Clean coal technology

I've always found this public service announcement humorous but unfortunately coal pollution is not.

Several well-publicized epidemiology studies conducted over the past 10 years have suggested that sulfate particles were positively correlated with adverse health effects such as respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer.

AES is proposing the creation of a new "clean coal" power plant in Panama, Oklahoma.

But residents living near the plant say there are already too many health hazards with just the one plant.

"You can even see the dust flake off, that's coal dust," says Greg Baxter, Panama resident. [ in the video you see Baxter rub off a layer of dust from his house ]

Baxter says he already has lung problems.

"I think it's bad for the environment. I mean, our animals have to breathe it, we have to breathe it, we know it's getting in our lungs. If it's settling on our houses, it's settling in our lungs the same way," says Baxter.

"We are an image of the future"

Different perspectives on the left and right have analyzed the events in Greece last December with differing conclusions. Despite these various attempts to break-down the events, I think the protesters did something grand. Rather than merely posit demands, the posited their own existence with the elegant phrase "We are an image of the future".

What does this mean?

French strike nationwide over economic crisis
PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of French workers staged a nationwide strike on Thursday to try to force President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more to protect jobs and wages during the economic crisis.

Public transport was snarled in many cities, scores of flights were cancelled, and schools, banks, hospitals, the post office, law courts and state broadcasters were also expected to be hit by the protest.

The strike aims to highlight fears of growing unemployment, discontent over Sarkozy's reluctance to help consumers and resentment towards bankers blamed for the economic slump.

"We need to sound a cry of anger," said Francois Chereque, head of the moderate CFDT union.

Shenanigans

In Perspective: SEIU, EFCA, UE & Blagojevich

Here I am, laying on my couch, but about thirty minutes ago I was watching the local news. I was happy to see that my home team had defeated Austin in a game of b-ball. Then there was the commercial break. Now for some time, CNN has been airing commercials for the business-interests, anti-union 'Americans for Job Security'. However, I was kind of startled to see that an AJS ad was broadcasting on my local news station seeing as my home state is a "right-to-work" state. This particular ad was attacking the the Employee Free Choice Act by association. Because EFCA is sponsored by SEIU, and that funny-named crony Blagojevich supported the SEIU.

Earlier someone pointed out that prosecutors have been developing a case against Blagojevich for some time now. However, the indictment wasn't made public until the day after Blagojevich ordered state agencies to stop doing business with Bank of America in order to push them into extending a line of credit to the striking UE workers at Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors. Some have speculated that a conservative compact in Chicago has prolonged the indictment of Blagojevich in order to advance the conservative cause célèbre, "piercing the heart of organized labor".

For me, such a position has the air of a conspiracy theory. But conservatives are certainly seizing on the idea ex post facto. Blagojevich is new conservative boogey-man to frighten working people into combating their own interests. However, progressive organizers realize that working people are not dumb. Working people are fully capable of exercising their political power to advance their own interests. However, that is contingent upon the organizing capabilities of union activists. Sometimes a 'however' is the most disheartening word an individual can utter.

In Perspective : The Auto Industry Bailout

"They thought perhaps they could have a twofer here maybe: Pierce the heart of organized labor while representing the foreign brands," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a Friday morning news conference in Detroit.

The U.S. auto industry is solely to blame for its problems, and any government aid package must have strings attached.

As someone who worked for two of the Big Three automakers, I witnessed firsthand the problems in the industry: large, inefficient bureaucracies that kill good ideas, a crippling, top-down, military-style chain of command and a system that churns out bland, uninspiring products.

In the 1970s, the Big Three were manufacturing their gas guzzlers when the United States was hit by the oil crisis. Unprepared for change, they were served up as lunch by their Japanese and European competitors, which offered smaller, attractive, fuel-efficient cars.

Earlier sticking points involving oversight, emission standards and the source of the rescue money had all been resolved rather quietly. The deal killer came when Republicans demanded — and Democrats rejected — that members of the United Automobile Workers take a big pay and benefits cut next year.

The Republicans’ insistence on union concessions is part of a larger GOP effort to diminish the role of organized labor across the nation, according to many labor experts, union leaders and Democrats. With Democratic congressional leaders vowing next year to take up contentious legislation to expand workers’ rights, Republicans are using the highly partisan battle over the UAW as a warm-up.

“After three weeks of hemming and hawing, it really became clear that this argument was about labor,” said Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes, a Detroit-based labor-advocacy group. “It’s a fight about whether labor unions are a legitimate institution in the 21st century. … The mask fell off [last week].”