People died---and are still dying---at Three Mile Island.

As the thirtieth anniversary of America's most infamous industrial accident approaches, we mourn the deaths that accompanied the biggest string of lies ever told in US industrial history.

As news of the accident poured into the global media, the public was assured there were no radiation releases.

That quickly proved to be false.

The public was then told the releases were controlled and done purposely to alleviate pressure on the core.

Both those assertions were false.

The public was told the releases were "insignificant."

But stack monitors were saturated and unusable, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission later told Congress it did not know---and STILL does not know---how much radiation was released at Three Mile Island, or where it went.

It’s way past time that Congress declared the March 31 birthdate of Cesar Chavez a national holiday. President Obama agrees. So do the millions of people who are expected to sign petitions being circulated by the United Farm Workers, the union founded by Chavez.

Eight states and dozens of cities already observe Chavez’ birthdate as an official holiday – and for very good reason. As the UFW notes, “He inspired farm workers and millions of people who never worked on a farm to commit themselves to social, economic and civil rights activism. Cesar’s legacy continues to educate, inspire and empower people from all walks of life.”

Obama says, “We should honor him for what he’s taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation,” and for providing inspirational strength, “as farm workers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages.”

Chavez showed, above all, that the poor and oppressed can prevail against even the most powerful opponents – if they can organize themselves and adopt non-violence as their principal tactic.

Though the dust has settled in Gaza, the rubble from the untold number of demolished buildings, homes and mosques is far from being cleared away. Graves continue to receive victims, young and old alike, from Israel's most recent offensive. And in the midst of this, with the hopes of some respite and recovery on the horizon, rumors of a third Intifada swell among politicians, scholars and everyday people alike.

While the first and second Palestinian uprisings were spontaneous and natural responses to institutionalized injustice, and while they fostered a great sense of community and brotherhood among Palestinians everywhere, the many years of uprisings mark some of the most painful years in Palestinian history.

The myth of a successful nuclear power industry in France has melted into financial chaos.

With it dies the corporate-hyped poster child for a "nuclear renaissance" of new reactor construction that is drowning in red ink and radioactive waste.

Areva, France's nationally-owned corporate atomic façade, has plunged into a deep financial crisis led by a devastating shortage of cash.

Electricite de France, the French national utility, has been raided by European Union officials charging that its price-fixing may be undermining competition throughout the continent.

Delays and cost overruns continue to escalate at Areva's catastrophic Olkiluoto reactor construction project in Finland. Areva has admitted to a $2.2 billion, or 55%, cost increase in the Finnish building site after three and a half years. The Flamanville project---the only one now being built in France---is already over $1 billion more expensive than projected after a single year under construction.

In 2008, France's nuclear power output dropped 0.1%, while wind generation rose more than 37%.

I have yet to meet an environmental group that has not jumped on the band wagon where everyone’s mission is to achieve environmental protection to benefit economic growth. It escapes me how anyone in these times can actually pursue such an agenda when we are approaching with lightening speed the point where both goals are mutually exclusive. We have exploited, scarred, marred and wounded our environment to such degree that its recovery has slowed down if not stopped altogether.

Pretty soon anything deserving will depend on “charitable volunteering,” of which we currently don’t have enough to begin with. Add to this the lack of governmental regulations for the environment and we will find ourselves in a predatory world embroiled in a last-ditch effort to exploit nature’s remains for capital gains. As long as the underlying ethics on this continent measure in quantity only, including the educational system, that is, as long as the majority of the so-called developed countries turn a green buck into a golden calf, that which could sustain us will be lacking: true reverence for and our indebtedness to the natural world that surrounds us.