C.L.E.A.N.- Community, Labor, Environmental Action Network
The best ideas emerge unexpectedly from the grassroots in seemingly unlikely places. One of those ideas is an organization called C.L.E.A.N. which stands Community, Labor, Environmental Action Network. The story behind the creation of this group is both enlightening and interesting. The concept is very sound. I hope C.L.E.A.N. chapters will eventually be in every state.
C.L.E.A.N. resulted from a Delaware UFCW Local 27 organizing drive. While organizing, the UFCW realized that workers were being exposed to dangerous chemicals in the work environment. As they explored the worker safety issue, they realized that adverse health effects impacted workers, their families and the surrounding community. As a result, the UFCW reached out to other unions, churches and community groups to build a coalition. C.L.E.A.N. was born. The growth has exploded in just 4 months.
C.L.E.A.N. resulted from a Delaware UFCW Local 27 organizing drive. While organizing, the UFCW realized that workers were being exposed to dangerous chemicals in the work environment. As they explored the worker safety issue, they realized that adverse health effects impacted workers, their families and the surrounding community. As a result, the UFCW reached out to other unions, churches and community groups to build a coalition. C.L.E.A.N. was born. The growth has exploded in just 4 months.
Nuclear power: follow the money
The Bush administration’s energy policies from 2001 to the present have supported fossil fuels above all other energy sources, emphasizing the need to find new sources of petroleum, support new technologies for liquefied natural gas, and move forward with “clean” coal technologies. Over the course of Bush’s presidency, there is some mixed, but clearly secondary, support for renewable forms of energy and conservation/efficiency.
In a speech on his energy proposals in January, 2007, President Bush seemed to break new ground. But his calls for reduced U.S. gasoline usage and raising fuel-economy standards are far less than is needed to reduce our growing dependence on oil or stem the rise in greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. One of his featured proposals calls for an increase in the production of corn-based ethanol, but his estimates of the impact seem unrealistic. Steven Mufson, Washington Post correspondent, notes that industry experts say that it would take more than all of last year’s U.S. corn harvest to make enough ethanol to meet Bush’s target of replacing 15 percent of the projected annual gasoline consumption in 2017 (1-24-07).
In a speech on his energy proposals in January, 2007, President Bush seemed to break new ground. But his calls for reduced U.S. gasoline usage and raising fuel-economy standards are far less than is needed to reduce our growing dependence on oil or stem the rise in greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. One of his featured proposals calls for an increase in the production of corn-based ethanol, but his estimates of the impact seem unrealistic. Steven Mufson, Washington Post correspondent, notes that industry experts say that it would take more than all of last year’s U.S. corn harvest to make enough ethanol to meet Bush’s target of replacing 15 percent of the projected annual gasoline consumption in 2017 (1-24-07).
Two legs good, four legs equal
“The moral duty of man consists of imitating the moral goodness and benificence of God manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. Everything of persecution and revenge between man and man, and everything of cruelty to animals is a violation of moral duty.”
–Thomas Paine from The Age of Reason
Despite the trappings of a civilized culture and the incredibly persistent myth of our moral exceptionalism, we in the United States are collectively a group of mean-spirited, depraved barbarians. Sparing our psyches the pangs of conscience by ferociously devouring the corporate media’s seemingly endless supply of rationalizations, euphemisms, historical revisions, distractions, denials, distortions, and affirmations of our pathological self-absorption, we each carry a degree of responsibility in the infliction of immeasurable unnecessary pain and suffering upon the rest of the Earth’s sentient beings.
–Thomas Paine from The Age of Reason
Despite the trappings of a civilized culture and the incredibly persistent myth of our moral exceptionalism, we in the United States are collectively a group of mean-spirited, depraved barbarians. Sparing our psyches the pangs of conscience by ferociously devouring the corporate media’s seemingly endless supply of rationalizations, euphemisms, historical revisions, distractions, denials, distortions, and affirmations of our pathological self-absorption, we each carry a degree of responsibility in the infliction of immeasurable unnecessary pain and suffering upon the rest of the Earth’s sentient beings.
