Disqus - Latest Comments for Rayne1

Re: GM’s Wagoner resigns at White House request

Rayne1 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:38:22 -0000

This is one of those pieces where editorial team and team members may have a disagreement. Perhaps people outside of the automotive industry would view Wagoner's exit as a surprise, but with bondholders continuing to make noises about unfairness of concessions they were being asked to make at this late juncture, there was sure to be at least one human sacrifice.

And there will be more; changes are expected on the board of directors at GM.

The bigger unknown ahead is Chrysler -- what can we expected of a privately-held company cloaked in the amount of secrecy which accompanies subsidiaries of Cerberus? Will we see similar human sacrifices, or will the current management remain intact because Cerberus is likely Chrysler's largest debt-holder?

Re: Cox shifts Countrywide settlement funds away from controversial Grand Rapids parks plan

Rayne1 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 04:50:14 -0000

It's the part you'd like to gloss over and ignore.

Re: Split deepens in LGBT coalition over anti-bullying legislation

Rayne1 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:58:20 -0000

Your comment provides further evidence of a split within the LGBT community; thanks for sharing.

For those of us in the straight community, it might be helpful if you were able to identify groups/members of the "MI gay mafia" as it is not as obvious to us which organizations/people are on which sides of the anti-bullying legislation issue. Without this information it's also more challenging for editorial staff to ask reporters for more clarity; your focused feedback here would be helpful.

Re: Split deepens in LGBT coalition over anti-bullying legislation

Rayne1 — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:47:44 -0000

The feature was copy edited for compliance with AP standards; the email was reprinted in accordance with those standards, including notations where the content has been provided unmodified, verbatim. Given that the email may have been generated on a handheld device rather than on a device with a keyboard, readers might well expect the email to appear as it does.

I'm going to ask that you address the content of the feature -- the split in the LGBT community over anti-bullying legislation -- and refrain from ad hominem attacks, in keeping with this site's comment policy.

Re: Solutions to AIG’s bonuses? Death or taxes

Rayne1 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:39:53 -0000

Apparently the persons who voted for the first $85 billion in exchange for 79.9% equity stake last September also didn't perform thorough due diligence -- that includes the Treasury Secretary and Fed Reserve Chair who pushed the package -- since the "retention bonuses" were on the books for over a year.

Where were you then?

Re: Fermi 3 opposition takes legal action to block new nuclear reactor

Rayne1 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:22:52 -0000

We'll encourage you to read Michigan Messenger's last feature on Fermi 2 regarding rates of cancer in Monroe:

In the 1980s, the cancer rate for young people in Monroe County was below the state average. In the ’90s this rate grew, and in the first half of 2000 the cancer rate for this group in Monroe was greater than the state average. For the period 1999-2004, there is data to compare the Monroe under 25 cancer rate to both the Michigan and U.S statistics. The rate was 23.5 per 100,000 in Monroe County, 21.5 per 100,000 in Michigan and 19.5 per 100,000 nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

These numbers include all types of cancers reported for this group.

There could be many environmental exposure risks in the Monroe area, but we noted in our last feature:

Dr. Janette Sherman, adjunct professor at Western Michigan University’s Environmental Institute and author of “Life’s Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer,” has spent her career researching environmental causes of cancer. She said that cancer among young people should be viewed as an indicator for radiation problems associated with nuclear plants.

Radioactive isotopes such as iodine 131, cesium 137 and strontium 90 are passed on to people through cow’s milk, she said. “They come out of the stack and fall on the ground. They permeate the water and are eaten in food.”

Children are particularly vulnerable to this radiation, she said. “It doesn’t take 40 years to get leukemia if you are a kid.”

Sherman said that her analysis of leukemia statistics in the United States indicates that kids living near power plants are more likely to get the disease.

Sherman said that the rise in cancer rates around Fermi is significant.

“I think people ought to be concerned,” she said. “We don’t need to have nuclear power. We have solar and wind and conservation.”

More data from studies could only be a good thing when the lives of Monroe's young people are impacted disproportionately.

