Yesterday, by a four vote margin, Scott Pruitt was confirmed as the new administrator of the United States Protection Agency. He was sworn in yesterday afternoon. During his election campaign, the tiny-handed tangerine tyrant, aka 45, vowed "to gut the EPA." Congress has just given that power to 45's hand-picked butcher. Scott Pruitt, has always been highly critical of the Environmental Protection Agency, and now wields the power to to totally reshape the 15,000 employees work place and work standards.
As the Attorney General of the state of Oklahoma, Pruitt sued the EPA at least 14 times - often in lockstep with the fossil fuel industry - to try to overturn the agency's clean air and clean water regulations. He has questioned the role humans play in climate change, and argues that much of the agency's authority should in the the states' hands. Now, Pruitt's actions - and the new executive orders that 45 plans to sign regarding the EPA - could have repercussions for decades, if not centuries. "Most of the business community is looking to Pruitt to make changes that will be enduring - not do things that can easily be undone by the next administration, but really sensible things," said Jeffrey Holmstead, who was an EPA official during George W. Bush's administration, and who is now employed by Bracewell LLP.
I have personally heard of an executive order in the works that will allow mines almost no restrictions on the waste (toxic and otherwise), sludge, and sediment run-offs that will flow into streams,creeks and rivers. No more wading in the creeks, or fishing, or anything fun - just rescuing poisoned creatures in the poisoned waters and along stream, creek and river banks...
I have drawn heavily upon Politico.com as a resource for the following information. The five items of vital interest to the American public regarding this administration and the United States Environmental Protection Agency are:
1. Climate Change - "45" and Pruitt have vowed to dramatically shift course on the Obama Administration's landmark climate change efforts. The president has threatened to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate deal, in which the US and nearly 200 other nations agreed to make sharp cuts in their greenhouse gas output. The EPA's Clean Power Plan, which requires cuts in the power industry's carbon dioxide emissions,has a target on its back.
2. Water Protections - After years of legal confusion about which streams and wetlands deserve protection under the Clean Water Act, the Obama administration issued a landmark regulation in 2015 to cover head-water streams and some wetlands and ponds. Called the Waters of the US rule, or WOTUS, the regulation sparked a fierce backlash from home builders, farmers, and the oil and gas industries, which say it gives the federal government vast power over everything from stock ponds to puddles. This President has vowed to kill WOTUS as soon as possible.
3. Executive Orders - Cheeto-cheeks is widely expected to sign one or more executive orders shortly after Pruitt takes the helm at the agency, setting the priorities and tone for his EPA. Top targets for the orders could include the agency's climate change work, its broad enforcement powers, or its overall approach to regulation. Of course, executive orders are tied to the president who signs them, and the next administration can quickly undo them. But EOs can also be used to set in motion a broader set of changes that aren't as easily erased. For instance, industry groups have long urged the EPA to change the way it measures the costs of new regulations, something that could significantly alter the regulatory review process for years.
4. Personnel - One early "45" adviser, EPA critic Myron Ebell, had a clear recommendation for reining in the EPA: "Slash the workforce." His call to cut the EPA's staff by two-thirds got a lot of media attention, but would be virtually impossible to accomplish. Still, attrition can pack a punch, especially when the number of employees nearing retirement age and the promise of an unfriendly leader has sent morale plunging.
5. Legislation - Truly lasting changes in the country's approach to environmental regulation will require action by Congress. And after eight years of having their efforts met with veto threats from the White House, Republicans on Capitol Hill now see an opening. But any such legislation will face a 60 vote threshold in the Senate, so a wholesale revamp that many in the GOP want to see is likely to remain out of reach. Key Republican leaders have said that they plan to take a rifle-shot approach to the Clean Air Act, and they may try again to influence the reach of the Clean Water Act. However, it's not clear whether they will be able to raise the 60 votes needed...
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Friday, February 17, 2017
In My Sister's Back Yard
Chickadees are beginning to court
Eight weeks ago, the bobcat (mom) with a snack
Three days ago, a bobcat kitten
Great horned owl
Raven
Raven
This is one of a pair of Swainson hawks that we saw today...
O Me, O My
I have to admit that I watched the Presidential Press Conference yesterday in its entirety - sometimes with my mouth gaping in amazement, and sometimes with a hand clapped over my mouth to stop hysterical laughter. It was a huge circus act, with the circus peanut in chief behind the podium. The man is insane. I think, that in his own mind, he is a Crusader knight attired in shining armor. He can not, or will not, accept facts. And he is out to "save" his United States of America by becoming a dictator and acting more atrociously than Hitler, Mussolini, and Lenin all rolled into one psyche.
