NobleCommentDecider's Blog

McCain's 13 Bedroom, 14.5 Bathroom, 10 Fireplace (In Phoenix??), Former Crib for 20 Years on Sale for $5.9 Million

2009-11-23T19:53:08Z

The house was built by the rich parents of his wife Cindy in 1951, and war hero John McCain must have liked the place because he and Cindy moved into the residence in 1986 and lived there (when he wasn't in one of his other four to seven homes that he isn't sure he owns) for 20 years.

Who said McCain doesn't savvy economics? Moving into your in-laws multi-million hacienda is sure one good economic decision.

Oh, it also has two guest homes, a seven car garage and a resort style pool and spa. Realtor contact at the link above for those who are in that elite club, the upper 1/2 of 1% .

Who is More Macho? Obama Appointee Fights Reagan Appt'd Republican Judge's Federal Court Order To Cover Gay Families Paid For Federal Health Insurance

2009-11-20T03:27:34Z

The couple was legally married in California beore the recent repeal of the same sex marriage law, and the federal employee works at the San Francisco Court. She has been paying the monthly cost to cover all three family members although the federal personnel office will cover only two, the employee and her son.

He told the agency to let Karen Golinski, a staff attorney at the court's headquarters in San Francisco, enroll her wife, Amy Cunninghis, in the family health plan that already covers their 6-year-old son.

He also ordered court officials to reimburse Golinski for the costs of buying insurance for Cunninghis since she applied for coverage in September 2008. That coverage now costs $429 a month, Golinski's lawyer said.

...The Office of Personnel Management and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Obama has said the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be repealed, but his administration is defending it in court. SF Chronicle link

Somebody tell Obama he is the Decider, and the Republicans can't do much worse to him then call him what they have already, and anyway HE COULD JUST COVER THE COUPLE AND BLAME IT ON THE RONALD REAGAN APPOINTED JUDGE!!

Fox News-More Inadvertent Broadcasts of Fake News, They Use 2008 Campaign Video to Hype the Base about Palin Book Tour

2009-11-19T04:13:17Z

Think Progress:

This afternoon, Fox News host Gregg Jarrett proudly announced that Sarah Palin is "continuing to draw huge crowds while she's promoting her brand new book. Take a look at -- these are some of the pictures just coming into us." But the pictures that the network chose to display on-air appeared to be old file footage of Palin rallies from the 2008 presidential campaign. Individuals in the crowd are seen holding McCain/Palin signs, and others are holding pom-poms and cheering wildly. "There's a crowd of folks," an enthused Jarrett observed, referring to the old footage.

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/images/item/palin-hapnow-1.jpg

Image from Media Matters, from Fox News broadcast today..

Note the McCain campaign signs and the Country First signs. Fox News-Its called brainwashing and lies!

The Fire at Meena Bazaar

2009-10-28T15:51:24Z

Just minutes before the market hummed with the activity of late afternoon shoppers, mostly women and small children, the exotic scents of curry and spices from the food stalls wafting through the air as the day was drawing towards evening. October was a time to get out after the heat of summer, for even in the afternoon it was tolerably cool in the low altitude desert city. Winter was approaching but had not yet arrived. This was the old section of Peshawar, where the streets are narrow and people are packed in densely. Then came the flash, the detonation of hundreds of pounds of explosives, bodies were blown apart, burned and buried under collapsed buildings.

The attack, killed at least 96 persons, and injured scores more people, was the deadliest to hit Pakistan this year.

'Doctors at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital said most of the dead were women and children, as a routine day out shopping in the city's main bazaar ended in horror....Doctor Muslim Khan said: "There are body parts. There are people. There are burnt people. There are dead bodies. There are wounded." '

'Three hours after the explosion, people were still trying to dig bodies and survivors out of the rubble, witnesses said, and white smoke wreathed the wrecked buildings.'

Where do the Taliban terrorists get the money to buy vehicles, explosives, petrol, and to train suicide bombers? Some comes from bribes paid by contractors carrying fuel or other supplies across the mountains to NATO forces in Afghanistan.

