Monday, May 28, 2012

Veterans Day, Victims's Day,


Veterans Day, with reverence and respect for
all Victims of War 


I believe that our country and many others, are far too cavalier about the expenditure of it's human capital. My experience of the military during the Viet Nam War, and my knowledge of history, taught me that while many seek to serve honorably, there is no honor to be found, serving Imperial Needs.

There is a reason, I think that many recruits must be RE-PROGRAMMED to make murder acceptable. Even murder to protect their brothers and sisters, under arms, and their homes and families, there is something beautiful about the fact that even in the heat of battle, many are fully aware, that the people, they have been ordered to kill, are people just like themselves, with mothers, and children and sweethearts, just like themselves.

I know too much about genocide, too much about the means and purposes of war, to glorify war, and I feel sympathy, and support for those who under noble banners, were sent too casually to do murder for the Oligarchs and Plutocrats.

I never blame the average soldier, I honor, their sacrifice, without providing any sanction to the inhuman ghouls, that set-them to kill, and occupy the lands and natural resources, of others. The history of the centuries of casual warfare, drenched in the blood of young men and women, is a sorry affair, and a fit subject for mourning and reflection. I would happier, celebrate Native American Day, or Emancipation Day, than celebrate the work of war, and its victims, on every side.

The reason for the pomp, and the uniforms, is to make each soldier part of a non-individualized machine, and thus not-responsible for the mayhem, he or she has wreaked. I do not say this, to denigrate, individual valor, or the honor of the sacrifice many have made to protect their fellows. That sacrifice was given from the best part. But there is no glory in blood lust, there is no glory in genocide, and there is nothing of the last century of war, that was intrinsically valueless, except to the merchants of death.

Celebrate victims, day, I'm with you. Celebrate landmine and napalm victims day, I'm there. I cannot celebrate, the glories of War day. Whether they were the poor men and women SENT and RESENT to Kill and Destroy, to improve access to pipelines, and minerals, and geo-political brinksmanship or the humble faceless victims, who die 50,000 feet under our bombs and missiles. I think of the poor Iraqi, under the bright night of Shock and Awe and I shudder with revulsion, at anything other than a desire to make sure those whose lives were so casually mis-spent could be made whole,  paid for by the soulless death manufacturers who profited from RUMSFELD CHENEY DEATH investment plan.

You know as do I, there are no SERIOUS plan in play to make these men and women whole, you know, the country's commitment to mental health and physical care, is an illusion. Set down the flags America, make sure these damaged men and women and their long suffering families are made whole. [There is no honest commitment by our country to do that] And as we see from scandal to scandal the real enthusiasm and focus is to repair them just enough so their lives can continue to be used to destroy this weeks enemy. WAR ON TERROR? War on Humanity, with one motive, the profit motive. And the real costs regarding the wastage of human lives, never shows up on the spreadsheet, but is written in the living flesh of families. here and abroad.

I feel pity for those mesmerized by war fever, and believe if we had a society with any "justice compass" the War Criminals who still ride in limousines, paid for with the blood of Iraqis, Yemenis, Iranians, Columbians, Venezuelans, etc, etc, etc. Oh yes and all those victimized soldiers, from every sides. Whether pushing buttons to launch a drone, or bursting into a home, and strafing the inhabitants, or just walking down a dusty street, where some would-be (anti-occupationist) has planted an improvised explosive. They are serving the wrong mission. And the sickness that visits the heart, comes from the certain knowledge that what they have seen and done, under all the banners, and beyond the best propaganda money can buy, is simply inhumane.

"the horror, the horror"

Sunday, May 27, 2012

PNN Show Blog 5-27-12

PNN Notes 5/27/12

Guests:

7:05-7:15pm - Jerry Beuschler - Candidate
7:16-7:30pm - Ann Fonfa - Annie Appleseed
7:31-7:41pm - William Ramos - Candidate
7:42-7:55pm - Mike Fox - FLA PDA Leadership
7:56-8:30 pm - Sue Wilson, Media Action Center

