Dino Rossi three time loser

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Democrat Patty Murray has defeated Dino Rossi for the U.S. senate seat from Washington state. This will make the third time Rossi has lost in just the last few years. Defeated twice in races for governor by Christine Gregoire and now by Murray.

Will the last person leaving the U.S. please turn out the lights?

Seems some other people had caught on to my little plan. That'll teach me to spill the beans too soon.

Fifty Five million people have inquired about immigrating to from U.S. to Canada in the last 24 hours!

Wagons North!

Note to Canada: Fear not we're an older more mature group of immigrant and we bring with us what's left of our retirement funds and bank accounts.

Help I've been played like a fiddle. That's what happens when you get up too early. Okay back to bed. Hey wait that will mean my plan is still good. Oh you didn't hear that now did you?

So much for America

Now that the obstructionists have taken over let's see what they'll do to finish off the country. They think it's so easy to dig us out of this mess just by lowering taxes and cutting spending. This should be interesting. They said they wanted to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. That would leave a 3 trillion dollar hole in the budget. Watch as your Social Security gets sucked into the rabbit hole of Wall Street. Your Medicare will be an IOU to the doctor and if you're a veteran and get injured good luck you'll be on your own.

I'd like everybody out there who's been out of work for a while or whose about to loose their house to pop a line their newly elected senator and badger him/her "Where's my job"? What are you going to do about the mortgage mess? Keep calling and emailing them just like they've done to us the last three months when they pleading for our vote. It's one thing to spout talking points of how you'd like things to be done. It's quite another to actually come up with a plan that would work.

Now if you'll excuse me I'll be busy checking with the Canadian embassy about their immigration policies. With luck I'll be sitting on a porch in B.C. watching this country collapse. Load your guns boys because when they get through stealing what you have left you'll be fighting for scraps.

Dioxin

Many years ago when republicans had an oz. of compassion left for the American people Richard Nixon started the EPA and Superfund. The reason was simple. An old abandoned canal in northern New York state was turned into a dumping ground for a combination of toxic wastes. As the pit eventually became filled it was covered with dirt because we all know the expression 'out of sight out of mind'. Unfortunately since nobody had bothered to line the pit the chemical soup leached into the ground and the ground water. The rest is history with children developing cancers and birth defects at an alarming rate. I went to school with one of these unfortunate fellows. Imagine going through life with hands but no arms. That was the legacy of the Love Canal.

Understand I'm no purest when it comes to chemicals. I realize that we can not live in a totally sterile environment devoid of harmful things but we sure are lacking in common sense sometimes. The problem lies in just how much of the pollution we inflict upon ourselves. It's been know for centuries that asbestos would kill you if breathed or ingested it in large quantities but nobody knows the exact amount that causes harm. I've noticed over two decades of removing the stuff that permitted exposures have gone down. If you think though that you can get away from this stuff by hiding in your home with the windows closed and the hospital HEPA filters cranked up on high think again. At any major intersection of any city or town car brakes are blasting out the toxic dust for all to enjoy.

Dioxin - Many of the chemicals we use in manufacturing are toxic but the worst ones have one characteristic that makes them stand out above the rest. They don't break down in the environment. It's a blessing and a curse. On the one hand it makes things very durable but on the other it tends to poison animals and living things. Makes for great bug killer but comes back to bite us in the rear later when it won't go away.
Dioxin or a form of it was used in Vietnam as a defoliant. Of the tons the military dumped on the country all of it is still there poisoning the soil and ground water. Tests in various animals show toxic effects at a broad range of exposures. Anywhere from 20 ug/kg up to 1000. So exactly where do we set our standards?
The reason I bring this up is that the EPA is about to change the standards for dioxin. Since 1998, the agency has regarded dioxin soil concentrations of less than 1,000 parts per trillion (ppt) as safe for residential areas. For commercial and industrial zones, 5,000 ppt to 20,000 ppt has been considered safe.
The proposed revisions would drop the safe levels to a fraction as much — 72 ppt for residential areas and 950 ppt for commercial and industrial sites.
I used to know the conversion from parts per million and trillion to milligram and micrograms per kilogram but I found it far easier just to read the surveys or lab reports and check them against a material safety data sheet (MSDS).

Unfortunately this issue will once again become a political football with the conservatives and chemical companies screaming about the costs. But I must ask. What are the real costs in terms of human life and health? Like it or not they land up paying in the end for short term profits.

Decay

I'm watching the demise of just about everything these days. Was this some cosmic perfect storm or something like that? Starting with my own surroundings I seem to be experiencing the end of all warrantees, the end of the lifespan of so many things. I realize all things must come to an end but do they have to converge seemingly all at once? Many things were once repairable have now become disposable. Is that also true with human beings? A shoe lace breaks, a toilet part wears out they've gotten too old and won't function. So we replace them. Time was we'd just mend them and be about our merry way until they could no longer do their duty. Maybe we find another use for the partial lace and it continues in a new career of holding up a stem. Not so with humans. We ship them off to the junk drawer of society. That is until they completely expire. I guess what I'm saying is that there are a whole bunch of people out here who haven't quite hit the age of the junk drawer but lost their function in life. Too young for the junk drawer but too old to be retooled for something else.

What's happening out there right now? The people they're looking for are the ones who find the jobs and coordinate the programs that get things going. But I have to ask where did they go if they're still needed? Did they retire or die?

In looking around the neighborhood and the area I'm seeing more and more decay. More empty houses and closed store fronts are blossoming like weeds in this urban landscape. So many are hanging by their fingernails as they slide into the pit of bankruptcy. Very quietly we're watching the slow death of America. You won't see much of this reality on TV these days, too grim and depressing. You don't need to send people to an island to see desperation it's right here in our own back yard. Flip on the financial channels and you may see a bit of fringe info about our predicament but for the most part its' fat cats and managers touting funds with no real money. You're seeing the feeble attempt to re leverage the financial markets. And while the casino stays open the games continue (24/7 you know) but this time the passerby gets his house pulled right out from under him. House always wins but now they're taking out spectators who weren't even in the game.

So that's where we are at present the grand decay of America. And you thought Halloween was over? Not by a long shot.

The last of my Halloween treats... witches

Three to be exact from Macbeth

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.


Stay warm and have a Happy Halloween. And no Shaking your Spear Billy.
Get it Shake Spear. Oh never mind.

In keeping with my theme

Run for your lives there's a terrorist under your bed! But it's too late to use this as some political football. We know if the rethugs were in power they'd be shoving it in your face how you'd better be very afraid and vote for them cause they'll protect you from those evil doers. But they can't because the system that's been put in place after 911 actually works. It's not perfect by any means but it does work. This is their third open try to get at us and they failed. The shoes and underpants didn't work. Their only success in this was tying up a whole bunch of security personnel which is really a good thing because it keeps them on their toes. What you don't see everyday are the number of suspicious packages and backpacks that get blown up by the bomb squad at airports. For a while when I worked there it was becoming quit common and barely made the news. And as for trying something funny at an American airport forget it. You can't scratch your ear without somebody seeing you and having you on tape.

A strange infestation descended on Washington DC today. A sea of humanity from all walks of life crowded the Capitol Mall and for a few short hours forgot the troubles of the day, No real agenda other than to celebrate a few of our common positive qualities. Some positive songs from groups like Roots, the OJs and the former Cat Stevens, an uplifting speech or two and awards for sanity in the face of adversity. Fear was put in it's place with the snark of Colbert. Jon Stewart restored reason with the cool logic as only he can.

One credit union went under on Friday. Union Credit Union of Spokane. It was the first credit union to go belly up in the state in 15 years.