' "If you want to get through the mountain passes, you fight or you pay." Like most contractors interviewed for this article, he preferred to remain anonymous because the U.S. and NATO have understandably strict rules about paying bribes to the Taliban' link

Many drivers and contractors do not pay the Taliban, as was recently the case in Kunduz where two drivers were beheaded and their trucks taken, later that night German commanders called in an air strike on a tanker caught in a river bed, in a controversial incident that killed many civilians seeking free fuel from the Taliban, along with many Taliban hijackers.

'Figures released to TIME by NATO showed that from June to September, more than 145 truck drivers and guards were killed in attacks on convoys and 123 vehicles were destroyed.'

The India Times reports that in the war that George W. Bush started over eight years ago:

'The popular perception is that Pakistan is fighting the US war against terror. Many people in the lawless North West Frontier Province say Pakistan has been sold to the US piece by piece. Under coercion, they argue, Pakistan has started a war that has consumed its economy, national security, and has torn apart its social fabric.'

The Bush administration in 8 years of neglect accomplished nothing but the installation of a corrupt government in Kabul and a poorly planned and resourced occupation of the country that has served to increase recruitment and funding for violent extremists. How stability can be achieved, if even possible with the US military presence in Afghanistan, and how to end the killing is the primary reason that the Obama administration is taking its time to figure out a new direction for policy in the region.

Seymour Hersh: "Military Waging War with White House", "Want Obama To Fail"

2009-10-21T02:04:36Z

From the Durham, North Carolina Herald Sun:

A lot of people in the Pentagon would like to see him get into trouble," he said. By leaking information that the commanding officer in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, says the war would be lost without an additional 40,000 American troops, top brass have put Obama in a no-win situation, Hersh contended.

"If he gives them the extra troops they're asking for, he loses politically," Hersh said. "And if he doesn't give them the troops, he also loses politically."

...The only way for the U.S. to extricate itself from the conflict, Hersh said, is to negotiate with the Taliban.

"It's the only way out," he said. "I know that there's a lot of discussion in the White House about this now. But Obama is going to have to take charge, and there's no evidence he's going to do that."

Hersh continues to say that policy towards Russia and Iran have improved under Obama.

Fox News Poll Evidence Fox is Nothing But GOP Affiliated Brainwashers, as the White House Suggests

2009-10-19T20:25:30Z

Why is the White House Still Attacking Fox News?

The White House escalated its offensive against Fox News on Sunday by urging other news organizations to stop "following Fox" and instead join the administration's attempt to marginalize the channel.

The White House is still attacking Fox News, 10 days after its original comments. Why?

They want to shoot the messenger
They don't have a good case to make
They confuse News and Opinion
I don't know

....no choice, because the White House is telling the truth?

link to the foxnews poll

Obama/Clinton Ending Bush Era Munich-Like Appeasement of Pakistan and its Military/ISI Warlords-This is Real Change

2009-10-07T23:37:53Z

Finally an end to the Bush era Munich like appeasement of the Pakistani defense establishment and warlords. And they are squealing about it, and likely missing George W. Bush and his weak and incompetent administration.

Pakistan's military is complaining about the Democratic Congress and Obama administration ending the 'blank check' policy of the Bush administration, and the blind support of the often corrupt military establishment and their violations of the Pakistan's Constitution and law. Democrats are demanding actual accountability in the planned US multi-billion dollar aid to the country. Unlike the Bush administration which kept track of hardly anything sent into the region, be it weapons and bundles of $100 bills in Iraq or aid in Pakistan, the Obama aid legislation has new standards.

There were reports as late as 2007 that aid sent by the Bush administration went to a Pakistani military without safeguards when it was known elements of the miltary/ISI were working with and funding the Taliban. It was also likely under Bush that Musharraf used the money to bolster his own image and pocketbook:

Perez Musharraf, a Washington ally, served as both chief of staff and president, making it easier to divert money intended for the military to bolster his sagging image at home through economic subsidies.

The Obama administration is ending the wishful thinking and delusional policies of Bush in regard to the region. In April, 2009 Hillary Clinton said:

"I want to take this occasion in this public forum to state unequivocally that not only do the Pakistani government officials, but the Pakistani people . . . need to speak out forcefully against a policy that is ceding more and more territory to the insurgents, to the Taliban, to al Qaida," Clinton told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs....

