Rallying in suppport of Palestinians in Gaza, protestors including Tavia LaFollette of Shadyside, left, and Susanne Slavick of Ross Township, right, cradling sheets wrapped to look like dead children. Bill Wade/Post-Gazette
Oakland protesters rally for Palestinians against Israeli attacks in Gaza
July 19, 2014 – Protesters cradling sheets wrapped to look like dead children rallied in Oakland on Friday to call on the United States to withdraw financial support for Israel over that country‘s military assault in the Gaza Strip.
The group of about 100 protesters waved signs and Palestinian flags, and chanted slogans such as, “Make a choice, Obama, human rights or apartheid!” in front of the University of Pittsburgh’s Hillman Library on Forbes Avenue as evening traffic rushed by, with some cars honking in support. Holding the sheet-wrapped figures — one of which included what looked like the dangling legs and shoes of a young girl — the group then marched along Forbes and Fifth avenues to draw attention to their cause.
“Residents of Gaza have been under siege for such a long time, they‘re barely living to begin with,” said 21-year-old Pitt senior Hadeed Salaameh, a native Palestinian who said she helped organize the protest. “We as humans, we have to speak out, it’s our responsibility, and as Americans have to speak out because our tax dollars are funding this.”
CHICAGO – AFSCME President Lee Saunders today announced that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees nearly doubled the goal set in January 2014 when the union launched its “50,000 Stronger” organizing campaign.
“Today, we are 92,155 members stronger, with new members from EMTs to home care workers, and we will continue our fight for the middle class and the future of this country,” Saunders declared. Delegates to the union’s 41st International Convention who heard his opening day remarks yesterday jumped to their feet and roared their approval, applauding, stomping their feet and clapping for several minutes. “Our opponents want to deplete the labor movement of resources, steal our power and silence our voices,” he said.
The better-than-planned results of the 50,000 Stronger campaign, which was launched at an internal leadership summit in January, were particularly sweet for the union and its members, coming as they do on the heels of Harris v. Quinn, a Supreme Court decision that undermines AFSCME’s ability to represent home and child care workers.
Included in the 90,000-plus new members are more than 20,000 of those home care workers, who were the target of the lawsuit which was funded by the National Right to Work Committee.
“Just two weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court undermined the freedom of home care workers and child care workers. But if anybody thinks we are giving up because things got harder, they are wrong,” Saunders declared.
The union sees its successful organizing campaign as a clear indication that face-to-face organizing is the proper response to what has been an onslaught of attacks on public service workers.
DEP saw an increase in emissions of volatile organic compounds from 2,800 tons in 2011 to 4,000 tons in 2012. Most of that increase came from compressor station engines, as well as from pumps and equipment leaks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that volatile organic compounds “include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects.” Lung-damaging pollution is created by chemical reactions between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, especially during warmer times of the year. “There are some significant emissions, as we expected when we decided to require the emission inventory,” Mr. Rudawski said during a meeting of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee.
Hearing: Compressor station proposed near farms in New Sewickley Twp:
July 23, 2014 – 6:30pm New Sewickley Township Municipal Building 233 Miller Road Rochester, PA 15074
Kretschmann Farm is an organic farm serving many of us in the greater Pittsburgh area. This isn’t just about Kretschmann Farm, this is about ALL of the farms and their ability to continue providing us with produce that is free of frack toxin.
The production of healthy food with the benefit of clean water and air is one of the values of the environment and the most treasured of resources.
THE ISSUE: 7/23/14 conditional use hearing on a Marcellus gas compressor station that would be built adjacent to Kretschmann’s farm – this meeting might be the one where the supervisors grant permission for the plant.
ATTEND: RESIDENTS OF NEW SEWICKLEY TOWNSHIP AND ALL INTERESTED PERSONS:
Hearing on proposed construction of the Pike Compressor Station Facility by Cardinal PA Midstream, LLC on an 11.2 acre gravel pad on Teets Road in New Sewickley Township.
The New Sewickley Township Board of Supervisors will continue the public hearing from Wednesday, July 2, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. at the New Sewickley Township Municipal Building, 233 Miller Road, Rochester, PA 15074 to July 23, 2014 at 6:30 to obtain any additional public comment on the Conditional Use
LETTER FROM THE KRETSCHMANS July 15, 2014
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
I wish I could talk about the what might shape up to be the best early potato crop in years, or how nice the tomatoes look, picture perfect fields of broccoli and cauliflower, or how excited we are to see the winter squash growing beautifully after being planted using our innovative new no-till system.
But unfortunately we are totally preoccupied with stopping a Marcellus gas compressor station from being sited on a property adjoining our farm in the rear. We are shell shocked and beside ourselves after the surprise phone call last Wednesday from a neighbor about a meeting of the township board of supervisors at which they were to decide the issue.