Re: Uncertainty clouds plan to extract biofuel from Michigan’s forests

Rayne1 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:35:31 -0000

What kinds of incentives/deterrents are there to encourage effective forestry management on private lands? As a forester you know there are studies which show that simply harvesting a limited amount of wood is not enough to ensure good wildlife management. What prevents a private owner from simply taking 30% of wood off his own woodlot without consideration for the rest of the ecosystem or for regrowth? Longyear could be an exception to the rule with regard to woodlot management.

Initially there was no information from Mascoma indicating they were limiting their cellulose harvest to whole logs. What if there is a shortage of whole logs -- do producers of cellulosic ethanol like Mascoma begin to look at "forest waste" including limbs, leaves, needles as part of the harvest?

And what if any incentives/deterrents are there in place to prevent excessive use of short-rotation wood crops, particularly near areas where wildlife may be more fragile? (I'm thinking of areas theoretically where Kirtland Warblers may have been sighted, jack pine stands in areas logged over the last 60 years.)

There are a lot more questions than ready answers. If you have some answers, feel free to share.

Re: Uncertainty clouds plan to extract biofuel from Michigan’s forests

Rayne1 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:15:35 -0000

Do the Porcupine Mountains ring a bell? Mount Ripley?

I've lived in Michigan for nearly 40 years and I know the terrain pretty well, was born here.

The problem with the eastern portion of the UP is described by Champlain at Louisiana Pacific; the easy wood is already becoming expensive, and putting more demand on these same resources will drive up the price, likely making one or both businesses (LP or Mascoma) untenable.

Is there a genuine effort to create more jobs or reduce carbon in the atmosphere or both? There doesn't seem to be a solid answer or commitment.

Re: Uncertainty clouds plan to extract biofuel from Michigan’s forests

Rayne1 — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:18:33 -0000

No, the UP is not flat. Check a topographic map, you'll see that much of it is actually mountainous.

Much of the land is also in private ownership, and even a good portion of that is in possession of entities who are intent on conservation.

Sustainability is definitely key, but assessing sustainability requires actually doing thorough and effective due diligence -- unlike the kind of due diligence that too many investment firms and banks have done for the last two decades.

We're not addressing fuel efficiency with regard to this series on Mascoma; we are only looking at the business proposition and the short- and long-term return on public investment.

Re: McCain’s Michigan headquarters rented from law firm specializing in mortgage foreclosures

Rayne1 — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 18:51:07 -0000

We'll be turning off comments on this thread as the post is now more than 6 months old and comments being received on this particular post at this time have more in common with spam than with the content of the post.

Re: Split deepens in LGBT coalition over anti-bullying legislation

Rayne1 — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:06:47 -0000

FrankAV, as a straight woman with kids I'll tell you that I'm confused about the entire situation.

Bullying is a violation of a student's civil rights in that it interferes with their right of access to education. NO CHILD should be subjected to any kind of bullying, period.

For some rather vague set of reasons there is an argument within the LGBT community about enumeration -- enumeration meaning that anti-bullying legislation should spell out explicitly that bullying shall not be permitted based on age, race, ethnic origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, so on -- with some saying enumeration is essential to the effectiveness of the legislation and others claiming that anti-bullying without enumeration is a start and still others claiming that no enumeration is necessary.

I don't understand why there is any argument at all other than the LGBT community clearly appears fragmented and unable to generate a critical mass of consensus on this issue let alone others.

It is important that ALL PARENTS realize that their children, ALL CHILDREN, are potential victims of bullying (frankly, all kids are likely bullied at some point in their school career, it's so common). Parents should be more aware that school boards across the state of Michigan have done virtually nothing to ensure a consistency of practice to reduce and eliminate bullying, which in itself appears to be a violation of the 14th Amendment since children cannot reasonably expect to receive the same protections from district to district let alone school to school. And in some cases, the school boards are party to the bullying since they are aware it's going on and actively choose to do nothing about it.

This is not just an LGBT issue; it would be nice if the LGBT community pulled itself together, realized they need to make a case to other natural allies and develop a more effective, coordinated approach to the problem of bullying -- before another child drops out, tunes out or tries to hurt themselves out of frustration and desperation.

