Day 225

...and a Terminally Defunct COGCC Continues to
 Obstruct its Own Investigation....

Since Week 69 we now know that drilling activities initiated after the lifting of the moratorium have adversely impacted West Divide Creek and allowed produced formation gas to communicate with the shallow ground water -- again.

...and yet the COGCC still refuses to sample the ground water in the area of the 2008 seep site - all this despite a large area of vegetation die-off (suggestive of methane seep) and persistent iron-reducing bacteria near the beaver house (also where the paralyzed frog was found). The COGCC still refuses to conduct simple soil/gas analysis - despite a new and vast area of grass die-off emanating from the Schwartz pad reported 12-12-08. The COGCC also refuses to sample the flammable gas accumulating in the creek bed (also where the frog was found).

Probable Reason:  The COGCC doesn't want to know what's really occurring in this geology with the kinds of drilling procedures they are allowing without adequate oversight.

Whatever the reason...

Long reigns the mantle of carefully structured and preserved ignorance (and the policies and politicians that benefit those that further it).

Panorama of Summerhawk Valley, February 13, 2009.

This rig (left top third of photo just ahead of cliff point) has now been looming over Summerhawk canyon for a week. I see it and hear it when I stand on the cliff to pray.

It crushes a part of my spirit to know that EnCana is so callus as to drill this area during such a critical part of the year, when elk and deer and other wildlife rely upon this area so heavily. Though much of the wildlife have left our valley, a neighbor saw a few elk in the eastern part of the canyon a few weeks ago. Only a few deer are using the mountain back in this area. It is deeply disturbing that this industry, EnCana in particular, is so careless about its impacts to wildlife. They simply crush what lives in the way of their operations.... either by noise, or by pollution of air, water or soil.

Humans fare no differently.

This photo demonstrates the proximity of the Twin Creeks rig to the main 2008 seep location. The rig is positioned only what looks to be yards from the canyon rim, and probably less than a quarter mile away.

The COGCC continues to refuse to sample the bubbles accumulating in the creek in this area. They also refuse to sample the groundwater (even though thermogenic [produced formation] methane has been detected relatively nearby). Nor will they sample the dead ground.

 It is stunning that the COGCC has allowed this operation to go forward in this fragile outcrop geology without proper study as to what has caused the 2008 seep, or whether the kick experienced two weeks ago has adversely affected resident's drinking water or the waters of Divide Creek.

But, I've finally realized they simply must not care. It's really as simple as that.. And regardless of how I and others try to motivate this agency to do the right thing, investigate impacts and hold EnCana accountable for responsible development, it simply does no good.

I listened to them cry as they flew at the rig, trying to drive it away from their nesting site in the cliff face. I cannot say whether eggs or eaglets await in the historic nest.

My heart breaks for these raptors. This was how I felt when I watched the cow elk staring at EnCana's operations from the cedars when they occupied the Schwartz site last Spring (now, there is a work-over rig up).

EnCana could reallocate resources and drill this area in the summer and early fall, but they chose to do it during the most disruptive time for these animals.

Hearts disconnected from Earth's rhythm. Spirits on a darkened path. I pray first for these eagles, and second for the people at EnCana who claw at the fragile fabric of this Earth without concern for any value but the fleeting euphoria of profit.

Such a philosophy costs us all.

I notified the Division of Wildlife about this disruption, but, like the elk and the deer, our area is just not on the radar. The DOW is watching other herds in the Piceance Basin where they are conducting studies in cooperation with industry. Our elk herds are estimated in flyovers, but the last Environmental Impact Statement (inventory of wildlife and habitat) conducted by the BLM was twenty years ago.

Normally, during winters with heavy snowfall, they will migrate toward this area in search of food until the snow melts back at which time they head back up in elevation. But this year's snow-fall has been about average. In fact, it's only our small region - over a thousand acres of vital winter range - they have  left due to EnCana's relentless presence here with heavy pipeline equipment, drilling rigs and drilling activity.

Just down the road a few miles, a rancher is having issues with some elk persisting around his hay stack and has secured permission from DOW to "hunt" them. Now only gut piles persist. That  explains why a neighbor noted several weeks ago that he had seen a small herd panicked and running through the area. One of the cows, who appeared wounded to the reporting neighbor, dropped to the ground and was bawling for the herd, which ran on without her. Eventually, she got up and staggered off after them. It's ironic to me that during the summer months, area ranchers cheaply graze their cattle in the high country competing - alongside gas pads - with elk for forage, but by golly, the elk don't get the same considerations come winter.