NYT October 7 2009:

The legislation passed by Congress last week gives Pakistan $1.5 billion over the next year for the Zardari government to build roads, schools and other infrastructure, a gesture intended to shore up the weak civilian government and turn around the widespread antipathy toward the United States among Pakistanis.

Instead, the aid package has served to widen the distrust between the powerful military and the civilian government, even though the new aid comes in addition to America's aid to the Pakistani military, which had totaled more than $10 billion since 2001.

Where's the beef? The accountability section of the legislation S-962 :

Certification- The certification required by this subsection is a certification to the appropriate congressional committees by the Secretary of State, after consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, that the security forces of Pakistan--

(1) are making concerted efforts to prevent al Qaeda and associated terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, from operating in the territory of Pakistan;

(2) are making concerted efforts to prevent the Taliban and associated militant groups from using the territory of Pakistan as a sanctuary from which to launch attacks within Afghanistan; and

(3) are not materially interfering in the political or judicial processes of Pakistan.

The Obama administration is asking Pakistan to crack down on the terrorist organization responsible for the recent attack in Mumbai:

The generals were specifically infuriated by mention of Quetta, which the Obama administration says is a base for Taliban who fight American forces in Afghanistan, and of Muridke, which is a well known base for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group formed two decades ago by the Pakistani government to fight India.

The United States and India say Lashkar was behind the attacks in India's financial capital, Mumbai, last November that killed 163 people.

This is real change and change that is long overdue as Pakistan is serving as the major sanctuary for terrorists in the region, and it is long overdue for the US to stop sending blank checks to a country that thinks it is a violation of their sovereignty to demand action against known terror organizations on their soil, or risk losing military or other aid.

ITS ABOUT TIME!

Homeless White Woman Gunned Down in Hate Crime on Streets of Phoenix, Arizona

2009-10-04T02:07:30Z

A gunman opened fire on a 39-year-old woman and her friend early Saturday morning in what Phoenix police are calling a possible hate crime.

The woman, whose name wasn't released, was shot dead. Her friend, Jeffrey Wellmaker, 48, told police he and the woman were walking in Palma Park, on 12th Street and Dunlap Avenue around 1:30 a.m. when a heavily tattooed, bald White man confronted them.

Wellmaker, who is Black, said the tattooed man yelled, "What are you doing with that White woman," said Detective James Holmes, a Phoenix police spokesman. The friends, who are homeless, didn't respond and kept walking, Holmes said. Investigators don't know why the couple was in the park, police said....based on the description of the shooter, "one could assume it might have been racially motivated," Holmes said. report link

FYI. Racism alive and active on gun saturated streets of Arizona. Is there any doubt the venom and anti-Obama hostility of the right-wing is killing people?

Thus Drank Gerry Thirstus, Marcellus Shale, Water Supplies and the NY State GEIS Draft on Shale Gas

2009-10-02T16:44:10Z

Adding some information to the excellent post yesterday by LBS , as LBS said:

The NY Department of Environmental Conservation came out with its draft of the GEIS yesterday, This page has a link for the full 800 page report and a link for comments. We have only sixty days to comment on this document of over 800 pages.

I would suggest for anyone living above the Marcellus shale (see info below) to also call your State representative for information. Basically the new drilling involves a 10 fold or so increase in water use, the use of over 400 chemicals and additives and horizontal drilling for thousands of feet from a wellhead. The good news is the shale gas is very deep, thousands of feet, although less deep the further north in NY State, more on this below in GEIS info. The well hole is supposed to be lined by pipe as it goes through the aquifer, but leaks and breaks can occur. Pressure is used to pump water and thousands of gallons of additives down the well to push gas out and fracture the shale. Spills around the well head can runoff into surface waters and streams.

I'll give some links below and info from the 800 page report which seeks to set standards and assure all the everything will be 'OK'. On the Diane Rehm show last week she had a very good discussion of this new gas drilling and it was noted that most companies that do it are smaller, and the Exxons or BP's have not gotten into it. A problem with that is that frankly the bigger companies would likely have better over all quality control and accountability than a bunch of small operators. there also does not seem to be a prohibition of drilling close to reservoirs or at shallower depths closer to aquifers, ONLY a requirement that those sites need an environmental impact statement.