Michael Flynn, his National Security Adviser, is forced to resign because the CIA and FBI and NSA have recordings of him violating federal law by speaking about federal sanctions placed against Russia while the Obama Administration was still in office. In fact, he was talking about easing those sanctions on the same day that they were announced to the world. That is incredibly brainless.
Pudzer, the choice for the Secretary of Labor, is, and was, well-known for not following federal laws regarding minimum wages and breaks for employees, for having numerous food-handling violations in the majority of his restaurants, and for having an "undocumented" housekeeper, who was paid under the table, thereby evading taxes. Pudzer withdrew his own name for consideration, when it became apparent that he was not going to be voted in.
At the beginning of the 77 minute free-for-all, cheeto-cheeks declared his new nominee for the Secretary of Labor post - Andrew Acosta. In 2008, while working for the Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Bureau, Acosta was placed in charge of hiring new law personnel. He passed the responsibility down to someone else, who also passed it down to another man. This man hired only "right-thinking" lawyers, and was known for making pointed anti- African-American comments. Acosta had to leave the DOJ under a cloud....
When Peter Alexander stood up to 45, informed him that what he was saying was incorrect, and gave the figures to prove it, he was cut off by the man behind the podium, who declared, that, "...I was shown the numbers..." So this comb-over bonehead believes everything that is placed in front of his nose? The numbers and historical facts do not lie.
The great orange monstrosity chose Jake Turx for a question, and the Jewish reporter asked about the up-turn in bomb threats against Jewish synagogues and schools. Forty-five began saying that he wasn't anti-Semitic and that all the problems came "from the other side." When the reporter tried to rephrase the question,the man at the podium told him to sit down and be quiet....
April Ryan was acknowledged, and asked about meeting with the CBC - the Congressional Black Caucus (which first sat down with President Nixon). The idiot at the microphone said, "You know them? Set up a meeting for me..." The CBC had sent 45 a letter requesting a meeting the day before his Inauguration, but has yet to receive an answer.
I think the funniest comment that was made was: "This administration is running like a fin-tuned machine."
And, then, yesterday evening, 45 apparently offered the National Security Adviser position to retired Rear Admiral Robert Harward, and ex Navy SEAL. According to news sources today, Harward refused the offer because he had watched yesterday's 77 minute long news conference.....
Oh, me; oh, my.....
Michael Flynn, his National Security Adviser, is forced to resign because the CIA and FBI and NSA have recordings of him violating federal law by speaking about federal sanctions placed against Russia while the Obama Administration was still in office. In fact, he was talking about easing those sanctions on the same day that they were announced to the world. That is incredibly brainless.
Pudzer, the choice for the Secretary of Labor, is, and was, well-known for not following federal laws regarding minimum wages and breaks for employees, for having numerous food-handling violations in the majority of his restaurants, and for having an "undocumented" housekeeper, who was paid under the table, thereby evading taxes. Pudzer withdrew his own name for consideration, when it became apparent that he was not going to be voted in.
At the beginning of the 77 minute free-for-all, cheeto-cheeks declared his new nominee for the Secretary of Labor post - Andrew Acosta. In 2008, while working for the Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Bureau, Acosta was placed in charge of hiring new law personnel. He passed the responsibility down to someone else, who also passed it down to another man. This man hired only "right-thinking" lawyers, and was known for making pointed anti- African-American comments. Acosta had to leave the DOJ under a cloud....
When Peter Alexander stood up to 45, informed him that what he was saying was incorrect, and gave the figures to prove it, he was cut off by the man behind the podium, who declared, that, "...I was shown the numbers..." So this comb-over bonehead believes everything that is placed in front of his nose? The numbers and historical facts do not lie.
The great orange monstrosity chose Jake Turx for a question, and the Jewish reporter asked about the up-turn in bomb threats against Jewish synagogues and schools. Forty-five began saying that he wasn't anti-Semitic and that all the problems came "from the other side." When the reporter tried to rephrase the question,the man at the podium told him to sit down and be quiet....
April Ryan was acknowledged, and asked about meeting with the CBC - the Congressional Black Caucus (which first sat down with President Nixon). The idiot at the microphone said, "You know them? Set up a meeting for me..." The CBC had sent 45 a letter requesting a meeting the day before his Inauguration, but has yet to receive an answer.
I think the funniest comment that was made was: "This administration is running like a fin-tuned machine."
And, then, yesterday evening, 45 apparently offered the National Security Adviser position to retired Rear Admiral Robert Harward, and ex Navy SEAL. According to news sources today, Harward refused the offer because he had watched yesterday's 77 minute long news conference.....
Oh, me; oh, my.....