In the past, our historic herd has moved laterally along an elevation trend East and West, but intense development in those areas has squeezed them down to ever-lower elevations.

The cumulative loss of habitat due to huge pad sizes and access roads has been enormous, leaving these animals fewer and fewer options.

The road behind these elk? A gas pad access road.  [02-11-09]

Air Quality Presentation
by Garfield County Board of Health

Above is my river sketch I did while at the Grand Valley Citizen's Alliance (GVCA) meeting this week. Sketching is an effective way for me to mind my manners when listening to a presentation I tend to take exception to.

A lengthy, informative and good-in-many-ways presentation on air quality was conducted by the Garfield County Health Department (such as it is... it is admittedly fledgling) on the advances made in sampling our local air quality - which is rapidly rivaling that of Pinedale, Wyoming.

During the presentation, lots of vulnerabilities popped up in the way the county is conducting its air quality data sampling.

1) There is no corroboration of data collection, so no effort can be made to correlate or determine a source. (EnCana recently funded a study, however, to help define the amount of pollution generated by automobile traffic. They are such good folks.).

2) Despite months of data indicating trends and despite existing evidence relative to health effects associated with over-exposure to particulates, no preliminary recommendations are being made to the Garfield County Commissioners who are the GarCo "Board of Health". Apparently, we have wait three years before any conclusions can be made followed by recommendations.

3) Only now is the county beginning to look at smaller particulates, or speciating the collected total VOC's on a broader scale.

4) There is a really sad assumption at the Health Department that folks living among wells are only exposed for short periods of time during "odor" events - only some of which can be captured on short notice. I pointed out that those short exposures occur multiple times a day, every day for months and years. I don't think they got that. One GVCA member, however, noted that they had been involved with folks on the receiving end of the cumulative emissions and stressed that those folks were "screwed up". Yep. That's pretty much it.

5)  A Western Colorado Congress staffer brought up that during an "odor event" a couple of months or so back when a rig caught on fire, no neighbors were notified and the air quality division of the Health Department was no where on site to identify what kinds of constituents nearby residents or others might have been exposed to. A foul-smelling cloud settled over the entire valley. In fact, the country depended upon assurances by the offending operator that there was nothing to be concerned about and all was hunky dory. (By the way, the new GVCA President elected at this meeting refuted the company's assurances from that event eliciting a vigorous rebuttal from the good deed doing company - in the Post Independent.) Apparently the Garfield County Emergency Manager position was in transition at that time, or at least that was kind of the excuse given, but there is still no indication that the Health Department is ever notified of such events.

So, this week, when a plume of black smoke associated with a burning frac truck went up North of Rifle, I notified the Health Department so they could bring a canister and see what they could capture. To my knowledge, no one showed up.

6) The Health Department noted that they are working to collect emission values for drilling operations during two phases of work: drilling and completions. It was also noted that other sources of pollution exist in the valley - wood burning stoves, cars, etc. I thought it was noteworthy that the Health Department is not collecting emission data when wells are in production. So, I noted that EnCana is now openly venting 7-9 gas wells into the atmosphere around our home. I asked if the Health Department was taking such undisclosed volumes into account. It was interesting that they were unaware of the practice.

Sigh. Thank goodness for ink pens and notepads.
 

Development hits Appalachia.... inspiring a kind of forlorn wonderment from Molly of Sootypaws Journal

One of the least considered impacts of natural gas development is the deep emotional devastation that occurs in those that are closest to the land. For those of us who receive succor from the wild - who learn from nature's rhythm and are woven into the finely orchestrated structure, who receive direct nourishment physically, spiritually and emotionally from the giving grace of our planet - we do more than simply witness the destruction of the woodlands around us. We are destroyed with it.

I encourage you to visit this website to follow development in these West Virginia mountains, where already, there has been a history of abuse - there, drilling waste is simply sprayed directly into the forest.

Our prayers are with these folks and their beloved land.

 
From Sootypaws....

George's photo of the ancient forest
(some of these trees are three feet in diameter)

From beauty to desert "It's all about money"

This is Molly writing. The woods near our house where the proposed gas well is located has been a sacred place of rest, refuge, and my growing awareness for well over 2 decades. It is where I meditated with Snowy, one of the cats who moved from town with us. It is where Bobo, one of our present cats, and I walk. It is where, when George and I were camping there years ago, I saw the The Green Man. To think of all who live within that space dying a violent death rips me up emotionally. I feel inadequate for not being able to protect those beings who have sheltered me and taught me. The phrase I keep hearing from the oil and gas business guys is that "It's all about money". Is a good life really all about money? Is it o.k. to destroy what we fail to understand?

