And did I mention we got a new doggy?  She’s from Sixth Angel Shepherd Rescue, was fostered way way out on Long Island, and before that, Georgia, where she was rescued from a kill shelter in the nick of time.  This dog is the sweetest, lickingest little wiggle-butt, despite the Rescue’s concerns, she is NOT an aggressive dog, doesn’t have that GSD looking-askance edge to her.  She was supposed to be dog aggressive, but when we went to meet her, with Ken, they squabbled a bit at first and next thing you know, there’s Kady, jumping in the van ready to go.  Dog aggressive… right… here she is with Ken:

And yes, Kady can sit up, stand, run, but lately, Ken doesn’t really do any of that, needs help to get outside and spends most of the day reclining on her doggybed eating bon-bons, well, carrots and “sawdust bones” and having Azodyl stuffed down her gullet, all considered, she’s doing well, and Kady likes to keep her company, but yes, she can and does get around a bit:

And if you want to hear her howl, sing this!!

K-K-K-Kady, beautiful Kady,
You’re the only g-g-g-girl that I adore;
When the m-m-m-moon shines,
Over the cowshed,
I’ll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door.
K-K-K-Kady, beautiful Kady,
You’re the only g-g-g-girl that I adore;
When the m-m-m-moon shines,
Over the cowshed,
I’ll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door.

… it’s way too subversive!

Let it snow… squeals of delight, lots of fun happening…

… and then…

jeeeeez, get a life…

I think the crowd was more like 300, full of green T-shirts and they had a successful march on the Cascade Theater.  Incredible organizing by all of the many Stop TANC groups involved.

It’s tired out… gotta be on a plane first thing, at “too early o’clock”…

200 attend anti-TANC rally

• By Record Searchlight staff
• Posted July 8, 2009 at 3:16 p.m.

Nearly 200 green-shirted “Stop TANC” activists this afternoon have filled a room at the Holiday Inn in Redding to oppose Transmission Agency of Northern California plans for a 600-mile long high-voltage power line through the north state.

Lisa Goza, a Round Mountain power line opponent who helped organize today’s rally, urged the crowd to attend the July 21 Redding City Council meeting to persuade city officials to follow the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and pull out of the TANC project.

Carol Overland, a Minnesota attorney who has litigated against proposed power plants and transmission lines, told power line opponents to keep fighting even though SMUD, one of the largest backers of the TANC power line, pulled the plug on its planning for the project.

“It’s not over,” Overland said. “You’ve got some breathing room now. When they are down, kick them, and kick them again. Don’t let up. Being nice doesn’t help. You’ve got to crank down and really kick these guys.”

Opponents of a proposed high-voltage transmission line attend a rally Wednesday afternoon at the Holiday Inn in Redding.

Les Baugh, Shasta County supervisor representing the south county, said the TANC power line proposal has been misconceived and poorly planned from the start.

“They didn’t have to do it this way,” Baugh said. “They were not trying to co-locate these lines. That would have been a simple answer.”

Power line opponents from Yolo, Glenn and Tehama counties joined property owners from Round Mountain, Oak Run, Happy Valley, Cottonwood and others potential in the proposed transmission line’s path.

Goza, the Round Mountain activist, said opposition won’t stop until TANC pulls the proposed line off the federal register and halts the planning process.

“We want them to cancel this project, just like they canceled our meeting,” Goza said, referring to TANC’s decision to postpone a planned outreach meeting that had been scheduled for this evening at the Cascade Theatre.

Power line opponents still plan to march later this afternoon from Redding City Hall to the Cascade Theatre, where activists say they will demonstrate to TANC they will continue demanding answers to their questions. The march starts at 4:30 p.m.

Baugh said he was disappointed TANC put off the meeting, and power line officials will not meet there with north state residents to answer questions.

“Had they held that meeting and I had an opportunity to ask a question, I would have asked them, how do you mitigate a life?” Baugh said.

And about SMUD’s withdrawal from the TANC project (which should TANK the project):

Agency Withdraws From Project

By Craig Macho
Staff Reporter
cmacho@oakdaleleader.com
209-847-3021, ext. 8128

POSTED  July 8, 2009 2 a.m.

The Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC) was dealt a blow recently when the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) informed the transmission agency that it was withdrawing from the project.

TANC is a California Joint Powers Agency (JPA) composed of 15 cities and utility districts from throughout the Central Valley, Bay Area, and other locations in Northern California. Agency members include the cities of Alameda, Biggs, Gridley, Healdsburg, Lodi, Lompoc, Palo Alto, Redding, Roseville, Ukiah, the Modesto Irrigation District (MID), Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Silicon Valley Power, and the Turlock Irrigation District (TID).

SMUD would have covered approximately 35 percent of the cost of the 600-mile long transmission line project.

Those who have homes, farms, and other property in the path of the proposed project have criticized TANC and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). Critics have noted the agencies, which have the power to seize land via eminent domain, solicited little public input prior to releasing maps of the proposed path of the transmission lines.

A number of Oakdale area residents have spoken out in opposition to the project. A grassroots movement has also recently formed in both the Oakdale and Ripon areas to challenge the transmission line project.