0. Former Japan Ambassador Warns Gov’t Committee: “A global catastrophe like we have never before experienced” if No. 4 collapses Common Spent Fuel Pool with 6,375 fuel rods in jeopardy — “Would affect us all for centuries”
Title: Fukushima Daiichi Site: Cesium-137 is 85 times greater than at Chernobyl Accident
Japan’s former Ambassador to Switzerland, Mr. Mitsuhei Murata, was invited to speak at the Public Hearing of the Budgetary Committee of the House of Councilors on March 22, 2012, on the Fukushima nuclear power plants accident. Before the Committee, Ambassador Murata strongly stated that if the crippled building of reactor unit 4—with 1,535 fuel rods in the spent fuel pool 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground—collapses, not only will it cause a shutdown of all six reactors but will also affect the common spent fuel pool containing 6,375 fuel rods, located some 50 meters from reactor 4. In both cases the radioactive rods are not protected by a containment vessel; dangerously, they are open to the air. This would certainly cause a global catastrophe like we have never before experienced. He stressed that the responsibility of Japan to the rest of the world is immeasurable. Such a catastrophe would affect us all for centuries. Ambassador Murata informed us that the total numbers of the spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Daiichi site excluding the rods in the pressure vessel is 11,421

Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat whose state, Oregon, could lie in the path of any new radioactive plumes and who has studied nuclear waste issues, is among those pushing for faster action. After his recent visit to the ravaged plant, Senator Wyden said the pool at No. 4 poses “an extraordinary and continuing risk” and the retrieval of spent fuel “should be a priority given the possibility of further earthquakes.”
[...]
Tepco has said it will build a separate structure next to Reactor No. 4 to support a new crane. But under the plan, released last month, the fuel removal will begin in late 2013.

1. A key Senate panel voted Tuesday to extend a contested 2008 provision of foreign intelligence surveillance law that is set to expire at year’s end.
The vote is the first step toward what the Obama administration hopes will be a speedy renewal of an expanded authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor the U.S. e-mails and phone calls of overseas targets in an effort to prevent international terrorist attacks on the country [...]
The measure in question enables authorities to collect electronic communications in the United States without a specific warrant for each person as long as a surveillance court signs off on the targeting procedures as “reasonably designed” to ensure that those targeted are outside the United States.

2. Emergency Alert from the South Florida Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild

Within the past 48 hours, activists in south Florida have been visited by agents of local and Federal law enforcement agencies trying to obtain information on three young men arrested in Chicago this past weekend.

If you are visited by one or more of these agents, here is a basic response you can take:
 
1) Do not let the agents in your home without a valid warrant.   Go outside to them, do not let them inside your home.
 
2) Do not leave the premises of your home to accompany law enforcement officers to another location.
 
3) Get the names of the agents that visit you, as well as the name of the department or agency employing them. 
 
4) When the agents ask for information, say "I wish to remain silent" and "I want to speak to an attorney."    That is all you need to tell the agents.


Also, be careful about speaking with others, including the press, about  people who have been arrested.   The same caution should be used in posting comments to listserves and social media, including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter, as these sites are monitored by law enforcement agencies.  Police may use your statements to investigate and/or prosecute you or as evidence against others.    

For more detailed general information about your rights during encounters with law enforcement, please consult the National Lawyers Guild manual entitled, "You Have the Right To Remain Silent," and  the Center for Constitutional Rights manual entitled, "If an Agent Knocks."    Links to both manuals can be found near the bottom of the following web page:

http://nlgchicago.org/nato/know-your-rights-2/

3. Muzzling Canadian Scientists
The allegation of "muzzling" came up at a session of the AAAS meeting to discuss the impact of a media protocol introduced by the Conservative government shortly after it was elected in 2008.
The protocol requires that all interview requests for scientists employed by the government must first be cleared by officials. A decision as to whether to allow the interview can take several days, which can prevent government scientists commenting on breaking news stories.
Sources say that requests are often refused and when interviews are granted, government media relations officials can and do ask for written questions to be submitted in advance and elect to sit in on the interview.

'Orwellian' approach
Andrew Weaver, an environmental scientist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, described the protocol as "Orwellian".

“Start Quote
The information is so tightly controlled that the public is left in the dark”
Professor Andrew Weaver University of Victoria
The protocol states: "Just as we have one department we should have one voice. Interviews sometimes present surprises to ministers and senior management. Media relations will work with staff on how best to deal with the call (an interview request from a journalist). This should include asking the programme expert to respond with approved lines."
Professor Weaver said that information is so tightly controlled that the public is "left in the dark".

