Zalatix
Zalatix's JournalThe new EPA regulations and this persistent "cheap energy" meme...
Why do we, as liberals, not stand up to this "Obama equals the end of cheap energy" meme?
There is no such thing as cheap energy. There never was to begin with.
Traditional coal, even "clean" coal, is highly expensive in ways you don't see on your energy bill. We're talking mountains of proof that coal energy poisons our rivers with mercury, and that's even before you get to the store and see the additional proof in the form of mercury warnings - ALL of that is because of coal power plants!
There are more mountains of proof about the connection between coal power plants and health risks, not to mention the radioactivity of the coal itself once it's burned.
And, if you live in Tennessee, you no doubt recently bore direct and personal witness to the clean-ness of "clean coal".
Why aren't we bombarding the airwaves with this? We're going to let the Republicans convince America that we're abandoning cheap energy when it was never cheap to begin with. AGAIN. ARGH.
Oil industry gets STUNG!! Badly!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/d-oh-oil-industry-lobbyists-punked-enviro-activist-143714171.htmlThe oil industry spends millions each year to shape its image and shift the public debate in its favor. But amid growing concern over climate change -- and over the industry's clout in Washington -- it can sometimes find itself losing control of its message pretty quickly.
That's what happened earlier this month, when the American Petroleum Institute (API), a powerful Washington-based lobbying organization for oil and gas companies, put out a call for volunteers to appear in an upcoming commercial about domestic energy production -- and got more than it bargained for. The ad campaign, scheduled to launch January 1 on CNN and coordinated by the high-priced Edelman PR firm, uses ordinary-looking people, dubbed "Energy Citizens," to insert a pro-oil and gas message into the 2012 elections.
But one respondent to the casting call, Connor Gibson, turned out not to be quite what the industry was looking for. Unbeknownst to the organizers, Gibson was an activist with the environmental group Greenpeace, and was surreptitiously recording the proceedings -- recordings that Greenpeace provided exclusively to Yahoo News.
Oil industry lobbyists punked by enviro activist
Ooooh, STUNG!!!
BTW I searched for this article in DU, if this is a dupe, that's because I could not find the story in here. Sorry!
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/d-oh-oil-industry-lobbyists-punked-enviro-activist-143714171.html
The oil industry spends millions each year to shape its image and shift the public debate in its favor. But amid growing concern over climate change -- and over the industry's clout in Washington -- it can sometimes find itself losing control of its message pretty quickly.
That's what happened earlier this month, when the American Petroleum Institute (API), a powerful Washington-based lobbying organization for oil and gas companies, put out a call for volunteers to appear in an upcoming commercial about domestic energy production -- and got more than it bargained for. The ad campaign, scheduled to launch January 1 on CNN and coordinated by the high-priced Edelman PR firm, uses ordinary-looking people, dubbed "Energy Citizens," to insert a pro-oil and gas message into the 2012 elections.
But one respondent to the casting call, Connor Gibson, turned out not to be quite what the industry was looking for. Unbeknownst to the organizers, Gibson was an activist with the environmental group Greenpeace, and was surreptitiously recording the proceedings -- recordings that Greenpeace provided exclusively to Yahoo News.
Remember the jobs that offshoring was supposed to create? Well here they are!
Behold the power of Comparative Advantage.
While China is doing manufacturing and India is taking over R&D jobs, American workers are being "freed" to do.....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/new-blue-collar-temp-warehouses_n_1158490.html
The New Blue Collar: Temporary Work, Lasting Poverty And The American Warehouse
JOLIET, Ill., and FONTANA, Calif. -- Like nearly everyone else in Joliet without good job prospects, Uylonda Dickerson eventually found herself at the warehouses looking for work.
"I just needed a job," the 38-year-old single mother says.
Dickerson came to the right place. Over the past decade and a half, Joliet and its Will County environs southwest of Chicago have grown into one of the world's largest inland ports, a major hub for dry goods destined for retail stores throughout the Midwest and beyond. With all the new distribution centers have come thousands of jobs at "logistics" companies -- firms that specialize in moving goods for retailers and manufacturers. Many of these jobs are filled by Joliet's African Americans, like Dickerson, and immigrants from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America.
U.S. Income Inequality Higher Than Roman Empire's Levels: Study
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/19/us-income-inequality-ancient-rome-levels_n_1158926.htmlMany tout the U.S. as the Roman empire of the modern world. But as it turns out, that comparison may not be all good.
Income inequality in America is at levels even higher than those in ancient Rome, according to a recent study from two historians, Walter Schiedel and Steven Friesen, cited by Per Square Mile. After analyzing papyri ledgers, biblical passages and other previous scholarly estimates, the researchers found that the top one percent of earners in Ancient Rome controlled 16 percent of the society's wealth. By comparison, the top one percent of American earners control 40 percent of the country's wealth, according to Vanity Fair. (h/t ThinkProgress)
Film the Po-lice!
What cell phones are good for Livestreaming?
Oh and to prevent Government and ISP/corporate censorship, is there any system in place to livestream to servers in multiple countries at once, so the cops know they have zero chance of censoring anyone who's watching them? What about cell phones that can communicate with each other line-of-sight and peer-to-peer, so that if you're in a "dead zone" you can have multiple people with footage? You know, so if a cop seizes you and your phone, someone else can catch the data on a hidden phone, then relay the footage outside of a dead zone?
I see this combo as a near-perfect way to foil the police when they get out of hand.
Defending the Community Reinvestment Act - the facts.
Here is a good summary on Wikipedia for why the CRA was not the cause of the economic meltdown.
There are plenty of non-wiki citations included in the article to back it up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act#Controversies_and_criticisms
Churches fear to preach against Capitalist greed?
Not trying to bash religion, since I'm religious, but didn't Jesus preach heavily against excessive greed?
(Excerpt included)
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/01/preachers-confront-the-last-taboo-condemning-greed-amid-great-recession/
Though millions of Americans are angry over the economy, little moral outrage seems to be coming from the nation’s pulpit, they say. Too many pastors opt for offering pulpit platitudes because they are afraid parishioners will stop giving money if they hear teachings against greed, said the Rev. Robin R. Meyers, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City.
“Money is the last taboo in church. It’s much easier to talk about sex than money,” said Meyers, who wrote about greed and the other seven deadly sins in his book, “The Virtue in the Vice.”
I've got a question about the jury system
I was asked to choose to hide or allow a post that I saw as offensive. I said hide it.
Then I was asked to choose to hide or allow a RESPONSE post that I saw as being not offensive. I said allow it.
Somehow my decision got recorded as "allow" the offending post.
What'd I do wrong? The decision was 4-2 to hide the post but my vote was one of the "2". Yuck.
BTW thanks for choosing me to serve! (Unlike in real life, I had a choice, lol)
Churches fear to preach against corporate greed... huh?
(Excerpt included)
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/01/preachers-confront-the-last-taboo-condemning-greed-amid-great-recession/
Though millions of Americans are angry over the economy, little moral outrage seems to be coming from the nation’s pulpit, they say. Too many pastors opt for offering pulpit platitudes because they are afraid parishioners will stop giving money if they hear teachings against greed, said the Rev. Robin R. Meyers, senior minister of Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City.
“Money is the last taboo in church. It’s much easier to talk about sex than money,” said Meyers, who wrote about greed and the other seven deadly sins in his book, “The Virtue in the Vice.”
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