In the several decades I’ve been helping out protecting our environment, I have yet to hear a single person who genuinely obtains significant environmental protection (not just talks about it or merely works to do so) call themselves an “Environmentalist.”
The real heroes doing the heavy lifting year after year like Tim Hermach, Kieran Suckling and Peter Galvin, and Jim Bensman and their myriad colleagues never say anything like that (and I’ve certainly never claimed to be one.)
Lets review those who had a serious role in Monterey County’s Collins Scandal about the Regional Desalination Project.
This does not necessarily mean they are guilty of a crime, but each benefited from and were getting paid as either a government official or a contractor.
MCWRA’s Steve Collins
1. Steve Collins, Director MCWRA – Billed, and was paid by, a benefiting private company (RMC) for his time acting as government official. This violated California Law: Government Code Sec. 1090. Formed a business entity called “CollinsWeeks Consulting LLC” on January 4, 2010 intending to get a contract to manage the regional desalination project. (Paid some $160,000 so far)
2. Lyndel Melton, RMC, Principal (Consulting) – $28 million dollar financial windfall from and fore-knowledge of Collins’ Violations of Law. Obtained contract to Manage Regional Desalination project. (Billed for ~ half a million dollars, but hasn’t been paid yet.)
3. Robert MacLean, President Cal-Am Water Company – financial benefit of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars from; and knew, or should have known of Collins‘ Violations of Law.
Monterey County Supervisor Lou Calcagno
4. Lou Calcagno, County Supervisor – Cited as one of the two “prime movers for bringing Collins into his integral role on the water project.” Calcagno called Collins in early January 2010 to close the Regional Water Project deal.Began meeting with Collins in January 2010. Collins said he took directions from Supervisors Lou Calcagno and Dave Potter and that Calcagno was the “main handler.” Collins claims Calcagno repeatedly assured him that his simultaneous for-profit and government roles on the same subject were legal.
Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter
5. Dave Potter, County Supervisor– Began meeting with Collins in February 2010. Cited as one of the two “prime movers for bringing Collins into his integral role on the water project.” Called in January 2010 urging Collins “to work on the water project.”
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Reading a Herald headline today I’m not the only one who couldn’t help laughing — “Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter named desal ‘watchdog.'” Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter
My my my – that is uhhh . . . “interesting.”
Or to put it accurately “The Fox has Been Voted into ChickenHouse.” The only person less appropriate than Potter would be Collins himself, but he’s um… under a bit of a cloud lately (had to hire a criminal defense lawyer).
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Its the 21rst century and greedy, avaricious logging beasts still insist on destroying California’s few remaining forests for money.
You can help stop this fundamental harm – click here
http://www.pelicannetwork.net/stopclearcut.htm
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What do you do when a police officer lies to the court?
You and hundreds of other innocent people go to jail for decades, until his conscience catches up with him.
“Former cop says his lies sent people to prison”
Of course he’s the only police officer who ever lied to a court. Right?
Here’s an eye opening science research article that found putting Duct tape on a wart removes a wart more often than the standard dermatology practice of freezing a wart with liquid Nitrogen.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12361440
I was mildly surprised to read this article — “Dozens of countries queue up to go nuclear.” Here are my reflections on the three eye-opening, mind searing ideas I’ve learned about nuclear power – dangerous water boiling with no disposal.
1. Water Boiling:
Nuclear Power is a darned dangerous way to boil water.
That’s all a nuclear power plant does – boil water. There are many cheaper, safer ways to boil water. Nuclear power plants are not just expensive to build – they are “extremely expensive to build” – even though they use relatively low cost fuels. (“In general, coal and nuclear plants have the same types of operating costs (operations and maintenance plus fuel costs). However, nuclear has lower fuel costs but higher operating and maintenance costs.”)
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And I thought dancing was a benign activity. Dancer Choked by DC Park (Dark) Police
Not according to the Washington DC Park Police – who body slammed a dancer to the marble floor and grabbed his neck (I’m not kidding) for what ? — merely dancing silently (not a peep of music) at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC.
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Google Earth has a formal “benchmark” named “Point Sur” on top of a mountain some 3 miles North of the genuine Point Sur. I tried to notify them to correct it – but to communicate with them, Google Earth requires you to get a Gmail account – which I refuse.
Google’s systematic megalo-privacy invasion mission directly violates their fictitious “Don’t be evil” motto.
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Indomitable Glorious Grace Darcy
The extraordinary, inspiring, dear, encouraging and inimitable Grace Darcy died this past weekend after a huge and successful life.
