Imagine for a moment that you’ve been tasked with conducting a scientific analysis to determine the origination point for small volumes of methane detected in two private water wells in Parker Co., Texas.
You would know the question is important, since the agency for which you work – the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - has based nearly its entire case against an energy producer in North Texas on the assertion that the methane in those water wells came from natural gas wells drilled into the Barnett Shale.
In conducting this analysis, it’s likely you’d know that one of the most obvious ways to characterize the methane in the water wells is to run a profile on the percentage of nitrogen found in the samples of natural gas.
Through experience, you would know that methane in the Barnett has a relatively low percentage of nitrogen – often in the single digits.
And you would also know that a much shallower rock formation called the Strawn has a much higher percentage, generally around 20 percent.
Your task: Pin the presence of methane on Range Resources by trying to prove its wells in the Barnett represent the source of the natural gas in the water wells.
On Dec. 7, 2010, that’s precisely the argument that EPA put forth in issuing an unprecedented “emergency order” -- demanding, among other things, that Range plug up its wells and go home.
Just one problem: The isotopic analysis EPA used as the basis for its order doesn’t include a word about nitrogen; EPA never ran those tests.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
From the "pro-business" administration
Duke Energy sucks
Nearly, everything important I learned at UC were things not taught in the classroom. Like how to get what you want/need within a government bureaucracy.
Or how to sweet talk some union protected asshole to help you with something that falls outside of their job description.
Those skills came in handy for my dilemma with Duke Energy this week.
As I detailed a couple of days ago, my office has been without electric for four days before I was able to track down someone who could actually help me out.
It finally came down to me tracking down the people who I knew were cooperative through the return calls on my cell phone.
As of yesterday, I was up and running. When the crew came out, the crew leader asked me "what took so long?".
So I guess all those exasperating dealings with the registrars office finally paid off.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Duke Energy sucks
On approximately 12:30 pm Tuesday, a semi tractor passed by my business in Loveland. As it passed, it proceeded to tear down a power line on the street and along with it ripping my electric meter off of my building and dragging it down the street.
Being a great citizen, he promptly kept driving.
The workers at the site managed to get power restored for the block within about two hours. Since I had no meter, I was told that I would have to have an electrician install a meter base and an entrance cable. Once those were installed, they could then install temporary service until a permit was issued and a final inspection was completed.
I had an electrician on my site and he had the work done by about 6:00 Tuesday night. Of course, now Duke Energy tells me that because I have a new meter base, I would have to have a permit issued prior to their installation of service. I had an inspector to the place today at 11:00 am today and he issued the permit.
Now I call the installation people and they tell me that they need one of their techs to come out just to establish the service that's needed and that it may take 3 business days to get that person out. In addition, because of the weather, they have no one out today. Nevermind that I've driven to my office three times today.
She then proceeds to tell me that it might be 7 - 10 business days before I have power. Not exactly a good time to have no electricity for an accountant.
Now let me ask this question, if the phone system at Duke energy were to go down, do you think they would tolerate their hardware company telling them it would take 7-10 days to restore their phone systems to operating order?
It's not like I have an option to call Mortimer and Randolph's competitor(s) to get access to electricity.
So the question is this. How much should I seek for damages when I call my attorney Monday morning?
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Who did she vote for? #8181
Meet Megin Gray. Why is Megin in the news..............
A 26-year-old mother woke up Tuesday after sleeping for 12 hours and found her 9-month-old daughter lying on the floor badly burned. Megin Gray rushed the infant to the hospital but it was too late. Police say Gray had taken Xanax, Percocet and drank alcohol before going to sleep about 11 p.m. Monday in the west Covington apartment where she lived with the infant, her three other children and another couple and their child.Gray awoke about 11 a.m. and discovered the infant lying against a baseboard heater, said Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.
Police were called to the St. Elizabeth Covington emergency room about 11:30 a.m. after the baby was pronounced dead.
Now usually, I reserve these posts for garden variety derelicts and morons, who manage to find their way on some democratic constituency. This time I want to ask the question.
How much money would you wager that this ding dong was receiving welfare benefits?
Seriously, nearly all of my clients have instituted drug testing as part of their employee policies; usually to save on worker's comp premiums.
If nearly everyone who has a job must take some form of a drug test, why are we not forcing welfare recipients to take them as well.
Put another way. If Megin were your sister, would you allow her to live in your house sucking down percoset and booze all the while neglecting her children. Of course you wouldn't. But in the welfare world, testing for drugs is a no no and so is challenging someone's fitness to be a parent.
Now we have a dead child and soon to be three children with no mother. I'm betting that they wished she would have been tested.