I apologize for the paragraph formats as transferring from the pdf to the TPM page was difficult to smooth out. Now some info from the 800 page pdf GEIS Draft:

FROM THE STATE GEIS:

A depth of 850 feet to the base of potable water is commonly used as a practical generalization for the maximum depth of potable water....Groundwater from sources below approximately 850 feet in New York typically is too saline for use as a potable water supply;

No documented instances of groundwater contamination are recorded in the NYSDEC files from previous horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing projects in New York.

_____________________________

The Department proposes that site-specific environmental assessments and SEQRA
determinations be required for the high-volume hydraulic fracturing projects listed below, regardless of the target formation, the number of wells drilled on the pad and whether the wells are vertical or horizontal.

1) Any proposed high-volume hydraulic fracturing where the top of the target fracture
zone is shallower than 2,000 feet along the entire proposed length of the wellbore;
2) Any proposed high-volume hydraulic fracturing where the top of the target fracture
zone at any point along the entire proposed length of the wellbore is less than 1,000
feet below the base of a known fresh water supply;
3) Any proposed centralized flowback water surface impoundment. Emphasis of the
initial review will be on proposed additive chemistry relative to potential emissions of
Hazardous Air Pollutants. Additional review of site topography, geology and
hydrogeology will be required for any proposed centralized flowback water surface
impoundment at the following locations:
a) within 1,000 feet of a reservoir;
b) within 500 feet of a perennial or intermittent stream, wetland, storm drain, lake or
pond, or within 300 feet of a public or private water well or domestic supply
spring;
4) Any proposed well pad within 300 feet of a reservoir, reservoir stem or controlled
lake;10
5) Any proposed well pad within 150 feet of a private water well, domestic-use spring,
watercourse, perennial or intermittent stream, storm drain, lake or pond;

DEPTH OF SHALE - UTICA AND MARCELLUS ARE SHALLOWER AS YOU GO NORTH IN NY STATE see page 72, 79 GEIS

The Marcellus Shale formation is known to contain concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) such as uranium-238 and radium-226 at higher levels than surrounding rock formations. Normal disturbance of NORM-bearing rock formations by activities such as mining or drilling do not generally pose a threat to workers, the general public or the environment.

Statewide spacing for vertical shale wells provides for one well per 40-acre spacing unit.5 This
is the spacing requirement that has historically governed most gas well drilling in the State, and as mentioned above, many square miles of Chautauqua, Seneca and Cayuga counties have been developed on this spacing. One well per 40 acres equates to a density of 16 wells per square mile (i.e., 640 acres).

....all information provided to date indicates that, in actual practice, lateral distance
drilled will normally exceed 2,000 feet and would most likely be 3,500 feet or more, requiring
substantially more than 40 acres. Therefore, the overall density of surface locations would be
less than 16 wells per square mile.

________________________

5.2.3 Drilling Mud
The vertical portion of each well, including the portion that is drilled through any fresh water
aquifers, will typically be drilled using either compressed air or freshwater mud as the drilling
fluid. Operators who provided responses to the Department's information requests stated that the horizontal portion, drilled after any fresh water aquifers are sealed behind cemented surface casing, may be drilled with a mud that may be water-based, potassium chloride/polymer-based with a mineral oil lubricant, or synthetic oil-based. Synthetic oil-based muds are described as "food-grade" or "environmentally friendly."(?food grade?)

As described in the GEIS, used drilling mud is typically reconditioned for use at a subsequent well. It is managed on-site by the use of steel tanks that are part of the rig's "mud system."
Some drilling rigs are equipped with closed-loop tank systems, so that neither used mud nor
cuttings are discharged to reserve pits.
____________________________________
Hydraulic Fracturing Technological Milestones

1998 Slickwater refracturing of originally gel-fracked wells
2002 Multi-stage slickwater fracturing of horizontal wells
2003 First hydraulic fracturing of Marcellus shale
2005 Increased emphasis on improving the recovery factor
2007 Use of multi-well pads and cluster drilling
The GEIS discusses, in Chapter 9, hydraulic fracturing operations using water-based
_______________________________________________
PAGE 140 GEIS
PURPOSE - EXAMPLE of CHEMICALS

