May 1968 - France / May 1886 - Chicago

Had the French Communists not considered conditions premature for a real worker's revolution, things would have gotten even more interesting on May 1968 in France. The artists in the reading audience might find the influence of the Situationist International to be of particular interest.

May 1968 - A Watershed in French Life - International Herald Tribune - 29 Apr 08

"The fierce debate about what happened 40 years ago is very French. There is even a fight about labels - the right calls May '68 'the events,' while the left calls it 'the movement.'

While a youth revolt became general in the West - from anti-Vietnam protests in the United States to the Rolling Stones in swinging London and finally the Baader-Meinhof gang in Germany - France was where the protests of the baby-boom generation came closest to a real political revolution, with 10 million workers on strike and not just a revulsion against stifling social rules of class, education and sexual behavior."

And the other 'event' in May of related historical note in this country, and later, elsewhere.

Haymarket Affair - Wikipedia

"Historian Paul Avrich records [August] Spies as saying "[t]here seems to prevail the opinion in some quarters that this meeting has been called for the purpose of inaugurating a riot, hence these warlike preparations on the part of so-called 'law and order.' However, let me tell you at the beginning that this meeting has not been called for any such purpose. The object of this meeting is to explain the general situation of the eight-hour movement and to throw light upon various incidents in connection with it.'

The crowd was so calm that [Chicago] Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., who had stopped by to watch, walked home early. Samuel Fielden, the last speaker, was finishing his speech at about 10:30 when police ordered the rally to disperse and began marching in formation towards the speakers' wagon. A bomb was thrown at the police line and exploded, killing policeman Mathias J. Degan. The police immediately opened fire. Some workers were armed, but accounts vary widely as to how many shot back. The incident lasted less than five minutes."

"In 1889, AFL [American Federation of Labor] president Samuel Gompers wrote to the first congress of the Second International, which was meeting in Paris. He informed the world's socialists of the AFL's plans and proposed an international fight for a universal eight-hour work day.

In response to Gompers's letter the Second International adopted a resolution calling for 'a great international demonstration' on a single date so workers everywhere could demand the eight-hour work day. In light of the Americans' plan, the International adopted May 1, 1890 as the date for this demonstration. A secondary purpose behind the adoption of the resolution by the Second International was to honor the memory of the Haymarket martyrs and other workers who had been killed in association with the strikes on May 1, 1886.

May 1968 - France / May 1886 - Chicago

Had the French Communists not considered conditions premature for a real worker's revolution, things would have gotten even more interesting on May 1968 in France. The artists in the reading audience might find the influence of the Situationist International to be of particular interest.

May 1968 - A Watershed in French Life - International Herald Tribune - 29 Apr 08

"The fierce debate about what happened 40 years ago is very French. There is even a fight about labels - the right calls May '68 'the events,' while the left calls it 'the movement.'

While a youth revolt became general in the West - from anti-Vietnam protests in the United States to the Rolling Stones in swinging London and finally the Baader-Meinhof gang in Germany - France was where the protests of the baby-boom generation came closest to a real political revolution, with 10 million workers on strike and not just a revulsion against stifling social rules of class, education and sexual behavior."

And the other 'event' in May of related historical note in this country, and later, elsewhere.

Haymarket Affair - Wikipedia

"Historian Paul Avrich records [August] Spies as saying "[t]here seems to prevail the opinion in some quarters that this meeting has been called for the purpose of inaugurating a riot, hence these warlike preparations on the part of so-called 'law and order.' However, let me tell you at the beginning that this meeting has not been called for any such purpose. The object of this meeting is to explain the general situation of the eight-hour movement and to throw light upon various incidents in connection with it.'

The crowd was so calm that [Chicago] Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr., who had stopped by to watch, walked home early. Samuel Fielden, the last speaker, was finishing his speech at about 10:30 when police ordered the rally to disperse and began marching in formation towards the speakers' wagon. A bomb was thrown at the police line and exploded, killing policeman Mathias J. Degan. The police immediately opened fire. Some workers were armed, but accounts vary widely as to how many shot back. The incident lasted less than five minutes."

"In 1889, AFL [American Federation of Labor] president Samuel Gompers wrote to the first congress of the Second International, which was meeting in Paris. He informed the world's socialists of the AFL's plans and proposed an international fight for a universal eight-hour work day.

In response to Gompers's letter the Second International adopted a resolution calling for 'a great international demonstration' on a single date so workers everywhere could demand the eight-hour work day. In light of the Americans' plan, the International adopted May 1, 1890 as the date for this demonstration. A secondary purpose behind the adoption of the resolution by the Second International was to honor the memory of the Haymarket martyrs and other workers who had been killed in association with the strikes on May 1, 1886.

