Stay tuned for information on a photo opportunity for everyone who gets a Quitness t-shirt.

Broken Air Pollution Monitoring Station in Cleveland, Ohio, on an UNHEALTHY DAY - July 5, 2010

As highlighted in my posting on realNEO July 8, 2010 - "Texas regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards! Like in Ohio?!" - I've concluded that "Ohio regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards, and that I believe that political, business and environmental leadership are hiding the violations of polluters by causing ineffective and so publicly harmful and dangerous pollution control practices here, which are made possible by government failure here to really monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards."

Further, I make clear, "the Sierra Club and the Federal EPA are taking legal action AGAINST the Texas STATE REGULATORS and the world's largest corporations because they are not in fact protecting the environment, as required by the Federal government," I go on to report "I have been compiling evidence of corrupt and/or incompetent pollution control in Ohio for many years, and have now formally requested the help of the Sierra Club and their affiliates around the world to force change upon Ohio regulators who are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards here."

I conclude: "As I am seeking real, good outcomes for here - elimination of physical harm from Mittal and other excessive polluters in this region - like being realized through real environmentalism in Texas, my role in this community is not Mr. Nice Guy. I am the uncompromising polluter-killer who makes the Sierra Club seem like a breath of cool fresh air on an astoundingly dangerous Cleveland July afternoon, like today..."

Right on cue, like a breathe of fresh air, I recieved copies today of correspondence from the Sierra Club addressing this very issue, and I asked permission to share that on realNEO as public information and motivation for citizens to engage the government on these issues

I've always liked LeBron James, the human being I've seen grow up in the spotlight in Northeast Ohio and then the world.

I liked him best of all on Saturday Night Live, showing how much I'm not a professional sports fan.

I also certainly appreciated his efforts to get out the vote in Cleveland in 2008, as shown in these photos from a Russell Simmons Rally then.

While I know the unreal NEO media and many citizens will attack LeBron for his decision to continue his professional basketball career with the Miami Heat, next year, I'm thrilled to see an exceptional young man from my region succeed at such a huge level, and with so much of his life ahead. Regarding LeBron changing teams now or ever, that is how the game is played - and often it is teams sending players packing - so it is not like the sports playing field is local, fair or level. LeBron seems to have made a smart, tough career and life decision - one described by an ESPN commentator as the greatest experiment in basketball history.

Real bicycle commuter riding to work in a lumber yard in the Cleveland Flats. His work didn't cause this smog.

Why am I so hostile toward Ohio leadership?

Must be the poison in the air!

And, the life in hell lived by real environmentalists.

Consider what is necessary to clean up the air in environmentally-compromised Texas, where "Environmental groups say Exxon Mobil refinery violates U.S. air law" - "The environmental groups' legal maneuvers are part of broader accusations by the organizations and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that Texas regulators are failing to properly monitor, control and enforce federal emission standards."

You think it is any easier to deal with the greatest corruption on Earth - the corruption of our environmental laws - right here in highly corrupt, polluted, old-economy Northeast Ohio?

 Father Lucian is again being gracious enough to permit the OSS the privilege of meeting in the St. John Cantius meeting room.

As the flyer indicates, we will be addressing the issues/concerns of blocking public right-of-ways in our community.  The lack of handicap parking/signage.

This matter is open for discussion to everyone since it affects the safe passage not only to those with disabilities but to anyone pushing strollers, carts, on crutches or may have difficulty with their gait, especially the elderly.

When my daughter Grace arrived from Austin Texas for a visit to Cleveland this Summer, her first request was for Hot Sauce Williams BBQ ... her second request was to eat at Melt Bar and Grilled.

Though Grace lives in what many people (including myself) consider the BBQ capital of the world, Grace still considers Hot Sauce Williams the best BBQ on Earth.

And, word on the street in Valley City, where Grace hangs with friends, is that Melt is the best thing in Cleveland since sliced bread...

One thing is for sure - Hot Sauce Williams and Melt are as real NEO as food may be.

Seems the Travel Network's Man vs. Food agrees, as host Adam Richman featured Hot Sauce Williams and Melt on a recent episode filmed in Cleveland.... airing tomorrow, July 9, at 8 PM E/P.

With very little wind,  you had to be in the water for any personal temperature relief along Lake Erie.  The air here was hotter than air in the Metropark Woods.  

Lots of children were having a blast - very excited to be at the beach.

I had a more difficult time suspending disbelief - Westerly Sewerage plant is just a few hundred yards away. 

Has there been not even a peep about a recall election of Dimora and Russo? I remember when they rushed through one for Mayor Dennis Kucinich. It failed, but still. This one probably would have passed.

And no one has bothered to run against Councilman Cimperman since I can't remember when. True, it takes money to run and get your name before the public.

Have you noticed, the coverage of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is slowly tapering off.

The leak is not only still going on, a vast seed of even larger disaster is likely to have been sewn already.

Biblical proportions with biblical consequences for all of us?

I'm thinking about how I can “Get off Gas (GOG).”

