Storms knock out 3 TVA nuclear reactors --Units among 23 U.S. reactors similar in design to Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant 28 Apr 2011 Severe storms and tornadoes moving through the U.S. Southeast dealt a severe blow to the Tennessee Valley Authority on Wednesday, causing three nuclear reactors in Alabama to shut and knocking out 11 high-voltage power lines, the utility and regulators said. All three units at TVA's 3,274-megawatt Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama tripped about 5:30 EDT (2230 GMT) after losing outside power to the plant, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. The Browns Ferry units are among 23 U.S. reactors that are similar in design to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan where backup generators were swept away in the tsunami that followed the massive earthquake on March 11.
Radiation Readings in Fukushima Reactor Rise to Highest Since Crisis Began --Tepco plan to flood containment vessel of reactor No. 1 with more water to speed emergency cooling efforts announced yesterday 'may not be possible now' 27 Apr 2011 Radiation readings at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi station rose to the highest since an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems, impeding efforts to contain the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. Two robots sent into the reactor No. 1 building at the plant yesterday took readings as high as 1,120 millisierverts of radiation per hour, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at Tokyo Electric Power Co., said today.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Poisoning Mother Earth: America's Gulf And Fukushima
Poisoning Mother Earth: America's Gulf And Fukushima
By Stephen Lendman
Countercurrents.org
As best we know it, the shocking truth is that preventable disasters keep proliferating life destroying contamination globally. Yet news about them is suppressed, so few people everywhere are unaware how calamitously they're being harmed.
As a result, distinguished environmental researcher, Dr. Ilya Perlingieri, now warns to stay out of rain because it's likely radioactive. So is drinking water, food and air with unknown levels because governments like America and Japan won't say.
However, Norwegian Institute for Air Research static and dynamic maps show radiation contamination across the Northern Hemisphere with estimates of potential releases, increasing daily. Access them through the following link:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24411
Also, Radiation Network.com gives levels across America, accessed through the following link:
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
Minimally, the danger is extreme and worsening as Fukushima releases are expected to continue for months, perhaps years.
Reporting what little is known about Japan, Kyodo News headlined an April 21 article, "Radioactive leaks into sea were 20,000 times above limit: TEPCO," saying:
In early April, "an estimated 5,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances," amounting to 520 tons were released over a six-day period alone. However, leakage began on March 11 and continues daily in unreported amounts. One terabecquerel = one trillion becquerels. Already, contamination levels are disastrous.
On April 20, Natural News writer Mark Sircus headlined, "Nuclear weather worsens," saying:
Daily news reports get worse. "Today it was that robots (indicate) radiation is so hot inside (Fukushima facilities) that workers will have a hard to impossible time (being) in certain areas," perhaps for an interminable period.
Moreover, radiation levels are rising "across the board and across continents."
On Democracy Now April 19, nuclear expect Arnie Gundersen said:
Fukushima "(r)adiation is leaking every day now, both liquid into the ocean and also airborne. When you see those clouds of smoke coming out of the unit, that's not (ordinary) steam, that's radioactive steam. So, they're releasing radioactivity as an airborne, and also, probably more important right now is Unit 2. The reactor has a hole in it, and the containment has a hole in it. So they're pouring water in the top, and it's running out of the bottom. And that's what's causing all of the enormous amount of high-level radioactive waste" they can't stop.
David Rainoshek had a different view headlined, "We Are All Fukushima: An Integral Perspective on the Meanings and Promises of Disaster," accessed through the following link:
http://www.naturalnews.com/downloads/We-Are-All-Fukushima.pdf
Despite an unprecedented worsening disaster, government and industry officials say "we should not be concerned." However, according to Dr. John Price, former member of Britain's National Nuclear Corporation Safety Policy Unit:
"(R)adiation leaks will continue....(It will) be 50 to 100 years before nuclear fuelrods have cooled enough to be removed," but thousands of them have already fully or partially melted.
From another perspective, Fukushima is both disaster and opportunity to finally free societies of nuclear technology because it destroys life - perhaps entirely eventually unless totally abandoned.
For the past month in Japan, unreported anti-nuclear lectures, petitions, weekend protests, and other public initiatives have rallied under slogans like "nuke free," "Oppose nuclear power," and "Sayonara nuclear power." Despite public anger, however, especially in northern Japan, efforts far beyond protests are needed across many countries to demand what's no longer acceptable - a ticking time bomb destroyer of worlds.
Fossil fuels, including oil, pose other dangers, heightening the urgency to replace them as well, especially with available safe, clean, renewable alternatives if fully implemented. On March 29, nuclear expert Karl Grossman's article headlined, "Renewables Are More Than Ready," explaining that:
Alternatives like wind, water, solar, and geothermal can easily replace destructive oil, gas, coal and nuclear, and save planet earth in the process. What's needed is mass global activism to force politicians to do what they never will otherwise.
Fukushima and America's Gulf heighten the urgency. April 20 marked the anniversary of last year's BP initial then larger explosion, igniting Deepwater Horizon's oil drilling platform that burned for more than a day before sinking and releasing thousands of barrels of oil daily into surrounding waters for months. Transocean Ltd. owned and operated the platform under contract to BP Exploration and Production Inc., a division of oil giant BP.
The disaster killed 11 workers, injured another 17, and caused America's greatest ever environmental crime, its effects ongoing disastrously for millions of Gulf residents. More on that below.
An earlier article, the first of many, explained BP's history of violations, Public Citizen's Tyson Slocum saying last May 5 that it has "the worst safety and environmental record of any oil company operating in America." BP, in fact, is a serial scofflaw, the worst of Big Oil's bad bunch.
