These poll results, just released today, explain why I will vote and I will vote ANYTHING BUT REPUBLICAN - followed by ANYTHING BUT CONSERVATIVE - followed by ANYTHING BUT 65+ OLD FART... those groups of people are found by most recent Gallop polling to be most likely to be flat-Earther anti-science tools of industry and are not welcome as leaders of my society.

Those I will seek out to vote for will be, in the following order, LIBERALS, THOSE 18-49, from the WEST, DEMOCRATIC and INDEPENDENT, as they poll as most real about public health, liberty, economics and freedom... which is what the issue of legalization of marijuana and hemp is all about.

How I shall ultimately cast my most important ballot is with my feet, choosing to move where I find people most like myself, being liberal, Independent, young (at heart) and West... until Ohio shakes its old-fart conservative Flat Earther failure and gets real.

I just received an after-the-fact announcement from President Obama's U.S. Department of Energy that Obama Administration Hosts Great Lakes Offshore Wind Workshop in Chicago with Great Lakes Wind Collaborative, reporting on "a workshop with the Great Lakes Wind Collaborative in Chicago on October 26 – 27, 2010, focused on the siting of offshore wind power in the Great Lakes. The two day workshop brought together wind developers, Federal and state regulators, environmental advocates, and other regional stakeholders to discuss methods for ensuring greater clarity, certainty and coordination of Federal and state decision-making for offshore wind development in the Great Lakes."

Yet, on September 14, 2010, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Bechtel among developers selected for building a Lake Erie wind farm off Cleveland's coast, stating:

The company that built Hoover Dam, the tunnel under the English Channel and 23,000 other gargantuan projects around the world is going to build the first wind turbines in Lake Erie. Bechtel Development Co. of San Francisco is one of three companies chosen to construct and own the five-turbine demonstration project about 7 miles off shore at an estimated cost of $100 million.

Small by wind farm standards, the five-turbine cluster has been proposed as the precursor to erecting thousands of turbines in the lake -- and jump-starting an entire industry in Northeast Ohio.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, who has chaired the Great Lakes Energy Development Task Force for more than four years, agreed that the idea has always been jobs, not electricity, at least not at this point.

As October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, citizens of Ohio should reflect upon the words of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and his official state policy on Medical Marijuana - “The governor feels that the predominant opinion of the medical community is that there are existing medicines available that provide appropriate patient care“... “So based on that opinion and the current research, he feels this type of legislation doesn’t seem necessary or warranted“ - and realize he is DEAD wrong - "the latest research is proving that cannabinoids, as part of this bodily system, play a mitigating role in breast cancer." That is consistent with historical findings that cannabinoids may have cancer-fighting qualities:

What begs discussion on the occasion of California’s historic vote, which the whole world is watching, is that cannabis has been shown in hundreds of laboratory studies over the past ten years not only to be physiologically harmless, but also to be the most potent anti-cancer agent found in nature. No other natural substance holds the cancer-stopping power of cannabis and that's a proven fact.

In addition, cannabinoids, the active ingredients in marijuana, shrink and prevent the spread of tumors far more effectively than synthetic chemotherapy agents, for the simple reason that they destroy cancer cells without damaging healthy cells, a feat that widely prescribed chemotherapy cocktails can't duplicate.

Dear Reader,

Since you have been reading AlterNet, you know that we feel very strongly about the destructive effects of the drug war. In the case of marijuana, our laws are clearly doing more harm than good.  

For a substance with many beneficial qualities and very little negative effects, tens of thousands of lives are undermined and enormous amounts of money is wasted. Somewhere around 750,000 arrests are make each year for possession of small amounts of marijuana, which seems absurd.

This week, I was thrilled to receive the following forward-thinking message from Nachy Kanfer, Campaign Representative, Midwest States, Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign:

Hi Norm, I think we should take down Cleveland Thermal. Thoughts?

Cleveland Thermal is a major private out-of-state-investor-owned downtown Cleveland and regional air polluter that burns 10,000s tons of coal each year... emits 1,000s of tons of pollution on Clevelanders and the surrounding world each year... to benefit only large real estate investors and corporate, institutional and government customers - much like the private, out-of-license "district" coal-burning Medical Center Company (MCCO) plant polluting the community excessively a few miles away, in University Circle.

Monday, I watched the sun rise over the New Mexico desert to "Just Another Day"... from Another Day on Earth... the glorious new Brian Eno album... perfect for exploring new frontiers...

