Did anyone else have healthcare picketers near their work?

[Drachen]

It was weird, there were some picketers outside of my building (I-10 between medical and callaghan), who were apparently carrying signs picketing health care reform (for or against, I don't know). Either way I am a little confused as to the location. What do we have to do with it? There WAS an insurance company that had a small 6 person office somewhere in the building, but they moved out last month. My only thought is that they were picketing FOR health care reform and against insurance companies, but didn't get the memo that the company had consolidated their office about 10 miles away.

[nuclearfm]

It was weird, there were some picketers outside of my building (I-10 between medical and callaghan), who were apparently carrying signs picketing health care reform (for or against, I don't know). Either way I am a little confused as to the location. What do we have to do with it? There WAS an insurance company that had a small 6 person office somewhere in the building, but they moved out last month. My only thought is that they were picketing FOR health care reform and against insurance companies, but didn't get the memo that the company had consolidated their office about 10 miles away.

isn't USAA around there? I haven't been there in a while...

[Drachen]

isn't USAA around there? I haven't been there in a while...


USAA is up the street about 3 miles, but they contract out their health insurance and don't provide it themselves.

[JudynTX]

No, just those not wanting City Public Service to open more Nuclear Reactors.

[nuclearfm]

No, just those not wanting City Public Service to open more Nuclear Reactors.

Really? Tell me more. Are they part of that EnergiaMia hippie salad eaters campaign?

[JudynTX]

Really? Tell me more. Are they part of that EnergiaMia hippie salad eaters campaign?

It already happened, but here ya go.

http://texasvox.org/2009/09/09/san-antonio-protest-of-nuclear-reactors-tomorrow-thursday-sept-10/

[ashbeeigh]

No, just those not wanting City Public Service to open more Nuclear Reactors.

One of those representatives call our office wanting to get us on board with them. I almost laughed so hard that I couldn't talk.

It's so retarded.


And about the healthcare protesters, chalk it up to great planning, research, and turn out. As it is with most protests, they talk a lot of crap, have one good organizer who delegates, "you find out where we're going to go, you alert the media, you recruit people, etc." And one by one those people drop like flies. Sounds to me like they all dropped like flies. And the researcher sucked.

[Drachen]

It already happened, but here ya go.

http://texasvox.org/2009/09/09/san-antonio-protest-of-nuclear-reactors-tomorrow-thursday-sept-10/

I am a little confused about how the nuclear reactor at STP influences San Antonio drinking water. Oh well, I don't want to start a firestorm about nuclear in a thread about something else.

[nuclearfm]

It already happened, but here ya go.

http://texasvox.org/2009/09/09/san-antonio-protest-of-nuclear-reactors-tomorrow-thursday-sept-10/

God those people are so stupid. This is where I drop association with the left.

"Nuclear reactors come with serious health and safety risks. Exposure to radioactivity leads to cancer and genetic damage"

Yeah, so does just breathing air and getting hit with sun rays, at a extremely higher extent at that. If they want to eliminate their radiation exposure, they are going to have to live in a underground bunker and filter the radon (largest source of exposure - natural) out of the air.

"Spending billions of dollars for nuclear reactors is throwing money away that should be used for energy efficiency and renewable solar, wind and geothermal power"

#1 it's not throwing money away. We can recycle nuclear fuel and even breed fuel to make more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeder_reactor

#2 Solar - Costs At least 3 times more and even more for better technology with storage. Also, it rains and we something called "nightime"
#3 Wind - just 1.5 times more, but with storage it can rack up much higher.
#4 Geothermal - WTF? In South Texas?

These people have no idea what a baseload power source is.

[Drachen]

One of those representatives call our office wanting to get us on board with them. I almost laughed so hard that I couldn't talk.

It's so retarded.


And about the healthcare protesters, chalk it up to great planning, research, and turn out. As it is with most protests, they talk a lot of crap, have one good organizer who delegates, "you find out where we're going to go, you alert the media, you recruit people, etc." And one by one those people drop like flies. Sounds to me like they all dropped like flies. And the researcher sucked.