4. 99% Shareholders Tell Tax-Dodger FPL/NextEra Energy: No New Rate Hikes
        Protesters at annual meeting demand energy giant pay its fair share in taxes
 Juno Beach, Fla.  -  NextEra Energy, the parent company of Florida Power & Light (FPL), was forced into the spotlight today
    as shareholders challenged the company’s request for a rate hike while making nearly $7 billion in profits over the last three years
    and paying no federal income taxes.

5. Consumer advocates, health-oriented research institutions, food industry trade associations and major food companies all want the rules released. All have written to the White House urging it to do so promptly. President Barack Obama needs to prod his regulatory overseer, Cass Sunstein, administrator of OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, to release the rules so that the long process of public comment and revision can get started [...]

There’s no denying the need for improvement. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 48 million people suffered from food-borne illnesses in this country last year; 128,000 of them were so sick that they needed hospitalization. Three thousand people died.
Last fall, for example, 38 Missourians and nine Illinoisans were among 58 people who fell ill from E. coli contamination linked to tainted romaine lettuce from salad bars at nine Schnucks stores. The contamination was traced to a farm that grew the lettuce.

6. I signed a petition to The Florida State House, The Florida State Senate, and 4 others which says:
"Support a constitutional amendment repealing the Citizens United vs Federal Election Commission."

7.  WASHINGTON — US rights activists Friday condemned a lack of disclosure in the case against WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, saying there was even less transparency than proceedings against the alleged September 11 attackers. A coalition headed by the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a petition asking the US Army to order the judge in Manning's court martial to allow access to government papers, court orders and transcripts of proceedings, "none of which have been made public to date."
Manning, whose trial is scheduled to start on September 21, is accused of "aiding the enemy" and dozens of other charges over his alleged leaking of documents to the site -- a charge that carries a potential life sentence.
Manning allegedly leaked hundreds of thousands of military logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010, when he served as a low-ranking intelligence analyst in Iraq. But the lack of access to legal documents in Manning's case amounts to "denial of the public's First Amendment rights," and "is clearly erroneous and amounts to an usurpation of authority," the campaigners' petition said.
"The contrast with the degree of public access provided for in the military commissions under way at Guantanamo is striking," it said.
"Courtroom proceedings at Guantanamo are open to public observers and also available for live viewing domestically via closed circuit television.
"Transcripts of these courtroom proceedings are posted in a time frame comparable to that provided for high-profile criminal trials," it added.
Manning, 24, last month faced pre-trial hearings at Fort Meade military base in Maryland, near the US capital. Earlier proceedings against him at the same base in December 2011 were conducted "largely outside the public view," those who signed Friday's petition said.

8. Alan Simpson Unleashes Outrageous Attack on California Alliance Seniors
When former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, ran into California Alliance (CARA) seniors in March, they let him know that they do not support his ideas for addressing the national debt.
The activists picketed his appearance in Oakland, where he was trying to grow support for his recommendations. They also passed out a flyer that drew attention to how Simpson’s policies would affect those who are now young. In particular, they called him out on his plan to cut guaranteed Social Security benefits by raising the retirement age and lowering cost-of-living adjustments.

Simpson later went home to Wyoming and wrote a letter responding to the protesters, and he mailed it to CARA last week. By this Wednesday, that letter had gained national attention in publications including Politico (http://politi.co/Jd39BJ), The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. For a link to the Simpson letter, go to http://bit.ly/KyMQ1o.

In the shocking correspondence, Simpson exploded with accusations, saying to CARA:
•    “You use the faces of young people, who are the ones who are going to get gutted while you continue to push out your blather and drivel,”
•    “What a wretched group of seniors you must be to use the faces of the very people that we are trying to save, while the ‘greedy geezers’ like you use them as a tool and a front for your nefarious bunch of crap,”
•    “You must feel some sense of shame for shoveling out this bull****.”

Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance, said in response, “Sen. Simpson’s letter was not just inappropriate and unbecoming a co-chairman of a White House Commission, but also wrong on the facts. The cuts that he has recommended are an attack on all Americans who want a secure retirement. His ideas would indeed sentence our children to an impoverished old age.”