Posted on Sep. 12th, 2008 at 09:52 am

Visit George and Molly - a blacksmithing couple living off the grid in the woods of West Virginia.

Sootypaws Journal http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/1230.html
Sootypaws Website (view "The Gas Well" for gas development related info)
http://members.citynet.net/sootypaws/
This is one of my favorite links on George and Molly's website - seasons on the farm....
http://members.citynet.net/sootypaws/Grid/seasons/seasons.html

New Resource! Health Study Link
provided by George of Sootypaws

Australian Health Watch Study and Case Study: a long-term public health study dealing with issues such as exposure to benzene and other harmful substances.  http://www.aip.com.au/health/ohs.htm

Of note: The Australian Institute of Petroleum page minimizes the issues related to benzene exposures as presented in the study.

In The News....  brace....

Note: I always try to provide links where I can, but it doesn't always work out. If you submit a story, please try to include the link so folks can easily check it out.

[Comment: This is one of the saddest commentaries on industrial development I've seen - part of it relative to EnCana from Rosebud, Alberta, a community profiled in Consortium of the Frac'd.

If you want to know what kind of abuse goes on behind the veil of presumed decency and feigned patriotism, you need to watch this two-part video from W-Five TV.

In it, you'll see people poisoned, intimidated, threatened, driven from their homes and truly forsaken in the name of "cheap", "clean" energy.

I was stunned by the parallels to our situation in observing the trials these people have suffered in attempting to motivate the (Canadian) Energy Resource Conservation Board, headquartered in Calgary (EnCana's headquarters also). These folks have experienced the same frustrations we have - and also have been ignored, and in the case of one woman, frighteningly threatened.

In our early dealings with EnCana we felt the same kind of attempts at intimidation. The same kind that EnCana has been accused of in Ecuador. Divide, conquer and back-door deal. At one point, two of EnCana's people accused my father of pulling a gun on them (a truly stupid thing to do, given the presence of at least ten other witnesses who could testify to the contrary). Nonetheless, EnCana allowed this ruse to go on, all the while advancing plans to lay a gas pipeline within our access road - for which they had neither permission nor legal access. When my father and a neighbor prepared to stage a peaceful sit-in on our road (we're talking two gimpy old guys in lawn chairs with local media coverage) EnCana then attempted to frame them both as militants. It was only when we brought in an attorney and stressed my father's record as a firearms safety instructor and history as a retired law enforcement officer that EnCana finally backed off. It seems like trying to finger people as militant or some kind of terrorist is the first chapter in EnCana's 'Dealing With Dissenters' manual. Stopping to consider how their aggressive, abusive and sometimes unlawful behavior toward people inspires such dissent doesn't appear to be a part of protocol.

It takes more than a corporate constitution to demonstrate the heart of a company. But EnCana seems to believe that words alone are enough.

Other efforts failing, the industry maintains a "Use of Force" manual outlining when it is okay to shoot people that interfere with operations. I know that's kind of hard to believe, but I have a copy. It probably explains industry's record of human rights abuses, particularly toward rural, local and indigenous populations, in Africa, Ecuador and elsewhere.

In the small community of Tomslake, British Columbia, where EnCana is producing deadly sour gas and controversy along with it, someone has begun disruptive bombings of their pipelines and other facilities prompting EnCana to put in place a private security force and institute a half-million dollar reward (some residents have theorized that EnCana is, themselves, responsible due to the type of minimal damage done which resulted in an invasive industrial backlash).

Sour gas is extremely deadly - even in small doses, and while some efforts are engaged to protect workers.... residents and wildlife have no such hope.

A sour gas well that blew in Lodgepole, Alberta (mentioned on the film) killed hundreds of cows (not mentioned in the film - but noted in a relevant article). The COGCC denies that we have any sour gas in our region, but it was interesting that scrubbers (devices used to removed H2S from a gas stream) were installed on the Arbaney pad and when it blew, workers fell out in special gear. At that time, a nearby neighbor called and reported smelling rotten eggs when they ran water in their shower. Soon after, a neighbor reported anomalies in goat kids. Following that, many of the goat herd died - only to be burned in front of EnCana's crew while they worked on the Arbaney well pad. There is alkalinity in the soils in our area, so, methane seeping up through the strata in a blow-out could conceivably interact with substances to produce chemical reactions and even, perhaps H2S, but we - like folks elsewhere - are never informed of the risks even when they are evident and  potentially deadly.

