Green Lighting Book Soon Off The Press

In a few days our long awaited Sword of Damocles will be off the press and in the hands of anti-nuclear warriors all over the land.

Sadly the beautiful cover image of Betcee May shot by photographer Courtney Dailey was rejected by the editors at McGraw-Hill because the Philips EnduraLED Betcee held was shot too wide, and they couldn't tell what kind of bulb it was.

There was no opportunity or time to reshoot, so instead McGraw-Hill went with a close-up of the Pharox, who are big supporters of Global Green USA and design some of the best LED greenhouse lighting in the world.

A lot of hearts were broken, tempers flared, dreams shattered, it would have been amazing to feature the Rock The Reactors muse on the cover of a book so many worked so hard to produce, a book which carries such a strong message, that for the retrofit cost of LEDs, you can easily make up all the replacement power necessary to decommission old and dirty nuclear power plants.

Not all is lost. Rock The Reactors is in talks with the Pharox publicity department and other LED companies about future opportunities for Betcee May, who can easily be reached through her agency, Next Models in Los Angeles, under her fashion name May Lindstrom.

The three authors of the Green Lighting book, project and team leader Green Living Guy Seth Leitman, writer and researcher Brian Clark Howard of the Daily Green, and lighting engineer William J. Brinsky, are planning book signings all over the country.

If you'd like to organize an event at your local bookstore, green store or lighting store, please contact Seth or the publicity department at McGraw-Hill.

For more information on LEDs and an up to date listing of companies selling them, go to the Rock The Reactors website. You can order copies of the book at Amazon or get quantity discounts directly from the publisher.

Betcee May bebe Magazine Cover

Photographer: Lisa Loftus

Betcee wore bebe at the Pömed party co-sponsored by Lü Magazine & Rock The Reactors in 2006. Green Nuclear Butterfly is thrilled to see Betcee featured on the cover of their new magazine.

We'd like to thank Charles Smith at bebe who RTR contacted back in early June to bring Betcee to their attention. Charles wrote:

"bebe’s begreen is a chain-wide initiative chartered with the development and integration of an environmentally aware & responsible culture in the workplace; decreasing the amount of waste we produce, making smarter decisions in our daily activities, and reducing the impact on our Earth. begreen is a component of the bebeCares program which is committed to creating opportunities that promote corporate citizenship, philanthropy, volunteerism, and cultural diversity in communities where we live and do business."

bebe magazine is published by Niche Media Holdings LLC, the same house which brings you Ocean Drive, Gotham and Hamptons. In 2006 Niche Media's Jason Binn partnered with Greenspun Corporation Chairman Brian L. Greenspun.

The Greenspun Family Foundation supports many causes with an emphasis on education, health, children, Jewish issues, and the greater Las Vegas community.

In 2005, Iranian American Manny Mashouf, founder & chairman of bebe, gave San Francisco State University the largest private individual gift pledge in its history toward a new performing and electronic media arts building for the SFSU College of Creative Arts.

The new 65,000 square feet building will contain instructional and performance spaces -- including a 1,200-seat auditorium, 450-seat theater, 350-seat recital hall and 250-seat "black box" theater -- enhanced by a multi-story, glass-enclosed lobby. The building will house the Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts Department, Theatre Arts Department and School of Music and Dance. Doors will open in late 2012.

You can see all the photographs from the shoot on the bebe website and purchase bebe magazine at any bebe store, Barnes & Noble or other newsstands.

Help Rock The Reactors by going to a bebe store near you to request a free copy of bebe magazine: Store Locator.

Betcee is currently pursuing a parallel career as a green make-up artist:
www.greenblossombeauty.com

Just a friendly reminder...

That it's still all about the girl! A green model army!

See you all for Harvey Wasserman's
STOPPING NUKE POWER & WINNING SOLARTOPIA
Sunday, May 17, 3 pm
Beacon Institute for Rivers & Estuaries

199 Main Street, Beacon, NY

GNB blogger on cover of Route 66 Pulse newspaper

Last year I took a drive down Route 66 promoting electric cars, so tourists can still drive the old road without spending $1000's worth of gas.

My trip was a big hit... Garnering the support of just about every road side attraction owner and preservation leader. Jim Conkle of Route 66 Pulse and Electrifying Times, the electric car magazine published by Bruce Meland, carved a strategic alliance.

I chronicled my two week odyssey through Americana with a Sony kindly lent to me by Wendy Brawer of Green Map. Sadly, silly me, I stuck the mini-dv video tapes in a coat pocket with my cell phone, erasing precious pixels. Dreams of a high end DVD documentary went out the window.

Despite the tear in my eye, Brian Howard of The Daily Green edited the damaged footage at Columbia University, into something way cool for Google video, with an original soundtrack by Ken Sasaki and the Tiki Boys. We named it Toaster 66, after a nickname for the Scion xB. Another nickname is The Box 66 where you can find lots of photos and contacts from the trip.

The Route 66 Pulse newspaper is distributed all along the old Route 66. They are sharing a booth with Electrifying Times at the EVS23 electric vehicle symposium in Anaheim Dec 2nd thru the 5th. Yesterday we heard from Bill Martin, the mayor of Atlanta, IL who is throwing his official support for America's first Electric Highway.

"We want to go on record as saying Atlanta is very interested in working with Remy Chevalier in helping realize his dream of establishing recharging stations along Rt. 66. Atlanta, being the midway point along Rt. 66 in Illinois, definitely wants to help locate a recharging site here in town."

I look forward to driving down Route 66 again soon with a 100% electric car, helping all the wonderful people I met along the way realize what is now become our common dream.

