President Obama has proposed a whopping $54 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of new nuclear power plants.
What does that mean? If the costly new nuclear plants aren't finished, then taxpayers cover the huge financial loss.
If they are built, then we're stuck with power plants that generate overpriced electricity and create deadly radioactive waste that will remain toxic for thousands of years.
Either way, the nuclear industry wins, and we lose.
Nuclear power creates deadly radioactive waste, from the mining process onwards. It's got a scary history: think Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.
Just recently, a nuclear plant in Vermont was ordered shut down after radioactive tritium, which is linked to cancer, leaked from the plant into local water supplies.
Nuclear power is so financially risky that even Wall Street won't bet on it. It's a public health and financial disaster waiting to happen.
Instead, our government should promote energy efficiency and a decentralized power system based on safe, clean, renewable energy.
Representative Tom Perriello (D-VA-5) was one of the first candidates to make the Energy Smart list. Yesterday, not for the first time, he provided a clear statement as to why he merited and continues to merit a prominent position in the 'must support' list for anyone concerned about fostering a prosperous and secure America future.
Interviewed by David Roberts, Grist, Perriello spoke strongly about the imperative for better energy policy, including the necessity of putting a price on carbon. While too many in the Commonwealth are flaunting their anti-science syndrome credentials, Perriello is speaking forthrightly and directly. His narrow victory in 2008 has him in the Republican cross hairs for defeat this November but Perriello doesn't speak directly -- he speaks with great integrity and from principle. That characteristic, of having the courage of convictions and being able to speak coherently about them, goes a long way with voters who might disagree in a specific case but who respect a clear-speaking politician with principles.
And, Tom's words about the Senate-House relationship -- his direct and strong words -- merit attention, echoing, and applause.
The Obama Administration seems to be pulling back, on front after front, in the face of economic challenges, sobering poll numbers, and steadfast Republican obstinacy.
Whether on health care, jobs promoting legislation, EPA regulation of pollutants, and/or energy/climate policy, the political powers that be within the Obama White House have determined that 'tactical retreats' toward even more incremental policy concepts is the path forward in an illusive search for bipartisanship policy making with an elusive (and recalcitrant) Republican minority. Watering down already weakened (and inadequate) policy constructs and approaches is path toward increased problems, rather than solutions, on political, economic, and climate terms.
Rather than retreat toward ever weaker policy concepts, President Obama would well serve the nation through a step back to consider the totality of the environment with then a strong and aggressive step forward with stronger proposals to seize the huge opportunities that lie before use with real solutions to our jobs, economic, health care, energy, and climate challenges.
Yes, revolution, but as the title states, it's not what you may think. In this case, I say Revolution as in drastic change, and when I say change I mean the kind of change you can believe in.
On to the show. So you say you want a Revolution? How about a solar energy revolution?
Thomas Edison, one of history's greatest inventors said; "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." He was right then, in 1931, and he remains right today. The American people agree. Today, 92 percent of all Americans want our country to develop solar energy resources, and 77 percent believe the federal government should make solar power development a national priority.
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It also would mean the creation of over a million new jobs.
Last night I put up a quick diary at DKOS about a live online broadcast on a forum, debate, on the Future of Energy being held at the University of Charleston and streamed live to what looked like a full house. They have quickly broken up the video into three parts and placed them on YouTube as well as the Real News Networks website. The forum is about an hour and a half long and while civilized, as it should be, Kennedy keeps putting down pretty much every sorry excuse Blankenship tries to use in defending what he and the coal corporations are doing to West Virginia and the Heritage and Beauty of that State and this Country in the name of Great Wealth for the very few and less and less for the workers and residents of West Virginia and well beyond their state borders!
Scott Brown's victory provides clear lessons for both Democratic Party and Republican Party operatives. The question: whether these operatives will read the tea leaves correctly or incorrectly and, therefore, what measures they will take walking away from the situation.
