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Open thread
- By Phillip Brownlee
- Posted Jan. 31, 2007 at 1:05 a.m.
- Filed under Open thread
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64 Comments
Congratulations to citizens of Colwich on loudly saying “No, we don’t want it” last night to the proposed expansion of Abengoa’s existing ETHANOL manufacturing plant.
On an immediate basis, the existing plant spews unbreathable and dangerous air pollutants that can be smelled even in west Wichita.
Additionally, the proposed plant will take huge amounts of water from Cheney Lake, one of the two major sources of Wichita’s drinking water.
What a hoot!
On the one hand – we have enviro-wackos throwing up roadblocks for any fossil fuel refinery, but when an alternative form of energy comes along – the crybabies come out against it, too.
ROFL – these folks DESERVE to see $10 a gallon at the pumps and no natural gas to heat their homes.
They want the benefits – they want them cheaply – but they don’t want to do what is necessary to have them.
Me, me, me, Americans. lol
Let’s see…
Don’t use gas, it comes from the middle east.
Don’t build nuclear plants, they are scary.
Don’t use wind energy, they pollute the landscape.
Don’t use coal, it is dirty.
Don’t use ethanol..or at least don’t build the plant in MY state.
Don’t use geothermal, that is bad for the environment.
Don’t use hydroelectricy since dams are bad for everything.
Yep….sure leaves lots of choices. Back to the stone age, maybe? Then would the Al Gore followers be happy?
It all comes down to anti-capitalism.
Almost forgot…
don’t drill for oil in this country, it is a bad thing.
The Religion of Peace strikes again.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1249593,00.html
If we could get Colorado to give us our river back, then maybe we could afford the water for ethanol. ‘Course, then what would Colorado do without that water?
Just because a source of energy is “renewable” at a certain quantity doesn’t mean that when we scale up production to replace gasoline (and alcohol is not as efficient as gasoline for internal combustion engines, although it provides great power) that the resource will be renewable at that level. It’s like trees. If we plant what we cut, and rotate out, at a certain level it is sustainable, but only until demand supercedes the level at which we can replenish.
At present, most “alternative energies” are nothing but a political dog and pony show, where a lot of them require more energy to produce than we get back out of them. Wind energy is probably the least guilty of these, but people don’t like the towers. I always thought they looked neat. If I could afford a wind generator and could get a tower permit, I’d buy one to power my house, and sell the extra electricity to Westar. Only during the dead of winter and the hottest part of summer would I not more than break even.
It’s not that people don’t like the idea of alternative energy, it’s just that the whole energy structure is so full of BS, saying “this won’t pollute” and then dumping a bajillion tons of particulates into everyones’ yards/soil/air/groundwater. A major manufacturer of sodium hydroxide in the area (which shall remain nameless, but they are on Ridge Road) has so contaminated the groundwater by stirring up the water table, my well is unusable and gives only tan garbage. Might settle eventually.
People want to be CONVINCED there is no ecological impact–and for some reason, they don’t trust politicos to do the convincing.
Here, blog Libs. Go crazy.
“Obama has a 95 percent liberal rating from Americans for Democratic Reform, a liberal advocacy group that ranks all members of Congress. Yet he is often portrayed as a centrist.
“His record is liberal, and his rhetoric is moderate,” explained Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.”
To my fellow bloggers and readers if I have any. yesterday Mrs. Writerdog had emergency quad by-pass surgery for four blockages to the heart. This was a surprise as she was not thought to be having heart problems. She came through the surgery and it went well, but it will be a long road ahead and will be my attention for times unknown.
When the time comes that I can spare some attention I will come back to give my opinions such at they are.Until then keep an eye of the world for me and I will give updates as they come.Until we meet again.WD.
WD- Voya con Dios!
All the best to you and yours!.
Gary
Good luck to you and the wife, Dog. Our prayers will be with you. Stay strong!
The larger picture:
*The price of corn at the super market will skyrocket.
*Archer Daniels Midland will love more corporate welfare
*Switchgrass or Hemp could be used not food items. Industrial hemp was fine in the 40’s why not now? Special interests are leading us by the nose so isn’t it time we demand better?
*Some keys to reducing the need for foreign oil is:+ fuel efficient autos+ stop useless fuel consumption+ walk and bike at every opportunity+ How much longer is anyone willing to allow a mideast stranglehold on our economy? It’s in your hands!