CARA President Nan Brasmer told Politico, “Alan Simpson’s mean-spirited comments insult the intelligence and dedication of retiree activists who worry about their children and grandchildren’s future. Sen. Simpson sounds an awful lot like Mitt Romney and others who will use the recent Social Security Trustees report as political cover for their radical changes. They would put seniors at risk while enriching Wall Street and the big health insurance companies. For instance, increasing the retirement age - one of their suggestions - would be extremely unfair to workers, particularly those in blue-collar and service sector jobs. And privatizing Social Security would let Wall Street firms profit while gambling workers’ Social Security savings on the roulette wheel of the stock market.”

9. Hundreds of words flagged by Ommland Security
just a few of the unsuspecting UNPATRIOTIC WORDS

initiative                         evacuation                       prevention
response                         recovery                           police
homeland security          mitigation                        screening
gangs                              cloud                               leak
biological                       infection                          gas
virus                               bacteria                           symptoms
wave                               sick                                 pork
influenza                        flu                                    agriculture
vaccine                          el paso                            san diego
columbia                       hurricane                        tornado
help                               relief                               lightning
ice                                 typhoon                           twister
flood                              storm                               hail
wildfire                          virus                                snow
blizzard                         interstate                         worm
social media

Collected using FOIA by EPIC
(Electronic Privacy Information Center)


A senior Homeland Security official told the Huffington Post that the manual 'is a starting point, not the endgame' in maintaining situational awareness of natural and man-made threats and denied that the government was monitoring signs of dissent.
However the agency admitted that the language used was vague and in need of updating.
Spokesman Matthew Chandler told website: 'To ensure clarity, as part of ... routine compliance review, DHS will review the language contained in all materials to clearly and accurately convey the parameters and intention of the program.'

10. Carl Gibson in Common Dreams -
Remember when police beat Tea Party activists with batons, raided homes without warrants, unjustly arrested and strip-searched Tea Party protesters, or attacked and intimidated journalists covering Tea Party rallies?
Me neither. But then again, the Tea Party took to the streets in favor of higher profits and less regulations for the richest 1 percent, whose ranks they hope to but will never join. The media is more than happy to inflate their crowd estimates, and police are more than happy to let pro-status quo protests take to the streets undisturbed. The Tea Party has since phased out street protests to take over a major political party and make it bend to their every radical whim.
While it hasn't yet taken over a major party, the Occupy movement has successfully exposed the oppressive fascist police state that has reared its ugly head in the past year. If you want to see what tyranny looks like, consider what happened to the estimated 75,000 protesters who took on the military-industrial complex at last weekend’s NATO summit in Chicago, after the mayor revoked protesters' attempts to lawfully assemble.
-A night before protests even begun, the Chicago Police Department raided an activist’s home and arrested several on unproven allegations of terrorist activity, all without a valid warrant.
-At the front of a police line surrounding a NATO gathering, police suddenly start beating unarmed protesters with batons in an eerie video resembling police at Egypt’s Tahrir Square.
-While covering the protests, credentialed journalists are attacked by police who use bicycles as weapons.
-After a day of covering the protests, three livestreamers are surrounded by Chicago police at gunpoint and have their car and property impounded without cause.
But the oppression isn’t coming from just the police. The federal government is now openly embracing totalitarian tactics in suppressing political dissent, including unwarranted surveillance, denial of due process rights, and even psychological warfare:
-FBI agents pressured a group of anarchists in Ohio to blow up a bridge on May Day, going so far as to pick out a target and provide the explosives. They were held without bond after their arrest. White supremacists in Florida planning an actual terrorist attack at a May Day protest were outed by state police, and ignored by federal law enforcement. Their bond was set at $500.
-The Department of Homeland Security assembled almost 800 pages of documents detailing possibly unconstitutional monitoring of the Occupy movement, and collaboration with city governments.
-Congress voted down an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prohibited the federal government from detaining American citizens indefinitely, without trial, based on pure suspicion. They did so exactly one day after US District Judge Katherine Forrest struck down NDAA detention provisions as unconstitutional. Congress also passed a law allowing protesters to be arrested on felony charges anywhere where there is secret service protection, and is actively seeking to lift a ban on the use of propaganda on American citizens.

