A new study has set a price tag on our dirty air, and it's steep: $6.3 billion annually, and more than 800 people who die prematurely in the Valley each year. Here's our editorial today on the subject.
That's about double the cost the same group of Cal State Fullerton economists determined in a similar study three years ago.
The news comes as the state Air Resources Board gets set to consider strict new standards for diesel engines. The new standards will be expensive to implement, but the state will be helping truck operators meet the costs. In any case, the cost of cleaning up the engines is far less than the price we pay in illness, missed work days, school absences and deaths.
What I can't understand is why the suggestion of my proposing widespread electrified light rail as a means to help air quality while improving mobility and encouraging smart growth development patterns is rarely, if ever, offered as editorial fare.
Time and time again I write about the environmental and economic benefits local, electrified passenger rail can bring. No good can come from this unless the information is out there to make people aware of what this modal type has to offer. What’s sad is if I want to ride light rail transit, I must go to Los Angles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, or out of state. There is no such system here. The greater Phoenix area's newest 20-mile starter system is opening this December 27th. While there is all this euphoria over light rail elsewhere, we in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley remain, and have to do, without. Meanwhile, there is news release after news release on the American Public Transportation Association's Web site to back up what I'm touting. But please don't take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.
With respect to goods movement, compared to truck-hauled goods, train-hauled goods via trailers/containers on flat cars (TOFC/COFC), is a far more efficient and environmentally sound way to move large quantities of goods.
In a letter to the editor of the magazine RailNews, I wrote:
"Less trucks on the highways means less traffic congestion; less catastrophic degradation to the road surface and sub-grade; less pollution; and as Mike Howard pointed out in the J. B. Hunt Story, fewer accidents involving the big rigs. I'm not advocating the total elimination of trucks from the roadways; rather, I'm suggesting ways that both truckers and railroaders can reap the benefits of the two transportation modes.
"...The number of train personnel required for moving the trailers as well as the need for new intermodal equipment to handle the increased business all point toward increased employment opportunities. ...New opportunities would be out there in train operations and manufacturing. The same number of trailers and containers would be moving--perhaps even more, but the logistics would be different." (RailNews, Jan. 1997, p. 6).
What's more, there are infrequently used railroad branchlines where increased freight and passenger rail activity could be the answer to the pressing problems mentioned in the Opinion “Cleaner air will save us money,” and others. How nice it would be to have a third, competing common-carrier railroad take on the overflow that the state's current two mainline carriers either turn away or cannot move at all because of capacity constraints. Same goes for previously abandoned railroad branchlines that could be rebuilt and reused. We need to take a look at these options more closely.
It's also important to look at the situation from a holistic point of view and understand how one segment may impact another, whether it’s transportation, air pollution or real estate development. They are all interconnected. A lack of coordinated planning and effort regarding transportation, air quality and development, be it residential, commercial, industrial or agricultural development, or any combination thereof, will not do the greatest amount of good for all who are affected. Evaluating things in a more holistic sense makes way more sense than trying to solve problems piecemeal.
With all this in mind, what needs to be considered is what can be done more immediately to permit the greatest amount of pollution relief in the shortest period of time and yet accomplish the greatest quality of life improvement for the greatest number of people. Rail transportation should be a key component of the equation and certainly given much more consideration and emphasis. This, I feel, is something that is lacking and that needs to change.
Mr. Alan Kandel
Because it is not as glamerous as the fast! fast! bullet train of prop 1a, which shall cost us ten kings' ransom for its limited destinations and riders.
Do these 800 people just keel over and die on a "Bad Air Day"? $6.3 billion annual cost...on what?Lies,damn lies and statistics...take your pick.
Spot on there mate!!!!!!
My daughter's lips turn blue on most bad air days and she has to use her inhaler frequently. As an adult, I moved back to the Valley from the coast and asthma was my welcome gift. I'll tell my daughter to quit choking on her lies and statistics and to toughen up. After all she won't just keel over and die. It's sure to be a slow decline. Do we have to wait until the inversion layer is above Shaver Lake before you'll care Brian? I know, that brown sludge is supposed to be there, every bowl has a lid, right?
zing
a bowl of chronic cleans out your lungs and actually cures asthma. trust me, you'll stop weezing after some dulja.