We'll say, that was just another time,
One day, we will put it all behind,
We'll say, that was just another day on Earth

I've learned first-hand how people become environmentalists. They realize they are being polluted, get mad as hell, and do something about it... NIMBY... Not In My Back Yard!

Learning the harm of lead poisoning in my back yard made me an environmentalist against lead poisoning in my community and worldwide.

Learning the harm of pollution from the Arcelor/Mittal Cleveland Works steel mills in my back yard made me an environmentalist against steel production pollution in my community and worldwide.

Learning the harm of pollution from Medical Center Company coal burning in my back yard made me an environmentalist against coal burning in my community and worldwide.

Which has me exploring how big is my back yard... how big is my community?

On July 4, 2006, I posted Independence of the day: May the people of NEO find freedom from "Cleveland Works" - a big picture analysis of the $ multi-billion harm caused in Northeast Ohio each year as a result of the Mittal Cleveland Works steel plant being here, and I concluded: "I propose we start working as an activist community to eliminate Mittal and Cleveland Works and all polluters large and small from our region"... leading to "When I met with my counsel about legalizing cannabis in Ohio, I explained I never bring up a problem without a solution".

It is safe to say that my 2006 posting against Mittal pollution of Northeast Ohio was my first shot in a one-website war against all excessive and unreasonable polluters in Northeast Ohio - a war that has made me about as popular here as was Patton with the Nazis.

Clevelanders are victims of uncaring totalitarian dictators who are gassing our families with toxins that are unsafe for us and our community - they are disfiguring the data that would warn citizens of this harm - they use mainstream media to propagandize for polluters - they attempt to increase the pollution for industrialists' financial gains, at great public cost - they make us sick and weak with toxins that shorten our lives - they make this an undesirable place to raise a family, and for our children to raise families - THEY must be stopped.

In honor of the Reclaiming Vacant Properties conference in Cleveland this week, I thought I would share some real reflections on why so much property is vacant in Cleveland - lead poisoning... which impacted the whole world but has caused especially pronounced harm in Northeast Ohio, continuing today.

Comparison of relative temporal changes in lead concentration in tooth enamel and lake sediments, and relative changes in the total amount of lead additives to gasoline. Maximum absolute values and symbols are:  4.94 μg/g (teeth, smoothed data, uninterrupted line), 72.7 ppm (“new core Lake Erie sediment, triangles), 41.1 ppm  (Graney et al., 1995 Lake Erie sediment, open circles), and 253,000 mt of lead additives to gasoline produced in the US, closed circles (see Methods).

While I don't recall it being reported in Cleveland before, Thaindian News, of Bangkok, Thailand, reported, on June 16, 2010, Leaded gasoline chief culprit for 20th century neurological defects, which raises significant concerns about lead poisoning issues in Cleveland, Ohio, and America-wide, finding “It raises the question, has leaded gasoline had a lasting effect on many present-day Cleveland adults?” From Thaindian.com:

Leaded gasoline is to be blamed for nearly two-thirds of toxic lead ingested or inhaled by African-American children in Cleveland during the latter two-thirds of the 20th century, says a new study.

According to researchers from Case Western Reserve University, their findings probably apply to many cities across the US and reinforce concerns about the health threat for children in countries still using leaded gasoline.

However, they emphasize that the results do not minimize the ongoing importance of current childhood lead exposure due to persistence and deterioration of leaded paint which was used as late as the 1960’s.

There is an insightful article in the September 13, 2010, Wall Street Journal - Turning Away From Coal - which points out "Power companies are increasingly switching to natural gas to fuel their electricity plants, driven by low prices and forecasts of vast supplies for years to come. While the trend started in the late 1990s, the momentum is accelerating and comes at the expense of coal. Some utilities are closing coal-fired plants; others are converting them to run on gas." Futher, "The switch is occurring globally and is getting a push from regulators who want to limit emissions that contribute to climate change, haze and health problems such as respiratory illness."

This is excellent news for citizens of Northeast Ohio, who are victims of pollution from burning coal in many local and upwind coal powerplants that cause serious health consequences here - one in particular that citizens are fighting now is operated by the Medical Center Company, in the heart of University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio. Regarding such small coal-fired powerplants, The Journal reports: "Most big coal-burning utilities have invested billions of dollars to install pollution-control equipment on their largest coal-fired plants. But they are replacing or idling smaller coal plants for which such expenditures can't be justified."

