Hat tip to Matt Coker, raking through the muck for the Weekly, who writes:
Yes, the city of Brea did hold an informational meeting of its own recently after residents expressed alarm over fracking wells popping up next to their homes and schools. But Mayor Brett Murdock let Linn Energy give the fracturing presentation without allowing the community to ask questions, according to Alexandra Nagy a Food & Water Watch organizer.
“Brea residents are concerned the Brea City Council’s priorities are more closely aligned with protecting Linn Energy than safeguarding community health and safety,” she writes in an email.
So — I think that I may go there Friday night. Who’s with me — on either side? Do I have to name names?
This is your Weekend Open Thread. Talk about that, or whatever else you’d like, within reasonable bounds of decency and decorum. And, given the other item recently posted, I think that this week we will have a Dearthwatch!
About Greg Diamond
Somewhat verbose attorney, semi-disabled and semi-retired, residing in northwest Brea. Occasionally ran for office against jerks who otherwise would have gonr unopposed. Got 45% of the vote against Bob Huff for State Senate in 2012; Josh Newman then won the seat in 2016. In 2014 became the first attorney to challenge OCDA Tony Rackauckas since 2002; Todd Spitzer then won that seat in 2018. Every time he's run against some rotten incumbent, the *next* person to challenge them wins! He's OK with that.
Corrupt party hacks hate him. He's OK with that too.
He does advise some local campaigns informally and (so far) without compensation. (If that last bit changes, he will declare the interest.)
His daughter is a professional campaign treasurer. He doesn't usually know whom she and her firm represent. Whether they do so never influences his endorsements or coverage. (He does have his own strong opinions.) But when he does check campaign finance forms, he is often happily surprised to learn that good candidates he respects often DO hire her firm. (Maybe bad ones are scared off by his relationship with her, but they needn't be.)
I expect a full report of the meeting Greg. I have been watching news reports about increased seismic activity in Oklahoma, “where the wind blows sweeping down the plain,” and now the earth shakes …. ever since they allowed fracking.
*Frick and Frack…..indeed. Did you hear the latest? Some Utah Congressman wants to Frack near Oil Faithful…in Yellowstone….which just so happens to be on the largest fault on the North American continent….according to a recent 60 minutes report. People…..by the way – how close to the Newport-Whittier fault
are they talking about here?
A cardiologist explains why he won’t eat or feed his family GMO foods… http://www.envirology.co.nz/why-i-just-say-no-to-gmos-a-cardiologist-explains/
Article debunking the cardiologist’s rat study, from Slate:
GMO Opponents Are the Climate Skeptics of the Left
Don’t worry. Genetically modified corn isn’t going to give you cancer.
“I’ve found that fears are stoked by prominent environmental groups, supposed food-safety watchdogs, and influential food columnists; that dodgy science is laundered by well-respected scholars and propaganda is treated credulously by legendary journalists; and that progressive media outlets, which often decry the scurrilous rhetoric that warps the climate debate, serve up a comparable agitprop when it comes to GMOs.
In short, I’ve learned that the emotionally charged, politicized discourse on GMOs is mired in the kind of fever swamps that have polluted climate science beyond recognition.
The latest audacious example of scientific distortion came last week, in the form of a controversial (but peer reviewed!) study that generated worldwide headlines. A French research team purportedly found that GMO corn fed to rats caused them to develop giant tumors and die prematurely.
Within 24 hours, the study’s credibility was shredded by scores of scientists. The consensus judgment was swift and damning: The study was riddled with errors—serious, blatantly obvious flaws that should have been caught by peer reviewers. …”
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/are_gmo_foods_safe_opponents_are_skewing_the_science_to_scare_people_.html
*********************************************************************
I too was afraid of GMO’s but since I’ve been reading up on them (fact-checking Inge) the science (reputable science) so-far does not back up the anti-GMO hysteria. GMO’s may sound scarier than they really are (especially because most of us can’t comprehend the science behind it), we’ve been modifying our food crops for years, bio-tech has just sped up the process.
My sense of the literature is that, as is often the case where science is perverted by the profit motive, the necessary questions have not even been asked — in part because proceeding responsibly would mean taking a long time before products can come to market, and investors want their profits now.
You’ve already identified the big problem: speeding up the process. That creates difficulties in at least two ways.
First, it eliminates the ability to get feedback from the environment upon which one may be, wittingly or not, acting — feedback like “hey, you’re killing people” or “hey, you’re killing bees, or earthworms, or certain plants, or something else in the food chain.
Second, it enables gigantic and arbitrary leaps that can take an organism in directions where evolution would not, because (due to feedback mechanisms) it would likely turn out to be a dead end. (For example, GMO-modified plant X might not be preferred by animals as a food source because, say, it injures or kills them.) However, if they have nothing else to eat, they will of course eat that — hunger, you know — which is why making wholesale changes in crop characteristics is dangerous.