And by the way, where's any of the daddy's?
More....
Life in "Progress" State - California edition
We've grown numb to annual budget meltdowns - shortfalls of $20 billion have become the norm. But what is our state's total debt? Would you believe at least $265 billion?California's debt sorts into three buckets:
Budget deferrals, required reimbursements and related debt now total nearly $40 billion. How did "kicking the can down the road" get the state to such a large number? Budget gimmicks to achieve a balanced budget for one year (borrowing from local government, required repayments to public schools and other one-time actions) have added up. As Gov. Jerry Brown highlighted in his budget proposal, most of the budget "solutions" over the past three years "were temporary or failed because of court decisions or faulty assumptions."
General obligation borrowing is authorized by voters for school buildings, clean water, housing, stem cell research and other expenditures. According to the state treasurer, the total outstanding is $77 billion, the majority of which is for long-term infrastructure investments.
Pensions and retiree health promises for state workers are an unfunded pension liability (i.e., the amount by which pension promises exceed pension assets) of $96 billion as of June 2009.However, that figure assumes that those pension funds will increase their assets faster than U.S. investment assets grew in the past century. So, if they earned at the past century's rate, (which itself was very high historically), the unfunded liability is $256 billion. Using the method employed by Alicia H. Munnell of the Center for Retirement Research and formerly of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, the liability is $568 billion.
Life in "Progress" City - Atlanta edition
One day after receiving notice that the Atlanta Public School's accreditation is in jeopardy, the Atlanta Board of Education is examining what it must do to regain its status.
One of the requirements to get accreditation restored, is that the school board meet with a licensed mediator.
At the heart of the decision to place the Atlanta Public Schools' accreditation on probation is the infighting between school board members, particularly concerning the issue of who should lead the board, and how they should make decisions.
Dr. Mark Elgart is CEO of the accrediting organization, AdvancED.
He says that disharmony was particularly evident on the day that GBI agents entered some high schools as part of an investigation into an alleged cheating scandal.
Producing morons to be our future politicians.
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Who did he vote for? #829
Meet Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Why is he in the news?
A West Philadelphia abortion doctor, his wife and eight other suspects are now under arrest following a grand jury investigation.Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, faces eight counts of murder in the deaths of a woman following a botched abortion at his office, along with the deaths of seven other babies who, prosecutors allege, were born alive following illegal late-term abortions and then were killed by severing their spinal cords with a pair of scissors.
“I am aware that abortion is a hot-button topic,” said District Attorney Seth Williams. “But as district attorney, my job is to carry out the law. A doctor who knowingly and systematically mistreats female patients, to the point that one of them dies in his so-called care, commits murder under the law. A doctor who cuts into the necks severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies, who would survive with proper medical attention, is committing murder under the law.”
Nice to see he's keeping in rare, safe and legal.
More......
From the network who brought you the show "Crossfire"
CNN's John King: "Before we go to break, I want to make a quick point. We were having a discussion about the Chicago mayoral race. My friend Andy Shaw used the term 'in the crosshairs' in talking about the candidates. We're trying, we're trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he's covered politics for a long time, but we're trying to get away from that kind of language."
See the video
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
This qualifies as news for ABC
An adult entertainment waitress is up $60,000 after settling a lawsuit with her former strip club employers after, she says, they called her "old," teased her about Alzheimer's disease and menopause, and then fired her at age 56.
News flash to all aspiring strippers. Here are other reasons you can't get a job or may get fired.....
You're ugly.
You can't use a pole in a wheel chair.
You can't dance.
You're missing a limb and/or teeth.
You're obese
You're a guy
For the most part, strip clubs tend to be discriminating towards young, thin, women with rhythm and all their teeth and limbs.
But hey, if you can overcome those obstacles, maybe you can write the next screen play similar to the movie "Rudy" where an ugly, fat guy with one arm, overcomes the obstacles to become a Vegas showgirl.
Geez. This qualifies for news..........
Why I'm a conservative #19
US public pensions face a shortfall of $2,500 billion that will force state and local governments to sell assets and make deep cuts to services, according to the former chairman of New Jersey’s pension fund.
The severe US economic recession has cast a spotlight on years of fiscal mismanagement, including chronic underfunding of retirement promises.“States face cost pressure, most prominently from retirement benefits and Medicaid [the health programme for the poor],” Orin Kramer told the Financial Times.
“One consequence is that asset sales and privatisation will pick up. The very unfortunate consequence is that various safety nets for the most vulnerable citizens will be cut back.”
