Politics Plus

It was a busy day today, much of it spent teaching English or tutoring mathematics.  I was slowed down by 2 blood sugar lows this afternoon (cannot drive during those), but after a short shop, arrived home.for dinner and a nap. Sitting here, two of my furbabes are cuddled up together under the desk and purring away.  There is nothing like a purring cat, except maybe two or three purring cats.  It seemed that everywhere I turned today in the news, there were articles about fracking and coal.

Short Takes

Alternet — Five years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was commissioned by Congress to undertake a study on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water. This newer method of oil and gas extraction involves the pumping of highly pressurized water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations.

Fracking has driven the boom in U.S. oil production and contributed to the steep drop in gasoline prices, but the environmental impacts of this relatively new technique are not well understood.

The EPA’s draft study—released in June to solicit input from advisers and the public—found  that fracking has already contaminated drinking water, stating in the report:

“We found specific instances where one or more mechanisms led to impacts on drinking water resources, including contamination of drinking water wells…

The first time I read and saw coverage of fracking and its affects on drinking water, maybe 4 years ago, there were flames coming out of kitchen faucets!  Flames!  Wells were being contaminated.  Water from contaminated wells could not be used for any purpose.  The EPA has landed squarely on both sides of the issue at various times. Potable water is a necessity for humans and animals alike.  Potable water is a human right.  The EPA must take a cautious approach . . . fracking is a problem for water quality.

CBC — Tremors caused by industrial activity will become more frequent and large enough to cause significant damage in the future, warns an expert on human-caused earthquakes.

"As we generate more and more earthquakes, we expect that some of them are going to be larger," said Gail Atkinson, who studies induced seismic activity at Western University in London, Ontario.

"So this is another example of the potential for oil and gas activity to generate some larger earthquakes which could become damaging."

Induced earthquakes are closer to the surface, so the shaking is more intense than a natural earthquake which happens many kilometres further below, said Gail Atkinson, who studies induced seismic activity at Western University in London, Ontario.

An induced earthquake that registers 4.0 on the Richter scale can shake the ground more than a natural 5.0 magnitude quake, she said.

Another issue with fracking is earthquakes.  Alberta has been hit with earthquakes, something not normally seen there, as a result of fracking.  Back in 2014, Jeff Gu, a seismologist at the University of Alberta, commented that "The study [a peer reviewed published study in the Journal of Geophysical Research] concludes that waste-water injection into the ground is highly correlated with spikes in earthquake activity in the area."  When will we learn?

Huffington Post — Unfortunately, Chelsea Clinton misrepresented Senator Sanders' position, and her premiere performance on the stump backfired, producing a flood of political donations to Sanders.

Here's what she said: "Senator Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the [Children’s Health Insurance Program], dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance." Whew! She would have us believe that the Vermont senator is a one-man wrecking crew, an enraged King Kong — or, to be modern about it, a mendacious Darth Vader — proposing "to go back to an era — before we had the Affordable Care Act — that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance."

When I first saw this comment elsewhere, I said "Say what?".  There is absolutely no way that Bernie said, or even implied such a position.  Could it be that the Clinton camoaign, or at least Chelsea Clinton, is worried about Bernie's poll numbers, especially as the first of the primaries and caucuses approaches?

My Universe —

This first picture is very common here on the Pacific coast.  There is something very special about watching these giants of the oceans cruising along.

And I have always wanted to swim with dolphins . . . to feel their freedom in the water and watch their playful antics.

I know the Republican debate was tonight, and I don't want to tread on TC's detailed report that I am sure he is preparing, but I couldn't help but shake my head at the stupidity of the Huckster and Santorum.  Is it any wonder why they are relegated to the kid's table?  And today I read somewhere that voters were supposed to pick their representatives, not candidates picking their voters . . . a response to gerrymandering.  It is sad that there are voters that would actually vote for these two, or any Republican for that matter!

Short Takes

NY Times — So what should we say about the Obama job record? Private-sector employment — the relevant number, as I’ll explain in a minute — hit its low point in February 2010. Since then we’ve gained 14 million jobs, a figure that startled even me, roughly double the number of jobs added during the supposed Bush boom before it turned into the Great Recession. If that was a boom, this expansion, capped by last month’s really good report, outbooms it by a wide margin.

