This morning, I was enjoying my coffee and watching one of my favorite TV shows on the Discovery Science Channel: “How It’s Made.”

One of the episodes was about refurbishing a huge machine. It was big as a bus, with all kinds of hydraulics, electronics, and huge moving parts.

According to the narrator, it had taken several months to overhaul this massive machine. This piece of equipment was a “continuous miner.” This machine is used to mine underground and only needs to be operated by one man. It's used to mine coal.

At that moment, I thought about all those coal mining jobs lost to automation. Then I was angry all over again about the false promises Trump made that those coal jobs would return.

Those jobs did not return. They will not return. Automation is taking those jobs and many more. Coal has been a dying industry for decades, and the entire coal industry has less jobs than Whole Foods has employees, to give you some perspective.

It’s a cruel joke to pretend to coal miners that they don’t need to do anything but vote Republican and the good paychecks their parents and grandparents made (thanks to the tireless work of unions to get them fair pay for dangerous work) will continue to provide for them today, or even next year.

This same phenomenon holds true here in the 8th district with the death of the factory jobs that have moved overseas because CEOs wanted to cash in on selling out America. I’m sure y’all remember the golden parachutes at Pillowtex that gave soft landings to their executives but left the rest of their employees’ families here nothing but the hard reality of being outsourced.

We can’t just sit around and play pretend when people’s livelihoods are at stake. The old platitudes about bootstraps are meaningless when you have a mortgage to make and you need a living wage job to make it.

What can we do to create jobs? Not just McJobs that pay wages nobody can realistically live on, but living wage jobs a person can raise a family on?

One thing that seems pretty obvious to me: We need to re-train our work force. Let’s provide greater incentives and grants to business to hire and *retrain* workers to prepare for 21st century jobs. There is a much bigger future for clean energy jobs in solar, wind, and micro-hydroelectric power generation. Also, absurd Trump lies about “windmill cancer” to the contrary aside, these clean energy jobs won’t give the workers black lung disease like coal mining jobs do.

However, businesses can't create those jobs when 25 to 30٪ tariffs are applied. Many clean energy projects in #NC were either scaled back or put on indefinite hold when Trump announced this latest arbitrary blow to rig the markets in favor of the craven coal barons writing him checks.

Where was our current Representative? Nowhere, silent as usual that #workingclass jobs were affected in this district he doesn’t even live in.

Moving away from fossil fuel coal jobs to clean energy jobs is great for the environment & planet. Plus, it ensures we have a viable future to leave to our children.

We can’t afford to prop up dying, toxic industries by screwing the future. Fossil fuels are a 19th century solution to 21st century problems and we can’t remain competitive with our global rivals by insisting on remaining 200 years behind the times.

Let’s embrace the future with open arms and open eyes.

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"If you don't like it you can leave."

People say this a lot on the internet, and it’s usually when they’re defending horrible injustices happening in our country. I actually find the statement very telling of those who make it.

They ignore the issues that are affecting their fellow Americans, whether it's racism, immigration, LGBTQ rights, poverty etc. If it’s not personally affecting them, they don’t care. 

Let's face it, people can be dangerously selfish. We’ve even got detailed political ideologies dedicated to enshrining this exact kind of selfishness. It’s a sad irony that often this selfish worldview is to their own detriment.
 
But where would America be if every generation before us would have said, I have mine, screw you?
 
We have independence because the founding generation of the Revolution fought to make sure we’d never have to kneel to kings again.
 
We held this country together in the civil war, despite the rending forces of this same selfishness that said it was ok to hold fellow humans in lifelong bondage.
 
We survived the Great Depression because we said “enough” to the runaway excesses of casino capitalism and stabilized the economy with the New Deal, which modernized our infrastructure and lifted millions of Americans out of desperation into dignity.
 
We defeated the Axis Powers in WW2 because everyone sacrificed something so we wouldn’t be ground under the cruel boot of fascism.
 
Our history is full of examples of how our nation was preserved and made greater, not by selfishness but by the generosity of spirit of Americans who didn’t like the status quo but didn’t just “leave,” as that tired cliché would recommend. They stayed and fought for a better and more fair America. 
 
