CROWN - Croatian World Network - http://www.croatia.org/crown
CROWN Endorses John Hall for Congress. November 7th, 2006
http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/8775/1/CROWN-Endorses-John-Hall-for-Congress-November-7th-2006.html
By Nenad N. Bach
Published on 10/31/2006
 
 

Hall's platform favors swift and orderly withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, universal healthcare, intensive alternative energy initiatives, and more complete funding of No Child Left Behind. He opposes privatization of Social Security. For more information on Hall's platform, visit www.johnhallforcongress.com

 
Vote for John on November 7th, 2006

John Hall for Congress



www.johnhallforcongress.com

John Hall, born July 23, 1948, is a musician and small business owner who co-founded the popular band Orleans. He has worked for decades as a political and environmental activist. He resigned in 2005 as a Board member of the non-profit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. in order to run for Congress. He has lived most of his life in the Hudson Valley, and currently resides with his wife Pamela Bingham Hall in Dover Plains, Dutchess County, NY. Hall studied physics at Notre Dame University and Loyola College before leaving to pursue a full-time career in music. By age 21 he was a successful songwriter, and composed and directed music for Broadway and off-Broadway musicals. As a recording session artist, he worked with Janis Joplin, Seals & Crofts and Bonnie Raitt, among other artists, before founding Orleans in 1972, with musicians Wells Kelly, Larry Hoppen and Lance Hoppen. In 1977, Hall left Orleans to begin a solo career. He also became active in the anti-nuclear movement, and co-founded Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE). Since then, he has continued working for alternative energy and environmental causes. His musical group at the time, the John Hall Band, released two albums, after which Hall released a number of solo albums, the latest being the infectious and well-received Rock Me on the Water in 2005. During the 80's and 90's, Hall also wrote songs for other artists and reunited with Orleans in 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2003. In late October 2004, Hall publicly protested the use of the Orleans hit song, "Still the One," by the Bush presidential campaign at its campaign events. Since the Bush campaign had never received permission to use the song, it agreed not to play the song again. Hall has been involved with Mid-Hudson Nuclear Opponents, which successfully fought the building of a nuclear power plant on the Hudson River in Greene County. While living in Saugerties, John co-founded Saugerties Concerned Citizens, and helped write the town's first zoning laws. When Ulster County announced plans for a 200-acre solid waste dump on the historic Winston Farm, John led the opposition. This effort culminated in his 1989 election to the Ulster County Legislature, where he served one two-year term before returning to private life. In the late 90s, after three successive school budgets were rejected by the voters, John ran for, and was twice elected to, the Saugerties Board of Education. His fellow trustees elected him president, and budgets were passed each year of Hall's tenure. Hall ran in the September 2006 primary race as a Democrat in New York's 19th congressional district. He won the primary, with a commanding 48 percent of the vote in a 4-way race. He has been endorsed by The New York Times, the Times Herald-Record, AFL-CIO, 1199SEIU, Communications Workers and other unions representing two million wage-earners, as well as the Sierra Club, and Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Pete Seeger and other notable Hudson Valley personalities. He faces six-term incumbent Sue Kelly in the November election. Hall's platform favors swift and orderly withdrawal of our troops from Iraq, universal healthcare, intensive alternative energy initiatives, and more complete funding of No Child Left Behind. He opposes privatization of Social Security. For more information on Hall's platform, visit www.johnhallforcongress.com .



Solving the Energy Crisis

One of the most glaring failures of Congress and the Bush administration is in the lack of a coherent, forward looking energy policy. Instead of developing alternatives that put the United Stated in the position of marketing new technologies to the rest of the world, this oil-based cadre of government officials has given tax breaks and incentives to oil, coal and nuclear companies at a time when they are already making record profits.

I propose the following:

  1. An Apollo-program or Marshall Plan equivalent commitment to conservation and alternative energy: solar, wind, hydroelectric, bio-diesel, geothermal, and old-fashioned efficiency.
  2. Raise CAFE standards. If Toyota and Honda can produce a car that gets 60 miles to the gallon, don't tell me Detroit can't. Government must mandate what CEO's refuse to do in the public interest; high standards and incentives will move consumers and companies, especially if government at all levels favors efficiency in their fleet vehicle purchases.
  3. Low-head hydroelectric sites, which number in the thousands in the Northeast alone, should be immediately utilized by installing turbines and indemnifying localities or private owners. Studies ranging from NSERDA in the 70's to the Idaho National Laboratory in 1998 show that untapped hydro sites in New York could make a significant dent in New York City's power demand. (>1200 megawatts - INL 1998) Massachusetts, according to a recent report, has more than four thousand low-head sites.
  4. Bio-diesel runs Willie Nelson's bus and the Clearwater Festival's generators, yet it doesn't have the support from our tax dollars that fossil fuels have. Why? Let's pay American farmers to grow our fuel rather than funneling that money to Middle East oil potentates who fund terrorist organizations.
  5. Ask everybody to be part of the effort. In order to maintain our independence from foreign suppliers and creditors, we should all be willing to conserve as much as possible. Grocery stores and convenience stores should put doors or at least plastic sheeting on cold food cases; subdivision rules banning clotheslines should be lifted; weather-stripping, insulation and storm windows should be provided by government for all older houses and apartment buildings where the owner can't afford them. Unnecessary lighting should be turned off, and the president and Congress should set an example for the rest of us. A kilowatt or barrel saved is the same as one earned.
  6. A crash program to develop solar, and related technologies including hydrogen, should be our new national priority. As kilowatts are replaced by these new systems, our most polluting plants should be taken off line. We should also shut down and decommission our nuclear plants, starting with Indian Point and others that are sited in heavily populated areas where evacuation would be impossible.
  7. The insurance underwriting and subsidies that have been granted for half a century to the nuclear industry should be canceled, and instead be extended to safe, sustainable, alternative energy projects. If we can put a man on the moon, if we can connect the whole planet via the Internet, surely we can kick our addiction to oil, coal and nuclear, energy sources that threaten our health and security.


    Formated for CROWN by Nenad Bach
    Distributed by     www.Croatia.org . This message is intended for Croatian Associations/Institutions and their Friends in Croatia and in the World. The opinions/articles expressed on this list do not reflect personal opinions of the moderator. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, please delete or destroy all copies of this communication and please, let us know!