About 50 years ago, scientists warned us that our area must not develop like Los Angeles. Because of the meteorological conditions of this area we would be worse off then Los Angeles. They told us that there would be devil to pay if we turned urban/industrial like Los Angeles. According to current estimates, the devil's wages seem to be $6.3 billion annually. We can cry over spilled milk, alas, it is of no use.
Where is that money coming from?
Mr. Murray; Maybe those statistics are incorrect. I have no way to confirm or dispute them. But thank to the dedication of the medical people at Fresno Community Hospital, my husband did not become one of those 800; by the grace of God. As I have said above...we were told that there would be devil to pay....perhaps "MOI" would say..."...in for a penny; in for a pound."
Kim...sounds like you need to move back to the coast...for the children.It's all about choices and it sounds like you need to adjust your priorities if it's killing your kids.Isabell...What exactly did they do to keep hubby from keeling over from...bad air?
Mr. Murray, it took about a week to drain his lungs of deadly fluids....and I did not believe a person could be as callous and crude as you seem to be.
So Brian's solution to the Valley's air quality problem is: move away if you have a problem? How about those who can't just pack up and move to the coast? Not everyone has that option.
Brian - It is a disappointment that you are so predictable in your answer. Just move away and continue things as they are. You do realize that if we continue down the same road as always that pretty soon there will be no place to move to.
As for why I don't... We've tried. We moved back to the Valley after we had children because our support structure was here. Now they are aging and we are here to help out my parents and recently the added burden of an aged uncle. We are older parents at the age where changing jobs is difficult; people don't readily hire geezers when the job market is flooded with younger workers. Larger cities are more open to an aging workforce but there you have the air quality issue again. We've got college costs coming up with our kids and healthcare costs coming up with aging dependents. Taking lower paying jobs won't get us through. Ultimately we may have to give up everything we've worked our entire lives for in exchange for cleaner air but we are working with my daughter’s doctor for a stop gap. Her future and education will be bleak if we do have to give it up for lost. But, yes, we’ll do it if we ultimately have to.
I can understand your callousness for my family; after all I’m not afraid to point out what your are but what about others Brian? The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2006 that six counties in the San Joaquin Valley had the highest percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line. These six were among the 52 counties with the highest poverty rate in the U.S. How do these people “just move”. Let them cough up a lung and die, right Brian?
"a bowl of chronic cleans out your lungs and actually cures asthma. trust me, you'll stop weezing after some dulja."
Please! Can someone translate that into standard English.
Brian's made a couple of excellent points here. First of all, there's no reason given to think the stats cited in the original post are credible without a lot more information about the methodology, the assumptions, and the agenda of whoever funded the research.
Also, he's absolutely right that every single person who lives here (or anywhere, at least in the U.S.), unless he or she is incarcerated, does so by choice. Every person freely makes that choice, every day, and balances the tradeoffs. That's not callousness, that's an observation of the liberty we all enjoy.
To complain that not enough other strangers are willing to pay more for less efficent or less powerful cars, to drive less, to pay higher taxes, to use public transportation, to ride their bikes to work, support high-speed train bonds, or otherwise alter their lifestyle at their expense for your benefit or convenience is nonsensical. But par for the course for the collectivists at the Bee!
Tony said, "Every person freely makes that choice, every day, and balances the tradeoffs. That's not callousness, that's an observation of the liberty we all enjoy."
Kim explained the cost-benefit analysis she went through when deciding where to live. That Brian shows no empathy is what's callous. He's willing to run roughshod over whoever he needs to in order to continue making whatever points he's trying to make.
Which is why I continually question whether his behavior would be the same face to face. The tone in his last comment was essentially, "Go f*** yourself," after having two different people explain tough, personal anecdotes. That's the callous part.