Proppant ('props' open fractures) - Sand [Sintered bauxite; zirconium oxide; ceramic beads]
Acid ('cleans up') - Hydrochloric acid (HCl,3% to 28%)
Breaker (reduces viscosity)- Peroxydisulfates
Bactericide/Biocide (inhibits growth organisms) - Gluteraldehyde; 2-Bromo-2-nitro-1,2-propanediol
Clay Stabilizer/Control (prevents swelling clays) - Salts (e.g., tetramethyl ammonium chloride)(Potassium chloride (KCl)]
Corrosion Inhibitor (reduces rust) - Methanol
Crosslinker (increases fracturing fluidity)- Potassium hydroxide
Friction Reducer - Sodium acrylateacrylamide copolymer; polyacrylamide (PAM)
Gelling Agent (increases fracturing)- Guar gum
Iron Control (reduces precipitation iron)- Citric acid; thioglycolic acid
Scale Inhibitor (reduces precipitation carbonates)- Ammonium chloride; ethylene glycol; polyacrylate
Surfactant (increases recovery)- Methanol; isopropanol

Composition of Fracturing Fluids
The composition of the fracturing fluid used may vary from one geologic basin or formation to
another in order to meet the specific needs of each operation; but the range of additive types
available for potential use remains the same....Based on this data, approximately 90 percent of the fracture fluid is water; another approximately 9 percent is proppant (see Photo 5.17); the
remainder, typically less than 0.5 percent consists of chemical additives listed above.

FLOWBACK CHEMICALS AND CONSTITUENTS: PAGES 277 - 291 GEIS
_____________________________________________

The developable shale formations are vertically separated from potential
freshwater aquifers by at least 1,000 feet of sandstones and shales of
moderate to low permeability.

• The amount of time that fluids are pumped under pressure into the target
formation is orders of magnitude less than the time that would be required
for fluids to travel through 1,000 feet of low-permeability rock.
• The volume of fluid used to fracture a well could only fill a small
percentage of the void space between the shale and the aquifer.
• Some of the chemicals in the additives used in hydraulic fracturing fluids
would be adsorbed by and bound to the organic-rich shales.
• Diffusion of the chemicals throughout the pore volume between the shale
and an aquifer would dilute the concentrations of the chemicals by several
orders of magnitude.
________________________________________
Materials Handling and Transport p 253

Alpha provided the review of pertinent federal and state transportation and container
requirements that is included in Section 5.5, and concluded that motor transport of all hazardous fracturing additives or mixtures to drill sites is adequately covered by existing federal and NYSDOT regulations.128 Best management practices such as the following were identified by Alpha for implementation on the well pad:
• Monitoring and recording inventories
• Manual inspections,
• Berms or dikes,
• Secondary containment,
• Monitored transfers,
• Stormwater runoff controls,
• Mechanical shut-off devices,
• Setbacks,
• Physical barriers, and
• Materials for rapid spill cleanup and recovery.
________________________________________________

6.1.1 Water Withdrawals p 262

Water for hydraulic fracturing may be obtained by withdrawing it from surface water bodies
away from the well site or through wells drilled into groundwater aquifers. Without proper
controls on the rate, timing and location of withdrawals, stream flow modifications could result
in negative impacts to a stream's best uses, including but not limited to the aquatic ecosystem, downstream riverine and riparian resources, wetlands, and aquifer supplies.
6.1.1.1 Reduced Stream Flow
Potential effects of reduced stream flow caused by withdrawals could include:
• insufficient supplies for downstream uses such as public water supply;
• adverse impacts to quantity and quality of aquatic, wetland, and terrestrial habitats and
the biota that they support; and
• exacerbation of drought effects.
__________________________________________

6.1.1.6 Aquifer Depletion

The primary concern regarding groundwater withdrawal is aquifer depletion that could affect
other uses, including nearby public and private water supply wells. This includes cumulative
impacts from numerous groundwater withdrawals and potential aquifer depletion from the
incremental increase in withdrawals if groundwater supplies are used for hydraulic fracturing.
...... Aquifer depletion can occur in both confined and unconfined aquifers.
The depletion of an aquifer and a corresponding decline in the groundwater level can occur when a well, or wells in an aquifer are pumped at a rate in excess of the recharge rate to the aquifer.

Review of the requirements of the DRBC and SRBC indicates that the
operators and the reviewing authority will perform evaluations to assess the potential impacts of water withdrawal for well drilling....

