XON SUX

I saw this on a personalized license plate the day before the verdict came out from the Supreme Court regarding the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and thought it was great, but it was something I would have easily forgotten.  Then the next day, the entire state of Alaska got pissed off all at once.  Now, I have not read the decision, but I have read a summary of their explanation.  The decision limits punative damages to an amount equal to the compensatory damages ONLY in cases involving maritime law.  I never took a class in admiralty law, and have not dug out my notes from my law school classes in remedies, but this seems to be a drastic departure from current punitive damages cases, and a very narrow decision that only affects... Exxon. 

 

Let's talk a moment about McDonald's, specifically Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants.  A woman spilled hot McDonald's coffee on her lap.  She was awarded $200,000 in compensatory damages, including medical bills, pain and suffering, etc. She was then awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages.  Later, the appeals court reduced her punitive damages award to $480,000, more than twice the compensatory damages.

 

in Philip Morris USA v. Williams (2007), the Court's decision was based on the idea that more reprehensible misconduct justifies a larger punitive damage award.  Let's think about this a little bit.  So, McDonald's had to pay more than twice the compensatory damages for a woman that spilled hot coffee on her lap while trying to add cream and sugar holding the cup between her legs.  The court found that the woman was partially at fault, and she was still awarded more than twice the compensatory damages in punitive damages.  But Exxon, whose drunk boat pilot ran aground and spilled millions of gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, effectively damaging hundreds of miles of coastline and completely trashing an ecosystem, only has to pay an amount equal to compensatory damages, even though they were clearly wholly at fault????  WTF?

 

Exxon argues that they paid their money, fixed the problem, cleaned up the mess. Baloney.  There are still shellfish fishermen pulling up globs of oil from the ground under Prince William Sound. The fishing has still not recovered. The mess is still there.

 

It amazes me that the 9 people entrusted by the citizens of the United States to DO THE RIGHT THING, all the time, can put the interests of a huge corporation, who makes the largest profits that any corporation has ever made (in case we have forgotten, $40 billion in one quarter), ahead of 600,000 people living in the State of Alaska, who would very much like to be able to swim, fish, live in and around Prince William Sound without worrying about contamination from oil.  Who can't catch enough fish anymore to even make it worth putting the boats in the water.

 

The entire idea of punitive damages is to PUNISH the corporation, so they think twice next time.  What are they going to think about $500 million in punitives? 1/80th of the amount of their profits in one quarter?  No biggie.  Makes me feel like the U.S. Supreme Court thinks of Alaska not as a state with many American citizens that they should be protecting, but as a pretty cheap whore. Thanks, guys.

 

Exxon Sucks.

vacation

"Vacation, all I ever wanted.  Vacation, had to get away" - The Go-Go's

 

Last week, Ryan, my 13 year old, and I flew to Maryland to visit my mother.  We spent 3 days at the beach at Ocean City, Maryland, and a day and a half in Washington DC.  It was a week of constant motion, as Ryan seems to have an unlimited font of energy.

 

At Ocean City, we spent lots of time on the beach, walked the boardwalk, ate yummy boardwalk food, and let Ryan ride the amusement rides.  The only ones I do are the carousel and the ferris wheel, as I get motion sickness very easily.  Ryan seemed to especially enjoy the bumper cars.  Playing in the ocean was a lot of fun; it has been years since I played in the ocean, and I had forgotten how much fun it was, and what salt water tastes like.  I had a really hard time leaving the beach when it was time to go.  I brought 50 SPF sunblock and it was a good thing that I had it, as my pale Alaskan skin was not used to all that sun exposure.  I managed to get a little sunburn anyway, especially on the backs of my knees.

 

In DC, we had great Indian food in Georgetown, and I bought some Godiva chocolate.  We spent a day at the mall (no, not a shopping mall, but a large grassy space with the Washington Monument at one end and the Capitol at the other, with museums and such on the sides) and saw the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and the National Archives. Ryan wanted to climb the 555 steps to the top of the Washington Monument, but we ran out of time.  Then we had dinner in Chinatown.  My feet were sore enough after the museums that I insisted on riding the Metro 4 blocks from the mall to Chinatown instead of walking.