What makes this even more ridiculous is the continued anti business tenor of the democrats. After all, where do you think these pension funds are invested? (Hint it's not in T Bills). A thriving commerce sector of our country aids in the underfunding of these pensions.
But try telling that to a "progressive".
More double standard
Ricky Gervais today insisted he had not been carpeted at the Golden Globes after subjecting a room full of speechless American stars to lewd jibes at last night's ceremony.
He vanished from the stage in the middle of the awards show, leading to speculation that he had been carpeted. Viewers said that when he returned some time later he looked subdued.
A spokesperson for the comedian today called rumours he was chastised by bosses 'utter rubbish' fueled by 'Twitter speculation.'
Gervais insists the the mood backstage was 'great' and his extended time away from the camera was planned.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1348071/Golden-Globes-2011-Ricky-Gervais-insists-NOT-gagged.html#ixzz1BOTNifJx
Double Standard?
But I hadn't heard about this comment until this morning..........
Less than two weeks into her new gig, Schools Chancellor Cathie Black has reportedly riled parents and public officials by cracking some jokes last week during a meeting at state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's office. When a public-school dad voiced concern about the "huge shortages" of classroom space in lower Manhattan that could be coming, Black remarked: "Could we just have some birth control for a while? It could really help us all out a lot."
Ha! That one makes us like her a little. The act, however, didn't stop there:
The public-service novice, who has spent her entire career in media and publishing, also dropped jaws at the meeting by likening her task of satisfying space-crunch concerns in every neighborhood to making "many Sophie's Choices" — a reference to the book in which a mother in the Auschwitz death camp is forced to decide which of her two children will live.
"Everybody's face fell. You don't want to hear that reference when you're talking about children," said Tricia Joyce, whose kids attend the perennially overcrowded PS 234 in TriBeCa.
Are you serious? I hear one conservative say the word "macaca" and you would have thought the world was ending.
Yet nary a word in the press. Maybe she should have used the words "blood libel" to really get a response.
Coincidence?
More......
Monday, January 17, 2011
There goes John Galt
You're going to have to move overseas. Because of US security laws, Goldman decided to move their private placement to foreign investors............
More.....
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slammed the door on U.S. clients hoping to invest in a private offering of shares in Facebook Inc., because it said the intense media spotlight left the deal in danger of violating U.S. securities laws.Goldman's decision to allow only non-U.S. investors to buy shares in the social-networking site is a black eye for the Wall Street firm, which sent jealous rivals scurrying for look-alike deals when the Facebook agreement surfaced two weeks ago.
Spree killers and Global Warming...... a connection
I think the libs are trying to do the same thing with Shooter Punk.
See, when the story broke, it was because of conservative hate speech that incited this ding dong. Of course, now that some time has passed, we now know that he hated George Bush.
He became intrigued by antigovernment conspiracy theories, including that the Sept. 11 attacks were perpetrated by the government and that the country’s central banking system was enslaving its citizens. His anger would well up at the sight of President George W. Bush, or in discussing what he considered to be the nefarious designs of government.
“I think he feels the people should be able to govern themselves,” said Ms. Figueroa, his former girlfriend. “We didn’t need a higher authority.”
What this means is that his hatred of George Bush incited him to be a sadistic killer. In addition, we now know that it was George Bush's fault that incited James Fuller to threaten to kill Tea Party rep at ABC's town hall.
It's much like the scene in Forrest Gump where the douche bag hits Jenny and then blames the Vietnam War for his d-baggishness.
So libs are absolved of any responsibility. Either Bush incited it or Bush was so hated, it created violence in normally civil liberals.
More....
Life in "Progress" State - Illinois edition
For years, Illinois, like so many states, pretended that it had not fallen off a budgetary cliff. It was spending too much and taking in too little revenue, but every year it would kick its problems into the next. Unable to pay its bills, it finally accepted reality last week and raised taxes on incomes and businesses — a first step toward getting its house in order.
The action was immediately ridiculed by several governors around the nation who are still pretending that they can cut their way out of the enormous shortfalls they face, without raising taxes. Wisconsin and Indiana predicted a windfall of angry corporations and residents would head their way from Illinois. Even Gov. Chris Christie, the New Jersey Republican, vowed to fly to Illinois to invite businesses there to defect to his state.
That makes great political theater. But businesses and voters in Illinois, and around the country, should take a closer look at the facts and figures, including their own.
After 22 years of not raising income taxes, Illinois saw its budget shortfall grow to $15 billion. It had the lowest state credit rating in the nation, and it wasn’t paying its bills to hospitals and schools.
Notice that they conveniently forgot to mention sales tax of which Illinois has one of the highest in the nation.