Smoking marijuana will open up your lungs which stops wheezing. Wheezing is a common symptom of asthma.....ya smell meh?
Isn't it funny how often it's those who wear their Christianity on their sleeves who don't want to inconvenience themselves for the health of their neighbors?
As Kim pointed out, sometimes the "choice" to live in the Valley is only a Hobson's choice. Sure, she could choose to live homeless, jobless and destitute on the coast, or she can "choose" to remain employed, housed, and taking care of her family in the Valley. Oh, by the way, Kim, "be ye warmed and filled."
But Tony is right to some extent, we do have choices. I do ride my bike to work the majority of the time, and drive less, and support high speed rail. We've also chosen to stop using our fireplace, and have installed solar panels on our roof. Those are choices we have made. Not everyone can make the same choices, but we all can do more than we probably do. It's all part of "loving your neighbor as yourself," isn't it?
TOPIC: Valley's bad air.
Recapitulate:
Lawson: By the grace of God, and the medical care at Fresno Community Hospital, my husband did not become part of the (statistical) 800 who die prematurely each year (because of the bad air).
Murray: "what exactly did they do to keep hubby from keeling over...bad air?"
Lawson: It took a week to drain deadly fluids from his lungs.
Tanksley: "My daughter's lips turn blue on most bad air days."
(Apparently, the child is one of the inordinate number of local children who are now suffering from asthma this day because of the bad air.)
Murray: "Kim...sounds like you need to move..."
(Tanksley and Lawson wondered how Murray can be so indifferent and callous. After all he had not been asked for his opinion in the first place. Tanksley and Lawson had but responded to the topic on the table.)
Toni Gastelum: Murray is not callous, he is just practicing his American freedom. (No editorializing on my part is needed.)
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"adam" (Forgive me if I am embarrasing you.) You are a mensch! A very decent American, as we perceive an American to be. Some participants in the blog should read the letter to the editor (today) giving the dictionary definition of "liberal and conservative." But when it comes to politics....in savvy circles they are classified as progressive and reactionary. By the way... writing long and didactic posts does not necessarily translate into savvy.
Isabell, I'll say thank you and leave it at that.
Isabell, the only freedom I referenced was the freedom to live where you please. Nothing about freedom of speech.
If you're sincere about wanting to understand the choices we make about where to live and how so-called clean or dirty air fits into that, as well as who actually benefits, please take time to read The Armchair Economist by Steven E. Landsburg, particularly pages 34-37. While you're at it go ahead and also read pages 223-231.
It could open your eyes to your own responsibility for choices that you freely make yourself. It's too bad the editors of the Bee don't have time to read up on the subjects they have made the paper's overt agenda.
P.S. Today's letter to the editor didn't share 'dictionary defintions' for anything, and the author didn't claim to do so. It was just another silly diatribe.
Mike, a Hobson's choice is one where you only have one option. It doesn't apply to anything talked about on this thread. As you yourself haplessly pointed out, there are other choices that all involve their own particular tradeoffs, and Kim and anyone else is free to make their own evaluation of what is more important to them personally.
In this case, as you stated, Kim has chosen to value income, property, and continued employment over supposedly less asthma-conducive air. Even without a survey, I think it's safe too say all of us here in the Valley have done the same. And Brian was right about that.
Shouldn’t clean air and water be a “right” everywhere in the USA? If we are the good Christians that we claim we are, shouldn’t we have more respect and concern for God’s creations of people and earth?
Tony, Bingo! - regarding the Hobson's choice bit. Although we may have choices in varying degrees, depending on our circumstances, leaving the Valley is not really an option for many people here. Do you really expect people to just pack up and leave when they have nowhere to go? Are you truly that out of touch or callous?
Re" "Toni Gastelum"
Thank you for your suggestions on the literature, and I shall keep it under serious advisement. But the post in question was about Mr. Murray's insensitivity and callousness on grave matters, pertinent to the topic. If one can't be civil in directly addressing an individual, then it should not be done at all. But the matter is not worth continuing ; ad infinitum.
