Edwards: Bush 'At War' With Working Class

[AP]

In a nod to Scranton's history as a coal and manufacturing city, Edwards said a Kerry administration would invest in clean coal technology and in manufacturing of cleaner vehicles. He also played up his working-class roots, saying that his brother is a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and that his mother was a union member.

..

"The people of America deserve a president who will be straight with them about what's happening in Iraq (news - web sites), who will be straight with them and tell them the truth about what's happening with jobs here in America, who will be straight and tell them about the health care crisis that's happening right now, and somebody who has a real plan and real ideas to make it better, not just more of the same," he said.



Employment numbers released Friday showed 96,000 new jobs in September, a drop of more than 20 percent from the August figure and, according to Edwards, "not nearly enough jobs to take care of the new people coming into the work force."


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=2&u=/ap/20041008/ap_on_el_pr/edwards

[phantom power]

1. Investing in coal isn't exactly breaking new ground

I think we should find employment for these people, but can't we employ them to make wind turbines, or new nuclear plants, or something genuinely progressive, that won't force us to shave the top off of every mountain in the appalacians, and spew even more CO2 into the atmosphere?

[AP]

2. The context doesn't make it clear. But it sounds like Edwards is saying...

that if coal is one of the few things that these people have to make them wealthy, then we better seriously invest in clean coal technology. It's hard to judge from the paper's quote ("Edwards said a Kerry administration would invest in clean coal technology and in manufacturing of cleaner vehicles") however, judging from the ideas that are paired, it sounds like Edwards is saying that we're going to grow the economy through innovation in areas that don't result in net social costs (or which minimize the social costs). That would be in keeping with everything else Edwards talks about.

[phantom power]

3. I hope they remember that coal has some pretty hefty social costs

I doubt these people will feel wealthy when all their mountains have been strip-mined, the surrounding streams and valleys filled in with the refuse, and the climate has gone haywire from the CO2 release from burning all their coal.

I envision something vaguely analogous to the CCC, back during the great depression. The government employed these people to build dams, run electricity to the rural areas. It all cost a bunch of money, but it laid down the infrastructure for the next 75 years of growth.

It's time to do it again. And this time, the infrastructure we lay down can be sustainable.

[AP]

5. As I said, it's totally unclear what the context might have been.

But, judging from everything else Edwards does and says, I'm sure he's not saying that he thinks that people should be able to earn short-term profits on coal while pushing the costs into the future and on people who breath the air and enjoy the land.

[DBoon]

6. I've heard strip mining is anti-labor

in that heavy equipment is used, rather than large numbers of highly unionized workers. One of the reasons for the shift to strip mining from sub-sruface mining is to bypass the UMW.

Or so I heard once. No reference of site, though, but makes sense to me.

A more environmentally sensitive coal mining practice could end up employing more union labor.

[LiberalEsto]

8. Clean Coal is bullshit

No matter how much they try to "clean" the coal, burning coal creates carbon dioxide - CO2. We already have too much CO2 in the atmosphere -- it's a major factor in global climate change.

The problem is what to do with this excess CO2.

I happened to do some proofreading at my last job on "clean coal technology."

I am not kidding in telling you that they want to capture and liquify the CO2 from coal-burning, put in on ships, and pump it into the deep ocean. Where they THINK it's going to stay put.

I was so concerned about this I looked up a Greenpeace study which claims this whole concept is BS -- the CO2 is going to come bubbling up at some point and there will be more CO2 in the atmosphere. It's just delaying the inevitable to pump it under the ocean.

[mhr]

9. Peak Oil Means The Coal Will Be Burned One Way Or Another

Better to find a cleaner way to burn it than a traditional method.

[phantom power]

10. too true

One major problem is that people don't think of CO2 as a pollutant. It's certainly good to get rid of the other impurities, since they cause smog, acid rain, and such, but CO2 represents the vast bulk of the output, and it's equally damaging. In the long run maybe more so.

Carbon sequestering schemes also strike me as a fool's errand. Every one of the proposed methods would have enormous environmental impacts, if actually implemented on an industrial scale. Some are predictable, and others probably aren't.

[AP]

11. I can't wait for the day we're using mostly wind, solar and hydro, but...

...until then, coal is ANOTHER form of energy which gives off CO2. If Venezuela can make millions of its oil and we don't complain, why are we trying to stop PA from using their natural resources to make PA'ians and Americans a little dosh.

Furthermore, the day when we stop burning things for fuel is FAR in the future. So, it seems wise to at least think about making coal lest destructive rather than to give up on coal altogether.

[lovuian]

4. Edwards is right...Bush wants slaves

Get them so far in debt and ya own them for the rest of their lives

and give them pennies...While the rich get richer

If Americans don't see this man is only out for the rich and has no compassion well they must be nuts

[Disturbed]

7. Neo Fascist War On the Working Class.

Bush and the Neo Fascists envision Global Domination. The workers of America will be be The Working Poor.

Here is the agenda.


Abolish

Social Security
Medicare
Employer supplied health insurance
Unemployment Benefits
Welfare
Abortion Rights
Collective Bargaining
EPA
Public Education
Public Housing

[Amigust]

12. Bill Moyers gave an excellent speech on the subject

http://www.inequality.org/conferencematerials.html

in which he calls it class warfare waged from the corporation board rooms.

[oscar111]

13. 'at war'.. is it in Edwards' words like that?

i dont have time for long articles.

pls help

[AP]

14. The article is very short.