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Deaths
In a 72 hour period in Louisville, Kentucky, this past weekend, 152 people died from overdoses of heroin. I learned, while on the Grand Jury for my county, that you can now purchase two hits (or doses) of heroin for $5, if you know the right (or, to my mind, wrong) people - street dealers. If you want to buy an illegal dose of Oxycontin or Hydrocodone, you have to pay $10 to $22 per pill from those same street dealers. I don't know why I was surprised. "Illegal drugs" have been available from the beginning of time.
I'm not even sure why I chose this topic for this blog - maybe because I was amazed by reading about those 152 deaths in Louisville in 72 hours. Or maybe it was because I just watched episode #35 of The Resistence on GQ Facebook/YouTube with Keith Olbermann, in which he ended each paragraph with the questions, "Are they high? - Or what?"
People have been experimenting with plants and alcohol and distillations of compounds for hundreds of thousands of years (OK, that may be an exaggeration). People have sought things to ease pain and to make them happy or feel good and to forget. A lot of people are happy with what they have in their lives, and a lot are not. It seems to me, with the proliferation of television, cinema, the internet - and more recently, with the explosion of cell phones, i-pods, tablets, etc - that most young people who live at the middle- and lower-income brackets feel left out. They feel they deserve more. They want more. Because everyone on TV has all of these things - and in the movies, too.
I have an old-fashioned land-line telephone. I don't like to talk on it. I have a cell phone, too - but it only makes and receives phone calls and text messages. I hate that one more that I hate my land line. I prefer to contact my friends and family by writing, or by speaking face to face. I do have my personal computer. It is a desk-top model, and it's almost ten years old. I have to sit at my desk to use it for anything. And I like that. It does not have a camera built into the monitor; it does not Skype; the Instant Messenger program was turned off as soon as I got the unit home and set up. I use this computer for my own interests, and my own reasons. I do a lot of research, and I hate being interrupted. I suffer from depression, but I manage to hold onto my sanity.
I guess I'm really trying to say that I feel deeply sorry for the people who die from drug overdoses. Most are trying to escape from some kind of pain - whether it's physical, mental, psychic, financial, or just imagined. I can understand wanting to get away from any type of pain. I comprehend not wanting to hurt and wanting to be able to accept things as they are.
I suffer from my own self-inflicted mental anguish at times. I suffer a lot of physical pain daily, having to do with previous accidents. Today, my recurrent Shingles has flared up again, and I have constant pain, along with sharp stabbing zings that occur irregularly. My last memory of a pain free day was after my shoulder surgery back in the early 1990's - or maybe it was 1989. I had 30 hours that were pain free - and I fell in love with my orthopedic anesthesiologist for 48 hours. Then all of my usual aches and pains returned.
No one wants to live in pain - but sometimes, it's the proof that one is alive.
I'm not even sure why I chose this topic for this blog - maybe because I was amazed by reading about those 152 deaths in Louisville in 72 hours. Or maybe it was because I just watched episode #35 of The Resistence on GQ Facebook/YouTube with Keith Olbermann, in which he ended each paragraph with the questions, "Are they high? - Or what?"
People have been experimenting with plants and alcohol and distillations of compounds for hundreds of thousands of years (OK, that may be an exaggeration). People have sought things to ease pain and to make them happy or feel good and to forget. A lot of people are happy with what they have in their lives, and a lot are not. It seems to me, with the proliferation of television, cinema, the internet - and more recently, with the explosion of cell phones, i-pods, tablets, etc - that most young people who live at the middle- and lower-income brackets feel left out. They feel they deserve more. They want more. Because everyone on TV has all of these things - and in the movies, too.
I have an old-fashioned land-line telephone. I don't like to talk on it. I have a cell phone, too - but it only makes and receives phone calls and text messages. I hate that one more that I hate my land line. I prefer to contact my friends and family by writing, or by speaking face to face. I do have my personal computer. It is a desk-top model, and it's almost ten years old. I have to sit at my desk to use it for anything. And I like that. It does not have a camera built into the monitor; it does not Skype; the Instant Messenger program was turned off as soon as I got the unit home and set up. I use this computer for my own interests, and my own reasons. I do a lot of research, and I hate being interrupted. I suffer from depression, but I manage to hold onto my sanity.
I guess I'm really trying to say that I feel deeply sorry for the people who die from drug overdoses. Most are trying to escape from some kind of pain - whether it's physical, mental, psychic, financial, or just imagined. I can understand wanting to get away from any type of pain. I comprehend not wanting to hurt and wanting to be able to accept things as they are.
I suffer from my own self-inflicted mental anguish at times. I suffer a lot of physical pain daily, having to do with previous accidents. Today, my recurrent Shingles has flared up again, and I have constant pain, along with sharp stabbing zings that occur irregularly. My last memory of a pain free day was after my shoulder surgery back in the early 1990's - or maybe it was 1989. I had 30 hours that were pain free - and I fell in love with my orthopedic anesthesiologist for 48 hours. Then all of my usual aches and pains returned.