Tony and Brian - So... how far do I have to move to get away from air? Is there like a border or something? Tony, you mentioned Brian "made a couple of excellent points"; lets look at them. In theory we all have a choice as a benefit of our great country. Yes, excellent point, in theory; however, we live in the real world. I have a choice. Those less educated, at the poverty level or little or no support system don't have a choice, in reality. To relocate without the resources is near impossible. Those that try it must live as vagrants until they find jobs and a home. You can't just pitch a tent anywhere anymore. As for Tony's comment, "there is no reason to believe the stats are credible," in theory that is true; however, the same logic implies there is no reason to suggest that they are not. To summarily call them "lies" "without a lot more information about the methodology, the assumptions, and the agenda of whoever funded the research" (your words) is just as "excellent" a point. Now for the grand finale:
"To complain that not enough other strangers are willing to pay more for less efficent or less powerful cars, to drive less, to pay higher taxes, to use public transportation, to ride their bikes to work, support high-speed train bonds, or otherwise alter their lifestyle at their expense for your benefit or convenience is nonsensical." O.K. Tony can you explain to me when breathing air became a lifestyle and not a basic human need? Brian supports CC&Rs the rules you adhere to when you live in a neighborhood. Rules made for the common good of the neighborhood. Is it such a stretch for everyone to work towards the common good of the living beings on this planet? Healthy air is not a choice it is a need. There is one more excellent point that you are ignoring. If we don't start somewhere at sometime there will come a time when you can't just move away from the problem. I alone don't benefit from my efforts for clean air; you do to. By your logic I should tell you to quit breathing my clean air! It's not yours, breath your own dirty air. You are making a choice to breath my clean air, stealing it, therefore you should pay me for it. Tony, now do you understand what is really "nonsensical?"
KIm Tanksley; being right does not mean that it changes the closed minds of those who are wrong. They may invoke freedom of speech and all that, but there is a right and wrong morally, and that is something some people can't grasp. I don't cary my religion on my sleeve, but I believe in the saying "God's mills grind slowly but surely." Like you said, breathing is not an option.
Kim ...do you really think I'm for a dirty environment? Do you really think I'm not thinking about, on a daily basis, what I can do to be a good steward of the Earth? You're wrong if you do.I'm just not buying "Duh Bee's" propoganda,furthermore, I'm from the Midwest and when the climate was too much for my Mom's health...we up and moved the family to SoCal where my Dad started a new career,she got better and we started our lives all over again.That was a choice...a very difficult one but a choice.Isabell...please tell me what exactly was uncivil,callous and insensitive about my post.I am happy for you that your "Hubby" is better because I know how much my mom misses my dad and I would not wish that upon you but you linked his health to"Bad Air" and I wanted to know why you did that and what they did to help him."Insensitive"?I think you're being unfair.
I don't know what you are for; you very seldom say. Your posts are like your first one here; if you don't agree you call it a lie or rhetoric but you rarely back up those types of statements with facts. You said yourself you discounted the post merely because it came from the Bee. Do you have information that it is false? By dismissing the issue and data so easily you dismiss the people behind the issue. You are not stupid Brian. You know a blanket statement such as, you better move then, is insensitive; especially when an intelligent man such as yourself knows that isn't such a simple solution. It is a choice for me, I repeatedly agreed with that; I will always do what needs to be done and if the scales tilt any farther we may have to. Priorities aren't black and white and our age and economy limits the choices we do have. Even so, I have choice. That choice is not available to everyone and you know it. Even during Katrina poorer people who wanted to leave couldn't because they couldn't afford a bus ticket or gas. The Central Valley has a high poverty rate. California has some of the strongest environmental laws in the country. What other state do people go to? How do the poor live in an expensive area like the coast? I can no longer afford it. Don't expect me to buy the poor me I'm innocent act you portray. You know your quip dismisses the issue and those effected by it. The "it's not my problem" attitude that you conveyed, and is prevalent in society, is why we have bad air, polluted water and trash in our streets. If you don't live that way why do you propagate the attitude? Many try and do their bit for the environment just like you but it is clearly not enough. We need a concerted effort or soon it will become such a big problem that the costs will far outweigh that which is already substantial; in money and health. You can't begin to build the concerted effort when the needs of the whole don't rank above the convenience of the individual. Is the Bee so horrible for putting the issue on the table to get people to start thinking about it? Shame on you Mr Boren, why did you write such an article?!!
