tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62502781265370895872024-03-05T00:42:27.509-08:00Ashtabula Times..........News, opinion, events, and a focus on community...........Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-28534654541156616442015-07-09T10:44:00.001-07:002015-07-09T10:44:53.991-07:00Insights on the Refugio Spill - Rex and Greg at the Beach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">DANS, CEO</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBklkubaOUIEpK1Xy2pLCpp4RTmPeiczRw_26YhV8vJk5lHQXOqaTAzzGW2zIYb0lxtqVz2wryu5qglQrnIWz4t665bcrt7SRswJPGrev9o8zX_PM6ThInmXxqJ9w27LjXxjsFdd_W0k/s1600/Rex+and+Greg+on+the+Beach+in+SB5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHBklkubaOUIEpK1Xy2pLCpp4RTmPeiczRw_26YhV8vJk5lHQXOqaTAzzGW2zIYb0lxtqVz2wryu5qglQrnIWz4t665bcrt7SRswJPGrev9o8zX_PM6ThInmXxqJ9w27LjXxjsFdd_W0k/s640/Rex+and+Greg+on+the+Beach+in+SB5.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Rex and Greg having a confab on the Beach in Santa Barbara </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let's start at the beginning. The oil which poured out of the pipe originated from the Hondo Drilling Platform, owned by ExxonMobil. It was transported via ExxonMobil pipes to Las Flores, an ExxonMobil Facility, and then began its transport by Plains All American Pipeline through the Plains connection to the ExxonMobil Tank. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9msroFs4c_W900wDQFUmyvhOBd1c4j3pKGZUZ5A57ThJVZ5tpcEC0l23lWP19h7C-M_oOP6u-yh0Naf0z3UnyI7anhyAF6tAD30lX_p3yc-Dx5aW4J8Fx0SP1xcifprX3ekQr3XntMU/s1600/SYU+-+Exxon+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt9msroFs4c_W900wDQFUmyvhOBd1c4j3pKGZUZ5A57ThJVZ5tpcEC0l23lWP19h7C-M_oOP6u-yh0Naf0z3UnyI7anhyAF6tAD30lX_p3yc-Dx5aW4J8Fx0SP1xcifprX3ekQr3XntMU/s640/SYU+-+Exxon+3.png" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); height: 35px; padding: 4px; width: 227px;" valign="top"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">10:45:00 AM</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Five Plains employees are at work in a room at ExxonMobil's Las Flores Pump Station where their company's ten miles of pipeline begins a few feet from one of two massive tanks. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A mechanical issue is reported. The pipeline, carrying Exxon crude from <a href="http://dansvoices.blogspot.com/2015/07/hondo-field-oil-characteristics.html">Hondo</a>, shuts down at Sisquoc Pumping Station due to unknown reasons. At 10:47AM, approximately, Las Flores shuts down, reporting a pressure surge. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Exxon owns the three drilling platforms, Hondo, Heritage and Harmony, located in the Santa Barbara Channel. Exxon owns the pipeline which feeds into the Las Flores Canyon Processing Facility along with the room provided to the five Plains employees who oversee the exit of Pipe 901 from Las Flores. The Refugio Spill will take place three miles into the 901. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_uZz2jd6kY1VfcSFqGGJ-VAjFgj13aW_2D3uzUZfgZbBTmMW8plV0KWMVzftk_teZwchuXy2Wt_wmRNjENrY8_65ZDPIBDYOJvJjabmRd-49fS40ig9HN5ESumDz9rjJbDSa_RxqO_k/s1600/Las+Flores+Manifold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_uZz2jd6kY1VfcSFqGGJ-VAjFgj13aW_2D3uzUZfgZbBTmMW8plV0KWMVzftk_teZwchuXy2Wt_wmRNjENrY8_65ZDPIBDYOJvJjabmRd-49fS40ig9HN5ESumDz9rjJbDSa_RxqO_k/s640/Las+Flores+Manifold.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">ExxonMobil Infrastructure involved in the Refugio Spill</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1">The ten miles of pipe owned by Plains on this route, known as Pipeline 901, had been cited by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as needing immediate repair in the Corrective Action Order issued by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), dated June 3, 2015. Plains had been aware of the problems since the test was done a month earlier, two weeks before the spill took place on May 19</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1">. </span></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU6eM2lrPVmqsktQeyW7QLFdAC_cxJFnqb3UEhZyB_e5RNwQNs2jiJrLWU6aArRdILSA8nO40n5mFwRx4anQYeW52XoWLzzE48zbZQ_8WMhahrq3_xnFsvw_0lMeAIyK9C1DPsfS_r4gs/s1600/Las+flores+region.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU6eM2lrPVmqsktQeyW7QLFdAC_cxJFnqb3UEhZyB_e5RNwQNs2jiJrLWU6aArRdILSA8nO40n5mFwRx4anQYeW52XoWLzzE48zbZQ_8WMhahrq3_xnFsvw_0lMeAIyK9C1DPsfS_r4gs/s640/Las+flores+region.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s3" style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;"> </span><span class="s1" style="font-size: small; text-align: justify;">Las Flores Facility, owned by ExxonMobil. Red Line is Pipe 901.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1">The May 5</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> In-Line Inspection (ILI) revealed four areas requiring, <i>“ immediate investigation and remediation”</i> on Pipe 901. Loss of original metal was reported as <i>“54 and 74% of the original pipe wall thickness.” </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1">Because of the corrosive nature of crude, high temperatures used for transport and weathering pipes need constant monitoring. <i> </i></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1">The Hondo Crude flowing through Pipe 901 on May 19</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> was heated to 126 degrees so it could be transported. The profile for the Hondo Crude includes Sulphur 4.3 % by volume (sour oil) . </span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">When heated, the Sulfur will be ready, if exposed to oxygen, to react, becoming Hydrogen Sulfide, a highly poisonous gas. The Hondo Crude also contains Benzene, which also becomes gaseous when released to the air. Both, being heavier than air, could have, absent a breeze, flowed down to the beach. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The five Plains employees controlled a valve in a small building, like a maintenance shed, a few feet inside the Exxon Facility. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p3" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1">Pipeline 901 crosses the manifold carrying the oil, owned by ExxonMobil.</span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">150 feet from the tank is a manifold where pipes come together. This is exposed. A spur crosses the main pipeline. The pipelines, perpendicular to the main line, lead to a small building about six car lengths long and 2 car lengths wide where it stops. </span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1">This is where the valve is believed to be located. It is also the place where the Smart Pig, used to test Pipe 901 on May 5</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> was inserted, traveling all the way to Refugio and beyond. The Smart Pig reported to Plains' contractors, who let Plains know, there were problems with 901, providing them with the data. </span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgru85nEsaSCei8Tlq37HvPeVwRO2CuT9H5dBh2-V_mvow2vjr25-WN4l-vTI-4PgWRMOh6ItTb7UNj28igbcrkhshQvzgelDZgp0WD_SKz8EXcL9K7Z5tleeTy3NQ6B5VecS14Zz8pEFc/s1600/20150604044517pig_smartpigsdotnet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgru85nEsaSCei8Tlq37HvPeVwRO2CuT9H5dBh2-V_mvow2vjr25-WN4l-vTI-4PgWRMOh6ItTb7UNj28igbcrkhshQvzgelDZgp0WD_SKz8EXcL9K7Z5tleeTy3NQ6B5VecS14Zz8pEFc/s640/20150604044517pig_smartpigsdotnet.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Smart Pig</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Plains had not been ordered by Jeffrey D. Wiese, Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, to stop pumping so they continued to do so. It was a judgment call. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">10:47:00AM</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sisquoc Pump Station shuts down both the backup and main pumps. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">10:50:00AM</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Refugio Spill has not yet taken place. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The pumps at Las Flores shut down due to a high pressure reading. An operator restarts the pumps at the Sisquoc Pump Station, which is about 50 miles north of the spill site. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">10:53:00AM</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Between 10:53 an 10:55 first Las Flores and then Sisquoc restart pumping. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">How much pressure is too much when the pipe is already having issues? This is a judgment call. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pressure gauges are old technology and subject to multiple misreadings. Many oil companies now use Ultrasound monitoring, which provides precise bi-directional and highly dynamic flow measurement and the non-intrusive clamp-on technology to ascertain flow rates, a better indicator. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Plains is still on old technology in other ways as well. No automatic shut off valve is on the system although Santa Barbara County requires this. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">11:15:00AM</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p5" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Sisquoc back-up pump goes down, followed by the main pump, according to the company. It is not possible to restart the pumping. At Las Flores pumping continues. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">11:30:00AM</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Due to<b> </b>“pressure anomalies” occur that morning, a Plains operator at the Midland Control Center in Texas remotely shuts down the ruptured pipe and finally stopping the pump at Las Flores. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">11:42:00AM</span></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p2" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A 9-1-1 call reporting strong oily odors comes in to the Fire Department Dispatch Center for Gaviota. In response, a crew from County Fire Station 18 goes out on the bluffs to investigate the strong odor and follows it down to the beach at Refugio where 901 is bleeding oil through the culvert, onto the beach and into the Pacific Ocean. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The potentially fatal concentration of Hydrogen Sulfide and Benzene, dispersed to the area north and east, will have dissipated from its maximum ten minute high by the time emergency personnel arrive. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It could have been worse. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Exxon and Plains appear, by reports, to follow the same protocols for monitoring flow in the pipelines in Santa Barbara County, this being a pressure reading. No mention is made of ultrasound technology. </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b>Some questions naturally occur. </b></span></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What did Exxon know about the problems with 901 and when did they know it? </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Why is Exxon not also under investigation? Why have litigants failed to name the corporation in their law suits, as is usual in similar circumstances? </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="s1">Why wasn't ExxonMobil asked to answer questions at the June 26</span><span class="s2"><sup>th</sup></span><span class="s1"> Hearing in Santa Barbara? </span></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Does Exxon have any data which is relevant to the ongoing investigation? </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, how about some answers!</span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p5" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Company Safety Records: </span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">Plains All American Pipeline - </span><a href="http://www.sbck.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Plains-Spill-Record-Fact-Sheet-5-29-20151.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #1b7d38; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Environmental Record</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our thanks to Channel Keepers</span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">ExxonMobil - <a href="http://dansvoices.blogspot.com/2015/07/exxonmobil-their-record.html">Environmental Record</a></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our thanks to the great people who provided the original research.</span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUdYpdIuIDZPkCnb2i-uG2L6z5pzkebZ3ucipbVP43OLcGH2JvXYa7pnxKr_ofJcKip-oBxInE7R5Wzt7DGj0P_vRcXAyV6ewfFIQzwvD4Vj7TNSVMYEyycZj9y0af2Xhx9tJZekabAA/s1600/Melinda+cropped+from+Ayn0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGUdYpdIuIDZPkCnb2i-uG2L6z5pzkebZ3ucipbVP43OLcGH2JvXYa7pnxKr_ofJcKip-oBxInE7R5Wzt7DGj0P_vRcXAyV6ewfFIQzwvD4Vj7TNSVMYEyycZj9y0af2Xhx9tJZekabAA/s200/Melinda+cropped+from+Ayn0000.jpg" width="145" /></a></span></div>
<div class="p4" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </b>is the CEO of <a href="http://danssheet.com/">DANS, Disaster Alert News Service</a>, and a life long advocate for the environment and social justice. DANS provides technical background on issues of petroleum using the expertise of DANS Director, David Lincoln, a whistleblower on the oil companies and qualified expert witness on their practices and technologies. </span></div>
