Congress Ignores Nation’s Job Crisis

Some 300,000 teachers face layoffs this coming year. Congress hasn’t even had a vote on legislation that would keep them employed. Teenage employment was at record lows last year — when the stimulus bill funded some summer jobs. It is June, the school year is ending, and a $1.4 billion bill to provide 500,000 jobs for the summer hasn’t gotten a vote. More than 24 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed, and the economy barely produced any private-sector jobs last month. And yet, the bill by California Democrat George Miller to put people to work can’t get a vote in the House.

What is Washington thinking? Losing a job is a human calamity. Families buckle under the pressure. Divorce, spousal abuse, child neglect soar. Homelessness increases along with malnutrition. Crime, drug addiction, depression, rising rates of suicide follow. Skilled workers lose their skills. Our society becomes more unequal, and far more brittle, as middle-class families descend into destitution. Our 10 percent unemployment is a national emergency, not an acceptable condition.

Continue reading Congress Ignores Nation’s Job Crisis →

Shale Gas Well Blowout Raises Specter of New BP: Energy Markets

June 07, 2010, 12:48 PM EDT

June 7 (Bloomberg) — A Pennsylvania natural gas well “blowout” last week helped drive prices to a 14-week high on concern that tighter restrictions on offshore drilling following BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico spill will spread onshore.

The incident on June 3 at the project operated by EOG Resources Inc. shot natural gas and drilling fluids onto the ground and 75 feet (23 meters) into the air, the state Department of Environmental Protection said in a statement on June 4. The well is in the Marcellus Shale gas find in Clearfield County, about 122 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

With offshore exploration curtailed, dependence on shale gas may grow, amplifying the impact of any disruptions. A “blowout” is the industry’s term for a surge of pressurized oil or gas that causes an eruption and is what caused the explosion and fire at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf April 20, resulting in the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.

“The shale problem is a bullish factor in the market,” said Carl Larry, president of Oil Outlooks & Opinions LLC in Houston. “A lot of people are starting to worry about the Gulf production of gas. The more we cut back on Gulf production, the more we rely on shale production.”

Natural gas for July delivery climbed 3.6 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $4.833 per million British thermal units at 12:44 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas rose 11 percent week last week, the biggest gain since the week ended Dec. 18.

Continue reading Clearfield County Shale Gas Blowout →

“GasLand” Movie, June 5

GASLAND is an American documentary film written and directed by Josh Fox. The film focuses on communities in the United States impacted by natural gas drilling and, specifically, a drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing.  ‘Fracking’ is being done in the Pittsburgh area and surrounding counties in the Marcellus shale formation and can cause serious health and environmental problems. 

“GASLAND”

A documentary about the thrills and perils
of Marcellus shale drilling
Saturday, June 5
Show time is 7:00 pm, doors open at 6:00 pm.
Byham Theater
6th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Free to the public

Organized and funded in large part by Clean Water Action, the event is also sponsored by Center for Coalfield Justice, Duquesne University’s Center for Environmental Research and Education and School of Leadership & Professional Advancement, GASP, Penn Environment, University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Healthy Environments and Communities, Sierra Club. and Three Rivers Waterkeeper.

Following the showing will be a Q & A session with Gasland Filmaker Josh Fox and Myron Arnowitt (Clean Water Action), David Levdansky (State Representative), Ned Mulcahy, (Three Rivers Waterkeeper), John Stolz (Center for Environmental Research & Education, Duquesne U.) and Dan Volz (Center for Healthy Environments and Communities, U. Pittsburgh)

When filmmaker Josh Fox discovers that Natural Gas drilling is coming to his area—the Catskillls/Poconos region of Upstate New York and Pennsylvania, he sets off on a 24 state journey to uncover the deep consequences of the United States’ natural gas drilling boom. What he uncovers is truly shocking—water that can be lit on fire right out of the sink, chronically ill residents of drilling areas from disparate locations in the US all with the same mysterious symptoms, huge pools of toxic waste that kill cattle and vegetation well blowouts and huge gas explosions consistently covered up by state and federal regulatory agencies. These are just a few of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND

Wall Street Propaganda: Blame Social Security

Posted By Mike Hall On May 26, 2010 @ 5:04 pm In Economy, Legislation & Politics | 8 Comments

Obama touts Stimulus Payoff

at Ohio Seamless Tube Plant

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

Youngstown Vindicator

President Barack Obama didn’t come to V&M Star with money for economic development in the Mahoning Valley or an offer to provide assistance to help the area’s struggling economy.

But Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams said Obama is helping the Valley.

Just by coming to the area Tuesday to highlight V&M’s $650 million expansion draws national attention to what’s happening here and what the area has to offer to businesses, Williams said.

“There’s this notion that a city like Youngstown is to be written off; our better days are behind us,” he said. “I refuse to believe that.”

Obama, a Democrat, talked about areas like the Valley with long-standing financial struggles collaborating as a region, and receiving state and financial help to progress.

“He talks of communities like Youngstown moving from surviving to thriving,” said Williams, a Democrat. “For years, we’ve been barely surviving. At some point in the future we’ll be out of survival mode. I do believe this community can indeed thrive.”

Continue reading Regional Industry Is Getting Benefits From Obama Manufacturing Stimulus Programs →

4th CD Progressive Democrats of America activists greet Joe Hoeffel, Candidate for PA governor, In Vanport