The Miracle Lightbulb?

The compact florescent lightbulb:

This is the bulb that we are now mandated to use by law (the incandescent bulb is being phased out between now and 2014).  It is supposed to save lots of energy by lasting far longer than the incandescent bulb while using less energy.  What’s the problem?  The mercury:

‘Green’ lightbulbs poison workers

Hundreds of factory staff are being made ill by mercury used in bulbs destined for the West

Let’s look at that bulb again:

McCracken on St. Louis

(Click to view video.  Opens in new window/tab.)

A lot of people here in St. Louis are up in arms over this campaign ad released by Brewster McCracken, a candidate for Mayor of Austin, TX.  McCracken levels some harsh reality.  St. Louis once was one of the premier cities in the United States.  As he says, we hosted the Olympics and the Worlds Fair in the same year.  We once had a very large industrial base [which with the announcement that Chrystler will close both plants in Fenton has pretty much sunk to next to nothing].  Over the past few decades though, things have gotten bad.

Drive Highway 70 from the county towards downtown.  Once you pass the airport, you see the side of the highway littered with abandoned buildings.  Businesses are leaving the City for the County in droves [St. Louis is one of those cities where the County and the City are wholly separate government entities.].  People who live in the County now only venture downtown for sporting events.

So what has been one of the dominate factors as to why St. Louis has been declining for decades?  One party rule.

The Democrats have had exclusive control over the office of Mayor of St. Louis since 1949.  That’s 60 years of a political party that makes decisions based on what gets them elected, not what will encourage new business and entertainment opportunities to move downtown.

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