Back in Tomslake, EnCana's private security force has been recently reportedly pulling people over, questioning them, driving up and down private roads, shining lights into windows, even prompting one resident to succumb to a DNA test in the hopes of backing them off. This doesn't surprise me with EnCana, nor that the Energy Resource Conservation Board is targeting an older woman profiled in the video who is, like many others in the two films, trying to raise the alarm as to her compromised water supply where EnCana is operating shallow gas wells - but has - surprise - denied any wrongdoing.

All of Canada is suffering in the grip of Cheney/Bush-like leadership and the people there are terrorized. Yet, the Provincial Government of Alberta has now deployed an anti-terror squad and is working toward regulation likely inspired by the Bush/Cheney Patriot Act to keep an eye on the folks of that region - particularly those inclined toward public dissent. While I don't advocate violence, the disproportionate reaction to this situation draws into focus EnCana's heavy-handed approach at quelling threats of opposition - again, something addressed in this video.

The world over, well-funded multi-national corporations use their financial assets to leverage influence through a back door approach by buying into small communities with direct investment into things like ball fields, or health care facilities. Meanwhile, they influence boards with large donations into educational / public laboratory facilities; and sometimes they simply donate directly to officials. Screened leverage is a tough thing to counter, especially when it is so strategic, well hidden and desired by those in a position to protect it.

Even in the absence of out and out corruption, Andrew Nikiforuk (famed investigative journalist and author of Saboteurs: Wiebo Ludwig's War Against Big Oil [note: this was yet another instance of an individual in EnCana's crosshairs and who finally just lost it and went after them on his own.] and Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent) states it succinctly in this film. He says, "A regulator that is funded by the very people it is supposed to regulate is by definition a compromised agency."

People don't believe this stuff goes on in a modern society - they think such abuses only occur in India, or China or Africa. They think it's only among the poorest of the poor, slaving in copper mines or ruby mines or scrounging out of dumps to have enough food to eat in a formal caste system.

And sadly, law enforcement officers called to investigate dissent from residents often look only at the superficial circumstances presented to them by perhaps their boss or other political figure invested in furthering industry's abuses. Here in Garfield County, EnCana directly funded the salary of a Sheriffs Deputy. There are few greater conflicts of interest that that. That was such a successful endeavor that our County Commission, solicited the funding of another by William's Energy. Now, the two biggest operators in the region are intimately, fiscally tied to the law enforcement agency. The Sherriff's office recently invested in a tank. The County had industry pay for the Deputy, then had the department shoot their budget on a tank.  I probably don't have to tell you what kind of speculation has arisen - or how many references have been made in letters to the editor when people talk about fear, frustration, corruption and bias officials.

But corruption, poor corporate practices and political, economic and social subjugation of good people is common even in places you want to believe are immune to it.... anywhere this industry sets up shop. You may recall it was the oil and gas industry that was recently caught making behind the scene deals with the Department of the Interior in Denver.

So, the next time you light your burner, or someone tries to sell you on natural gas powered cars, think about how T Boone Pickens is buying up water rights in Texas. Think about how EnCana, Imperial, Shell, Exxon-Mobil and others in this industry behave. Think about the regular folks in this video series. There are people - who could be your neighbors, friends or relatives - desperate, under fire and with no where to run.

Until we acknowledge how dirty "clean" natural gas is.... until we accept the true cost.... these people will continue to suffer.

It is unconscionable, and if we consider ourselves good people, we have a duty to try and bring about fairness and balance to this unbelievably unfair and unbalanced, even cruel situation.

It doesn't have to be this way.

But this industry is used to high profits and successfully behaving like bullies. They have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to make as much profit as possible - and believe me, they are proud of doing it, and have devised many methods of getting the job done. 

Unfortunately, a gross lack of proper regulation and a proliferation of incentivized profit seeking only encourages such behavior.

Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary - particularly in the gas and oil production fields - we are a civilization of compassion and intellect.

It is up to all of us to show industry a better way of making profit and preserving everything else we, as conscientious people, hold dear.

We can each do a small and personalized part in sharing what we know and how we care with those who are defenseless and in the line of fire - be it neighbor, wild critter, or precious resource of air, water or soil....]

Please take the time to watch this excellent expose.

