Conservation of electricity this time of year is about cost, NOT GREENHOUSE GASES.

I must sound like an environmental heretic, but, I am not. There is absolutely no reason to avoid lighting up the night with sparkling lights to bring holiday cheer.

That's right, the LEDs are fantastic to look at, but, that is not the point.

If Americans are second guessing their reason for decorating the house because it will pull more electricity and that means higher GHG (GreenHouse Gas) emissions. STOP. There is no doubt there will be higher emissions with higher use of electricity this Christmas, but, the consumers of electricity that believe it is ONLY their responsibility to stem the emissions of GHG are being manipulated by the energy suppliers.

THIS IS NOT A CONSUMER ISSUE. The holidays should not suffer because of GHG emissions.

The problem is not the LED revolution, it is the SOURCE of the electricity. If you are enjoying hydroelectric power, congratulations, you will the big prize for being the best and most conscience environmentalist on the planet. If the electricity used to light those pretty lights is from alternative sources, WOW, that is like wonderful and Santa will not be leaving coal in your stocking this year.

But, if those pretty lights are bring holiday cheer from the use of coal or fossil fuels, including methane/natural gas; then you need to make a resolution for the new year to demand cleaner electricity that does not harm Earth. 

But, seriously, this is the message. Don't alter the wonderful American traditions we all have come to love, but, make those traditions safer for the future generations that will inherit planet Earth. It is not the American way of life and quality of life that is in peril; it is the way we find our energy source while protecting the American way of life.

So, enjoy the holidays, decorate without hesitation, but, at the same time become aware of the source of that electricity that makes those twinkling lights so bright, and resolve in 2019, to never feel guilty again about flipping that switch for holiday cheer. By this time next year because happy the electricity that makes holidays bright is safe, green energy. Do it for the kids. Please.

Christmas Energy Saving Tip #1: Use Candles (click here)

When you are trying to come up with some beautiful lighting ideas, consider using candles. Lighting Christmas candles uses no energy and will provide some fantastic mood lighting. For safety purposes, you might want to use battery-operated candles that are available in a variety of different colors and styles. You can get rechargeable tea lights, battery-operated taper candles, and even some remote-control candles – now that’s convenient! Some battery-operated candles will even flicker so you’ll still achieve the non-electric mood lighting that is created by candles, but without the fire hazard....

Don't change your quality of life, make it safer for the planet.

Michael Cohen is lucky. I imagine before much longer he might be up for parole.

He was expected to take the fall for Trump. Donald Trump is supposed to be untouchable and he pays men like Michael Cohen to be the loyal person that cares about Trump more than anyone else does.

Michael Cohen would not have received a three year sentence if he didn't see the light and tell all he knew about the covert activities of Donald Trump, including his hush money that would have cost him the election if the country knew about it. This is an election issue and it should carry a great deal of brevity in allowing someone to continue to occupy the White House.

Donald Trump is shady. His business dealings are shady and he operates the White House like a play toy. He doesn't care about the country. It is heading for disaster, but, like Trump says, "I won't be around when it happens."

December 12, 2018
By Benjamin Weiser and William K. Rashbaum

Michael D. Cohen, (click here) a former lawyer for President Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday after denouncing Mr. Trump and explaining that “I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.”

Mr. Cohen gave an emotional apology to the court for his involvement in a hush-money scandal to buy the silence of two women who said they had had affairs with Mr. Trump. The payments were meant to influence the 2016 election. Mr. Cohen said his blind loyalty to Mr. Trump led him to ignore “my own inner voice and my moral compass.”

The sentencing in federal court in Manhattan capped a startling fall for Mr. Cohen, 52, who had once hoped to work by Mr. Trump’s side in the White House but ended up a central figure in the inquiry into payments to a porn star and a former Playboy model before the 2016 election.

Judge William H. Pauley III said Mr. Cohen called Mr. Cohen’s crimes a “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct” and added, “Each of the crimes involved deception and each appears to have been motivated by personal greed and ambition.”...

Is Giuliani still on the White House dole? Because he is probably plugging business for Trump as well.

May 7, 2018
By Andy Borowitz

Washington—In a move that has stirred controversy (click here) in both legal and medical circles, Donald J. Trump removed Rudy Giuliani from his legal team on Monday by naming him the new White House doctor.

The decision to appoint the former New York mayor to such a key medical position raised eyebrows, in no small part because Giuliani would become the first White House doctor in history not to possess a medical degree.

But, in an official White House briefing to announce the decision, the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, pushed back against the criticism of Giuliani’s nonexistent medical credentials. “Rudolph Giuliani is every bit as qualified to be a doctor as he is to be a lawyer,” she said.