Kim...a lot of words that do not add up to much.Have you ever seen a counter argument about this in "Duh Bee"? Not me and You probably won't as they are so invested in this issue there is no room for disagreement on this issue in their world.I think it's more of a geography issue based on reading accounts about how the "Indians" and early "Mexican" settlers called it "The Smokey Valley" way back then.Still I take daily measures to be a good steward of air,land and sea.The central valley has a high poverty rate because of the high illegal alien population and the ripple effect it creates.I suggest you read "Mexifornia" by VDH?It mirrors my experience with these very things in SoCal for 25 years.Kim...You talk a good game but are you really doing anything about the issues you are concerned about or will you just keep making excuses for your choices and attacking others.I have noticed a more mean spirited tone by the lefties around here since the election.
Does understanding that a big part of the problem is geographic do anything to change any of the points I made? Air quality is still a problem; poor people are still poor.
Yes, I am doing what I can, just like you. I have also repeatedly written letters to federal and state legislatures voicing concerns and ideas and I support the passage of many environmental laws; not all, many.
Show me where I have made excuses for my choices. I tried to illustrate that getting up and leaving isn't as simple as it sounds. It's hard for me and I have a strong foundation. Something not true for many others. You still haven't answered the question of how do you get away from air? Is there a clean air border? How long will it be before there is no place left to run to? Even if rain cleans the pollutants from the air, it brings them to our water supply. How do I move away from water?
You have repeatedly claimed we should be responsible for our words. How is asking you to qualify your words an attack? Isn't this a discussion group? Deflecting the attention to the election and Democratic supporters is a form of attack; is it not? I'm a Democrat but I voted Republican because I put my own needs (gun control) before the needs of the country. Does that make me a good guy or a bad guy?
One can determine how reliable the statistical analysis that yields 800 premature deaths in the San Joaquin Valley is by simply reading the report. There are uncertainties in such analyses, but that does not make the conclusions invalid.
The real issue about the costs of air pollution is that the costs of the pollution versus the benefits of producing the pollution are asymmetrically distributed. A relatively small number of people compared to the population of the Valley die prematurely each year. They pay far more than their share of the price of pollution. The rest of us pay much less than a fair share of the pollution we cause. It is the old economic concept of externalities. Until a polluter is forced to incur a cost for their behavior, they have no incentive to put the price incurred by others for their pollution on their books as a direct cost of doing business. We all incur real costs for our collective polluting behaviors, but the costs are usually indirect and obscure.
As of this week, there have been 41 homicides in Fresno so far this year, but there have probably been more than 700 premature deaths caused by the effects, direct and indirect, from air pollution. What issue should be on the TV news every night? What issue should we be outraged about? Where should we be spending our "public safety" tax dollars?
Kim and Stephen...both too confusing to make sense of it. I still don't believe the self-serving stats and feel the same about choices made by people so I have nothing else to say so I'm moving on
re: "mdub420" Thanks for the translation. I think it is funny, but I leave it at that because the blog's resident xenophobes would rather than not rail me out of town. Now, given the dope on it, I am sure my daughter could have told me what it meant. While she was younger, she always had weird looking things on her coffee table hahaha! As for the smelling....if she had told me that it was her favorite indoor potted plant, I would not have disputed it. "Mother! You live in a paper bag" she would say. But the paper bag was not as un-transparent as she thought. But we decided if we asked no questions we would not be told any lies. And loving each other did the rest. Next week we shall be together to celebrate Thanksgiving,
and all without trying to cure asthma. Happy Thanksgiving!