W-FIVE : Fueling Fears : Fueling Fears, part one

Sour gas wells have been a fact of life in Alberta for decades, but there are new concerns about their impact on the health of residents

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/w-five/w-five-fueling-fears/#clip137197

W-FIVE : Fueling Fears : Fueling Fears, part two

Albertans dealing with the fallout of sour gas wells in their communities, are struggling to fight powerful oil companies

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/w-five/w-five-fueling-fears/#clip137202
 

===========================================================================

Read the Graff's story here in "Flare Up" by Andrew Nikiforuk:

http://www.saboteursandbigoil.com/FlareUp.pdf

===========================================================================

More on sour gas: Industry committee in action!

http://ipec.utulsa.edu/Conf2003/Papers/dilay_91.pdf

===========================================================================

[Courtesy of Sootypaws Journal] Department of Health and Human Services. 2006. Toxicological Profile for Hydrogen Sulfide. Atlanta, GA: United States Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp114.pdf

Some of EnCana's reported quiet doings....

Neighbours frantic to catch pipeline bomber

'Gave DNA Samples'; Pipeline attacks in B. C. spawn fear, suspicion
Laura Drake, Canwest News Service  Published: Monday, January 12, 2009 John Lucas, Canwest News Service

TOMSLAKE, B. C. - After the first pipeline bombing, En-Cana security trucks drove up and down the darkened rural roads of the remote area of northeastern British Columbia every night, headlights flashing into the windows of houses along the unlit gravel pathways.

Jake Hebert was driving home one night during the height of it all, after a long stretch away for work. He was just about home when the security people pulled him over. When asked what he was doing, he explained he was heading back to the house he had lived in for 20 years.

"One was shining a light in my face and the other one was crawling under my truck," Mr. Hebert recalled.

"It was unbelievable."

Ranchers get at least $70,000 in compensation from Imperial Oil
By Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary HeraldFebruary 13, 2009 8:01 AM http://www.calgaryherald.com/Technology/Ranchers+least+compensation+from+Imperial/1285998/story.html

By Hanneke Brooymans, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 6, 2009 3:01 PM
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Health/Cancer+rates+higher+communities+near+sands+study/1262092/story.html

Group seeks groundwater-depletion study

By Randy Woock
Staff writer, The Times Independent

Excerpted from the article:

"A call for a letter-writing campaign to convince the state of the need for a groundwater-depletion study in relation to oil and gas industry activities was issued at the Jan. 31 meeting of the Sangre de Cristo Group chapter of the Sierra Club.

The effects of oil and gas operations on groundwater have long been a concern of many county residents. North Fork Ranch resident Tracy Dahl, while issuing a disclaimer that his statements should be taken as opinion, suggested that the public should lobby state representatives for a water study in the Raton Basin specifically focused on groundwater and the effects on it from coalbed methane (CBM) drilling.

"The surface water issues are quite important and certainly depletion of those would have dire ramifications as well, but if your groundwater gets messed up, you might as well pack up and move someplace else," Dahl said at the meeting in Walsenburg. "The path forward, and what I would like everyone to do, is demand a comprehensive groundwater study in the Raton Basin related to (CBM) development."

The Raton Basin stretches approximately 50 miles laterally and 80 miles longitudinally, from Huerfano County in Colorado south past Raton in Colfax County, N.M. It is bordered on the west by the Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The Colorado side of the basin contains approximately more than half of the total CBM wells currently found in the state.

"What we need to do is show them (the state and industry) the science; and how we do that? We get a comprehensive groundwater study that does just that," Dahl said. "It collects all this data, puts it together, tells us where we're at now, tells us what we're going to come up with...the bottom line is that if you have this in black and white and you can show this to the state legislators..."
 

My letter to the editor of the Post Independent

John Martin is at it again. His philosophy seems to be: 'if you can't beat them with reasonable debate - silence 'them': the mantra of tyrannical narcissists the world over. Give a politician a public pulpit long enough and he becomes a bully.

I would have written this letter last week, but was too busy trying to survive Martin’s latest round of ignoring what is happening again back here on Divide Creek. Now we’ve learned that production gas has made its way into our shallow ground water. Of course another drilling mishap happened again last week. Despite Martin’s request for us to put it in writing. Despite our desperate presentation when our letter was ignored, there remains little concern for either the water or our health here in the bull’s eye of development.

