Where do we start,Energy has to be part of the climate change discussion but as long as TPARTY and deniers are in congress we are screwed we have to concentrating on the 14 elections but???
Record springs summers winters sea levels record low rivers and Lakes and fracking and destroying valuable water resources,drought and possible famine in the bread basket all of these will have to be on the policy makers planing along with Sandy, Katrina and Rita and the real disaster in Japan 4 reactors which will kill and keep killling as many of us as WWII.

Hard to believe we have some of the largest concentrations of Nuke reactors right down the road from us with the AEC allowing spent RODS to be stored in the roofs of the reactors because we have not solved the dilemma of a permanent storage facility after Harry Reid stopped them from being sent from all over the country and stored down the road from his house in Nevada.
This would also have impacted us since the RR journey from the east would have gone right thru the So Burbs we have clowns running for congress who have no understanding of the dangers of NUCLEAR reactors and the water needed to cool them with another year of drought and a lowering of river and lake levels how much longer in the new paradigm will there be water to cool the reactor would be a good start to the debate!
After the Tsunami hit Japan the Obama administration which licensed the building of reactors all over the country quietly cancelled the two under construction in GA.
I am on pins and needles awaiting an opinion from these brilliant conservatives with an opinion on all things bad in and of government except Nuclear reactors especially after the Tsunami disaster in Japan because it is not in their portfolio or on Fox ?

To "BUTCH" - Both of your comments express generalized environmental concerns about technology doing more harm than good. There are many innovation efforts being made. Besides the "Algenol" company I mentioned, there is also Origin Oil that is producing algae for use to clean up polluted water in fracking, and then there is also IBC Advanced Alloys that is developing a beryllium usage to make nuclear reactor systems safer and less likely to be a Chernobyl or Fukashima, and American Vanadium for new industrial batteries to store solar and wind energy. Then add Alged.tec in Australia and Solazyme in Australia to the mix. The main thing - we must stop innovators of disruptive technology from being blocked. Also read book: "Clean Tech Nation" ! We must stop neanderthals from blocking progress.

All of these innovators are "tiny tots" battling for recognition in a world of ossified T-Rex titans!

TYPO ERROR - Algae.tech in Australia but Solazyme isNOT in Aussie-ville but in SanFrancisco.CA.

Thanks from the maddening crowd, Guess this is u and me,
How does Keystone and the likely hood of a leak and spill over the Ogallllala aquifer factor into origin or any new technology should be a piece of cake since it is not polluted water!
I missed how the spent rods are being stored and if there is no longer a need for them where are the old spent rods before the new technology went on line is it part of the beryllium mentioned or that there is no need for a depository in NEV or in the Salt mines of Atlantis? is this part of the 21 agenda?

@Ron Hartman, More generalized concerns are in order since the question on disposal of spent rods was not addressed and since the earthquake and Tsunami incident that destroyed 4 reactors in march 2011 at Fukushima HAS YET TO BE CONTAINED!
The dangers that they have posed to our health have never been addressed by NRC or DHS nor questioned by CLEAR CHANNEL and or other WINGNUT national or local media so why would we expect a uninformed and barely qualified candidate for congress to address any concern for anything but a cushy job and Cadillac Health care which if they did address the problem would jeopardize their perks and cause a panic that would either demand a single payer and therefore create a austerity plan for the lawmakers.
In these times of so much info we are fed pablum any questioning Nukes means answers are steered to pro nuke that ignore safety concerns and frames more questions designed to distract and gloss over the dangers of NUKE power.
The Illinois dangers are unlike Vermont Yankee the Tennessee river or NY and NJ reactors or the infamous SC facilty operated by Duke energy that is a short 10 miles downstream from a Dam that could fail, the problem is why build it there where hundreds of failures have occurred or on a fault line?
Our potential meltdown would be the opposite, climate change and increased drought drying up of the waters needed to cool the reactors and where are the spent rods stored?

Ron absolutely right on Smith and if Bobby represented me it would be a bit worse or better than now which is why I originally asked the Independent and GOP (Both) their positions on NUKES which are down the road from the 2 dist where I am not represented.
These clowns running for congress can barely represent their store front ministries. These wannabe's are not even good potted plants and have no idea on what real problems they will be facing besides being freshmen and or are in a minority party in the new congress they are almost 100% highly UNQUALIFIED to go to congress and get their 160,000 salary-caddy health care and other perks
and will be asked to vote on problems like real health care reform dought-climate change, green -fossil energy and the biggest in my opinion NUKES all of it part of the economic fiscal and investing in America THERE CAN BE NO JOBS created unless the do nothing congress does work which cannot be expected until 2014.
THIS IS WHY we need to take control of congress, but there are pitfalls to having a non registered lobbyist like Madigoon appointing chairmen in congress now as u pointed out are Neanderthals and with a blue dog Dem we continue the charade of DO NADA aka Blue dogs which use to be a badge of honor and now are simply stooges for the complexes --Defense and Big Insur and Big Pharm, and take orders from a lobbyist as evil as GROVER by the name of MIKE MADIGOON.
MUCH THANKS for the info!