Betcee May in Earth First! Journal

Excerpt from:

Our Bodies, Our Causes
By Sophia

Earth First! Journal

Eostar 2007
Volume 27, Issue 3

"I came across a campaign to shut down Indian Point, a nuclear power plant in New York State. One extremely vocal man in this fight said that he was determined to find the prettiest girl on the Internet to support his campaign, and he did, indeed, find a model to stand beside him. One of their main publicity stunts—doing a photo shoot in front of this nuclear power plant—brought lots of traffic to the campaign website. Photos from the shoot, some of which were readily hung up in the power plant’s lunchroom, depicted the model posing in heels in front of the reactor, as well as lounging on a hybrid car. How could this be attracting people who really care about the environment? It doesn’t make sense to appeal to people using a method that needs to be obliterated."

hmm...

To read the entire article and comments click here.

Sherwood Interview by John LeKay ~ Heyoka Magazine

Journalist John LeKay, friend of Rock The Reactors, Green Nuclear Butterfly, and FUSE USA, has interviewed Sherwood Martinelli for Heyoka Magazine.

John and Sherwood discuss the growing movement opposing the relicensing of the Indian Point nuclear power plant, and the rise of FUSE USA, a new coalition focused on getting the job done.

The interview with Sherwood appears in Heyoka Volume 9, alongside interviews with Rock The Reactors Betcee May and model/environmentalist Summer Rayne Oakes.

A few months ago GNB revealed Summer's association with ETS Energy store, a green business majority owned by BGA Engineering, which does maintenance work at Indian Point. Summer has since come out in opposition to the $50 Billion Federal loan guarantees to the nuclear power industry.

John LeKay runs the Silkwood Project, chronicling the disastrous effects of uranium mining on Native American lands.

Benny Zable Climbs Monteverde

I picked up Australian anti-nuclear performance artist Benny Zable at the Peekskill train station on Sunday morning. We headed off to the Bear Mountain Powwow in Harriman State Park to deliver a message from Harold One Feather who is attending the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action before coming up North to join the new FUSA USA coalition.

Benny took his peaceful earth flag inside the prayer circle... while I met some wonderful people, like Tchin and Sealy... and discovered the book Indian Tribes of the Hudson's River published by Hope Farm Press & Bookshop in Saugerties, NY.

We got lost a few times on the way there and back... all these tall trees, all these winding roads... but we made it back in time to meet up with an artist/documentary film maker who has asked for anonymity and Heyoka magazine publisher John LeKay at the Peekskill Coffeehouse. Sherwood Martinelli, of Green Nuclear Butterfly, joined us.

The Rock The Reactors poster I had placed in the window earlier in the day had been pulled down, and the flyers I had left by the door were all gone. We suspect friends of Entergy go around Peekskill systematically removing anti-nuclear literature from public view.

We headed off to Indian Point hoping to find an appropriate place for a vigil... a few people in Buchanan saw our short caravan drive towards the plant with bumper stickers clearly stating our point of view. By the time we got to the guard house, they knew we were coming.

What I did not realize, since I had not physically been to the plant since April 2006 when I photographed Betcee May... I try to stay as far away from Indian Point as possible... is they extended the perimeter with brand new barbwire fencing, Guantanamo Bay deja vu, the domes barely visible from the road. There was no place to shoot with a good view in the background, so we decided to look for another vantage point.

Someone suggested this restaurant on the hill which I did not know called Monteverde, meaning green mountain, in the Town of Cortlandt. I couldn't beleive the vista... the eerie sense of pending doom in the valley below, the irrepressible noise of freight trains... and yet... Monteverde is the home of a Yoga and Spa center, which won Best of Westchester award for "Most Transcendental Facial."

The next day I called and asked the receptionist, how does it feel to do yoga on this beautiful lawn, with a nuclear power plant in the background? She said: "People who come here to do yoga really don't want to think about negative environmental issues." So I contacted Yoga and Global Activism to see if perhaps they'd be interested in hosting an event on Monteverde at Oldstone Manor's grounds.

A recent review of the restaurant put it this way: "The carefully positioned trees on the left of the property hide a view of the Indian Point nuclear power plant on this side of the river. The land would be great if Amtrak didn’t run right next to it every few minutes. On the other side of the river there is a freight train line that runs less often, but is usually even louder."

We weren't allowed to enjoy the view for very long... The managing director asked us to leave... so we regrouped at a kayak landing for a wonderful sunset... finished the evening in Peekskill at Ruben's Cafe, Governor Pataki's favorite Mexican restaurant.

But not everybody loves living in Peekskill, as expressed by this, if somewhat funny, rather depressing video on YouTube. Seems there's always an underbelly... Despite this, looking through the official Peekskill website, I see a warm and thriving community, doing its best while living in the constant specter of impending doom. It's interesting to note that I could not find a single mention of Entergy or Indian Point on the website, in either the press releases or the 145 pages of photographs. The elephant is in the room, and yet nobody pays attention to it.

I left Benny in Sherwood's good care and bid everybody farewell... On Monday morning, when Benny called to check in with the EcoFest office in New York, he was told they had received an anonymous threatening phone call... All the caller said, in an intimidating tone, was: "So, EcoFest is involved with Indian Point now, hey?" and hung up.

Nothing like hundreds of Union Workers standing guard around Peekskill and Buchanan making sure nobody gets out of line... Little do they know, their families, their children, their friends, are all suffering the effects of low dose radiation... every new day that goes by, we are all at great risk for allowing Entergy, NRC and the political leaders in the state of New York to take such risk and liberty with the lives of millions, for just the sake of a few electrons more we can easily make up with conservation and Light Emitting Diode bulbs.

Shame on you Hudson Valley, for failing to shut down Indian Point over so many years... It takes a man from Australia to ring your wake up bell? Get it together for Pete sake. Shut that sucker down! Screw the independent safety assessment and the relicensing period. Just demand the plant closed... now, before we're all sorry... The USA is still a democracy... use it before you lose it... what are you waiting for... Isn't that what you all elected John Hall for?