Nonetheless, it's earned billions while assessed pocket change fines, penalties and settlements for a company its size. Despite its history of repeated violations, it's allowed to conduct business as usual because effective crackdowns aren't imposed in an environment of regulatory laxity.
In fact, nothing to date has changed because government complicity lets the most hazardous practices continue, mindless of public safety and health, as well as environmental sanity, protecting what's too precious to destroy. But it's happening in real time in public view.
Another previous article explained Dr. Tom Termotto's report titled, "The Gulf of Mexico is Dying." Based on seven months of research and analysis, he produced a compelling body of evidence, including photo-documentaries, portraying the Gulf's true state - what BP, Washington, and major media reports to this day suppress.
In fact, Termotto said:
"BP('s) narrative is nothing but a corporate-created illusion - a web of fabrication spun in collaboration with the US Federal Government and (complicit) Mainstream Media. Big Oil, as well as the Military-Industrial Complex, have aided and abetted this whole scheme and info blackout because the very future of the Oil & Gas Industry is at stake, as is the future of the US empire," dependent on vast amounts of energy, mainly oil, and will take any risks to get it.
Ongoing today, visual evidence shows "numerous leaks and seeps throughout the seafloor surface (suggesting) sub-seafloor geological formations in great turmoil and undergoing unprecedented flux."
Moreover, once oil penetrates shallow fault areas, an uncontrollable situation exists, information again suppressed because revealing it might jeopardize future oil and gas exploration. As a result, coverup protects it, no matter the extreme geological, environmental and human hazards.
Not only is America's Gulf dying, but all planetary waters are interconnected and potentially at risk, meaning the entire global ecosystem and humanity are endangered, as well as animal and vegetable life. However, not only do regulatory-free hazardous practices continue, but no one's been held accountable for America's greatest ever environmental crime because on-the-take politicians conspire to prevent it.
America's Gulf - the Daily Human and Environmental Toll
On April 20, New York Times writer Campbell Robertson headlined, "Beyond the Oil Spill, the Tragedy of an Ailing Gulf," saying:
A year later, "southern Louisiana sinks steadily into the sea," with scant mention of the enormity of destruction to the entire Gulf, its coastal wetlands, the catastrophic loss of sea life, as well as millions of grievously harmed residents, getting sick and not compensated for illnesses and lost livelihoods.
Spending weeks in the region, investigative journalist Dahr Jamail compiled compelling evidence of "the biggest chemical poisoning crisis in US history." On April 16, his article headlined, "BP anniversary: Toxicity, suffering and death," saying:
".....(M)arine and wildlife biologists, toxicologists, and medical doctors have described the impact of the disaster upon the environment and human health as 'catastrophic,' and (explain) this is only the beginning of (a likely) environmental and human health crisis" to continue for decades, affecting millions of regional residents, the environment, and sea life.
Yet in February, Obama officials ordered marine scientists documenting dolphin mortality "to keep their findings confidential."
"Dolphins and sea turtles (are) canaries in the coal mine in the Gulf since they (top) the food chain and directly reflect" their entire ecosystem's health. Obtained evidence suggests a worsening prognosis, documented by enormous, continuing fish kills as well as hazardous contamination making nothing in Gulf waters safe to eat. and coastal areas hazardous for residents.
Jamail interviewed Louisiana-based Dr. Mike Robicheux, expressing alarm over conditions and lack of government response. Treating scores of new patients with Gulf related illnesses, he unsuccessfully appealed to the US Centers for Disease Control for help, saying:
They stonewalled him. "The medical community has shut this down....This is the biggest public health crisis from a chemical poisoning in the history of this country. We are going to have thousands of people who are extremely sick, and if they aren't (properly) treated," many will die.
Yet Washington and state authorities don't give a damn, anymore than about the hazardous radiation contaminating large parts of the country. Combined, Fukusima and Gulf poisons may kill unimaginable numbers from preventable carcinogenic illnesses in America alone.
Only years from now we'll know how many and the entire ecosystem toll. However, it won't compensate for enormous pain and suffering in the meantime or for official complicity in letting hazardous practices continue, as well as subsidizing dangerous technologies instead of mandating safe alternatives.
A Final Comment
In mid-February, marine biologist/toxicologist Dr. Riki Ott said extremely toxic Corexit dispersants and genetically engineered bacteria are still used illegally in the Gulf, contrary to BP and EPA reports, exacerbating the disaster's enormity.
Moreover, on March 19, several reports, including from Florida Oil Spill Law.com headlined "New huge spill near Deepwater Horizon, at MC 243 (the Mississippi Canyon System) - Slick is 100 miles long, skimming started days ago."
On March 20, the Coast Guard confirmed it. The Louisiana Times-Picayune called it "potentially massive," about 20 miles north of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. In fact, large and smaller spills happen regularly in Gulf and other waters globally, adding to contamination levels too hazardous any longer to tolerate when safe alternatives are so readily available.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
By Stephen Lendman
Countercurrents.org
As best we know it, the shocking truth is that preventable disasters keep proliferating life destroying contamination globally. Yet news about them is suppressed, so few people everywhere are unaware how calamitously they're being harmed.
As a result, distinguished environmental researcher, Dr. Ilya Perlingieri, now warns to stay out of rain because it's likely radioactive. So is drinking water, food and air with unknown levels because governments like America and Japan won't say.
However, Norwegian Institute for Air Research static and dynamic maps show radiation contamination across the Northern Hemisphere with estimates of potential releases, increasing daily. Access them through the following link:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24411
Also, Radiation Network.com gives levels across America, accessed through the following link:
http://www.radiationnetwork.com/
Minimally, the danger is extreme and worsening as Fukushima releases are expected to continue for months, perhaps years.
