Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Just because the water system is flushed out and additional contaminate is not being released, then the entire water supply and RESERVOIRS have not been cleaned out.

This is a water heater with a sediment trap. The water heater has to be purged and the sediment trap opened and flushed. This has to be done throughout any water system that came in contact with the contaminate.

By
Feb. 11, 2014 7:40 p.m. ET

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (click here) on Tuesday announced a plan to test the water in homes in the state capital of Charleston and nine surrounding counties amid safety concerns following a chemical spill last month.
On Jan. 9, an estimated 10,000 gallons of a coal-processing chemical blend called Crude MCHM leaked into the Elk River and left 300,000 people without tap water for at least five days. 

Several state health officials at a congressional hearing Monday declined to say that the water was safe to drink, even though tests have shown quantities of MCHM to be well below a limit set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

"It is time for the political officials to step aside and let the scientists do what they do," Mr. Tomblin said Tuesday.

He announced $650,000 in initial funding and named two drinking-water experts to spearhead the program, Andrew Whelton, an environmental and civil engineer at the University of South Alabama, and Jeffrey Rosen, president of Corona Environmental Consulting LLC... 

The testing has to go forward, but, every household water and/or sediment trap and drain has to be tested. Don't simply send out a public service message for homeowners to be reimbursed for any expense occurred in correcting their household system. PLEASE be sure it is done correctly and completely until the water systems are clear.

The school water fountains probably has some gunk at the adjustment screws. 

PLUMBERS can provide insight as to where water is more stagnant in the water systems.

The water went everywhere and if the contaminant is gone, there is some accumulations/small pools sitting around somewhere. Water doesn't cooperate. It just is.

 






There are other appliances that could be storing contaminated water, including water softeners. There are also homes that have water filtration systems, some large and complex and others under the sinks. It is probably best to change out any filters. If there are any outside cooling systems that utilize water, especially with a business, that needs to be looked at, too. It is not impossible, just tedious.
February 11, 2014

“Oklahoma’s policyholders (click here) received nearly $2 billion from their insurers in 2013 after multiple, deadly tornadoes struck Oklahoma, changing forever communities such as Moore,” said Dr. Robert Hartwig, president of the I.I.I. and an economist, at the National Tornado Summit in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Besides Oklahoma ($1.99 billion), insured natural disaster-caused insurance claims payouts in 2013 were highest in Texas ($1.51 billion), Colorado ($907 million), Minnesota ($845 million) and Nebraska ($773 million). Total U.S. natural disaster-caused insurance claims payouts came to $12.79 billion in 2013, with $10.27 billion of that figure attributable to tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. The balance was due to events such as winter storms and wildfires.

Indeed, Oklahoma is second only to Texas as the site of insured claims payouts resulting from tornado/thunderstorm/hail catastrophes for the years 2000-2013, with Oklahoma cumulatively generating $9.8 billion, and Texas a total of $16.9 billion, within this same time period. Since 2000, insurers have paid $135 billion on millions of claims in all 50 states from severe convective events including tornadoes.

“Hurricanes like 2012’s Sandy generate headlines, even though it is the frequency and severity of tornadoes that has grown in recent years, reaching its peak in 2011, when some of the deadliest and costliest tornadoes in U.S. history swept through cities such as Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Joplin, Missouri,” Dr. Hartwig stated. Alabama and Missouri policyholders received more than $3 billion from their insurers in 2011.

Going back even further, an I.I.I. analysis of U.S. natural disasters dating to 1983 found that, in any given year, 36 percent of all natural disaster-caused claims payouts arose because of tornadoes, according to Dr. Hartwig’s presentation.

11:45 am 
Mon February 10, 2014

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Mayors from two communities hit by deadly EF5 tornadoes in recent years say more than three-quarters of residents who were displaced have rebuilt their homes or intend to do so.

Joplin Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean and Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis says about 85 percent of residents whose homes were destroyed have rebuilt homes or plan to rebuild their homes.

The two mayors were part of a panel discussion at the third annual National Tornado Summit in Oklahoma City on Monday.

On May 22, 2011, an EF 5 tornado with wind speeds topping 200 mph whipped through Joplin, killing 161 people and destroying nearly 7,000 homes. Twenty five people were killed and 1,100 homes destroyed in an EF5 tornado in Moore on May 20, 2013.

