One thing that makes East Cleveland unique is the annual Holiday Lighting Display at GE Lighting & Electrical Institute, at Nela Park. A tradition since 1925 - and many of the decorations seem to date from then - this holiday lighting display runs through New Year's Day.

The 2002 Canadian scientific report "Air pollution induces heritable DNA mutations" finds "Integrated steel production generates chemical pollution containing compounds that can induce genetic damage." And, the 2009 German report "Long-term exposure to traffic-related particulate matter impairs cognitive function in the elderly" finds "chronic exposure to traffic-related PM (particulate matter) may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD (Alzheimer's Disease)". 

So, who thought it was a good idea to spend $43 million of scarce government and quasi-public funding to build Tremont Pointe government-subsidized housing, located within scent and fallout of the Mittal Cleveland Works Steel mill, and other highly polluting industry of the Cleveland Flats, and directly adjacent to the I-490 freeway, planned to have increased polluting traffic through expansion as the "Opportunity Corridor"?

Donna Smith @ Common Dreams - Could we make this stuff up? We cannot get healthcare as a basic human right for one another. But we sure can make sure gun ownership protections are tucked into the Senate health reform bill that is so celebrated as historic by the White House. 

Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the National Nurses United - After all the fanfare and high expectations that accompanied the prospect of national health care reform at the outset of this year, the legislation is staggering to a particularly inglorious end.

While noting that the Senate bill includes some "salutary provisions" like an expansion of Medicaid, increased funding for community clinics and the curbing of some

Max Eternity - Ever since Senator Obama announced his support for a Single-Payer, Medicare-for-all, style of Universal Healthcare--while campaigning to be President--Progressives have heeded the call and lent their support.

Max Etenrity - Considering some of the debates that have taken place in recent days on this site in regards to Progressives locally, nationally and internationally, who have pointed out President Obama's shortcomings, I provide a copy of the following comment that I posted in response to some wild-eyed right-wing website that has posted one of my articles to propogate their message of hate.  This misfortune can happen to anyone, so one who believes in honest reporting must be ever vigilant to set the record(s) straight.  In response to

Government officials acknowledge that the practice happened, but emphasize that it ended years ago.

The material is produced by power plant "scrubbers" that remove acid rain causing sulfur dioxide from plant emissions. A synthetic form of the mineral gypsum, it also contains mercury, arsenic, lead and other heavy metals.

The Associated Press - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has criticized two New York City emergency medical technicians accused of ignoring a pregnant woman who had collapsed in the coffee shop where they were taking a break. The woman and her baby later died.

Bloomberg said Monday that refusing to help goes against human decency.

The Fire Department is investigating the Dec. 9 death of 25-year-old Eutisha Revee Rennix. The EMTs are accused of telling employees at the eatery in Brooklyn to call 911 and then leaving when employees asked them to help. 

Majorie Cohn @ Truthout.org - President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize nine days after he announced he would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. His escalation of that war is not what the Nobel committee envisioned when it sought to encourage him to make peace, not war.

Robert Cruickshank @ Fire Dog Lake - As progressives on and offline continue to debate the future of the health care reform bill, attention is finally shifting to the underlying factors that have gotten us into this mess in the first place: namely, the mistakes of the White House. Meteor Blades at Daily Kos asks the right question – why is it that progressives are getting blamed for this?

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