Reporting what little is known about Japan, Kyodo News headlined an April 21 article, "Radioactive leaks into sea were 20,000 times above limit: TEPCO," saying:
In early April, "an estimated 5,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances," amounting to 520 tons were released over a six-day period alone. However, leakage began on March 11 and continues daily in unreported amounts. One terabecquerel = one trillion becquerels. Already, contamination levels are disastrous.
On April 20, Natural News writer Mark Sircus headlined, "Nuclear weather worsens," saying:
Daily news reports get worse. "Today it was that robots (indicate) radiation is so hot inside (Fukushima facilities) that workers will have a hard to impossible time (being) in certain areas," perhaps for an interminable period.
Moreover, radiation levels are rising "across the board and across continents."
On Democracy Now April 19, nuclear expect Arnie Gundersen said:
Fukushima "(r)adiation is leaking every day now, both liquid into the ocean and also airborne. When you see those clouds of smoke coming out of the unit, that's not (ordinary) steam, that's radioactive steam. So, they're releasing radioactivity as an airborne, and also, probably more important right now is Unit 2. The reactor has a hole in it, and the containment has a hole in it. So they're pouring water in the top, and it's running out of the bottom. And that's what's causing all of the enormous amount of high-level radioactive waste" they can't stop.
David Rainoshek had a different view headlined, "We Are All Fukushima: An Integral Perspective on the Meanings and Promises of Disaster," accessed through the following link:
http://www.naturalnews.com/downloads/We-Are-All-Fukushima.pdf
Despite an unprecedented worsening disaster, government and industry officials say "we should not be concerned." However, according to Dr. John Price, former member of Britain's National Nuclear Corporation Safety Policy Unit:
"(R)adiation leaks will continue....(It will) be 50 to 100 years before nuclear fuelrods have cooled enough to be removed," but thousands of them have already fully or partially melted.
From another perspective, Fukushima is both disaster and opportunity to finally free societies of nuclear technology because it destroys life - perhaps entirely eventually unless totally abandoned.
For the past month in Japan, unreported anti-nuclear lectures, petitions, weekend protests, and other public initiatives have rallied under slogans like "nuke free," "Oppose nuclear power," and "Sayonara nuclear power." Despite public anger, however, especially in northern Japan, efforts far beyond protests are needed across many countries to demand what's no longer acceptable - a ticking time bomb destroyer of worlds.
Fossil fuels, including oil, pose other dangers, heightening the urgency to replace them as well, especially with available safe, clean, renewable alternatives if fully implemented. On March 29, nuclear expert Karl Grossman's article headlined, "Renewables Are More Than Ready," explaining that:
Alternatives like wind, water, solar, and geothermal can easily replace destructive oil, gas, coal and nuclear, and save planet earth in the process. What's needed is mass global activism to force politicians to do what they never will otherwise.
Fukushima and America's Gulf heighten the urgency. April 20 marked the anniversary of last year's BP initial then larger explosion, igniting Deepwater Horizon's oil drilling platform that burned for more than a day before sinking and releasing thousands of barrels of oil daily into surrounding waters for months. Transocean Ltd. owned and operated the platform under contract to BP Exploration and Production Inc., a division of oil giant BP.
The disaster killed 11 workers, injured another 17, and caused America's greatest ever environmental crime, its effects ongoing disastrously for millions of Gulf residents. More on that below.
An earlier article, the first of many, explained BP's history of violations, Public Citizen's Tyson Slocum saying last May 5 that it has "the worst safety and environmental record of any oil company operating in America." BP, in fact, is a serial scofflaw, the worst of Big Oil's bad bunch.
Nonetheless, it's earned billions while assessed pocket change fines, penalties and settlements for a company its size. Despite its history of repeated violations, it's allowed to conduct business as usual because effective crackdowns aren't imposed in an environment of regulatory laxity.
In fact, nothing to date has changed because government complicity lets the most hazardous practices continue, mindless of public safety and health, as well as environmental sanity, protecting what's too precious to destroy. But it's happening in real time in public view.
Another previous article explained Dr. Tom Termotto's report titled, "The Gulf of Mexico is Dying." Based on seven months of research and analysis, he produced a compelling body of evidence, including photo-documentaries, portraying the Gulf's true state - what BP, Washington, and major media reports to this day suppress.
In fact, Termotto said:
"BP('s) narrative is nothing but a corporate-created illusion - a web of fabrication spun in collaboration with the US Federal Government and (complicit) Mainstream Media. Big Oil, as well as the Military-Industrial Complex, have aided and abetted this whole scheme and info blackout because the very future of the Oil & Gas Industry is at stake, as is the future of the US empire," dependent on vast amounts of energy, mainly oil, and will take any risks to get it.
Ongoing today, visual evidence shows "numerous leaks and seeps throughout the seafloor surface (suggesting) sub-seafloor geological formations in great turmoil and undergoing unprecedented flux."
Moreover, once oil penetrates shallow fault areas, an uncontrollable situation exists, information again suppressed because revealing it might jeopardize future oil and gas exploration. As a result, coverup protects it, no matter the extreme geological, environmental and human hazards.
Not only is America's Gulf dying, but all planetary waters are interconnected and potentially at risk, meaning the entire global ecosystem and humanity are endangered, as well as animal and vegetable life. However, not only do regulatory-free hazardous practices continue, but no one's been held accountable for America's greatest ever environmental crime because on-the-take politicians conspire to prevent it.
America's Gulf - the Daily Human and Environmental Toll
On April 20, New York Times writer Campbell Robertson headlined, "Beyond the Oil Spill, the Tragedy of an Ailing Gulf," saying:
A year later, "southern Louisiana sinks steadily into the sea," with scant mention of the enormity of destruction to the entire Gulf, its coastal wetlands, the catastrophic loss of sea life, as well as millions of grievously harmed residents, getting sick and not compensated for illnesses and lost livelihoods.