In eight hours we and several other neighbors came up with enough questions for the board to delay decision and continue the hearing on 7/23 at the township building. But we are told it will be an uphill battle. The small group of neighbors calling ourselves the Bulldogs for New Sewickley Health has alerted hundreds of residents, who also knew nothing about these plans.
We don’t like to bother our subscribers with issues outside our farmer to consumer relationship and deny many requests by outside groups to contact you. But this is about the future of your food supply–make no mistake.
Gas compressor station emissions are visible using FLIR camera technology.
It’s about the future of our farm. Thus, we respectfully ask, beg, that you write the board of supervisors voicing your concerns about the safety and integrity of your organic food supply. As citizens of Pennsylvania, we all have “a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic values of the environment.” (Art.27Sec1PA Constitution) The state, and thus the township is the trustee of these common resources to preserve them for all of us.
Surely the production of healthy food with the benefit of clean water and air is one of the values of the environment and the most treasured of resources. We know you are busy-with-life. Please consider taking the time to send a letter to the supervisors insisting they fulfill their duty to protect the safety of your food supply. We are taking this very seriously and have engaged legal talent including the attorney who successfully confronted the free reign of the gas industry all the way to the PA Supreme Court. We need your help now, as the 7/23 conditional use hearing might be the one where the supervisors grant permission for the plant. If you’re a parent, also appeal on behalf of your children who grow nourished by this wholesome food. If you’re a doctor or health professional appeal on the basis of prudent concern for one’s health. Other professionals can lend a hand as appropriate. If you know anyone who could help out in the media, political, business, or legal arenas please let us know. We certainly are not asking for this kind of response based on the basis of NIMBY–not in my backyard. It’s simply that an extra-ordinary number of Pittsburgh area consumers are consuming food from our farm in a raw and unprocessed form. That’s a special case and you have a right to it’s quality.
We will be setting up a more automated a petition line, but you can send petitions to the Board of Supervisors c/o twp manager, New Sewickley Twp. Importantly, CC us in the e-mail, or simply send it to us and we’ll print and forward it. Please be respectful. Don served for many years on this board with the current Chairman. Please put “NST petition” in the subject line so we can make sure it is introduced into the official record. We thank our many subscribers who have supported us for decades by buying our organic produce and thus making us the thriving organic farm which we are.
This has allowed us to laugh at the lease agreements sought by the “land men”. We haven’t and won’t sign. We need your help at this time in this special way. Salient talking points are the potential danger to your organically raised food supply and the farm which produces it. We are confident the public good can prevail if we all step forward together. We will be putting together more information as we get a little ahead of this breaking wave.
Busy as bees, we are sincerely, Don, Becky, & the Farm Crew
The Mall at Robinson on July 24 will unveil new electric car-charging stations powered by solar panels located above the entrance of the mall’s food court.
With the chargers donated by Wesco and Eaton, the new stations are a partnership between the mall’s owner — Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises — Green Roads Energy LLC and Day & Night Solar.
The charging stations are free to use for mall guests.
A kiosk will be installed in the food court within the next week so shoppers can monitor the energy created by the solar panels, according to a release issued by Forest City Enterprises.
The mall also expects to offer loyalty promotions to shoppers who use the chargers, including the chance to earn a $25 gift card for using the station ten times.
The unveiling of the station is scheduled for Thursday, July 24, at 11:30 a.m.
Please join us in welcoming U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders to Philadelphia, PA!
Thursday, July 24, 2014
7:00 PM
1199C/AFSCME Union Hall
1319 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA
Click here for a map.
$25 Suggested Donation
Click here to donate and RSVP
Or, if you prefer to donate at the event, please RSVP by emailing Tina Scanlon at tina@bernie.org
Please join us in thanking Bernie for his outstanding national
leadership standing up to corporate power and right-wing extremism.
Drinks and appetizers will be served, and Bernie will be speaking
about what’s going on in Washington and how we can best
move forward in this challenging political period.
HOW CAN WE CONTINUE THE FIGHT:
for an economy that creates decent paying jobs
for health care for all
to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
to boldly address the crisis of climate change
to end the obscene level of income inequality
We hope to see you in Philadelphia on Thursday, July 24!
July 9, 2014 – Over at the Washington Post, the usually sensible Greg Sargent endorses the notion that divisions among Democrats are “mostly trumped up.” The tension between the Wall Street wing of the party and the Warren (as in Elizabeth) wing is an overblown fiction of a press corps desperate for some action.
It’s true that the prior divisions on social issues have dissipated, as liberals have swept the field. Obama’s halting attempts to wean the U.S. from its foreign wars have garnered widespread support. And on economics, Sargent argues that Democrats “largely agree on the menu of policy responses to the economic problems faced by poor, working and middle class Americans – a higher minimum wage, universal pre-K, higher taxes on the wealthy to fund a stronger safety net, job creation and job training – whatever the broader rhetorical umbrella is being used.” Even Hillary says she agrees with Thomas Piketty that extreme inequality is a “threat” to our democracy.