Always kind, caring, thoughtful and humble; she brought her name to life with those people, animals and places whose lives she touched. Born in New York, she moved here in 1972 and lived independently in a beautiful, remote Carmel Valley canyon up a steep tire-chomping dirt road until the age of 87 – a year ago.
Carmel Valley Women’s Network: Grace is front row, 2nd from right (Red blouse)
Grace founded the fabulous Carmel Valley Women’s Network and fearlessly edited and published their “take no prisoners” Carmel Valley Uproar (Issue 1 was in September 2002, headlined “Save Rippling River”).
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Landmark News !
This morning a panel of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), changed their position declaring now that Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields (of cell-phones and by association WiFi, cordless phones and Smartmeters) can possibly cause a malignant type of Brain Cancer. The formal classification is “2B.”
“Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, a newsletter that focuses on nonionizing radiation, said in an e-mail that the fact that the W.H.O.’s cancer panel had expressed concern had the potential to change the debate about the health risks of cellphones. “It’s a wake-up call for the telecom industry and for the U.S. government to take cellphone radiation seriously,” he said. “The first step should be limiting the use of cellphones by children.”
Update ! – Japan admits three nuclear reactors (numbers 1, 2 and 3) reached Full meltdown !
While most major news media have ignored it, (particularly television) this website and others have been tracking evidence that there was a nuclear reactor meltdown at Fukushima. Saturday May 14th Japanese officials confirmed, and World Nuclear News reported, that Unit 1 at Fukushima’s Daiichi Plant did experience a nuclear meltdown – probably on the same day the earthquake struck.
The oddest thing about this news is that while a nuclear meltdown (which is an extremely serious landmark) was predicted by independent experts and denied by the industry – almost no major US media have reported it, or if they mentioned it – they buried it or obscured in their articles. There is not a single headline announcing that the nuclear meltdown occurred.
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While almost everyone else celebrated Earth Day on April 22, — who wrote a bitter editorial condemning one of the best environmental protection laws?
(Even BP (Gulf Oil Spill), Chevron and Monsanto tried to pretend they care about our environment with their deceptive ads aimed at elected officials.)
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There are three alarming things observed at Fukoshima, that aren’t getting much US media attention: Blue Flashes, 13 separate Neutron emission detections and radioactive Chlorine.
Radioactive Warning
Ever seen a sign saying “Loitering Forbidden by Law?”
No-Loitering Sign – Violates Our Rights
Intimidating right?
Well that’s the intent. Property owners and police prefer that you don’t hang around.
You might be surprised to learn You have a Constitutional Right to Loiter – that those property owners hope you don’t understand.
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Here’s an article explaining how ATT wants the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to set a timeline to halt use of wired phones.
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It appears the radioactive fallout from the multiple nuclear plant failures will continue leaking for months. Radioactive Warning
Japan nuclear plant could continue to release dangerous radiation for several months
Another article gives a good overview and map of the leaks.
It also seems that the media are fed up with the Japanese government and the Electric Company officials who insist upon “saving” the truth for later.
Bicycles are a fabulous invention; one of the best ever. Right up there with fire and the USB connector.
Best Bike Seat Ever?
Transportation made easy, fast and cheap. Plus you stay in healthy shape without realizing that you are exercising.
But (no pun intended) what is the huge drawback to bicycles? If you’ve ever taken a long ride – say over an hour or so – what is your biggest complaint?
Right – the seats are awful. Some would say excruciating. They seem almost intentionally painful. They put all your weight on your crotch – on a piece of stretched leather (if you are clever you added a gel-covered seat). And if either foot ever slips off a pedal – what is the result ? the “seat’s nose” (or the top tube) slams into one of your most favorite sensitive places. Aughhh !
(There’s a rumor that Cheney and Rumsfield ordered GiTMO detainees to ride 10-speed bikes 3 hours a day just so they would have to endure bike seats.)
OK I’m kidding, however, The New York Times caught my attention with an article “Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life by Sandra Blakeslee“.
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Do you understand the nuclear radioactivity levels resulting from the Japanese nuclear plant crisis? Radioactive Warning
Can you figure out how much radioactivity is dangerous?
This article explains the three major ways radioactivity is measured, to help you compare the numbers reported by the media – so you can make up your own mind whether the amount of radioactive material leakage is dangerous.
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Curies, Becquerels, Grays, Sieverts, rad, rem, roentgen . . . Radiation Chart
Click twice to see chart full-size
Can you explain the meaning of nuclear radiation levels from the Japanese nuclear meltdown crisis?
Can you figure out how much radioactivity is dangerous?
This article explains the three major ways radioactivity is measured, and helps you compare the amounts of radioactivity reported – so you can make up your own mind whether the amount of radioactive material leakage is dangerous.