11. from Montreal -
I am on the streets of Montréal in a student organized protest you may not have heard of. We were 500,000 strong yesterday. look us up ! and there have been several instances of police brutality here too. It's a painful truth that the police are trained as a militia and it hurts.

12. Fukushima
“Decontamination can be really effective, [but] what you have is a tradeoff  between dose reduction and environmental impact,” says Kathryn Higley,  a radioecologist at Oregon State University who has studied several decontamination sites in the United States. That’s because the radioactive particles the Japanese are trying to get rid of can be quite “sticky.” Removing them  without removing large amounts of soil, leaves, and living plants is nearly impossible. The Ministry  of Environment estimates that  Fukushima will have to dispose of 15 to 31 million cubic meters of contaminated soil and debris by the time the decontamination projects end. Costs are predicted to exceed a trillion  yen.

Given these drawbacks, an International Atomic Energy Agency factfinding mission advised the Japanese authorities to “avoid overconservatism” in their decontamination plans — in other words, not to clean up more than necessary to protect human health. Yet the health impacts of long-term exposure to low levels of radiation are not entirely  clear. Many scientists believe exposure to even very low levels can slightly increase cancer risk, and many Fukushima residents feel they should not  be forced to live with that risk — or the undercurrent of fear it brings.

But while the political debate over how much to clean up rages on, more  practical preparations are already underway. On a frigid afternoon last
month, about 160 workers wearing papery white jumpsuits and hot pink  respirators filed up a winding road into a farming hamlet in Kawamata
Town, about an hour southeast of Fukushima and just inside the  evacuation zone. Were it not for the bright blue plastic sheets, heavy-duty
leaf vacuums, cranes, and trucks scattered everywhere, the village would  have been picturesque. Now, the intricacy of the landscape — its tiny rice
paddies, bamboo groves, woodlots, streams, and earth-walled barns — was  adding to the challenges of decontamination.

13. Fukushima B
Former Fukushima Daiichi Worker: TEPCO screwed up by admitting it’s preparared to spray concrete on spent fuel — “They are really admitting they know that it might collapse!”
If the building is standing they can spray water on the pool and maintain some kind of cooling, enough to get by, especially now that the pool is cooler than 14 months ago.

The concrete mixture idea can only be in response to a fuel pool collapse. So they are really admitting they know that it might collapse!! It is a completely crazy idea, those who have said the building would collapse if sprayed [with concrete-like mixture] in a standing pool are correct. But the idea was only generated if the building falls down on the ground. Then this idea might be better than doing nothing with fuel laying on the ground because it would slow the release of radioactive material. But it would mean that this pile would forever be dangerous and some releases would continue for years.
What a “Hail Mary” this is. TEPCO screwed up by admitting this, there have been several stories the last few days that are illuminating much more.
There are several reasons why I believe the country will be evacuated if the #4 SFP collapses. The amount of radioactive material in the fuel pool dwarfs the total amount at Chernobyl by a factor of 5 to 10. Chernobyl’s core was still mostly contained in a building (although heavily damaged), and most of the radioactive material melted downward and became lava like. If #4 SFP collapses it will be lying on the completely open ground, probably going critical on and off in portions of the pile for years. The dose rate from this pile will make dropping sand or anything from the air much more lethal than anything at Chernobyl. And probably impossible. The entire site at Fukushima will be uninhabitable and unworkable because of the dose rate coming from this pile of fuel. That means there will be no control of the other fuel pools, and we could lose control of them.

Nuclear experts will soft sell the ramifications because that is how the industry works. When the experts “have concerns” about the situation at #4 that means they are pooping their pants.
My experience at Fukushima was 30 years ago. I worked in the industry for about 15 years as a health physics technician. I was also referred to as a “nuclear gypsy” because I traveled from plant to plant working outages. That meant I was always in the middle of the hottest jobs in the heart of the plant. The engineers will talk about this part or that part of a plant, but I have been all those places wearing full gear.