...Figure 6.2 shows that the "current estimate" of water use for gas drilling is approximately 30 MGD in the Susquehanna River Basin, or less than 6 percent of the total use for water supply, power, and recreation.
_________________________________________________

NYC WATER SUPPLY page 299 GEIS

6.1.10 Potential Impacts to Subsurface NYC Water Supply Infrastructure
In addition to its surface reservoirs, NYC maintains a system of underground tunnels, aqueducts and other underground infrastructure. Drilling directly into one of these system components could compromise the integrity of the system and provide an opening for non-drilling related contaminants to enter the system. However, damage to the system by high-volume hydraulic fracturing is not reasonably anticipated because the target fracturing zones are thousands of feet deeper than any underground water supply infrastructure.
6.1.11 Degradation of New York City's Drinking Water Supply
A comprehensive, long-range watershed protection and water quality management plan has been established by the City of New York, State of New York, federal government, environmental organizations and upstate watershed communities to protect New York City's critical drinking water supply. Successful implementation of this plan has resulted in cost savings to the City and State of an estimated $8 billion that otherwise would be required to filter this water supply and an additional $300 million yearly expense to operate and maintain a filtration plant. The West of Hudson (WOH) Watershed consists of the Ashokan, Cannonsville, Neversink, Pepacton, Roundout and Schoharie Reservoirs (Figure 2.2).

Degradation of New York City's drinking water supply as a result of surface spills is not a
reasonably anticipated impact of the proposed activity. Potential impacts to the NYC Watershed are greatly diminished by a number of reasons related to the inherent nature of the activity. These include the following:
• Setback requirements..Many chemicals, and chemicals dissolved in water, are subject to evaporation during the warmer months of the year, reducing the volumes or concentrations that would reach reservoirs.... Hydraulic fracturing is an intensely controlled and monitored activity....(?it is intensely controlled always, and at all sites?)

_____________________________________________________
page 361 GEIS chart on chemicals that will pollute water:

Table 6.20 - Comparison of Maximum Impoundment Fluid Additives Impacts to Ambient Thresholds

nice pie chart of the pollutants page 365 GEIS

***********************end geis excerpts**************

Four years after Vice President Dick Cheney spearheaded a massive energy bill that exempted natural gas drilling from federal clean water laws, Congress is having second thoughts about the environmental dangers posed by the burgeoning industry. With growing evidence that the drilling can damage water supplies, Democratic leaders in Congress are circulating legislation that would repeal the extraordinary exemption and for the first time require companies to disclose all chemicals used in the key drilling process, called hydraulic fracturing...."The regulatory loophole for hydraulic fracturing puts public health at risk and isn't justified," said Henry Waxman (D-CA), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that will offer the bill, in an e-mail. "The current exemption for the oil and gas industry means that we can't even get the information necessary to evaluate the health threats from these practices."....As the law currently stands, the EPA is not allowed to set conditions for hydraulic fracturing or even require states to have regulations of their own.

But as gas drilling has expanded, a wave of reports have emerged that the drilling is affecting water. In Colorado and Wyoming, state and federal officials have concluded that benzene and other contaminants have made their way into aquifers, streams and well water as a result of drilling accidents or spills of drilling fluids. link
_______________________________________________________________

Hydraulic fracturing allows drillers to dramatically increase production. The chemicals pumped underground with the water help drillers bore through the hard rock. The pressure used is tremendous -- about 300 times a typical garden hose. That creates small cracks in the rock that allow gas to escape.

Steve Harris believes that pressure also ruined his well. He lives on 14 acres south of Dallas. Shortly after a driller fracked a nearby well, he and his neighbors noticed a change in water pressure.

"When you'd flush the toilet -- in the back where the bowl is -- water would shoot out the top of the bowl," says Harris.

When he took a shower, there was a foul odor, and the water left rashes on his grandson's skin. His horses stopped drinking from their trough, and there was an oily film on top of the water.

Similar stories are popping up around the country. In Ohio, a couple's house blew up when gas from their water well filled their basement. A woman in Colorado blames her health problems on the chemicals used for fracking.

For the most part, people nearby don't even know what chemicals are being injected into the ground -- companies don't have to report that. link

Water contamination and Shale Gas Report - NPR

...In 2008, a hydrologist found evidence of benzene contamination in a water well in Wyoming, in the vicinity of a large gas field. Residents near Dimock, Pa., have also complained of contamination of their water supply as a result of gas well drilling in their area...