Responsible science would demand a slower pace so that we could see (and agree how to monitor) the effects of changes in crop composition in the actual environment. (That sort of thing is sometimes planned, but then: “oops, the wind blew the seeds into another farmer’s field! Sorrrrry! Bygones!”) It is entirely plausible that an animal that has been tuned by evolution to eat a food source with certain characteristics — presence of X, absence of Y, ratio of X to Y not exceeding Z — would be unable to survive on a changed organism.
Make the sort of slow changes we see in selective breeding and the damage will be minimal and readily observed — and steps can be retraced. Make huge, quick, and pervasive changes and the damage may be irreversible before we even know about it. (This is all the more likely if we’re not looking for it and are going out of our way NOT to notice it.) Not recognizing this is bad science. Good short term commerce, but bad science.
Here’s a good legal principle to apply as well: don’t let people do things where their ass can’t cash the check for the damage them may do. Monsanto cannot possibly pay for the damage that a worst-case scenario would cause — so in that case it would put all of those operations into a subsidiary, have it declare bankruptcy, and change its name. We’d have a situation like we did with the asbestos industry — except instead of a bunch of cases with mesothelioma, we’d have famine.
Please do not tell me that as a critic I can’t comprehend the science behind it. It is really irritating.
“My sense of the literature is that, as is often the case where science is perverted by the profit motive,”
Isn’t that the very same argument that climate deniers make, that all the “climate scientists” are on the government dole or will make money off of global warming? The information that I’ve been reading and linking to have been to scientists who don’t have a dog-in-the-fight.
I don’t know you personally Greg so maybe you are an expert in bio-tech, botany, biology, genetics, etc. , but your READING COMPREHENSION could use a little work as I NEVER said EVERYONE who disagreed with GMO’s could not understand the science, I said: ” most of us can’t comprehend the science behind it”. So no need to get your nose out of joint, genius.
Also, I think you are misreading the “speed” part of the argument, I think the article was actually referring to the ability to modify the genes in the crops and not the result. Sort of like dial-up compared to high-speed internet, same result only faster.
After spending a buck twenty five and 15 minutes on research I discovered the LA basin was not destroyed in a massive earthquake like the scientist with letters after his name said was going to happen last weekend.
Those pesky scientist. Sometimes I think they go along with the crowd for fear of looking stupid.
So you’re using your credulity to bolster your politics? Sorry, we’re not that credulous.
Tell us who this scientist is and link to his or her stuff so we can read it ourselves. That’s what science criticism involves.
Maybe our drought problems won’t be so bad after all. Nothing like “thinking outside the box!” … http://www.nwedible.com/2013/03/how-to-use-pee-in-your-garden.html
if you guys would stop picking on the chemical companies and the oil industry, the return on my stocks would be greater and i would be able to donate more to charity and help reduce this income inequality thing you keep complaining about. but every time you raise an environmental or health concern, the companies in my stock portfolio have to comply with another regulation and it cuts into my dividends. you guys need to get a better grasp on the underlying economics of your actions
I did not know that Nestle has a water bottling plant in the Mojave desert. Did you? I do know that the CEO of Nestle is quoted as saying that access to water is not a human right… http://www.politicususa.com/2014/07/16/corporate-greed-exacerbates-drought-nestle-believes-water-basic-human.html
The forum in Brea was packed last night. More than 100 bodies, at least half from Brea. There was a time when 10 residents who got together and gave themselves a name could scare the crap out of a small-city Council. But this one’s up against oil money. I give it about 50-50 odds.
Will you be reporting on that meeting on your blog, Mudge?
(That’s THIS blog, readers … http://kitchenmudge.wordpress.com/ … I suppose we should add it to our “blogs we like” list although Mudge has never asked us to.)
If so, can we cross-post that?
We should definitely add it to the list! Many of our linked local blogs are now defunct.
Any chance that you could write it up? I was receding in Reseda, winning “tolerable husband” points.
Sorry, I’m not much of a reporter-type writer, as a look through my blog will tell you. Wouldn’t really feel competent for that. Maybe fullertonrag will favor us with something. I know they were there. Didn’t recognize anyone from the Weekly, but they might have been there. I don’t know many of their people by sight.
Just make stuff up. Vern does it all the t,,,,,…….
Here’s one relevant article I noticed today, anyway.
http://www.propublica.org/article/ca-halts-injection-fracking-waste-warning-may-be-contaminating-aquifers
I thought I was the one who did that Greg. My posts come to me in a dream and then I write them down.
Huh?
I found this article this morning… written by a woman who teaches meditation in Washington D.C. I think she has figured out the main problem with many of our elected
officials… by the way she holds both parties guilty of the same behavior… any thoughts???
