.
1) A 28 day gap is (always was? it’s been so long!) standard even for newly hired feds
2) What he DIDN’T mention is that with FEHBP you get to choose from a menu of options from your DUTY area, there is NO exlusion for ANY pre-existing condition, and there are NO lifetime caps on how much your care costs your insurer.
So, if you rack up a tab of $1.2 million for yourself over say, three years, it doesn’t matter. You can stay with the same insurerer as long as they participate in FEHP.
http://www.opm.gov has more particulars.
Feds pay premiums, co-pays, out-of-pocket stuff too. We also have the option of the flexible spending program (for now it’s a pre-tax benefit–that may go away and no longer lower our taxable income) if we want to participate. The Medical option is a maximum of $5000/yr.
http://www.fsafeds.com has more information.
Anyway–I think he’s a jerk and I’m saddened that a very reasonable and capable incumbent was thrown out. Oh well, maybe Andy will disapppear in the next election.
*crosses fingers*
Y’all saw this, didn’t you? He NAILS it! beth.
“Stewart Takes On The Palin Family Media Circus (VIDEO)” — http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/18/stewart-palin-media-circus_n_785293.html
The next segment of the show is great too.
The link is not working… Conspiracy
LOL
Beth- Replied to your previous thread.
Thanks — I still stand by what I wrote, though, Hope. It isn’t about ‘outing’ people with different views, it’s about the consistency with which those views are most skewed towards the [far]right and backhanded ‘complementary’ of/against the left…far, or otherwise. “Thinking differently” is one thing; disingenuousness, another thing, entirely. The first, I think, we all welcome because it does open our minds to ‘alternate’ ways of looking at things — the second, for the most part, not so much welcome. It’s really not possible, I’ve found, to have an open, honest debate/discussion with someone who has a ‘hidden’ agenda and isn’t upfront and honest about it…wolf in sheep’s clothing, and all that. Just my opinion. beth.
https://themudflats.net/2010/11/17/open-thread-meteor-shower/#comment-234799
“I think her criticism (mine included of her) has been counterproductive and has assisted in the growth of her base.”
What? Highlighting her record and criticizing her for it is what is supposed to happen. Anytime she is asked a difficult question she simply displays an appalling ignorance. Worse, she doesn’t bother to educate herself on any topic whatsoever.
The decision makers in the largest corporations and in the GOP are all about short-term gains, whether those gains are profit or votes. Whatever takes them to the next election or next shareholder’s meeting as winners drives them to do whatever it takes to get there.
The public is often seduced by the promise of good-paying jobs, pulled towards that bright, shining promise like moths not aware that the promise could be a distraction, an illusion and what waits is heat, flame and destruction. Jobs that destroy the health of the workers, their families, and the air the breath, the water they drink, the land they live upon are not jobs that should be embraced. Why settle for short-term gain when you lose everything you want, need and love in the not so very distant future.
Coal mining towns know this. Coal miners and their families are trapped by a sense of desperation, gambling against the odds that their loved one who goes down into the mines will not be the one who gets black lung disease, that their children will not contract cancer or other diseases from being raised in a bleak and unhealthy environment. The same companies that promised those people good jobs, do all they can to tweak profits at the expense of safety and health regulations. They deny responsibility of disasters both human and environmental and often blame the workers themselves for such.
If you cannot travel to coal mining towns, look up photos of what mines can do: sinkholes, cave-ins, removal of mountain tops, pollution of streams, rivers and water tables.
Mining, whether it be for gold, copper, silver, diamonds or coal is not environmentally or worker-friendly. Never has been, and will not be for decades to come. You may be able to cover the surface of the ground with some cosmetic “recoveries,” but such superficial fixes are just that and nothing more.
You will never get back the hunting and fishing. You will never get back the health of your people. You will never get back the beauty of the land as it is. Are you really willing to give up all that just for a few shiny promises and a fistful of dollars? What a shameful and tragic trade-off it will be if Pebble Mine moves forward.
Please vote against Pebble Mine. The same lies are being told. The same greed is taking hold. The same devastation looms. Learn from the tragedy of others. Learn from history and the present: people and the land they once loved are dying still because of the glittering promises being offered and desperation of people who just want a job today without thought of what that job will really cost them.
tomorrow.
Unfortunately, there are no do-overs. Once you give yourself over to the mines, you lose even as you think you win. The price is too steep, too personal, too permanent.
I can’t remember the name of the man who won a Senate seat, but he campaigned against health care. But now, he is wanting medical insuance Now—–he doesn’t want to wait until January when his term begins. Does anyone know who this boozo is?
Andrew Harris (R – Maryland). beth.
“Andy Harris, Incoming GOP Rep, Demands Government Health Care Without 28-Day Waiting Period” — http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/16/andy-harris-government-health-care_n_784010.html
I’m all for the stopping of non renewable resource extraction. We have never learned to do it in a way that is environmentally safe, and it typically leaves massive scars on the planet, as well as toxins. But it pays great money. This is the problem with just saying no to non renewable resources. One side wants to save the environment, the other side argues that we need paying jobs. We need both ASAP. Whats out there that we can provide the people of Alaska that we can have in place in the next 5 to 10 years?