Spending weeks in the region, investigative journalist Dahr Jamail compiled compelling evidence of "the biggest chemical poisoning crisis in US history." On April 16, his article headlined, "BP anniversary: Toxicity, suffering and death," saying:
".....(M)arine and wildlife biologists, toxicologists, and medical doctors have described the impact of the disaster upon the environment and human health as 'catastrophic,' and (explain) this is only the beginning of (a likely) environmental and human health crisis" to continue for decades, affecting millions of regional residents, the environment, and sea life.
Yet in February, Obama officials ordered marine scientists documenting dolphin mortality "to keep their findings confidential."
"Dolphins and sea turtles (are) canaries in the coal mine in the Gulf since they (top) the food chain and directly reflect" their entire ecosystem's health. Obtained evidence suggests a worsening prognosis, documented by enormous, continuing fish kills as well as hazardous contamination making nothing in Gulf waters safe to eat. and coastal areas hazardous for residents.
Jamail interviewed Louisiana-based Dr. Mike Robicheux, expressing alarm over conditions and lack of government response. Treating scores of new patients with Gulf related illnesses, he unsuccessfully appealed to the US Centers for Disease Control for help, saying:
They stonewalled him. "The medical community has shut this down....This is the biggest public health crisis from a chemical poisoning in the history of this country. We are going to have thousands of people who are extremely sick, and if they aren't (properly) treated," many will die.
Yet Washington and state authorities don't give a damn, anymore than about the hazardous radiation contaminating large parts of the country. Combined, Fukusima and Gulf poisons may kill unimaginable numbers from preventable carcinogenic illnesses in America alone.
Only years from now we'll know how many and the entire ecosystem toll. However, it won't compensate for enormous pain and suffering in the meantime or for official complicity in letting hazardous practices continue, as well as subsidizing dangerous technologies instead of mandating safe alternatives.
A Final Comment
In mid-February, marine biologist/toxicologist Dr. Riki Ott said extremely toxic Corexit dispersants and genetically engineered bacteria are still used illegally in the Gulf, contrary to BP and EPA reports, exacerbating the disaster's enormity.
Moreover, on March 19, several reports, including from Florida Oil Spill Law.com headlined "New huge spill near Deepwater Horizon, at MC 243 (the Mississippi Canyon System) - Slick is 100 miles long, skimming started days ago."
On March 20, the Coast Guard confirmed it. The Louisiana Times-Picayune called it "potentially massive," about 20 miles north of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. In fact, large and smaller spills happen regularly in Gulf and other waters globally, adding to contamination levels too hazardous any longer to tolerate when safe alternatives are so readily available.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Energy use, waste and lightbulbs
David Roberts offered America’s energy use, in one nifty chart that's worth examining - even offers the energy we waste. Pretty pathetic!
Jetson Green offers information about ESLs
-- Keep an eye out for the next acronym in energy-efficient lighting: ESL, or Electron Stimulated Luminescence. ESLs use “accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor to create light, making the surface of the bulb ‘glow,’” according to Vu1 Corporation, a maker of ESLs. The technology is being touted for producing light that’s similar to an incandescent bulb but about 70% more energy-efficient.
Jetson Green offers information about ESLs
-- Keep an eye out for the next acronym in energy-efficient lighting: ESL, or Electron Stimulated Luminescence. ESLs use “accelerated electrons to stimulate phosphor to create light, making the surface of the bulb ‘glow,’” according to Vu1 Corporation, a maker of ESLs. The technology is being touted for producing light that’s similar to an incandescent bulb but about 70% more energy-efficient.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Another Oil War: Who's surprised?
Except this time, we can't win, we can't afford it and we can't limit it.
Interesting thoughts offered below by Johann Hari:
We Are Not Being Told The Truth About Libya
Johann Hari. Columnist, the London Independent
Most of us have a low feeling that we are not being told the real reasons for the war in Libya. David Cameron's instinctive response to the Arab revolutions was to jump on a plane and tour the palaces of the region's dictators selling them the most high-tech weapons of repression available. Nicholas Sarkozy's instinctive response to the Arab revolutions was to offer urgent aid to the Tunisian tyrant in crushing his people. Barack Obama's instinctive response to the Arab revolutions was to refuse to trim the billions in aid going to Hosni Mubarak and his murderous secret police, and for his Vice-President to declare: "I would not refer to him as a dictator."
So why are our governments really bombing Libya? We won't know for sure until the declassified documents come out many years from now. But Bill Richardson, the former US Energy Secretary and then US Ambassador to the UN, is probably right when he says: "There's another interest, and that's energy... Libya is among the ten top oil producers in the world. You can almost say that the gas prices in the US going up have probably happened because of a stoppage of Libyan oil production... So this is not an insignificant country, and I think our involvement is justified." For the first time in over sixty years, Western control over the world's biggest pots of oil was being rocked by a series of revolutions our governments couldn't control. The most plausible explanation is that this is a way of asserting raw Western power, and trying to arrange the fall-out in our favor. But if you are still convinced our governments are acting for humanitarian reasons, I've got a round-trip plane ticket for you to some rubble in Pakistan and Congo -- they'd love to hear your argument.