Seth Leitman's (ex-)Conflict of Interest

(March 16, 2010 - Seth, or as he likes to be called now, the Green Living Guy, has since re-joined the rebel forces after he quit working for BGA. He's become editor of the Green Guru Guide series for McGrawHill and working hard with Rock The Reactors to see Indian Point shut down. So please read this below as a slice of ancient history. ~ Remy C.)

This is the story of a man who made a complete about face in his commitment to shut down Indian Point for a few dollars more, so as to cash in on the green consumer craze. Let me explain.

In April of 2006, Seth Leitman joined myself and model Betcee May on the shores of the Hudson river, in a little park directly across Indian Point. Back then, Seth was committed to shut down the old plant. He'd worked for the state of New York selling hybrid and electric cars for a decade. He knows first hand the dangers of nuclear power.

Seth and I shared a dream, to expand his online electric vehicle business Electric Transportation Solutions into a full service green product portal, to bring the green lifestyle to the electric vehicle community. The association promised to be a fruitful one, since I am editor-at-large and webmaster for Electrifying Times, a well established magazine dedicated to electric cars since 1994.

The idea was to blend our two campaigns together, with Betcee May as its star. Betcee and I had discussed this for a long time. Shooting Betcee in front of Indian Point, with a Honda Civic hybrid, would give Betcee instant popularity online as the new green "it" girl of the moment. Which is exactly what happened... the page quickly garnered tens of thousands of hits... Practically overnight, Betcee became the most downloaded pin-up girl in the nuclear industry!

Betcee would shoot for Seth's new online ETS Energy store... we would all share equally in the profits, doing a good thing... rock the green world together, as Betcee coined it. Sadly, and this is where it all started falling apart, Seth went and sold majority share of his company to BGA Engineering, retrenching with his old utility buddies, who had done work for both Indian Point and Millstone in Connecticut, interviewing young nuclear engineers from Cornell University in anticipation of the Nuclear Renaissance.

The merger happened after I introduced Seth to an old friend, Sam Salamay, who unbeknownst to me, worked at BGA. All Sam and I had ever talked about all these years, is solar energy... It never dawned on me Sam was now working for a nuclear industry affiliated firm. It never came up. Sam has always been well aware of my anti-nuclear activism, but it had never been an issue until Seth partnered with his employer, because that made me an active participant in the venture.

Seth selling 50% of his online business to BGA totally changed the dynamics of our marketing strategy. Both Seth and Sam cannot speak out about their anti-nuclear sentiments, it would threaten BGA's contracts, so in essence, their association with me became cumbersome, yet Seth and Sam still wanted to use my creative talent to develop the product selection and marketing campaign for ETS Energy store.

I wasn't aware of the conflict of interest... I was working with friends... I didn't realize what was going on... I was focused on the image of Betcee May as the new face of dozens of green products, creating product placement opportunities for her, for us... we all needed to make a little cash, in tune with our environmental beliefs. I had a vision, and I was sticking to it. Nobody told me I was suddenly working for the nuclear power industry!

Seth isn't that pure... When time came to shoot the new images for the website, which we were going to position in a slew of green blogs and green magazines, who would jump at the opportunity to feature the amazing Betcee May on their pages selling green products, Betcee sensed something wasn't quite right... despite a hefty dollar advance, Betcee opted not to participate in the shoot... said she had a previous booking as an excuse, wouldn't fly out for the day... which is when Summer Rayne Oakes stepped in to take her place, as a favor to us.

BGA spent a considerable amount of money of this shoot. Model/Musician Jon Mack was flown in from California, at great expense... The hiring of top fashion photographer Eric Striffler, travel expenses to his studio in the Hamptons... The dream was to produce extraordinary images both the fashion and green lifestyle media would embrace, which I could easily place, which would promote ETS Energy store, the green careers of each model, the green lifestyle, a win win situation all around.

Problem was, Seth couldn't find it in his heart to explain to BGA where the inspiration for this motley crew was coming from, neither Seth nor Sam introduced me to BGA... they didn't want BGA to know their creative arts director was a rabid anti-nuclear freak! Which is also probably why, they didn't pursue Betcee more aggressively as a feature model, because of her Indian Point shoot, and let's face it, her recent stint posing for adult websites.

So the whole thing fell apart. Seth refused to pay me after the fashion shoot... I suspect Seth gave Summer Rayne Oakes a percentage of ETS (they still refuse to answer the question) which means that now, she's under contract, stipulated in the fine print, she cannot voice anti-nuclear sentiments either. Blames me for the whole mess... but cashed the check none the less.

The little I saw of the pictures that day in the Hamptons turned out fantastic, but I was denied access to the images. They became sole property of Seth Leitman, who never put them to good use. After weeks of shouting and screaming, I got a meager check to shut me up... the dream of taking ETS Energy store to the top, with a beautiful website, beautiful ads, all courtesy of Eric Striffler's wonderful lens, Summer and Jon's persona... down the drain... as the images have languished at the bottom of a computer file... a crying shame.

This is what nuclear power does to people! It sticks a wedge in their professional and personal lives. What started out as a singular vision, Betcee May anti-nuclear activist extraordinaire, the face of green products everywhere... degenerated into an obscure little green product website somewhere on the fringes of cyberspace, all because its owners won't stand up for what's right, shout out "Shut Down Indian Point!"

Relationships, friendships, all flew apart because of this... money, feelings, twisted... because Seth sold out to the Utilities, in the hope of building a green business, tainted at the source, doomed at the roots... I also didn't know until recently that Seth had co-written a report about the Th!nk program for the Idaho National Labs, where the deal between General Motors and the nuclear power industry went down to build new nukes for the hydrogen economy.

There is one way to fix all this... for BGA to bid for Indian Point's decommissioning contract. If BGA does that... Officially states that when IP shut downs (and we will shut it down) they are interested in safely dismantling the plant, restoring the land... miracle happens, but that's up to Seth and Sam... will they put their jobs on the line to request such a statement from their bosses?