Marcellus Shale Map

Excellent 10 page pdf from Community Science Institute on shale gas.

excerpt from this pdf:

If you are a landowner who has signed a lease with an energy company to drill a gas well on your land, or if you own land nearby, you may wonder about the possibility that water on your property, particularly your private well, might become contaminated......

The problems of small time shale drilling operators with defective equipment or supervision- Cornell: Most of the problems associated with natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania have been traced to improperly constructed or damaged well casing. Steel and concrete well casing structures are essential to protect drinking water supplies by isolating aquifers from the natural gas well. Casing defects and/or damage has led to contamination of drinking water supplies with methane gas and total dissolved solids (TDS) or total suspended solids (TSS).

God to Create New Animal Species Tomorrow at Noon on Capitol Mall, Near Lincoln Memorial

2009-09-12T22:12:51Z

Perhaps to increase the thrills and attendance at the Teabagger Weekend events in Washington DC, people are saying that in final proof that Creation Science is true and evolution is wrong, God will perform an act of Special Creation for the mob on the mall which should thrill and excite them and prove to the world that at least one of their nutball beliefs is true.

It may occur in the reflecting pool, and it may be hazardous to let children near it so be careful. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Science has confirmed in his numerous publications that Special Creation is an ongoing process and we are overdue for an actual demonstration of it (there have been far more extinctions in recent history than special creations).

Please attend to witness this once in a lifetime occurrence and opportunity to show up the atheist anti-Creationists and know it all liberals!

"No Law Against Hate" in Arizona, White Baptist Pastor Still Believes Obama Should Die

2009-09-07T01:23:50Z

Pastor Steven L. Anderson is still praying for Obama to die. If this guy was a Muslim would he still be free and spouting this stuff to the media? I guess the 'right to hate' must be somewhere in the Bill Of Rights because the Republicans love hating almost as much as they love their guns.

Anderson, who briefly emerged from the church door, said "absolutely" to a media question about whether he still believes Obama should die.

Members of Faithful Word Baptist Church ambled into a strip mall to listen to their pastor...About 24 members of Faithful Word Baptist Church carried Bibles. After the one-hour service, members defended their pastor and described him as a "caring human being."
One member, who wore a black polo shirt with a message emblazoned in red, "Hating is not a Crime," strutted in the parking lot.

...and white racists in an upscale suburb of Phoenix vandalized cars with racist symbols:

Three years ago, Michele Jaber left Burbank, Calif., for Fountain Hills with a better future for her children in mind.

On Sunday, as Jaber, who is Black, and her husband, Mike, hoped for a quiet barbecue with friends from California, they instead found a swastika, "KKK" and sexual images painted on the windows of two vehicles....Someone also wrote "Jew" on a separate car in Fountain Hills.

John McCain After 22 Years in DC, on Health Care - "It is Time We Started Back at The Beginning!"

2009-09-01T23:27:55Z

At a town-hall just a couple weeks ago in Phoenix, after "one man angrily pointed at him and asked the senator why he deserves a better health care plan than him."

Senator McCain said: "I'm trying to get it for you," McCain told him. "We'll do it for you. We'll make it affordable and available to you."

Now in North Carolina John McCain says "It's time we started back at the beginning," (McCain of Arizona told medical professionals at Carolina's Medical Center)

What gives?

Do we start over from mid-August when you were working on it, or 22 years ago when you first went to Washington DC as a Senator? How far back does the reset button take us, why didn't you do it for us under George W. Bush?

The man whose family has had government paid for socialized medical care from the US Navy Medical Corps for three (3) generations (his father and grandfather were admirals) says he has been trying to 'get it for you'. If you believe that you would be an easy sucker for those guys at the State Fair. At least you know if the carnival barkers mislead you they don't have taxpayer funded health care, 7 houses, and they don't do sleepovers with Colonel Qaddafi in Libya at government expense.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell was with McCain and added: "Our goal ought not to be to have the cheapest health care in the world," no Senator, what we are trying for is health care that 'is available and affordable', even your buddy John McCain knows that point.