Colbert-Kean says the recovery process is continuing.

That is enough. The NJ Legislature needs to get back to work.

Evidently false accusations gets the NJ Democrats a long distance in their politics, but, it has nothing with the truth. 

At least it is good to know the Star Ledger still reports the truth regardless of their roll back of the Governor's endorsement for the 2013 elections. The hubris must be as thick as pea soup.

By Brent Johnson/The Star-Ledger
February 11, 2014 at 1:56 PM 
February 11, 2014 at 4:17 PM

TRENTON — The New Jersey State Police (click here) today said Gov. Chris Christie's helicopter did not fly over the George Washington Bridge or Fort Lee during the controversial lane closures last September. 

Christie's flight history came into question Monday when the state legislative committee investigating the bridge scandal issued 18 new subpoenas — including one to the State Police aviation unit, which oversees the governor's helicopter travel...

...The State Police released a statement this afternoon saying Christie's helicopter took three flights during the week of Sept. 8, when the closings took place.

"None of the three flights transporting the governor during that week flew over, or close, to either the George Washington Bridge or Fort Lee, including the flight on 9/11," the statement read.

Democrats have alleged that members of Christie's office organized the unannounced lane closures at the bridge last year in a case of political payback — a move that caused days of traffic jams in Fort Lee. But the Republican governor has denied any personal involvement....

This is getting to sound more and more like sour grapes. Governor Christie needs to start talking back about this manufactured scandal. I am glad his lawyers are at least addressing some of the issues so the Governor can understand what is being said about him behind closed doors.

New Jersey has immediate fiscal problems and if the Legislature doesn't get to work to solve them, the Governor will take action. I know he will. So, if the Democrats want to protect their unions and their pension benefits and the cash reserves around the state in the amount of $880,000, they better get busy. He'll do it, I already know he will. Without an alternative when the bills come due he will announce either a tax hike or other cost cutting measures and he'll state the Legislature has been out to lunch so now we are at an impasse and something has to be done.

If the Democratic strategy to solve New Jersey's fiscal problems in 2014 is to keep their fingers crossed in hopes the Governor will be impeached, that is not an answer.  

It is time to hold hearings around the state with cities and counties for fact finding regarding their cash reserves and why they are important to be left in place. There also needs to be fact finding in regard to any fiscal crisis each municipality might be facing. 

I don't appreciate the fact unions and pensions could be on the chopping block while the legislature is chasing it's tail for political posturing.  Where are the unions in all this? The leadership needs to meet with Governor Christie to find out exactly what his figures are and where he sees it all going. They need to do that now before it gets too late.

Why do we fight back?

The Day We Fight Back (click here)

The death of Abdulrahman is an example of a drone program out of control. Why is this about a drone program? Because the metadata gathered by the NSA is used in the drone program.

...Abdulrahman was a fan of my music. (click here)  It was when I researched this kid that the reality of the drone policy hit me.  This kid had a Facebook page.  He listened to hip-hop.  He was a perfectly normal American teenager — indistinguishable from Trayvon Martin, or any of my other fans.  To know that a staggering number of innocent children are being killed in US drone strikes, and put a face to them....

Abdulrahman should still be alive. His death was an mistake.

Here is why. 

Jeremy Scahill spoke last night on "All In with Chris Hayes" and stated, through a new contact that was a former member of the drone program, it uses SIM card signatures to target people. In other words, the NSA gathers the Meta Data and provides it to the USA drone program for targeting human beings believed to be a threat to the USA. The information is dehumanized. The 'data information' is the only aspect of the Meta Data provided to the drone program.

Getting the picture yet?

No?

Okay.

...Nearly two years later, (click here) I still have no answers. The United States government has refused to explain why Abdulrahman was killed. It was not until May of this year that the Obama administration, in a supposed effort to be more transparent, publicly acknowledged what the world already knew — that it was responsible for his death... 

Suppose you have a good friend that is like a brother or sister and you speak with them via their mobile device/cell phone everyday and sometimes more frequently.

For whatever reason the Meta Data picks up the SIM card information from your cell phone as a target for the drone program. No name. No face. Simply, the Meta Data has turned up a reason for the USA to target you as a threat to the USA or it's military operations.

