The Lake it is Said Never Gives Up Her Dead

It's November again. The first whisps of snow are falling to the ground on occasion, and the wind is howling over the Big lakes, rolling the waters into massive frothing waves. The notorious November storms are upon us, whipping the Lake into a fury, crashing waves over the lighthouses and piers. It's November 10th, the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald disaster.

As I like to point out, the Edmund Fitzgerald was just one of thousands of shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, many of them taking the crew down with them. Hard working men and women have been carrying freight on these Lakes for more than a century: iron, grain, iron ore, cars, railroad cars full of freight ferrying between Wisconsin to Michigan. It is the most the most efficient modes of freight by far, outstripping even trains by an order of magnitude.

And just as those unfamiliar to these lakes need to see them to understand how oceanlike they are, it's important to realize the graveyard at the bottom is enormous...the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum puts the loss of ships at over 6000 and the loss of lives at over 30,000.

There are few things that speak to the vastness and power of the Great Lakes than the thousands of shipwrecks at the bottom. Few things show the respect these lakes demand.

Old men just to the North of Muskegon, in the Ludington-Pentwater area still remember the horrible Armistice Day shipwrecks of 1940 when 57 men lost their lives. One old man recalled to me his memories of the day. The boyscouts had been called to help search for survivors and bodies, and he recalled, as a boy, pulling frozen bodies from the lake.

The anniversary for that is tomorrow.

"The most disastrous day in the history of Lake Michigan shipping was Armistice (now Veterans') Day, November 11, 1940. With seventy-five-mile-per-hour winds and twenty-foot waves, a raging storm destroyed three ships and claimed the lives of fifty-nine seamen. Two freighters sank with all hands lost, and a third, the Novadoc, ran aground with the loss of two crew members. Bodies washed ashore throughout the day. As night fell, a heavy snow storm arrived. Rescue efforts by the Coast Guard and local citizens continued for three days after the storm. Three Pentwater fishermen were later recognized by the local community and the Canadian government for their bravery in rescuing seventeen sailors from the Novadoc. "

Divers and researchers discover new shipwreck sites every year. Earlier this year an expedition with Eastern Michigan high school students discovered two ship wrecks.

The group discovered the wreck of the 138-foot schooner M.F. Merrick which sank in 1889 and the wreck of the steel freighter Etruria, which sank in 1905.

The M.F. Merrick schooner sank in 1889:

The collision between the steamer R.P. Ranney and the schooner M.F. Merrick, off Presque Isle, May 18, resulted in the sinking of the schooner and the loss of five of the crew of seven. The schooner was struck just aft of the fore rigging, and sunk under the bows of the steamer. The crew on deck took to the rigging, and went down with her about 30 seconds after the collision. Three of the crew were below when the vessel sunk. The captain was saved by a line thrown to him from the Ranney, and William Goodfellow was picked up by the steamer's yawl boat. The Merrick was built in 1877 at Clayton, New York.

In 1929, due to a captain and a company more concerned with profits than lives, the SS Milwaukee sank in a late October storm taking 52 souls to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

The SS Milwaukee had a fatal flaw in that it had no hatches between the main deck and the lower decks, though the ship inspection report said otherwise. As the ship took on water from the rough seas, it all flowed down to the lower parts of the ship uninhibited. And though the technology existed at the time, the railroad line that owned the ship, Grand Truck Railway, did not equip the ship with a means to communicate with land. They communicated their final information the old fashioned way....they wrote a final note about what had been happening to the ship while it was in distress, and basically stuffed it into a bottle and tossed it overboard.

Over and over again, the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald is, unfortunately, not a unique one. It's just the most recent full scale disaster on the Great Lakes. November 10th 1975, the laker Edmund Fitzgerald carrying iron ore sank in a violent November storm taking 29 men to the bottom of Lake Superior.

Occupy Wall Street Seems to be Drawing Fire Away from the Prez

I've been pondering Occupy Wall Street this morning, post 2011 elections.