Good luck WD. Having had heart surgery (but of a different kind) I am AMAZED at the wonderful job the surgeons, nurses, etc do. I’m sure she will be OK.
Best wishes and God bless, writerdog.
WD, hang in there; Mrs. WD will be fine, I’m sure, in the long run. We will miss your posts for the short run, but I feel sure it will not be long until you are back, in full “baying” voice! :-)
I’m so sorry to hear that writerdog. Hope she makes a speedy recovery.
How bad is it snowing in Wichita folks? Cuz it’s really coming down here!
It’s coming down – Perfect skiing weather!!!
I’m busy planning a trip to Winter Park!
Writerdog,So sorry about the wife’s health problems! So glad she came out of surgery ok and hope that she continues to good health. She’ll be in our prayers.
Barack Obama is a liberal but he gets the centrist label because he has been known to be a compromiser across party lines to get things actually accomplished. I’m originally from Illinois and that was the case of Obama’s time in Illinois politics. I think Obama is sincere in his ideas but he is willing to listen to other points of view and then compromises.
And if Obama strikes the chord with the American voters that he is bipartisan, in actions and not just words, then Obama might just be the one the voters will be drawn to in the big picture.
writerdog,
I’m keeping both you and the mrs. in my thoughts and prayers. I’m so glad they were able to help her. May she have a speedy and easy recovering.
postal,
I have friends who live on Tyler near the plant you mentioned, if indeed we’re thinking of the same one. They drink and cook with bottled water. Supposedly, the water is supposed to be safe (it’s tested quite often), but my friends don’t trust the testers. ;)
When DeBruce blew several years ago, they were certain it was the chemical plant.
Wow, writerdog, so sorry to hear about the Mrs. !!!
Please give her my best and tell her to DO AS THE DOCS SAY!!!
And take care of yourself too, writerdog. The caretaker needs care as well.
…and on another note, this one about the cartoon in the on-line paper today….
Crowson, will you marry me? :)
Writerdog, You will be an excellent caregiver to the Mrs. So glad she and her doctor(s) caught it in time to do the surgery and that she is doing well. We’ll hold your place at the table.
Meanwhile, staying the course …
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/breaking_news/16582949.htm
U.S. may have botched training of IraqisLAURIE KELLMANAssociated PressWASHINGTON – Training the police is as important to stabilizing Iraq as standing up an army there, but the United States has botched the job by assigning the wrong agencies to the task, two members of the Iraq Study Group say.
“The police training system has not gone well,” former Rep. Lee Hamilton, who co-chaired the bipartisan commission, said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was joined in his statements by another member of the study group, Edwin Meese III, who was attorney general during the Reagan administration.
The U.S. erred by first assigning the task of shaping the judicial system in a largely lawless country to the State Department and private contractors who “did not have the expertise or the manpower to get the job done,” Hamilton and Meese said in testimony obtained by The Associated Press.
In 2004, the mission was assigned to the Defense Department, which devoted more money to the task. But department officials also were insufficiently trained for the job, Hamilton and Meese said.
As a result, Iraq has little if any on-the-street law enforcement personnel or a functioning judicial system free of corruption, they said.
more …
First and most importantly, best wishes and prayers for Mrs. WriterDog.
Multiple choice quiz:
I’m for _______________.(a) Curbing GCC through alternative energy programs.*(b) Amnesty for illegal aliens.*(c) Integration/Diversity.*(d) Pro-Life.*(e) Raising the minimum wage.*(f) Stricter gun control.*(g) “Faith-based” health care.*(h) PETA*(i) Anti-Death Penalty*(j) More money for multi-racial and/or older “problem” children foster care.*(h) “Scortino’s Folly” Arena.*(j) Anti-pesticide, strictly organic agriculture.*(k) Universal smoking bans.*(l) Tax & Spend economic policy.*(m) All of the above. *
* NIMBY QUALIFIED, OF COURSE.
I actually live southwest of the aforementioned business entity. The cause of our water malaise is not contamination (vis a vis chemical additives) but water table disturbance during rampant “injection mining” to remove salt deposits from underground. This was supposed to not have an ecological impact, but it had two. #1, the water table is now commingled with tons of sediment and sugar sand.#2. Big. Frickin. Sinkhole. There is now a brush dump in that location, and for years they never had to burn because the piles would just “sink.”