Imprison George W. Bush by Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis
It is 2007 and the majority of the American people are calling for the impeachment of the president according to a recent Zogby poll, but in 2004, Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis gave us what we need now to imprison George W. Bush in their book of the same name. In Imprison George W. Bush:Commentary on Why the President Must Be Indicted, Wasserman and Fitrakis make case after case as to why Bush must go. While expansive and ambitious in its reach, the book, a compilation of articles, reaches its goal offering the facts we need to arm ourselves with intelligent discourse in a time when even chat by the water cooler can be an organizer’s tool. Compact feature articles enhanced with masterful thematic cartoons are the format of this book. It is packed with well researched reasoning for not only the impeachment of George W. Bush but his imprisonment as well.
The Waitress
If "The Waitress" were a pie, which it very well may be, it would taste like a variety of flavors from sweet, sour and spciy to utterly delightful! Somehow all of these flavors seem to work for this dish!
The main character a sincerely sweet pie-making artiste. All of her life feelings and problems are translated into different pies. Everyone feels badly for her, especially after her recent pregnancy with her horrible husband. Even her closest friends, two fellow waitresses at the pie shop, tell her they would never trade places with her. I too, would never want to be in her shoes, married to a man like Earl. All of which sets off the deliciousness of the main characters' affair. This movie is by no means a setting of morals and values. Almost all of the characters in it commit adultery or suffer from personality disorders!
But this gives the movie its reality factor as well. Although it's a movie with real problems and sadness, there is humor and irony to be found everywhere. The doctor with whom the main character confides and finds herself in love, is also married. Their love may be the most random suprising part of the movie
The main character a sincerely sweet pie-making artiste. All of her life feelings and problems are translated into different pies. Everyone feels badly for her, especially after her recent pregnancy with her horrible husband. Even her closest friends, two fellow waitresses at the pie shop, tell her they would never trade places with her. I too, would never want to be in her shoes, married to a man like Earl. All of which sets off the deliciousness of the main characters' affair. This movie is by no means a setting of morals and values. Almost all of the characters in it commit adultery or suffer from personality disorders!
But this gives the movie its reality factor as well. Although it's a movie with real problems and sadness, there is humor and irony to be found everywhere. The doctor with whom the main character confides and finds herself in love, is also married. Their love may be the most random suprising part of the movie
Speaking truth to power
The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement negotiated in 1997 which went into effect on Feb. 16, 2005. Under it industrial countries which have signed on-which is all of them except for the U.S. and Australia-pledge to reduce their earth-heating carbon emissions by between roughly 5 and 7% below 1990 amounts by 2012. Some countries are going to make or exceed those pledges, and others are not.
Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the 5.2% average reduction of emissions is nowhere near enough. There is also a problem because formerly colonized, now industrializing countries like China and India are not part of this first phase of carbon reductions. That is justifiable; it is the industrialized west that is responsible for the vast majority of the carbon that's in the atmosphere now, and it is the industrialized west that needs to lead the turn away from its past and present dirty, polluting, energy production processes. But it is not a good thing at all that China and India are following in the west's footsteps by building far too many polluting coal plants.
Given the urgency of the climate crisis, the 5.2% average reduction of emissions is nowhere near enough. There is also a problem because formerly colonized, now industrializing countries like China and India are not part of this first phase of carbon reductions. That is justifiable; it is the industrialized west that is responsible for the vast majority of the carbon that's in the atmosphere now, and it is the industrialized west that needs to lead the turn away from its past and present dirty, polluting, energy production processes. But it is not a good thing at all that China and India are following in the west's footsteps by building far too many polluting coal plants.
Ohio Environmental Council’s Comments on U.S. Department of Energy’s Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership
On behalf of the Ohio Environmental Council, I respectfully submit these comments on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP-PEIS). The OEC is a statewide environmental advocacy group representing over 100 environmental and conservation organizations and thousands of individual members throughout the state of Ohio. OEC’s mission is to advocate for healthy air, land, and water to make Ohio a better place in which to live, work, and play. In light of our mission and our role as a statewide environmental advocate, OEC has some grave concerns with DOE’s decision to consider the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio as a site for GNEP’s nuclear fuel recycling center and/or its advanced recycling reactor.
In response to the DOE’s request for comments on the proposed scope, alternatives and environmental issues to be analyzed by GNEP PEIS, OEC respectfully submits the comments below. OEC requests the DOE take these issues into consideration, and address these questions before moving forward on the GNEP program.