14. A four-alarm fire was still burning aboard the USS Miami nuclear-powered submarine Wednesday night at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, more than four hours after it began, according to the yard’s commander. Residents in some parts of Kittery reported a small of burning plastic in the air, and sirens from fire apparatus were heard throughout the night.
KITTERY, Maine ——
A fire on aboard a Groton, Conn.-based nuclear-powered submarine has injured four people at a Maine shipyard, officials there said.
The nuclear reactor on the USS Miami SSN 755 wasn't operating at the time and was unaffected, officials said. Nonessential personnel were removed from the sub, over which black smoke was billowing.
Fire crews responded Wednesday to the USS Miami at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, located on an island in the small town of Kittery near Portsmouth, N.H.
The shipyard said four injured people have been treated and released. The Portsmouth Herald newspaper said firefighters were injured.

15. Head Researcher: Boulder, Colorado a “hot spot” for Fukushima fallout — None of their other US or Canadian samples came close to Boulder’s contamination, except Portland which was even higher
My group measured soil, air filter and dust samples from Washington, Oregon, California, and British Columbia. This particular soil sample, with 8 pCi/g of radiocesium, was our highest North American result. It came from a site on the outskirts of Portland, OR. The next highest result came from a site near Boulder, CO. Except for followup samples near these two sites, no other US or Canadian samples came close to the levels of radiocesium in these “hot spots.” Given the nature of radioactive fallout, this is an expected result. Both hot spots are likely due to rainouts that took place during March or April 2011. A recent study by the USGS, “Fission Products in National Atmospheric Deposition Program—Wet Deposition Samples Prior to and Following the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant Incident, March 8–April 5, 2011″, found remarkably similar results. The USGS study was more detailed, (and more with a much bigger budget), and found evidence of rainouts at Portland and Boulder. When you collect a lot of samples, some are bound to be much higher than the average.

16. (NaturalNews) The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to release new data showing that various milk and water supply samples from across the US are testing increasingly high for radioactive elements such as Iodine-131, Cesium-134, and Cesium-137, all of which are being emitted from the ongoing Fukushima Daiichia nuclear fallout. As of April 10, 2011, 23 US water supplies have tested positive for radioactive Iodine-131 (http://opendata.socrata.com/w/4ig7-9eqd/y34g-bnf3?cur=TgjW3mRumyl&fro...), and worst of all, milk samples from at least three US locations have tested positive for Iodine-131 at levels exceeding EPA maximum containment levels (MCL) (http://opendata.socrata.com/w/pkfj-5jsd/y34g-bnf3?cur=w_bE5ToS3hx&fro...), and in once case more than 2000 percent higher than MCL, cumulatively.

As far as the water supplies are concerned, it is important to note that the EPA is only testing for radioactive Iodine-131. There are no readings or data available for cesium, uranium, or plutonium -- all of which are being continuously emitted from Fukushima, as far as we know -- even though these elements are all much more deadly than Iodine-131. Even so, the following water supplies have thus far tested positive for Iodine-131, with the dates they were collected in parenthesis to the right:

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032048_radiation_milk.html#ixzz1w4UtH5PA

Los Angeles, Calif. - 0.39 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Baxter), Penn. - 0.46 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Belmont), Penn. - 1.3 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Philadelphia (Queen), Penn. - 2.2 pCi/l (4/4/11)
Muscle Shoals, Al. - 0.16 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Niagara Falls, NY - 0.14 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Denver, Colo. - 0.17 pCi/l (3/31/11)
Detroit, Mich. - 0.28 pCi/l (3/31/11)
East Liverpool, Oh. - 0.42 pCi/l (3/30/11)
Trenton, NJ - 0.38 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Painesville, Oh. - 0.43 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Columbia, Penn. - 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (4442), Tenn. - 0.28 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (772), Tenn. - 0.20 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Oak Ridge (360), Tenn. - 0.18 pCi/l (3/29/11)
Helena, Mont. - 0.18 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Waretown, NJ - 0.38 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Cincinnati, Oh. - 0.13 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Pittsburgh, Penn. - 0.36 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Oak Ridge (371), Tenn. - 0.63 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Chattanooga, Tenn. - 1.6 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Boise, Id. - 0.2 pCi/l (3/28/11)
Richland, Wash. - 0.23 pCi/l (3/28/11)


Again, these figures do not include the other radioactive elements being spread by Fukushima, so there is no telling what the actual cumulative radiation levels really were in these samples. The figures were also taken two weeks ago, and were only just recently reported. If current samples were taken at even more cities, and if the tests conducted included the many other radioactive elements besides Iodine-131, actual contamination levels would likely be frighteningly higher.