Yeah, maybe. Anyway, they were walking across the frontage road and holding up traffic so the cops came and told them to leave at about 12:15.

[nuclearfm]

I am a little confused about how the nuclear reactor at STP influences San Antonio drinking water. Oh well, I don't want to start a firestorm about nuclear in a thread about something else.

Eh, i won't post much more.

In humid environments they need to use water to cool the steam generators down. In non-humid places they use cooling towers (the typical ones associated with nuclear plants). It really doesn't influence SA drinking water, it'll be near the gulf. If it turns into a bigger issue, they could just desalinize gulf water.

[nuclearfm]

One of those representatives call our office wanting to get us on board with them. I almost laughed so hard that I couldn't talk.

It's so retarded.



What office?

[Drachen]

Eh, i won't post much more.

In humid environments they need to use water to cool the steam generators down. In non-humid places they use cooling towers (the typical ones associated with nuclear plants). It really doesn't influence SA drinking water.

OK, I like this topic so I might as well delve into it. But please feel free to post thoughts or information about the original topic.

I understand the process of cooling, I know that they have a very large man made cooling pond that they use to draw the water in to cool the reactors, then spit it back out. I just thought it was funny how they drew a connection between the water in the cooling pond and the drinking water in San Antonio hundreds of miles away.

[nuclearfm]

OK, I like this topic so I might as well delve into it. But please feel free to post thoughts or information about the original topic.

I understand the process of cooling, I know that they have a very large man made cooling pond that they use to draw the water in to cool the reactors, then spit it back out. I just thought it was funny how they drew a connection between the water in the cooling pond and the drinking water in San Antonio hundreds of miles away.

It's a stretch. They get environmentalists (PhD's) I know one of from Rice who straw man it to death. He talks about the San Antonio River being connected to our aquifer and so forth, it's a chain of water or circle of life if you will.

[Drachen]

It's a stretch. They get environmentalists (PhD's) I know one of from Rice who straw man it to death. He talks about the San Antonio River being connected to our aquifer and so forth, it's a chain of water or circle of life if you will.

I just looked at google maps and it seems that the SA river doesn't go anywhere near Bay City. My highly unscientific search could be disproven, but I still think it is more a scare tactic than the (very very slightly) defensible piece of science that you portray it as (yes I know you are just passing along info and didn't come up with it, so this isn't an attack on you). It just seems that one's point of view would be better supported by actual issues than sensationalism, but I guess not everyone would think this through as much as others.

Also, about your desalination statement, doesn't boiling water yield pure water? What temprature does the water get to? It would seem like they could cool the towers, capture the steam and force it through steam generators (for extra power), then take the steam and push it into a condensing container that is allows the steam to recondense and they could sell the water or reuse it. They could get this water from the ocean, and they could make some more money selling the remaining sea salt that was left behind when the water became steam.

Just a shot in the dark suggestion, I am no engineer, but it would seem like a very efficient way to utilize resources.

[JudynTX]

Drachen, sorry for hijacking your thread to discuss Nuclear Reactors.

[Drachen]

Drachen, sorry for hijacking your thread to discuss Nuclear Reactors.

I dont care, I perpetuated it so that should prove that I hold no grudge. Like I said, interesting subject. I am for the expansion as the last non-renewable energy expansion for the city of San Antonio. I am for 40% so that once we breach the currently needed 20%, we have another 20% to go. I am for spending the money, to upgrade the efficiency of the current infrastructure to save the 771 megawatts. I am for a distributed power generation system and would like to see this adopted slowly as the technology for power storage becomes more proven and less expensive at the residential level (yes I know molten salt, etc). Shoot (off topic), I am for far smaller trash cans that the city distributes for their automated trash pickup to "force" people to use the big blue recycling bins that they are given. I just read an article that we are one of the first cities to have started a recycling program and now 15 years later we have an almost 12% adoption rate from which we get 3.5 million in revenue. Why aren't more than 12 people out of a hundred recycling? If we got it up to 50% we would not have had a budget shortfall this year.

[ashbeeigh]

What office?