Over 150 local residents turned out June 11 at the Almond Pavilion banquet facility in Oakdale for an update of the controversial $1.3 billion project and the transmission agency’s plan to construct and upgrade roughly 600 miles of high-voltage electric transmission lines and associated facilities in Northern California.

Another meeting will be held in Ripon sometime later this month.

According to a press release from TANC, outreach meetings by the agency have been put aside for now.

“In light of this recent development, all remaining public outreach meetings on the TTP that are scheduled during the month of July will be postponed. This time will enable TANC and its members, the Western Area Power Administration (Western) and other government agencies involved in the planning process to evaluate their options and to define the next steps in the process,” the release stated.

“TANC believes it is important to keep the “public scoping” period open during this time. Allowing the scoping process to proceed will help determine where to put the transmission lines needed to ensure reliable and affordable electric service for the residents and businesses throughout northern California and to expand access to clean energy sources such as solar, geothermal and wind energy,” the release concluded.

Sharon Ott, one of the organizers of the June 11 meeting in Oakdale, said she was pleased with the news SMUD had withdrawn. She continues to be concerned, however, of the project’s impact on the Oakdale area. She noted the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), a federal government transmission project, is still planning on using the Oakdale corridor to bring power from the Sierras to the Bay Area.

“We’ll continue with our opposition to WAPA,” she said.

.

CHANGE, not spare change.

PROGRESS, not more unworkable status quo

What part of C-H-A-N-G-E don’t the Dems understand?

Methinks it’s the part that means they have to stand up to insurance companies, utilities, coal companies…

Methinks it’s the distinction between “democracy” and “capitalism” that eludes them…

This headline pops up, and Obama, take your Barney dance and shove it — the change that’s needed will not be pretty, it will not be accomplished by holding hands and singing Kum-bay-yah…

… urp…

Obama Urges Groups to Stop Attacks

Advocates Should Turn Attention to Promoting Legislation, President Says

President Obama, strategizing yesterday with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation.

In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to “true” health-care reform.

“We shouldn’t be focusing resources on each other,” Obama opined in the call, according to three sources who participated in or listened to the conversation. “We ought to be focused on winning this debate.”

Specifically, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations that worked on his behalf in the presidential campaign will now rally support for “advancing legislation” that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage, controlling rising costs and modernizing the health system.

In the call, leaders of both chambers expressed optimism that they will hold floor votes on legislation to overhaul the $2.2 trillion health system before Congress breaks in early August.

For his part, the president vowed to use his strong approval rating with voters to continue making the case for sweeping reform, according to one congressional staffer with knowledge of the conversation. Obama also hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats, according to the source, who did not have permission to speak on the record about the discussion.

The White House had no comment on the president’s call.

Read the rest of this entry »

Shame, shame, shame, Xcel…

Remember way back when, Chisago II, when then Northern States Power did a deal with the City of Taylors Falls and the City of St. Croix Falls?  I won’t forget the cities’ joint siging meeting, because the then Mayor of St. Croix Falls, now a felon, ordered me arrested when I inquired during public comment period about the “Project Mitigation Fund and Committee.”  Guess he didn’t want that discussed, didn’t want it questioned… thanks to all the hollering from the audience I didn’t end up with three hots and a cot!

Deal – NSP – Taylors Falls – St. Croix Falls

This was a three way deal.  Well, Xcel has just unilaterally, without permission of Taylors Falls and St. Croix Falls, altered provisions of the construction specifics that were material terms of the agreement.

From the agreement:

See???  Undergrounding “to the existing dam facility on the St. Croix River…”

Simple enough… but here’s what it says in the PUC Order of February 20, 2008:

… and..

.

So in the agreement, it is undergrounded all the way to the river, and in the PUC Order, it’s above ground from Hwy. 95 to the river on H-frame structures.  EH?  Well, what does that look like?  Here’s the map:

Off to the right, the wider road where there’s a box pointing downward at the wider road where it says “UG Termination Structures” and the line representing transmission changes to sort of a weird dashed line just after the road, that’s Hwy 95 where just east of the highway, it changes from underground to overhead.  If you follow it from Hwy. 95 to the right, east, you’ll see it go over County Road 16, Wild Mountain Road and then over to the St. Croix River.

What does Taylors Falls think about it?  They’re unhappy enough to have rattled Xcel’s cage, and got this response from Xcel:

Xcel’s letter to Mayor Buchite – March 26, 2009

Xcel’s explanation why transmission line was overhead when it was supposed to be underground is… well… read it for yourself:

Oh, right, Xcel, because you got everyone together EXCEPT those who are party to the agreement and they agreed, yeah, seems like it’s OK… uh-huh…

I think a better response: “THAT’S DIFFERENT!”

Should the settlement agreement be amended?  Xcel has this to say:

Xcel says there’s no need to amend the settlement agreement and that they’ve “complied with all of the provisions relative to Taylors Falls.”  Oh… uh-huh…

St. Croix Falls, the other party to the agreement, is outraged!  They took it to Congressman Obey:

St. Croix Falls letter to Rep. Obey – March 31, 2009

Can you hear their eyeballs rolling, hands thrown up in disgust?

And what’s this about the school in St. Croix Falls?????

Xcel is getting a little too big for its britches!