But in typical government fashion, the EPA still insists that everything is just fine, even though an increasing amount of US water supplies are turning up positive for even just the radioactive elements for which the agency is testing -- and these levels seem to be increasing as a direct result of the situation at the Fukushima plant, which continues to worsen with no end in sight (http://www.naturalnews.com/032035_Fukushima_physics.html).

Water may be the least of our problems, however. New EPA data just released on Sunday shows that at least three different milk samples -- all from different parts of the US -- have tested positive for radioactive Iodine-131 at levels that exceed the EPA maximum thresholds for safety, which is currently set at 3.0 pico Curies per Liter (pCi/l).

In Phoenix, Ariz., a milk sample taken on March 28, 2011, tested at 3.2 pCi/l. In Little Rock, Ark., a milk sample taken on March 30, 2011, tested at 8.9 pCi/l, which is almost three times the EPA limit. And in Hilo, Hawaii, a milk sample collected on April 4, 2011, tested at 18 pCi/l, a level six times the EPA maximum safety threshold. The same Hawaii sample also tested at 19 pCi/l for Cesium-137, which has a half life of 30 years (http://www.naturalnews.com/031992_radioactive_cesium.html), and a shocking 24 pCi/l for Cesium-134, which has a half life of just over two years (http://opendata.socrata.com/w/pkfj-5jsd/y34g-bnf3?cur=w_bE5ToS3hx&fro...). Together, this amounts to a level 2033 percent higher than federal limits (http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/11/japan-nuclear-radiation-h...).

Why is this milk contamination significant? Milk, of course, typically represents the overall condition of the food chain because cows consume grass and are exposed to the same elements as food crops and water supplies. In other words, when cows' milk starts testing positive for high levels of radioactive elements, this is indicative of radioactive contamination of the entire food supply.

And even with the milk samples, the EPA insanely says not to worry as its 3.0 pCi/l threshold is allegedly only for long-term exposure. But the sad fact of the matter is that the Fukushima situation is already a long-term situation. Not only does it appear that the Fukushima reactor cores are continuing to melt, since conditions at the plant have not gotten any better since the earthquake and tsunami, but many of the radioactive elements that have already been released in previous weeks have long half lives, and have spread halfway around the world.

The other problem with the EPA's empty reassurances that radiation levels are too low to have a negative impact on humans is the fact that the agency does not even have an accurate grasp on the actual aggregate exposure to radiation from all sources (water, food, air, rain, etc.). When you combine perpetual exposure from multiple sources with just the figures that have already been released, there is a very real threat of serious harm as a result of exposure.

The EPA and other government agencies are constantly comparing Fukushima radiation to background and airplane radiation in an attempt to minimize the severity of exposure, even though these are two completely different kinds of radiation exposure.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032048_radiation_milk.html#ixzz1w4VFK6Iz


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Progressive News Network - Show Blog


PNN 5/13
NOTES

1. Mothers' Day Proclamation
Mother's Day Proclamation
by Julia Ward Howe*, 1870
The First Mother's Day proclaimed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe
was a passionate demand for disarmament and peace.
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the bosom of the devastated earth, a voice goes up with our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesars but of God.
In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.


2. Latest Fukushima News
Fukushima gets worse, cover-up continues
(NaturalNews) -- A Freedom of Information Act(FOIA) request filed by Friends of the Earth (FoE), Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), and the Nuclear Information and Resource Center (NIRS) has unearthed a shocking series of new evidence proving a deliberate, global cover-up of the true severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. And the unfortunate reality is that the mainstream media continues to blatantly ignore this colossal scandal.

Private emails, meeting transcripts and other key documents reveal that both the Obama White House and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) were well aware of just how bad things really were with Fukushima from the early days of the disaster, but did nothing to warn the public about it. In fact, NRC and the White House purposely did not warn Americans about a massive radiation plume that struck the West Coast just days after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's eastern coast.

According to information gathered from hundreds of pages worth of private NRC emails, conference calls and secret meetings, key players in the Fukushima whitewashing campaign, including the NRC's David McIntyre and Elliot Brenner, were hard at work in the days following the disaster distracting public attention away from it. By pretending that a radioactive plume did not exist while simultaneously sending out misinformation to the media, these two, in conjunction with White House officials, actively participated in a criminal cover-up of the truth.