Briefly, for the Republican Party, the message is clear: essentially every single seat is up for grabs in this fall's elections if (a) they have a photogenic candidate, (b) maintain message discipline with truthiness-laden attacks on all policies, (c) avoid mentioning "Bush" (and invoke "Reagan"), and (d) if the Democratic Party "establishment" fails to heed the lessons of Massachusetts.
Now, as in New Jersey and Virginia, much of the Democratic Party knashing of teeth will resolve around Martha Coakley's failures as a candidate (from failure to take the election seriously to, in the debate, stating that this was "Ted Kennedy's seat to ...). There is (substantial) truth to these complaints, but this was not the core of what went on in Massachusetts (although, a more robust / stronger campaign and a Brown surge wouldn't have seriously threatened Coakley).
From this election, many will propagate a message that "Obama is too left" and that "voters think he's trying to do too much". This, however, simply flies in the face of both polling and on-the-ground reality.
He watched her, his chin in his hand. All right, he said. This is the best I can do.
He straightened out his leg and reached into his pocket and drew out a few coins and took one and held it up. He turned it. For her to see the justice of it. He held it between his thumb and forefinger and weighed it and he flipped it spinning in the air and caught it and slapped it down on his wrist. Call it, he said.
She looked at him, at his outheld wrist. What? She said.
Call it.
I wont do it.
Yes you will. Call it
God would not want me to do that.
Of course he would. You should try to save yourself. Call it. This is your last chance.
Heads, she said.
He lifted his hand away. The coin was tails.
I'm sorry.
She didnt answer.
Maybe it's for the best.
She looked away. You make it like it was the coin. But you're the one.
It could have gone either way.
The coin didnt have no say. It was just you.
Perhaps. But look at it my way. I got here the same way the coin did.
She sat sobbing softly. She didnt answer.
For things at a common destination there is a common path. Not always easy to see. But there.
Everything I ever thought has turned out different, she said. There aint the least part of my life I could of guessed. Not this, not none of it.
I know.
You wouldnt of let me off noway.
I had no say in the matter. Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person's path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.
She sat sobbing. She shook her head.
Yet even though I could have told you how all of this would end I thought it not too much to ask that you have a final glimpse of hope in the world to lift your heart before the shroud drops, the darkness. Do you see?
Oh God, she said. Oh God.
I'm sorry.
She looked at him a final time. You dont have to, she said. You dont. You dont.
He shook his head. You're asking that I make myself vulnerable and that I can never do. I have only one way to live. It doesnt allow for special cases. A coin toss perhaps. In this case to small purpose. Most people dont believe that there can be such a person. You can see what a problem that must be for them. How to prevail over that which you refuse to acknowledge the existence of. Do you understand? When I came into your life your life was over. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is the end. You can say that things could have turned out differently. That they could have been some other way. But what does that mean? They are not some other way. They are this way. You're asking that I second say the world. Do you see?
Yes, she said, sobbing. I do. I truly do.
Good, he said. That's good. Then he shot her.
To be fair to Anton Chigur, he actually flipped the coin, but I couldn't otherwise resist the parallel.
Clean Energy Jobs Go Swimming: $300 million per year for 10,000 jobs
This is part of a series of brief posts on 'clean energy jobs' opportunities for sparking meaningful employment, quickly, in the United States.
Legislation is, they say, analogous to making sausage. Sometimes, in the mixing and mashing, seemingly well-intentioned and sensible options can create counter-productive situations and leave many valued goods on the table. One small example of this could open the door to creating employment, lowering costs for state & local governments (including educational institutions), improving 'customer' satisfaction, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
When it came to the stimulus package earlier this year, "swimming pools" were explicitly excluded from ARRA funding mechanisms. While, amid serious economic stress and government investment to keep the economic from continuing in freefall, it might have seemed morally appropriate to do this, this restriction simply flies in the face of reality and good sense.
We're diving deep into "geek world" today with a story that combines economic hardball, the periodic table of the elements, and a barely noticed provision of the Defense Authorization Act that seeks to break a monopoly which today gives China near-absolute control over the materials that make cell phones, electric cars, wind turbines, and pretty much every other tool of modern life possible.