We'll see...

Siberia attack leaves one anti-nuclear protester dead

Madness Takes Its Toll
grist@grist.org

Siberia attack leaves one anti-nuclear protester dead, others injured

A pre-dawn attack on an anti-nuclear protest camp in Siberia this weekend left one person dead and several others seriously injured. Twenty suspects have been detained for the crime, in which attackers wearing dark clothes and masks brandished metal pipes, chanted nationalist slogans, attempted to set tents on fire, and beat the crap out of as many of the 21 encamped environmentalists -- most of whom were sleeping -- as they could get their hands on.

Authorities say they don't believe the protest itself -- which is focused on nuclear-waste processing at the state-owned Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Plant and inspired by concerns that Russia plans to process spent nuclear fuel from abroad -- was the motive for the hatefest. Instead, they say, it may have been as simple as an argument or theft. "Investigators are inclined to believe that the attack was motivated by hooliganism with the aim of stealing property," said a local police spokesperson. Oh, those wacky hooligans. What'll they do next?

More:
Guardian - Pravda - Forbes

Statement from Vladimir Slivyak of Ecodefense on NIRS website.

Providing Another Piece of The Puzzle...Stopping The Uranium Fuel Cycle Game

Just received this in email from Remy, and feel compelled to put it on the blog as written...the uranium fuel cycle, from mining to waste disposal, and all point in between is a cycle of death...it is time the truth be known, is it time that we as Americans demand accountability.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Report on Uranium Project

http://environmentalnightmares.blogspot.com/2006/05/report-on-uranium-project.html

by Harold J. One Feather
igmuskala@yahoo.com
605-845-5978

May 27, 2006

First of all, I am a volunteer for the Defenders of the Black Hills and am honored to be one.
www.defendblackhills.org
P.O. Box 2003 Rapid City SD 57709

My report will be short and will describe to you my goals, objectives and accomplishments as this relates to the Custer National Forest abandoned uranium mines and the extreme health crises in Rock Creek (Bullhead, SD) on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.

I call your attention to the issue of extreme genocide and racism against our people occurring in northern South Dakota resulting from the radioactively contaminated abandoned uranium mines in the Custer National Forest. I have been involved in this issue for nearly ten years beginning in 1997 and have conducted an intensive examination of the facts relating to this critical issue.

In the Rock Creek community, there is an increasing rate of health problems: cancer and cancer deaths, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, diabetes and kidney diseases, and, sadly, birth defects. I have lost my mother to cancer, my father died of a heart disease, two of my aunts died of cancer, my niece has had two miscarriages and an ectotopic pregnancy; this is my testimony to you, others in the Rock Creek community have the same health problems. That there is an extreme health emergency on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation is not the question, I ask what can we do about this, for our future generations, for those that have lost our relatives?

As one man with limited resources, I could do nothing, my pleas were routinely ignored although I presented the facts to our tribal leadership, and to my community. Feeling a sense of hopelessness, I almost gave up and would have left my reservation with a guilty conscience knowing that our people are dying needlessly.

I have then asked in 2004 for the help of the Defenders of the Black Hills to deliver this message to concerned individuals and to governmental officials: Our people are dying and are getting sick from the abandoned uranium mines.

To date, the Defenders and I have attended several crucial meetings with the US Forest Service relating to their CERCLA/Superfund remediation actions. I like to think that because of our insistence, they received the $22 million reclamation grant from the US EPA and hopefully will reclaim the mines in the near future. Our next step should be to cause the US Forest Service to consider the extreme health crises on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation under the CERCLA/Superfund. This will cause the US Forest Service to speed up the Riley Pass abandoned uranium mine reclamation action as well as reclaim the other mines at the South Cave Hills and Slim Buttes. And hopefully this will cause the US EPA to give technical assistance grants to the affected communities and to the Defenders of the Black Hills to have CERCLA/Superfund explained in layman's terms. This way the rights of the people to have a safe environment will assured for future generations of our people.

We must also never forget to make those atomic bombs and nuclear power plants, they, the mining companies, have poisoned our environment and hurt our people, and they must be held accountable for their radioactively contaminated toxic mines. Tronox, formerly Kerr-McGee, must not be allowed any leniency since they have did a very unexcusable crime against our people.

We have also caused the State of South Dakota to initiate their surface water quality monitoring program for the western river basins except for the Bad River and will sample the water for radionuclide contamination. The Defenders must establish their proposed water quality monitoring project to compare these results with the States' results. To do properly implement the project, we will need funds and a budget, a sampling plan, sampling kits and supplies, intensive research on water issues, a quality assurance and assessment policy manual, and maps.

As some of you know I have volunteered to lead the MySpace group "Defenders of the Black Hills" (http://groups.myspace.com/defendblackhills) and have gained the support for several key MySpacers. I have placed four videos on the group main page:

1.) Destruction of the Black Hills;
2.) Riley Pass Mining Spoils;
3.) Picnic Springs; and,
4.) Riley Pass Mine.

I have also included many important links to the uranium issues in our area including several key photographs of the Riley Pass uranium mine. In my photoblog at MSN Spaces (http://spaces.msn.com/uraniummine) I have many more photos and links to this areas newspaper story about the uranium issue. We have 124 members who are very interested in our activities concerning the Riley Pass mine and the others in the Custer National Forest. We have also all worked on a letter that we should all send to the State governor and to our Congress persons.

