Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Ghengis Jon]

Full disclosure: I've lost a bundle on paper in oil stocks. I may buy as much Exxon or Chevron as I can afford if oil drops below $20.

I bought into Exxon before the split at less than $25/share, so its all paper losses for me. If the market continues to decline, I'm thinking GE is a better play for the long term. Short term: I may add to XOM as well since I think they will bounce back as fast as they have recently dropped.

[Rocky Bleier]

I see the collapsing oil price as partly the result of artificially low interest rates. When the cost of money is basically free, most prospects look good.

Thanks, Fed. The Federal Reserve would have us believe that they can just push the right button or pull the right lever to fix things. One problem with anything that's centrally controlled is that the data you're acting on is already old by the time you get it. Leave the market to set prices and interest rates! But, you know, then the government and the bankers couldn't control who wins and who loses.

[hack]

In addition to shale the IOCs are among higher-cost producers offshore. Very few companies have the expertise and access to capital. When's it economical to do deepwater again? Shale probably comes back faster than that.

[lineygoblue]

This guy is so pathetic ... with his toy handcuffs and cardboard sign. Doesn't give a CRAP about Flint until there's some free media time available. And he spelled "City Hall" with one L.... Good grief, Mike ... didn't they teach you how to spell in the private schools you attended?

The guy acts like he's "from Flint", but he was only born in Flint. He was raised in Davison which is about 15 miles east of Flint. He attended parochial schools all the way til High School, where he finally attended the public HS in Davison. Wow. That's a real Flint-ite.

I was born and raised in Flint, and went thru my entire educational process in Flint. (Stevenson Elementary, Longfellow Jr High, Flint Northern High) I lived in the shadow of Flint's Hurley Hospital, and lived 2 blocks away from Flint's Atwood Stadium, where many great players played.

So, I have a right to say something about Flint. Moreso than Moore does. Flint has been politically mismanaged since the late 60's, by people of all sorts. Republican, Democrat, white, black, purple, .. whatever. Its been mismanaged by self-serving idiots who allowed the city and its infrastructure to deteriorate to a point where it probably can't be fixed without some sort of massive federal Love Canal style bailout. This is NOT "all" on Governor Snyder. There are MANY people to blame. Even General Motors shares some blame for the problems in Flint. They basically raped Flint when they closed the factories, tore them down, and left brown fields in their wake. This, as "repayment" for the creation of the UAW, and the sit-downers who formed the union. GM NEVER got over that, and they proved it by what they've done to Flint.

Not really trying to make a huge point here, other than today in January 2016, there are a lot of people to blame for Flint's problems. And Michael Moore and his silly toy handcuffs "demanding" Snyder's arrest isn't going to make things any better.

In fact, his silliness along with Cher, and all the other bleeding hearts are more of the same of what brought Flint to where it is today. Finger pointing, and no action.

/rant

[Da Geezer]

Liney: Were you at Northern during the time when they had Glen Rice? I attended a semi-final game that year and they had a guy, Pemberton, as a shooting guard, Andre Rison as a point, and two other guys who had scholarship offers ( I think from D-1 schools) Rice had tape on his fingers ostensibly to protect his fingers when he dunked. That was a great team. Rice was verbally committed to CMU at the time, I believe.

[UMStan White]

I have stayed out of this posting for many reasons, but Liney's post has brought me in. Flint is Michigan's Love Canal and Katrina. I don't know if anyone has children or grandchildren under the age of 6 living in Flint, but the evidence now shows that every child under the age of 6 has been contaminated with lead in his or her system. Does any one understand what that means? Lead has long been associated with causing (not contributing but causing) severe developmental problems in children. Think about that. Every child under the age of 6 that has been exposed to Flint's water since 2014 is probably developmentally impaired. To get upset at Michael Moore for this health catastrophy is ridiculous. Michael Moore didn't contribute one ioata to this problem. The problem is directly linked to the Republican party and Governor Snyder. The Republican party and Governor Snyder appointed an "overseerer' to run the city of Flint as opposed to the City's elected officials. This "overseerer" on his own decided that the City could save money if it severed its ties with the City of Detroit's water system and drained water from the Flint River. There is no dispute that this decision has led to the lead contamination of the water in Flint. For over two years the State has known that the water in Flint was contaminated with lead and the State who's self appointed administrator refused to do anything about it is directly blamed for this outrageous health disaster. It has now lead to an emergency situation. To blame Michael Moore or anyone else who has demanded accountability from the Republican party and Governor Snyder in the state is ridiculous and shows a total lack of understanding of the serious health problems the people and children in Flint face. It is the best example of sticking your head in the sand! There are many articles on the internet that detail this health fiasco and the State's refusal and failure to deal with it.

