The Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

 

Anacortes Washington refinery where tar sands oil is already being refined!

     In a previous blog, The Keystone Oil Pipeline, is it all just a big lie?  I questioned just who was going to benefit from all this tar sands oil from Alberta Canada that would cross dangerously through America’s environmentally sensitive heartland to refineries in Texas and down south through this manmade vein?

     If we are to believe the, everything is wonderful ranting, by the people behind the TV commercials put forth by energytomorrow.com thousands of out of work construction workers are about to find blissful employment building this pipeline.  And if we buy into that deception, then surely we will believe that two dollar and fifty cent a gallon gasoline, like Newt Gingrich promised won’t be far behind. 

     I guess the energytomorrow.com people must have conveniently missed the Senate vote on (S 1813) where 65 Senators voted against requiring refined oil from the Keystone Pipeline be kept in the United States.  And I guess they also missed the fact that those very same Senators wouldn’t even require that the pipeline be built by American workers and, oh yes, that also included not requiring that American Steel and Iron be used in the construction of the Keystone Pipeline.

     In short it makes the line by energytomorrow.com in their commercials, “Bringing tar sands oil to American markets,” One of the biggest lies of all unless of course they mean South American markets?   

     And finally it just kind of makes one wonder, what do those 65 Senators know about The Keystone XL Pipeline that they don’t want the rest of us to know?  I guess we’ll find out after either the pipeline is approved or after the upcoming 2012 election.  Unless of course they’re being bought off under the table?

     I say, “Fire them all”, it’s time for the American worker to take back, and truly occupy America, because WE are too big to fail.

     Be Heard!!!!

 

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Bill Walker

GREED: The New Religion and its Paper God!

 

GREED: The New Religion and its Paper God!

     There is a new religion taking hold in America and it is every bit as evil as anything that Satan ever dreamed of.  It’s fanatical, destructive, and it has the ability to consume anyone that does not give it the proper respect that it requires.  This religion was born a long time ago but it recently has found the perfect womb in which to grow and possess its victims from.  It is no less then a snake that slithers under and around the tables and chairs of America’s, and the worlds, Corporations, Banks, and Financial Markets.  It even has its own Boardroom Chapels where the flock comes to pray and worship on Electronic Alters that flash gains and sacrifices as they plan how to foolishly manipulate this demon to fulfill their own desires.  The religion is greed and it comes with a paper god that is called by many names, Money, Currency, Dollars, just to name a few.

     The holy trinity of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, have now been replaced with the Supreme Court, Energy Conglomerates,  and Banks that are to big to fail.  And this new religion is run by the new Apostles and Saints who are now referred to as CEO’s and the Board of Directors.  They preach daily about profits and cost containment as they set their cross-hairs on any one that tries to stand in their way as they plan the destruction of the environment and world financial domination behind the disguise of Corporate Personhood. 

     This religion comes complete with its own simple Bible that contains only one Bible Verse.  What’s mine is mine.  What’s ours is mine. And what’s yours will soon be mine!  And the Greediest pursue this with a passion and self righteousness that blinds them as they throw their fellow countrymen to the lions while relishing their ill gotten rewards. 

     A day of reckoning is coming, an economic inquisition if you will, when the poor rise up and cast down this Satan of mans own design.  We are the ones that will occupy their nightmares from a nearby park or maybe even their own corporate offices.  We are the 99%.  And it will be our Faith that will eventually crush their destructive financial gains.  And until then remember what Jesus Christ said, “Give to Caesar, what belongs to Caesar.  But give to God, what belongs to God.”  A new day is coming, a true Heaven on Earth! Which side are you on?

 Bill Walker

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The Coming Crash of the Oil Markets!

     As we approach another Earth Day, as well as four dollar a gallon plus gas prices, we can already hear the chant of, “drill baby drill” from conservatives and oil companies alike.  A few are even promising two dollar and fifty cent a gallon gasoline if we agree to rape ANWR, The Arctic Circle, and other areas that are still somewhat pristine in North America, including her coastlines all in the name of personal and financial greed without any regard for all of the other animals and their habitat that we share this planet with what so ever.

     If we needed any real proof of what a lousy idea this really is we don’t need to look any further then the BP blowout in The Gulf of Mexico.  If we can’t control a drilling operation in what is mostly a calm body of water how can anyone possibly believe that we can perform it safely in our world’s most violent body of water up in The Arctic Circle?  What if there was a way where you not only didn’t have to pay two fifty a gallon for gas but where you didn’t have to pay for gas at all? There is! 

