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Author: Leslie Eastman

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Leslie Eastman

I am an Environmental Health and Safety Professional, as well as a science/technical writer for a variety of news and professional publications. I have been a citizen activist since 2009, and am one of the co-founders of the San Diego-based group, Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 25, 2015 35 Comments
As an iconic American industry, we have been following McDonald's and its struggle to deal with minimum wage requirements and greedy unions. Now, after a series of bad quarterly reports, the corporate accountants are serving Happy Meals:
The struggling fast food giant announced Thursday that global same-store sales grew 4% in the third quarter of 2015, with the gains driven by growth in several international markets. The burger chain even ended a seven-quarter losing streak in the U.S., where same-store sales grew 0.9% compared to the same period last year. Overall, McDonald’s profit climbed to $1.3 billion for the quarter, up from $1.07 billion for the same quarter a year earlier. The Oak Brook, Ill., hamburger chain surpassed analysts’ expectations with earnings of $1.40 per share. Analysts had projected net income of $1.27 per share, according to Thomson Reuters, compared with $1.09 reported a year earlier. McDonald’s reported they spent $3.1 billion on share buybacks and dividends during the last quarter, a move that helped boost earnings per share

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 24, 2015 13 Comments
Hurricane Patricia, a Category 5 storm that is being heralded as "the strongest ever recorded", has just made landfall in Mexico.
Hurricane Patricia -- the strongest hurricane ever recorded -- made landfall on Mexico's Pacific coast Friday evening, its 165 mph winds barreling into southwestern Mexico near Cuixmala, officials said. The monster storm touched down about 6:15 p.m., hours after weakening slightly with sustained winds decreasing to 190 mph and gusts to 235 mph, according to the U.S National Weather Service. ...Taking the brunt of the hurricane are small fishing villages about 130 miles south of Puerto Vallarta, which had braced for potentially catastrophic 200 mph sustained winds and torrential rains. Despite the slight weakening, damage from the Category 5 storm is expected to be devastating. Less than an hour after its arrival, Patricia churned inland over southwestern Mexico with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 mph and was still "extremely dangerous," according to the American weather service.
The breathless reporting fails to note that Hurricane Patricia's winds actually clocked in at 165 miles-per-hour, which were on par with that of Typhoon Haiyan in the Pacific. Maybe 165 MPH just feels different on the other side of the world? As a reminder, the 2013 typhoon killed over 6000 people.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 23, 2015 27 Comments
A report detailing the cause of the Animas River environmental disaster, which resulted in the release of millions of gallons of heavy-metal containing wastewater into a scenic Colorado river, blames the EPA for the incident....contrary to an internal review conducted by the agency itself.
The Environmental Protection Agency botched the clean-up effort at the Gold King Mine by rushing to complete the job instead of taking precautions that would have prevented the disastrous toxic spill into the Animas River. A 132-page report released Thursday by the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation found that the Aug. 5 accident was not “inevitable,” as the EPA’s own internal review had concluded, but could have been avoided if the agency had followed engineering practices used at other inactive mines. ...According to the report, the agency committed a pivotal error by failing to gauge the level of wastewater behind the collapsed rock and soil at the mine, which could have been done by using a drill rig to “bore into the mine from above and directly determine the level of the mine pool prior to excavating backfill at the portal.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 21, 2015 19 Comments
Chinese hackers and Islamic terrorists are real global threats, but some congressmen are targeting climate change deniers instead! Two representatives assert that ExxonMobil lied about climate change data in the same way cigarette companies hid the real hazards associated with smoking, and they are now threatening a federal investigation.
The two members of Congress wrote to Loretta Lynch, the attorney general, on Wednesday, saying they were concerned by the results of two separate investigations by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times, which found that ExxonMobil scientists confirmed fossil fuels were causing climate change decades ago, but publicly embarked on a campaign of denial. “ExxonMobil’s apparent behavior is similar to cigarette companies that repeatedly denied harm from tobacco and spread uncertainty and misinformation to the public,” Ted Lieu and Mark DeSaulnier, both Democratic members of Congress from California, wrote. “We ask that the DoJ similarly investigate Exxon for organizing a sustained deception campaign disputing climate science and failing to disclose truthful information to investors and the public.”

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 18, 2015 13 Comments
After declaring "victory" in the war against the Ebola epidemic we were following earlier this year, scientists are now making some disturbing new discoveries about the hemorrhagic fever virus. Chief among those discoveries is that patients who were "cured" of the disease continue to experience debilitating symptoms.
Researchers following 49 survivors of a 2007 Ebola outbreak in Uganda found that — even two years after the illness — they had eye problems like inflammation and blurred vision as well as joint pain, difficulty sleeping, difficulty swallowing and even hearing loss, memory loss and confusion. A third study examining 105 survivors of the 2014-15 outbreak in Guinea found that about 90 percent had chronic joint pain and 98 percent had poor appetites or an aversion to food. They also reported difficulty with short-term memory, headaches, sleeplessness, insomnia, dizziness, abdominal pain, constipation, sexual dysfunction, and decreased libido and exercise tolerance.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 17, 2015 11 Comments
While most of us have been engrossed in the American election saga, our neighbor to the north is preparing for an Oct. 19th election that may be infused with some imported drama. As next week's election draws near, news is that conservative Stephen Harper is going to be replaced with the son a former leftist Prime Minister:
If current polling is to be believed – and recent election upsets in the UK and Israel have taught pundits to take polls with more than a pinch of salt – then Harper will not hold on to government. After languishing in third place for much of the campaign, the Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau - son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau - seem set to return to power. The victory will be particularly sweet here in Ajax, where four-term Liberal MP Mark Holland was routed in 2011 by Chris Alexander, formerly Canada’s ambassador to Afghanistan and now a immigration minister in the Conservative government.
True to form, President Obama cannot resist trying to exert some meaningful influence. Since he is apparently unable to do so in the Middle East, where it may actually help our nation, there are reports he is attempting to sway the Canadian vote.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 06, 2015 20 Comments
I have followed the progress of California's "assisted suicide" legislation since it began to wind its way through the legislature. Yesterday, the bill landed on Governor Jerry Brown's desk, and he signed the controversial measure with the type of pontificating we have come to expect from our state's chief executive:
Caught between conflicting moral arguments, Gov. Jerry Brown, a former Jesuit seminary student, on Monday signed a measure allowing physicians to prescribe lethal doses of drugs to terminally ill patients who want to hasten their deaths. Approving the bill, whose opponents included the Catholic Church, appeared to be a gut-wrenching decision for the 77-year-old governor, who as a young man studied to enter the priesthood. “In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death,” Brown added. “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the options afforded by this bill. And I wouldn’t deny that right to others."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 05, 2015 6 Comments
As our East Coast deals with the effects of Hurricane Joaquin and tens of thousands are evacuated in Southern China from the path of typhoon Mujigae, it appears that the relationship between the two nations is headed for equally turbulent weather. While Obama was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to complain about his nation's hacking of our cyber systems and carping about Russian escalation in Syria, reports indicate that China was preparing to increase its presence in the Middle East conflict:
Earlier this week, Chinese naval vessels have allegedly traveled through Egypt’s Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea. According to a senior officer in the Syrian Arab Army, and confirmed by a Russian Senator (in the propaganda outlet Pravda), the naval vessels are headed for Syria’s Port of Tartus, and that “China has joined [Russia’s] military operation in Syria.” The reports indicate that the Chinese vessels will reach Tartus within six weeks. No explanation is given in these reports for the long time frame.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on October 03, 2015 2 Comments
Hurricane Joaquin may have claimed the lives of 28 Americans without ever having hit land.
The US Coast Guard says it has resumed its search for a cargo ship with 33 crew that vanished in Bahamian waters during Hurricane Joaquin. The 224-metre (735ft) El Faro, with 28 Americans and five Poles on board, was last heard from on Thursday and was reported to be taking on water. The ship - which was travelling from Florida to Puerto Rico - was also believed to be listing at 15 degrees. Joaquin brought heavy rains to the Bahamas, damaging a number of houses. There have been no reports of casualties so far. The now-weaker Category Four storm - with sustained winds of up to 210km/h (130mph) - is moving away from the island nation in the Atlantic.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 30, 2015 11 Comments
The closure of the largest of the nonprofit Obamacare cooperatives is another sign that the Affordable Care Act is the single best oxymoron ever created by politicians. I should be experiencing some amount of schadenfreude, as the fight against Obamacare was one of the major action items of my local Tea Party group in its original year. That it has been a galactic scale fiscal disaster comes as no surprise to any of us who took the time to review the law and think seriously about its implications. But there is no joy in the Golden State for me. As my husband, Ben, is now enjoying another round of FUNemployment under the "robust" Obama economy, we have been forced to find to new healthcare insurance. Covered California has been hailed as the most successful of the state exchanges. So, with great optimism, Ben completed the online application.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 29, 2015 9 Comments
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is one of the key heads-of-state participating in the United Nations General Assembly's 70th meeting. President al-Sisi, an advocate of an Islamic "reformation" and one of the most engaged warriors in the war against terror, says the struggle he faces is "ferocious."
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in an interview that the Mideast region needs to cooperate to defeat a worsening terrorist threat that has led to a "ferocious war" in Egypt and created the danger of some countries "sliding into failure." In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press Saturday night, el-Sissi also said that Syria should not be divided after its civil war, that the Egyptian military needs to be "augmented" to defeat terrorists fighting in the Sinai and Western Desert, and that efforts should be renewed to solve the Palestinian issue and expand Egypt's nearly 40-year-peace with Israel to include more Arab countries.
Egypt's President also indicated that the last two years were a "real test of the endurance and strength" of the ties with this nation. It appears that al_Sisi has a bit more to endure, as he has been given another taste of the Obama Administration's SmartPower™.