With the help of John LeKay (www.heyokamagazine.com), we have also established the Silkwood Project (www.silkwoodproject.com) which has interviews from myself, Dr. Helen Caldicott, world-renown nuclear activist; Timothy Benally, Navajo nuclear activist; Doug Brugge, Tufts University nuclear activist; Diane Stearns, Northern Arizona University biochemist, and William Under Baggage, Indigenous Nations Network environmentalist. The site is full of interesting and scary articles about uranium issues. I would highly recommend that everyone read these articles, John is very thorough in his writing and is extremely intelligent; we are very fortunate that he is helping the Defenders by publicizing our fight for environmental protection and for the uranium issue

Posted by igmuska

And I will see all of you on the barricades

Robert, we all know you have three sons with asthma... But please don't exclude "nuclear" from your speech and the equation... It's not oil and coal vs. nuclear... it's oil, coal and nuclear vs. solar, wind and industrial hemp!
~Remy C.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. speech at Live Earth - New York event - July 7th

Now we've all heard the oil industry and the coal industry and their indentured servants in the political process telling us that global climate stability is a luxury that we can't afford. That we have to choose now between economic prosperity on the one hand and environmental protection on the other. And that is a false choice.

In 100% of the situations, good environmental policy is identical to good economic policy --- if we want to measure our economy, and this is how we ought to be measuring it, based upon how it produces jobs and the dignity of jobs over the generations, how it preserves the values of the assets of our community and how it averts the catastrophe of global warming.

If, on the other hand, we want to do what they've been urging us to do on Capitol Hill which is to treat the planet as if it were a business in liquidation, convert our natural resources to cash as quickly as possible, have a few years of pollution based prosperity, we can generate an instantaneous cash flow and the illusion of a prosperous economy. But our children are going to pay for our joyride with denuded landscapes, with poor health, with huge cleanup costs and with climate chaos which is going to amplify over time and that they will never be able to pay.

Environmental injury is deficit spending. It is a way of loading the costs of our generation's prosperity on to the backs of our children. Climate change is upon us. Its impacts are going to be catastrophic and we are causing it. The good news is, we have the scientific and technological capacity to avert its most catastrophic impacts. We only need the political will.

If we raise fuel economy standards in our automobiles by one mile per gallon --- we generate twice the amount of oil that is in the Arctic National Wildlife Refugee. If we raise fuel economy standards by 7.6 miles per gallon we yield more oil than we now import from the Persian Gulf. We can eliminate 100% of Persian Gulf oil.

Think about what that would do for our economy, for our foreign policy, for our global leadership, it would dramatically improve our balance of payments, reduce our national debt and make all of us more prosperous and more independent and spare us from wars in the Mid- East that are costing us, already, a trillion dollars and from entanglements with Mid-Eastern dictators who despise democracy and are hated by their own people.

Now you've heard today a lot of people say that there are many little things that you all can do today to avert climate change on your own. But I will tell you this, it is more important than buying compact flourescent light bulbs or than buying a fuel efficient automobile. The most important thing you can do is to get involved in the political process and get rid of all of these rotten politicians that we have in Washington D.C. --

Who are nothing more than corporate toadies for companies like Exxon and Southern Company, these villainous companies that consistently put their private financial interest ahead of American interest and ahead of the interest of all of humanity. This is treason and we need to start treating them now as traitors.

And they have their slick public relations firms and their phony think tanks in Washington D.C. and their crooked scientists who are lying to the American people day after day after day. And we have a press that has completely let down American Democracy. That's giving us Anna Nicole Smith and Paris Hilton instead of the issues that we need to understand to make rational decisions in a democracy - like global warming.

And so I am going to tell you this, that the next time you see John Stossel or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity --- these flat- earthers, these corporate toadies, lying to you, lying to the American public, and telling you that global warming doesn't exist --- you send an email to their advertisers and tell them that you are not going to buy their products anymore.

And I want you to remember this, that we are not protecting the environment for the sake of the fishes and the birds, we are protecting it because nature is the infrastructure of our communities. And if we want to meet our obligation as a generation, as a civilization, as a nation, which is to create communities for our children that provide them with the same opportunities for dignity, and enrichment, and good health, and prosperity, and stability as the communities that our parents gave us, we've got to start by protecting our environmental infrastructure.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the wildlife, the public lands, the things that connect us to our past to our history that provide context to our communities and that are the source, ultimately, of our values and our virtues and our character as a people and the future of our children.

And I will see all of you on the barricades.

Iraq & Indian Point, one and the same!

"We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected the promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world-government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the National auto-determination practiced in past centuries". - David Rockefeller, In an address to a Trilateral Commission meeting in June of 1991

Congressman John Hall once said, you'd be surprised at all the connections between the operation of the Indian Point nuclear power plant and the perpetuation of the war in Iraq. Reading this quote from David Rockefeller, one can now understand why John has suddenly become so timid. David Rockefeller lives in Tarrytown, New York, not too far from Indian Point, where, after a promise he made to his dying brother Laurance, who was a torn environmentalist, the third brother prisoner in a family of environmental criminals, he would transform the old stables on the grounds of their estate into an organic farm.

It wasn't meant to be that way mind you, originally it was just going to be a local cooperative, but urged by so many in the experimental agricultural community, David suddenly had no other choice but to hire professionals who were going to transform these 100 acres into a hippy paradise. A very trendy organic restaurant in New York, Blue Hill, was invited to open an other kitchen at this new location, and now every weekend, members of the Trilateral Commission come wine and dine, and pay visit to Boris the pig, who Betcee May met last year face to face. Sadly, at last inquiry, the somelier didn't think organic wines were good enough to serve at their tables. Tell that to the California Association of Winegrape Growers!

Where does David Rockefeller stand on nuclear power? Well he is "pro" of course, although secretly, he probably wishes Indian Point wasn't so close to home. It is this form of aristocratic NIMBY that is crippling the anti-nuclear efforts of organizations like Riverkeeper and IPSEC, who are indirectly, through their illustrious membership, indebted to local financial contributions from the world government elite.