     The problem with electric cars up to now is that it takes them eight hours or longer to recharge their batteries after a hundred or so miles of use.  One of the solutions to that problem is a company in Seattle, Washington called EnerG2.  They have already developed a nano-engineered carbon for use in batteries that allows for an increased battery capacity that can recharge totally in a matter of minutes rather then hours.  This is a highly purified carbon that they are already using in small batteries with hopes of having a car battery ready in five years that can totally recharge in ten to fifteen minutes and go farther on a charge then the current battery systems.  And furthermore they have just opened their first production facility in Albany, Oregon to expand research, development, and manufacturing.

     This is an environmentalists dream come true so I strongly recommend support of this company and others like it that are leading the way out of places like the Alberta Tar Sands in Canada as well as The Middle East with its propensity to like our money but hate us otherwise.  And wouldn’t it be great to never have to have another oil change since electric cars don’t need oil and require far less maintenance because of having far fewer moving parts?  I sure think it would!

     Yes, we would still need to do a massive upgrade on our antiquated electrical grid as it would never be able to hold the increased electric capacity that would be required if everyone had an electric car.  And we would still need either coal fired or natural gas powered electric plants but this would at least get us started in the right direction.  And who knows maybe that would be enough to open the door out in Western America to building Geothermal power plants where that energy is very accessible.  And it most certainly would create an abundance of construction and manufacturing jobs that our economy desperately needs.

     If you truly care about our world I ask you to please support start up companies like EnerG2 and other emerging technologies. Research them, get in touch with them, buy their stock if you can, do anything you have to, just make sure that energy conglomerates and their minion corporations can’t buy them up and bury them.  It’s our time to win, but to do that we need to stand up, and we need to stand united and strong.  It’s time for the other 99% of us to occupy the future and just say “NO” to corporate greed and environmental destruction!  

 

Feel free to check out EnerG2:  www.energ2.com

 

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The Day I Met LL Cool J

 

     As you wake up on any given day you can never be to sure what surprising thing may lie just ahead of you.  Back in the early nineties a friend of mine, Julie Burton now a singer song writer in Nashville Tenn., asked me if I would be interested in being a roadie for a day as she and her band showcased for some of the largest record companies in the world.  It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was something extraordinary that I would probably never get a second chance to do again so I jumped at the offer.

 

     The first big surprise of the day came as we rolled into New York City in search of the studio where the showcase was to take place.  I expected some high rise palace where no expense had been spared to attract the upper royalty of the music industry.  What I got was a nondescript building on this out of the way alley that no one would have ever suspected to harbor the megastars of music as they prepared for world tours or whatever.  And once inside this cold cement fortress it was anything but what you would think a multi-platinum millionaire would spend time at during rehearsals. 

 

     After checking in which required passing thru two heavily locked and secured sets of doors we were ushered into studio B of a triplex of studios that surrounded a common room that was even more unimpressive then the building itself.  The furniture, what there was of it, appeared to have come straight out of someone’s basement or the nearest second hand store.  Otherwise, it was clean, but that was the best I could say for it.   

 

     After setup, and during sound checks of which I was absolutely no help, I decided to take a book that I had brought along and take a break out in the common area while I waited for the first of two showcases to take place.  As I entered the common room I soon realized that I wasn’t the only person who had the same idea.  And I found my day suddenly brightening beyond all expectations.  Let’s just say that I instantly fell in love with my new reading partner but that’s another story.  In no time at all I was engaged in a conversation with a woman who if memory serves me right which it probably doesn’t, remember this was twenty some years ago, was named Christine or Christina.  And she told me that she was a dancer with LL Cool J.

 

     I replied, “LL who?”

 

     She said, “LL Cool J, we’re rehearsing for a tour in studio C.”

 

     I confessed that I was surprised because the guys that I had come with all said that LL Bean was in studio C.  And yes, I was really that naïve about Rap and Rap Musicians back in those days.   When Christine stopped laughing, and believe me she was bust a gut laughing, she took pity on my lack of knowledge and explained that my friends had played a huge joke on me.  And she went on to tell me a little about her story and how she had managed to become a dancer with LL Cool J.  And not long after this I had to return to studio B for Julie’s first showcase.