The land used to be in the family, but was leased to the “enterprise” and they refused to give it back because of how bad they jacked it up. It got donated to a small town for use as the aforementioned brush dump.
Vague as possible to avoid being called a “defamer.” Even though I am telling the gospel truth.
a – yesb – somewhere in between (probably close to Bush)c – yes, but not reverse discriminationd – yes, but also pro-choicee – yesf – somewhat – licensing to keep away from crooksg – ?h – not muchi – noj – yesh (again) – absolutely not (Sciortine)j – nok – nol – better than borrow-and-spendm – no
Ben: You know, as well as I do, that was nothing but satire. The fifteen questions could have been anything. The last line was the only important statement (beside the wishes and prayers for Mrs. WD). It’s the NIMBY attitude that pisses me off … typical of the citizen outrage in Colwich exhibited last night. (And the mis-spelling of that twit Sciortino’s name was not intentional, just a Freudian slip exhibiting my low opinion of him.)
rm – there were other site-specific issues in Colwich.
I favor Walmart but also think they should have restrictions; both in terms of location (NIMBY) and store design.These are legitimate concerns.
Wasn’t the issue in colwich more that the one road going to the plant couldn’t handle the traffic?
Ben: I still think you’re reading way too much specificity in there. I’m talking about all the people who espouse whatever their cause du jour may be, as long as doing something about it doesn’t affect them directly, i.e., the wind power project off of Cape Cod that went south because so many people (lead by Ted Kennedy between drinks) complained it would ruin their view of the horizon looking out toward the ocean on Nantucket Island.
Writerdog,WHAT FARM GAL SAID!
rm – wind. I am not really familiar with the wind issue at Cape Cod but am familiar with Kansas wind. While there are some of us who want to ‘redline’ parts of the Flint Hills “viewshed” we see tremendous potential. The really good wind is in the western part of the state and development is finally taking off there.
As you know, I am an advocate of alternative power – nuclear, wind, solar, bio, etc. Also efficiency and conservation. The key is to do it right.
All of our Nations societal ills are capsulized in a single place.That place is in today’s Obit page, by one LaToya N. Phillips.
Sanford-I don’t quite get it, but I’m still LTMQ.
Yes, I agree that every one of the “weapons in the arsenal” should be investigated, and, if feasible, used. But, the NIMBY’s, who have called me every name in the book for having interests in a handful of stripper wells, don’t want anything done in their neighborhood, because it might cause more traffic, or hinder their view, or whatever. BTW, the only reason I know about the Cape Cod/Nantucket incident is because a friend of mine lives there, and is quite environmentally concerned, and after some company had already come in there and spent a few million on feasibility studies etc., Ted and his NIMBY neighbors put the ax to it.
Also, if the United States, Canada, Western Europe& Australia (the civilized Western world + China and Japan were to go all out fighting GCC, what are we going to about the broke remnants of the USSR, third world countries in the far east, Africa, and the Near East? The Middle East hates us, so they’re not going to be a party to anything. It sounds like pissing in the ocean trying to raise the water level.
rm – I frequently find myself at odds with my environmentalist friends; however I have also been fairly successful at swaying at least some of them. They know I am an “enviro” but am also a scientist. So, they know that wherever the science forces me is where I go. (note especially nuclear)
I think I would try to start with the industrialized world (that is where PER-CAPITA is so high) and then quickly go to the “industrializing” world – notably China and India. USSR – boy that one is a mess in so many ways.
One real quandry is this: how to get nuclear in “Lower Elbonia” without it turning into either a bomb of an explosion.
All my hopes writer dog….
Ben: I heard that the “globes” that we had as kids 50 years ago are going for as much as several hundred dollars in good shape. Of course, they got thrown out somewhere along the way, along with our metal cars and trucks, Hopalong Cassidy bicycles, Gene Aurtry six-guns, et al.
I bought a new shower curtain about 6 months ago with a map of the world on it, and I find new countries I’ve never heard of every time I take a shower. ;-)
I should scour my attic and basement
…feels empathy for all the corn mash stills in the Ozark and the moonshine people arrested…wonders if de-natured alcohol can be sold on Sundays…:-)…
Vaughn has a great story about trying to explain what a slide rule is and how it is used to his daughters one night. It is LOLF.
The Leader of you people is going to raise the toll on a turnpike that was paid for several years ago.
“Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said today she wants to increase Kansas Turnpike tolls to help eliminate a $727 million maintenance backlog at the state’s seven state universities.”
Daddy, how do you “dial” a phone?
Get back to the Libby – Iraq threads, Fleet Snorter, and answer the questions – you insult the lefties, but you can’t own up to your own statements.
In the words of your hero, GWB, “Bring it on!”
Fleet Snorter?Are we back to the insults, faggott?
rm – I still have a good bamboo slide rule in my desk at home
Answer the questions, Fleet Snorter.
And the faggot line – Junior High School.
I am fifty-four, with three children and XXX former wives and girlfriends.
But nice try anyway.
Maybe they need a consultant to count the consultants …
County says list of consultants will take another weekThe list of consultants that Sedgwick County Commissioner Gwen Welshimer asked for last week will take at least another week to prepare, County manager Bill Buchanan said today.
Welshimer asked for a list of all consultants the county has hired in the past two years and how much they were paid.
She has said the public is frustrated with the number of consultants the county hires.
County finance director Chris Chronis said that the county’s accounting system does not have a separate category for consultants, so it will take time for staff to sift through the books to organize a complete list.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Eagle for more information.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/breaking_news/16589450.htm
Yep, I’ve got one too! And I can convert polar notations on it faster than my boy can with his HP.
It never needed a battery in an exam either!
Hank
Hank – I remember when calculators were still new on the scene. The rich kids had them but not the other ones. For a while calculators were not allowed in chem exams for that reason.
By the way – I was a REAL sponsor of school prayer – every time I gave a chem test!
OK, guys, here’s one more on the slide rule: I’ve not looked in the last 2 years, but at that time, the use of a slide rule was still prohibited on the SAT (and I believe the ACT, as well), even though the use of graphing calculators w/o alpha keyboards is permitted. Go figure!
Molly Ivins died today. How sad, I always loved her opinions.
We have Molly to thank for coining the moniker “Dubya” for our great president.
Thanks, Molly – RIP
Molly is dead. That is too bad. She was funny.
I always loved Molly’s work.
She experienced and reported on the disaster that is bush before anyone else.Too bad she will not see the day he is out of office.
The editors are hereby shamed for not sharing Ivins with us more often. Instead we get that Cal Thomas crap.
Cal Thomas crap. That has a nice ring to it. Did ya ever notice how much he and Tim Shallenberger look alike?Separated at birth maybe?
Thomas shaved the cheesy moustache.
Did he ditch the shinola for his hair? Can’t tell from the pic.
I remember when electric adding machines were considered the latest thing. When you wanted to multiply, you hit the number key, and then the plus key–or pulled the lever on a non-electric–however many times you wanted to multiply it. I never did figure out if it could divide.
Fleet: IIRC, the Kansas Turnpike opened in 1957, and it was to become a “free” interstate highway in 20 years. I remember my father saying, at the time, that it would never bee a “free” highway. So, it’s been 30 years now, since it has been paid for, and now, or 50 years since it opened, and they’re going to raise rates again. Incidentally, I remember also that you could go from South Haven to Kansas City for less than $3 when it in the early 60’s.
You don’t suppose that will happen with the “arena tax” do you? I’m giving 3:1, if anybody is a gambler. :)
Molly was also the first to call GW “shrub.” She always gave those Texas politicians hell.WD,Sorry your wife is sick but I’m glad they caught it before she had a MI. I’ll keep you both in my prayers.
I don’t think I caught the answer to this question, JR: The 401(k) that you redeemed, was it invested in stocks and/or bonds of American corporations?
rm6046: The arena tax might eventually stop but a multitude of additional charges will continue on forever:
1) Operational costs that arena income can’t possibly cover, such as for electrical power and natural gas for heating and air conditioning, management costs, maintenance costs, changing floors for events, etc., etc.
2) Gigantic salaries of politicians such as Tom Winters and David Unruh whose only function is spinning and dancing the arena into being “for the people.”
3) Salaries of the quasi-governmental people who actually get their income indirectly from city and county government and whose only function is to promote and spin the arena.
4) Off-budget costs of new streets, storm and sanitary sewers and water lines(millions of dollars so far), and other infrastructure needs.
5) Lost taxes for displacement of businesses in the area.
6) Many other costs which I am too busy to delineate now.