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/in-buddhist-teachings-relief-from-dcs-chronic-case-of-self-involvement/2014/07/18/00c9b2e2-0ec5-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html
Discontinue and ban gasoline & diesel auto’s and there would not need for any fracking for oil.
Are you ready to vote on the faze-out?
Hey! Who’s up for some more SCARY YouTube videos about……..Reality!……????
Any similarities to “Happy places on Earth” will ….er…..not be acknowledged.
Remember those chain e-mails we used to get in the 90’s? And some of em were crazy hoaxes? Well, I got one today that I thought was real interesting, and it looks like it’s true:
WHO WAS THE “FIRST” PRESIDENT OF THE USA?
This just fascinated me! I totally bought in to the ‘Washington-as-first-president’ thing all these years! It never even occurred to me to wonder who was acting head while they all labored to bring our new country’s form in to being. Bet you’ll like it, too!
For you who may like history. or are curious – I suspect George Washington was your first guess. After all, who else comes to mind?
But think back to your history books – The United States declared its independence in 1776, yet George Washington did not take Office until April 30, 1789.
So who was running the country during these initial years of our young country? It was the first eight U. S. Presidents. In fact, the first President of the United States was one John Hanson. I can hear you now – John who? John Hanson, was the first President of the United States.
John Hanson, first President of the United States.
Check Google for more detailed information. There was also a U.S. stamp made in his honor.
The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation. This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western lands (Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much power in the new government from such large amounts of land).
Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress.
As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill. No one had ever been President and the role was poorly defined. His actions in office would set precedent for all future Presidents. He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne as a monarch.
All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson as the only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the government would have fallen almost immediately and everyone would have been bowing to King Washington.
Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite the feat, considering the fact that so many European countries had a stake in the United States since the days following Columbus.
Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all Presidents have since been required to use on all official documents.
President Hanson also established the first Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department.
Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today.
The Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one year term during any three year period, so Hanson actually accomplished quite a bit in such little time. Seven other presidents were elected after him:
1. John Hanson
2. Elias Boudinot (1782-83),
3. Thomas Mifflin (1783-84),
4. Richard Henry Lee (1784-85),
5. John Hancock (1785-86),
6. Nathan Gorman (1786-87),
7. Arthur St. Clair (1787-88), and
8. Cyrus Griffin (1788-89),
…all prior to George Washington taking office.
So what happened? Why don’t we hear about the first eight presidents?
It’s quite simple – The Articles of Confederation didn’t work well. The individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon. A new doctrine needed to be written – something we know as the Constitution.
And that leads us to the end of our story.
George Washington definitely was not the first President of the United States. He was the first President of the United States under the Constitution we follow today.
And the first eight Presidents have been forgotten in history.
YOU HAVE TO BE A LOVER OF HISTORY TO APPRECIATE THIS!!
There you are – another lesson in U.S. History, and you may have learned something new today.
Two things you need to do every day
1) Learn something new
2) Start your day with something you enjoy
Not so sure about that Vern – from the 3rd of the “Articles” –
Not being sovereign, it does not call the United States of America a “nation” or “government,” but instead says, “The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever.”
Wiki –
“Many people have argued that John Hanson, and not George Washington, was the first President of the United States, but this is not quite true. Under the Articles of Confederation, the United States had no executive branch. The President of Congress was a ceremonial position within the Confederation Congress.”
http://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-articles-of-confederation/john-hanson-story/
Semantics mostly. But it’s good to learn that this unheard-of guy did so many important things for our country at its birth.
*”Articles of Confederation”….oh so yesterday! Was the primary reason for the Bill of Rights….thank goodness!
Suppose a Republican Administration had said ——
IRS Deputy Associate Chief Counsel Thomas Kane said in transcribed congressional testimony that more IRS officials experienced computer crashes, bringing the total number of crash “victims” to “less than 20,” and also said that the agency does not know if the lost emails are still backed up somewhere.
The new round of computer crash victims includes David Fish, who routinely corresponded with Lois Lerner, as well as Lerner subordinate Andy Megosh, Lerner’s technical adviser Justin Lowe, and Cincinnati-based agent Kimberly Kitchens.
“You stated at the time that document was produced to Congress, the document, the white paper in Exhibit 3[the June 13 memo], that it was accurate to the best of your knowledge. Is it still accurate?,” a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigator asked Kane.
“There is an issue as to whether or not there is a ‑‑ that all of the backup recovery tapes were destroyed on the 6‑month retention schedule,” Kane replied.
“So some of those backup tapes may still exist?,” the investigator asked.