 

     When I next emerged at the conclusion of the showcase I was extremely pleased to see that Christine was still sitting in the common room.  I could have talked to her all day if I had the chance.  However, this time she wasn’t alone.  LL Cool J’s entire band, as well as his manager, were all taking a break. 

 

     Christine looked up and smiled as she said, “This is Bill, the guy who thought we were all a part of The LL Bean Band.”  They all laughed as I looked for the nearest couch that I could climb under to hide. 

 

     It was LL’s manager who decided that it might be best if he taught me a little bit about the culture and inspirations behind Rap Music.  I guess he genuinely did not want me to ever be so humiliated again so he spent the next fifteen to twenty minutes laying out how intricate the underlying messages really were.  Christine, as well as the rest of the band, were all great throwing in little bits of information here and there. 

 

     And then it happened!  The door to studio C opened and a very big guy, LL Cool J is a lot bigger then most people probably realize when you see him in person and up close, and this mountain of a man who I realized had to be a body guard emerged.  After a moment I heard LL Cool J’s manager speak up.  “Hey LL, this is Bill the guy we told you about.”

 

     I was glad that he left out the LL Bean part but I realized that was my queue, “Hi, it’s really nice to meet you, especially after making such a fool out of myself.”

 

     To which Mr. Cool J replied, “Eh!”

 

     And that was it my entire earth shattering conversation with the man himself.  It was a moment that he probably had forgotten by the time the door to studio C once again closed but one that I’ll never forget.

 

     And then I had to go back for Julie’s second showcase and I never saw Christine or the band the rest of that afternoon.  Christine, I might not have your name right, but I will never forget the short time I got to spend with you!  And without you, I probably would never have met LL Cool J.  Cheers, and thank you, where ever you are these days?

 

     And Julie, the biggest thank you goes to you.  The only thing that could have made this day even more special would have been if you had been signed by a major label.  Thanks for this cherished memory!

 

 

 

©

 

    

Greed vs Environment

 

 

 

     In the reality television show survivor the object is to outwit, outlast, and outplay, the other competitors to win the game and become the ultimate sole survivor.  In the battle between large corporations, energy conglomerates, and the environmental movement, it has always been who could outspend, out sue, and ultimately outlast, the other side to see who would eventually win an issue.  And unfortunately, at least in my opinion, environmentalists are losing more then they’re winning.

     It is true that people who value our planet’s health over financial greed have been successful in slowing down the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems through a constant litany of law suits.  But the powerful interests that are playing against them know that even a courtroom loss is only the beginning.  In far to many cases these mega companies regroup after tweaking their destructive plans and resubmit almost the exact same idea minus just the parts that cost them the lawsuit in the first place and end up getting the blessing of the court to plunder Earth Mother anyway.  Let’s face it, the environmental movement can’t outspend or outlast the vast amounts of wealth that are stacked against them.  However, there may still be a way to outwit these boardroom rapists of our planet at their own game.

     Many state governments are setting aside a portion of their tax receipts to purchase and protect the most sensitive of our public lands before development and mining interests can get a hold of them.  It just seems to me that environmentalists and their groups should take their queue from this successful local and national government practice.  I propose that environmental groups start saving some of the money they spend in constant litigation with often less then stellar outcomes.  And instead start spending some of their money buying up promising new patents on energy technology and researching future feasibility of these before corporate America has a chance to buy them, and then bury them in a virtual wasteland of great ideas that will probably never see the light of day again.

     Energy is the life’s blood of every single financial market bar none.  If the environmental movement can slowly get the upper hand on this future financial bonanza before big business then the tables would eventually turn leaving these mega corporations to either conform to a knew paradigm, or watch their bottom line shrivel into obscurity.  And as an added benefit this would also bring about the social and economic parity that the worldwide occupy movement is currently striving to achieve.  That’s like two birds at one feeder.

     Finally, we must reinvent our game if we are ever to have any hopes of taking back our world from a corrupt corporate entity that seems hell bent on destroying our planet for profit.  This is the ultimate game of survivor and they already know this.  And now, so do you!       

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The Keystone Oil Pipeline

The Keystone Pipeline: Is it all just a big Lie?

      We the people are being sold a bill of goods that are anything, but good for planet earth or us!