Good idea Brian. Reality, being as complex as it is, can be much more confusing that pure rhetoric. Everybody else gets it and that's what counts; I had no delusions that any amount of information or logic would have changed your mind anyway.
Kim...you are extremely arrogant and insensitive to assume "Reality",to me, is too complex and that "Everybody Else" gets it.I know you work for "The State" and never said what you were willing to give up to help"Everybody Else".How about one of your 15 paid holidays or some sick leave or some of your multiple weeks of paid vacation or perks like subsidized healthcare and retirement.How about not using taxpayer paid for computers and time to participate in a private matter...like blogging between 9am and 5pm..."You're Busted".
Shorter Brian Murray:
I got busted for making a callous statement, so I will continue being a jerk about it, ad infinitum.
Just think of all the other comments you could have written if you weren't busy trying to tell Kim what a terrible person she is for being offended that you chose not to recognize the difficulties of her life when you essentially told her to suck it up regarding her kid's asthma.
I don't subscribe to Sigmund Freud's "Psychoanalysis" that bases all neurosis on the sexual. I adhere to Alfred Adler's (once Freud's pupil) "Individualpsychology". In an individual's desire for power, he/she gets into conflict with his/her own inadequacy which then results in neurosis. Add to it three impulses that make us tick...self-preservation; fear of abandonment and need for validation, we can come up with a plausible explanation for some of the more or less obnoxious posts. The irony of it is that in the healthy individual the desired validation could be achieved via education. I am not saying that every and each blogger is of healthy mental hygiene, but others are, just being hampered by ignorance. And when called out on it they get frustrated because there goes validation out the window; and belligerence seems to be the last refuge. Knowledge makes free .... "And that's the truth!"
My late, dearest and best friend once said to her husband: "Don't argue with Isabell; she is always right."
"Thank you" I replied "I am not always right. But unless I know for sure, I keep my damn mouth shut; or I add up to my uncertainty in the subject on the table." During our (often) all night discussions, our encyclopedias got quite a workout. hahaha! And when my daughter and I are together, the encyclopedia is never far away, for we too seek validation. I have the advantage, I can look up things in more than one language. But being mannerly, we both are good sports as well. And the hubbies, meanwhile, enjoy a beer.
Thanksgiving weekend is almost upon us. I had better dust the encyclopedias; Britannica, Worldbook, Columbia Viking Desk, Bertelmann and Langenscheidt.
A happy and blessed Thanksgiving!
We are all aware that being arrogant and insensitive is only O.K. when you do it. I made a concerted effort at giving you back what you dish out and I got my desired result. As for my blogging between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.; by federal law, lunch breaks and 15 min afternoon breaks are allowed. I appreciate your attention to detail but don't go half way with it. Check out the approximate timing. In addition, I work at home (personal computer) much of the time or in the field, personal laptop with wifi. I use a personally paid cell phone which is 90 percent used for work. I spend approximately $3,000 a year for equipment and training that the State does not pay for to do my job; verifiable by my income tax. I use my own vehicle much of the time in significant travel. In addition, I have taken several vacation days and non-paid days recently due to the illness of my children; virus, yes they are fine. You can call their schools for confirmation. In January, I will be representing the State in Washington DC in a forum on research I have been conducting that will save the State several thousand dollars on each construction project we do. I funded the research by donations, $60,000, and wrote it up on my own time; unpaid. The trip will cost me $2,300 for which the State will not be paying because of budget restraints. If it goes well, I will likely win a grant for $300,000 the State can use to further my research for additional savings. So... Brian, to try and discount my opinion by casting doubt on my veracity or ethical treatment of my job is misdirected. I don't use state sponsored health care because it sucks, I fund my own. I do more than my part in a job that pays me 25% less than the going rate. I had better benefits in the private sector. Why? By choice; I love my job. Now answer the question I have asked you three times. Why should one segment of the population, State employees, be required to pay for the problems that the State has that has come from more than one source?