<div class="p5" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p5" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="p5" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-83412210656254056922015-04-23T07:32:00.000-07:002015-04-23T07:32:34.847-07:00Oklahoma Recognizes Role of Drilling in Earthquakes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">From: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/us/oklahoma-acknowledges-wastewater-from-oil-and-gas-wells-as-major-cause-of-quakes.html?ref=todayspaper">NY Times </a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: 700; line-height: 0.75rem;">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/michael_wines/index.html" rel="author" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="More Articles by MICHAEL WINES"><span>MICHAEL WINES</span></a></span> APRIL 21, 2015</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span>Sparks, Okla., in 2011. A series of shocks that year exceeding magnitude 5.0 caused millions of dollars in damage in the state.</span> <span style="color: #999999; display: inline-block; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1rem;"><span style="border: 0px; min-height: 1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 1px;">Credit</span>Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press </span></span></div>
<div style="clear: left; float: left; text-align: justify;">
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 15px; width: 91px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/us/oklahoma-acknowledges-wastewater-from-oil-and-gas-wells-as-major-cause-of-quakes.html?ref=todayspaper#story-continues-1" style="border: 0px; color: #326891; min-height: 1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: 1px;" target="_blank"> </a></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; max-width: 540px; text-align: justify; width: 532px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Abandoning years of official skepticism, Oklahoma’s government <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1084128086" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">on Tuesday</span></span>
embraced a scientific consensus that earthquakes rocking the state are
largely caused by the underground disposal of billions of barrels of
wastewater from oil and gas wells.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; max-width: 540px; text-align: justify; width: 532px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The state’s energy and environment cabinet <a href="http://earthquakes.ok.gov/" style="color: #326891;" target="_blank">introduced a website </a>detailing
the evidence behind that conclusion Tuesday, including links to expert
studies of Oklahoma’s quakes. The site includes <a href="http://earthquakes.ok.gov/what-we-know/earthquake-map/" style="color: #326891;" target="_blank">an interactive map</a> that plots not only earthquake locations, but also the sites of more than 3,000 active wastewater-injection wells.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
website coincided with a statement by the state-run Oklahoma Geological
Survey that it “considers it very likely” that wastewater wells are
causing the majority of the state’s earthquakes. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/us/oklahoma-acknowledges-wastewater-from-oil-and-gas-wells-as-major-cause-of-quakes.html?ref=todayspaper">MORE</a></span></span></div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-76924096636829824182015-04-15T11:32:00.001-07:002015-04-15T11:32:49.709-07:00Were You Poisoned?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
If you live in Ashtabula you well may have been.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">The scene above looks pristine, inviting, safe. But is it? <br /><br />The
poisons seeping into your life from a multitude of sources do not have
to be obvious. But in a growing number of locations they are present. <br /><br />Your
neighborhood can look pristine, inviting, clean, but still harbor
enough polluting presence to destroy the health of those you love. <br /><br />This
site is your tool for the unadulterated truth on risks you may well be
struggling with as health problems, never imagining the cause. <br /><br />You
do not have to be paranoid to be worried about the impact on yourself
and your family from the tens of thousands of sources of toxic waste
which h<span style="font-size: large;">ave</span> gone so far toward destroying our lives. <br /><br />Action
begins with a realistic understanding of the risks you face and what
you can expect. We can help you get the information you need so you can
take the next steps. That may be a law suit. It may be using the
alternatives for health which many believe aid in recovery. <br /><br />We'll
provide information on those issues, too. But first you need the
information and that starts with reading the material we provide and
filling out our <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/76674795/Personalized-Tox-Form?secret_password=2goh8mhmqzci76pipamg">Tox Profile <span style="font-size: large;">F</span>orm</a>. It's your life. Think about what you can expect if you do nothing. <span style="font-size: large;">T</span>hese poisons could be making millions of people sick. You could also be a victim<span style="font-size: large;">.</span> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="Text_Default" id="I197" style="clear: both; display: block;">
</div>
<div class="Text_Default" id="I196" style="clear: both; display: block;">
<div class="sys_txt" id="I196_sys_txt" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Current Projects and Useful Links </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;">Mayflower Arkansas Oil Spill</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://greenfieldsrenewal.com/" target="_blank">Rebuild Mayflower</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://storify.com/DavidLincoln/arkansas-shown-the-face-of-tar-sands-oil-spill" target="_blank">Arkansas Shown Face of Tar Sands</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://storify.com/DavidLincoln/sierra-club-says-arkansas-pipeline-oil-spill-is-a" target="_blank">Sierra Club Says Arkansas Pipeline Oil Spill is a Warning</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://storify.com/DavidLincoln/oil-is-poison-crud-is-a-sign-you-are-being-slowly" target="_blank"> Oil is Poison</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/MayflowerArkansasOilSpill?hc_location=stream" target="_blank">Mayflower Arkansas Oil Spill</a></span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ashtabularenewal.org/Clean-Up.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A<span style="font-size: medium;">shtabula OH Renewal</span></span></span> <span style="font-size: medium;">Clean-<span style="font-size: medium;">U</span>p</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.ashtabularenewal.org/Clean-Up.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://storify.com/DavidLincoln/manganism-revisited" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">Manganism</span></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"> <a href="http://www.ashtabularenewal.org/Manganese-.html" target="_blank">Mangan<span style="font-size: medium;">ese</span></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.ashtabularenewal.org/Manganese-.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> BLOG</span></span></a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://pinterest.com/envirohealth/fracking-no-more/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: medium;">ANTI-FRACKING</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="Text_Default" id="I182" style="clear: both; display: block;">
<div class="sys_txt" id="I182_sys_txt" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">For <span style="font-size: large;">solutions and remedies to some of</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;"> the chemicals that could be making you sick, </span>see our <a href="http://www.haveyoubeenpoisoned.com/toxics.php">Toxics Page</a> with regional maps and case stud<span style="font-size: large;">ies for the worst pollutants.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-24273323640679275142015-03-28T17:19:00.003-07:002015-03-28T17:19:32.185-07:00A $600-Million Fracking Company Just Sued This Tiny Ohio Town For Its Water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/24/3637048/fracking-all-the-water-away/">Climate Progress</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="byline">by <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/?person=spage">Samantha Page</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="byline"> </span><img alt="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Barnville-reservoir-638x478.jpg" src="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Barnville-reservoir-638x478.jpg" /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="photo-caption" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Slope Creek Reservoir in Barnesville, Ohio, provides water for at least two oil and gas companies. CREDIT: Courtesy Concerned Barnesville Area Residents</span></span></div>
<div class="photo-caption" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="photo-credit" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A tiny town in eastern Ohio is being sued by an Oklahoma-based oil
and gas company that bought more than 180 million gallons of water from
the town last year. That water use, combined with a dry fall, prompted
the village to temporarily shut off water to Gulfport Energy. Now, a
second company has a water agreement, and there might not be enough
water to go around. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Gulfport Energy alleges in the lawsuit that the village of
Barnesville, population 4,100, violated its agreement to provide water
from its reservoir by entering into a contract with oil and gas company
Antero Resources. Gulfport says the village’s contract with Antero
allows for withdrawals beyond what Gulfport is allowed to take. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span id="trigger-slidedown"></span>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Gulfport’s water supply can be shut off whenever water levels in the
reservoir create a risk to the health and safety of the village
residents and businesses. Last fall, the reservoir was down three feet
below average when village officials stopped all outside withdrawals. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/03/24/3637048/fracking-all-the-water-away/">MORE</a></span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-23073915991156166172015-03-27T21:58:00.000-07:002015-03-27T21:58:14.770-07:00Future Blast Zones? How Crude-By-Rail Puts U.S. Communities At Risk <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Future-Blast-Zones-How-Crude-By-Rail-Puts-U.S.-Communities-At-Risk-20150323-0007.html">telesur</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by Steve Early</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Smoke rises from derailed train cars in western Alabama on Nov. 8, 2013." src="http://www.telesurtv.net/__export/1427126785214/sites/telesur/img/opinion/2015/03/23/train-derail-alabama.jpg_1718483346.jpg" draggable="false" height="340" itemprop="contentURL" title="Smoke rises from derailed train cars in western Alabama on Nov. 8, 2013. | Foto: Reuters" width="600" /></span></div>
<div style="left: -99999px; position: absolute; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By: Steve Early </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The transport of petroleum via rail is
now a well-known and unwelcome sight in many other U.S. communities.
Its long distance rail transport has resulted in five major train
fires and explosions in the last 16 months alone.</span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Richmond,
California began life more than a century ago as a sleepy little
railroad town. It was the second place on the eastern shore of San
Francisco Bay where a transcontinental rail line connected with
ferries, to transport freight and passengers to San Francisco. Now a
diverse industrial city of 100,000, Richmond is still crisscrossed
with tracks, both main lines and shorter ones, serving its deep-water
port, huge Chevron oil refinery, and other local businesses. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Trains
just arriving or being readied for their next trip, move in and out
of a sprawling Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail yard located
right next to the oldest part of town. Some train formations are more
than 100 cars long. The traffic stalls they create on nearby streets
and related use of loud horns, both day and night, have long been a
source of neighborhood complaints. Persistent city hall pressure has
succeeded in cutting horn blasts by about 1,000 a day, through the
creation of several dozen much appreciated “quiet zones.” No
other municipality in California has established so many, but only
after many years of wrestling with the industry. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Despite progress on
the noise front, many trackside residents continue to experience
“quality of life” problems related to the air they breath. Some
of their complaints arise from Richmond’s role as a transfer point
for coal and petroleum coke (aka “pet coke”) being exported to
Asia. As one Richmond official explained at a community meeting in
March, these “climate wrecking materials” wend their way through
the city in open cars—leaving, in their wake, houses, backyards,
and even parked cars covered with a thick film of grimy, coal dust.
