How would it feel to be guaranteed, by law, the right to:

- Employment with a living wage
- Freedom from unfair competition and monopolies
- Housing
- Medical Care
- Education
AND Social Security?

A Second Bill of RIghts. Second Bill of Rights you say? That sounds crazy! Unbeknownst to many, a Second Bill of RIghts was actually proposed not too terribly long ago. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), ranked the #1 Greatest Chief Executive by a recent Siena College Poll proposed the idea in his State of the Union address on January 11th, 1944.

Here is an excerpt from the speech he gave advocating for enhanced individual freedom through this Second Bill of Rights.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.

I’ll be honest, I don’t have any issue with our current Bill of Rights. They are, what I consider to be, the crux of our democracy today. Without these guaranteed rights, we would not live in the free society that we do in the present day and people would not have nearly as many opportunities for a successful and fulfilling life. However, the prospects of having rights to housing, medical care, and a job with a living wage seem rational and comforting. The original Bill of Rights ensured our political rights as citizens of this country. FDR’s proposed Second Bill of Rights, as he stated in his speech, would bestow upon the citizens of this country the proper Social and Economic rights necessary. . . .

Surfers have been heading to the beach and hitting the waves all day, in advance of Hurricane Earl’s arrival along the eastern seaboard tomorrow.

Folks from southern North Carolina to as far north as Massachusetts should be working on tying down anything loose, preparing an emergency kit and checking their emergency exit strategy. Earl is expected to reach the Outer Banks tomorrow evening around sunset, fueled by a full day of solar energy. As you can see from the map of tropical storm winds from NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, Earl has quite a reach, so much so that the NHC has expanded watch areas:

GIVEN THE FORECAST TRACK…THE LARGE SIZE OF THE WIND FIELD…AND THE EXPECTED INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED WATCHES AND WATCHES HAVE BEEN EXTENDED NORTHWARD ALONG THE EAST COAST OF THE UNITED STATES.

Hope our east coasters are prepared; there’s plenty of places here on the "north coast" to get away for the holiday weekend if Earl has messed up your plans.

But maybe you’re in flyover country and don’t have to worry about Earl like our friends on the east coast do. And maybe you’re nowhere near surfing unless it involves snow. Earl offers a reminder that we should all be prepared and have a plan ready in the event that an emergency occurs at home.

Here in my part of flyover country, preparedness means plans and kits for tornado-y summers and blizzard-y winters. What about you? What kinds of emergencies are you prepared for? And are you packing up now for Earl?

Do tell.

At the turn of the 20th Century, smoke meant jobs. When noxious fumes spewed from factory stacks, workers brought home paychecks. Industries hired. The future was bright as molten iron flowing from a blast furnace.

In industrial Pittsburgh’s heyday, the smoke was so dense streetlights remained lit at noon. White collar workers changed soot-covered shirts mid-day. The region’s residents suffered high rates of asthma and emphysema. In 1948, an inversion trapped industrial pollution in a small town south of Pittsburgh, killing 20.

Smoke also meant death and disease.

Now, however, good-paying industrial jobs need not exact untimely death from workers and their families. In fact, it’s the opposite. Development of clean renewable energy generators – the likes of wind turbines, solar cells, biomass – would create family-supporting industrial jobs in America and would reinforce traditional manufacturing jobs in the U.S., including those in steel mills, solar cell fabrication plants and wind turbine factories, such as those built by Gamesa in Pennsylvania.  . . .