Cannabis Convention - Denver, CO April 02, 2010 from Cannabis Commerce on Vimeo.

Pro-pot, progressive-minded voters of NEO, are you envious of the tremendous legalization inroads made in pioneering states like Colorado? The ones Norm Roulet described on realNEO here and here? Well, with the benefit of a couple years worth of hindsight, you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to actually improve upon legalization models developed by California and Colorado.

That’s right – disparaged, denigrated, and despoiled, Cleveland and NEO have a unique opportunity to shock the nation, transforming urban blight to urban bliss via cannabis commerce as Norm envisions with here and here.

But that can only happen if NEO pot proponents get it right from the start. I urge you to.

And I’m here to tell you exactly how you can.

In September 2009 I observed about Chicago... from The Reader: "Under Daley the city has embarked on aggressive tree planting, installed a green roof atop City Hall, and mapped out an ambitious plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions—but failed to ensure basic recycling services, force dirty power plants to clean up, or confront the city's traffic and transit problems... it did nothing to force the coal-fired power plants on the southwest side to cut emissions."

Citizen activism appears to have improved in Chicago, since then... citizens have become environmentalists, refusing to allow government to sustain dirty coal pollution and bad public health there.

That coal pollution has gone unchecked in Chicago, and will have broadly expanded in Illinois under Obama leadership in Illinois and the White House, may well put a nail in the coffin of Barack Obama's presidential aspirations for 2012... and this issue should keep Obama's right-hand-man Emanuel from succeeding in his pursuit to rule over the millions of poisoned citizens of Chicago, as mayor... and should stand in the way of Obama lifting Alexi Giannoulias into Obama's former Senate seat in Illinois, in November.

As the Obama administration continues the Bush doctrine to deny government responsibility to protect citizens from pollution.... Jeff Biggars asks, on AlterNet: "Will Rahm Emanuel and Other Chicago Mayoral Candidates Join the Clean Energy Race?"

As I recently wrote on realNEO, regarding legalizing medical marijuana in Ohio, Governor Ted Strickland “feels that the predominant opinion of the medical community is that there are existing medicines available that provide appropriate patient care. So based on that opinion and the current research, he feels this type of legislation doesn’t seem necessary or warranted.“

Yet "tens of thousands of sick people throughout California find relief from scores of ailments by using cannabis because this plant has so many healing qualities", according to Raymond Cushing's posting on Alternet - Prop. 19 Offers Major Potential for Some Cancer Patients.

So who is right... citizen-oriented AlterNet or our Governor, now seeking reelection.

On AlterNet we learn:

What begs discussion on the occasion of California’s historic vote, which the whole world is watching, is that cannabis has been shown in hundreds of laboratory studies over the past ten years not only to be physiologically harmless, but also to be the most potent anti-cancer agent found in nature. No other natural substance holds the cancer-stopping power of cannabis and that's a proven fact.

Legal Medical Marijuana from Broadway Wellness Medical Marijuana dispensary in South Denver, Colorado

How is it conceivable, in America today, that a seriously ill patient in Boulder, Colorado, may grow, purchase and have a medicine cabinet full of state-licensed medical marijuana (MMJ), while a similarly-ill patient in Cleveland may be imprisoned for pursuing the same medical treatment?

How, in the free-wheeling capitalist US of A, could some states and communities encourage free men and women to be MMJ-millionaires and patients, while MMJ-entrepreneurs and adherents in other markets are arrested... nearly 1 million of them a year.

Why would anyone choose to live in a state of Cannabis denial?

Coldest winter in 1,000 years on its way

What does climate change look like? The people of Boulder know only too well, having just dodged Colorado's worst wildfire ever - the Fourmile Canyon Wildfire.

The people of Fourmile Canyon - especially those who lost nearly 200 homes - are now climate change experts, as their sun-drenched, parched, droughted Rocky Mountain paradise went up in flames that rode hot dry winds across over four square miles of pristine forests, for days... just a few weeks ago.

Figure 1. Seasonal-mean temperature anomalies relative to 1951-1980 mean for the
most recent two summers and winters.