Have you not read where I work? :wow

I won't hijack the thread again for that, but just click my name to see what threads I've posted in recently and you'll find out.


As far as my opinion on the nuclear energy thing, my goodness I do not see how it will hurt the SA environment. And people in Bay City choose to live in Bay City so they can move if they want to. And this will create more jobs, and I'm all for new jobs.

Our energy bills are going to go up anyway, so why the heck not? This is part of a diverse portfolio, including solar and wind energy as well. What happens when the wind dies and we only invested in wind energy? Die? (paging sarcasm police).

[nuclearfm]

I just looked at google maps and it seems that the SA river doesn't go anywhere near Bay City. My highly unscientific search could be disproven, but I still think it is more a scare tactic than the (very very slightly) defensible piece of science that you portray it as (yes I know you are just passing along info and didn't come up with it, so this isn't an attack on you). It just seems that one's point of view would be better supported by actual issues than sensationalism, but I guess not everyone would think this through as much as others.

Also, about your desalination statement, doesn't boiling water yield pure water? What temprature does the water get to? It would seem like they could cool the towers, capture the steam and force it through steam generators (for extra power), then take the steam and push it into a condensing container that is allows the steam to recondense and they could sell the water or reuse it. They could get this water from the ocean, and they could make some more money selling the remaining sea salt that was left behind when the water became steam.

Just a shot in the dark suggestion, I am no engineer, but it would seem like a very efficient way to utilize resources.

There are no towers on this plant. I believe the water gets to 1000F or so, but stays saturated under high pressure. All of those methods to desalinate the water would cost a lot of power and lose efficiency. Brine isn't exactly a nice commodity. They would rather not.

[Drachen]

There are no towers on this plant. I believe the water gets to 1000F or so, but stays saturated under high pressure. All of those methods to desalinate the water would cost a lot of power and lose efficiency. Brine isn't exactly a nice commodity. They would rather not.


I know the current method of desalination in the plants is to push water through a membrane which is very inefficient, but since the water is being vaporized already it would seem that capturing it would require nothing more than a tank and a tube. I think that the extra expense would come from figuring out how to keep it clean since there would be the salt residue left behind. Perhaps the intense pressure and heat would cause the organic stuff in the brine to turn to oil. Damn, I am on a (uninformed) roll here with the most perfectly efficient machine.

[boutons_deux]

"The rally is one of a nationwide wave of protests today in about 150 cities -- including events outside the Cigna headquarters in Philadelphia and the United Health Group headquarters in Minneapolis -- to highlight the private health insurance industry's misdeeds and to call for reform that guarantees good, affordable health care and includes the choice of a strong national public health insurance option."


"The national day of protest is sponsored by Health Care for America Now (http://healthcareforamericanow.org/)(HCAN), a broad coalition of community and religious groups, unions, MoveOn.Org, and others. HCAN expects that today's events, and those in subsequent weeks, will re-energize a grassroots movement and push Congress -- including several conservative Senate Democrats now resisting a public option -- to enact significant reform."

"WellPoint is one of the insurance industry giants leading the charge against President Barack Obama's plan to create a "public option" -- essentially an expansion of Medicare for working families -- to create more competition and give consumers more choices.
Ironically, WellPoint is one of a handful of insurance companies that have a virtual iron grip on the insurance market in almost every state. The American Medical Association reports that 94 percent of insurance markets in more than 300 metropolitan areas are now highly concentrated. WellPoint runs Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans in 14 states. In Maine, for example, WellPoint controls 78% of the health insurance market. It dominates the market in Missouri, with 68% of the business, as well as in its home state of Indiana (60%), Georgia (61%), New Hampshire (51%), Kentucky (59%), Connecticut (55%), Virginia (50%), Ohio (41%, with the next largest company garnering only 17% of the market), and Colorado (with 29%, larger than runner-up United Health Group, with 24% of market share). In New York and California, WellPoint ranks second, with 21% and 20% of the health insurance market, respectively, in those two huge states.
These near-monopolistic conditions -- where one or two companies dominate the insurance market -- allow big corporations like WellPoint to drive up premiums, restrict coverage, and take advantage of consumers."

.... the "free market" will fuck over clients every time, reducing competition until an effective monopoly can be abusive. It's the nature of capitalism.


http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/142809

[BRHornet45]

son I'm sure it was just a group of unemployed, Democrat trash.

[spursncowboys]

It was weird, there were some picketers outside of my building (I-10 between medical and callaghan), who were apparently carrying signs picketing health care reform (for or against, I don't know). Either way I am a little confused as to the location. What do we have to do with it? There WAS an insurance company that had a small 6 person office somewhere in the building, but they moved out last month. My only thought is that they were picketing FOR health care reform and against insurance companies, but didn't get the memo that the company had consolidated their office about 10 miles away.
Be honest. Your job is sitting at the entrance of the Frontage rd selling newspapers.

[spursncowboys]

.... the "free market" will fuck over clients every time, reducing competition until an effective monopoly can be abusive. It's the nature of capitalism.


http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/142809
This is why people think liberals are communists.

[spursncowboys]

I know the current method of desalination in the plants is to push water through a membrane which is very inefficient, but since the water is being vaporized already it would seem that capturing it would require nothing more than a tank and a tube. I think that the extra expense would come from figuring out how to keep it clean since there would be the salt residue left behind. Perhaps the intense pressure and heat would cause the organic stuff in the brine to turn to oil. Damn, I am on a (uninformed) roll here with the most perfectly efficient machine.
In the coal plant here in Tennessee, they sell the residue (from burning the coal "clean") to a cement company as filler.

[Drachen]

Be honest. Your job is sitting at the entrance of the Frontage rd selling newspapers.


I thought I made that painfully obvious. :lol

[Drachen]

In the coal plant here in Tennessee, they sell the residue (from burning the coal "clean") to a cement company as filler.

Wonderful! This is what I am talking about. I am sure that if we produced an abundance of anything that (initially) nobody wanted, and it was cheap, that SOMEONE would find a use for it.

[Drachen]

"The rally is one of a nationwide wave of protests today in about 150 cities -- including events outside the Cigna headquarters in Philadelphia and the United Health Group headquarters in Minneapolis -- to highlight the private health insurance industry's misdeeds and to call for reform that guarantees good, affordable health care and includes the choice of a strong national public health insurance option."


"The national day of protest is sponsored by Health Care for America Now (http://healthcareforamericanow.org/)(HCAN), a broad coalition of community and religious groups, unions, MoveOn.Org, and others. HCAN expects that today's events, and those in subsequent weeks, will re-energize a grassroots movement and push Congress -- including several conservative Senate Democrats now resisting a public option -- to enact significant reform."

"WellPoint is one of the insurance industry giants leading the charge against President Barack Obama's plan to create a "public option" -- essentially an expansion of Medicare for working families -- to create more competition and give consumers more choices.
Ironically, WellPoint is one of a handful of insurance companies that have a virtual iron grip on the insurance market in almost every state. The American Medical Association reports that 94 percent of insurance markets in more than 300 metropolitan areas are now highly concentrated. WellPoint runs Blue Cross-Blue Shield plans in 14 states. In Maine, for example, WellPoint controls 78% of the health insurance market. It dominates the market in Missouri, with 68% of the business, as well as in its home state of Indiana (60%), Georgia (61%), New Hampshire (51%), Kentucky (59%), Connecticut (55%), Virginia (50%), Ohio (41%, with the next largest company garnering only 17% of the market), and Colorado (with 29%, larger than runner-up United Health Group, with 24% of market share). In New York and California, WellPoint ranks second, with 21% and 20% of the health insurance market, respectively, in those two huge states.
These near-monopolistic conditions -- where one or two companies dominate the insurance market -- allow big corporations like WellPoint to drive up premiums, restrict coverage, and take advantage of consumers."

.... the "free market" will fuck over clients every time, reducing competition until an effective monopoly can be abusive. It's the nature of capitalism.


http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/142809


Thank you very much boutons-2

[rjv]

no big deal. if someone wants to be an idiot let them be. it's not as if there aren't posters here already who cross the line all the time as it is.