Welcome to An Ever Better World Community!

The transportation fuel with the smallest carbon footprint is one you've probably never heard of — biodiesel made from greasy wastewater. Listen to a podcast tour of BioFuelbox, a new biodiesel plant using technology developed at INL.

https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_533065

Harvest Time

Every seed takes time to germinate.
So too in the fields of the soul.
We must never give up and sow
because the results do not
immediate to our eyes.
Let us wait with patience.
In the right moment, the seeds
have driven in the soil of hearts,
there will produce mature fruit.
Understanding and sow Joy, Peace and
Courage, Forgiveness and Love.
Jesus bless you have a good night.

Invite Your Friends to Watch the Video

President Obama recorded a video to speak directly to you about his economic recovery plan.

Invite your friends and family to watch the video and learn why our unprecedented challenges require immediate action.

You can even use our email contact importer to make it easy. Don't worry -- we don't hold on to any of the addresses you use.

After you watch the video, watch Gov. Tim Kaine answer questions from ordinary citizens about the plan and share your story about the economic crisis.

We're counting on you to collect the real stories of the challenges Americans are facing during this recession. We need to hear from you how the economic crisis is affecting your life and why the economic recovery plan is important to you and your community.

Once we receive your stories we will make them available to the public to show how critical it is to support the economic recovery plan.

Share your story click here.

Watch President Obama's video and share it with your friends and family:


REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

WEEKLY ADDRESS

The White House
Saturday, February 7, 2009

Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis. But I'm pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.

In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years. Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January. We've now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.

But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.

In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November's election was all about.

Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it's received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can't afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.

Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.

Let's be clear: We can't expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can't rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.

The American people know that our challenges are great. They don't expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions.

From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let's put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country – 16,000 in Maine, nearly 80,000 in Indiana – almost all of them in the private sector, and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.

Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide – at least 485 in Florida alone – and train an army of teachers in math and science.

Jobs that modernize our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless lives.

Jobs that construct a smart electric grid, connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and grow the economy of tomorrow.

Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams, so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.

It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio, where 4.5 million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000. It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance for those who've lost their jobs. And it helps our states and communities avoid painful tax hikes or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.

That's what is at stake with this plan: putting Americans back to work, creating transformative economic change, and making a down payment on the American Dream that serves our children and our children's children for generations to come.

Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we're equal to the task before us. Let's show them that we are. And let's do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.

Thank you.

Dear Friends,

Email Your Senator Today!

I am concerned about the high percentage of our oil that comes from foreign countries. Even in December, as the economy was contracting, we imported nearly 70 percent of the oil we used and paid over $19 billion for it.

I am very interested in the aspects of The American Renewal and Reinvestment Act (H.R. 1) that include the promotion of alternative energy - wind and solar; the building out of a 21st century electrical transmission grid; and incenting trucking companies to upgrade from trucks running on foreign diesel to those running on domestic natural gas.

A Department of Energy study showed that developing our capacity to produce wind energy would not only replace 20 percent of the electricity we now produce using coal-burning plants, but would add 138,000 jobs in the first year and more than 3.4 million over a ten-year span.

Also, if we switch just 350,000 of the 6.5 million heavy trucks running on the nation's Interstate Highways to domestic natural gas from imported diesel, we could cut our oil imports by over five percent. In December alone that would have kept nearly $1 billion from being shipped off shore.

I hope you will join me in supporting these components of the Pickens Plan as H.R. 1 moves toward final passage in the Senate

I need you to contact your U.S. Senators to tell them to support the Pickens Plan. Click here to send an email today.

Read the full text of the bill H.R 1>>>

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.pdf

P.S. Savings bonds could be help in economic crisis.

While Washington tries to "fix" the banking and Wall Street mess created by subprime "gotcha" adjustable rate mortgages defaulting en masse, many of us are looking for a safer place to put at least some of our retirement, college funds, etc.

And we also want our country to become more energy-independent and our crumbling infrastructure repaired. But with things as they are, how can we accomplish these three objectives? A new form of U.S. Treasury savings bonds could be the answer.

Without U.S. saving bonds, we wouldn't have been able to supply our troops and allies like we did in World War II. If the U.S. Treasury issued energy independence and infrastructure savings bonds that paid an interest rate about 3 percent greater than the annualized FED rate adjusted for inflation, only be redeemable on their anniversary date(s), and what they pay is not faxed when they are redeemed at maturity, all three of these objectives can be achieved without any increase in taxes, especially if these funds were only employed as 1-to-2 matching funds.

Such bonds could increase employment enough to even reduce our taxes. Pass this idea on to your friends and then the politicians.

Renew_America_Bonds.pdf

Discussion link: Funding Energy Independence?

Stay tuned for more information on green jobs following the Middle Class Task Force’s, first meeting on February 27, 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

BRIEFING ROOM: The White House provides timely and accurate information about the President's latest events and public statements. Here you'll find photos, video, and blogs, as well as proclamations, executive orders, and press releases.

Excellent commentary. Now if we only get President Obama to stop giving the stimulus package away to Banks and Finance Companies we'll be off to a better start. Stimulus money, Tax incentives and Research Grants to labor industries
such as the Auto Industry will provide new products and long term employment.
Rebuilding City infrastructure is a short term limited employment program i.e.
WPA 1930's/1940. If WWII had not happened we would still be trying to recover. Naturally, we don't want another World War but we have to bring back our manufacturing base and stop out-sourcing jobs and industries.
We will soon be looking at 12% unemployment and benefits will be exhausted
in most states. Where to then ? The Government must underwrite new industries until they stabilize. The Energy sector offers many new products
for both home, office, schools, public buildings and transportation. Technology in this area should not be out-sourced where we can build equipment here with American labor.

What good is it to prop up all the finance institutions if the people have no place to earn a living to pay for homes, transportation, food, medical care etc.
Japan did it after WWII and we can do it if our Government will lead us in the right direction.

Darlene,

I believe that Mark Warren has been trying to get you and I to make contact with each other. I am in need of a publisher for a book that I am writing on SEE housing and I believe that he feels that you could help me.

I have asked for you to become a PP friend and hope that we may find some way to work together.

Thomas

For anyone who's visiting NE Alabama or knows someone who is, pass this along:

There's going to be a ONE DAY ONLY event on January 22 from 9am-3pm here in Scottsboro, Alabama, the annual Senior Expo. Lets set up a booth for the Pickens Plan there. There will be many other booths and companies set up to inform the public about their businesses along with free food, refreshments and entertainment for all. Contact Rita Williams, Council For Aging, 256-574-6733 to get yours. Everyone is invited, this is a FREE EVENT.

Hello Darlene from another Boilermaker member.