Congressman Dan Coody?
Quite a number of folk lately have been whispering that Dan Coody would be the “ideal” candidate to run against Republican John Boozman, come next election.
Of course, folks have been saying that for a long time now.
But as admirable as the new urban god of Sustainability is, that seems to be Coody’s only real issue. Oh, yeah, aesthetics - but maybe the less said about that, the better.
But there is a lot more to being a congressman than spouting off about just one issue. If Coody wants to run for congress - and I believe he does - he should he talking about a whole range of issues, including labor and poverty issues, two topics that Dan is spectacularly ill-equipped to talk about.
If he sticks to the sustainability issue, intellectually is on the same footing as those who run on anti-immigration platforms, or anti-abortion promises - he’ll he a Johnny One-Note.
Or a Danny One-Note, if you will.
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Quote of the Day
We ought to write oftener, if only little notes. The frequency of the expression of affection is a very important thing in human life. - George E. Woodberry
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The Truth about Green Jobs - looking at both sides of the issue
The December issue of Mother Jones has an excellent article about Green jobs, exploring truth versus reality, that a lot of people should look at. There is an article that follows it that is sure to inspire a lot of debate: “What about the Dirty Jobs - Memo to the Sustainability prophets; coal miners have to eat, too.”
I hope that somebody on your Christmas list got a subscription to Mother Jones. Or The Nation, or In These Times, or The Progressive, or, well, you get the idea.
The Truth about Green Jobs
And no, they're not immune to outsourcing.(the new economy industrial revolution)
David Roberts - Mother Jones, December, 2008
MESSAGE DISCIPLINE has never been one of the left's strengths (oy gevalt), so it's been somewhat astonishing to hear the chorus of support lately for "green jobs." From city officials in Albuquerque and Minneapolis up to Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, more and more Democrats are framing climate change as "a moment of opportunity for innovation and job creation," as Obama has put it, that can revitalize the flagging US economy. But occasionally, enthusiasm outpaces reality. Let's sift through a few of the more popular claims.
[1] Green jobs are everywhere!
Does the administrative assistant in the front office of a solar power company count? How about the vanpool driver? Using extremely generous assumptions, energy economist Roger Bezdek calculated that green jobs accounted for about 5 percent of the US workforce in 2006. That's not shabby, but it's a long way from a clean, green economy.
[2] We'll turn miners into solar installers.
Working-class Americans still feel burned by NAFTA, when they were told not to worry about lost manufacturing jobs because they'd be trained for new, high-skill jobs. Clean-energy advocates, promising that jobs sent offshore by future carbon taxes will quickly be replaced, are now pushing an uncomfortably similar line.
To read more:
http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Articles/188642248/