Yesterday we say

• The first Michigan State level representative recalled in 28 years
• Folks in Mississippi reject a "life starts at conception" law
• The architect of the extreme Arizona immigrant crackdown recalled
• Ohio's union busting law overturned by public demand

Overall, great news. Somehow it seems the tide is turning. Some of that tide shift is definitely due to Occupy Wall Street highlighting the problems of America's wealth disparity and corporate corruption.

Where main stream media outlets once shied away from wealth disparity talk, they are now venturing into that territory. Where media outlets once shied away from talk of bank and mortgage fraud, they are now venturing into that territory -- my father, for example, was contacted by Bloomberg News who wanted to interview him about his experiences as a lawyer helping people through bank fraud.

OWS has signaled that talking about wealth disparity and the trouble in the middle class isn't just acceptable...but that it's on the minds of millions of Americans.

I'm starting to think OWS has had one more side effect on American political discourse: It's redirected the attention of the conservative noise machine to Occupy Wall Street instead of at Barack Obama. As much of a juggernaut as the conservative noise machine is, it's designed to pound on one idea at a time. Over and over, repeating and repeating. Though it's never seemed to me to be terribly good at walking and chewing gum at the same time, not great at pounding out more than one message at a time.

Now with OWS to draw the fire, the endless stream of fabricated conservative nonsense against Obama seems largely to have taken a back seat. He's able to spread the message that the Conservatives have been deliberately sabotaging our economy for short term political gain...and it's an idea gaining traction, with 50% of Floridians believing Conservatives are selling America out this way.

Plus it certainly helps everybody involved that Obama is now starting to pick up the populist message OWS has been laying down.

"I Hear the Store is Saving Money."

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

"WAIT...they're paying you minimum wage?"

"I'm up for a raise soon." The young attendant at the Meijer self checkout took my embarrassing, late night grocery store rant in good humor.

"But...WAIT...wait...they're paying you MINIMUM WAGE?"

"A-yup."

I had just spent the past 15 minutes at the massive supermarket, trying to find a cat flea medicine that was actually priced as labeled on the shelf: "But....but....who on earth is benefiting from this new No Price Tag law thing, then?"

"I hear it saves the store money."

"Are they at least hiring more people?"

"No, I think the cut back the hours of the stock guys."

AAAARRGH!

"So....I just spent 15 minutes hunting down cat flea stuff that matched the marked price because of a law that saves the store money and the store isn't hiring more people, you're paid minimum wage to hear some guy rant at the checkout at 10 PM, and I'm STILL seeing my grocery bill go up...."

"Sorry." The young woman shrugged.

"No...no....it's not your fault. I'm sorry. I'm...I'm just ranting. Just being an ass. You know...I'd be a little better with it if I knew the folks here were at least paid more than minimum wage."

"I'm up for a raise soon!" The young woman smiled again.

"I hope it's huge. Okay...well, have a good night. Thanks for helping me get this cat stuff thing figured out."

-----> Michigan was sort of spoiled for the longest time. We had an excellent law that required stores to price each item individually, so that people could quickly and easily compare prices against the scan price at the checkout. The whole point was to give consumers as much information about their purchase as possible.

I never realized how much I USED those price tags until they were gone. Recently our Governor and conservative congress scrapped the consumer protection law, under the guise of "saving stores money" so those savings would get "passed on to the consumer" or "used to hire new workers."

But...so far none of that has happened. All it's done is make people wander around the store trying to find out how much their purchases are supposed to cost. Meanwhile, nobody is getting raises, consumer prices aren't going any lower, and stores slashed hours for stock clerks.

Great.

I was going to buy halloween candy at Meijer a few weeks ago, and went to the candy bin where a big yellow sign read "2 for $5". I reached in, grabbed a bag, went to the checkout...it scanned for $15! GRRR...went back...found another "2 for $5" bin....that bag scanned for $8.

I finally asked a guy chucking candy into the bins "Are those 2 for $5?" He looked at the sign and pulled it off..."no..."

Nobody wins with this law change.

Well.....I take that back. As the young woman said "I hear the store is saving money." Trickle down economics at work.