General says US may consider sending troops into Libya as part of any international force
By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press
Interesting thoughts offered below by Johann Hari:
We Are Not Being Told The Truth About Libya
Johann Hari. Columnist, the London Independent
Most of us have a low feeling that we are not being told the real reasons for the war in Libya. David Cameron's instinctive response to the Arab revolutions was to jump on a plane and tour the palaces of the region's dictators selling them the most high-tech weapons of repression available. Nicholas Sarkozy's instinctive response to the Arab revolutions was to offer urgent aid to the Tunisian tyrant in crushing his people. Barack Obama's instinctive response to the Arab revolutions was to refuse to trim the billions in aid going to Hosni Mubarak and his murderous secret police, and for his Vice-President to declare: "I would not refer to him as a dictator."
So why are our governments really bombing Libya? We won't know for sure until the declassified documents come out many years from now. But Bill Richardson, the former US Energy Secretary and then US Ambassador to the UN, is probably right when he says: "There's another interest, and that's energy... Libya is among the ten top oil producers in the world. You can almost say that the gas prices in the US going up have probably happened because of a stoppage of Libyan oil production... So this is not an insignificant country, and I think our involvement is justified." For the first time in over sixty years, Western control over the world's biggest pots of oil was being rocked by a series of revolutions our governments couldn't control. The most plausible explanation is that this is a way of asserting raw Western power, and trying to arrange the fall-out in our favor. But if you are still convinced our governments are acting for humanitarian reasons, I've got a round-trip plane ticket for you to some rubble in Pakistan and Congo -- they'd love to hear your argument.
General says US may consider sending troops into Libya as part of any international force
By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press
Saturday, April 2, 2011
When Bank of America Rules....
VIDEO: 'This Is Not America': SWAT Team Evicts Grandmother, Community Fights Back
By Van Jones and Marianne Manilov
Day after day, the media and government ignore an ongoing national tragedy: a tsunami of foreclosures is still sweeping millions of Americans out of their homes.
As many as three million American families this year will hear a terrifying knock on the door: a law enforcement officer will tell them to get out, because a bank won't work out a fair deal and allow them to stay.
But one remarkable grandmother this month refused to go quietly.
And her brave example -- including her willingness to stand up, along with her neighbors, to a SWAT team -- finally got elected officials to intervene.
A modern day Rosa Parks, her courage may well spark a national movement.
Grandmother and longtime Rochester resident Catherine Lennon was evicted from her home on March 28.
It was a moving scene captured on the video below.
But Ms. Lennon should never have been booted out. Her problem was simple enough to solve: her husband died in January of 2008, leaving her with no will and her home ownership in legal limbo. She acknowledges missing some payments.
But then, because her name was not on the house's official mortgage paperwork, she says her bank refused her checks and returned them to her. She says she has the ability to make her payments. But believe it or not: Fannie and Freddie wouldn't accept her money.
Fannie Mae, which now owns Lennon's home, received $90 billion in bailout money.
According to Max Rameau of Take Back the Land, "In order for banks to get their mortgage insurance money, they must evict the families.
Instead of a system or laws that try to keep families in their homes, banks have a perverse incentive to evict them. We should be rewarding banks that keep people in their homes, not the ones that kick people out."
Instead, according to Ms. Lennon, the bank called in the police.
A SWAT team came to evict her and her 11 children and grandchildren.
Neighbors stood with Ms. Lennon throughout the ordeal.
"This is not America," said one shocked neighbor.
Take Back The Land Rochester, a local group providing eviction defense, attempted to stop the eviction.
Seven people were arrested, including a 70-year-old neighbor, still in her pajamas.
Take Back the Land Rochester is a part of an impressive national network of volunteers who are standing on the frontlines and helping those facing eviction and foreclosure.
After Lennon's eviction, Rochester residents increased their calls and letters to their elected representatives and the media.
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter intervened and got Lennon on the phone with Fannie and Freddie to begin negotiations on the mortgage.
Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also called Take Back the Land Rochester to offer their support.
Lennon's story is both a light of hope and a warning. In the next week or two, Lennon may get her home back.
We hope to see a video of the celebration as Ms. Lennon and her family are allowed back into their family home.
But tonight Lennon and her family are in a homeless shelter.
And today across the United States, more than 8,000 people will lose their home to foreclosure.
They are grandmothers, husbands, sisters and aunts. They are the fabric of our community: the teachers, the janitors -- the same workers who are under attack in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and elsewhere.
The time has come in the United States where we all must be brave like the volunteers of Take Back the Land, where we all must be eviction defenders. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were originally established to help US citizens fulfill the dream of owning our homes.
In a time when communities are hurting, we must stand together and demand policies that will save American families from losing their homes.
We must stand together to protect and rebuild the American dream.
UPDATE: Bank of America today said that Ms. Lennon had fallen behind on her payments.
In response to the Bank of America statement, Ryan Acuff (an organizer with Take Back the Land- Rochester, the community group supporting Ms. Lennon) released the following statement:
After Catherine Lennon's husband died of brain and lung cancer in 2008, the Lennon family, understandably, experienced the same financial harship many people are facing today. As a result, Catherine did miss some mortgage payments to Countrywide/Bank of America, just as we have stated in our press releases and public statements. However, Catherine not only met with the Housing Council, the local HUD approved mortgage counselors, but attempted to engage with Bank of America. In fact, Catherine sent a payment to the bank, but the bank returned the check and refused to negotiate with her because the mortgage was in the name of her deceased husband, who did not leave a will. While Catherine was, indeed, delinquent, the fact remains that Bank of America refused her attempts to pay and efforts to negotiate modifications to her mortgage for the reasons stated above.
Friday, April 1, 2011
DNA Used To Prosecute Animal Cruelty Cases
DNA Evidence Revolutionizes Cruelty Cases in NYC
http://www.aspca.org/News/National/National-News-Detail.aspx?NDate=20110401&NType=National#News1
On March 8, two Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) cases resulted in landmark felony convictions—thanks in large part to DNA evidence. The ASPCA first performed DNA analysis related to an animal cruelty case in September 2008, but these recent cases are the first in which DNA has been entered as evidence during trial.