Re: CNBC’s Santelli stiffs The Daily Show’s Stewart, yielding comedic uptick

Rayne1 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:59:28 -0000

Oh, you can bet that there will be plenty of lampooning of this administration in the years ahead. Goodness knows there's already been a mess of it across other outlets besides The Daily Show.

But your bashing of the Obama administration's projections is pretty weak; just where do you think the data has come from on which those projections are based? Who and what do you think has impacted and will continue to impact those numbers?

The thing about the people on CNBC is that they are capable of serving their corporate masters and their criminal friends while hiding behind their tepid and ineffectual disclaimers that do not protect them from their own fate.

At least the people in the administration have the fortitude to run for or accept office to serve the public; the folks on CNBC don't serve anyone ultimately but themselves.

And you seem to have forgotten that CNBC is the press -- a collection of very challenged members of the press who managed to get it all wrong for years. Maybe the fact that viewers can so easily forget CNBC's role as the media is part of the underlying problem.

Re: CNBC’s Santelli stiffs The Daily Show’s Stewart, yielding comedic uptick

Rayne1 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:47:36 -0000

Boy howdy, could we try the same kind of framing on conservatives? Let's swap out the names and see if it works:

"Michael Steele is a conservative Republican who championed the potential of the Bush administration, publicly admitted that he voted for Bush, and railed against the Obama administration at every opportunity.

So now he's a retard, huh? Was he a retard because he was wrong THEN, or because he's wrong NOW? Was he a retard because he was wrong about his support of Bush in the first place? Or because he rethought his position?

Here. Here's a tissue. You just hit yourself in the face with your own poo.

Priceless!"

Oh, almost worked. The rethinking part is a challenge for most conservatives. What a pity.

Re: CNBC’s Santelli stiffs The Daily Show’s Stewart, yielding comedic uptick

Rayne1 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:38:35 -0000

You finally made a point, albeit bass-ackwards: this state lost sight of the fact it could NOT survive on the scraps of the giant's table.

It was supposed survive by serving the needs of the average American, just as it did in its previous boom cycles, when we made the cars they wanted, when we gave them the lumber they wanted, without a care for what the ultra-rich thought of us, through our sweat. Our bad for not realizing this sooner, that we shouldn't listen to Wall Street but to the public. We're punishing ourselves thoroughly. But we've been through bust-and-boom cycles before and have been dealing with this gritty challenge for years now since a certain so-called conservative decided our state should eat its seed corn, savaging a surplus and leaving a legacy of deficit behind in his wake. We're growing a nice callous and many new skills.

But you, on the other hand, cannot see the truth for your ill-informed braying schadenfreude. Conservatism has proven itself to be nothing more than a hollow and often criminal argument to support a small percentage of very wealthy people at the expense of the rest of the country, and it's failed miserably with its let-them-eat-cake attitude. How's that 401K and the rest of your investment portfolio looking these days? Do you really think Santelli or the rest of his market manipulating peeps could give a rat's whisker about the fact you have to work far longer to make up those losses?

By the way, I'm the one laughing, because you really have not the slightest clue about whom you are trash-talking.

Re: Gay marriage? meh; worry about the robot love

Rayne1 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:14:17 -0000

I'm less concerned with the philosophy of seeking affection from an object instead of a human; I'm far more concerned about development of mechanized devices endowed with artificial intelligence, but without any ethics.

Particulary the Three Laws of Robotics: why is Toshiba skipping over them?

For folks who are not geeks, the Three Laws of Robotics were morals which Isaac Asimov wrote of in the 1930's-1940's, ones which were supposed to underpin the actions of robots as tools to serve mankind. The Laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Why did Toshiba ignore the lessons of Asimov's work and bypass the "Prime Directive" (serve and protect humans) when working on development of a semi-sentient being? The implications are incredibly ugly if all developers acted so rashly.

Humans have enough problems with their own ethical framework, just as your comment indicates; why would we create more beings without any ethical framework at all?

