RFK Jr. versus P-BO ... Is "Clean Coal" an Oxymoron? You're Effen Right it is!!!

Environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- the Family's Courage is Unstoppable!

In an interview this week with ABC News, environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. criticized President Obama and other political leaders for choosing "to endorse conditions that clearly are wrong" in the debate over so-called "clean coal."

"The coal industry and the carbon industry in general are the largest contributors to the political process," he said. "So, you know, you have politicians who have essentially become indentured servants to these, and adopt the talking points of these industries." He didn’t have to name our current president explicitly, but included P-BO with other politicians who "feel the need to parrot the talking points of this industry that is so destructive to our country."

"You don't have politicians representing the American public, but rather the people who finance their campaigns," RFK Jr. said. "And that's the coal industry and the oil industry, who are the primary funders."

Unfortunately, "Clean coal" is a somewhat vague term—indeed I believe that it’s the most obvious oxymoron of 2009. The coal industry defines it as "any technology to reduce pollutants associated with the burning of coal that was not in widespread use" before regulations were put in place in 1990. A more well-known blogger (Slate) commented that "By that definition, the group can call any newer coal-based power plant clean." Read the Slate article By Jacob Leibenluft, if you do nothing else today! It was written way back in that 2008 campaign, if one can recall back into the "good old days" before the full impact of the recession befell us.

Regardless of how little we think we are paying for the electricity generated by the coal plants now, we will be paying the cost for having continued to burn coal later—in our health and our doctor bills. I believe that was what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was trying to tell us. Having become addicted to his XM radio show, I recognize that he is not a nuclear scientist any more than he is America’s top energy genius.

But he is a spokesman and he has clearly pointed out that our politicians—both Democrat and Republican—have been bought and paid for by the oil and coal and ... name the fossil fuel ... industries. In time, we will think of banks and the automakers as little more than a moment's concern.

We have to start somewhere to kick our fossil fuel habits and the radio and television air waves are probably the only current possibilities for that start.

Clean? Indeed ...