       The proposed Keystone pipeline running from the tar sands in Alberta Canada to the gulf coast oil refineries here in the United States will, we are promised, increase domestic production of gasoline, help to stabilize wildly erratic and upward fluctuations of prices at the pump, and reduce the amount of expensive Arab oil that we now purchase for our own domestic use.  Really?  I suspect a far different discussion is taking place behind the closed doors of the oil interests that are behind the Keystone pipeline.  Remember, these are the same people who claim that the reason for our incredible summer price hikes at the pump is because these refineries just can’t meet increased production demand. But now all of the sudden they can handle millions of extra barrels of oil that will become available because of this pipeline.  Why the change of story?

     The South American economies are booming and showing no signs of slowing down anytime in the near future.  And the one area that they are in desperate need to fill to keep their economies growing is in the energy department.  And with deep water ports on either side of their continent that are just a fairly quick oil tanker ride away from the Gulf States in the United States this leaves me highly skeptical of the purported benefits that most North Americans or Canadians would share in.  My guess is that if anyone were to look more closely into this they would find that there is a quiet push in the permitting process of both North and South American ports to be able to handle large oil tankers for the eventual import and export of tar sands oil.

     And in the end, after the completion of the pipeline, I believe it would do absolutely nothing to stabilize gas prices or cut the amount of oil that we purchase from Arab countries.  All this pipeline would do is help to line the greedy pockets of big oil and leave most Americans, and Canadians, sharing all of the environmental hardships and dangers.  If they really wanted to stabilize petroleum prices in North America and decrease Arab influence why not just build new refineries in Canada near the tar sands?  Think about it!

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Occupy Wall Street (Part 3)

A Real Estate Agents Perspective!

 

 

     I get really irritated whenever I hear a member of our government who is a so called financial expert claim that no one saw the financial meltdown of the housing market coming.  I was a Real Estate Agent from 2000 to almost 2005 and we all, agents, brokers, and loan officers alike, knew what was eventually coming.  It doesn’t take a financial genius to figure out that you just don’t sell $450,000 homes to people who could really only afford $225,000 homes at impossibly low adjustable rate mortgages of three and a half percent that would nearly double or triple over three to five years and expect everything to be just  hunky dory.  Quite simply, the government financial advisors who state that they didn’t see this coming are either outright liars or the most incompetent stupid financial idiots that ever walked the face of this planet.  And since we know they aren’t that stupid that only leaves the first choice above.

     And then for our government to have been complacent and allowed big banks and Wall Street to develop and implement a ponzi scheme insurance racket called derivatives that intentionally sucked the middle class dry was nothing less then securities fraud.  And finally, to have the gall to use tax payer money to bail banks out and not let them go bankrupt as payment for their misguided greed was utter and complete government mismanagement.  And with all that said, now four years later, not one person has been indicted and gone to jail for this treasonous crime against the United States.  Instead, they got bonuses.  Who says crime doesn’t pay!

     If this had been any average middle class American he or she would have never seen the light of day ever again.  Is it any wonder that the tea party or the occupy Wall Street movement are outraged.  This country, I’m sorry to say, is broken.  And as citizens of this once great country it is our duty to fix it.  Only elect politicians who do not use corporate campaign contributions and move as much money as you can out of large financial institutions and into small community run banks or credit unions.  They say that small businesses are the backbone of America, so let’s make them to big to fail!

 

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An open letter to Hayden Panettiere

 

I’m setting this letter a sail over the open electronic waters of the internet in hopes that it may some how find its way to Hayden Panettiere!

Lolita of the Salish Sea

 

     In 1964 a tragic roundup of killer whales took place in the waters of the Salish Sea, also known as Puget Sound, in which 68 of these magnificent animals were herded into Penn Cove just off the shores of Whidbey Island, WA.  This capture of these wild dolphins was so horrific and stressful that 13 died even before they could be removed from the water for transport and sale to aquariums around the world.  And of the 45 that were sold only one, Lolita, is still alive today at the Miami Seaquarium in Florida.  Lolita has been a fantastic ambassador between two races for the past 47 years passing along incredible amounts of knowledge about killer whales as she’s entertained tens of thousands of humans along the way.  However it’s time for her forced captivity to come to an end and let her live out the rest of her life where her family pod still resides.   