In addition, if you have stable tax rates, the inflationary increases in tax receipts should cover inflationary increases in state services. When this is the case, you should never have to increase taxes of any kind.
Let me ask Mr/Ms Progressive. Illinois has been a state for nearly 200 years. I'm just wondering if all of these state agencies have been in existence for the life of the state.......
- Aging, Department on
- Agriculture, Department of
- Appellate Defender, Office of
- Appellate Prosecutor, Office of
- Arts Council
- Attorney General, Office of the
- Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois
- Auditor General
- Capital Development Board
- Central Management Services, Department of
- Children and Family Services, Department of
- Civil Service Commission, Illinois
- Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Department of
- Commerce Commission, Illinois
- Community College Board, Illinois
- Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan, State of Illinois
- Comptroller, Office of the
- Corrections, Department of
- Criminal Justice Information Authority
- Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission, Illinois
- Developmental Disabilities, Illinois Council on
- Discrimination and Hate Crimes, Commission on
- Economic Recovery Commission
- Education, Board of
- Educational Labor Relations Board, Illinois
- Elections, Board of
- Emergency Management Agency
- Employment Security, Department of
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Fair, Illinois State
- Finance Authority, Illinois
- Financial and Professional Regulation, Department of
- Gaming Board, Illinois
- Governor, Office of the
- Guardianship and Advocacy Commission
- Healthcare and Family Services - Formerly known as Public Aid, Dept. of
- Higher Education, Board of
- Historic Preservation Agency
- Housing Development Authority
- Human Rights Commission
- Human Rights, Department of
- Human Services, Department of
- Illinois General Assembly
- Illinois House Democrats
- Illinois House Republicans
- Illinois Senate Democrats
- Illinois Senate Republicans
- Insurance Department of
- Investment, Illinois State Board of
- Judicial Inquiry Board
- Juvenile Justice, Department of
- Labor Relations Board
- Labor, Department of
- Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, Illinois
- Liquor Control Commission
- Lottery, Illinois
- Lt. Governor, Office of the
- Management and Budget, Office of
- Medical District Commission
- Military Affairs, Department of
- Natural Resources, Department of
- Pollution Control Board
- Power Agency, Illinois
- Prisoner Review Board, Illinois
- Property Tax Appeal Board
- Public Health, Department of
- Racing Board, Illinois
- Revenue, Department of
- Secretary of State, Office of the
- State Fire Marshal
- State Police Merit Board
- State Police, Illinois
- State Retirement Systems
- State Treasurer, Office of the
- State Universities Civil Service System
- State Universities Retirement System
- Student Assistance Commission, Illinois
- Supreme Court, Illinois
- Teachers’ Retirement System
- Toll Highway Authority, Illinois State
- Transportation, Department of
- Veterans Affairs, Department of
- Volunteerism & Community Service, Governor’s Commission on
- Workers' Compensation Commission, Illinois
I'm thinking that Illinois got along just fine without all these agencies. Did they have a Human Services Department during the days of Lincoln? In addition, are you telling me that you can't merge the lottery commission and gaming board among others under one agency?
More....
Life in "Progress" City - New York edition
New York City's abortion rate is 41 percent, more than double the national average, according to city health department statistics. The figures spurred a meeting of Christian and Jewish leaders in Manhattan, including the archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, who called for a reduction in the number of aborted pregnancies.
"We gotta do more than shiver over these chilling statistics," Dolan said at a press conference Thursday. "I invite all to come together to make abortion rare."
n 2009, women in New York City terminated 87,273 pregnancies, according to data released last month. Black women had the highest rate of abortion by far, followed by Hispanics, white women and Asians. The national abortion rate is 19 percent.
Joan Malin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of New York City, issued a statement saying unplanned pregnancies are affected by access to information, birth control, sex education and intimate-partner violence.
Not so fast. Are you telling me that women who know where to get an abortion have no idea where to get birth control or domestic violence help?
I don't think so.
Liberals committing intra party genocide?
Now that's "progressive"!
Thanks Reader Jeremy for the link.
More.....
When will they correct the bogus global warming record?
In 2005, Salon published online an exclusive story by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that offered an explosive premise: that the mercury-based thimerosal compound present in vaccines until 2001 was dangerous, and that he was "convinced that the link between thimerosal and the epidemic of childhood neurological disorders is real."
The piece was co-published with Rolling Stone magazine -- they fact-checked it and published it in print; we posted it online. In the days after running "Deadly Immunity," we amended the story with five corrections (which can still be found logged here) that went far in undermining Kennedy's exposé. At the time, we felt that correcting the piece -- and keeping it on the site, in the spirit of transparency -- was the best way to operate. But subsequent critics, including most recently, Seth Mnookin in his book "The Panic Virus," further eroded any faith we had in the story's value. We've grown to believe the best reader service is to delete the piece entirely.