If we successfully break the monopoly, we'll be able to create millions of new manufacturing jobs in this country-and if we don't, somebody else owns the 21st Century.
Ironically, the global warming we're trying to fight with new green technologies might be an ally in our efforts to make those very same green technologies happen.
There's a revolution in industrial processing going on, rare earths are at the center of it all...and in today's story, the revolution will be televised.
And, there are real opportunities to be had from taking on those challenges in smart ways...
Sadly, too much attention is given to those who deceive about the challenges and distort the implications of the options before us.
Best-seller lists, the air waves, oped pages, and blog posts have been filled with Steven Levitt's and Steven Dubner's shallow, truthiness-laden Superfreakonomics. The continued attention feeds on itself, as ignoring the deceptions and the mediocre interviews booked due to the authors' Super(freaky)star status has the problem of giving it credence due to non-truthful truthiness and misleading mediocrity on the critical issue of climate change science and other issues. There essentially innumerable works more worthy of our attention and engagement, even if we constrain ourselves simply to books also published in 2009.
Thus, after the fold, ten books published this year that are more worthy of your time and money that the shallow distortions from the Super Freaky Economists of Superfreakonomics.
Photo: Jonathan Lee. Me, Bob Del Tredici, Steve Wing and my hubby casing the FedEx Global Education Center lecture hall at UNC-CH, where all buildings and all departments are now owned by Big Business and Corporate sponsors, much to the dismay of the research faculty.
There are a great many important issues on our plates these days. Health Care (or merely insurance) Reform, two wars of invasion and occupation that show no signs of ending any time soon, an overstretched and vastly underappreciated military, a serious economic collapse and ever-lengthening Great Recession, home foreclosures, unemployment, torture as government policy, war crimes of the last administration stubbornly ignored, and the never-ending assault on the Constitution our erstwhile leaders swore to protect and defend. We who like to think of ourselves as Progressives and are keeping up with issues and actions via the 'net and blogosphere do what we can on all of the issues, even if not all of them are The Most Important Issue we are personally engaging in our real life spheres. I am adding one more, which probably won't be at the top of the list for most, but which has been around long enough that it does deserve a place in the lineup of things progressives should keep track of.
This week my husband and I were invited to attend and participate in a lunchtime seminar and evening lecture presentation by Robert Del Tredici of Vanier College in Quebec, Canada. "Looking Into the Nuclear Age: On Life, Art and the Bomb" was stunning. We'd been invited by epidemiologist (and friend) Steve Wing of UNC Chapel Hill, who hosted the event along with artist Elin O'Hara Slavick. Steve had conducted an independent epidemiological study of cancers in the area of Three Mile Island back in the early 1990s, and came to conclusions that directly contradicted those of previous studies and the U.S. government, which has insisted to this very day that no one was harmed by the meltdown.
Steve's study was to have been evidence in a class action lawsuit in the 1990s with more than 2,000 plaintiffs who had developed cancer after the accident at TMI in 1979. My husband and I were to have been the backup evidence to support his study in that lawsuit, having been the designated "reporting agents" under provisions of 10CFR.21 for the health physics contractor at Three Mile Island immediately following the accident. Neither we nor Steve ever made it to court, as the lawsuit was finally dismissed for "lack of evidence" when the defendants convinced Judge Rambo that the only evidence admissible must be the coverup the guilty parties themselves provided. Duh.
10:00AM
Some Four Plus Decades of, Enough is Enough
We've been going through this for some four decades now, and it's gotta Stop Now, but I doubt it will, because it comes mainly from those that don't serve as they wrap themselves in the banner of a political party that's "Strong On National Defense" while condemning all others as not! It's in their political ideology to be used and accepted by those that claim that ideology, like they found great enjoyment wearing and laughing about "purple heart bandages" not long ago. Even some who serve, and do so in our wars and occupations of choice will use it, strickly as their political meme, disgracing their own service as they attack their brothers and sisters, never having real facts to back up their claims, and never apologizing especially to their brothers and sisters!