For you see, nuclear power is a way to perpetuate this agenda of corporate globalization and state control, concentrating the production of electricity into the hands of a few wealthy individuals, assuring the survival of the old guard autocracy families like the Rockefellers, the Rothchilds (who I grew up surrounded by) and the Kennedys belong to. Indian Point isn't just about old nuclear reactors leaking on the Hudson, threatening the lives of millions, it's about families like the Rockefellers finding themselves in the embarassing position of having to open their homes to strangers as a tourist attraction, hanging on to their fading dreams of world domination, in a new era saturated with YouTube and MySpace, challenged in their authority by groups like TED, a Bioneers for Billionaires, who fund World Changing and Tesla Motors.

We can't shut down Indian Point without the participation of the patrons who visit the Blue Hill restaurant at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture... it is afterall, their decision, it is their world. We just live in it, peasants at the gates, while they send our boys to die in far away wars for an oil, we wouldn't really need, if monsters like David Rockefeller didn't walk the earth just a few miles away from the most precarious nuclear power plant in America!

Save The Cheerleader, Save The World

Last October, a new catch phrase was born... for those of you familiar with Rock The Reactors, it really strikes a responsive chord.

In episode 5 of 'Heroes", Hiro teleports himself from the future to the current New York city, to relay the message "Save The Cheerleader, Save The World" to another Hero, who has the ability to mimic all other Heroes.

The season finale of Heroes airs tomorrow night, Monday night. Many of us who have watched this show, relish it, because of moments like these...

Memorable quotes for"Heroes"
Parasite (2007)

Linderman: You see, I think there comes a time when a man has to ask himself whether he wants a life of happiness or a life of meaning.

Nathan Petrelli: I'd like to think I have both.

Linderman: Can't be done. The two have very different paths. You see, to be truly happy, a man must live absolutely in the present. No thoughts of what's gone before, and no thought of
what's ahead. But, a life of meaning... A man is condemned to wallow in the past and obsess about the future.

Shutting down Indian Point is a lot more than just about facts and figures. It's about emotions, it's about right and wrong... it's about the Powers That Be threatening an entire valley, the entire population of New York city, with the possibility of another disaster... for a few electrons more.

Betcee Bomb by Greg Heine

Betcee May and New Orleans photographer Greg Heine have produced this haunting image of Betcee standing in front of a nuclear bomb blast.

Prints are available for purchase directly from Greg Heine's website Red5Images.

8" x 10"$25 + S/H

11" x 14"$35 + S/H

The image is also present in Greg's new book Illuminated Muse in Twilight available from Lulu.

©2007

1st Year Anniversary of the Rock The Reactors campaign

I know I haven't posted anything original here in a little while, I didn't want our friends at Entergy to think we were keeping anything from them, working in the shadows, getting ready to sneak up again.

I celebrated the one year anniversary of the Rock The Reactors campaign launch (alone) by landing a soft drink sponsor. It's always been about making a theatrical production out of all this, run it like a Broadway show... a passion play, with actors, players, good guys, bad guys... give the public something to sink their teeth into besides boring facts and figures.

We use HIGH drama to great effect, it gets people going, rolling, steaming... our combined webpages and websites are read by lurkers, stalkers, from work... sly in the latest installment like they would a soap opera, or turning the pages of a romance novel. From MySpace to ModelMayhem to Eco-Chick to Hugg to Rock The Reactors to Green Nuclear Butterfly... we set out to become folk heroes, learned from the masters, our mentors, aiming not to end up like them, get shot, poisoned, commit suicide, end up in a pine box.

The folks in the nuclear industry are mean and cruel, dangerous, they harm people... they ran Silkwood off the road... if anything happened to Betcee May because of the high profile position we are putting her in... I would instantly put a bullet to my brain... not before tracking down the Shadow government team that would ever dare touch a hair off her head, nuke them into oblivion... The Kennedys killed Marilyn Monroe... I KNOW this... I know why also... Now you know why Robert Jr. and I can't see eye to eye, why he turns his back on me at fancy cocktail parties... I spent part of my childhood growing up in Palm Beach... I come from where he comes from... I tasted the same thirst.

To their family, it's about holding on to power... it's not about shutting down Indian Point, or giving the people energy independence... His speeches ring hollow to me, because I don't believe a word he says. It's grand standing and oratory... I can do that in my sleep. He attracts social climbers who think that by his side they will feel the beat of the environmental heart... from Robert I get pretence and shame... not the measure of a man.

These are harsh words from someone who in the eye of many is just a rumor... I spent my life lurking, advising, being like Talleyrand... look him up. 2.5 Billion Dollars to build ONE new 1000Mw reactor... A 2Mw windmill costs half a million dollars... you do the math... These are monsters. Who would rather ruin the earth than liberate mankind from the slavery and tyranny of the electron conspiracy. They send their anonymous Entergy paid hacks, who mirror what we do for inspiration... rehash the same old rethoric, can't stop the inevitable... 3 million political prisoners in America...

Free Leonard Peltier... It's about Indian Point... It's about Amerika... It's about the future of this planet and the energy we produce on it... it's about the future of Africa and Asia... decades it took to line up the alternative energy industry so it could stand up to the powers that be... and no Kennedy is going to stand in the way of windmills off Cape Cod... or windmills on Indian Lands... and no government, military, or oil baron is going to prevent the mass production of solid-state lithium ion batteries which are going to make the internal combustion engine a relic for the history books.

I'm tired of this fight, it's taken too long... I'm wrapping it up... the best PR firms (yes, these Entergy pundits were right) are lining up to take on this fight, make it their own... from South Beach to Hollywood, even little Westport... Indian Point is a lot more than just a poor ol'Nuke, it's a bastion, a beacon... we won't need good ol'fashion barricades... sure, it would be nice if John Hall sent out a call to arms, with pitch forks for peasants at the gates, demanding the plant be closed... but why bother, when this amazing tool we wield like a sword, the Internet, is doing the job for us... quietly, from the comfort of our own homes.

