tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post1989448991572760181..comments2024-02-25T09:45:48.931-05:00Comments on Lally's Alley: THE AIR WE BREATHELallyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-85867001448833907952008-07-26T11:02:00.000-04:002008-07-26T11:02:00.000-04:00Curtis, I certainly agree that a McCain administra...Curtis, I certainly agree that a McCain administration would be much worse for the environment than an Obama one. Absolutely. And few have been as bad for it as the present administration. No question dems have it all over Republicans when it comes to the environment, as they do in most other policies that concern what's best for the future of this country and the planet.Lallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-89851275804150465712008-07-25T13:05:00.000-04:002008-07-25T13:05:00.000-04:00If you don't think there's a relationship ...If you don't think there's a relationship between pollution and changing administrations, think again.<BR/><BR/>Here in the Bay Area we have four big oil petroleum refineries going full-bore all the time. During Democratic Administrations, the clean air regulations have been vigorously enforced, but during the Bush Administration, violations have been allowed to occur with increasing frequency. During weekends and holidays when the industry watchers are off-duty, the refineries spew out egregiously, knowing they won't be cited (caught). Sitting up here on the northern edge of the ridge that includes Berkeley, Kensington and Richmond, we experience this as strong burnt oil smell and dark grey haze on weekend nights. Everyone knows what's going on, and nothing is done about it. Open burning of waste gases and toxic byproducts. Over the last 15 years, many of the gains accomplished to curb this activity since the late 1960's, have been eroded by laxity and provocation. The obscene amounts of money which this industry generates has enabled it to buy every jurisdiction at every level. <BR/><BR/>Just this week, Chevron "bought" the right to raise the levels of pollution it's technically allowed to spew by offering bribes to local schools, police departments and hospitals. Public opinion is conflicted. As the price of gas continues to rise, the excess money being accrued by the petroleum industry compromises the system still further, in a death spiral of corruption & pollution.<BR/><BR/>The stakes have never been higher. If we don't nationalize the petroleum industry, eventually we'll be right back where we started in the 1940's when large swaths of the urban industrial landscape looked (and felt) like Hell incarnate. When I was growing up in the Bay Area in the 1950's the linked communities along the I-80 corridor were wastelands of pollution. Before the highway construction of the late 1950's, the road ran straight through Rodeo, Pinole, Hercules, San Pablo to Richmond and Berkeley. The air was so bad you had to roll the windows up and hold your breath. The Bay was filled with black sludge , which lapped up against the tidelands of Point Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland and Alameda, and seeped eastward towards the Delta. No matter how much the price of gas rises, nothing would make returning to that condition worthwhile. <BR/><BR/>Petroleum industry profits are becoming so great there's virtually nothing that can be done to control them. It's beginning to seem like Saudi Arabia, where a small cadre of ruling families run their whole nation as an oil company. If we let them, they'll drill across the North American continent, and bring back nuclear plants. Nuclear waste disposal is at a standstill, but you can bet that contamination accidents and more "storage" sites are in the offing.<BR/><BR/>Not a pretty picture.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-88381380846861741782008-07-23T20:00:00.000-04:002008-07-23T20:00:00.000-04:00If you want it, Mr. Lally, I havesome information ...If you want it, Mr. Lally, I have<BR/>some information about indenting<BR/>on a blogspot blog. My e-mail<BR/>address is<BR/>thinkinglizard@aol.com<BR/>and my blogspot blog is<BR/>bajsalchert.blogspot.com<BR/><BR/>Did some experimenting today<BR/>and found out there is only<BR/>one way to indent without<BR/>having to use a special<BR/>ASCII instruction, a way I<BR/>learned several years ago<BR/>from a technical site.<BR/><BR/>The Compose mode does not<BR/>recognize indenting.<BR/><BR/>Thank you for sharing your poem.brian (baj) salcherthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11649691450577647656noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4567168789336947243.post-38738661243377623512008-07-22T12:38:00.000-04:002008-07-22T12:38:00.000-04:00It's hazy today over the Absaroka Mountains of Mon...It's hazy today over the Absaroka Mountains of Montana, but only because of a dramatic wind storm yesterday, blowing in moisture from who knows where. This year, a cool wet one, it's the floods. Last year, it was the fires--surrounding Livingston, darkening the skies for months, and polluting the air from distant fires in addition to our own. All this from years of dry winters and summers. When I lived in NYC I remember summer evenings when a sea breeze would come up and blow pollution into the ocean. Or perhaps that was my imagination. Mountains and cities don't mix. Google satellite photos of Santiago, Chile, where inversions cause citizens to choke six months a year. Or more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com