COLUMBUS Ohio. There is a quiet revolution happening in Ohio and the impact that the revolutionaries are having is about to be felt quite loudly this Labor Day- September 3. Five business people and a handful of dedicated volunteers – secretaries, chefs, business owners, farmers and teachers – came together on a cold fall day last year to talk about their dream of bringing green living out into the open for Ohioans. They walked the fields of the Flying J farm – fighting off the cold wind as they surveyed the picturesque lake and thought about how they could use one organic farm near Columbus to grow an interest in green living among Ohioans.

The original dreamers-turned-organizers were no ordinary folks. Richard Jensen, owner of the Flying J came from a background as an OSU college professor turned organic farmer – and a successful one at that. The Flying J Farm is known in the central Ohio area for first-rate grass-fed beef and organic produce. Annie and Jay Warmke, owners of Blue Rock Station, a green living center established in 2004 is the home of Ohio’s first Earthship, a home made of tires, cans, bottles and straw bales. This year 3,000 people

If you were a member of Congress, wouldn't you behave completely differently from how most members of Congress behave?  I mean, if you had not gone through the process required to become a congress member, but just suddenly became one tomorrow, wouldn't you behave as though you had an ounce of decency?  Wouldn't you take your responsibility at least as seriously as your power and your ego?  Wouldn't you at a bare minimum seek to represent the wishes of the majority of your constituents, the way you were taught in elementary school a representative is supposed to represent?  I have to assume you would, as I assume I would, as I assume a majority of Americans would. 

For those of you who don't know him, Steve Heller became an election integrity activist after the 2000 election debacle in Florida. He became known as the "Diebold Whistleblower" when in January 2004, he stole and exposed legal documents providing smoking gun evidence about Diebold Election Systems' nefarious activities in the State of California. Partly as a result of Steve's actions, in April 2004, former California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley de-certified Diebold in California for what he called their "fraudulent," "despicable," and "deceitful behavior."*?

?For stealing and exposing legal documents, Steve was charged by the Los Angeles District Attorney with three felonies. In November 2006, he pleaded guilty to one felony count of unauthorized access to a computer. He is currently on felony probation.?

?Steve is an actor, writer, political progressive and election integrity activist. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actor and writer Michele Gregory. He is also a personal hero of mine.?

“We who believe in freedom cannot rest We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes (repeat chorus) Until the killing of black men, black mothers’ sons Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers’ sons (chorus) That which touches me most is that I had a chance to work with people Passing on to others that which was passed on to me (chorus) To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail And if I can just shed some light as they carry us through the gale (chorus) The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on Is when the reins are in the hands of the young, who dare to run against the storm (chorus) Not needing to clutch for power, not needing the light just to shine on me I need to be just one in the number as we stand against tyranny (chorus) Struggling myself don’t mean a whole lot, I’ve come to realize That teaching others to stand up and fight is the only way my struggle survives (chorus) I’m a woman who speaks in a voice and I must be heard At times I can be quite difficult, I’ll bow to no man’s word. (chorus)
            -Ella’s Song, by Bernice Johnson Reagon

A cooling tower at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power plant has collapsed.

A broken 54" pipe there has spewed 350,000 gallons per minute of contaminated, overheated water into the Earth. "The river water piping and the series of screens and supports failed," said a company spokesman. They "fell to the ground."

The public and media were barred from viewing the wreckage for three days. But when a Congressional Energy Bill conference committee takes up Senate-approved loan guarantees for building new nukes this fall, what will reactor backers say about this latest pile of radioactive rubble?

This kind of event can make even hardened nuke opponents pinch themselves and read the descriptions twice. Who could make this up?

Vermont Yankee has been in operation---more or less---since the early 1970s. Its owner is Entergy, a multi-reactor "McNuke" operator that last year got approval to up VY's output by 20%.