I had to take my kids to swim practice. Now that I am back I'll finish. The extra time and money that I put into my job is not unusual for State employees. A large number do similar things because we are servants to the State and the taxpayers and take our jobs very seriously and with pride. There is a strong core of people. I say core because the rest are walking through a revolving door using State employment as a stepping stone. The State is not competitive in the market place and they can't keep many employees that can make more and have better benefits elsewhere. I have reached the age where what I do is more important that how much I make; so I and others like me, stay. Many of us would gladly give up a few vacation days for competitive pay. Take them. Return the significant portion of my paycheck I put into the retirement system. I can make a better return on my money myself. You want a scape goat Brian and you keep giving us the same conservative propaganda that we hear daily on the radio. You want to balance the budget on the backs of the very people who are working hard to make things better, serving the interests of the State and its people. The problem is complex, propose an answer to handle the problem, not just a soap box cop out that makes you feel good with your righteous indignation.
Above, you seem completely shocked that I would even question your efforts for the environment and yet you post libelous innuendo accusing me of unethical behavior. When you can't defend your arguments you attempt to discredit people with personal attacks. You are not fooling anyone, except perhaps yourself.
Kim...As long as your comfortable with your behavior why should my opinion matter.That's all you had to say. To answer your question...I question the mindset of all public employees and unions in regards of their decision to get all they can at taxpayer expense with little accountability.It's not the same set of rules the "Private Sector" has to operate within.So answer my question...What are you willing to give up? Adam...nice to hear from you about something other than "Gay Marriage" and also to know you are the judge and jury for what is appropriate.I didn't tell Kim to"Suck it up"(your words).We are led to believe that no one has options other than to live here and subject themselves and their famillies to what we are led to believe are life and death conditions.My father role modeled true concern for his family by moving us to a more suitable area based on my mom's health problems.Maybe that's where I get my callous,insensitivity from.I don't feel "Busted" for anything and did I ever call you a"Jerk".How "Obtuse"...was it intended?
This shall go off the screen next. And none was ever riper for it.
That was all I had to say? When you post libelous accusations that have the potential to jeopardize my employment, I think it behooves me to get the truth out there. I've answered your question several times. I have been giving up money and time (which is also money) and benefits. As for the rest, I'm tired of hearing your rationalizations to qualify your poor behavior. Just remember, one of these days someone is going to legally call you on your libel and your posts will be an excellent source of character reference.
We have to make decisions that we would rather not make for the good of our family. I have been trying to get my husband to move me to the coast because of the heat but hes not going for it. I guess he would rather deal with me being bitchy lol. My father who was an alcoholic chose to leave us when I was two rather than subject us to the life of living with an alcoholic. A decision he didn't want to make but did it because the booze had control on him.
What nobility for an alcoholic to leave his family and a two year old little girl. If that is a metaphor in context with Tanksley's little breathing challenged little girl....I just don't get it.
Kim...maybe that's why we don't hear from Scot anymore.He was trying to get a job from Obama and part of the application(26 pages) was... are there any blogs or e-mails that would reflect negatively on you.I hope you have documentation to back up all your excuses in court.Evidence is kind of an important thing.Pretty sad when free speech is threatened but you're right...now that the left is in charge maybe I should be more careful.Another question...what conservative propoganda are you listenining to on the radio?
Libel is not free speech. Look up the definition pal.
The atmosphere has become thick enough to be cut with a knife, because of the rancor in many of the posts. The constant and little restrained in jumping down each other's throats seems to be alienating those who are seeking community solutions through communicating via BLOG.
Soon it shall be 6 month that I have participated in the beehive. Review of my posts compute to meager useful results other than being a handy target for rude address and choler sometimes nearing the psycho. Am I sorry for myself? NO!!! But nor I am willing to serve as a dartboard for those who appear to be taking umbrage to practically everything I am or say, and to what avail? So where from here?
Isabel It was about people making choices that sometimes have to be made for the better of another.
Isabell...Give me a community problem we can work on to solve via the blog.This is a slow(still busy)time of year for me...seriously...I accept your challenge.