2. the AEI conference on fukushima  [industry insiders pat themselves on the bank]
The industry consultant said:
REGULATION ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
after all he says regulations are weak tea, the results of compromise
and are generally set too low, and are toothless, with an Industry that knows better
regulations impede better safety, because companies TOOL-DOWN safety to meet regs
when on their own, guided by their own RISK MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENTS - they would
HIKE UP, their own safety standards... [I'll bet]

The Former BUSH FEMA Analyst said:
He has such respect for the Japanese (he contrasts them with the rabble in New Orleans)
who stood patiently in-line waiting for their government assistance. They stood in lines and waited.
No one in the Emergency Planning Services could have imagined that a TRAGEDY within a TRAGEDY 
the Hurricane was expect able, the second calamity of the levee collapse was just completely so remote, no one could have planned for it.

BUT IN JAPAN, they had a catastrophe within a catastrophe within a catastrophe with an Earthquake then a Tsunami, then the failure of the external power-grid the flooding of the below ground generators, and the loss of backup power and then the submersion and loss of the seawater pumps which destroyed the ability to cool the plant, no one might have anticipated a sequence of disasters with such a remote possibility no one could have planned for it, and no one anticipated such a rare low possibility set of events. 
 BUILDING OVER 4 faultlines? 

The Japanese Planner said, Americans would have been better in a crisis like this because of all the great disaster movies???   GOJIRA??

But check it out for yourself


3. the independent voter petition for primary voting in fla

4. The Repudiation of Austerity in FRANCE the defeat  of Sacozy  & the election of Socialist Hollande (oh-lawn-nd)

5. Our country's noticed the necessity of recognizing the Human Nights, the Right to Marry of Gay Americans

6. The President joins Dick Cheney in recognizing the rights of Homosexuality to live undisturbed, un molested and free to pursue Life Liberty and Happiness. This show welcomes his "evolution" maybe he'll evolve to eventually repudiate to extenuation of the Afghanistan occupation another 15 years, or even his claimed authority  to kill American without trial and finally maybe the former pot-smoker will evolve to stop feeding the commercial prison combines America's young… may he evolve there too! 

7. large Hadron Collider news
Scientists using the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, to try and locate the missing so-called “god particle” Higgs Boson, are preparing to deal with an unprecedented onslaught of particle collision data this year, now that the accelerator has been cranked up another power level.
“Last year, on average, 10 protons colliding simultaneously, this year we might end up with 30,” said Andre David Tinoco Mendes, a scientist with the European Organization For Nuclear Research (CERN), which oversees the particle accelerator, in a new video posted online by CERN late Thursday.
“We have protons colliding every 25 nanoseconds. What that means it the collision rate is about 40 megahertz, or 40 million times per second,” said Tulika Bose, another CERN scientist and assistant professor at Boston University.
The increased rate and number of proton collisions inside the particle accelerator will increase the researchers chances of discovering the Higgs Boson, a long-sought particle and the last missing piece needed to verify the Standard Model, the particle physics theory that informs much of our present understanding of the laws of the universe.

PNN's Guests
Ellis M.M. Robinson, 
Chair Ruth's List Florida 
Electing progressive, Democratic women for Florida.

Ruth's List, a group with a mission to get Democratic, pro-choice women elected in Florida, has set its sights on the Tampa Bay area.
Chairwoman Ellis Robinson has made 10 trips from her home in Sanibel to the Tampa area since June for fundraising events and candidate training sessions.
Why the interest?
"In 2010 there are so many open seats for the Legislature and that's one of our highest priorities," she said last week during a Tampa fundraiser hosted by Yvonne Yolie Capin, Betty Castor and others.
They've got their work cut out for them. So far, candidates have filed to run for 16 legislative seats in the area. Only six are Democratic women.

Director of Communications at 1Miami
quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes... God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty."

you conclude:
"No one in Miami values and understands success and hard work more than everyday Miamians, but the corporate welfare crowd didn't get rich by working hard. They got there by taking from the 99%. This tax day, join 1Miami in honoring Dr. King in deed, rather than name, and stand up for our city where people live in "inordinate wealth" while most of us struggle."

PNN Show Notes 5/13/12
RW Spisak
Co-Producer PNN