Re: CNBC’s Santelli stiffs The Daily Show’s Stewart, yielding comedic uptick

Rayne1 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:54:00 -0000

Comedy Central. Get it? Stewart's a comedian. You can call it poo-flinging, but you're railing against a guy whose job is to make fun of people.

But he does make a pretty good point that one of the most popular financial news networks consistently lobs softball questions instead of doing their job as the Fourth Estate. It's a pity when they are capable of better given smart guys on their team like David Faber. Ask any of the rich conservatives you know how their net worth looks now in comparison to 2007; did they listen to the folks at CNBC, by any chance?

Re: Uncertainty clouds plan to extract biofuel from Michigan’s forests

Rayne1 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:33:41 -0000

Perhaps you missed this point in the article:

One federal official who works in the Upper Peninsula’s Hiawatha National Forest, when told the amount of “feed stock” required, analyzed the number and said, “That would take the entire annual harvest in the Eastern Hiawatha forest in 180 days.”

Assuming the amount of feed stock in question is 375,000 cord of wood, the harvest of the Eastern Hiawatha forest is 48 million cubic feet of wood over 365 days.

Let's look at <a href="
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/TimberHar... State Timber Harvest Trends" dd. 16-SEP-05, prepared by Dr. Larry Pedersen and submitted to MDNR's Chief Lynne Boyd said,

The most recent forest inventory estimates net annual forest growth in Michigan to be about 930 million cubic feet per year, while removals represent approximately 1/3 that growth. There are a variety of factors that contribute to this statistic. Much of the growth is on private lands and timber harvesting is a low priority for most private landowners. National forests have expanded their protection of recreational and ecological values which are contributing factors to reduced harvests from federal holdings.

(930 million CF) x 0.3 = 279 million CF annual removals BEFORE Mascoma's demands on these forests.

We don't know if the remaining 651 million CF of annual growth can support Mascoma's additional demand because state and federal foresters haven't been asked, and a substantial amount of that 651 million CF of growth is located on private lands which may not ever be subject to commercial harvest or are not located in areas that are economically feasible for harvest.

There's simply not enough information to confirm the viability of UP forests for cellulosic ethanol production -- at least not publicly available.

Re: How will we get our news? (Scripting News)

Rayne1 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:32:58 -0000

You're absolutely right, people are already providing journalism, including excellent investigative work we haven't seen in quantity from mainstream media.

The question is not whether journalism is dead or dying; we should not mistake publication processes for journalism. The question is business model: how do we support journalism now that it's leaving an old and dying print-based, advertising-supported business model?

In no small way this is a return to the the basics, the roots of American journalism. How did Ben Franklin's peers earn their keep, once they had their own presses?

Re: The One Word Obama Now Owns More Than Any Other

Rayne1 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:09:40 -0000

I actually didn't watch either speech because I was too busy watching everybody else watching and covering it.

First time that I've ever gotten 5 copies of a presidential speech emailed to me by different people inside a 15-window before the speech. Definitely says something about the consciousness of the people who sent the speech (although I have to admit feeling inundated).

Re: Cancer questions grow around Fermi nuclear plant

Rayne1 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:04:30 -0000

A real citation would include at a minimum a link to a source if available on the internet; it would be nice if you could also furnish the name of a publication or authors or any other details in a citation, particularly if the source is not on the internet. Going back through your comments I can't see that you made any attempt to provide a real citation other than the broken link to Marquette County Health Department's main page posted here in comments six days ago. (Still waiting for a corrected link on that, by the way; how long does it take you to figure out how to link to a working website containing a study?)

Reading through your comment history in Disqus, it's also apparent you have a habit of negative comments with a similar lack of supporting documentation at other sites with energy production stories you don't care for. I notice you avoided any response as to whether this was your gig -- are you paid by Southern Company to use their resources to post these kinds of comments?

We'll be here, waiting for responses.

Re: Cancer questions grow around Fermi nuclear plant

Rayne1 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:35:00 -0000

Your employer's profitability relies directly on the nuclear power industry (do they realize you are using their email system to comment? or is that part of your gig?). So yes, you do need nuclear power for your job.

