An anthem for Real NEO today, from the day - vintage Gang of Four performing Anthrax in 1980 - my first year in college - one of the great bands and songs of then and all time. I think the love many of us may feel for this corrosive, punk town is like a case of Anthrax, and that's something I don't want to catch. Read the lyrics below from our context in NEO... concluding "I don't think we're saying there's anything wrong with love, we just don't think that what goes on between two people should be shrouded with mystery." That's REALNEO! Listen, read, and surprise yourself with great music.

Gang of Four: Anthrax

In an article in today's Cleveland Plan (Plain) Dealer titled "Issue 3 will hurt businesses near casinos, group of restaurants, bars says", it is written "The Ohio Licensed Beverage Association commissioned the study by four professors from Hiram College to blow holes in Issue 3, the constitutional amendment on the Nov.

The Real News - Paul Jay speaks to Jessy Tolkan at the Tides Foundations' Momentum conference in San Francisco. They speak about Tolkan's coalition on climate change fighting Obama to establish a moratorium on all coal mining.

Since June, 2003, bio-defense industry world-leader Ronald B. (Ronn) Richard has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Foundation, the nation's oldest community foundation. Since January, 2005, Richard has also served as a Director of Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company whose marketed product is BioThrax(R) (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed), the only FDA-licensed vaccine available for pre-exposure protection against anthrax infection - www.emergentbiosolutions.com.

A song for the day to our failed and disgraced leadership of Northeast Ohio, and those who want to be... "The Dope Show", by Canton native-son Marilyn Manson:

There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
Who want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low
And blow your mind

Severe Particulate Matter 2.5 Hourly Reading in Cleveland at 8:00 AM on 09/23/09 - see current here

There is clear evidence the leadership of Northeast Ohio has failed to create an environment encouraging world-class monitoring, analysis, research, notification and controls of pollution created in our region of Ohio, and the consequences on residents and society. As a result, the people of this region have suffered significant health consequences, including early death, and impaired learning ability, crippling our schools and workforce, and society and the regional economy have suffered greatly. As much of our pollution is exported beyond our region, our failure to be world-class addressing pollution here causes harm world-wide.

I've spent several years now developing theoretical pieces toward a sustainable future and now seek to apply the theory to effect pragmatic positive change for our region.

It recently came to my attention that one of the most serious sources of pollution in Cuyahoga County is literally in my back yard. Less than two kilometers upwind from my home are the coal and natural gas fired external boilers at the power plant shown above, at University Hospitals, operated by Medical Center Company (MCCo), polluting the surrounding neighborhoods since the 1930s.

For the 30+ years of my life spent in Northeast Ohio, in childhood and as an adult, University Circle has been at the center of my universe. What Place is at the Center of Your Universe?

If Jackson's stodges on Cleveland City Council go along with Jacob's aquarium scheme, Cleveland will once again allow itself to be used by a developer to further our national image as a second-rate, amateur town--a joke.

Do I need to point out that we have polluted Lake Erie and our Great Lakes to the point that native animal and plant communities no longer exist?  So, what are we going to feature at this Great Lakes Aquarium?  Sheepshead and carp?

Polar Ice Update:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MozcU7woNNQ&feature=related

It would seem that there are more of these iinteresting videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/greenman3610

...and some comments from the creator of them:

Beyond the year 2100 our children and our grandchildren will have to learn to adapt to the global warming situation, if they even hope to survive.

Numerous Science Fiction stories, novels, novellas, and movies have taken place in the "far-off future" where mankind has made our planet difficult or even unfit for humans to live on the surface of the planet. Most portray life below ground, much as life has been portrayed on the asteroid belt, with a rabbit warren of caves and tunnels, hewn out of the native rock.

Thanks to REALNEO's lmcshane for pointing out one of the most interesting developments in the American "sustainability movement" ever - what appears to be Chicago's real news source, The Chicago Reader, broke the news, September 4, 2009, that "The Green Mayor's Green Policy Maker Leaves for Vancouver". This is the story of former Cleveland and Chicago area sustainability guru Sadhu Johnston, now set to become the deputy city manager of Vancouver.

If nothing else, today proved to me the power of magic realism.  Nelson Cintron is a good man, a kind man and a man gifted with the power to transform.  He is not a perfect man, but like all of us, when he tries, he can perform magic. 

In an effort to un-depress myself, I am trying to conjure in my mind the most charming places in NEO to go to when you want to watch people and feel hopeful about life.  Now, I know I can go to the middle of a forest somewhere and meditate, but I need to hear laughter and watch boats bobbing on the water. 

Why is it so hard to make it happen here in NEO?  Do you have a favorite place to share???  Please post your thoughts here.

Max Eternity - While it's not advisable that we create a clean energy "monoculture", research does show that with a small amount of land mass devoted to harvesting solar energy, all the energy needs of the entire planet can easily be met. 

Click here to see enlarged chart(s) and to read more.

Cleveland Peace Show

2009 Cleveland Peace Show

Max Eternity - It has long been apparent to me that in so many instances one will find  the same crowd that endorsed the Bush pResidency, hangs with the same crowd that's against healthcare, is the same crowd that is pro-war, is the same crowd that denies global warming, is the same crowd that watches and believes everything they hear on FOX News.