1 Re: The Internet is Under Attack in Congress 
  Jerry Lembcke, Jon Weisberger
2 Re: Gingrich, The Times & Doomsday -- Dan Morgan
3 UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa -- Stewart Acuff
4 Re: Obituary for David Montgomery -- Joe Dimow
5 Re: Tidbits and Reader Response -- Michael Eisenscher

=====
11111

Re: The Internet is Under Attack in Congress
From: Jerry Lembcke

I think this petition takes the WRONG position! Why is
Portside running this?

---

Re: Labor Support For Anti-Internet Piracy Legislation
From: Jon Weisberger  

I was bemused to read today's Portside item entitled
"The Internet is Under Attack in Congress," with its
warning about how "big corporations" might take control
of the internet - signed by founders and owners of some
gigantic companies (e.g., Google).  I believe that
progressives ought to exercise a little caution when
asked to support a status quo which, we're told,
foregoes regulation in order to foster
"entrepreneurship" and "innovation."

At the very least, it seems valuable for Portside
readers to be aware that there is considerable support
for SOPA/PROTECT IP - support that's only been deepened
since the legislation was revised to address the few
complaints about it that were well-founded - on the part
of labor and organizations representing creators, such
as the Nashville Songwriters Association International
(NSAI).  Below please find a link to and the text of a
relevant statement that I think Portside subscribers
might find helpful in thinking about this legislation:

Joint statement from SAG, AFM, AFTRA, DGA, IATSE and IBT
regarding Stop Online Piracy Act (HR 3261)

http://www.sag.org/joint-statement-sag-afm-aftra-dga-iatse-and-ibt-regarding-stop-online-piracy-act-hr-3261

Thanks for your consideration,

Jon Weisberger  
Cottontown, TN 

=====
22222

Re: Gingrich, The Times & Doomsday
From: Dan Morgan

I enjoy Conn Hallinan's articles, usually informative
and thought-provoking. In the interest of protecting him
from negative criticism, I want to make two comments on
his important article of 13th December, posted on
Portside, on Electro-magnetic Pulse (EMP) weapons.

Firstly, the common mistake about units of electricity.
A Watt is a rate of production of energy, not a
quantity. To get a quantity, you have to multiply watts
by a unit of time (usually an hour. My electricity bill
this month is for 220 kiloWatt-hours (kWh), hours of
using a thousand watt device. It seems that Conn is
confused about this, when he says: "A large enough
device can generate up to two billion watts, about what
Hoover Dam turns out in a day." The capacity of the
Hoover dam is indeed about 2 billion watts but this its
maximum rate of production of power. In a day it
produces in fact about 11 billion Watt-hours (23% of its
theoretical maximum). So probably Conn means 2 billion
watts, sustained for a second, or a fraction of a
second. This would be a tremendous rate of energy
production, but nothing like the total energy produced
by a big dam in a day.

Another correction, perhaps really pedantic: Electrical
discharges from the heavens are 'lightning'. Lightening
is from a verb meaning to make something lighter, as in
"I should lighten up."

That does feel better. Pedants of the world unite, you
have nothing to lose but your dictionaries.

=====
33333

Subject: UN climate conference in Durban, South Africa
From: Stewart Acuff

I was very pleased to represent the Utility Workers
Union of America at the recently concluded United
Nations climate change conference in Durban, South
Africa. We joined with unions from around the world
calling for the development of green energy and green
economies while protecting existing jobs.

I stayed quite busy while there as part of the Blue
Green Alliance and the International Trade Union
Confederation.

I spoke for all of us at a meeting of the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) about our being at the
table in the development of new green industries. Of
course that has never happened in America before.

I was pleased to meet with the US negotiators and talk
about the UWUA's commitment to green energy development
as a way to create new jobs and secure greater energy
independence.

A global news conference called by the Blue Green
Alliance with reporters from around the world gave us
another opportunity to talk about the need to grow green
energy as a way to create hundreds of thousands of new,
good jobs. That news conference included the United
Steelworkers, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the
Natural Resources Defense Council.

Finally, we marched in a 10,000 worker global march
through downtown Durban calling for the development of
green energy as a way to create millions of good jobs
all over the world.

=====
44444

Re: Obituary for David Montgomery
From: Joe Dimow

In his otherwise excellent review Eric Foner has one
glaring (to me) error.

While Yale University is in New Haven, Colt firearms is
in Hartford.

Having known David and Martel since he came to New Haven
and having spent a large amount of time together
including doing some proof reading for him I know he
would have wanted the Colt error fixed.

=====
55555

Re: Tidbits and Reader Response
From: Michael Eisenscher

John Case says:

    One path toward unity that could be considered is
    the formation of parallel workers civil rights
    organizations entirely independent organizationally
    from the Union and its customarily complex legal
    entanglements with the employers under contract.

Right - It's called Jobs with Justice!!! We don't have
to form it. It exists.

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate