I am back at ho
me after a completely uneventful return trip (the best kind). United had a really nice 777 that took me from Rio to Sao Paulo and then to Dulles, where I took a shuttle flight (25 min) to Philadelphia. I left Volta Redonda at about 4 pm on Thursday and arrived at home at about 11am on Friday – yup, a long trip. I was able to get some sleep on the 9 hour flight to Washington DC.
I had to return because I was scheduled to work this weekend. Friday, most of our hourly employees were laid off – it was their last day. The people on my shift reported for work on Friday night, but were able to go home after completing some paperwork. I’m here for another month or so while things wrap up. There are still a few vital systems that are operational – the steam, air and fuel systems are still there for now. I have two process units that have just a little more decontamination work to finish – they will be done next week. Most of the control rooms are closed and dark – the first time that I have ever seen this. The few areas that are still staffed are down to just two or three people each. It’s eerie, driving through the refinery and seeing the process units at night without their lights on.
Friday night, when I arrived at work, there was word of a possible deal in the works. The Delaware City Refinery may be purchased by another company instead of dismantled for scrap. Details here. In 2004, a company operated by this same gentleman bought our refinery. At that time, it was a very good thing for Delaware City. Perhaps it will be again this time. I find it just a little difficult to get too excited about this sort of thing now – seems like every time something looks hopeful, I get smacked down. We’ll see how this works out. It would really be nice to have some company in here at night…..
Clueless politicians:
“The underlying elements of it are popular and important. And people will never know what’s in that bill until we pass it, the president signs it, and they have a whole range of new protections they never had before,” Axelrod said.
White House senior advisor, David Axelrod, talking about the recent attempted governmental takeover of our country’s medical system. The White House thinks that we need to pass this bad bill so we can see how good it is???? They don’t have a clue! The underlying elements are bad and unwanted. We don’t want to be FORCED into buying health coverage by the government (this provision is why insurance companies support the bill). Once insurance purchases become mandatory, does ANYONE think that the premiums will decrease? I don’t remember anyone’s car insurance dropping after states made it mandatory. Nobody involved in this endeavor ever talks about the quality of care. Is our medical care going to get better after this bill is passed? Nope. No way. Even the politicians aren’t promising that….
The president will give his State of the Union address this week. It seems that the president, after taking stake of the recent election results in Massachusetts, has decided that he will concentrate on jobs and the economy. It’s a shame that he let unemployment go from 8% to over 10% while trying to cram this bad health bill through Congress. We had a worse economy back in 1980. The president at that time fixed it handily by cutting taxes. Betcha Obama won’t mention that….
Greg
Leave a Reply