Your SIM card information is sent to the drone program and the drone finds you, targets you and kills you. Well, that doesn't mean that ends the drone's hunt. 

See, because that person you considered a brother or sister shows up frequently as a contact then they are as much a threat as you are. They have to be because otherwise why would you be communicating with them so frequently. 

So, when Anwar al-Aulaki was killed the information from the Meta Data showed HIS SON'S cell phone was a frequent contact. The US Drone Program had no identity, no evidence about terrorist activities, the ONLY crime Abdulrahman committed was loving his father. He would be in contact with him frequently simply because they were father and son. 

The USA military was so full of revenge following the Fort Hood shootings they weren't going to stop with Anwar al-Aulaki, they wanted them all. When  Abdulrahman was killed it had nothing to do with being Anwar's son, it was because his SIM chip information told the US drone program HE WAS NEXT.

Abdulrahman, a US citizen by birth was brutally MURDERED in the young years of his life because the USA military didn't BOTHER with facts or a presence in the way of a military operation that takes place on the ground with soldiers that actually captures rather than kills enemies.

Abdulrahman was murdered because his SIM card information dictated it!

That is why we fight back.

Will the definition of marriage return the separation of church and state?

February 08, 2014
David Ingram 
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder (click here) on Saturday announced widespread changes within the U.S. Justice Department to benefit same-sex married couples, such as recognizing a legal right for them not to testify against each other in civil and criminal cases.
The changes, unveiled by Holder in a speech to a gay rights lobbying group in New York, are designed to continue the push for gay rights in the nation after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year said the federal government cannot refuse to recognize same-sex marriages carried out in states that allow them....

Or. Are we on a roller coaster ride?

By


...Virginia's two Catholic bishops (click here) have urged Attorney General Mark Herring to defend the state's marriage definition amendment, "to defend the state laws he agrees with, as well as those state laws with which he personally disagrees." Their policy arm, the Virginia Catholic Conference, has called on Catholics to write Herring to ask him to defend traditional marriage or appoint outside counsel. A federal judge began hearing arguments Feb. 4.

That the same-sex marriage issue has come to the commonwealth is no surprise, said Jeff Caruso, executive director of the conference, who regarded it as part of a national strategy by marriage equality advocates.

"We certainly expected to see [it] in Virginia and indeed, we are seeing it and we're going to fight this as hard as we possibly can," he told NCR.

While lawsuits proceed in federal court, Caruso noted that recent legislative efforts to repeal the state's constitutional ban have not garnered enough support, a possible signal that a majority of Virginians stand by the 2006 voter-approved amendment.

"It had the support of 57 percent of those who voted, and I believe that there is still a very strong support for it here in the commonwealth today," he said.
However the rulings in Virginia and other parts of the country play out, Caruso is among the many that see it as inevitable that the issue returns to the highest judicial chambers.

"It's virtually certain that the Supreme Court will have to rule on the legality of same-sex marriage again," Green said. "And a lot of these cases that we're talking about may be the vehicle by which they do that."

73 million Americans watched the Ed Sullivan Show when the Beatles made their appearance.

The population of the USA in 1964 was 191,888,791 including children. Nearly 40% of the country watched the broadcast.

In 1964, 92.3 percent of American households had television and there were 51,600,000 television households. 

That would mean at least one person per television household was watching the Beatles in their historic first appearance in 1964.

The victories are happening. I have to say, the Olympians are great people. They always have good things to say about their peers. There are no sour grapes among them. It is very nice.

Sochi has very fast ice and snow slopes. Yesterday, the women's ski jump was shortened by a half meter to slow down the speed. 

The ski downhill was a tough course. It put them to the test. It was obvious who had the best techniques and it showed up in the final medal run.

The American Curling Teams are having a very difficult time measuring the ice. The facilities are world class and put the champions to the test. Some of the curling teams are incredibly competitive. I really believe the American teams are more participants than as competitive as they should be. They are counting on technique to carry them through the competition, they aren't really strategists. The Americans, oddly enough, don't seem to be aggressive enough in their strategies either. The American teams are blaming their ability to measure the speed of the ice rather than examining their approach to competing. They are light weights.