No one wants to live in pain - but sometimes, it's the proof that one is alive.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Bits and Pieces
I saw the outcome of a stolen car Keystone Cops kind of thing the other day. A 19-year-old man stole a newer car as the owner was walking out to the car. The owner called 911 immediately, and there was a police cruiser one block away. The stolen car passed the cruiser, and the police car turned on its lights and siren. The stolen car started going twice the speed limit and was being driven recklessly. It was just after 11 in the morning, and the car was in a highly congested area. The police decided not to follow the car which might cause an accident. The driver of the stolen vehicle had apparently panicked - he drove across an intersection and into a shopping mall parking lot. He struck something - I don't know what - but the car went airborne, flipped, and landed on the nose of the front hood. Pieces of the car and engine were sent flying by the impact - damaging multiple parked cars, and inflicting injuries to people on sidewalks in front of stores and on the street. Somehow the driver climbed out of the car and fled on foot. He was captured 45 minutes later, 18 blocks from the accident...
I always thought that the saying, "may you live in interesting times," was more of a curse than anything else. I must say that the tiny-handed tangerine tyrant still scares me, and I'm afraid of what will happen to our country as a whole, as well as how it will affect me. But we do live in interesting times. I find myself waiting for the next installment of 45's Failures to be announced on the news - and, yes, my favorite channels are NBC, MSNBC and CNN, all of which cheeto-cheeks calls "fake news." With KellyAnne Conjob's free commercial, and Flynn's resignation, I am already gob-stopped. What will happen next?
Turley's kitchen, our favorite restaurant, was quietly placed up for sale a few weeks ago. The main owner is now 80, and his daughter, who has worked in and for the business since she graduated from high school is ready to try something new. We know the owners, and they told us that the lease on the property was about to run out, also. The business was sold last week, to someone who says they'll keep it the way we've known it. Monday, we visited for lunch. We only saw three service people that we knew. The young lady that we had did not listen to our orders, and kept suggesting other things to eat and drink. I saw that they had one of my favorite desserts, and I ordered it with my meal, as they frequently sell out. The young woman wanted to know if I wanted to be served my dessert first, with the meal, or after the meal... It took 15 minutes to get a drink re-fill, and when I asked for my dessert, Beatrice told the girl she'd like her dessert to go. Twenty minutes later, the girl returned with the desserts - both on plates; Bea's was not to go. Bea requested the dessert to be brought "to go" again - and the young lady said, "Awesome! What a great idea!" and wandered off. It was another 30 minutes before she decided to bring the check, and we had to, again, ask that Bea's now cold dessert be prepared to go. We were disappointed to say the least. (Not to mention that the dessert was pretty much tasteless).... We'll try again, but we might have to scratch Turley's off out eating list.
I always thought that the saying, "may you live in interesting times," was more of a curse than anything else. I must say that the tiny-handed tangerine tyrant still scares me, and I'm afraid of what will happen to our country as a whole, as well as how it will affect me. But we do live in interesting times. I find myself waiting for the next installment of 45's Failures to be announced on the news - and, yes, my favorite channels are NBC, MSNBC and CNN, all of which cheeto-cheeks calls "fake news." With KellyAnne Conjob's free commercial, and Flynn's resignation, I am already gob-stopped. What will happen next?
Turley's kitchen, our favorite restaurant, was quietly placed up for sale a few weeks ago. The main owner is now 80, and his daughter, who has worked in and for the business since she graduated from high school is ready to try something new. We know the owners, and they told us that the lease on the property was about to run out, also. The business was sold last week, to someone who says they'll keep it the way we've known it. Monday, we visited for lunch. We only saw three service people that we knew. The young lady that we had did not listen to our orders, and kept suggesting other things to eat and drink. I saw that they had one of my favorite desserts, and I ordered it with my meal, as they frequently sell out. The young woman wanted to know if I wanted to be served my dessert first, with the meal, or after the meal... It took 15 minutes to get a drink re-fill, and when I asked for my dessert, Beatrice told the girl she'd like her dessert to go. Twenty minutes later, the girl returned with the desserts - both on plates; Bea's was not to go. Bea requested the dessert to be brought "to go" again - and the young lady said, "Awesome! What a great idea!" and wandered off. It was another 30 minutes before she decided to bring the check, and we had to, again, ask that Bea's now cold dessert be prepared to go. We were disappointed to say the least. (Not to mention that the dessert was pretty much tasteless).... We'll try again, but we might have to scratch Turley's off out eating list.
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