Dr. Robert Reisman, Medical Coordinator of Animal Cruelty Cases at the ASPCA's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital, hailed the March verdicts as groundbreaking. “DNA analysis is pretty sophisticated science at this point,” says Dr. Reisman, who testified and conducted the forensic investigation in both cases, “and it’s very powerful evidence for a juror to hear.”
The cases also shine a light on HLE Agents’ resourcefulness and dedication, say both Dr. Reisman and HLE Assistant Director Joseph Pentangelo, who credited the Agents for “making good use of the newest tools to fight animal cruelty.”
The first conviction was for a 2008 incident in which a cat was doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. While investigating a Brooklyn building where the cat spent time, Special Agent Adam Gankiewicz found a vacant room with charred tile flooring—and in that room was a piece of what appeared to be skin.
DNA testing, performed at the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California Davis Veterinary School, showed that the tissue matched that of the feline victim, establishing the crime scene. Based on this evidence, the perpetrator, 20-year-old Angelo Monderoy, was convicted of aggravated animal cruelty (and also of arson and burglary). He faces three to 15 years in prison and possible deportation to his native Trinidad.
DNA also identified the umbrella that Lordtyshon Garrett of Manhattan used in 2009 to beat a cat, who sustained a punctured lung and ultimately died. Special Agent Deborah Ryan had saliva from the umbrella matched to the DNA of the victim, which, along with Dr. Reisman’s testimony that the bite marks on the umbrella were defensive, helped clinch the case. Garrett, 33, was found guilty of aggravated cruelty, animal cruelty and criminal mischief and faces up to two years in prison.
“These cases pave the way for others in New York,” Dr. Reisman says, noting that two more DNA-supported animal cruelty trials are pending. “They could set precedent for other states as well.”
http://www.aspca.org/News/National/National-News-Detail.aspx?NDate=20110401&NType=National#News1
On March 8, two Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) cases resulted in landmark felony convictions—thanks in large part to DNA evidence. The ASPCA first performed DNA analysis related to an animal cruelty case in September 2008, but these recent cases are the first in which DNA has been entered as evidence during trial.
Dr. Robert Reisman, Medical Coordinator of Animal Cruelty Cases at the ASPCA's Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital, hailed the March verdicts as groundbreaking. “DNA analysis is pretty sophisticated science at this point,” says Dr. Reisman, who testified and conducted the forensic investigation in both cases, “and it’s very powerful evidence for a juror to hear.”
The cases also shine a light on HLE Agents’ resourcefulness and dedication, say both Dr. Reisman and HLE Assistant Director Joseph Pentangelo, who credited the Agents for “making good use of the newest tools to fight animal cruelty.”
The first conviction was for a 2008 incident in which a cat was doused with lighter fluid and set on fire. While investigating a Brooklyn building where the cat spent time, Special Agent Adam Gankiewicz found a vacant room with charred tile flooring—and in that room was a piece of what appeared to be skin.
DNA testing, performed at the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California Davis Veterinary School, showed that the tissue matched that of the feline victim, establishing the crime scene. Based on this evidence, the perpetrator, 20-year-old Angelo Monderoy, was convicted of aggravated animal cruelty (and also of arson and burglary). He faces three to 15 years in prison and possible deportation to his native Trinidad.
DNA also identified the umbrella that Lordtyshon Garrett of Manhattan used in 2009 to beat a cat, who sustained a punctured lung and ultimately died. Special Agent Deborah Ryan had saliva from the umbrella matched to the DNA of the victim, which, along with Dr. Reisman’s testimony that the bite marks on the umbrella were defensive, helped clinch the case. Garrett, 33, was found guilty of aggravated cruelty, animal cruelty and criminal mischief and faces up to two years in prison.
“These cases pave the way for others in New York,” Dr. Reisman says, noting that two more DNA-supported animal cruelty trials are pending. “They could set precedent for other states as well.”
U.S. Taxpayers Subsidizing Profitable Corporations
The Party of No is campaigning to eliminate Social Security and the home mortgage deduction which will devastate the American middle class, while profitable corporations get subsidies.
Go figure! Who voted for these people?
Go figure! Who voted for these people?
Corporations At Tax Time: Who's Good And Who's Bad
(And Who's Really Ugly)
(And Who's Really Ugly)
By Paul Buchheit
http://www.countercurrents.org/buchheit310311.htmBoeing and DuPont and Dow Chemical and Verizon all made profits three
years in a row, but all received net refunds for the three-year period.
The ugliest result comes from General Electric, which made pre-tax profits
of $44 billion over three years but received almost $5 billion in refunds!
So ugly, indeed, that the company buried its tax benefit (refund) strategy
in a nondescript passage near the end of its 10-K.
years in a row, but all received net refunds for the three-year period.
The ugliest result comes from General Electric, which made pre-tax profits
of $44 billion over three years but received almost $5 billion in refunds!
So ugly, indeed, that the company buried its tax benefit (refund) strategy
in a nondescript passage near the end of its 10-K.
The big picture:
The top 100 companies, with $5 trillion in 2010 revenue and $500 billion
in pre-tax earnings, paid less than 10% last year in non-deferred federal
taxes. If these 100 companies had paid the 35% tax designated by U.S. tax
law, an additional $140 billion would have been collected in federal taxes
in just one year. This is approximately equal to the total budget deficits
for all 50 states.
in pre-tax earnings, paid less than 10% last year in non-deferred federal
taxes. If these 100 companies had paid the 35% tax designated by U.S. tax
law, an additional $140 billion would have been collected in federal taxes
in just one year. This is approximately equal to the total budget deficits
for all 50 states.