At least McCain didn't send a letter to the Russian envoy to the UN promising the Russian envoy that he, John McCain, was going to get him 'affordable and available' health care.

Sharpening The Discourse - Right Wing Groups Believe Democrats Preparing 30,000 Guillotines to Behead Them, Harvest Organs

2009-08-29T16:44:26Z

Right wing 'patriots' at the not so aptly named 'educate yourself.org', which hails "The Freedom of Knowledge, the Power of Thought" asks Why Are Modern Guillotines on Military Bases in America?

McClathy reports : Is the federal government building secret camps to lock up people who criticize President Barack Obama?

Will it truck off young people to camps to brainwash them into liking Obama's agenda? Are government officials planning to replicate the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, using the guillotine to silence their domestic enemies?

....retired FBI agent Ted Gunderson says the government has prepared 1,000 camps for its own citizens. He also says the government has stored 30,000 guillotines to murder its critics, and has stashed 500,000 caskets in Georgia and Montana for the remains.

Do the Republicans of TPM know anything about this? Did the Democrats say Bush was going to guillotine them and harvest their organs too, or are right wingers the most scared, insane and potentially dangerous people in the country if not on the planet?

Stephanopoulos Grovels Before McCain Today on Republican's Sleepover with Colonel Gadhafi

2009-08-23T17:59:31Z

OK, use every word in the thesaurus for Georgie Boy and his relationship with John McCain, any would apply: obsequious, sycophantic, fawn, kowtow, prostrate himself, abase himself, fall on his knees before McCain.

Stephanopoulus only question on the subject of McCain's visit to Libya:

STEPHANOPOULOS: One more foreign policy question. You were in Libya last week with Colonel Gadhafi. You tweeted and said it was an interesting meeting at his ranch with an interesting man, yet we see today the Lockerbie bomber returns to a hero's welcome.

Did you talk to the Colonel about that?

Stephanopoulus slow pitch softball the obvious "Did you talk about the Lockerbie bomber" when McCain's response on the release of the only man convicted of the TWA bombing that killed over 200 Americans is so obvious that McCain's handlers must have written the question themselves to get heat off McCain for paling around with Gadhafi, a terrorist mastermind.

Stephanopoulus did not ask:

"What did you find interesting about a man who was declared a terrorist sponsor and who was bombed on the orders of Ronald Reagan after being linked to two attacks that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of American citizens?"

or

"Do you believe it sent the wrong message to sleep at Colonel Gadhafi's ranch?"

or

"What exactly did you discuss with this dictator and terrorist"

or

"During your campaign your running mate said Obama 'paled around with terrorists', isn't that what you were doing in sleeping over at Gadhafi's ranch in Libya?"

What do you expect from George Stephanopoulus when he has McCain on almost twice a month, and apparently vacations with the man and his family and has just sent a Tweet:

"Heading home from Grand Canyon Magnificent McCain in good form Son Jimmy too. Can't wait to show my girls the condors and raft down river"

Trolls For Dummies

2009-08-21T18:12:37Z

Most Trolls have the same mode of operation as do the politicians the Trolls support. The identification of the Troll is therefore often the identification of a contemporary Republican. Any one or two characteristics may not be the sole province of the Troll, but the more points noted the higher the chance that the person involved is a Troll.

General characteristics, Trolls:

Fake liberal values.

Lie, confuse or misstate facts.

Try to apply values to Democratic leaders they would never hold for themselves or the GOP.

Demanding or using the government to infringe on the lives of others, while at the same time accusing Democrats of trying to limit their freedoms.

Fear the government unless it is run by Republicans.

Excel at telling others what they need to do, (while often having serious failures in their own personal life).

Claim they represent only what is best for 'Americans' or another population subset.

Never admit they supported or voted for George W. Bush.

Never admit error, by themselves or the GOP.

Have long memories for everything political; but not for the empty promises or gross failures of the GOP, George W. etc.

May claim to support the Constitution (but only when Democrats are in the White House).

May select names like 'Progressive Conscience' that sound liberal.

Equate Bush critics and nutjob teabaggers "both sides have their extremes'.

Similarly, feel seeking health care reform is more extreme than starting wars of aggression.

Have little or no record of comments or posts - true trolls when discovered never return with the same name.

May game the recommend system at TPM.

Others??