Coal train fall-out has become so noisome in Richmond that its
seven-member city council—now dominated by environmental activists—
wants the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) to
mandate the use of enclosed cars. <a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Future-Blast-Zones-How-Crude-By-Rail-Puts-U.S.-Communities-At-Risk-20150323-0007.html">MORE</a></span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-27481308660212727842015-03-27T15:20:00.001-07:002015-03-27T21:49:43.896-07:00Nader: Oil Trains Unsafe (& Unecessary) At Any Speed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="https://www.popularresistance.org/nader-oil-trains-unsafe-unecessary-at-any-speed/"><strike>Popular Resistance</strike></a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="cat-date-line4">By Ralph Nader, <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/12/16/oil-trains-unsafe-and-unnecessary-at-any-speed/" target="_blank">www.counterpunch.org</a></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Oil trains for people not oil" class="attachment-580x387 wp-post-image" height="387" src="https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Oil-trains-for-people-not-oil.jpg" width="516" /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Back in 1991 the National Transportation
Safety Board first identified oil trains as unsafe — the tank cars,
specifically ones called DOT-111s, were too thin and punctured too
easily, making transport of flammable liquids like oil unreasonably
dangerous. As bad as this might sound, at the very least there was not a
lot of oil being carried on the rails in 1991.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, in the midst of a North American oil
boom, oil companies are using fracking and tar sands mining to produce
crude in remote areas of the U.S. and Canada. To get the crude to
refineries on the coasts the oil industry is ramping up transport by oil
trains. In 2008, 9,500 crude oil tank cars moved on US rails. In 2013
the number was more than 400,000! With this rapid growth comes a looming
threat to public safety and the environment. No one — not federal
regulators or local firefighters — are prepared for oil train
derailments, spills and explosions.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Unfortunately, the rapid increase in oil trains has already meant many more oil train disasters. Railroads <a href="http://desmogblog.com/2014/01/27/oil-tracks-more-oil-spills-railcars-2013-previous-four-decades" style="color: #cf1028;" target="_hplink">spilled</a> more oil in 2013 than<i> in the previous 40 years combined</i>.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
<div style="color: black; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Trains are the most efficient way to move
freight and people. This is why train tracks run through our cities and
towns. Our rail system was never designed to move hazardous materials,
however; if it was, train tracks would not run next to schools and under
football stadiums. <a href="https://www.popularresistance.org/nader-oil-trains-unsafe-unecessary-at-any-speed/">MORE</a></span></span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-88592937972466393542014-12-14T03:34:00.001-08:002014-12-14T03:34:07.986-08:00Solutions for Towns Hit by Toxic Waste Events - Mayflower<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jan Schlichtmann, the attorney whose story was told in the best seller and movie,<i> "A Civil Action,"</i> discusses options for towns faced with Toxic Waste Events growing more common today. Hosting the event is Geologist and Environmental Consultant, David Lincoln as the two talk about Exxon's response after the spill
(highlighting the inadequate and wrongful actions). Learn about Qualified Settlement Trust Fund and what they can do to save your town, neighborhood, and family. </span></div>
<h1 class="yt" id="watch-headline-title">
<span class="watch-title long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Sierra Club's David Lincoln at 60-Day Mayflower Town Hall Event"> </span></h1>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yF_JlshzELk" width="640"></iframe></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Visit Our Website, <a href="http://greenfieldsrenewal.com/">Green Fields Renewal</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">More on Qualified Settlement Trust Funds and other tools to help your community recover. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.2in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Most
people want to see the right thing done by their neighbors. So
do we. <br /><br />We
are using a Qualified Settlement Trust (468B), to organize and
strengthen our negotiating position, allowing for a negotiated
settlement which will act in the best interests of ALL PARTIES.
This provides transparency, with direct court supervision, allowing
for costs to be paid before final settlement and, finally, provides
individual flexibility within an umbrella trust. <br /><br />For
more answers, go to this site. </span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<h2 class="western" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://taxlawchannel.squarespace.com/robert-wood-commentary/2008/11/25/qualified-settlement-funds-everything-you-wanted-to-know-but.html"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Qualified
Settlement Funds: Everything You Wanted To Know But Were Afraid
To Ask</span></span></a></span></h2>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-63166220432785651222014-12-13T06:37:00.000-08:002014-12-13T06:37:19.734-08:00Ohio Residents File Class Action Lawsuit Against State & Fracking Corps<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="https://www.popularresistance.org/ohio-residents-file-class-action-lawsuit-against-state-fracking-corps/">Popular Resistance</a> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by <span class="cat-date-line4">By Tish O’Dell</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="fracking-12132011_2" class="attachment-580x387 wp-post-image" height="368" src="https://www.popularresistance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/fracking-12132011_2.jpg" width="580" /> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, OH: Today, residents of <strong>Broadview Heights, Ohio</strong>,
filed a first-in-the-state class action lawsuit against the State of
Ohio, Governor John R. Kasich, and Bass Energy, Inc. and Ohio Valley
Energy Systems Corp. <strong> The lawsuit was filed to protect the
rights of the people of Broadview Heights to self-governance, including
their right to ban fracking.</strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In November 2012, residents of Broadview Heights overwhelmingly
adopted a Home Rule Charter Amendment – proposed by residents – banning
all new commercial extraction of gas and oil within the City limits.
The Amendment establishes a<em>Community Bill of Rights</em> – which
secures the rights of human and natural communities to water and a
healthy environment. The Bill of Rights bans fracking and frack waste
disposal as a violation of those rights.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In June 2014, Bass Energy and Ohio Valley Energy filed a lawsuit
against the City of Broadview Heights to overturn the Community Bill of
Rights. <strong>The corporations are contending that the community does
not have the legal authority to protect itself from fracking, and that
corporations have the constitutional “right” to frack.</strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Residents involved in drafting and proposing the Community Bill of
Rights attempted to intervene in the lawsuit, to defend the community’s
right to self-governance, including the right to say “no” to fracking
and other threats. However, in September, the Court of Common Pleas of
Cuyahoga County denied the motion to intervene, ruling that the
residents did not have a direct “interest” in this case.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With the court’s denial of intervention, residents decided to move
forward with the class action lawsuit. In filing the lawsuit, <strong>Broadview
Heights residents argue that the Ohio Oil and Gas Act, known as HB 278,
and the industry’s enforcement of the Act, violate the constitutional
right of residents to local self-government</strong>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted
residents of Broadview Heights to draft the Community Bill of
Rights. CELDF is providing its support and expertise to the residents
of Broadview Heights with the filing of the class action lawsuit.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">CELDF Executive Director, Thomas Linzey, Esq., stated, “<strong>This
class action lawsuit is merely the first in Ohio, and expected to be one
of many filed by people across the United States whose constitutional
rights to govern their own communities are routinely violated by state
governments working in concert with the corporations that they
ostensibly regulate.</strong> The people of Broadview Heights will not
stand idly by as their rights are negotiated away by oil and gas
corporations, their state government, and their own municipal
government.” The residents of Lafayette, Colorado, filed a similar
lawsuit in August of this year.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Through grassroots organizing and public interest law, CELDF works
with communities across the country to establish Community Rights to
democratic, local self-governance and sustainability. CELDF has assisted
nearly 200 communities to ban shale gas drilling and fracking, factory
farming, water privatization, and other threats, and eliminate corporate
“rights” when they violate community and nature’s rights. This
includes assisting the first communities in the U.S. to establish Rights
of Nature in law, as well as the first communities to elevate the
rights of communities above the “rights” of corporations.</span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-91038003329642207682014-12-04T04:45:00.002-08:002014-12-04T04:45:46.553-08:00Our CIA, Empowered by JFK Murder Cover-up, Blocks Senate Torture Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/JusticeIntegrityProject/%7E3/lXh_KxGHL0o/747-our-cia-empowered-by-jfk-murder-cover-up-blocks-senate-torture-report?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email">Justice Integrity Project </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by Andrew Kreig </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Georgia,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-Serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 140%; margin: 0;">
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />The
CIA's obstruction of all three major government probes of President
Kennedy's 1963 assassination helps explain the agency's success thus far
in blocking Senate oversight of CIA-run torture.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="CIA Logo" class="CToWUd a6T" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhGsgHySUtw8wdjQUx29PahI68n_2lrOfYIk7Y6EOkbomC3BPs3asDqEvsu5Wb23KjokDIjw-OCL_sxApu-8TQOqZTD0dPySRyTSP2qQpQSLU3u17sXd2LJMeOL_iGMgnrZIBVC2ekjoTkicJp-Hq5bsy7Bww=s0-d-e1-ft" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" tabindex="0" width="184" /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The agency this fall is fighting publication of a Senate report on
torture while it also avoids for the most part adverse news coverage and
government inquiry regarding Kennedy's death.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The CIA has sought on national security grounds major edits in the Senate probe of agency torture of terror suspects.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The agency's delaying tactics would lack credibility if not for
previous cover-ups of alleged CIA crimes. This fall marks the 50th
anniversary of the Warren Commission’s dubious claim that Lee Harvey
Oswald acted alone to kill JFK. Serious questions remain about the
agency's role in the cover-up and the killing.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The CIA-friendly Obama White House is deferring to the agency in a
torture scandal that began during the Bush administration, and prompted a
Senate probe beginning in 2009.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Continued White House foot-dragging on the declassification of a
much-anticipated Senate torture report is raising concerns that the
administration is holding out until Republicans take over the chamber
and kill the report themselves,” according to Dan Froomkin, writing “<a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/10/23/white-house-waiting-gop-senate-kill-feinsteins-torture-report/" target="_blank"><em>Is Obama Stalling Until Republicans Can Bury the CIA Torture Report?</em></a>”
for First Look / Intercept. “Senator Dianne Feinstein’s intelligence
committee sent a 480-page executive summary of its extensive report on
the CIA’s abuse of detainees to the White House for declassification
more than six months ago.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Dianne Feinstein" class="CToWUd" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgh494PhM_vr5zIXoz-YUDwCTMbaEji-ISXb0GiWCIS2PZdpgoGUKbNgi4xfZc1BF-pJ9lWrXJDW7sO_5dLTLl5azYA-1ZOMkZ-ZiLNkCIpnn4HgqQACjI33k97qzY46E9-tRv9K8wnIdgZdHrXeY6AK7Q0nRFEOQqRveaf6cNeng=s0-d-e1-ft" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" width="125" />Froomkin’s
analysis might puzzle those who believe in conventional wisdom about
Obama: That he and his White House operate far to the left of the
CIA-friendly Feinstein, the California Democrat shown at right who
chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But the senator and her staffers became angry earlier this year
because CIA Director John Brennan initially refused to apologize after
his team was caught spying on agency staff, who represent the elected
senators who ostensibly oversee the agency. McClatchy reported the
reasons in, <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/07/31/234997/cia-staffers-accessed-senate.html#storylink=cpy" target="_blank"><em>CIA admits it broke into Senate computers; senators call for spy chief’s ouster.</em></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Brennan, a well-connected career CIA officer who was a White House
advisor during Obama's first term, is shown below at far right in an
official photo of his nomination ceremony Jan. 7, 2013. Former Sen.
Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican was nominated at the same time to
become secretary of defense, and is at the left of the president.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="Barack Obama nominates Chuck Hagel and John Brennan, Jan. 7, 2013 (White House photo)" class="CToWUd" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEgJhQBsXRPWEA7g8RC45EKbmylGZ1yb0Ut54L_U9Jf-46wuPK9p-Q0dFDazqkccKHAtwxUnztqwZMAe7k9TPSCYSNmVaZJLzFwBYQyqKOt3VCK-TwBFV7ksXjcPR9sJDn3X0L0flBkWhvTbfp37uXY5ih-mKN1SPP6DSITY8P4nLyZFMYx3azCSw2TPBLSU=s0-d-e1-ft" style="float: left; margin: 10px;" width="296" />My
opinion column below, the 22st segment in the Justice Integrity
Project's “JFK Assassination Readers Guide” series, amplifies my recent
lecture carried on C-SPAN3's American History TV, <a href="http://www.justice-integrity.org/faq/739-why-the-jfk-murder-cover-up-still-matters-as-does-c-span-s-coverage" target="_blank"><em>The JFK Murder 'Cover-up' Still Matters. </em></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Many of the previous segments in our series provided updated research
tools regarding JFK-focused books, films and archives. But the
historian at some point needs to provide also conclusions, as my Cornell
professor Alan Bloom taught long ago in assigning his class Friedrich
Nietzsche's <em>Use and Abuse of History</em>. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In this instance, the torture issue is one of the better-documented
of the inherently secret power struggles within the intelligence/defense
communities. Another recent example is the forced resignation of last
week of Hagel, a Republican, for unexplained reasons we shall illuminate
in a separate column.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The torture report is particularly important. It centers on core
values of United States democracy.One is the ability of elected leaders
to oversee a hidden government represented by the CIA, as reported in
previous segments of this series.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Moreover, rendition and torture of suspects -- often without the
protections of a criminal process or prisoner-of-war status --
undermines both the morality and effectiveness of United States
war-making that the CIA increasingly undertakes in covert operations.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong><img alt="Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters" class="CToWUd a6T" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEh1xlKMLE8DpgYGw6dkopnvyY5NWGJ1YAae83XG4hndAKMIkHk88uQbnqSNPzEunhu62V0X9kmfWg7ItsNhMIonYOrXbC6okCfDkCixunJUs6rOZRcfaXzOYpATQUMzrWqg9rmpS4xW03dIQ2LTPUxmPEvDvK9Lf_qPQV_x6iFFrMk=s0-d-e1-ft" style="float: right; margin: 10px;" tabindex="0" width="294" /></strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With that background, we examine three big secrets that decipher the Senate-CIA-White House impasse:
</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 30px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong>Secret number One:</strong> Obama
is a product of the intelligence community's centrist wing, but also
fears it. The CIA and its allied front organizations, including the Ford
Foundation when it was run by Lyndon Johnson's former National Security
Advisor McGeorge Bundy, fostered the careers of both of Obama's parents
and the young Obama. The future president's first job after college
graduation in 1983 was with the CIA front company Business International
Corp. My book <a href="http://www.presidentialpuppetry.com/" target="_blank"><em>Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters</em></a>,
documented this family background, in part by citing pioneering
researchers whose findings are ignored by the mainstream media.</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 30px; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-left: 30px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong>Second,</strong> Obama, like his
White House predecessors, is undoubtedly aware that the Warren
Commission’s account of the Kennedy killing was a cover-up, and that the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s ostensible killer, Jame Earl Ray, was a
patsy imprisoned in a set-up scenario similar to Oswald's.Our JFK
Readers Guide has documented that the CIA acts at times on behalf of a
“High Cabal” of private sector potentates, and has been implicated in
the Warren Commission whitewash if not the killing. Government personnel
who opposed JFK's policies relied on the mob, Cuban exile community and
government allies on a need-to-know basis to deliver government control
to the president's CIA-friendly Vice President Johnson, whom some
best-selling authors now allege to have helped plan JFK's murder.</span></div>
</div>
<img class="CToWUd" height="1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhR-gSbxmfUrSIV1CWUk4-HhTNWa_THTIhAuvpyhG0l5grslSiLwf6RO_XfoYwE27caYO9ws-EuttvQZQEGXEaFOmHPMJWJOOG2wOM09I4gsrQl9ssMYv2SNje-3bcCzm31doK212LHkdkw-5cpWL-t0zN1z_wme4Zs3cj0EsYB3z-SbW0g7ss1TjvtBtxaQlDlgIPPduQhjt6N5zHwO1VpFlCDa4LM-6NaVxg0=s0-d-e1-ft&utm_medium=email" width="1" /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-18080924511014665362014-11-06T08:06:00.004-08:002014-11-06T08:06:32.368-08:00No. 122 – November 6, 2014 – When 'Change' Delivers More of the Same <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">'Wag the
Dog' is an expression which denotes, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“to
purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater
importance, to something else of lesser significance. By doing so,
the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight,
drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important
issue.” </i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now,
the Dog has been Wagged. Feel better? If you were voting for
someone with an R beside their name you probably feel good. If you
went for the big D, you are sad. No matter. The present trajectory
is not going to change unless or until we take control of our own
lives and our own communities. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What
you just witnessed was a cast change of no real significance. One
team of professional liars 'D,' is just giving liars team 'R' their
turn. This is intended to distract us so we remain passive where it
matters, here, where we live. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I
understand why it happens. When we are hungry for hope, any hope,
elections are very seductive. The fiery speeches and promises make
things seem possible. But in the end nothing changes except the names
of the rascals who are taking and spending your money and
transferring more of your personal life to their direct control.
Solving problems in our own community, ourselves, recedes into the
distance again. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Several
months ago I interviewed the candidate for Ohio's 14</span><sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
Congressional District. A classical Conservative was running. He
answered every question asked just as President William Howard Taft
or Senator Barry Goldwater would have done. He loved Barry's line
on gays in the military. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>“You
don't have to be straight to shoot straight.” </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
He and Barry shared the same view on abortion, too, and on preserving
the environment. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">You
had a chance to vote for him last Tuesday. No, it was not the
Libertarian. The candidate was Michael Wager. He sounded shocked
when I told him. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">William
Howard Taft, the president who went down to defeat in 1912, would
have stopped the FED, nixed the IRS and made sure the Hetch Hetchy
was not converted into a water supply for San Francisco. His views
were known. He was a Conservative. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Oh.
And the pledge of allegiance was written by a socialist whose goal
was to stop the study of our founding documents in schools. </span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Direct
governance by the people was the original form of government intended
by our founders. We still need it. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-60460653555888730892014-10-24T10:14:00.001-07:002014-10-24T10:14:05.689-07:00Utah Is on Track to End Homelessness by 2015 With This One Simple Idea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://nationswell.com/one-state-track-become-first-end-homelessness-2015/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=welcomeEmail">Nation Swell </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by Jenny Shank </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="story__content" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Utah has reduced its rate of chronic
homelessness by 74 percent over the past eight years, moving 2000 people
off the street and putting the state on track to eradicate homelessness
altogether by 2015. How’d they do it?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The state is giving away apartments, no strings attached. In 2005,
Utah calculated the annual cost of E.R. visits and jail stays for an
average homeless person was $16,670, while the cost of providing an
apartment and social worker would be $11,000. Each participant works
with a caseworker to become self-sufficient, but if they fail, they
still get to keep their apartment.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong>MORE:</strong> <a href="http://www.nationswell.com/three-years-200000-pounds-later-food-recovery-network-still-asks-gonna-eat/" target="_blank">How much food could be rescued if college dining halls saved their leftovers?</a><a href="http://www.nationswell.com/surprising-way-shower-save-life/"><br />
</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Other states are eager to emulate Utah’s results. Wyoming has seen
its homeless population more than double in the past three years, and it
only provides shelter for 26 percent of them, the lowest rate in the
country. City officials in Casper, Wyoming, now plan to launch a pilot
program using the methods of Utah’s Housing First program. There’s no
telling how far the idea might go.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><strong>AND:</strong> <a href="http://www.nationswell.com/want-hire-someone-help-homeless-hire/" target="_blank">If you want to hire someone to help the homeless, why not the formerly homeless?</a><a href="http://www.nationswell.com/harriet-tubman-saving-black-womens-lives/" target="_blank"><br />
</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><em>Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Utah
had reduced its rate of homelessness by 78 percent. It’s been reduced by
74 percent. </em></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><em>Source:</em> <a href="http://bit.ly/18S1292" target="_blank">Wyofile</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://nationswell.com/one-state-track-become-first-end-homelessness-2015/#ixzz3H5Eusi4t" style="color: #003399;">http://nationswell.com/one-state-track-become-first-end-homelessness-2015/#ixzz3H5Eusi4t</a></span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-59561565581724410932014-10-18T06:24:00.000-07:002014-10-18T06:24:06.057-07:00New Evidence Links Earthquakes to Fracking<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/16/evidence-fracking-earthquakes/">EcoWatch </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by Anastasia Pantsios</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The evidence linking <a href="http://ecowatch.com/news/energy-news/fracking-2/">fracking</a> to <a href="http://ecowatch.com/search/?q=fracking+earthquakes">earthquakes</a> continues to pile up.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-environ-031113-144051" target="_blank">study</a> by seven researchers from California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and the UK, <em>The Environmental Costs and Benefits of Fracking</em>,
said “Unconventional oil and natural gas extraction enabled by
horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing [fracking] is driving an
economic boom with consequences described from ‘revolutionary’ to
‘disastrous.’ The reality lies somewhere in between.”</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_347146" style="max-width: 610px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/earthquakemap.jpg"><span class="image-container wp-image-347146 size-full" style="max-height: 748px; max-width: 600px;"><img alt="This map shows the intensity of shaking in the area of a magnitude-3.9 earthquake that struck near Youngstown, Ohio, on Dec. 31, 2011. Research has linked this earthquake to the underground injection of wastewater from fracking. Map credit: U.S. Geological Society" class="wp-image-347146 size-full" height="748" src="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/earthquakemap.jpg" width="600" /></span></a></span><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="figcaption_attachment_347146"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
map shows the intensity of shaking in the area of a magnitude-3.9
earthquake that struck near Youngstown, Ohio, on Dec. 31, 2011. Research
has linked this earthquake to the underground injection of wastewater
from fracking.<br /> Map credit: U.S. Geological Survey</span></span></figcaption></figure><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The studies findings were many, including that fracking “generates
income and, done well, can reduce air pollution and even water use
compared with other fossil fuels.” But it also found it can reduce
investment in <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/">renewables</a> and when done carelessly, can release toxic chemicals into the environment. It also agreed: fracking causes earthquakes.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In a section headed “Induced Seismicity,” the study said, “The reactivation of faults from hydraulic fracturing, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/09/fracking-wastewater-injection-wells-oklahoma-earthquakes/">wastewater disposal</a>
and other processes such as CO2 sequestration occurs by increasing the
pore pressure and therefore reducing the effective stress within a fault
zone. The increased pressure allows elastic energy stored in rock to be
released more easily, much like removing weight from a box to make it
easier to slide along the floor. Injecting fracturing fluids or
wastewater underground can intersect a fault zone directly or transmit a
pulse in fluid pressure that reduces the effective stress on a fault.” <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/16/evidence-fracking-earthquakes/">MORE</a></span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-31067408910603904082014-09-12T03:08:00.005-07:002014-09-12T03:08:42.427-07:00No. 114 – September 11, 2014 – What Happened to World Peace? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As
the memorials for September 11, 2001 end it is time to remember the
potential for peace which existed in the days following. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
world grieved with us. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Ordinary
people around the globe reacted with outpourings of sympathy,
protesting these acts of terrorism. World leaders immediately
responded, condemning the murders and offering support. Among these
leaders was Vladimir Putin. Russia's president urged <i>"the
entire international community should unite in the struggle against
terrorism,</i>" also saying the attacks were <i>"a blatant
challenge to humanity."</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Libyan
leader Muammar Qaddafi called the attacks "horrifying"
telling Muslims that <i>"irrespective of the conflict with
America it is a human duty to show sympathy with the American
people." </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Mohammed Khatami,
president of </span>Iran, expressed,<i> "deep regret and
sympathy with the victims."</i> Yasser Arafat, Palestinian
president, denounced the attacks. Appearing stunned, he repeated
how, <i>"unbelievable"</i> they were. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Saddam
Hussein expressed sympathy for those who died.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">North
Korea also offered its sympathy to Americans.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Few
people demonstrated anything but sympathy for America. <span style="font-style: normal;">Prayers
and vigils by people of most faiths took place as across the world
tens of thousands came out to protest the attacks. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">So,
who planned the attacks? </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Osama
bin Laden adamantly denied</span></span></span><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
involvement in the 9/11 attacks in an interview by Ummat, a Pakistani
daily, published in Karachi on September 28, 2001 He expressed his
views on the loss of life, saying, </span></span></span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">“Islam
strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other
people</span></i></span><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">.”