Koch: Profits at all costs
Koch Brothers and a Glimpse at the Paid Groups, and Lobbyist They Use to fight the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) FREDERICA CADE
http://fredericacade.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/koch-brothers-and-a-glimpse-at-the-paid-groups-and-lobbyist-they-use-to-fight-the-environmental-protection-agency-epa/
The Koch brothers for many years have been fighting increased regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency’s.
While operating Koch's industries there are many players involved in helping the brothers go against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
I have have mentioned some of the major players below.
Just this week American Americans for Prosperity — which has strong ties to the conservative Koch brothers — is sending memos to senators urging them to support Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) amendment to small-business legislation that’s on the Senate floor.
“The Obama administration’s attempt to use a decades-old statute to advance climate change policy via an unelected bureaucracy must be stopped,” the group states.
The “key vote” alert also urges senators not to vote for a pair of Democratic amendments that would limit or delay the rules while keeping EPA’s regulatory authority intact, alleging neither will “alleviate the painful economic impact or the threat to the separation of powers.”
The memo warns that the group will “rate these votes in our congressional ratings.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/152219-koch-linked-group-serves-notice-on-senate-epa-vote
In the hills of Congress while the Democratic Party has probably gained the source of information concerning the EPA from Scientists or Scientific literature, the Republicans are probably relying on the Koch's Brother for their source of information.
A look at some of the Players for KOCH's industries are some old players that have bee working with Koch industries for some years.
KOCH Industries big opponent against the EPA has used it's money, power, and influence to garner the support of Republicans to also stand on their side.
Hunton and Williams LLP has lobby for some of the most well known controversial and powerful Republicans in Washington like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Besides working for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce it also lobbies for the infamous Koch Brothers and the most recent controversy involving Bank of America and Wikileaks.
On their lobby registration form for the Koch Brothers, it says Hunton and Williams LLP are lobbying for "Issues related to motor vehicle fuel, including climate change, renewable fuels standards, the America Clean Energy and Security Acto of 2009 (H.R. 2454): American Power Act; and Practical Energy and Climate Plan Act of 2010.
Money buys support and the right answers if your a Koch Brother.
While they have the Hunton and Williams to do the lobbying, they also have to have someone to do their research. ( To give them the Answers they Want). Such a group to handle the Research for the Koch's Brothers would be the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Hunto and Williams have been know for crafting false information so that progressive groups will believe it.
Betweem 2005-2008 tje American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reccceived 75,000 from tje Koch foundation with also another $408,000 in grants between 1997-2008
ALEC is a group used to deal with issues of Global Warming, except one thing they don't use scientific research to explain their opinion. The Science of Global Warming is downplayed as best can be described.
According to ALEC global warming isn't even worth the cost to even be bothered with discussing. They also believed for companies this is more about the profit margins rather than the environment.
What Does Europe’s Failure to
Meet Greenhouse Gas Targets
Matter to State Legislators?• Around the country we hear that Europe is
“taking leadership” on global warming. They
are “doing something” because they signed the
Kyoto Protocol. The problem is that there
actions are leading to higher prices and they
aren’t meeting their commitments.
• The Kyoto Protocol is all cost and no benefits.
At best there is a marginal benefit to the Kyoto
Protocol (ie. It averts 0.07 degree celcius
temperature increase by 2050), but it increases
energy costs and drives new industrial
development to countries that don’t have
Kyoto restrictions.
• Cap and trade programs in the United States
such as California’s Global Warming Solutions
Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
in the Northeastern United State are based on
Kyoto Protocol. They will increase costs, and
because they are less ambitious than Kyoto, the
results will be even less. In other words, these
programs are all cost and no benefit.
Why Do Some Companies
Support Kyoto and other
Cap-And-Trade Programs?• The answer is simple; they think they can make
money depending on how the program is
structured.14
– “The first big corporate promoter of the
Kyoto Protocol and cap-and-trade
programs in the United States was Enron.
Enron was a natural gas distributor, and
Kyoto would kill coal-fired electric
generation, boosting demand for Enron’s
product. Enron’s energy traders also
expected to make juicy commissions on the
purchase and sale of carbon credits and
profits from creating the trading markets
for those credits. According to an internal
Enron memo, Kyoto would ‘do more to
promote Enron’s business than almost any
other regulatory initiative outside of...
http://fredericacade.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/koch-brothers-and-a-glimpse-at-the-paid-groups-and-lobbyist-they-use-to-fight-the-environmental-protection-agency-epa/
The Koch brothers for many years have been fighting increased regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency’s.
While operating Koch's industries there are many players involved in helping the brothers go against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
I have have mentioned some of the major players below.
Just this week American Americans for Prosperity — which has strong ties to the conservative Koch brothers — is sending memos to senators urging them to support Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) amendment to small-business legislation that’s on the Senate floor.
“The Obama administration’s attempt to use a decades-old statute to advance climate change policy via an unelected bureaucracy must be stopped,” the group states.
The “key vote” alert also urges senators not to vote for a pair of Democratic amendments that would limit or delay the rules while keeping EPA’s regulatory authority intact, alleging neither will “alleviate the painful economic impact or the threat to the separation of powers.”
The memo warns that the group will “rate these votes in our congressional ratings.”
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/152219-koch-linked-group-serves-notice-on-senate-epa-vote
In the hills of Congress while the Democratic Party has probably gained the source of information concerning the EPA from Scientists or Scientific literature, the Republicans are probably relying on the Koch's Brother for their source of information.
A look at some of the Players for KOCH's industries are some old players that have bee working with Koch industries for some years.