Instant communications, email activism... images, messages, energies in the shape of emotions running down a fiber optic cable... the money Entergy spends on pricey advisors and breasted suit men, can't match the fervor of our populist charm... which has always been on the side of right, even if we argue amongst ourselves as to the best way to lead the fight. Closing down Indian Point is going to be a party... it's going to be about helping hundreds of Entergy employees who never bargained for this... who were sold a bill of goods, sold nuclear power like others sell chewing tabacco, holding their nose all the way to the bank, justifying their lives even though they know deep inside they are sad... and we are right.

It's got to stop... this wholesale destruction of nature, wildlife, LIFE... can't go on... unimpeded. Yet, everyone is waiting for someone else to do it... a leader to emerge... someone to take the lead... don't look at me... Look at yourselves... Look at your neighbors... Your friends... your community... the allies you have in Manhattan you have not even bothered to call up on the phone in this time of need... the newspapers editors you keep putting off writing letters to, asking them to pay a little attention to grassroots effort, not so much to Entergy and NRC tampered press releases.

It's the end of an era, we've seen it all before... it just replays like a broken record... solar and wind will replace oil and coal, not nuclear... and possibly even more extraodinary means of generating clean power, that are deeply buried under layers and layers of compartementalization in secret labs all over this land... the planet is dying... look outside... look at the color of the sky over the ocean at sunset, the yellow glow... that's the dust from all the crap we spew in the atmosphere everyday, the lungs of the earth can't assimilate anymore...

A few weeks ago Rock The Reactors conducted a one on one interview with the official Peekskill historian, who gave us a cartoon of Indian Point as King Kong... and it blew my mind, because one year ago, this for me, started because I had a vision on the Hudson... for beauty to kill the beast, because nobody else, in 30 years, was able to do the job... and here it was... an old cartoon, from when the plant had first been built, before the concrete started to crack, before the pipes started to leak, before the welding joints started to give... the people knew... it was just a matter of time... a few days ago a transformer blew... a huge cloud of smoke bellowed into the Hudson Valley sky, photographed by a news helicopter... It wasn't sabotage, it wasn't terrorism... it was just a warning shot... one more in a long list of many, that enough is enough... we don't need this.

The Clearwater Festival is coming up again in June... there's a group trying to give Pete Seeger the Nobel Peace Prize... with everything that's piled up these last few months, we could shut down Indian point in two strokes of a legislator's pen... there's no need for an Independent Safety Assessement, or another catastrophic accident. The people of Rockland County have already voted a man into office they trusted would do the right thing. All John has to do is walk outside one morning and start walking... and ALL the citizens of Peekskill will follow him to the gates... Entergy workers themselves will leave their post... safely shut down the machine... let it rest... and we'll start rebuilding our world... without the threat of nuclear power looming while our children sleep, terrified to speak up... wondering why their parents would allow such a monster to fester.

Dragons die, it's OK... some things were just not meant to live forever... we got better now... plastic solar cells, ultra light materials, nano-motors... amazing green technologies... Uranium, the fruit of Gaia's loins, was never meant to leave the ground... where it serves its purpose... where it is... just like we wouldn't ask you to drink battery acid because it was a clear liquid. This pirate ship wants its figurehead back... it can't sail into harbor without its pride intact. Astro Boy can wait another day.

Bill Maher Gets a Tongue Lashing!!!

From:
Susan Corbett
jscorbett@mindspring.com

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Last night, on his weekly show, Bill Maher said we are going to need nukes to fight global warming. I can't believe I heard him say this, he is normally right on about almost every issue near and dear to progressive hearts. I hope people will flood him with emails voicing our concerns that a lead figure of progressive thought in the entertainment world would espouse such a un-progressive opinion, and he needs to do more research. Thankfully, he was talking to Laurie David and Sheryl Crow, and they both said NO we don't need nukes! Awesome!

Here is Bill's fan email address:
billmaherfanmail@safesearching.com

Susan Corbett
Conservation Chair
SC Sierra Club

Radioactive Energy Drinks Joins The Fight to Shut Down Indian Point!!!

www.radioactiveenergy.com

Rock The Reactors and Green Nuclear Butterfly are proud to announce our first anti-nuclear beverage sponsor!

Radioactive Energy won the 2006 Screaming Energy Drink Coolest Packaging Awards!!!

Not yet available on the East Coast, our two websites will soon be sampling cans of Radioactive Energy at events we attend.

The cans glow in the dark. Don't be caught at a trendy party with a non-glow-in-the-dark can, or they're all going to laugh at you.

Stay tuned for more info... we're hosting a Radioactive Energy taste party as soon as the case arrives.

One World Nuclear Order

Comments from Sara Shannon, co-founder of Mother's Alert, author of Technologies Curse: Diet for the Atomic Age (with Ernest J. Sternglass) and Good Health in a Toxic World: Complete Guide to Fighting Free Radicals.

This is the plan, to say that climate change is caused by carbon emissions... and nuclear has no carbon emissions. So we have to go to more nuclear for power.

This is now as plain as day... a whole plan... and tranparently obvious, once one opens the mind to see... probably in the works for years.

France has their reprocessing plant... the fallout from this goes over East to the Alps, goes down into Lake Leman when the ice melts, and some say is responsible for very high rates of cancer around Geneva.

The reprocessing plant in England, Sellafield, across the water from Dublin, releases effluent into the water, it is absorbed by the seaweed, and this seaweed is used on croplands, and Dublin has Very high rates of cancer....

Everything is very grave as it is, and to consider building MORE Nuke plants is so insane it is impossible to comprehend WHAT sort of thinking and goal is behind it.

I heard someone say yesterday, don't know if its true, he heard on the news that there are plans to impose a "climate change tax" on Americans, that this tax would go partly to fund more nuclear power plants... !!!

About Europe again, it seems, as far as we can comprehend from what is stated, that a few weeks ago, there was a decision to allocate for the future that 20% of energy should be from "Green" energy, that is from alternative energies.

