Sam Graham-Felsen - Why is Obama leaving the grass roots on the sidelines?

Murphy: 'Nothing Worse' Than Gibson On Education
Democratic Rep. Scott Murphy is out with yet another negative ad, this time attacking his GOP opponent, Chris Gibson, for his support for abolishing the federal Department of Education, which the congressman maintains would eventually result in higher Property taxes. Gibson told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise back in July that he favors doing away with the federal Departments of Education, Energy and Homeland Security in an effort to Cut Spending. “Our Property taxes are already among...

Actions speak louder than words.
Buzzers … YOU guyz understand love. The Left? Meh, not so much. This is just a quickie “energize me” post. Honestly … I come here and I get REcharged! :o) So, the theme here is … What The Left Says About Itself (and Slams the Right about for being so Not Like Us) v. What The Left Does. Unlike Profiteering, Gaia-Raping, Right Wingnuts who Drive SUVs and want to Drill for Oil and Build Nuclear Power Plants, WE LOVE THE PLANET! Click to embiggen. Unlike Intolerant,...

S.Korea, S.Africa to sign nuclear power deal: report
South Korea will sign an agreement with South Africa in the coming week to design and build Nuclear Power Plants in the African country, it was reported Saturday. The agreement will be signed when South African Deputy President Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe comes to Seoul Friday for a two-day trip, Yonhap news agency said, quoting an unidentified South Korean Foreign Ministry official. "The agreement will lay a legal ground for our advance into South Africa's Nuclear Energy market," the official was...

Iran says computer virus not to blame for delay in launching nuclear power plant
Reporting from Beirut — Iran's Atomic Energy chief said that a delay in the launch of the nation's first Nuclear Power Plant was not caused by a powerful computer virus that has crippled data management systems across the world — but his explanation may not have reassured Persian Gulf residents. Ali Akbar Salehi blamed a leak in the pool now holding the fuel rods for the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. "A small leak was observed in a pool next to the reactor and was curbed," he said...

Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant delayed: Stuxnet not to blame, official says
Iran officials said a leak at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant will prevent it from beginning operation this year. The delay comes as experts suggest the facility might have been targeted by a foreign government using the Stuxnet computer worm.

Audit: Changes Needed to Make Nuclear Plants Secure
Monday, October 04, 2010 By Staff, Associated Press Albany, N.Y. (AP) - A federal audit calls for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to improve Nuclear Power Plant security against infiltration by potential Terrorists. The audit set to be released Monday recommends additional training in identifying suspected Terrorists, greater access to criminal databases by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, stepped up "re-screening" of Power Plant employees and notifying Plant operators of foreign...

Carnival of Nuclear Energy 21
Idaho Samizdat reports that Germany has a bill that saves its Nuclear reactors but at what price? The move comes with steep taxes on the reactors and a delusional Energy Policy. 3. The ANS Nuclear Cafe has a guest contributor Ted Rockwell. Guest contributor Ted Rockwell questions the 'special status' accorded to Nuclear technologies in regulatory circles and in public perception. Requirements that don’t make a Nuclear Power Plant safer, or cheaper, or better in some way merely add to...

How Stuxnet is Scaring the Tech World Half to Death
The computer worm Stuxnet broke out of the tech underworld and into the mass media this week. Its an amazing story: Stuxnet has infected roughly 45,000 computers. Sixty percent of these machines happen to be in Iran. Which is odd. What is odder still is that Stuxnet is designed specifically to attack a computer system using software from Siemens which controls industrial facilities such as factories, oil refineries, and oh, by the way, Nuclear Power plants. As you might imagine,...

Audit: 49 school districts show signs of financial weakness
Forty-nine of the state's 178 School Districts showed signs of financial weakness in a new state audit released this week. An audit last year found 43 Districts with signs of financial weakness. In the current audit, School Districts overall reported that Property Tax Revenues were down, as was funding from the state. Some also said they were undertaking building projects in the midst of the Recession, causing strain on their finances. And of those School Districts with "warning indicators"...

Audit: Changes needed to make nuke plants secure
Related Articles ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) A federal audit set to be released Monday calls for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to improve Nuclear Power Plant security against infiltration by potential Terrorists. An outline of the findings was provided to The Associated Press by Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. Schumer had called for the audit by the NRC’s inspector general in March after a suspected al-Qaida member, Sharif Mobley, was found to have worked in a New Jersey Nuclear Power...

Vt. Senate votes to close Yankee power plant
MONTPELIER - In a rare case of state involvement in Nuclear Regulation, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 yesterday to block a license extension for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant, citing radioactive leaks, misstatements in Testimony by Plant officials, and other problems. Unless the chamber reverses itself, it would be the first time in more than 20 years that the public or its representatives decided to close a reactor. The vote was taken barely more than a week after President Obama...

AFL-CIO mailer
This 8 X 10 mailer arrived in union households in the 20th CD last week.

Gibson Has a Shot? I'll Drink to That!
In a New York state of mind … Chris Gibson’s congressional campaign has issued a memo describing an internal poll showing the retired Army colonel from Kinderhook is trailing Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, by four points. In a head-to-head match up, the poll found Murphy leading Gibson 42-38. The pollsters write in a memo: “Among the voters most interested in the election, Gibson leads, 41%-40%.” The poll was conducted early last week by Public Opinion Strategies...