KOCH Industries big opponent against the EPA has used it's money, power, and influence to garner the support of Republicans to also stand on their side.
Hunton and Williams LLP has lobby for some of the most well known controversial and powerful Republicans in Washington like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Besides working for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce it also lobbies for the infamous Koch Brothers and the most recent controversy involving Bank of America and Wikileaks.
On their lobby registration form for the Koch Brothers, it says Hunton and Williams LLP are lobbying for "Issues related to motor vehicle fuel, including climate change, renewable fuels standards, the America Clean Energy and Security Acto of 2009 (H.R. 2454): American Power Act; and Practical Energy and Climate Plan Act of 2010.
Money buys support and the right answers if your a Koch Brother.
While they have the Hunton and Williams to do the lobbying, they also have to have someone to do their research. ( To give them the Answers they Want). Such a group to handle the Research for the Koch's Brothers would be the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Hunto and Williams have been know for crafting false information so that progressive groups will believe it.
Betweem 2005-2008 tje American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reccceived 75,000 from tje Koch foundation with also another $408,000 in grants between 1997-2008
ALEC is a group used to deal with issues of Global Warming, except one thing they don't use scientific research to explain their opinion. The Science of Global Warming is downplayed as best can be described.
According to ALEC global warming isn't even worth the cost to even be bothered with discussing. They also believed for companies this is more about the profit margins rather than the environment.
What Does Europe’s Failure to
Meet Greenhouse Gas Targets
Matter to State Legislators?• Around the country we hear that Europe is
“taking leadership” on global warming. They
are “doing something” because they signed the
Kyoto Protocol. The problem is that there
actions are leading to higher prices and they
aren’t meeting their commitments.
• The Kyoto Protocol is all cost and no benefits.
At best there is a marginal benefit to the Kyoto
Protocol (ie. It averts 0.07 degree celcius
temperature increase by 2050), but it increases
energy costs and drives new industrial
development to countries that don’t have
Kyoto restrictions.
• Cap and trade programs in the United States
such as California’s Global Warming Solutions
Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
in the Northeastern United State are based on
Kyoto Protocol. They will increase costs, and
because they are less ambitious than Kyoto, the
results will be even less. In other words, these
programs are all cost and no benefit.
Why Do Some Companies
Support Kyoto and other
Cap-And-Trade Programs?• The answer is simple; they think they can make
money depending on how the program is
structured.14
– “The first big corporate promoter of the
Kyoto Protocol and cap-and-trade
programs in the United States was Enron.
Enron was a natural gas distributor, and
Kyoto would kill coal-fired electric
generation, boosting demand for Enron’s
product. Enron’s energy traders also
expected to make juicy commissions on the
purchase and sale of carbon credits and
profits from creating the trading markets
for those credits. According to an internal
Enron memo, Kyoto would ‘do more to
promote Enron’s business than almost any
other regulatory initiative outside of...
Full meltdown in full swing? Japan maximum nuclear alert
From: Fukushima Fallout Reaches U.S.A.
Trace levels of radiation found in rainwater from California to Massachusetts
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27802.htm
By Mike Whitney
It's all bad, which is why the nuclear industry needs stooges in the media to soft-peddle the news. Because, in truth, what they're selling is a noxious stew of irradiated poison that kills and maims people while causing incalculable damage to the environment. That's why industry bigwigs have turned to their friends at the EPA to loosen regulations so that the radioactive material that's presently showering-down on the US falls within EPA safety standards. Here's a clip from Washington's Blog that explains what's going on behind the public's back:
"....the EPA is considering drastically raising the amount of allowable radiation in food, water and the environment.
As Michael Kane writes:
In the wake of the continuing nuclear tragedy in Japan, the United States government is still moving quickly to increase the amounts of radiation the population can “safely” absorb by raising the safe zone for exposure to levels designed to protect the government and nuclear industry more than human life. It’s all about cutting costs now as the infinite-growth paradigm sputters and moves towards extinction. As has been demonstrated by government conduct in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Deepwater Horizon and in Japan, life has taken a back seat to cost-cutting and public relations posturing. The game plan now appears to be to protect government and the nuclear industry from “excessive costs”… at any cost." (Washington's Blog)
The radioactive toxins that are now oozing into the soil and water-table or flowing into Japan's coastal waters or lofting skyward into the jet-stream where they will spread across continents, will continue to wreak havoc long after this generation has passed its mortal coil. Easing EPA safety standards won't change a thing. Where goes radiation, there too goes cancer and death. The disaster in Japan merely buys a little time for us to rethink our own policies before a similar crisis strikes here. And, it will strike here; it's only a matter of time. Consider the comments of Dave Lochbaum, Director of UCS’s Nuclear Safety Project, who testified on Wednesday before the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee. Here's what he said:
"Today, tens of thousands of tons of irradiated fuel sits in spent fuel pools across America. At many sites, there is nearly ten times as much irradiated fuel in the spent fuel pools as in the reactor cores. The spent fuel pools are not cooled by an array of highly reliable emergency cooling systems capable of being powered from the grid, diesel generators, or batteries. Instead, the pools are cooled by one regular system sometimes backed up by an alternate makeup system.
The spent fuel pools are not housed within robust concrete containment structures designed to protect the public from the radioactivity released from damaged irradiated fuel. Instead, the pools are often housed in buildings with sheet metal siding like that in a Sears storage shed. I have nothing against the quality or utility of Sears’ storage sheds, but they are not suitable for nuclear waste storage.
The irrefutable bottom line is that we have utterly failed to properly manage the risk from irradiated fuel stored at our nation’s nuclear power plants. We can and must do better." (The Union of Concerned Scientists)
Nuclear energy is a ticking-timebomb. There are safer ways to keep the lights on.
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