While Mr. Obama insists on welcoming the Russian autocrat whom the West has sanctioned for invading his neighbors and repressing his own people, he has refused to meet the president of Egypt, the most populous Arab nation and a traditional American ally that is battling Islamic extremists on two fronts.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 26, 2015 8 Comments
Pope Francis continued his American tour, touching down in Philadelphia this morning to ride by Fiat-motorcade to the downtown Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul and celebrating Mass for about 1,600 people. In his homily, the papal homily encouraged a greater role for women and laity:
The pope stopped by a nearby seminary for a rest after presiding over a Mass at Philadelphia’s cathedral in the morning, where he called on women and youth to play a greater role in strengthening the Catholic Church in America, while keeping the institution’s existing authority in place. In his homily, the pope singled out the story of Katharine Drexel, a Philadelphia-born heiress who became a nun and then, after her death, a saint. Pope Francis told the story of how Drexel had asked Pope Leo XIII for help with American missions and the pope replied, 'What are you going to do?' At Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Francis repeated that question in Spanish, “y tu?” — and what about you? — again and again as he reflected on the church’s role in a changing society and urged the faithful to support women and youth.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 24, 2015 31 Comments
Pope Francis has accomplished something that is truly miraculous in this country: He has managed to bump Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton from the spotlight for a brief time. For that, I am truly grateful. I have been mulling over my thoughts about the Pope's American tour and his various statements, and I have come to the conclusion I need to view him like I view my local priest: I will listen politely, avoid getting emotionally attached, and do what my own conscience (after prayerful reflection) dictates. When I became Catholic in 2010, my sponsor warned me about getting emotionally attached to any priest. Why? Priests tend to move around quite a bit, but every one of them has something to teach you. I must admit, I'm getting quite a lesson in expectation setting and patience. Pope Francis is the first pontiff installed since I joined the church, so in that way, he is special to me. I must admit, I caught "Francis Fever". Given his humility and sincerity, it was hard not to be moved.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 23, 2015 34 Comments
President Obama, Vice-President Biden, and their families greeted Pope Francis with smiles when he landed at Washington, D.C., obviously looking forward to the historic visit that includes a gay-activist filled dinner at the White House and addresses to Congress and the United Nations. With the tumultuous start to the 2016 presidential election cycle, the media is eager to politicize the event so that it is bad news for the Republicans:
Francis has blasted gun manufacturers, likening them to hypocrites. And in a series of tough speeches, Francis has railed against global capitalism, even calling it a "subtle dictatorship." Such comments make many Republicans cringe.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 22, 2015 4 Comments
As the United States is preparing for the visit of Pope Francis, security efforts are focused on a potential terror plot:
On the eve of Pope Francis' historic first visit to the United States, law enforcement officials are concerned terrorists could disguise themselves as police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians to carry out attacks, according to a report from NBC News Monday. A memo titled "First Responder Impersonators: The New Terrorist Threat," from the Pennsylvania State Police's Criminal Intelligence Center and sent to law enforcement, warned that terrorists could falsely identify themselves as first responders to enter secure areas and carry out attacks. "The impersonators' main goals are to further their attack plan and do harm to unsuspecting citizens as well as members of the emergency services community," the memo read, according to NBC News.
This contrasts to a security incident that occurred in 2013, during the papal visit to Brazil:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 20, 2015 18 Comments
Pope Francis stopped in Cuba on his way to a Tuesday arrival in Washington, DC.  While there, the Holy Father took a victory lap for the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Pope Francis landed in Cuba on Saturday, quickly calling on the communist nation to "open itself to the world," while praising its recent restoration of diplomatic ties with the United States. Francis was greeted by President Raul Castro at Jose Marti International airport in Havana, where the pontiff urged Cuba to grant its people the "freedom, the means and the space" to practice their religion, an implicit criticism of the sharp restrictions the country has placed on faith.
Obama should be grateful to the pontiff, who helped the President achieve a very rare foreign policy "success". If he is, the Obama sure has a strange way of showing it.
In a stunning show of political indecorum, Obama has invited a series of individuals who publicly flout Catholic teaching, including a pro-abortion religious sister, a transgender woman and the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, along with at least two Catholic gay activists.
Truly, this is the sort of SmartPowerTM move we have come to expect from the White House.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on September 12, 2015 6 Comments
Two pieces of green-energy legislation have been derailed by the California legislature, much to Governor Jerry Brown's consternation. Senate Bill 350, which would have given one of the most draconian state agencies in the nation epic powers to cut fuel consumption, and a gas tax supposedly for road repair, have gone down to defeat...at least temporarily.
In a major setback for Gov. Jerry Brown’s climate agenda, the governor and legislative leaders on Wednesday abandoned an effort to require a 50 percent reduction in petroleum use in motor vehicles by 2030. The announcement followed weeks of lobbying by oil companies and resistance not only from Republicans, but moderate Democrats in the Assembly.
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