Gibson leaks poll showing him 'within striking distance'
Chris Gibson’s congressional campaign has issued a memo describing an internal poll showing the retired Army colonel from Kinderhook is trailing Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, by four points. In a head-to-head match up, the poll found Murphy leading Gibson 42-38. The pollsters write in a memo: “Among the voters most interested in the election, Gibson leads, 41%-40%.” The poll was conducted early last week by Public Opinion Strategies and surveyed 400 “likely”...

Debate schedule for Murphy and Gibson " updated
U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls and Republican challenger Chris Gibson will meet three more times in formal settings before the November Elections. The schedule is as follows: 4 p.m. Oct. 13: Poughkeepsie Journal editorial board. The board will meet with both Candidates at the same time in a fairly unstructured setting. The meeting will be streamed live on the Poughkeepsie Journal’s website . John Penney, the community conversation editor for the editorial page, said he moves the...

Iran makes arrests in nuclear spy case
Tehran - Iran has arrested several people it believes were spying on its Nuclear facilities, a news agency quoted the intelligence minister as saying on Saturday. “We are always facing destructive activities by these 1/8espionage 3/8 services, and, of course, we have arrested a number of Nuclear spies to block the enemy’s destructive moves,” the website of state run Press TV’s reported. The report gave no details and did not specify whether the arrests were linked to a...

Small Reactors, Large Potential Impact
A new report by the Energy Policy Institute, in collaboration with the American Council on Global Nuclear Competitiveness, titled “ Economic and Employment Impacts of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors ,” investigates how four separate scenarios of small modular reactor (SMR) construction could affect the U.S. economy. Growing interest and discussion surrounding the potential commercialization of small Nuclear rectors, both in the U.S. and abroad, makes the study timely and...

The Waning Wind
The Department of Energy and Climate Change said this week that lower than expected wind speeds and rainfall had led to a 12% fall in Renewable Electricity generated between April and June compared to the same period in 2009.  This is the second fall in Renewable Energy production this year and follows a smaller but still notable decline between January and March, again compared to last year. With a sharp drop in output from Nuclear Power stations as well, Greenhouse gas emissions from each...

Stuxnet worm cyber attack: Iran makes arrests after nuclear program hit by super virus
The worm may have turned. Iran is claiming to have arrested several spies who may be responsible for the crippling Cyber Attack that has plagued the country's Bushehr Nuclear Power station. "We are always facing destructive activities by these [Western spy] services, and, of course, we have arrested a number of Nuclear spies to block the enemy's destructive moves," Intelligence Minister Moslehi told Iran's state-run Press TV. At the center of the Attack is the Stuxnet worm , a...

Iran says several held for spying on nuclear sites
Tehran | Sat Oct 2, 2010 4:47pm EDT Tehran (Reuters) - Iran has arrested several people it believes were spying on its Nuclear facilities, a news agency quoted the intelligence minister as saying on Saturday. "We are always facing destructive activities by these services, and, of course, we have arrested a number of Nuclear spies to block the enemy's destructive moves," the website of state run Press TV's reported. The report gave no details and did not specify whether the arrests were linked...

PROPERTY TAXES: Highest In Blue States, Lowest In Red States....
Property TAXES: Highest In Blue States, Lowest In Red States.

State Officials 'Stretch' the Law to Award Special Tax Deal to Troubled Business
Editor's note: The Michigan Economic Development Corporation has been no stranger to controversy during this year, with perhaps the most exceptional case being its attempt to give a special Tax deal to a company run by a convicted felon. This week, MichCapCon.com will be reviewing another MEDC project that has become mired in controversy. In 2008, the newly built Pinnacle Race Course in Huron Township was eligible for more than $48 million in Tax incentives over 30 years. The MEDC...

RPOF hits Ausley on property tax votes
The Republican Party of Florida is out with another installment of its "Costly Ausley" website , this time hitting CFO Candidate Loranne Ausley for her votes against Republican plans in 2007 and 2008 to provide Property Tax relief. The Legislation allowed Homeowners to take their "Save Our Homes" Property Tax savings with them when they moved to a new house. (You know, back when home values were spiking and people were getting higher Property Tax bills instead of lower...

Tax Foundation Releases Property Tax Data
The Tax Foundation has published New Census Data on Property Taxes on Homeowners , as well as a Property Tax lookup tool .  Here are links to specific charts: Here are the Top 10 and Bottom 10 States in Median Real Estate Taxes Paid in 2009 -- all 10 States with the highest Property taxes voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 election, and 9 of the 10 States with the lowest Property taxes voted for John McCain: Rank State Property Tax 1 New Jersey $6,579 2 Connecticut $4,738 3 New...

Property Tax on Owner-Occupied Housing, by County, Ranked by Property Taxes Paid*, 2005-2007 (3-Year Average)
December 12, 2008 Property Tax on Owner-Occupied Housing, by County, Ranked by Property Taxes Paid*, 2005-2007 (3-Year Average) Note: To zoom in, print, select text or search the following document, please use the grey toolbar below. Property Tax on Owner-Occupied Housing, by County, Ranked by Property Taxes Paid*, 2005-2007 Average (permalink)