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Urging an excellent Dem congresswoman to act on global climate change

    Here in NY-20 we have had the great good fortunate to see one of Bush's sleaziest enablers in congress, John Sweeney, replaced by an enthusiastic and very capable young congresswoman, Kirsten...

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Imagining Al Gore for Vice President

  If we really only have ten years or less to reverse or even slow global warming, our favorite Democrat (Hillary, Obama, Edwards, Biden, Dodd, Kucinich...) really ought to be able to park his or her...

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How about getting rid of presidential primaries altogether?

What’s so great about the presidential primary system?            It allows the media to turn the entire political process into a maniacal ego-driven race among individuals.    It forces presidential...

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RFK Jr. calls for a masterstroke for Obama on energy

In the May issue of Vanity Fair, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has written an article that is must reading. He entitles it "The Next President’s First Task." And he is absolutely on target and explains very...

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Calling for a 2nd masterstroke on energy by Obama

Although it was on the recommended list July 6-7 and elicited many helpful responses, one of the weaknesses in my diary "RFK jr. Calls for a Masterstroke on Energy by Obama" is that transportation,...

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Obama & a new national electric grid

During his interview with Rachel Maddow on October 30, Obama signaled that he will make a new national power grid a top priority.Although I am no expert, I wrote a diary back in July on this kind of...

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John Walker Lindh, Benedict Arnold and the Wise Use of Traitors

In 2001 John Walker Lindh was captured by American forces in Afghanistan. Despite the fact that this young American so successfully convinced the Taliban of his loyalty thathe met Osama bin Laden, the...

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Why an old battlefield matters

Last week the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation issued a press release  detailing which state parks and historic sites would be closed in response to what Governor...

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Earth Day at one small toxic dump

With media attention naturally focused on the huge issues, it is easy to miss the extent to which the Obama administration has changed the function of government in positive directions. On a day like...

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Obama's Race to the Top: Educational Inequity and Union-Busting, All in One...

If you are in New York,  California, Minnesota or any number of other states, you have been bombarded in recent months by a well-funded campaign against teachers’ unions, all in the name of grabbing a...

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Parallels between the Afghan and Korean Wars

Although Pakistan has re-opened its border, nearly a hundred NATO supply trucks have been destroyed.The incredible vulnerability of our overextended Afghan supply lines demonstrated by these attacks...

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What the container ships say

Last week I was watching a container ship being unloaded when I realized that this common sight in our ports is a vivid illustration of why the American economy and standard of living will continue to...

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Obama's DHS acts to extend Arizona-style anti-immigrant policy nationwide

In the midst of the Fall election season and its aftermath, the Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security is quietly moving to extend a version of the  infamous Arizona SB-1070...

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When the socialists and anarchists came to town in 1912

Redco strikers at Hansen Island bridge in 2007On November 1, 2007 fifty-one workers at the Redco plant in  my old hometown of  Little Falls, New York went on strike in response to a company decision...

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How the inventor of Social Security was destroyed by his fellow capitalists

Dolge is still honored in the village he founded     For thirty years Republicans have claimed that cutting taxes on the wealthy will benefit working people.  The rich, we have been told, will invest...

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Buddhists with a Billion Dollars and Faith Healing in the Rust Belt

     One of many abandoned factories in Amsterdam, NY     Last summer a self-described Buddhist group from China, calling itself the World Peace and Health Organization, promised to invest a billion...

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Standing on Indian Hill

Cross-Published with more illustrations and details at Upstate EarthLast week I stood on a densely wooded hilltop and looked down a steep cliff to a creek swollen with Spring rains.  I was only four...

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Harmen van den Bogart & the price he paid for same sex love in old New...

illustration from George O'Connor's Journey into Mohawk CountryNew Netherlands, during the six decades of its existence in the 17th century, was generally more tolerant than the neighboring  English...

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Simone Weil and the Primacy of Attention

The film,"Encounter with Simone Weil," won the special Founders Prize Monday at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival earlier this week, a long overdue recognition of the French philosopher whom...

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The Socialist Mayor of Schenectady

       A hundred years ago Democrats and Republicans were united in their hatred for socialism. Unlike today, however, socialism was not simply a mythical bogeyman. There was a real Socialist Party. It...

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