“I don’t know whether they are or they aren’t, but it’s an issue that’s being looked at,” Kane said.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/21/now-irs-reports-even-more-computer-crashes-doesnt-know-if-emails-still-exist/#ixzz387iKia7B
From the DailyKos:
“Flashback to April of 2007. The Bush administration was in the midst of dual scandals regarding: 1) the outing of Valerie Plame, a covert CIA agent whose identity was deliberately compromised as payback for her husband’s criticism of the Bush lies that led to the invasion of Iraq, and 2) the unethical firing of eight federal attorneys for politically ideological reasons. Additionally, there were questions about Karl Rove improperly using a Republican National Committee e-mail account that the White House later said disappeared. While Congress was investigating these activities, the White House announced that two years of emails were lost and unavailable to the committees of jurisdiction.”
MILLIONS OF E-MAILS LOST DURING THE BUSH JR. YEARS, ALL FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, NOT SOME OTHER AGENCY. RIGHT-WING NUTS ATTRIBUTED THOSE LOST E-MAILS TO ……. TECHNICAL GLITCHES.
HYPOCRITES!!!
Even if all of that is true (which I doubt) those things are small peanuts compared to using the most powerful Department of the Federal government to quash the free speech of millions of Americans.
Fair enough. We’ll just doubt everything that you post as well.
anon – Your debate “tactic” of non-responsive & non sequeter comments is rather puerile.
That may well be (but I doubt it).
*In combat shooting….it is always easy to hit the low hanging fruit. If you say: Janet Reno in the right circles…you might actually get a real target. If you were to say James Traficant in a crowded room…you might even get a moment of silence. If you were to say Dan Rostonkowski, you even win the huberus award of the decade. Yes, Lois……Superman – Darrell Issa wants you bent over a hot stove in the back of his camper parked along the side of the 405 Freeway near Oceanside. True wrong doing like Savings and Loan crisis and the Keating seven-eleven……..all seem so mundane….when you have that low hanging fruit in the eyes a surrogate – Ted Bundy!
*Whoa…ummm, what?
*They’ve outdone themselves again. Is it time for another “Comment Like The Winships” post?
*Will you be supplying the hallucinogenics necessary to inspire such writing?…did we say we LOVE Timothy Leary?
Wasn’t Ted Bundy a serial killer? I don’t understand the connection…ok… I don’t understand the whole comment R&A… did you smoke some ganga????
*Hay-seus. A new record.
Did we mention we love Kobe Bryant…no William Jennings Bryan…missed us by that much!
German deputies may use typewriters to counteract US espionage – Deputies of the German Parliament are seriously considering the use of typewriters in order to counter espionage on the part of the US.
http://voiceofrussia.com/news
Dear White People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unl0r_txZ4U
*Remember the Magic Words: If it looks good on paper…..it has to sound good too! Or is that the other way round? Fracking was the issue….Old Faithful sits on the largest earthquake fault in North America. Fracking has been connected to increasing the prospect of a unanticipated earthquake event. 60 Minutes two weeks ago did the story on that. Jeffery Daumer was not a law enforcement official in Chicago. He did work undercover however and pretended to be a nice guy. If you were a Big Oil Company
what would you pretend to be? Janis Joplin….of course! Jame Belusi and Lenny Bruce played back up roles.
*Just in case no one saw the 60 Minutes segment on Yellowstone and the Old Faithful fault…..they say it could break all worlds records and cause another Ice Age by blotting out the sun with smoke and soot……but then…..those are just Earthquake Scientists….nothing to over react to.
Iranian humor ….
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=866846479999349
Has the Obama administration competently and effectively managed the government? A Fox News poll released Wednesday finds a majority of American voters says no — including about a third of Democrats.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/07/23/fox-news-poll-58-percent-say-obama-administration-incompetent-at-managing-govt/
You can’t make this stuff up —— who says shit like this??? Freudian perhaps ….
“I’ve got so many friends,” he began, “so many people who have supported me for so long. As I look back, I realize how many of you have pictures of me with no gray hair. You’re chronicling the slow deterioration of Barack Obama.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/23/president-to-dem-donors-youre-chronicling-the-slow-deterioration-of-barack-obama/#ixzz38KwRDmbZ
Eeeeeeeet wuuuuuuuuzzzz zeeeeeeee JOOOOOOOKE!
I know it wuz z joak …. but was it also a Freudian slip?
No. Conservatives (with honorable exceptions) often don’t get self-deprecatory humor, instead favoring humor that makes someone else the butt of the joke, such as ethnic jokes. What Obama said was fine and funny.
I disagree counselor – the man is tanking – his tank will run dry after the upcoming mid-term elections.
A Mausoleum of Hope
“Let the disillusionment run, let it guide the entire design of the Obama museum. Disillusionment is, after all, a far more representative emotion of our times than Beltway satisfaction over the stability of some imaginary “center.” So why not memorialize it? My suggestion to the designers of the complex: That the Obama Presidential Library be designed as a kind of cenotaph, a mausoleum of hope.”
Salon –
In Santa Ana there was 42 drug pushers arrested and only 5 of them lives in the city.
Finally the city lets loose its pit-bull (SAPD) to enforce the laws.