Since diving into the deep end when it comes to energy issues, almost every day sees new fascinating concepts, approaches, and technologies. Fascinating ... exciting ... even hope inspiring at times. And, as well, as the passion builds, so many of these are truly Energy COOL.
And, Natural Fusion truly does look to be Energy COOL ...
No, we're not speaking about Cold Fusion, but Penn State's entry into the DOE Solar Decathlon, which opens Thursday on the Mall in Washington, DC.
Let's take a look at some of Natural Fusion's features from its website, which is dynamic, enabling rapid connection of concepts and approaches with the home's physical layout.
The Wonk Room (@ ThinkProgress.org) spoke with Perlmutter today, who explained the economic benefit that he hopes the GREEN Act will have for American households, and particularly those with low- to moderate-incomes:
It helps low- and moderate-incomes. It helps all income levels, because utility costs have been going up for, you know, the last umpteen years. And particularly for low- to moderate-income earners, that's a big part of their discretionary income, what they have left over at the end of the month, after paycheck and groceries and everything else. So if we can help them control or even shrink utility costs, it's like a pay raise to those people...We're hoping to shrink energy costs by 30 percent.
Welcome to the 19th installment of "Considered Forthwith."
This weekly series looks at the various committees in the House and the Senate. Committees are the workshops of our democracy. This is where bills are considered, revised, and occasionally advance for consideration by the House and Senate. Most committees also have the authority to exercise oversight of related executive branch agencies.
Economically speaking, this also means that you are what you consume.
Since consumer spending makes up over 70% of our national eonomy, logic dictates that the smarter, healthier and more sustainable our purchasing is as individuals, the more sustainable and strong our national economy will become.
The simple ripples in the water can have drastic effects, in the long run.
So, here's what we do.
If Americans ate less meat, less fast food and manufactured food and instead ate more locally grown fruits and vegetables, as well as whatever food you can grow yourself, we could bring about the change we need without having to wait for anyone to take the lead.
Simple changes to your daily diet, even if done in moderation, combined with enough people doing the same thing can literally change the world.
The scheme these guys have undertaken solves one of the major problems of electric cars: recharging. Better Place's approach: replace the whole battery in less time than it takes to fill up a tank with gas! Recharge the batteries at leisure and reuse. If you buy an electric car, you subscribe to their service and can swap out drained batteries for recharged ones at properly equipped stations. The other crucial step in the process is to connect up with fuel stations to install the replacement bays. Wherever you can get gas, you can get a battery! Here's a cool demo of the technology.
Who knows if this will work? But it seemed to me to be a pretty interesting concept.
So far nothing has worked; not bailouts, or conversions to bank holding companies, not front page stories or investigative committees...nothing is helping the economic crisis it only continues to get worse.
What if we cannot stop the economic crisis from continuing to deteriorate, what if the economic levees break?
How is our government (Federal, State, Municipal) preparing for the worst case scenario?
How are we hoping they are preparing, what should we be expecting of them, what can we do?
Have a nice fucking day, morons. Nothing like cadmium in your water cocktail with a nice fat lead stick to swizzle it and a sprinkle of mercury bits on the brown foam topping.
For the sake of a job, you have been poisoning yourselves, your children and grandchildren for a hundred years. How long will the denizens of Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky put up with Coal Mining not only for its irresponsible lack of environmental control, when will they figure out its just a bad overall idea, plain and simple?
Whether or not you believe in God, this is one of those moments where you have to think "Instant Karma" and think it a grand scale wake the fuck up call.
Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
We've been going through this for some four decades now, and it's gotta Stop Now, but I doubt it will, because it comes mainly from those that don't serve as they wrap themselves in the banner of a political party that's "Strong On National Defense" while condemning all others as not! It's in their political ideology to be used and accepted by those that claim that ideology, like they found great enjoyment wearing and laughing about "purple heart bandages" not long ago. Even some who serve, and do so in our wars and occupations of choice will use it, strickly as their political meme, disgracing their own service as they attack their brothers and sisters, never having real facts to back up their claims, and never apologizing especially to their brothers and sisters!