Climate Progress has a link today to an excellent report by NASA's top climatologist, Dr. James Hansen - “How Warm Was This Summer?” (copied below), which confirms that 2010 is equal to the hottest year on record, resulting in more extreme natural disasters worldwide this year, and forecasts worse impacts of climate change several years into the future, predicting "it is likely that 2012 will reach a record high global temperature." Meaning:

Given the association of extreme weather and climate events with rising global temperature, the expectation of new record high temperatures in 2012 also suggests that the frequency and magnitude of extreme events could reach a high level in 2012. Extreme events include not only high temperatures, but also indirect effects of a warming atmosphere including the impact of higher temperature on extreme rainfall and droughts. The greater water vapor content of a warmer atmosphere allows larger rainfall anomalies and provides the fuel for stronger storms driven by latent heat.

Matthew Harris works with a white widow marijuana plant at Marjyn Investments LLC in Oakland, Calif.
He is among 40 workers who joined the Teamsters this month. (Associated Press)

In states where medical marijuana is legal, there are a wide range of jobs created in diverse industries, including healthcare, food preparation, pharmaceutical research and development, retail, and agriculture.  In Ontario, Canada, there are over 100,000 jobs associated with marijuana cultivation alone - and most of the marijuana grown there is exported illegally to America.

A 2010 Pew poll found approximately 40% of Americans have tried Marijuana, about the same number believe marijuana should be legalized outright, and 73% of Americans - over 7 in 10 - believe medicinal marijuana should be legalized. Those polling numbers say the writing is on the wall - marijuana is becoming mainstream industry in America, as Americans get their way nationwide! Where marijuana is legal, it is a high-growth economic engine churning activity in many clusters.

scheme
   [skeem] noun, verb, schemed, schem·ing.
–noun
1. a plan, design, or program of action to be followed; project.
2. an underhand plot; intrigue.
3. a visionary or impractical project.
4. a body or system of related doctrines, theories, etc.: a scheme of philosophy.
5. any system of correlated things, parts, etc., or the manner of its arrangement.
6. a plan, program, or policy officially adopted and followed, as by a government or business: The company's pension scheme is very successful.
7. an analytical or tabular statement.
8. a diagram, map, or the like.
9. an astrological diagram of the heavens.
–verb (used with object)
10. to devise as a scheme; plan; plot; contrive.
–verb (used without object)
11. to lay schemes; devise plans; plot.

I've sadly watched the better part of an important historic block, in an important historic neighborhood, fronting an important historic park, be demolished and cleared without so much as a peep of concern from anyone in NEO, other than on REALNEO. Are we really so disengaged, or are we just so dumbfounded by the rapid succession of bad plans coming from NEO leadership that we can't keep up and focus. The block I question, today's header above (full size image here), was a wonderful grouping of interesting mixed use urban landmarks, complimenting the astounding Rockefeller Park to the west, University Circle to the south, and the surrounding Wade Park neighborhood, now a massive demolition zone that looks suspiciously like a surface parking lot. In a few short weeks, "they" have done immeasurable damage, and that is exactly how leaders in this region operate... quietly destroying what they may and explaining what they must as they must, largely through their Plain Dealer. Already, I doubt there are many people who remember the buildings just demolished here, or the many mature Rockefeller Park oak trees ripped from their roots in the haste of greed (did they have a right and permit to do that)... see the earlier demolition picture here to see the beautiful setting before this eco-disaster. Seeing the trees gone made me wonder what evil "they" lurks behind this tragedy, and of course learned this is another Carney Port Authority bond deal, this time to be repaid at the expense of Cleveland taxpayers, to enrich a new character on the "developer" scene... Michael Forlani... CEO of Doan Pyramid Electric, of Bedford Heights, Ohio, and a major Republican contributor, who has formed a new company, Veterans Development, LLC, to process $ millions in federal and Cleveland taxpayer contributions to his bottom line, this time routed through the Federal Veterans Administration. This deal is an extreme example of what is wrong in Northeast Ohio and America today.

Greenversations, the official blog of the EPA, has some excellent postings and is worth following - I subscribe to that and all the EPA email updates as they are excellent - dozens a week. Today, Greenversations highlights The Pollution Prevention Act Turns 20, suggesting "If companies, communities and consumers make a concerted effort at eliminating wastes at the source, then perhaps the theme of P2 Week in 2020 can be the arrival of the zero-waste society, one where greenhouse gas emissions, toxic exposures in the home and workplace, waste disposal in landfills and underground wells, and nutrient dumping in our nation’s waters are all a rapidly fading memory."