Elizabeth Warren's Detailed Analysis of Challenges Facing Modern Families

There are two public figures I could listen to for hours: Robert Reich and Elizabeth Warren. I love their nerdy, occasionally whimsical style. They're both clearly very alarmed at the information they're presenting, while simultaneously geeking out with the numbers behind it and the act of discovery, as though they can both feel compassion for the human impact while rocking out with the data.

Here's a vid where Elizabeth Warren gives a thorough analysis and explanation of challenges facing the modern middle class American family. One thing she brings up which I had not before considered is the dangers involved with being financially on the edge when both adults in the family unit are working. Instead of having to bring 52 paychecks home per year, the family has to bring in 104. If one adult gets sick, there's no where else to go. There's nobody who can pick up the slack.

Anyway, it's a long vid, but VERY worth a watch. Anyway, it's Elizabeth Warren. When it's done you'll wish it was longer.



And for good measure, here's a cool vid with Robert Reich.

Oceana County Planning Commissioners should be Embarrassed

There are so many things wrong with the Oceana County planning commissions recent news release regarding their decision to shut down research on an offhosre wind farm, I hardly know where to start. Ultimately, they should feel embarrassed at the implications of their own news release.

Michigan's representatives need to be very aware of the following information when offshore wind permitting legislation comes up for discussion again.

1. The planning commission claims it has discovered that the wind farm construction was "unfeasible" because the bases weren't possible, which begs the question...why are they crowing about stopping a wind farm that could not have come to pass, anyway?

To support their claim that the construction wasn't feasible, they cite a fellow with a home in Pentwater who visited the base production company in Norway and unilaterally claimed the bases weren't possible....no citation from the company itself.

Ultimately, if the bases and the wind farm were in fact not feasible, then the Oceana Planning Commissions decision was irrelevant since they claim the wind farm could not have been constructed anyway.

2. They claim to have done extensive research AFTER they voted to reject Scandia's request to research the feasibility of an offshore wind farm. Why didn't they do that research BEFORE they made a decision?

Sixteen months AFTER they cast their vote they are now claiming they have all the information. That by itself should be an embarrassment.

3. They make the claim that since one (1) component out of 8000 was being made in Northern Michigan, it somehow proves their claim that NO components would be made in Oceana County.

I know several talented machine shops in Oceana County that should be very upset by this bizarre leap. So what if ONE component is made up north in our own state. There are still 8000 left to manufacture, and Oceana's planning commissioners COULD HAVE required that a certain percentage of the turbines be made locally, like Muskegon's commissioners are doing with the Waste Water Treatment Facility wind farm.


4. They claim they, and only they, discovered that one (1) component of the turbines, out of 8000, would be built in Northern Michigan, when that information had been publicly available knowledge since August 2010 at the lastest

The planning commission should have known since mid 2010 where the turbine bases would be built. And in no way can claim to have unearthed this information themselves.

The information actually first came out in March 2010 when Scandia gave a presentation that explicitly showed that wind turbine bases would be constructed in shallow, protected waters in Northern Lake Michigan and then floated down. And they repeated this exact statement in multiple other presentations since then. In one, Planning Commissioner Roseman asked the Norwegian representative where the bases would be built and the representative pointed in the same place he had on multiple locations, but instead of saying "near the Traverse City region" this time he said "near the Kalamazoo region" and rather than pay attention to where the laser pointer was indicating or asking for clarification, Planning Commissioner Roseman chose to mock the Norwegian man and play the the crowd.

5. Remember that the Oceana planning commission didn't vote to shut down a wind farm. They voted to reject feasibility studies. They voted to turn DOWN more information. It's something of a joke now to claim they alone are privy to anything.

Tonight I Learned the Smart Grid Will Destroy the Universe

Whoa.

Dude. Room Full of CRAZY.

Tonight I went to the Public Service Commission (PSC) public input meeting.


I was looking forward to hearing some information on renewable energy -- wind, as it turns out, is as cheap or way cheaper than coal...awesome.