Anyone who thinks that Pebble would bring jobs to Alaskans is a fool. It will bring jobs to people already with the company/companies that want to build this monstrosity. What percentage of the people working on the slope are from Alaska? There are so many that contribute absolutely nothing to any local economy. They fly from Wyoming, OK, TX, Louisianna, etc to the slope (have all of their living needs/expenses paid for while they are there) and then they fly out. Even their plane tickets from Anchorage are paid for. NO ONE from Alaska will have first, second or third dibs at a job. This isn’t about progress. It’s about extraction. Get in, extract, take your money, get out. Make sure you are lawyered up so that you don’t have to clean up the mess you leave behind. And I seriously doubt there will be any significant taxes that the state can take from them either. Minerals are different from oil and gas.
I used to live in Colorado and watched what happened to families when mines were shut down because the price wasn’t right anymore.
This is a huge disaster just waiting to happen with the present design. And the loss of an ecosystem??? At what price people???
Loved the picture on this post:
http://wonkette.com/430520/sarah-palin-the-presidential-candidate-america-deserves#more-430520
Speaking of “death panels”… does anyone have any idea what medical insurance coverage $P and her family now have? The reason I ask is: neither she nor Tawd seem to have a ‘steady’ job at the moment, and that’s usually a prerequisite to any employer-contributed/subsidised medical coverage.
Would FOX pay for coverage for a ‘contributor’ (and their entire family) who only contributes occationally? Surely TLC –if they did at all– would only cover her (and them) during the filming of the propaganda show, and not during its running, no? Her speaking-tour bookers, they would cover her?
Is she paying for it out-of-pocket, and if so, how/where did she find an insurance company that would cover her youngest, what with his pre-existing condition, and all? And what must her premiums be since she’d, obviously, not be part of a ‘bigger pool’ where the cost is spread out amongst many, many, many people? Is her youngest enrolled in a government-run program that picks up the extraordinary/’unusual’ costs associated with his condition?
Possibly the ‘lamestream media’ could ask her about this…see if she can explain the *particulars* –specifically– of her adamant resistance to ‘Obamacare’ for citizens. See if she can reconcile her insistence that ‘Obamacare’ is something horrible! v. the reality of most people’s bank accounts (ie: non-millionaires like her) — particularily if they are unemployed and/or don’t have medical coverage through their employer. Also, too, if she is taking advantage of *any* government-run/subsidised programs for her youngest child, how does she figure she *isn’t* taking advantage of ‘Obamacare’?
Is she ‘joemillering’ on this? — she’s got hers, to hell with everyone else? Inquiring minds want to know. beth.
Besides their government sponsored health care, I’m betting that Palin sought out the health insurance that the stars use (since her minions have afforded her all the luxuries of life).
Sarah Palin is walking hypocrisy…sadly few in the media or in either political party are brave enough to expose her lest she play her victim card against them.
It’s my understanding that they receive their Health Care Under the AK Native Health Insurance Program. This was brought up earlier when it was pointed out that Todd and the kids are eligible, bot not SP, since she has no native Alaskan blood. Will someone verify this? AK Pi?
Native Health care is great! When we lived in Bethel, we had access to the Public Health Service Hospital there, and for some reason, were eligible for those benefits. Only $4 per office visit!
Shouldn’t be such a big step for health care for all Natives to health care for all.
I think since Sarah is married to a part native, that she may be eligible for some benefits. I’ll ask a CIRI friend – he’s been married three times – at least one of his wives was native Dutch.
Just a little postmortem dittie about Joe Miller and Sarah Palin:
Tom Dooley song link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoBLGE2cCdU
HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD, JOE MILLER
(sung to the Kingston Trio song “Tom Dooley”)
Throughout history
There’ve been many songs written about the political triangle
This next one tells the story of Sarah Palin, Lisa Murkowski
And a defeated man named Joe Miller…
When the sun rises tomorrow, Joe Miller…will be gone…
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Election hopes have died
No room on Senate mountain
Voters said, “No dice”
Lisa drinks from that fountain
She put Joe on ice
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Election hopes have died
This time tomorrow
Know where Joe will be?
His time he will be wastin’
Just cryin’ with Sarah P.
(well now boy)
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Election hopes have died
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Election hopes have died
This time tomorrow
Joe will finally see
Down in the Mat Su Valley
They voted for Murkowski
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Election hopes have died
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Hang down your head and cry
Hang down your head, Joe Miller
Election hopes have died
Poor boy your hopes have died
Poor boy your hopes have died
Poor boy your hopes have – died
lol – thank you. has he conceded yet??
not yet, but he is conceited. =)
Stopping it gets my vote. Sadly, I don’t get a vote as I am not a resident. But I hope you all succeed in your struggle against the proposed Pebble Mine.
Not true, Dagian. You can help save this little piece of paradise from becoming a piece of hell through the NRDC’s website. It’s http://www.stoppebble.org, or http://www.nrdc.org.
Oh good, thanks! Next stop, your link.
Words of wisdom from Rosanne Cash:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/rosanne-cash-sarah-palin_n_785037.html
Boy, I must be behind. I thought this had been settled. What is the status of this?
You would think the fiasco in Europe with the failure of the earth dam would be enough to give people pause on this thing. I have both fished and hunted in the very spot where the proposed mine would be built. It would be a shame to ruin that area.