Your comments are a harangue when they border on ad hominem attacks without providing any educational value (try citing some studies for a change to make your case).

As stated in an earlier comment, this article is about data showing an increase in cancer rates among youth under 25 years of age within proximity of the Fermi nuclear power plant in Monroe, Mich. The data has yet to be disputed by other studies; we'll happily look at other legitimate studies as they become available.

As a news outlet our aspiration is that public and corporate entities alike take a closer look at what is a documented, disconcerting and unusual increase in cancer among youth and develop an effective action plan to halt the trend. To point to an opportunity for improvement in our public health monitoring is an essential role of the Fourth Estate.

Re: State AG Cox intervenes to stop utility rate increases

Rayne1 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:54:08 -0000

Doesn't it strike you as odd that Cox has a problem with Granholm's executive order asking for more review of plans for new coal-fired plants, but he doesn't allow the free market to discourage consumption by increasing rates?

Re: Cancer questions grow around Fermi nuclear plant

Rayne1 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:50:41 -0000

If you read DTE's April 2008 brochure, they are going to start storing spent nuclear waste on site in 2010:

All spent fuel produced by Fermi 2 is stored in a spent-fuel pool which is located on the site of the plant. In late 2010, the plant’s original spent-fuel pool will no longer have the capacity to hold a full fuel load from the reactor, should that become necessary.

To provide a more permanent solution for spent-fuel storage, DTE Energy supports the Department of Energy’s recommendation that the Nevada-based Yucca Mountain site be developed as the federal deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility. The site has been studied exhaustively for 20 years and those studies show that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for construction of the nuclear waste management facility. To date, Detroit Edison customers have paid more than $110 million to the federal government to fund construction and operation of a longterm disposal facility. The proposal is currently stalled in Congress.

"Playing games with" and "stalled in Congress" might suggest that members of Congress have serious concerns about the proposals that aren't resolved by DTE. Apparently the solution(s) aren't that clear cut. Perhaps instead of haranguing other commenters here you might consider providing real data and details about solutions; it might go a long way towards convincing readers that the nuclear energy industry is relevant and safe.

Given that nuclear power plants produce only 19% of the electricity the U.S. uses, I wouldn't tout nuclear power as a necessity (except that you count on it for your own job); most households could save that much power by changing their usage habits and improving weatherization around their homes. I'd also like to see where we are in the middle of an energy crisis -- point to a report which says this. We are not currently experiencing brownouts or blackouts, are we?

Re: Cancer questions grow around Fermi nuclear plant

Rayne1 — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:11:38 -0000

You said,

Nuclear plant workers actually have less cancer ratings than, say, someone who works with chemicals, molting steels, industrial epoxies, insulation, etc.

This article is about data showing an increase in cancer rates among youth under 25 years of age; this should not be conflated with adults, whether nuclear plant employees or chemical industry workers. The data has yet to be disputed by other studies; we'll happily look at other legitimate studies as they become available.

In the mean time, accusing us of criminal behavior is not rational; please point to local, state or federal law which says that exercising a First Amendment right to report on data provided by a public entity is a criminal act.

Re: Cancer questions grow around Fermi nuclear plant

Rayne1 — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:05:30 -0000

As a news outlet our aspiration is that public and corporate entities alike take a closer look at what is a documented, disconcerting and unusual increase in cancer among youth and develop an effective action plan to halt the trend. To point to an opportunity for improvement in our public health monitoring is an essential role of the Fourth Estate, hardly "criminal".

The internet is indeed great for research but only if one knows what they're doing and they can vet their sources. The link provided in your comment is not relevant; it's for Marquette County Health Department, located at the other end of the state of Michigan, and as far as I can see, contains no info related to the cancer rates in youth in Monroe.

"Michigan Health Center" -- care to be a bit more specific? is that a state agency, a nonprofit, a for-profit, what? because that doesn't come up as a recognizable standalone agency. Perhaps you might consider contacting the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing and ask about the data used in this report, rather than trying to avoid it.