</span></span></span></em>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Osama
went on to say,</span></span></span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">“They
needed an enemy. So, they first started propaganda against Usamah and
Taleban and then this incident happened.” </span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Speculating
who was to blame, he advised looking, </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">“within
the US system,”</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">
or for those responsible, or for persons who seeking conflict
between Islam and Christianity. Finally, he suggested involvement
by American intelligence agencies. </span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;"> </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background: transparent;">Terror,
Obama said,</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">
“is the most dreaded weapon in modern age and the Western media is
mercilessly using it against its own people</span></i></span><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">.”</span></i></span></strong></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;"> </span></i></span></strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i><span style="background: transparent;">
</span></i></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;">According
to the CIA 15 of the 19 hijackers had Saudi citizenship, 2 United
Arab Emirates, 1, Egyptian and 1 Lebanese. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;">No
plan to invade Saudi Arabia was suggested by Bush. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;">Afghanistan
was not involved in 9/11, yet we invaded them. Iraq had no weapons
of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein expressed his willingness to
leave Iraq, if paid. But we invaded. Millions died. </span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="background: transparent;">These
wars were policy built on lies. Find those who benefited and you
have all the answers. </span></span>
</div>
<br /><br />
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-90112609818949932712014-08-12T12:36:00.001-07:002014-08-12T12:38:56.825-07:00No. 108 – July 31, 2014 – Let's Have Lunch – John Fund and the Tape <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">John
Fund?! He never sent us the autographed book we paid him for,”
Monique said, with some heat. They reminded him several times but
never received a response. I was not surprised, but suggested a
short article about the incident might elicit a long awaited response
and apology. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The book
Monique bought from John was not his original, </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=stealing%20election"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Stealing
Elections</i></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">,
but the new version full of new disinformation titled,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>
</i></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whos-Counting-Fraudsters-Bureaucrats-Your/dp/1594036187/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403309642&sr=1-2&keywords=">Who's
Counting?: How Fraudsters and Bureaucrats Put Your Vote at Risk</a>,
</span></i></span></span></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">by
John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky at the Glen Beck - Free PAC
Conference in Dallas from July 26 - 28 in 2012. </span></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">John really
didn't want to write about elections but it was his consolation prize
when he blew the opportunity to be a speech writer for Bush Jr. in
1999. The scandal over his relationship with Morgan, my much strange
daughter, reminded them they had to stand up for family values. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Monique
was delighted to meet John - at the time. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Monique and
I get together when our schedules allow, at Casa Capelli on Main
Avenue. Over lunch we chatted on about our families, the economic
prognosis, and politics. It was the conversation on family which
caused Monique's mouth to drop open, over a story about John Fund. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Since </span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.apj.us/sc20010904connolly.html"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Sex,
Lies, and the Tape</i></span></a></u></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">,
the article by John Connolly from Vanity Fair is still up on line at
American Political Journal it was easy for her to hear for herself.
That tape got John bounced from the 700 Club. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Looking
back, it is now easy to see John and Morgan had a lot in common. No
conscience. Desperate need for drama. Less decency than the real
people portrayed in the book, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>Fifty
Shades of Gray,</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> now shocking
readers and headed for the big screen. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">John got
the boot from the Wall Street Journal finally not over the scandal
but because no one told Murdoch, when he purchased the WSJ, John is
not paid for his writing but because he is a useful political
operative. John's first such job was in 1978, working for the Kochs
on taking over the Libertarian Party. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">And today
John is at National Review, a real step down. And he still needs to
make Monique happy. But he doesn't need to send the book, just a
refund. And if he has lost her address he can just contact me and
I'll provide it. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Find out more about John Fund at <a href="http://johnfund.blogspot.com/">JohnFund.blogspot.com </a></span>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-5864641274453733802014-08-09T18:51:00.003-07:002014-08-09T18:51:52.645-07:00No. 109 – August 8, 2014 – The Delights of the Rummage Sale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
bags and boxes started accumulating on the stage in the upper church
dining room several months ago. People remembered It Was Coming. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Saint
Peter has a rummage sale every year and the event attracts people who
delight in poking though the books, household items, clothing, and
enormous variety of items which begin to fill up the tables, crowding
out the After Church Coffee people, who sigh and take the opportunity
for an early preview of what is available. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This
year the number of beautiful dolls, some of them collector's items
were thick upon the ground, or the tables. But also in evidence as
the tables filled up to the groaning point are ancient tools, new
electronics, new shoes, still in the box, Christmas decorations,
craft supplies, appliances, furniture, and toys, toys, toys. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But
the Stuff to be sold is only part of the story for the Saint Peter
Rummage Sale. Much of the fascination is people, the ones who sort,
clean, arrange, hauling tables and shaking their heads over items no
one knows how to categorize. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Carol
Wardell has been 'doing' the Rummage Sale since the last Captain of
Commerce, Neddy, turned the ship over to her years ago. Carol says
it is like Christmas. Sort of. Opening the boxes and finding ever
more smaller and smaller items is always brings the unexpected,
something which is true of life in general, she says. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Captain
Carol is joined by swabbies and crew who change depending on the
needs of their families but the jolly discussions of 'what it is
worth,' continue throughout it all. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Sometimes
an early browser will gasp at the sight of something which brings
back memories, painful or joyous. You see the object grasped,
sometimes with reverence, turned and examined as the times past flow
through the expression on the face. From such moments come
discussions which touch the heart and take us all back to a multitude
of 'thens.' </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Other
objects, for instance items which can serve projects Saint Peter
People are undertaking, for instance shelving for the Food Pantry,
about to start, and useful additions to the church kitchen are washed
and shelved immediately. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Debbie
Nelson and her crew have made the Pantry their ministry. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Rummage
is the cast-offs of many; Items no longer useful to someone which
become precious acquisitions for others. And always, the Rummage
Sale brings people together, August 15 & 16</span><sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">.
</span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-22048449865911614902014-08-04T22:58:00.004-07:002014-08-04T22:58:54.509-07:00How Fertilizer Is Poisoning the Water Supply of 400,000 People<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-fertilizer-is-poisoning-the-water-supply-of-400000-people?trk_source=popular">Motherboard </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/author/BenRichmond">Ben Richmond</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Coinciding<a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/lebron-james-toxic-algal-bloom-both-returning-to-cleveland"> with the return of a prodigal Cavalier</a>,
it's possible that many in northern Ohio didn't give second thought to a
warning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that
this
summer would be
<a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/lebron-james-toxic-algal-bloom-both-returning-to-cleveland">
another bad one for toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie</a>. But there's no remaining ignorant about the situation now. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Fueled on fertilizer and warm weather, the toxic algae has
been blooming like crazy, making 2014 a
bad year for anyone around the lake, the fish in it, and the 400,000
people in and around Toledo, who can't shower or drink the water from
their taps.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
On Saturday, Toledo officials issued a warning not to drink the
water, after they discovered high levels of the toxin microcystin in the
water, coming from
a huge bloom of the cyanobacteria (or, “blue-green algae”)
microcystis in Lake Erie’s Maumee Bay, where the city of 284,000 draws
its drinking water.