I don’t like the status quo. But I’m not leaving. 
 
I’m sticking around to fight for America and the promise of the American Dream, that conscientious hard work can pay off here, for the person working, not the corporate billionaire heirs and heiresses who won the birth lottery.
 
I believe we are stronger together, and that everybody does better when EVERYBODY does better. “If you don’t like it, leave” is a cop out and this nation didn’t get anywhere by copping out. 

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I talked to a local strawberry farmer in #NC08 about the unseasonable 78 degrees today and the effect of extreme weather changes on their upcoming March/April crops.

Just a few years ago the average temp was a high of 47 degrees. A 30-degree increase towards hotter temps. We must address this issue now. We can no longer ignore the changes brought on by Climate Change and fossil fuel use. This is a National Crisis.

By 2030, if our Congress & President would truly recognize Climate Change as a National Crisis, a National Security Crisis issue. An issue on every border of our nation, we could move to 80% clean, renewable energy for all purposes in 10 years. A decade. By 2050 scientific research suggests America, in fact the world, could be 100% free from carbon-based fuel.

If we don’t do anything, we jeopardize the lives of billions of people and we’ll see strawberry farmers go out of business, unable to grow crops from hotter days to come.

I truly believe that the only thing in our way, the only thing that stops us from achieving our renewable energy goals, is the political system rigged by Politicians who are funded by Corporate PACS and it’s going to take the WILL of new leaders. Leaders who will challenge the status quo and fight for what’s right.
According to EIA.GOV, District 8 has 27 solar fields. NC generated 4,400 megawatts from Solar ranking our great state second to California. Clean energy creates jobs at rate of 4x more that fossil fuels. 5x as many as natural gas.

Clean Solar Energy will produce jobs and it has a positive effect, we have cleaner water. Oil, Coal, Nuclear & Natural Gas use water during the production and use of these energies. Just 1, 500-Megawatt coal-fired plant will produce tons of sludge and coal ash. Solar Power uses 0 water and is a friend to the environment.

Again, we just need the WILL and determination of new leaders in Washington.
We can fix this, we can create jobs, reduce carbon emissions drastically and help a local strawberry farmer provide their local community a delicious North Carolina Strawberry.

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If it's Thursday....

America must limit its use of fossil fuels. It seems almost nonsensical that we would be talking about this in 2018 because we have everything we need to reduce our carbon footprint by more than 80% within the next 10 to 15 years. By 2050, scientific research suggests America, in fact the world, could be 100% free from carbon-based fuel consumption.

Recently, I read an article that hit all too close to home. It wasn’t so much the scientific data as it was the world in which my generation will leave our children and grandchildren. It is not that we should transform the energy infrastructure to 100% clean renewable energy, it is the understanding that our lack of doing so jeopardizes the lives of billions of people—even those yet to be born.

Sadly, we have all the technology we need to make this happen. The costs are reasonable enough that we could power the entire planet on renewable energy for all purposes. We need to create a stable environment—we do not have a choice any longer. But, not only would renewable energy create the stable environment we need, it would reduce greenhouse emissions significantly and provide price stabilization at the same time creating good paying jobs in our communities.

I truly believe that the only thing in our way, the only thing that stops us from achieving renewable energy goals, is our political and social issues. Looking at Washington, DC and understanding how encapsulated policymakers are by being wrapped in a bubble, it is hard to see any political willpower to do anything except undo the progress made by the last administration.

Some countries such as France have embraced nuclear energy. It has proven to be a viable energy source. We have uranium resources to make the fuel rods to power the nuclear plants. Plus, it is clean energy with zero carbon. There are some drawbacks however. You need fossil fuels to run the equipment, the heavy machinery, to construct the nuclear power plant. Secondly, at what point do we run out of adequate containment facilities to store the nuclear waste? All we have to do is look at what is happened in some of our local communities with regard to Duke Energy and the storage of contaminated waste.

In a recent study, the majority of the voting population does not want more nuclear power plants. But, even if nuclear power was popular—to get one nuclear plant online would take 19 years based on current regulations, standards, and permits.

From a feasibility standpoint nuclear power is not readily obtainable. It would take 15,000 plants to power the world.