And then the revised list of "green" alternative energies included nuclear power! Very quietly stated.

The basis being that nuclear power does NOT release carbon dioxide emissions, which has been determined to be the CAUSE of climate change...

All this done very smoothly. And seemingly valid. Except, that it is not valid... in any sense.

Going back to the topic of the waste from nuclear power production. WHERE are we going to put it?

There is not now or nor will there be in the future any way to manage long term storage... Only can be managed with double talk.

IF we had the money already spent on exploring Yucca Mountain as a rad waste repository, we could have built wind and solar enough for the whole country !!!

There are choices being made, and they are not made with consideration of the health of present and future humans...

The oxygen level is going down; trees themselves absorb radiaoctive elements and are released when you have a fire in your fireplace.

Our bones contain strontium 90 which radiates into the bone marrow, an essential aspect of the immune system.

The common sense admonition to "make every decision with consideration of the seventh generation" has been shred in the paper shredder.

What to do at this point?

Clearwater Manna Jo Solar April 12...

From:
Manna Jo Greene
mannajo@clearwater.org

April 12 Roundtable on Bringing Sustainable Energy Infrastructure into the Hudson Valley

We are writing to invite you, or your spokesperson, to attend an informative Roundtable discussion on Bringing Sustainable Energy Infrastructure into the Hudson Valley on Thursday afternoon, April 12 from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m.

The purpose of this gathering is to provide a forum for the exchange of information related to a variety of energy efficiency and renewable energy opportunities and initiatives for elected officials, including Congressional representatives, and state and local elected officials, as well as energy providers and a wide range of stakeholders working on energy issues in the region.

It is our belief that a coordinated effort will improve efficiency and foster the actual implementation of increased sustainable energy infrastructure in the Hudson Valley.

Topics will include the current status of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the region, models of successful energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, regional planning for sustainable energy infrastructure andan interactive roundtable discussion with the panel of speakers and audience participation.

The roundtable is sponsored by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Hudson Valley Labor Federation, Hudson Valley Regional Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 363, NY Planning Federation, NYS Apollo Alliance, Sustainable Hudson Valley, and many others.

If your organization or an organization you are affiliated with would like to cosponsor, please let us know right away to be included in the list.

The main thing we ask of cosponsors is to participate and to help us to get the word out by forwarding this letter to your lists.

For further information or to RSVP, please contact Katy Dunlap at (845) 454-7673 ext. 116 or katy@clearwater.org.

Respectfully,

Manna Jo Greene,

Environmental Director

Hudson River Sloop Clearwater

112 Market St.

Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

(845)454-7673 x113 Fax:(845)454=7953

mannajo@clearwater.org

cc: Governor Elliot Spitzer

Elected Officials in the four EPZ counties, NYC, and Long Island

Pete Seeger Nobel Peace Prize Campaign

From Ron Miles, Brainerd, MN.

Pete Seeger Nobel Peace Prize campaign

We have mounted a campaign for a grassroots movement to persuade the American Friends Service Committee to nominate Pete for the Nobel Peace Prize. We have posted a petition on a site named petitionthem.com. The aim is to show grassroots support to the American Friends Service Committee to nominate Pete Seeger for the Nobel Peace Prize.

We know there are many people interested in adding support. We're asking everyone to circulate the petition information to at least 5 other people asking them to notify 5-10 other people. To read about and sign the petition go to:
www.petitionthem.com/default.asp?sect=detail&pet=3774

If that doesn't work just go to www.petitionthem.com ... the petition is on the home page. We hope that you can help circulate this petition.

~ Eleanor Walden

Pete Seeger is a crusader for Peace and Social Justice and has been over the course of his 87 year lifetime. As a prominent musician his songs and performance style have worked to engage other people, particularly the youth, in causes to end the Vietnam war, ban nuclear weapons, work for international solidarity, and ecological responsibility. It is time that cultural work receives the recognition that the arts have great influence and global reach, that it is not only a medium of entertainment but of education, compassion and fraternity. There is no more quintessential cultural worker than Pete Seeger.

Of course Pete has never been alone in this work. He is the first to affirm that. But his unique sense of purpose, decency, and ability, and the support of, his wife Toshi, and his family gave him the opportunity to be all that he could be. He is a role model and a guiding spirit; we can be influential in getting him nominated for the honor he deserves.

Pete has supported almost every peace organization in the United States, indeed internationally, through fundraising concerts, endorsement of activities, and personal participation. The justification for this acknowledgment is in the very fabric of progressive culture. Every one of us can think of myriad reasons why our consciousness of the issues of world peace, social justice and cultural sensitivity, plus the performance skills to involve other people, had something to do with Pete. The extended circle of singers, folk and folksy, topical, political, and sentimental songwriters, in someway owes a debt to Pete Seeger.

As cultural workers we know the power of the arts, we also know how difficult it is to gain recognition for cultural creation. Pete Seeger has gained recognition without compromise! Carl Sandburg called Seeger "the living embodiment of America's traditions...." When Pete was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 they said, “Pete Seeger’s contribution to folk music, both in terms of its revival and survival, cannot be overstated.”

Pete was also honored by the Kennedy Center with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. In 2001 they again paid tribute to Pete Seeger with a cross generational presentation. The program featured friends and family including Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, grandson of Pete Seeger, and Sarah Lee Guthrie, granddaughter of Woody Guthrie." They described Pete as being, "Instrumental in popularizing the indigenous American song, his own compositions - among them 'If I Had a Hammer,' 'We Shall Overcome,' and 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone' (and 'The Big Muddy’) have served as anthems for an entire generation.

It is important to honor our forbears; we all stand on Pete Seeger's shoulders in a manner of speaking. We have an opportunity to acknowledge him a "father" of a cultural, social, and political movement, which enriched us all and in which we all share, as much as we share our paternal DNA.

www.upstreetproductions.com