 

The flight was 9 hours in the air each way, with a layover in Dallas.  Each time, the plane leaving Dallas was delayed due to mechanical problems.  On the way to DC, the plane from Dallas to DC was delayed an hour or so due to a problem with the toilet.  The valve was broken, and I guess they didn't want to drop sewage all the way from Dallas to DC.  Eeew.  On the way back to Alaska, the plane was delayed about 3 hours because of a wiring problem.  It turned out to be absolutely ridiculous.  First we waited while they tried to fix the wiring problem.  Then we waited while they located another airplane (which by the way, was clear across the airport in a completely different terminal). Then we waited while they got that airplane ready and transferred our stuff from the broken airplane.  Then we waited because our "paperwork" had expired and they had to get new "paperwork".  Then we taxied out to the runway, and waited some more because we needed to file a new flight plan.  By the time we finally took off, we were 3 hours late, and everyone on the plane clapped when we got off the ground.  When we got to Anchorage, we waited some more because another plane was parked at our gate.

 

I guess I find it interesting and concerning that two of the four airplanes I was on had mechanical problems that delayed the flight.  I am not even remotely suggesting that we should have flown with mechanical problems.  No, I would much rather be confident in the plane's ability to reach our destination safely.  What I find concerning is that half of the airplanes had mechanical problems that were not discovered until just before boarding the planes.  We know that the first priority of any corporation is to make a profit.  Are the airlines cutting corners in an effort to scrape by?  Does that put the safety of air travel at risk?  We know that companies do that... look at BP and the recent pipeline leak in Alaska.  They were cutting corners to minimize maintenance costs, and a large leak was the result.  Cutting corners to minimize maintenance costs on passenger airplanes could be lethal.  I hope that is not what is happening.

"We need a dramatically different energy policy for our country"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25010939/

 

Gas prices, as everyone knows, are up.  Way up. Out by my house, "cheap" gas is $4.26 a gallon. And drivers are struggling with the higher prices.  For the first time in recent memory, people are actually driving less (and gas prices are still going up). From reading this article, even mass transit programs are struggling.  Ridership is increasing because people are driving less and taking mass transit more, but the increase in the number of fares paid is not keeping up with the rising cost of fuel to run the trains and buses.

 

The airlines are having huge difficulties, and I think they are caught in a catch 22. They can't afford to fuel their planes, so they are cutting down on flights, imposing baggage fees, and so on.  In order to meet the rising cost of fuel, they need to dramatically increase fares.  However, if they do that, many fewer people will travel, and the airlines will be flying emptier planes, and still not able to pay for the fuel.

 

The thing is, people don't understand what is going on.  The last time gas prices climbed like this, there was an oil embargo.  Somebody saying, "No oil for you."  This time, why are gas prices climbing?  Why are oil prices at $135 a barrel? It's because there is not enough of it.  Between stagnant production, declining exports from exporting countries due to their own internal rising demand, and rapidly increasing demand from developing economies like China, which has recently discovered that they, too, should be able to live the American Dream, there simply is not enough to go around.

 

Then there is the other problem with our energy use... what we are doing to ourselves in the process.  We are a bunch of frogs sitting in a slowly heating pot of water, oblivious to the trouble we are getting ourselves in because it is happening relatively slowly.  At least, climate change, although accelerating, is happening more slowly than our gas prices are increasing, and we don't ever solve problems until they are PROBLEMS that have to be dealt with RIGHT NOW. And by the time it has to be dealt with right now, it will be too late to avert many of the consequences.

 

Can't people see that we need to do something different?

 

Hello???  McFly???

 

 

update...

It's been a while since I posted... I had to look at my sent items on my email to figure out the last stuff I posted, and a lot has happened since then.  I took a trip to Utah, which was great, although the last two days I was there it was in the 80's and very hot. I got to see lots of family, and my best friend, Aonika.  It was my good luck that one of James's cousins had her baby while I was there, so I got to hold Eric, my new first cousin once removed, or something like that.  He is beautiful.

 

On Memorial Day weekend, James built a tool shed.  It is a simple 8x12 saltbox, and incredibly useful.  Our tiny cabin had tools literally every place we looked, and now there is not a single one anywhere but in the shed.  I am pleased.

