Yesterday was my day to co-facilitate a therapy group for former prisoners. The group meets only once a month now, because they have finished the main program and have moved to aftercare. It will disband after a year, and I will probably go back to volunteering weekly with a new group. Over the two years I have worked with them, the men have really grown, and not one had their parole or probation revoked. When I returned home I slept, because I had missed much of my morning sleep time. I’m current with replies. Tomorrow I’ll spend a large part of the day collecting the data for Thursday’s monthly report.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today it took me 3:46 (average 5:05). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From CRN: The U.S. Justice Department has moved to block AT&T (NYSE:T)’s proposed $39 million acquisition of T-Mobile, with a civil antitrust lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.
In a statement, the DOJ said that the merger would lead to reduced competition, increased prices, and lower quality products and services for mobile telecommunications customers.
Even though one union is highly upset about this, because AT&T promised to expand their work force, I think the DOJ decision is wise. AT&T cannot be trusted, and every time they have taken over another carrier in the past, they have cut jobs. They have eliminated over 100,000 jobs in the past year.
From Alternet: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said US forces will leave Iraq as scheduled by year’s end, and that there will not be any permanent US bases in the country, a statement from his office said on Tuesday.
"The agreement on the withdrawal of American forces will be implemented on schedule by the end of the year, and there will not be any bases for US forces here," Maliki told Al-Ittijah TV channel in an interview to be broadcast later, it said.
This has taken far too long.
From Huffington Post: Not quite a year ago, NASA climatologist James Hansen joined hundreds of Appalachian coalfield activists, including Teri Blanton, Maria Gunnoe, Bo Webb, Larry Gibson, Mickey McCoy and Bob Kincaid at a sit-in in front of the White House, and called for the abolition of mountaintop removal mining.
In an extraordinary act of solidarity, Blanton and other Appalachian coalfield leaders will join the growing climate justice sit-in at the White House today, calling on President Obama to deny the TransCanada Keystone pipeline permit. Hansen, who has defined the pipeline decision as a litmus test for the Obama administration’s commitment to dealing with climate change, was arrested earlier this week.
Kudos! Go labor!!
Cartoon:
Mt Tabor as requested by Paul.
It’s the little hillock in the foreground.
17 Responses to “Open Thread–9/1/2011”
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5:05 Donald Trump used that same weather vane to make political decisions. (Also to decide which way to comb his hair.) It was a disaster, for him, on both counts. Ron Paul has the 1900 model on his horseless carriage. 😈
LOL!
Money talks bullshit walks…that line is going in and the land it is going to run over and under will be stolen through eminent domain if the owners will not give it a right of way at a next to nothing price for the Canadian firm that will own it.
I think you are right.
5:33 Terrible!
I was thrilled to read that the DOJ is finally getting involved in stopping monopolies.
You’ll do better!
Went to a rally in front of Cuomo’s office tower yesterday to protest fracking – will make a trip next week to Philadelphia to protest both fracking and “tar sands” – Cuomo is about to allow this crap to happen in NY – If it does – I would rather move – but have no money – I don’t want to die the slow death that fracking causes, and witness the water and environment polluted to such a degree – I’ve spent 3 years fighting this losing battle, now even the democratic gov is doing the “obama” caving in to industry – whores are whores – guess you can’t change them!
Keep up the fight!
Well, that cryptic picture of Mt. Tabor has piqued my curiosity. Can you provide more background as to why it’s posted, or is this some CIA covert signaling operation?
Never mind. I scrolled down through yesterday’s comments and found my answer. (Mount Vesuvius, it is not … and that’s probably a good thing.)
Amen! 😀
4:56 Wow, you are beating everyone by over a minute. I am 73 out of 244 (299) and fall below 300.
You have an opening today.
I’ve signed no less than 10 petitions against this monster (Keystone pipeline) and have written directly to Pres. Obama protesting it’s construction and fear it will do little good. BTW, James Hansen was arrested in front of the White House earlier this week for protesting against it — along with about 800 other people — democracy in action.
If anyone cares to look at a map of the proposed route of this pipeline, you’ll see that it goes from approximately west-central Canada due south across 1,700 miles of the U.S. Why don’t they simply take it directly west across Canada to the Pacific ocean, for export by sea? Because the Canadian Indian Tribes have blocked it’s passage over their lands. The southerly U.S. route takes it right over the Ogalla Aquifer, the largest fresh-water reservoir in the entire country, which provides fresh water for agriculture throughout the central plans (think wheat, corn, soy) and drinking water for about 8 million people. What could go wrong?
Ann, that’s two of us and I have seen the map. I fully agree!
Proponents say the pipeline will create thousands of jobs and help end U.S. reliance on Middle Eastern oil. But at what price?! Why not create jobs by taking this money and putting it into renewable clean energy!
No matter which way the pipeline were to go, south overland to the Gulf, or west across the Rockie Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, the pipeline would cross aboriginal lands. George Poitras, former chief of the Mikisew Cree in northern Alberta, plans to join the Washington protest. He believes the oil sands have already had a dire impact on people’s health in his community of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. Bill Erasmus, Regional Chief with the Assembly of First Nations in the Northwest Territories, plans to attend and has already written a letter protesting the pipeline to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Erasmus says he’s concerned about water quality. “Everything that happens in Alberta is part of the Mackenzie water basin, all that water comes north,” he said.
I too, like many others, have signed a number of petitions. I was glad to because I cannot go to the protests in Washington. I admire those engaged in peaceful protest. Not only will this pipeline trample individual
property rights, but endangers wildlife, the Ogallala Aquifer, the Mackenzie River and other lakes and rivers in the US and Canada.
Another concern I have are the wingnuts out there like Wiebo Ludwig who was convicted in the 1990’s for bombing oil and gas drill sites in Alberta and is a suspect in the bombing of the EnCana pipeline in northern BC. These wingnuts hurt the land that much more because the oil pours out onto the land. Acidental pipeline ruptures are bad enough, but deliberate ones . . . well that is at best, the actions of a misguided fool, and at worst the actions of a criminal.
Changing the topic TomCat (I have to because I can feel my blood pressure going up and my ‘anger-o-metre’ hitting the dangerous explosion level), I love that little ‘picture’ of me you have on all my posts. Looks just like me and purple is my favourite colour. Also ove the jigsaw puzzles but I really suck at them.
Lynn, furthermore, there is no guarantee that that oil will go to the US market when refined.
That’s is a computer generated avatar based on the spelling of your name. I swap them monthly. You can use your own avatar with gravatar.com. Give the puzzles time.