Sadly, my 01-26-03 “prophetic letter” to the Post has become increasingly accurate. Our website tells all if you’re interested. Martin has made it clear that the GarCo Commission sure isn’t – excepting Commissioner Houpt’s lone and often dissenting voice.

A recall is the right approach, and I’d gladly head it up – but I’m buried in an industrial slag heap of bureaucracy and environmental devastation at the moment.

Martin wants ‘everyone on the same page’. Given that we lost our county commissioner six years when he took to following around industry’s dollar on a string, all I see that we have now is yet another oil and gas representative in a public seat. We need Tresi’s voice of reason and common sense now more than ever.

It’s only thanks to Commissioner Houpt that any amount of testing has been conducted on our property - even as the COGCC busily concocts ways to continually obstruct its own investigation and the EPA tippy toes around jurisdiction.  

I grow so weary of Martin’s small-minded, feeble attempts at dictatorship.

While he maintains the affable, hapless mule skinner persona - like Gunsmoke’s Festus -his increasingly overt political maneuvering reveals an increasingly savvy strategist with an industrial agenda. And that’s not so lovable. Stubborn, bias ignorance does not represent my voice.
 

A Heads-up From Collide-a-Scape....

Word that industry is sneaking hydraulic fracturing exemptions through state legislatures in Utah and Wyoming. Our own energy Champion, John Salazar and NY Diane DeGette are proposing to re-instate public protections from hydraulic fracturing within the Safe Drinking Water Act (formerly exempted under the Cheney/Bush administration)

http://www.collide-a-scape.com/2009/02/13/sagebrush-redux/comment-page-1/#comment-19
 

Some really good news.... thank you WORC

The Western Organization of Resource Councils is working to revamp the antiquated hardrock mining act. This is long long long overdue legislation and has played an important part in the kind of abuse we see leveraged by industry. View WORC's fact sheet here.  

http://www.worc.org/userfiles/file/Hardrock-Mining-and-Reclamation-Act-factsheet%2001-27-08.pdf
 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090210.DUCKS10/
TPStory/?query=ottawa%20and%20alberta%20charge

DAWN WALTON AND NATHAN VANDERKLIPPE / February 10, 2009

Excerpted from the article:

"CALGARY -- Alberta and Ottawa moved yesterday to charge an energy heavyweight with breaking environmental laws after the industry - and the country - were humiliated last spring by the image of hundreds of oil-soaked ducks dying in a toxic byproduct of the oil sands.

Syncrude Canada Ltd. could face fines of up to $800,000 if convicted under provincial and federal environmental legislation in connection with the deaths of 500 waterfowl at one of its tailing ponds north of Fort McMurray, Alta.

The charges are the first of their kind against an oil sands company. They come as Alberta and Canada attempt to promote the resource as a safe, secure supply of energy at the same time as environmentalists are waging a "dirty oil" campaign against the so-called tar sands."
 

Smart or Stupid? My two cents for President Obama...
(from a registered Independent)

Something Smart

Something Stupid

On Republicans

Despite their clear attempts to stage a hostile fit, please keep trying to work with Republicans. Please keep listening and consider that possibly as much as 10 percent of what they are harping about makes sense. Seems like Democrats are running at maybe 50/50 right now.

Listen to Republicans when they rail against waste: these people should certainly recognize it. But continue to recognize their ludicrous defense of their rich buddies pocketbooks, for this could be a fatal distraction to the economic vitality of the country if we are to hope to prosper in the future.

Taking It To The Streets

Great idea to campaign across the country for your ideas. These are wild times. By-pass partisan bickering, seize the news cycle and get the message out to the people directly. Just please don't BS us.

Stimulus: Jobs Creation

A jobs check-up is a great accountability notion, but should occur monthly - not quarterly - to maximize the potential for early corrective action (without panicking and over-reacting).

People aren't going to want to wait three months to see how much potential has been lost, but if they see some gains quickly, faith alone will help carry us through until the next check-up.

Stimulus: Buy American and slurs of "Protectionism"

Let these multinationals piss and moan. The "Buy American" provision is only going to encourage foreign investment and a stronger, local labor force.  Take care of American workers first. Good job, Democrats.

The Heinz ketchup manufacturing model is a good one: Things made in whatever country of production are sold in that same country of production. Common sense solution for everyone.
 

Financial Bailouts

On this whole financial sector bailout business.... if you're going to give even more money to banks, get those CEOs the heck outta there, and demand restructuring and accountability.

This is getting old and I get the sense that the American people are seriously getting sick of seeing their money flaunted and flushed.

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