 

Our garden is doing much better than I expected the first year, at least so far, although I must admit I have not been able to eat out of it yet.  By "much better than I expected" I mean that things are growing and not dying. Our peas are a good 3 inches tall now, both shelling peas and snow peas.  Our strawberries are doing great, except something is eating some of the leaves.  The rhubarb is growing like a weed; it's at least 3 times its original size.  Our squash, tomato, brussel sprout, cauliflower and zucchini plants that were given to us are surviving, the potatoes are starting to grow, although I haven't got any sprouts poking out of the dirt yet.  (We know this because James got curious, and dug one up.) The raspberries are doing well.  Out of about 30 canes that we transplanted, only 2 don't look like they are going to make it, and some of them are setting blossoms.  And, as an added bonus, 4 of the 6 we planted last year survived the winter! Our onion and leek starts are about an inch and a half tall... soon they will be ready to transplant into the garden.  I also planted parsnips, carrots, green beans, two kinds of lettuce, broccoli, and scallions, but they haven't come up yet.

 

I had one major goof up.  I have staked off each bed and written on the stakes what is planted there, mostly.  MOSTLY.  Last night, I planted 2/3 of my green beans, and then realized, only after they were planted, that I had planted them in the same bed that I had just planted the lettuce, broccoli and scallions a few days ago, as I had forgotten to write on the stakes what I had planted.  I guess we will just have to see what comes up.  Unintentional companion planting, LOL.  I think I am probably about done planting for the year.  There are plenty more seed packets in my dining room, but I have over allocated my water resources already, and my backyard is beginning to feel like the seven western states fighting over the colorado river.  I hope it rains soon.

its getting up there...

This picture was taken on Saturday at the gas station about 4 miles from my house.  It's getting pretty expensive these days, and all indications are that it is going to get much, much worse.  It makes me really glad that I got my Geo running.  While I was at the gas station, my 13 year old son was asking me when they were going to start issuing gas rationing cards....

 

tipping point?

I was listening to Marketplace on NPR yesterday, and there was a story about rice supplies.  There was one sentence at the end of the interview that made me pay attention. "Global demand for nearly every major commodity has outstripped supply."

 

Whoa.  This is something I have been concerned about for a long time now, and here they are saying it on a mainstream news show.  Things are getting serious.  Now is a good time to be sure that you are ready for a rollercoaster ride, because this is just the beginning. I know some people that read this might think I am crazy, but I think we are fast encroaching a tipping point.

signs of life

Things are looking good in the garden!  I was outside watering last night, and was totally excited to see the peas starting to grow.  I have included a picture of one of the snow peas.  Also, my strawberries are doing great!  They are all growing, even the one the moose stepped on. 

 

Unfortunately, the onion starts I have sitting on my dining room table got walked on by the cat, and three of them got knocked completely over and spilled.  Since they haven't germinated yet, I know I lost those three.

 

Tonight I am planting parsnips, and tomorrow carrots.  Thursday, I have to cut up my potatoes (which are sprouting nicely), so they can harden in time for me to plant Saturday.  Friday, onions and lettuce are going in.  At least, if I get everything done according to plan.

 

So, we drove the geo yesterday.  We got gas right after leaving the house on the way to work, and filled up again as we were getting home, to see how much we used.  In total, we drove about 120 miles, both the commute and the driving around I had to do for work yesterday, and used 3 gallons of gas. I was pleased.

relief

James fixed the Geo this weekend.  It turned out it had burnt valves, which required taking the head off, having it machined, and the valves replaced.  Cost about $400, and now it runs like a champ. It would have cost a lot more if James didn't do everything but the actual work on the head and valves himself. When we fill up the truck or James's work van, it has been costing between $70 and $80 recently, because they both have 20 gallon tanks.  And we would fill up the tank on the van three times a week, since we were commuting in it.  When I filled up the Geo this morning, it only had 1/4 of a tank in it, and it only took 5 and 1/2 gallons to fill it up.  That was very cool.  I am going to keep track of my mileage between fill ups to see how many MPG we really get. Regardless, as long as it keeps running, it will save us a LOT of money.

preschool graduation

My four year old graduated from preschool yesterday.  There is something silly about a graduation ceremony for preschool, as if it is a huge life accomplishment... I somehow don't think that twenty years from now, when applying for a job, he will say, "Oh, and I graduated from preschool" as part of his qualifications.