Talk about being a fraidy cat!

Yesterday was a busy day . . . I took my mother to a specialist doctor which was a 4 hour affair (including transport) for her, and then I had a Family Council meeting at her care facility.  I did not arrive home until 22:30.  I was "exhaustipated"!  Since I was so late and so tired, I did not finish the Open Thread.  I just fed the furbabies and myself, then slept instead.  Today was another 2.5 hours of physio therapy including 30 minutes of bike riding.  Somebody made a comment about me being saddle sore because I often ride for a half hour.  No problem — it's a recumbent bike so very comfortable and better for the knees.

Short Take

Politico — The Supreme Court appeared ready Monday to bar public-sector unions from collecting "fair-share" fees from non-members, a move that could deal a political blow to Democrats by reducing union membership drastically and draining union coffers.

At oral arguments in a case brought by California public school teachers who object to the requirement, the court's conservative wing appeared deeply skeptical of a 1977 high court decision upholding the constitutionality of such fees.  …

Under current law, public employees covered by union contracts may opt out of paying any fees toward the political activity of their union. But states may pass laws that require those dissenting members to pay a fee to cover their portion of collective bargaining costs. Such provisions, on the books in about two dozen states, are being challenged in the case by Rebecca Friedrichs and eight other California teachers.

The fair-share or "agency" fee is widely seen as a compromise between the First Amendment rights of public employees who may not wish to join a union and the material interest of the unions, which are required by law to bargain on behalf of all members of a given unit, regardless of membership status.

Now that arguments have been heard, we'll have to wait to see how SCOTUS rules.  Just playing devil's advocate a bit, what if the unions were required to only bargain on behalf of its members, and all non union members had to individually bargain for their wages/benefits etc?  Certainly the employer is not going to want to negotiate with a lot of different people due to the time and costs involved.  The settlements are likely to be smaller.  So, can Friedrichs logically say she would negotiate her contract and come out as well or better than she would have paying the agency fee?
 

Think Progress — Sue Berkowitz, director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, which advocates for low-income residents, told ThinkProgress that poverty is a huge issue in her state, largely a result of conservative policies that have been tested and proven ineffective.

“I don’t expect them to touch on anything that is realistic,” she said about the event.

Berkowitz pointed out that the summit is being held in a city with the highest number of diabetic related amputations in the country. Overall, South Carolina’s poverty rate is ranked ninth highestin the nation, with more than 860,000 people living below the poverty line in 2013. The state alsoranks seventh in the percentage of people living in poverty areas. Twenty-seven percent of the state’s children live in poverty and 25 percent live in a food-insecure household, putting it in 45th place in the nation for the well-being of its children.  …

“To take SNAP and start talking about things like block granting and making it a work program is just not understanding what’s going on with the low-income community,” Berkowitz said. “At least if you want to get rid of these programs, talk about them honestly. Talk about why you’re doing it and don’t make it look like you’re doing something compassionate and helping people out of their misery. Because the only way we help people out of the misery of poverty is to ensure they’ll have living wages or living stipends to allow them to afford the things that they need.”

The only ones that the Republicans will help are themselves and the 1%.  As Berkowitz says, "At least if you want to get rid of these programs, talk about them honestly."   Honesty is not in the Republican lexicon.

The Nation — On a brisk November 13 night in Paris, armed gunmen killed 130 people and shocked the world. Global media snapped into full focus, covering the attack with a frequency and depth unmatched by coverage of any terrorist attack since the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris earlier that year. Just hours earlier, in Beirut and Baghdad, terrorist attacks had claimed the lives of dozens. In Lebanon and Iraq, many were equally shocked, not simply by these attacks, but by what they perceived as a comparable lack of media attention to them. That week marked one crescendo in critiques on media institutions for allegedly covering terrorism more often and more in depth when it occurs in Western countries than when it occurs in non-Western ones.

Is the media creating, or at least substantially contribuuting to the climate of fear in the West with its lopsided coverage of terrorist attacks?

My Universe — 

Nannies to a new born pitbull rejected by its mother.