is Bobby Rush a store front minister? We do not need any Christan Dem or Rep fundamentalist congressman on the Science cmte, we could easily have had Jim Inhofe of OKLA a Exxon and Okkie oil stooge as head of the Senate Environ cmte had the TPARTY took control of the Senate.

Bobby Rush is a former GUN-TOTING Black Panther in Chicago whose son, Huey - named after Bobby's best buddy, Huey Newton, were both similarly gunned down. Bobby Rush now has an Honorary doctorate of Divinity degree. Look up now on Wikipedia both Bobby Rush and Huet Newton. I can tell you did not live through this crapola era like I did. I would like to replace Bobby Rush in Congress - look at the Congressional District maps for both #1 (mine) and #2 (yours). Both are no longer "safe" all-black districts. Yours [#2] goes down past kankakee; while mine [#1] goes out to New Lenox, Manhattan and Elwood - all thanks to Mr. Magoon in the decade census redistricting where Illinois went down from 19 to 18 CDs. By the way, I met Magoon's adopted step-daughter, Lisa, when I ran for County Board in Will county in 2006 as a Demo. She so far has not shown many of his characteristics in the political arena. I REALLY WOULD PERSONALLY LIKE TO REPLACE BOBBY IN 2014 - but do not hold your breath. Before redistricting every 10 years, I formerly had as Congressperson - Adam Kinzinger, and before him Debby Halvorson, and before her Jerry Weller. Halvorson was too eager to take out JJJr in the primary t0o get back into Congress when Kinzinger defeated her after only two years. She had been previously been Magoon's right hand henchlady in the ILL Senate for years.

@Ron i did live through the era and remember Huey Bobby the panthers and their executioner (so say the media)Hanrahan from Oak Pk the States Atty whose career ended with the fiasco, there are plenty of honorary around they are usually harmless it is the real deal that worries me.
I was somewhat occupied during these years, being out of town a lot working.
I came of age with the election of Mel and was involved in a round about way with the fiasco of a phony Rhodes scholar beating another rabble rouser in congress who had gotten under the skin of the power brokers with his newsletters, I was active politically since the Alzheimer movie star was POTUS on behalf of his mil-indus bankster handlers in 80, ( the story behind the new movie ARGO, a very good flick by the way).
Lisa has so far surpassed dad's expectations she and Anita have allergies when it comes to prosecuting the goons and Daley misfits that's a given. I do think Debbie is the only person in the 2nd so far with a brain and she is against PEOTONE which is good enough for starters and lives local not DC and down stream from LaSalle and the other reactors.There is a vol fireman or whatever he is from yer dist around Palos who threw his hamburg intot the 2nd dist circus what has kept u out? Are u related to Tom Hartman by any chance?

@Butch - I am in #1 and not #2 - just went into #1 this time in decade redistricting - I wish I could say that Thom Hartmann is my nephew or cousin - I was a Federal savings bank examiner for most of my active career years and saw first hand what Reagan and Bush and Clinton all did to thereby make the S&L industry extinct (It is not a wonderful life as in Bailey Building & Loan - Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed et al)
After 26 years in Orland Park, I am living now for 10 years in Will County portion of Tinley Park which starts south of 183rd and west of Harlem. For that time I was precluded by the Hatch Act as a Fed from getting into politics other than to vote.

The Keating 5 with the featured looter John McSlime whose daddy was the Naval Cmdr of the 6th fleet that covered up the attack on the liberty and gave the commission a week to come up with it's findings!
U can tell far more relevant and interesting stories than my experiences with the GOP at the time very potent roaches from Bloom and Rich township and the Dem Party who sent a fraudulent Rhodes scholar Mel Reynolds to congress then set him up to give the seat to JJJ it was the final piece of the conspiracy to rid congress of Gus Savage and replace him with another minister's son and also a reverend.
Glad to make your acquaintance on the web!

Thanks much I can relate to this story in many ways, can u imagine Twit and Net had the Triad paymaster as their #1 fund raiser and adviser, not to mention his Salvador original partners in Bain.

Who could make that Trilogy?
Mel Gibson if he got Randall Wallace to write it and was not a wing nut!