Perhaps, solar energy in conjunction with wind turbine is a feasible alternative and possible solution. We can move to a carbon free environment and every home in the United States could have 4 to 6 solar panels installed without having to navigate huge land areas to build solar farms.

But again, we need social and political willpower to make it happen. California has met with some success by passing laws that require new home construction to include affordable solar technology.

Needless to say, the world is going to be in serious trouble if we don’t start now. Since the Carter administration, we have kicked the can so far down the road that we have run out of road. In North Carolina, we have seen the General Assembly ignore scientific data relevant to our intracoastal waterways forcing coastal communities to deal with rising sea levels without adequate funding. Sea levels are becoming more acidic because of global warming. Literally, rising temperatures are killing our oceans and sea life.

Donald Trump enacted a 30% tariff on solar panel imports at the worst possible time. The effect canceled several projects and it continues the use of fossil fuels when we can least afford it. We need to stop electing anti-science politicians who jeopardize the future, and the health and welfare of our children and grandchildren.

Time will run out for all us if we don't act now.


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Rep. Hudson(R) could not be ‘more’ wrong on his recent Vote in support of H.R. 2666. The FCC should regulate rates charged for Broadband Internet service. If this makes it to the President’s desk, President Obama should veto it.

Rep. Hudson’s claims the Internet is not a Utility. It is. We use it to access email, websites, and online commerce. We use it after we’ve popped popcorn to stream a favorite movie. Unfortunately, Rep Hudson's vote is for the Telecom Monopoly not consumers and his constituents, who would be forced to pay higher rates if this bill went into law.

The Internet was made possible today mostly from the initial support and research of tax-payer funded research, through DARPA and today exists as a globally distributed network. Sounds like a utility system to me, because Tax Payers paid for it.

In 1996 - Consumers used to have access to over 200 telephone companies just in NC. The Telecom act of 1996 was supposed to ensure American Consumers would have choices.

One by one, lobbyists for the Telecoms have pushed State & Federal Representatives to undermine the 1996 Telecom Act and to issue laws that remove regulation, which paved the way for consolidation. Now 20 years later. We only have a few companies who offer Broadband internet access via telephone, cable or satellite. If you're a Mobile Phone user, you choices are even worse.

On average, the cost of Business class broadband is $200 a month. Residential is $50-80. If you read the Terms of Service of your provider, broadband is listed as Best Effort service. What does that mean? Well if you're a business and you purchase a 50mb x 5mb service, you might not always enjoy that 50mb download capacity. One day it could be slower than your upload. That’s Best Effort.

The 1996 Telecom Act was supposed to encourage the phone companies to improve their network, increase Internet speeds to the home and improve reliability. Based on the last 20 years of de-regulation, yes de-regulation. Consumers are paying higher rates for slow internet. Why doesn't every home have fiber yet? De-regulation at the state and federal level killed that idea.

Fiber Optic was developed in 1966 and was quickly adopted to replace copper for telecom communications. Telecom's have held on to copper vs upgrading their network 20 years ago. There was no reason to upgrade a 100 year old copper network.

Remember, not ALL de-regulation is good. In fact to de-regulate you have to regulate. Just look at what a Monopoly does when there’s are no competition. When consumers have less choice, rates are higher. That's a fact.

Rep. Hudson sites a study reporting 43,560 jobs could be lost over a five year period. However, 1 in 5 jobs in NC are a result of Broadband Internet - in 2015 that represented 18% of new jobs. Makes one wonder how many jobs were lost by not upgrading to Fiber Optic to the homes when the 1996 Telecom Act went into place.

It's sad that Rep Hudson has not listened to his constituents who pay for the Broadband service, including me, that have expressed their concern regarding access to the Internet. When a Representative fails to listen to their constituents and fails to educate themselves on an issue, they are clearly representing the ones who benefit by this law. The Big Monopoly Telephone Companies. They were cheering when he voted YES for this bill.

I posted this on Rep Hudson's Facebook page.  It was quickly deleted and I was blocked from posting.  It's clear he doesn't listen to constituents.  He listened to the Corporate PAC's who donate to him.