It is the responsibility of the citizens to make that happen through our actions, VOTING and choices today. In Northeast Ohio, with an EXCESSIVE SHARE of toxic release point sources, and pathetic EPA performance, we need NEW elected officials committed to a 0-waste 0-harm P2 2020 vision - willing to stand up to the big polluters and shut them down - shut down Mittal for real.

From Climate Progress - A detailed look at climate sensitivity - Debunking the dangerous anti-science fantasy of the 'lukewarmers'

The amount of warming we are going to subject our children  and countless future generations to depends primarily on three factors:

1. The sensitivity of the climate to fast feedbacks like sea ice and water vapor (how much warming you get if  we only double CO2 emissions to 560 ppm and there are no major “slow” feedbacks).  We know the fast feedbacks are strong by themselves (see Study: Water-vapor feedback is “strong and positive,” so we face “warming of several degrees Celsius” and detailed analysis below).
2. The real-world slower (decadal) feedbacks, such as tundra melt (see Science: Vast East Siberian Arctic Shelf methane stores destabilizing and venting and links at the end).
3. The actual CO2 concentration level we are likely to hit, which is far beyond 550 ppm (see U.S. media largely ignores latest warning from climate scientists: “Recent observations confirm … the worst-case IPCC scenario trajectories are being realised” — 1000 ppm).

Given that the anti-science, pro-pollution forces  seem to be  succeeding in their fight to keep us on our current emissions path, it’s no surprise that multiple recent analyses conclude that we face a temperature rise that is far, far beyond dangerous:

The Cleveland Plain Dealer pimped the Opportunity Corridor into existence and has greatly disrupted our economy over that - the St. Louis-sourced publisher Terry Egger is the leader of the Opportunity Corridor whorehouse and bulldozing committee - flightless queen-bee-designee Terri Hamilton Brown exists for the Opportunity Corridor - ex-Con made Concilman Jeff Johnson pimps for it - RPM Prince Randell McShepard and Most-Made-Handmaid-to-the-Rich Ronayne Pimp for it - Gund top-gun Abbott Pimps for it - flabbergasting Cleveland Foundation flops Richards and Kuri pimp for it - and the usual suspects that profit from it pimp for it... Cleveland Clinic, all organizations UCI and all local universities, some churches and non-profits, the CDCs and their sponsors, the architects and contractors and their trolls, the unions... the web of crooks who have fucked up everything in this region for decades, and are the enablers of all the corruption now being dismantled with County and city government here, by the FBI. The state, county and city levels of government have failed and are being dismantled here, along with the entire statewide mafioso Democratic party regime and their networks of funders, contractors and colluders.

So when the incompetent, sell-out, paid-to-pimp Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaims in their latest pimping for the Opportunity Corridor that "The project is a top priority of elected, business and neighborhood leaders", I'd like to know EXACTLY who are the elected, business and neighborhood leaders that are not corrupt and benefiting financially from the Opportunity Corridor and are willing to step forward today, with the degree of corruption at all levels of leadership here, and say the Opportunity Corridor is the top priority for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio today.

I want to know, before the next election, which candidates for any offices are pimping that the Opportunity Corridor is the Top Priority of the region.

RealNEO readers are well aware that Ohio Democratic Congressman Sherrod Brown is obstructive of national environmental policy reform, while his brother is Chairman of the Board of a coal-burning powerplant in the impoverished urban community of Cleveland, and his wife disinforms citizens on related issues for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and global syndication. So, Ohio Democratic policy leaders are indebted to industry, and make poor environmental policy decisions. What should Ohioans and the world expect if these failing Democrats are replaced by Republicans, as seems likely...?!

Climate Progress today provides us with links showing "a comprehensive Wonk Room survey of the Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate finds that nearly all dispute the scientific consensus that the United States must act to fight global warming pollution" - it appears the world is in for a long, hot, globally warmed future ahead, thanks to failing leadership in America OF BOTH PARTIES... with Ohio front and center.

Good work Democrats - you had control when we needed strong environmental policy leadership and you failed to lead well - now our environmental harm is a crisis and you will lose the positions CITIZENS fought so hard to provide you, to be replaced by "brain-dead" Republicans who shall lead America as Republicans always have, for the rich. As national-level politicians are all rich, big-shot politicians of all parties make out better with the nation in the control of Republicans, so are unlikely to care. Real Democrats are poisoned and die unnecessarily as a result of the failure of sell-out Democrats, putting worse Republicans in office. Read about them and weep...

Honestly is the best policy.