Boiling tap water only concentrates the toxins further, so residents
were left emptying store shelves of bottled water and lining up at
water distribution
centers, as
<a href="http://imgur.com/0VTFhNZ">their water supply turned a sickly shade of Satanic vomit-green.</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-fertilizer-is-poisoning-the-water-supply-of-400000-people?trk_source=popular"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">MORE </span></a></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-40274951440968360832014-07-03T04:10:00.000-07:002014-07-03T04:10:04.365-07:00July 3, 2014 – Declaring Revolution July 2, 1776 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As the
memory of fireworks fade the day after the 4<sup>th</sup> of July,
remember the date for declaring Independence from England was
actually July 2<sup>nd.</sup>. A final version of the Declaration
took two more days. It was the 2<sup>nd</sup> which John Adams
believed would become, <i> “the most memorable epocha in the
history of America.” </i><span style="font-style: normal;">He was
wrong. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">July 4<sup>th</sup>
was the date Congress approved the finalized text of the Declaration
produced by the five man committee assigned to give final form and
substance to the ideas and causes which had compelled the Continental
Congress to action. But not all agreed. One of the committee
members, Robert Livingston, believed was a far too drastic step at
that time and refused to sign. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Thomas
Jefferson, who we remember as the Father of the Declaration, watched
his final draft undergo 86 changes, shortening the overall length by
more than a fourth. Many of these changes, including his inclusion
of anti-slavery language, were made over his strong objections. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Jefferson
had drawn on two primary sources for his own draft. The first a
preamble to the Virginia Constitution and George Mason’s draft of
Virginia’s Declaration of Rights. Jefferson's document is a
restatement of John Locke’s contract theory of government, stating
that governments derived <i>“their just Powers from the consent of
the people.” </i></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On July 5<sup>th</sup>
around 200 copies of the Declaration were typeset and printed in John
Dunlap’s Philadelphia print shop. Copies were dispatched to
various committees, assemblies, military commanders and foreign
nations. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">On July 6<sup>th</sup>
the Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to reprint
the whole Declaration. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The first
public reading of the Declaration occurred on July 8, 1776 in
Philadelphia. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Getting the
news out to the world, especially to King George and the rest of the
colonies, proceeded as rapidly as possible. News of the Declaration
reached London the second week of August via the <i>Mercury</i>
packet ship. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>The
London Gazette</i>, the official Crown organ, broke the news in its
<a href="http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/11690/pages/1">Saturday,
August 10 edition</a>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
official ceremony of signing took place a month later, on August 2.
But the text of the Declaration had already been published and
republished in newspapers in a minimum of twenty-nine American
newspapers and one magazine. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Jefferson later said he did
not intend to say things that <i>"had never been said before."</i>
But this is exactly what had transpired and because of these events
the world changed. </span>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-72494869178887562082014-07-01T20:08:00.002-07:002014-07-01T20:08:57.067-07:00Ohio Fracking Fire Likely Cause of Large Fish Kill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/01/ohio-fracking-fire-fish-kill/"> EcoWatch </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by <span class="author" itemprop="author"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/brandon-baker/" rel="author" title="Posts by Brandon Baker">Brandon Baker</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ohio Department of Natural Resources and state Environmental
Protection Agency officials have launched an investigation to find out
what killed a large, but unspecified, amount of fish in a creek that
feeds into the Ohio River.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">While Ohio officials are willing to concede that a fire at a nearby
shale gas fracking site “likely” contaminated Monroe County’s Opossum
Creek, according to the <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/07/01/state-agency-fracking-fire-likely-fouled-creek.html" target="_blank"><i>Columbus Dispatch</i></a>, one
environmental group appears more certain that those dots have a
connection. An ODNR official confirmed the fish kill Sunday—just a day
after the fire temporarily displaced about 25 area families.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span>
<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_340621" style="max-width: 510px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://files.cdn.ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/fish1.jpeg"><span class="image-container size-full wp-image-340621" style="max-height: 300px; max-width: 500px;"><img alt="Ohio officials initially said they did not know if a nearby fracking fire caused a fish kill, but that soon changed. Photo credit: Nathan Johnson / Ohio Environmental Council" class="size-full wp-image-340621" src="http://files.cdn.ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/fish1.jpeg" height="300" width="500" /></span></a></span><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="figcaption_attachment_340621"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ohio
officials initially said they did not know if a nearby fracking fire
caused a fish kill, but that soon changed. Photo credit: Nathan Johnson /
Ohio Environmental Council</span></span></figcaption></figure><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“The fracking fire appears to have left a miles-long trail of death
and destruction in its wake with thousands of dead fish and wildlife
floating belly up in this once pristine stream,” Nathan Johnson, staff
attorney for the <a href="http://www.theoec.org/" target="_blank">Ohio Environmental Council</a>. “This may be unprecedented, perhaps the biggest Ohio fish kill in memory related to the oil and gas industry.” <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/07/01/ohio-fracking-fire-fish-kill/">MORE</a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-43102447130061183412014-06-16T23:56:00.001-07:002014-06-16T23:56:42.863-07:00Eye on Celebrities - Vampira, Maila Nurmi, a Child of Ashtabula, and Rayelan Allen, A Retiree of Ashtabula<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
pursuit of interesting individuals who lived in Ashtabula we found
the list below, available on the Wikipedia. After a diligent search
we had to conclude Ashtabula tends to produce people about whom there
is little gossip and scandal, a condition now relieved in some part
by the relocation of our previously featured celebrity, Rayelan
Allen, AKA Darlene Rae Smith, Raye Smith, etc. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
then we chanced upon two names with some history in the Entertainment
Industry, including Maila Nurmi, known to posterity as Vampira. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
interesting development came into her life while she was studying
acting in New York City. During this time she reportedly played a
vampire in Mike Todd's NYC show, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>"Spook
Scandals</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">."But more vampiric fame was yet to come. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
persona, developed by Maila, lasted for </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">50 years as she was nominated for an Emmy for her role as a TV program
hostess for KABC (Channel 7) in Los Angeles. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">But she was raised in
Ashtabula, having immigrated with her family to the town from her
native Finland in 1924 when she was two. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">After her training in New
York she and a group of friends headed West to Hollywood where she
found work as a pinup model and high-kicking showgirl at Florentine
Gardens and Earl Carroll's Theatre (now Nickelodeon Studios - on
Sunset Blvd). </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">In 1953</span><span style="font-size: medium;">
Nurmi chose a tight-fitting black dress for a masquerade ball. The
dress is said to have been inspired by Charles Addams' New Yorker
magazine drawings.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">She won first prize.
Soon, her time in the lime light began as a KABC producer, who was
looking for a late-night hostess who could entertain watchers with
brief skits while introducing old horror films, newly syndicated for
television, was being planned. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">The Vampira Show made its
show business debut on television on April 30, 1954.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">Nurmi was an instant hit.
Her persona as a funny, pun-loving deathly sexpot was burnished by
her 38-17-36 figure. The name, “Vampira,” was suggested by her
first husband, screenwriter Dean Riesner. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">This
appears to be a startling coincidence since Vampira made a career of
pretending to be a vampire, this founded on the choice of a Halloween
costume, and that of Rayelan Allen, AKA Darlene Rae Smith, Raye
Smith, etc. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Vampira
left Ashtabula to become famous, albeit in a marginalizing role in television, and Rayelan, who has retired to
Ashtabula from a career as a doyen of Conspiracy on the Internet. Rayelan's fame hinged on the reason for which Rumor Mill News was founded, this being to defend the good name of her third husband, Gunther Russbacher. Claiming to be the number 3 man in the CIA Russbacher's career is memorialized on Rumor Mill News (RMN). The site is aptly named. Where does rumor meet reality is the questions many ask. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Russbacher, who reportedly died around 1998, lived a life which appears to be made up of many flights of fancy. These are memorialized in an article titled, <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-03-17/features/9201240968_1_military-bases-navy-captain-october-surprise">A Pro Con</a>, which appeared in the Chicago Tribune <span class="pubdate">on March 17, 1992</span><span class="separator">, written b</span><span>y Michael Tackett.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>The latter part of Maila's life was fraught with frustrations as the persona she had made famous was adopted by Elvira, another winsome late night personality associated with the world of vampires. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Consider
getting in touch with Rayelan now as she is moving out of the city of
Ashtabula proper and, belabored by her happy habit of hoarding, has
found herself stuck with the impossibility of finishing her packing even with a host of helpers. (It
is reported the first 250 boxes failed to make more than a dent in
the whole of her holdings.) </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But the enterprise is being celebrated as a God Send by local owners of storage units. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">But,
please, do not bring house warming gifts that are not consumable on the spot,
else wise they will have to be packed. </span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Ashtabula,_Ohio"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">List
of Ashtabula Celebrities </span></a>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1795-1864)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Reed_Giddings">Joshua
Reed Giddings</a>* </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1800-1864)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platt_Rogers_Spencer">Platt
Rogers Spencer</a>* </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1800-1878)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Wade">Benjamin Wade</a>,
U.S. Senator* </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1810-1876)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Mix_Cowles">Betsy Mix
Cowles</a>, feminist and abolitionist* </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1817-1883)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Case">Charles Case</a>,
U.S. Representative* </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1825-1909)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Turner_%28shipbuilder%29">Matthew
Turner</a>, shipbuilder </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1835-1905)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decius_Wade">Decius Wade</a>,
the "Father of Montana Jurisprudence" </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1838-1905)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_W._Tourg%C3%A9e">Albion W.
Tourgée</a>, soldier, lawyer, judge, novelist, diplomat </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1841-1919)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C._Shepard">Louis C.
Shepard</a>, Union Navy sailor </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1857-1933)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Joseph_Hall">Francis
Joseph Hall</a>, theologian </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1858-1942)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Fuller_McDonald">Jesse
Fuller McDonald</a>, civil engineer, surveyor </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1862-1924)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Hardy_Aldrich">Chester
Hardy Aldrich</a>, Governor of Nebraska </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1890s-1942)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Bone_Slim">T-Bone Slim</a>,
songwriter, hobo, IWW labor activist </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1893-1967)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_E._Burchfield">Charles
E. Burchfield</a> </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(1921
- 2008 ) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maila_Nurmi">Maila
Nurmi</a>* </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(Born
1926) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Meyer">Ken Meyer</a>,
football coach </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(born
1943) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Novello">Don Novello</a>
- January 1</span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(born
1964) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Meyer">Urban F.