There are differences on how aggressively to go after the big banks or whether to expand Social Security, Sargent admits, and a debate underway about “whether to push the Democratic Party in a more populist direction,” which he declines to define. But generally, he argues, there’s broad agreement that Hillary or any Democratic candidate will run on.
All of this is true except the conclusion. There is a broad agreement on what might be called a “populist lite” agenda – one that has been put forth repeatedly by Obama and frustrated by Republican obstruction. And the reforms – from the minimum wage to universal pre-K – are important and will make a difference. Continue reading The Emerging Democratic Debate→
The Connecticut State Council of Machinists delegates who voted to support the March represent more than 10,000 active and retired Machinists Union members in Connecticut from industrial sites including Pratt & Whitney, Hamilton Sundstrand, Electric Boat, Stanley Works and other IAM-represented workplaces around the state.
CT State Council President John Harrity said: “Let’s be clear. Climate change is the most important issue facing all of us for the rest of our lives. And as the resolution points out, working families and the poor will bear the brunt the catastrophic consequences we are already beginning to experience.”
Harrity continued, “I am proud of the CSCM delegates, and their clear understanding of how crucial this issue is. I am hoping that hundreds of Connecticut Machinists can make the short trip to New York for this historic event. When our kids, and grandkids, ask ‘What did you do to help stop this disaster?’ which they will surely ask if we do not take drastic steps immediately – Machinists Union activists can say, ‘We helped save the world. We were there on September 21.’”
Here is the text of the Connecticut Machinists’ resolution:
RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF THE PEOPLE’S CLIMATE MARCH
WHEREAS, world leaders are coming to New York City on September 23 for a historic United Nations summit on climate change and Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon will call for governments to agree on an ambitious agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the end of 2015; and
WHEREAS, an unprecedented array of groups representing climate, economic justice, environmental justice, human rights, labor, faith, and the arts are uniting for the People’s Climate March on Sunday, September 21; and
WHEREAS, the rapidly changing climate is impacting union members and working communities in New York as we experienced firsthand with the devastating impacts of Sandy; and
WHEREAS, we recognize that working people will suffer disproportionately from the current patterns of investment and neglect that do not prioritize good jobs, clean air, and healthy communities;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, to endorse the People’s Climate March and support the demand for an ambitious, binding, and fair agreement for emission reductions to foster a sustainable adaptation to the effects of climate change; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, to encourage union members, and also their families and friends, to participate in the march as proud union members and also encourage participation in the other events around the UN Climate Summit on September 23rd movement to address the challenge of climate change.
PASSED UNANIMOUSLY BY CT STATE COUNCIL OF MACHINISTS DELEGATES ON JUNE 21, 2014.
July 2, 2014 – The shocking thing about the financial collapse of 2008 is not that Wall Street excesses pushed us into the worst economy crisis since the Depression. It’s that the same financial system has been propped back up and that elites are getting richer than ever, while the effects of that collapse are continuing to sandbag the rest of the economy. Oh, and most of this aftermath happened while a Democrat was in the White House.
Consider:
The biggest banks are bigger and more concentrated than ever.
Subprime (subprime!) is making a comeback [2] with interest rates of 8 to 13 percent.
Despite Michael Lewis’s devastating expose of how high speed trading is nothing but a technological scam that allows insiders to profit at the expense of small investors, regulators are not moving to abolish it [3].
The usual suspects are declaring the housing crisis over, even though default and foreclosure rates in the hardest hit cities and states are upwards of 25 percent.
The deficit is falling, now just 2.8 percent of GDP [4], thanks to massive cuts in social spending. Isn’t that reassuring?
Meanwhile, back in the real economy, good jobs are far too scarce, incomes are stagnant, while 95 percent of the gains go to the top one percent.
WASHINGTON DC, July 3, 2014 — In Pennsylvania’s gas drilling boom, newer and unconventional wells leak far more often than older and traditional ones, according to a study of state inspection reports for 41,000 wells.
The results suggest that leaks of methane could be a problem for drilling across the nation, said study lead author Cornell University engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who heads an environmental activist group that helped pay for the study.
The research was criticized by the energy industry. Marcellus Shale Coalition spokesman Travis Windle said it reflects Ingraffea’s "clear pattern of playing fast and loose with the facts."
The Marcellus shale formation of plentiful but previously hard-to-extract trapped natural gas stretches over Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.
The study was published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A team of four scientists analyzed more than 75,000 state inspections of gas wells done in Pennsylvania since 2000.
By SETH BORENSTEIN
Beaver County Blue: Voice of the 17th CD of Progressive Democrats of America 