There's more problems with coal than simply making it 'clean'

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a good, yet heartbreaking editorial in The Washington Post on the continuing irresponsible exploitation of a national treasure. I hope that President Obama is reading the papers thoroughly this morning.

Here's a snip:

The coal industry's promise to restore the desolate wastelands is a cruel joke, and the industry's fallback position, that the flattened landscapes will provide space for economic development, is the weak punchline. America adores its Adirondacks and reveres the Rockies, while the Appalachian Mountains -- with their impoverished and alienated population -- are dismantled by coal moguls who dominate state politics and have little to prevent them from blasting the physical landscape to smithereens.

Obama Campaign: Road Blog: Joe Biden in Charleston, West Virginia

By Obama Road Blog - Oct 24th, 2008 at 4:17 pm EDT

"Appalacia cannot afford to go with McCain, it must go with Obama." – Joe Biden

At the outdoor Change We Need Rally in Charleston, West Virginia this morning, 3000 people congregated on Capitol Street to hear Governor Manchin, Senator Byrd, and Senator Rockefeller introduce Joe Biden. It was an introduction wrought with feeling, as Senator Byrd spoke about Barack and Joe with a political elegance derived from another era.

Joe’s central message was that the Obama-Biden ticket believes that clean coal is part of America’s energy future, and part of their plan to invest in a new energy economy for the country. He noted that China is building one coal-fired plant a week, which is a danger to the environment. He implored the audience:

Instead of pouring our energy dollars into the sands of Saudia Rabia and the pockets of Venezuela, we should be exporting home-made technology, solving not only our energy problems and challenges, but helping the world solve the rest of them. We should become the engine of change.

Please enjoy a video from Joe’s speech in Charleston.

Sharon Barnes
October 24, 2008
En route to Greensborough, North Carolina

Early Voting 'Glitches'? in West Virginia with Touch Screen Technology

We all know there are going to be some problems with glitches, especially with new technology, but this sounds pretty suspisious. I hope the Obama Campaign is engaged and on top of this. PD

Some early W.Va. voters angry over switched votes

Edited on Sat Oct-18-08 10:01 AM by faygokid Source: The Charleston Gazette October 18, 2008 - At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win. Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates. "When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna. When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge "responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail." Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted. . . Read more: http://www.wvgazette.com/News/20081017067

for source - click here