Meyer</a>, football coach, sportscaster </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(born
1968) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrod_Bunch">Jarrod
Bunch</a> </span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(born
1972) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Cochran">Tammy
Cochran</a>* Actually born and raised in Austinburg</span></div>
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">(born 1972) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Anderson_%28pitcher%29">Brian
James Anderson</a>* </span>
<br />
</li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-37834828537161828212014-06-13T18:12:00.001-07:002014-06-13T18:12:13.285-07:00Chevron Hides Evidence That Proves Guilt in Ecuador Rainforest Contamination Case<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/chevron-evidence-guilt-ecuador-rainforest/">EcoWatch </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by <span class="author" itemprop="author"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/chevron-evidence-guilt-ecuador-rainforest/" target="_blank">Karen Hinton</a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In the wake of a controversial <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/05/chevron-case-against-ecuadorians-oil-giant-evades-justice/" target="_blank">U.S. court ruling that a $9.5 billion Ecuador judgment against Chevron is fraudulent</a>, the oil giant has been touting loudly its innocence of any environmental crimes in the South American country.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/chevron-evidence-guilt-ecuador-rainforest/chevron-toxico/" rel="attachment wp-att-338313"><span class="image-container alignnone wp-image-338313" style="max-height: 361px; max-width: 360px;"><img alt="chevron-toxico" class="alignnone wp-image-338313" height="361" src="http://files.cdn.ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/chevron-toxico.jpg" width="360" /></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Chevron’s lawyers even successfully pressured some CBS News corporate suits to yank a damning <em>60 Minutes</em> piece from the network’s website about the <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/10/15/chevron-sues-rainforest-communities-it-contaminated/" target="_blank">deliberate contamination of the Ecuador rainforest</a> from 1964 to 1992 by Texaco, which Chevron later bought.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(See the dead link <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-crude-update/" target="_blank">here</a>. You can see the segment on my company’s web site. So sue me, CBS.)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Instead of succumbing to Chevron’s pressure tactics, CBS’ lawyers
should grow a backbone and demand to see contamination “playbook”
documents that Chevron has been forced to produce in an international
arbitration proceeding.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They are explosive and prove <em>60 Minutes</em> got it right, and the U.S. judge got it wrong. <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/chevron-evidence-guilt-ecuador-rainforest/">MORE</a></span></div>
<br />
<span class="sep"></span></div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-62599037853710874052014-06-13T18:08:00.000-07:002014-06-13T18:08:17.237-07:00Ohio Gov. John Kasich Signs Nation’s First Renewable Energy Freeze<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/ohio-gov-john-kasich-renewable-energy-freeze/">EcoWatch </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">by Brandon Baker </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">It took two weeks, but now it’s official—Ohio is the nation’s first state to roll back <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" target="_blank">renewable energy</a> standards.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After the state House of Representatives <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/28/ohio-renewable-energy-mandate/" target="_blank">passed Senate Bill 310</a>
in May, Gov. John Kasich signature was all that was missing to ensure
Ohio’s clean-energy fall from grace. The standards—first passed in 2008
and reauthorized two years ago—previously required the state’s utilities
to sell more solar and wind energy each year and charged them with
finding efficiency solutions for their customers. Kasich’s signing means
the standards are put on hold until 2017, when a committee formed by
the bill’s passage could agree to permanently freeze them.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Kasich signed the bill Friday without any comment to the media, <a href="http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/06/ohio_renewable_energy_and_effi.html" target="_blank"><em>The Plain Deale</em></a>r reported.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_338362" style="max-width: 510px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://files.cdn.ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/kasichohio.jpeg"><span class="image-container size-full wp-image-338362" style="max-height: 300px; max-width: 500px;"><img alt="John Kasich signed a bill on Friday that freezes renewable energy for at least two years. Video screenshot: JohnKasich2010/YouTube" class="size-full wp-image-338362" height="300" src="http://files.cdn.ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/kasichohio.jpeg" width="500" /></span></a></span><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="figcaption_attachment_338362"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John
Kasich signed a bill on Friday that freezes renewable energy for at
least two years. Video screenshot: JohnKasich2010/YouTube</span></span></figcaption></figure><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“Dirtier air. Higher electric bills. Lost jobs and investment. These
are the new ‘dividends’ in store for Ohio from this major divestiture in
clean energy,” said Trish Demeter, managing director of Energy and
Clean Air Programs for the <a href="http://www.theoec.org/press-releases/leader-loser-ohio-becomes-first-state-nation-rollback-clean-energy-standards" target="_blank">Ohio Environmental Council</a> (OEC). <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/13/ohio-gov-john-kasich-renewable-energy-freeze/">MORE</a></span></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-38064295711190549462014-06-12T07:03:00.000-07:002014-06-12T07:03:51.092-07:00No. 101 – June 12, 2014 – How ideas impact us – Meet the Homunculus <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span>
</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
started with philosophers sitting around observing the world around
them and extrapolating on how things worked, which they could not
actually see. Anything related to sex was naturally of extreme
interest, the profession of philosopher being entirely male. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Theophrastus,
Hippocrates, Aristotle and Aeschylus, weighed in with theories of how
babies came about. Then one of them, likely, in 458 BC, who must
have had very good eyesight, looked closely at some sperm, which he
reportedly held in his hand. He deduced that sperm were tiny human
beings, homunculi, which would be planted in the womb of the woman.
He then proposed the interesting theory that the male was the only
real parent of the child, the female carrying out the role of "nurse
for the young life sown within her".</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
the 1700s this interesting theory received more attention and back up
through the work of Dutch </span>microscopist<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>Anton
van Leeuwenhoek<span style="font-size: small;"> (1632-1723). Anton discovered what he
called "animalcules" in the </span>sperm <span style="font-size: small;">of
humans and other animals. You can imagine these fellows peering
intently into the lens of their microscope. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">These scientists started
a school of thought known as the "spermists" repeating the
original contention of Aeschylus that the only contributions of the
female were to provide the womb.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Theory of the
Homunculus was noted by legal sages who were writing law and became
the justification for giving fathers the entire legal control of the
children born to his wife. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Naturally, this ignored
the room and board, so to speak, the woman had provided for nine plus
months and the related services of nourishing and caring for the
child after the often painful and dangerous process of birth was
completed. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you calculate the
entire biological capitalization needed to produce a baby, conception
to birth, ownership, or liability, would be viewed very differently,
of course. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sperm generally have a
negative value since men must pay to give them away. Human eggs cost
around $8,000, ready to be fertilized and implanted. Payment for
gestation services runs up to $100,000. Therefore, the
capitalization of the baby making, calculated monetarily, is around:
Male 1 Share, Female 99,000 Shares. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This example of using
theory to make law without thoroughly thinking through the
ramifications and objectively assessing each contribution to the
entire process is a useful exercise today. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It gives us a moment to
pause and consider many other issues which need rethinking. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /><br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-25567322399433315942014-06-12T06:29:00.000-07:002014-06-12T06:29:13.258-07:00No. 100 - May 5, 2014 - Discover Your Body's Largest Organ <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Not
long ago your skin was believed to be your body's largest organ.
Advances in medical science have changed this. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
his book, “</span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The
Genie in Your Genes,”</i></span><span style="font-size: small;">
Dawson Church reveals the recent understanding of how a previously
overlooked organ functions, linking this to the potential for each of
us to take direct control of our health and happiness through prayer.
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Any
system with complex functions must have the means to coordinate their
action. We are no different. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
your body this takes place through the much overlooked system of
connective tissue encasing your organs through a complex including
tendons and ligaments. Running through every part this matrix, made
of collagen fibers, built from molecules arranged in highly regular
arrays, are the lines through which energy and information pass. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
system functions as a liquid crystal semi-conductor.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">These
lines of fibers are the system on which Eastern medicine has been
based for thousands of years, called meridians. Chinese healers
discovered points along the meridians could be stimulated to achieve
the balance of energies, restoring health. These practices were
memorialized in the reign of the Yellow Emperor, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Huang-ti,
who</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">
reigned from 2697 to 2597 BC and is viewed as the initiator of
Chinese civilization. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This
knowledge also existed in Europe thousands of years earlier, but was
lost. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Tattoos
found on the body of the Ice Man, dated from 3300 BC, discovered in
the summer of 1991 in the Alps, correspond closely with the same
meridian lines used by the Chinese. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In
Western medicine pacemakers are an example of the return to the use
of energy for health and healing. The use of energy in medicine is
expanding rapidly. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Western
scientists had to be able to see the microscopic structure of this
system to accept how it functions alongside the chemical system they
already understood. Now, this is happening. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
communication/energy system in your body works with your body's
chemical system, synchronizing the whole. It also reaches into the
cell nucleus, and into the DNA, turning your DNA on, and off. No part
is separate from this internal matrix - and these communications take
place much faster than can be accounted for by traditional physics. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Scientific
experiments confirm prayers from the faithful can heal - even when
the afflicted don't know someone is praying for them. The power is in
our hands. With faith, nothing is impossible. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-82959531817128243842014-05-11T00:54:00.004-07:002014-05-11T00:54:35.756-07:00Ohio Shale Well Leaks Drilling Fluid Into Creek In Morgan County<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">From: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/ohio-shale-well-leaks_n_5294977.html?utm_hp_ref=tw"> HuffPost </a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">AP </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span class="group"><span class="entrytag">
</span>
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="float_right padding_left_10" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="content" id="mainentrycontent">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div class="float_left" style="text-align: justify;">
<figure class="embedded-image" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img alt="A service rig, referred to as a 'one armed bandit', drills for oil at Kilbarger Construction Inc.'s site in Knox County, Ohio, U.S., on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Photographer: Ty Wright/Bloomberg via Getty Images" src="http://i0.huffpost.com/gen/1786308/thumbs/n-OHIO-DRILLING-large.jpg" /></span>
</figure>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">MCCONNELSVILLE, Ohio (AP) — State and federal teams are still
cleaning up after a shale well being drilled for fracking in southeast
Ohio began leaking and the oily fluid ran into a nearby creek.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
leak from the well in Morgan County was discovered Sunday when the
lubrication fluid, commonly called mud, began spilling over from the
drill site. Officials said it was contained Wednesday.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Seven residents were evacuated because of the danger that escaping natural gas might lead to an explosion.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
well's owner, PDC Energy of Colorado, said 100 barrels of drilling mud
spilled from the well, and some of it reached an unnamed creek.
Environmental officials said it could be harmful to marine life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says such incidents are rare. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/ohio-shale-well-leaks_n_5294977.html?utm_hp_ref=tw">MORE</a></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6250278126537089587.post-87817179472448932012014-05-11T00:47:00.000-07:002014-05-12T07:19:48.415-07:00A New Feature – The Ashtabula Eye on Celebrities & Issues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
the world knows, Rayelan Allen (Raye Smith), is the impresario and Queen of Conspiracy
who operates Rumor Mill News. The publication was founded in 1999,
making it one of the oldest on the web. It is, if all is truly said,
mostly a reposting site but one which includes a strong sense of
community. For many RMNers this is their most cherished outlet for
social expression and connection. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Rayelan is also the author of the exciting extra-terrestrial saga, Obergon Chronicles which features a broad range of stories from her experiences of her past million years of lives around the universe. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://obergonchronicles.com/"><i><b>The Obergon Chronicles</b></i></a> contains stories that involve:
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><img align="right" border="0" src="http://www.obergonchronicles.com/graphics/obergoncover_small.jpg" height="259" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="180" /></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;" type="disc"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">
<li type="disc">Extraterrestrials (ETs)</li>
<li type="disc">A Planet in the Sirius Star System - Obergon!</li>
<li type="disc">Earth's Hidden History</li>
<li type="disc">Mind Control</li>
<li type="disc">New Age Channels</li>
<li type="disc">The New World Order</li>
<li type="disc">and More!</li>
</span></span></ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">
</span>
</span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i><b>From the Prologue...</b></i>
</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
By the time you have read all the Obergon Chronicles, the
<i>Lessons for the Children of Obergon</i>, and the <i>Awakening Prose</i>, you
will realize that the book you have been reading has turned into a
different thing altogether. Just when you are beginning to feel
comfortable with the information that is being presented, the book
makes a light-speed change and begins connecting the stories from
ancient times to the present day. This is done to help you understand
that the characters in the Chronicles may very well be walking
the earth today. In fact… you may be one of the Children of
Obergon!