[lineygoblue]

Liney: Were you at Northern during the time when they had Glen Rice? I attended a semi-final game that year and they had a guy, Pemberton, as a shooting guard, Andre Rison as a point, and two other guys who had scholarship offers ( I think from D-1 schools) Rice had tape on his fingers ostensibly to protect his fingers when he dunked. That was a great team. Rice was verbally committed to CMU at the time, I believe.

Geezer - Glen Rice went to Flint Northwestern. I went to Flint Northern. Huge rivals, especially in basketball. Rice and Rison were just a few years after me.

My final year at Flint Northern was 1972, when the basketball team won a 2nd State Championship in a row. Some of you may remember the names of Wayman Britt (attended Michigan) and Terry Furlow (attended MSU) they were classmates of mine. Oh, and their coach was a guy named Bill Frieder, who taught my Business I & II classes. He always wore geeky glasses in those days that never fit right. When he went to Michigan, he started wearing contacts ... :-) More money I guess ...

[Rocky Bleier]

Michael Moore looks like a bag lady. He lost me with one of his films where he blames everything on capitalism. What he was really talking about was corporate and political greed, but he's too stupid to know that capitalism is merely an economic system of free exchange. The only economic system that's ever worked in the whole world. The reason America's economy sucks now is because the political leeches and central planners can't keep their hands off of it.

[UMStan White]

Yeah he's stupid. One of most successful filmmakers in the history of the world. Compared to you who's only claim to fame is that you can prostitute your daughter's asses on the internet.

[Dr. Strangelove]

That's awful about the Flint water supply...had no idea that had happened...I'll have to read up on it more

[Da Geezer]

Strangelove:

The following article contains a lot of links that help research the Flint water problem. There is a lot of blame to go around.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/01/flint_water_crisis_what_you_ne.html

Unlike the talking points that Stan cites, a summary of what actually happened is as follows: Snyder puts Flint under state controller in 2013. Flint decides to join a regional pipeline system that is going to build a water intake from Lake Huron ( Mar 2014). Detroit immediately tells Flint that Detroit will no longer sell water to Flint. The pipeline is supposed to be done by the end of 2016, so Flint decides to take water from the Flint River until the pipeline is finished. That is the water that is contaminated with lead.

So the proximate cause of the polluted water being used in Flint has little to do with the State or the Feds. Had Detroit sold water to Flint like they had done in the past, the Flint River would never have been used. Read the links for yourself. Detroit didn't want Flint to join another water system, so Detroit cut Flint off from Detroit water. BTW, I don't know if you have Aquafina brand bottled water in Ohio, but that brand is simply Detroit Public Water. Detroit's water is fine.

I guess a reasonable person would have to judge whether, if Gov. Snyder had control over both cities, would he have allowed Detroit to immediately cut off good drinking water from Flint. Who had anything to gain from that? The State admittedly encouraged (required) Flint to join the new water district. Flint's problem is a result of Detroit being unwilling to provide good water to Flint from March of 2014 to the end of 2016. Of course, Detroit blames Snyder, and Snyder blames Detroit. The situation is particularly disgusting because this was not a case of running out of good water, rather a case of Detroit or the State playing hardball trying to coerce Flint into not joining the new water district.

[UMStan White]

That's not true. Get your facts straight Geezer. The State (by Gov. Snyder) put Flint under the control of an "overseerer" stripping all control from elected officials. The "overseerer" decided that it would save the city money if it broke its agreement with the City of Detroit's water system (which provided water from Lake Huron) and drew the city's water from the Flint River. The City of Detroit water system had nothing to do with this switch. It was done by the Republican Governor's appointed overseerer. the problem was that once that decison as made, the City of Flint (under the direction of the "Governer's 'overseerer' failed to provide the proper chemical additive that would prevent lead from leaching from the water system in Flint's pipeline system. The State has known for two years that the water in system in Flint has been leaching dangerouse levels of lead into the system but did nothing to prevent this dangerous situation. Just within the last week the State has acknowledged this huge health risk and has sought aid from the feds by declaring Flint a national disaster area alleging that a health risk exists in Flint. testing in flint has determined that all children under the age of 6 have been exposed to dangerous levels of lead. Had the Republican Governor never appointed a czar overseerer to take over the day to day operation of the government in Flint this catastrophy would have never occurred. Presently all citizens in Flint are attempting to use bottle water and filters that are being supplied by the National Guard.

[lineygoblue]

Yeah he's stupid. One of most successful filmmakers in the history of the world. Compared to you who's only claim to fame is that you can prostitute your daughter's asses on the internet.

Stan, please. This is the kind of comment that make political discussions go bad. Keep it civil please. The second sentence was totally unnecessary.

[UMStan White]

And Geezer, let me ask you this. Do you think that government has an obligation to provide its citizens with safe water? Do you think that government should be held responsible for supplying contaminated water that will adversly affect an entire generation of our children? Does it really matter what party is at fault when the end result is a health catastrophy?

[UMStan White]

I hear you Liney. I take it back Rocky. My comment was uncalled for. (Especially since I like many appreciate your photos)