     A plan has been created to provide a safe transition from Lolita’s very small tank in Miami back to her home waters and reintroduction to her family pod in the Salish Sea.  Keiko, of Free Willy fame, proved that this reintroduction to the wild is possible and Lolita’s extended family, even some that were near by during the capture, still survive today.  Lolita would have a tremendous amount of human support in this effort to reacclimate to her home environment and there is no reason to assume that her very close knit pod wouldn’t remember or accept her back.  However the owners of the Miami Seaquarium refuse to even consider her sale even though they have been offered millions of dollars with which they could purchase a killer whale that has been bred and raised in captivity.

     Hayden Panettiere is an incredible voice for activism and understanding of these beautiful creatures that roam our worlds oceans and if there is any way that I can get her attention I would like to ask her to add her voice to this worthy and humane cause.  The Miami Seaquarium needs to be made aware of the fact that the positive PR that would take place if Lolita were allowed to be brought home would provide considerable profit for them for years to come and that it’s just the right thing to do.

     Hayden, Lolita needs your support to help and bring her home!      

                                                       ©

Occupy Wall Street (Part 2)

Social Activism Against Social Injustice

     Occupy wall street is about feeling faceless in a vast social configuration where life has become nothing more then a number.  Bob Seger said it best with his song lyrics, “I feel like a number, I feel like a stranger in this town, I feel like a number.”  We don’t want to be numbers any longer and we have the social networks of both facebook, and yes, even myspace, as well as others to thank for this.  The social networks have given us our voices back and this movement has only just begun.  We refuse to continue to be witless consumers sucked dry by corporations, governments, and to big to fail banks, in a financial world that has truly lost its way.

     I find it humorous when I hear the media postulate that the occupy movement will somehow dissipate as the colder winter weather moves in, nothing could be further from the truth.  Oh yes, demonstrations may scale back a bit over the holidays and what not, but then will come the occupy spring of discontent as America moves into its full scale political arms race that we refer to as elective government.  And if you thought that this movement has already run its course?  Then I say just wait and see what’s coming both here in America and abroad. 

     This is a worldwide phenomenon that encompasses more then just greed and the haves and have not’s.  This is about respect, honesty, integrity, and everything that governments, corporations, and large financial institutions, seem to be lacking in their models of fair and just treatment for all.  These entities have a brief period of time to change their practices or this movement will see to it that they fail, or are otherwise voted out of their jobs.   An ocean gets its start with a single drop of water and it is abundantly clear that the single drop has had it with the status quo and can make a difference because this ocean of single drops refuse’s to remain faceless any longer.  Finally, there is no government, corporation, or financial institution that is to big to fail, and we the people can see to that, if necessary!   

 

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You know you’re getting old when……..

This picture doesn't have much to do with the blog, but I love the show!

My Facebook Funnies (Part 2)

1.      You know you’re getting old when you’re actually happy about being young enough to still get a pimple!
2.      You know you’re getting old when you finally realize that money has this arbitrary value attached to it that makes absolutely no sense what so ever!
3.      You know you’re getting old when one of your coworker’s who is a member of the opposite sex says that you are one of her “peeps” and you start thinking, “Yea, I still got it!”
4.      You know you’re getting old when you have to tape your new cell number to your phone so you won’t forget it!
5.      You know you’re getting old when you start wondering, “If (the big bang) was how the universe began, will it end with the big suck?”
6.      You know you’re getting old when you start to realize just how many times that you’ve been a hypocrite in the previous twenty-four hours?  And then you start to wonder just how many that’s going to add up to over a lifetime?  And then, if there is such a thing as a life review after death, are you going to be expected to count them all?
7.      You know you’re getting old when its been cool, and un-cool, to be country so many times that you don’t have a clue anymore whether you’re still cool or not?  Now…, who’s your daddy?
8.      You know you’re getting old when realize that you could care less whether it was the chicken or the egg that came first!
9.      You know you’re getting old when you start to burn your toast on purpose in hopes that the extra carbon will soak up some of the toxins that have been floating around your digestive system for the past several decades!
10.       You know you’re getting old when you can’t find the zipper in your button fly jeans!  And yes, sadly, this really happened!  
11.       And finally.  Eating salt free soup is something akin to what I think it would be like to putting vegetables into hot soapy dish water and eating that.  Is living a few extra years really worth it?  Let’s see, Hmmmmmmmmm?   Hold on, still thinking……