Dr. Giuliani hit the ground running in his new job, immediately scheduling an hour-long appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program to discuss the state of Trump’s health.

“Is the President’s mental health good?” Giuliani asked on the air. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Is he all there? You really have to define what you mean by ‘all.’ If he’s out of his mind, so what? That’s nobody’s business. The important thing is, I’m on TV again talking a lot, and I’ve never felt so alive....

A Physician at White House (click here) earns an average of $275,114, ranging from $153,315 at the 25th percentile to $344,427 at the 75th percentile, with top earners (the top 10%) earning more than $495,773. Compensation is derived from fewer than 20 profiles, including base salary, equity and bonus.

These men are such a joke. Ever since New York City was hit by terrorists on 911, Guiliani has been selling himself as a security expert. He isn't. He saw many people killed that day and the firemen's radios didn't even work. Guiliani is a failure, plain and simple. He plays with the system as if he owns it and he should be ostracized as the worst mayor in the world.

December 12, 2018
B Kenneth P. Vogel

Washington — The special counsel’s investigation (click here) was grinding relentlessly onward, with President Trump’s former national security adviser pleading for leniency in his case and his former fixer about to be sentenced for his crimes. But Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, was in Manama, Bahrain, on Tuesday, meeting with the king and the interior minister of an important United States ally in the Middle East.

The government-run Bahrain News Agency featured a photo of Mr. Giuliani meeting in a royal palace with King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. The story said the king discussed “Bahraini-U. S. relations” with Mr. Giuliani, who was described as leading a “high-level U.S. delegation.”

But Mr. Giuliani was not in Bahrain, a country with a record of human rights abuses, on official business. He was there to seek a lucrative security consulting contract with the government.

The trip was part of a concerted push Mr. Giuliani has undertaken in the last few weeks to win business from governments around the world — including in Africa and South America — for a firm he owns called Giuliani Security and Safety....

Shut down Line 5, it is not needed.

Enbridge Line 5 is so old, the only thing preventing the entire Great Lakes from being destroyed by a leak is the marine befouling of the pipe.

September 8, 2016

The C$37-billion (click here) deal announced this week merging Calgary-based Enbridge with Houston-based Spectra Energy will create North America’s largest energy and pipeline operator....

October 3, 2018
By John Flesher

...The plan calls for decommissioning (click here) the pipes after installing a new line in a tunnel to be drilled through bedrock some 100 feet beneath the Straits of Mackinac, a more than 4-mile-wide waterway where Lakes Huron and Michigan converge. The massive engineering project is expected to take seven to 10 years to complete, at a cost of $350 million to $500 million — all of which the company would pay.

In the meantime, about 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas liquids used to make propane would continue moving daily through the twin lines at the bottom of the straits. They are part of Enbridge's Line 5, which extends 645 miles from Superior, Wis., to Sarnia, Ontario, crossing large areas of northern Michigan....

Line 5 runs underwater, but, not underground. If it starts to leak, the oil spill will be catastrophic. The water is unimportant to the Republicans, the oil has precedent over life itself. Shutting down Line 5 is prudent and will not end the oil flowing from Canada to the refineries in Texas. 

SHUT IT DOWN !

The monies to be spent on another oil pipeline are astronomical and will have plenty of cost overruns. It is not needed. Regardless, if the company states it is paying for the building of the tunnel, examine the subsidies they get from the government every year. They aren't paying for it, the American taxpayer pays for the petroleum industry to continue it's polluting and emissions.

Seven to ten years is far too long for Line 5 to remain in service. Shut it down.

December 11, 2018
By David Eggert

...Most Republicans in the GOP-controlled chambers (click here) and some Democrats supported advancing the legislation to Gov. Rick Snyder, who plans to sign it quickly despite criticism that his administration should not tie the hands of Democrats who will take over the governor and attorney general offices. The outgoing GOP governor is working on several fronts to finalize an October agreement with Canadian oil transport giant Enbridge to replace the underwater segment of its Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac, where Lakes Huron and Michigan converge. The pipeline carries oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario....

December 12, 2018

Traverse City — Gov. Rick Snyder (click here) has signed legislation establishing a panel to oversee a hotly disputed tunnel that will house an oil pipeline beneath the waterway linking Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

Snyder acted Wednesday, a day after the Republican-dominated Michigan Legislature gave the bill final approval. It creates the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority to monitor construction and operation of the tunnel in bedrock beneath the waterway.

The tunnel and new pipeline segment will replace twin pipelines now resting on the bottom of the straits. They are part of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5, which runs from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario.

Snyder also appointed the corridor authority’s three members, who will serve six-year terms.

They include Geno Alessandrini of Iron Mountain, Anthony England of Ypsilanti and Michael Zimmer of Dimondale.