"I regret we didn't move on this more quickly, as evidence continued to emerge debunking the vaccines and autism link," says former Salon editor in chief Joan Walsh, now editor at large. "But continued revelations of the flaws and even fraud tainting the science behind the connection make taking down the story the right thing to do." The story's original URL now links to our autism topics page, which we believe now offers a strong record of clear thinking and skeptical coverage we're proud of -- including the critical pursuit of others who continue to propagate the debunked, and dangerous, autism-vaccine link.
My issues with immunizations isn't the thimerosal in vaccines but the number of vaccinations given to children at such a young age.
For instance, why are children given Hep B vaccinations when the most common cause of transmission is sexual contact, IV drug use and/or contaminated blood transfusions.
When I was a child, most children were given vaccinations for about 16 conditions. Now that number is over 35. Many of the additional vaccinations are for non life threatening illnesses.I still believe that too many vaccinations are given to children. What impact that has on them, I don't know. But my common sense tells me that your immune system is just like any muscle, you need to work it out for it to be effective later.
But hey I just watch what the health professionals do. Where the Lovely Mrs. Gekko works they've had mandatory flu shots, yet few people actually got them. This year, the hospital's internal health staff walked to each floor and gave a shot right then and there. If you had no documentation as to why you should be exempt, you either got the shot or were fired.
Now if people in the health world are resisting these things, why do we push them on children.
On another note. I wonder when we can expect the media to start retracting their bogus global warming stories when they find out the science is totally bogus?
Question of the day
When the following people were assassinated (MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcolm X, John Lennon), who were the popular right wing, hate spewing, talk radio personalities at the time?
I think we can make the case that Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck have reduced political violence.......
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Antonio Cromartie trying to remember his kids
Bears
But I broke down today and watched the Bears throttle Seattle setting up a classic showdown with the Packers next week.
Then I finished off the day watching the Patriots and Jets go at it. Unfortunately, I was rooting for an ebola virus to break out in the johns in the hope that it waste both teams and their fans. That didn't happen but option #2 did happen. Tom Brady will have to go back to one of his knocked up super models after the Jets put it to them.
Now if the Jets can just get that ebola outbreak at their training facility this week, I'll be happy.
Life in "Progress" City - Detroit edition
Detroit was once America's fourth largest city, though today large sections of its inner core are abandoned to the elements, and monuments like Michigan Central Station are returning to dust. Another emblem of civic decline is a plan to desert nearly half of Detroit's public schools so that it can afford to fulfill its teachers union contract.
The school district is facing a $327 million deficit and has already closed 59 schools over the last two years to [save operating funds]... the district [could have to] close another 70 of its remaining 142 schools to save $31.3 million through 2013.
Under the emergency plan, ... high-school class sizes would increase to 62 by 2014 [and under union contracts] the district must pay [teacher] bonuses for class enrollment over 35, thus imposing some $11.1 million in new costs through 2014... Note that this dispensation carries about the same price tag as the school abandonment windfall: In other words, Detroit may end up destroying serviceable capital assets so it can pay its public workers more over the short term.
...The budget gap is partly due to the property tax revenue collapse as the Motor City crumbles, as well as financial mismanagement and a surge in pay and benefits for public employees. The Mackinac Center, a state think tank, reports that average Michigan teacher salaries outpaced those of all other states from 2003 to 2009, when adjusted for state per capita income as a proxy for the local ability to pay.
This article over at the Wall Street Journal fails to mention one very important fact. Many of these future illiterates will be well read enough to go to Sarah Palin's website, see the target areas she's highlighted and then assassinate the appropriate representative.
More......
Life in "Progress" City - Camden NJ edition
Yet another crisis is upon this burdened city, among the most impoverished and crime-ridden in the country.
I have a question. How could the "quality of life" be any worse than half a city in poverty?Deep layoffs of city workers go into effect on Tuesday - cutting up to 383 jobs, or one-fourth of the city's employees.
The exact number depends on whether public workers' unions make last-minute concessions. In any case, the cuts are likely to be deep - and could be a blow to the quality of life in a city where more than half the 80,000 residents, mostly black and Hispanic, live in poverty.
The saddest part of all of this is that do you think you could get the residents of this city to support a conservative despite the dire living conditions?
I'm sure that the state of Camden is some sort of racist plot perpetrated by racist tea partiers.
More......