Our atomic dominoes are falling

Two more atomic dominoes have hit the deck.

At least a half-dozen more teeter on the brink, which would take the US reactor count under 100.

But can we bury them before the next Fukushima erupts?

And will we still laugh when Fox "News" says there's more sun in Germany than California?   

Wisconsin's fully licensed Kewaunee reactor will now shut because it can't compete in the marketplace.

Florida's Crystal River will die because its owners poked holes in the containment during a botched repair job.

UBS and other financial experts say Entergy is bleeding cash at Vermont Yankee.  After blacking out the SuperBowl, Entergy has no problem stiffing a state that has sued to shut its only reactor.

But in the face being crushed by renewables and gas, the money men may finally pull the plug.

The same could happen to New York's Fitzpatrick and Ginna reactors, as well as the two at Indian Point, which need water permits and more from an increasingly hostile state.  New Jersey's Oyster Creek, slammed by Hurricane Sandy, and Nebraska's Ft. Calhoun, recently flooded, are also on the brink.

48 leaders arrested in historic act of civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline

This morning, 48 environmental, civil rights and community leaders from across the country joined together for a historic display of civil disobedience at the White House where they demanded that President Obama deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and address the climate crisis.

This morning, 48 environmental, civil rights and community leaders from across the country joined together for a historic display of civil disobedience at the White House where they demanded that President Obama deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and address the climate crisis.

Among the notable leaders involved in the civil disobedience were Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org; Julian Bond, former president of the NAACP; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance; Danny Kennedy, CEO of Sungevity, and Daryl Hannah, actress.

After blocking a main thoroughfare in front of the White House, and refusing to move when asked by police, the activists were arrested and transported to Anacostia for processing by the U.S. Park Police Department.

What Obama Said -- and What He Meant -- About Climate Change, War and Civil Liberties

The words in President Obama’s “State of the Union” speech were often lofty, spinning through the air with the greatest of ease and emitting dog whistles as they flew.

Let’s decode the president’s smooth oratory in the realms of climate change, war and civil liberties.

“For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change.”

We’ve done so little to combat climate change -- we must do more.

“I urge this Congress to get together, pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change…”

Climate change is an issue that can be very good for Wall Street. Folks who got the hang of “derivatives” and “credit default swaps” can learn how to handle “cap and trade.” The corporate environmental groups are on board, and maybe we can offer enough goodies to big corporations to make it worth their while to bring enough of Congress along.

“The natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that.”

NO Right to Work talk with AFL-CIO

All friends of labor, friends of the FREE PRESS & all progressives to come & have a good time, a good discussion with old & new friends.

Jessica Walters (AFL-CIO) will give a brief talk on the so-called ‘right to work’ (actually---‘NO rights at work’) bill the GOP has proposed here, & what we can all do to stop it.

PLEASE come by PAT’s on Thursday, 2/21, 5 PM & add a good time to your schedule!

SPONSORED by----‘LABOR CREATES ALL WEALTH’ Radio program

Patrick J’s, 2711 N High St, Columbus----one block north of Hudson

Neither Snow, Nor Rain

Broken democracy

Before you get overly excited about last week's Pew Charitable Trust study that indicated Ohio ranked 29th out of the 50 states in the quality of election administration, note that the data is from the years 2008 and 2010. The Columbus Dispatch put the story on the top of page A5 on February 7 with an accurate headline: "Flaws in U.S. elections widespread, Pew study shows." Readers should remember that Ohio's elections were administered by a reform-minded secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner, in those years, not by the notorious Republican secretaries of state J. Kenneth Blackwell and Jon Husted. Both made practices out of disenfranchising young, elderly, poor and minority voters.

The Pew study used 15 criteria including unrecorded votes, waiting time, and uncounted absentee and provisional ballots.

Christian Kachin guerrillas are crippled in Myanmar

BANGKOK, Thailand -- In Myanmar, the regime's helicopter gunships, mortars and other weapons are successfully crippling a 52-year-long struggle for autonomy waged by mostly Christian, ethnic minority Kachin guerrillas along the northernmost border with China.

America befriended the Kachin (pronounced: "kuh-CHIN") during World War II when the tough, jungle-savvy men helped U.S. troops infiltrate and survive after Japan invaded and occupied mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country -- which was then known as Burma.

"In the Second World War, we the Kachin fought alongside the U.S. with the 101st [Airborne Division in the U.S. Army] against the Japanese...we want them to be with us in our time of need, when we are in struggle," said Kachin Youth Development Organization activist Hsai Zin on Friday (January 25) during a rally at the American Consulate in Thailand's northern Chiang Mai city.

During the past few days, Myanmar's superior forces steadily advanced against the Kachin rebels after fighting began at the end of December.

Constitutional amendment introduced in Congress ensuring rights for people, not corporations: Reps. Nolan & Pocan respond to hundreds of local resolutions calling for We the People Amendment

(Washington D.C.) - The movement for constitutional reforms that would end what organizers call “corporate rule” has arrived in the chambers of Congress. This morning, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined Move to Amend by announcing their sponsorship of the We the People Amendment, which clearly and unequivocally states that:
1. Rights recognized under the Constitution belong to human beings only, and not to government-created artificial legal entities such as corporations and limited liability companies; and

2. Political campaign spending is not a form of speech protected under the First Amendment.

In making the announcement, lead sponsor Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL-Minnesota), said: It’s time to take the shaping and molding of public policy out of corporate boardrooms, away from the corporate lobbyists, and put it back in city halls back with county boards and state legislatures and back in the Congress where it belongs.

Super Max prisoner represents himself in court while on hunger strike and wins

Friday, February 8th, Mahoning County, OH-The jury largely sided with hunger striking super max prisoner Cornelius Harris in his criminal trial this week. Harris was facing nine felony charges stemming from fights with guards at The Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP). Harris has long maintained that these fights were actually initiated by guards who have targeted him for harassment and abuse. Earlier this week, a jury found largely in Mr Harris' favor.

Mr Harris initiated his hunger strike on January fourth, and went to trial later in the month. He represented himself, and part way through the trial he was transferred to Franklin Medical Center (FMC) because of his deteriorating health due to the hunger strike. Mr Harris says he has lost about fifty pounds, and is experiencing sharp pains in his legs. Doctors report that he is close to suffering serious medical problems like organ failure because he has refused food for so long.

U.S. to become a second-rate power!

Cue sound of emergency alarms. Insert graphics for panic, terror, devastation and collapse here ______.)
Yes, believe it, friends. That is exactly what Outgoing Secretary of War Panetta said in a Feb. 1 exit interview with USA Today, when asked what effects looming cuts will have on the War Department if Congress fails to reach a budget deal by March 1.

Red-blooded Senate and House members eager to protect the military from even a rumor of a budget cut will certainly welcome Panetta’s words. Whether it will result in the U.S. becoming a “second-rate power” is a little less certain, considering we now spend as much for war as the rest of the world put together, with perhaps the exception of Upper Volta and the Cayman Islands.

To put the Secretary’s America-as-second-rate-power fears in perspective, the dreaded “sequestering” of the budget means the Pentagon will have to cut 8 to 9 percent out of this year’s $535 billion dollar budget.

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