In response to the DOE’s request for comments on the proposed scope, alternatives and environmental issues to be analyzed by GNEP PEIS, OEC respectfully submits the comments below. OEC requests the DOE take these issues into consideration, and address these questions before moving forward on the GNEP program.
John Edwards supports "open source" for voting systems
GRANITE BAY, CA -- John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to support "open source code" for election systems. In a letter dated June 21st addressed to Alan Dechert, the Edwards campaign stated that, "To ensure security, these machines should be programmed with an open source code for complete transparency, and election results should be safeguarded by voter-verified paper records."
Currently, software used in election systems remains the proprietary property of vendors. This situation has created a continual problem when anomalous results have been reported and independent experts are denied the ability to review how the systems work. A growing body of critics oppose this privatization of the voting system.
"Open source" means that the computer instructions written by programmers are publicly available. Open source software is rapidly replacing proprietary software in other applications, including the Internet and military applications.
"We congratulate Senator Edwards for taking a leadership role in the fight to restore public oversight of the voting system," said Alan Dechert, president of Open Voting Consortium.
Currently, software used in election systems remains the proprietary property of vendors. This situation has created a continual problem when anomalous results have been reported and independent experts are denied the ability to review how the systems work. A growing body of critics oppose this privatization of the voting system.
"Open source" means that the computer instructions written by programmers are publicly available. Open source software is rapidly replacing proprietary software in other applications, including the Internet and military applications.
"We congratulate Senator Edwards for taking a leadership role in the fight to restore public oversight of the voting system," said Alan Dechert, president of Open Voting Consortium.
A live Earth - the alternative online concert against climate change
On 7th July there will be 'Live Earth' concerts all around the globe to
bring attention to climate change. The tickets are all sold and the
perfomers are already chosen.
But at *www.aliveearth.org * an alternative concert is already underway- a concert which welcomes all visitors and performers. The online concert is the brainwave of a small non-profit organisation in Oxford England which felt that the mega concerts were not doing enough to support a wider range of voices on climate change.
One day after the launch there are already nearly 60 performances in the alternative concert- mostly music, but including comedy and poetry. We welcome postings of all kinds of performances- big and small, amateur and professional, in the Hollywood Bowl and in the bedroom. We invite entries to be as angry, happy, whimsical, political, or bizarre as they like providing that they have something to say about climate change, accept the reality of the science and are not offensive.
But at *www.aliveearth.org * an alternative concert is already underway- a concert which welcomes all visitors and performers. The online concert is the brainwave of a small non-profit organisation in Oxford England which felt that the mega concerts were not doing enough to support a wider range of voices on climate change.
One day after the launch there are already nearly 60 performances in the alternative concert- mostly music, but including comedy and poetry. We welcome postings of all kinds of performances- big and small, amateur and professional, in the Hollywood Bowl and in the bedroom. We invite entries to be as angry, happy, whimsical, political, or bizarre as they like providing that they have something to say about climate change, accept the reality of the science and are not offensive.
Making history in Atlanta
Experience shows that history, like nature, does not move in a linear way, in a straight line. It is characterized by long periods of time when, on the surface, little seems to be changing. Then, all of a sudden, big changes can happen, much more quickly than anyone thought possible.
We are facing this reality in a negative sense with the transcendent issue of climate change. The hard truth of the matter is that we are in great danger of experiencing soon, within years, not decades, a “climate snap,” a shift from the general climate reality the world has been experiencing for the past 10,000 years, to one characterized by freakish, violent and persistent major storms, spreading drought and wildfires, extensive plant and animal species extinction, water scarcity and crop failures on a massive scale, and accelerated sea level rise.
This is what the world scientific community is telling us. The rapid heating up of our atmosphere, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, is the evidence which leaves no room for doubt.
We are facing this reality in a negative sense with the transcendent issue of climate change. The hard truth of the matter is that we are in great danger of experiencing soon, within years, not decades, a “climate snap,” a shift from the general climate reality the world has been experiencing for the past 10,000 years, to one characterized by freakish, violent and persistent major storms, spreading drought and wildfires, extensive plant and animal species extinction, water scarcity and crop failures on a massive scale, and accelerated sea level rise.
This is what the world scientific community is telling us. The rapid heating up of our atmosphere, caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, is the evidence which leaves no room for doubt.