I was looking to find answers to what would become of the now defunct Low Income and Energy Efficiency -- this is the fund once managed by the Public Service Commission that helped low income families heat their homes or make their homes more fuel efficient. It also helped fund renewable energy education and research projects. But a new law and a court ruling declared that the PSC has no authority to do any of those things. So....here we are right before winter and no authority helping people with heating assistance. Classy. And we're dead in the water with funding renewable energy initiatives OR having long term funding for the new offshore wind power research buoy going into Lake Michigan. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

But...the topic du jour was the new smart grid...

Or more specifically, new smart meters which are to replace the old meters on peoples' homes. Here I expected the audience to ask questions like "how does it work?" and "will it save me money?" and "can I control it online?" stuff like that.

But instead what I heard was statement after statement after statement about how the new smart grid was a government conspiracy to find and detain people who dare to use incandescent lightbulbs, and that smart meters are going to fry your brains out and give you cancer.

One man in the back asked if these new smart meters can be turned off remotely, shutting off power to the house. The man started talking Big Brother when the PSC guy answered in the affirmative. Oh my GOD! Government Overreach! Government Overreach! The POWER company has the ability to disconnect my POWER! ARRRRGH!

One after another, after another, after another....."I don't want the government telling me how to save energy...I know how to save energy."

"I heard the government can tell if I'm using incandescent lightbulbs and will disconnect my power instantly if they discover I'm using those old bulbs!"

"I read that these things will destroy the electricity not just your own house, but in your neighbors houses too...even if you don't have one if your neighbor does it will corrupt your electricity!"

"They've been a disaster in Europe! Just look at Spain!"

"This is just a way for the Greens to get into our lives and make us get used to a lower standard of living."

On and on and on and on and on and on and on...a whole crowd of people who had assembled to voice concerns about some of the wackiest crap I've heard for a long time. Everything short of smart meters sucking your home into a vortex that starts a chain reaction collapsing the entire universe into a singularity.

We're all going to die.

...this one is new to me. Heck, I took a peek in the wikipedia entry on smart meters and as of 11/3/2011, nobody has written any entries about the horrifying evils of smart meters.

I'm still kind of stunned.

Massive Coal Ash Spill in Lake Michigan, Residents' face Toxic Drinking Water

This info first posted by Anna Marie Hitt needs to be posted EVERYWHERE:



What's that?

THAT is a picture from JSOnline.com of coal ash spilling into Lake Michigan yesterday October 31, 2011. That yellow and red box falling into the water...those are semi trailers. You know, for scale. Thank GOD the likes of Michigan's 2nd congressional district Republican Bill Huizenga just shot down tougher coal ash dumping rules along with the Republican controlled US congress. Having a lakeshore representative who actually gives a damn about the Great Lakes would be asking too much.

Here's another:



And here's a link to the whole disgusting photo shoot.

"A large section of bluff collapsed Monday next to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant, sending dirt, coal ash and mud cascading into the shoreline next to Lake Michigan and dumping a pickup truck, dredging equipment, soil and other debris into the lake."

To the folks lined up in opposition to offshore wind power on some misguided or made up concern for our waters, take a good hard look. That coal ash......that's an unregulated material for dumping purposes, and loaded with arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and all sorts of other nasty stuff....

...and guess what? Because Michigan is ENTIRELY within the Great Lakes water basin, that shit is getting into our lakes NO MATTER WHERE coal power plants dump their ash in Michigan. It's just sort of filtering right on down through the earth and into the water.

Ever wonder why many of our fish are loaded with mercury? Or why somehow mercury levels in inland fish is on the rise?

Take a good, hard look. Cuz that stuff is oozing into our lakes EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Between this and the half a BILLION fish killed by coal and nuke cooling systems every year, it should be pretty obvious to anybody that coal plants have been poisoning the Great Lakes for most of a century, making our fish inedible, and grinding them up in their cooling systems along with half a billion other aquatic organisms. The folks in Wisconsin by the We Energies powerplant sure as heck know it today...they're being given bottled water and told not to drink the now toxic well water at their homes.

Anybody who tells you that we're not subsidizing coal, and living every day with its disastrous consequences to our wildlife, our health, and our wallets is in the thrall of some serious self denial.