U.S. Presidential speeches confirm Ronald Reagan was critically concerned about Extraterrestrials

As an Independence Day "Happy Birthday America" tribute to all immigrants, on the 4th of July, meet Griet, a South African immigrant to Northeast Ohio who has certainly done her part to grow the American economy... and Boerboel population. Long story short, Griet has come out of retirement and is expecting a litter of baby Boerboels around July 8th... in the middle of a heatwave.

I guess it may remind her of the weather in her native Africa. She is the real deal.

Gee, I will be 59 this year. Thinking back to the teen days, probably the end of the hippie era and Nam, I think a big part of that generation was ignored. My first year in college was spent discovering all the things of the hippie culture besides the farse of free love. All those alternative life style folks, communal farms, geodesic domes, native cultures and habitats, and solar, integrated bio-shelters and organic farming and hemp as a sustainable crop. So many things were preemptively tested in real time, legal or no. It is kind of ironic that this stuff is being reconsidered today.

Brightest Greenest Reason LeBron James Should Seriously Consider Staying in NEO - We Are Going To Legalize Cannabis in EC this year - Ohio-wide in 2011.

Then, everyone may live like a king, in real NEO.

Join us, King James, as real NEO becomes the Cannabis Capital of the World. We shall be the Champions!

The July Plain Press releases some of the information on Neighborhood Development Allocations made by Councilman Cummins and others with regards to Ward 14.  Please pick up a copy of the Plain Press at your local library--the pdf will also be available soon.

Meanwhile, of the $450,000 available to Ward 14--Councilman Cummins has alloted $365,000 to these organizations:

Northeast Ohio's Brightest Greenest New Economy Competition: Next Generation Seed Company - Made in Canada.

Through them and their Canadian growers, Canada exports $ billions in Canadian-grown marijuana to the United States each year.

In 2001 it was reported, in "BC Marijuana Industry Approaching Critical Mass, DEA Not Happy", that British Columbia "boasts 15,000 to 25,000 marijuana grow operations employing (at six persons per grow) between 90,000 and 150,000 people. The agency estimated the annual wholesale value of the pot crop at $4 billion. At $2,000 per pound, that is about two million pounds of BC bud each year, much of it headed south. The agency estimated that as much as 95% of the crop is exported to the ravenous US market."

Figure 4. Hemp Products Flowchart. Processing to End Product Groups.

Industrial Hemp as an Alternative Crop in North Dakota - A White Paper Study of the Markets, Profitability, Processing, Agronomics and History
David G. Kraenzel, Tim Petry, Bill Nelson, Marshall J. Anderson, Dustin Mathern, Robert Todd
The Institute for Natural Resources and Economic Development (INRED) - North Dakota State University
Agricultural Economics Report No. 402 - July 23, 1998

Abstract: This report is in response to a national and state interest in the potential benefits of industrial hemp as an alternative crop. Industrial hemp has many uses which can be categorized into nine submarkets. North Dakota may have a comparative advantage in producing industrial hemp seed for oil because of the multi-oil processing facility in Carrington (AgGrow Oils) and the established infrastructure. Industrial hemp is currently legally produced in 22 countries with Canada being the closest and is recognized as a legal and legitimate crop in both the NAFTA and GATT agreements. The main obstacles for legalization of industrial hemp appear to be 1) law enforcement officials are concerned about the regulation, 2) no domestic facilities currently exist to process hemp stalks, although Canada will have such facilities shortly, 3) there is a lack of current production and processing technology, and 4) lack of research on the production potential and quality aspects of the crop. Since very little is known about the potential yield and quality of industrial hemp fiber and seed that would be produced in North Dakota, it is recommended that controlled experimental production and processing be allowed. Necessary baseline production, processing, and marketing data could be collected and analyzed, and law enforcement concerns could also be addressed.

Map 7.1: Potential Energy Distribution among Ohio Counties (in Billions)

Joe Koncelik's Ohio Environmental Law Blog recently reported "Benefits of Biomass Power Questioned - Implications for Ohio", about a renewable fuels permitting issue that has surfaced with a FirstEnergy coal powerplant being converted to biomass, which offers great insight on the development and future of our biomass industry, and links to valuable source material for those considering the economic and environmental future of energy in Ohio, America and worldwide. In this excellent posting, Koncelik points out, "

Ohio's best hope for reducing its overwhelming dependence on coal for electricity generation is  biomass.  While wind and solar have significant benefits, it is unquestioned that current technology does not allow these renewable sources to be forms of base-load power generation. 

Biomass does have that potential in Ohio, as is evidenced by the recent announcements of the conversion of 312-megawatt First Energy's Burger coal-fired power plant to biomass generation.  Now that proposal is meeting opposition by environmental groups. As reported in Biomass Magazine."

In fact, environmentalists and regulators are demanding that FirstEnergy identify what biomass they intend to use from where to power their proposed-to-be "renewable" fuel plant - that is good economics and environmentalism. The dynamics of the Burger plant application are interesting and important for the future of the biomass sector in Ohio - while Ohio has a bright biomass renaissance ahead, we are still in the dark ages of its development.