 

However, for Steven, it IS a big deal.  Not the graduation itself, but in progress made.  See, his preschool is a special education preschool for children with speech problems. Steven has apraxia, which is basically a motor planning issue. The act of speech, while basically effortless for most of us, actually involves a great deal of planning, which then must be implemented in the act of speaking.  Steven has had a very difficult time in this area.  See:  http://www.apraxia-kids.org/.  When he was two, he had maybe 4 or 5 words.  And to make matters worse, there were some words that he had been saying (such as "eat") that he lost and was then unable to say them.  We started teaching him sign language, so that he could communicate with us, and that was a great success.  When he started preschool at age 3, even with over a year of speech therapy, he had 10 words, but about 50 signs. 

 

Now, he can carry on a complete conversation, and his vocabulary is huge.  He rarely uses any signs now, except as an accent to his speech, like most of us wave our hands around when we talk.  There are still some times that we have trouble understanding him, especially when he is tired, but I would say he is about 90% intelligible.  It was amazing yesterday to watch him, and think back on how he was a year and a half ago.

 

He will actually attend preschool through the summer, thanks to extended school year services, but he will start kindergarten in a regular class, with only minor supports and speech therapy twice a week, instead of the four-day-a-week intensive stuff he was getting in preschool.  I am very excited for him. Way to go, Steven!

garden update - and a story about a tree

So, my garden is expanding, little by little.  On Monday, I bought 20 pounds of yukon gold seed potatoes, and they are currently sitting spread out on my kitchen table absorbing sunlight to encourage them to sprout.  They will have to do this for a week or so.

 

I planted 20 more strawberry plants that I purchased from a gardener that lives a few miles down the road from me.  That brings the total to 45 strawberry plants.  :)

 

I planted 3 20' double rows of peas, and a 4' x 16' bed of snow peas.  Snow peas can be grown in intensive beds instead of rows because they don't require the support that regular peas do.

 

In the starter containers my first set of strawberries came in, I started leeks and ailsa craig onions (a storage variety).  I am going to do the same in the containers from my second set of strawberries in the next day or two.

 

I still have a large pile of seed packets that need to be started soon... lettuce, broccoli, parsnips, and carrots among them, as well as some that need to wait til after the last frost date (June 1), like beans.

 

James started work on a tool shed/firewood shelter a couple days ago.  The first step, obviously, is to cut down the trees where it will go.  This is all done, but there was a heart-pounding moment.  All but one of the trees came down where they were supposed to go with no problems.  Ironically, the very last tree was not cooperative.  This particular tree was a largish birch that stood approximately 20 feet away from the north side of our cabin, and as it got taller, it leaned ever so slightly towards the cabin, which made it tricky.  We wanted it to fall north-west, away from the cabin.  James cut a notch out of the trunk on the northwest side, then started to cut into the southeast side of the tree.  What was supposed to happen was that because the notch had been cut out, the tree would lean that way. It didn't want to. So, I stood by James and pushed on the tree, as high up as I could reach.  I about had a heart attack when I felt the tree start to push back.  Luckily, (or maybe because of the way James cut it, at an angle) it only shifted a quarter inch or so, and stopped, leaving the chain saw stuck between the two pieces of tree.  With stern instructions to the children who were watching to stay on the far side of the house and run towards the road (to the south) if I hollered at them, we wrapped a tow strap around the trunk of the tree and lifted it with branches as high on the trunk as we could, and pulled it towards the northwest.  Nothing happened.  We then attached a come-along to a tree that was in the general direction we wanted it to go, and slowly ratcheted it tighter.  Slowly, slowly the tree started moving.  When it got so it was straight up and down, it paused, and we all held our breath to see what it would do.  Finally, slowly at first, then all of a sudden, it was down, with a big thump, right where we needed it to go. I could breathe again, but I could hear my heart pounding.