</span>
<br />
</span><br />
<ul type="disc"><span style="color: black;">
<li type="disc"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The first part of the book reads like a science fiction novel</span></li>
<li type="disc"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The second part reads like "channeled" messages from ascended
masters</span></li>
<li type="disc"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Parts three and four consists of a series of self-contained
articles</span></li>
</span></ul>
<span style="color: black;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> You can have your very own copy of the book, which is available on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Obergon-Chronicles-Rayelan-Allan/dp/1419630172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399793626&sr=8-1&keywords=obergon+chronicles">Amazon.</a></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But the life of a celebrity is not always easy. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span>
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Recently
Rayelan Allen, the celebrity known here locally as Raye Smith, reported being
traumatized by discovering, she failed to mention how this happened,
that the special parking place she had had constructed for herself
out of a small piece of the front lawn was lost to her use. Her
expressions of grief were extreme and appeared to be heart-felt. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">But
perhaps there is hope for the parking place. A quick search of the records made via the
Internet revealed this statute passed by the City Council. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ashtabula
City Regular Council Meeting </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://cityofashtabula.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/07-15-2013-RM.pdf"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Monday,
July 15, 2013 </span></span></a></u></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
“<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cars
Parking on Lawns Prohibited:</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The
Vice President asked the Solicitor to restate the law. The Solicitor
reported that “yard” parking is not permitted. There is a
required front, side, and/or back yard in a residentially zoned area,
and parking in a required yard is not permitted. People are cited. If
the vehicle is inoperable (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">which
includes by definition not having a current registration</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">),
then it really needs to be under cover. It should not be parked on
the street and should not be left in the driveway.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Inoperable/unlicensed
vehicles parked for more than one month will most likely get a notice
that a visit will be paid shortly with a tow truck if they are not
moved. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If
it is a vehicle that is going to be restored or fixed up it needs to
be relocated to the proper facility. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Further,
vehicles may not be parked in driveways in a way that obstructs
sidewalks. The Solicitor said this is the biggest violation he sees
while driving around the City.“</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
section of the local statutes certainly would exclude the parking
spot laboriously installed by Cory MacDonald, who performed many
small jobs for Rayelan. Cory, who is disabled, acted as a hired laborer, Rayelan presumably ensuring such matters as a permit were seen to. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">As
you can see from this photo: </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoES9POXQmpoCI2WVJy1hhcw0NR43LM7q0jGj3Qmj25Y-ThOn4c1IlJqMDZr6V96skrC8JCNUrc0yOvYty2fnV6pW9VvI-t4oE6PRbxAO1SWtFM9ryDF2HV1oga2obraoYidMW_Gx7sorC/s1600/IMG_6175.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoES9POXQmpoCI2WVJy1hhcw0NR43LM7q0jGj3Qmj25Y-ThOn4c1IlJqMDZr6V96skrC8JCNUrc0yOvYty2fnV6pW9VvI-t4oE6PRbxAO1SWtFM9ryDF2HV1oga2obraoYidMW_Gx7sorC/s1600/IMG_6175.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"> (Notice what a good job Steve did with converting this piece of lawn to a parking place.)</span>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
lawn has been removed and was replaced by gravel.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
curb was removed to provide access to the area prepared for parking.</span></span></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A
walkway was installed leading from the cement walk which connects
the front door to the sidewalk. </span></span>
</div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
area is also carefully delineated for use by bricks set as a border.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It
is to be hoped that those determining how the statute adopted by City
Council will decide Cory's excellent work fulfills the need to
convert this small area into parking, in accordance with the cited
statute. This matter has exercised Rayelan's mind to an amazing
extent in the last few days. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">And
this may have distracted her attention from more important matters. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rayelan
does a brisk business with Rumor Mill News. The site also allows her fervent readers to give assistance to
Rayelan. These include pleas for assistance for her dogs, who, she
reports, are in constant danger of dying, and her own health, which
she announces as failing badly. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This
does not stop her, however, from soldiering on, making regular rounds
of shops where 'treasures of great value,' are to be found. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I
suspect visits with her photo to such local establishments
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYPCwpkSF7J8TSXlKtroYYYWxclIYWXTpAwgyODArK9XdrmA-xQGdXRZ1nNj4Eb4scodfPYoM3-gW3WU1WcKN7STNHFuG44CBE7z4THkZ68MH8qIeH8prH-0ek6N_rMEf5U8Qwzeo-ZQI/s1600/Raye+in+Blue+outfit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYPCwpkSF7J8TSXlKtroYYYWxclIYWXTpAwgyODArK9XdrmA-xQGdXRZ1nNj4Eb4scodfPYoM3-gW3WU1WcKN7STNHFuG44CBE7z4THkZ68MH8qIeH8prH-0ek6N_rMEf5U8Qwzeo-ZQI/s1600/Raye+in+Blue+outfit.jpg" height="320" width="198" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rayelan, Queen of Conspiracy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
would confirm these visits are frequent enough so the sales staff
would remember the kinds of items which delight Rayelan so very much.
</span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">These
gladly exclaimed purchases are displayed around the house, then
stored, and when the volume reaches monumental proportions, these
leave the residence for parts unspecified. This resembles a river of
delectation for Rayelan, who from the vast array does retain some
pieces for longer possession. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rayelan
is a Happy Hoarder, dedicated to the hunt. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps
to bolster her faltering spirits, Rayelan routinely parties with a
host of folks, these apparently entirely comprised of those receiving
her largess from one cause or another or their relatives and
associates, late into the night. Their boisterous and spirited
conversations, which include a constant reiteration of the items
Rayelan has found on her treasure hunts, make up a large portion of
the lively discussions which go on. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rayelan's
happy tones at these times certainly cause one to wonder if Rayelan's
health is really as faulty and she fears. Perhaps there is hope
afterall. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rumor
Mill News is the property of Rubicon Aegis, LLC, a company incorporated in
Ohio for which Rayelan appears to be the sole beneficiary. Rayelan prides herself on her business acumen.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPT5g_o0vLjb_MAqHlCHudW3GQS3kQloYdbh76PFddvXmD1bxhlCNnife8cKBevgqAsoePn2XnaYjKDwrVVomen-disZwhBriPN2LaUJx-_tx6J7946juMgUDNvoI2dvpn-foA9mYf0eDw/s1600/Certificate+from+Ohio+cropped+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPT5g_o0vLjb_MAqHlCHudW3GQS3kQloYdbh76PFddvXmD1bxhlCNnife8cKBevgqAsoePn2XnaYjKDwrVVomen-disZwhBriPN2LaUJx-_tx6J7946juMgUDNvoI2dvpn-foA9mYf0eDw/s1600/Certificate+from+Ohio+cropped+2.jpg" height="548" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">(Notice the street number has been carefully covered. If you want to get your copy of Obergon Chronicles autographed contact Rayelan in advance by email, available on the Obergon Chronicles site.)</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
enterprise, dedicated to getting unsubstantiated rumors to the
public, provides a substantial income, enough to provide jobs for a
growing list of cleaners and handypersons, Cory being only one of
this number. Steve Leubking, erroneously named earlier, also provides services to Rayelan but did not install the parking area. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rayelan tries to do her part for the local economy in many ways. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So,
in one perception of her life Rayelan rules as an absolute monarch a cyber kingdom populated
with faithful followers who express regular concern for her. But, as
fate would have it, Rayelan lives in Ashtabula, which goes on
oblivious to the celebrity in their midst - until now! </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Addendum and correction: Steve Leubking, as now corrected, was not the handyman who, on Rayelan's instructions installed the parking area adjacent to the tree on the front lawn. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">it now appears Rayelan overlooked the need to get a permit, which would not have been issued because the location violates the present interpretation of the local ordinance according to John at the Department of Housing. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>
</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Another
Issue of Interest to Ashtabula Residents</span></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One
of the less attractive aspects of living in Ashtabula is the Personal
Income Tax which the City Council passed into law. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
office for the collection of the Income Tax is located at:</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Address:</b>
4717 Main Ave # 2</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ashtabula,
OH 44004 </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-right: 0.04in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Phone:</b>(440)
992-7104 </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-right: 0.04in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-right: 0.04in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
tax code is far shorter than the one used by the IRS, but also defers
to the Federal Tax in determining how high an income must be, from
all sources, to be deemed taxable. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
“<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The
City of Ashtabula, Ohio</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://cityofashtabula.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Income-Tax-Rules-and-Regulations.pdf">INCOME
TAX RULES & REGULATIONS</a></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Adopted
under the Authority of Chapter 189</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Section
189.09, of the City of Ashtabula </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Code
of Ordinances</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">ARTICLE
I</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">PURPOSE</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Section
189.02 of income tax Ordinance 2007 - 26, passed March 19, 2007,
outlines the </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">uses
to which funds raised are to be put and the items on which the tax is
to be applied. The </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">effective
period of the tax is specified in Sections 189.04 and 189.18.”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A
brief perusal of Ordinance 2007 - 26, passed March 19, 2007
includes useful information on who is mandated to pay taxes in
accordance with the law. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The
Ordinance states: </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
““<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: serif;">Income”
-Shall include all monies derived from any source whatsoever,
including but not limited to:</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (1)All
salaries, wages, commissions, other compensation and other income
from whatever source received by residents of the City.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (2)All
salaries, income, qualifying wages, commissions, other compensation
from whatever source received by nonresidents for work done or
services performed or rendered or activities conducted in the City of
Ashtabula.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> (3)The
portion attributable to the City of Ashtabula of the net profits of
all unincorporated businesses, associations, professions,
corporations, or other entities, from sales made, work done, services
performed or rendered, and business or other activities conducted in
the City of Ashtabula. Such portion shall be determined as provided
in Section 189.02 and in accordance with the regulations adopted by
the Board of Review pursuant to Section 189.15.”</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Of
course, the tax rate is only 1.8% of the income, according to the
Ordinance and apparently the rules for taxable income follow those of
the IRS, according to the Ordinance. </span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Those
domiciled within the City of Ashtabula fall within this mandate.
While one may have several homes in different parts of the world if
your main residence is in Ashtabula you appear to be deemed obligated
to pay the tax, which I am sure all patriotic Ashtabulans do
willingly. </span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">But all of us in Ashtabula hope for better times and a renewal of local commerce, green and sustainable. Let's make it happen. </span></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Melinda Pillsbury-Fosterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15407874300095337146noreply@blogger.com0