"Safe, Clean, Inexpensive and Reliable"

Remember when folks use to talk up Japan's nuclear industry as being ideal? And this is super high-tech Japan, not one of those ever plentiful Freedonias with horsecarts and governments equally as rickety in which the French nuclear-industrial-complex and others want to plunk new nuke plants.

One of the wonderful things about nuclear power investments is that they are the only technology I know of that can turn $2 billion or so of assets into $1 billion or so of radioactive cleanup liability in much less than a day. Now we know that they can poke a huge billion plus hole in the corporate billfold just by being shut down when the only alternatives are non-native high priced oil and gas alternatives. In the meanwhile, the wind is still blowing and sun is still shining over Japan as well as the Freedonias.

Tokyo Electric Has First Loss in 28 Years on Shutdown (Update 2) - Bloomberg - 30 Apr 08

"Tokyo Electric Power Co., forced to shut the world's biggest nuclear plant after an earthquake, posted its first loss in 28 years as oil and gas costs soared. Asia's biggest utility had a net loss of 150 billion yen ($1.44 billion) in the year ended March 31, compared with net income of 298 billion yen a year earlier, it said in a statement in Tokyo today. The power producer had forecast a 155 billion yen loss on Jan. 30. Sales rose 3.7 percent to 5.48 trillion yen."

"The company knew in 2003 the plant is located near a fault line that could cause a more powerful earthquake than the one that damaged it last year, according to documents Tokyo Electric filed to a trade ministry committee on Dec. 5."

"Safe, Clean, Inexpensive and Reliable"

Remember when folks use to talk up Japan's nuclear industry as being ideal? And this is super high-tech Japan, not one of those ever plentiful Freedonias with horsecarts and governments equally as rickety in which the French nuclear-industrial-complex and others want to plunk new nuke plants.

One of the wonderful things about nuclear power investments is that they are the only technology I know of that can turn $2 billion or so of assets into $1 billion or so of radioactive cleanup liability in much less than a day. Now we know that they can poke a huge billion plus hole in the corporate billfold just by being shut down when the only alternatives are non-native high priced oil and gas alternatives. In the meanwhile, the wind is still blowing and sun is still shining over Japan as well as the Freedonias.

Tokyo Electric Has First Loss in 28 Years on Shutdown (Update 2) - Bloomberg - 30 Apr 08

"Tokyo Electric Power Co., forced to shut the world's biggest nuclear plant after an earthquake, posted its first loss in 28 years as oil and gas costs soared. Asia's biggest utility had a net loss of 150 billion yen ($1.44 billion) in the year ended March 31, compared with net income of 298 billion yen a year earlier, it said in a statement in Tokyo today. The power producer had forecast a 155 billion yen loss on Jan. 30. Sales rose 3.7 percent to 5.48 trillion yen."

"The company knew in 2003 the plant is located near a fault line that could cause a more powerful earthquake than the one that damaged it last year, according to documents Tokyo Electric filed to a trade ministry committee on Dec. 5."

Like Florida, Like Georgia

It's not a bug, it's a feature! Load all that risk off onto the consumer where it properly belongs.

Georgia Power May Start Billing for Nukes Before They're Open - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - 02 May 08

"David Ratcliffe, CEO of Georgia Power's parent company, Southern Co., told investors the utility may ask the state Public Service Commission if it could start collecting money to pay for the multibillion-dollar, 1,100-megawatt reactors as they are being built.

Under that plan, customers would see a slight increase in their monthly bills, perhaps within the next couple of years, instead of a large hike in 2016, the company and industry experts say. Current state rules allow utilities to recover costs only after plants begin operation. Advocates of so-called pay-as-you-go plans say consumers ultimately would pay less because they limit the effects of inflation and possible interest rate increases over the long run."

"Georgia could join five other states — Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina — where utilities can collect money from consumers to pay for the construction costs of a nuclear plant before the plant starts up. New laws were required in those states."

Like Florida, Like Georgia

It's not a bug, it's a feature! Load all that risk off onto the consumer where it properly belongs.

Georgia Power May Start Billing for Nukes Before They're Open - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - 02 May 08

"David Ratcliffe, CEO of Georgia Power's parent company, Southern Co., told investors the utility may ask the state Public Service Commission if it could start collecting money to pay for the multibillion-dollar, 1,100-megawatt reactors as they are being built.

Under that plan, customers would see a slight increase in their monthly bills, perhaps within the next couple of years, instead of a large hike in 2016, the company and industry experts say. Current state rules allow utilities to recover costs only after plants begin operation. Advocates of so-called pay-as-you-go plans say consumers ultimately would pay less because they limit the effects of inflation and possible interest rate increases over the long run."

"Georgia could join five other states — Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina — where utilities can collect money from consumers to pay for the construction costs of a nuclear plant before the plant starts up. New laws were required in those states."