Carly Fiorina = Clueless, RSN: Big US Firms Hold $2.1 Trillion Overseas to Avoid Taxes: Study, Saudi Arabia and the Crime of Royal Impunity, Even Appalachia Is Walking Away From Coal

Carly Fiorina has proven herself to be uninformed, an unqualified candidate whose background is questionable at best, has never held public office. 

Little space will be dedicated to this, among the worst candidates on the Republican Clown Car.  

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John Kiriakou | Carly Fiorina Just Doesn't "Get It" on Torture

John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
Kiriakou writes: "Carly Fiorina has to be the most completely clueless Republican running for president, at least when it comes to intelligence policy."
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arly Fiorina has to be the most completely clueless Republican running for president, at least when it comes to intelligence policy. Fiorina disingenuously told Yahoo News last week that waterboarding and other CIA torture techniques “kept our country safe” in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

She went on to justify these violations of U.S. and international law by saying, “I believe that all of the evidence is very clear – that waterboarding was used in a very small handful of cases and was supervised by medical personnel … and I also believe that waterboarding was used when there was no other way to get information that was necessary.”

There are so many things wrong with this asinine statement that I don’t know where to begin. Perhaps the best place is the beginning.

Fiorina ignores the Senate Torture Report, which found that waterboarding and other torture techniques did not result in the collection of any actionable intelligence and did not save any American lives. Maybe Fiorina didn’t believe the report because Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats were the only ones who voted to approve it (despite the fact that Committee investigators used primary-source CIA documents to write it.)

In that case, she could have looked at the CIA Inspector General’s Report on torture, which was released in 2009 and which found not only that torture didn’t work, and that no lives were saved by using it, but that the CIA had lied even to its own officers when it said that waterboarding was used sparingly. In fact, Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times, and Khalid Shaikh Muhammad was waterboarded 147 times. That’s a lot of torture for no information.

Fiorina also could have read reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, all of which said that between 2005 and 2007 the CIA was torturing its prisoners and that there was no information to indicate that torture worked.

Maybe Fiorina was too busy trying to convince people that she had been a successful CEO at Hewlett-Packard to have read the news that the American Psychological Association recently voted to prohibit its 80,000 members from participating in any national security interrogations, even indirectly. Why? Because the CIA’s entire detention, rendition, and interrogation program was immoral, unethical, and illegal.

Maybe Fiorina was too busy running Hewlett-Packard into the ground to have read the United Nations Convention Against Torture, to which the U.S. is a signatory and for which it was a driving force. It says very clearly that torture is “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of committing, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that.

Maybe Fiorina was too busy selling printers to Iran in violation of U.S. and international sanctions, and then lying about it when she said first that she was “unaware” that the company she headed was illegally supplying an “enemy” country with computer peripherals, and then that she had been exonerated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. (There was no such exoneration.)

Regardless of the reasons for Fiorina’s ill-informed and poorly-conceived position on torture, the fact that she doesn’t seem to know or care about the very basics – that torture is illegal, that it didn’t work, and that it didn’t save lives – makes her unfit to lead the country and to set the policy on this abomination.

I like to think that most Americans understand and appreciate the immorality that was the torture program, and that they now realize that the George W. Bush Justice Department’s bastardization of the laws prohibiting torture was wrong, and that we should never go back to those dark days. Indeed, thanks to theMcCain-Feinstein Amendment, passed last summer, torture is finally illegal in this country.

But Carly Fiorina just doesn’t get it. And she thinks she’s too smart to take advice from anybody else. That makes her unfit to be president.

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John Kiriakou is an Associate Fellow with the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington DC. He is a former CIA counterterrorism operations officer and former senior investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

Big US Firms Hold $2.1 Trillion Overseas to Avoid Taxes: Study
David Alexander and Eric Beech, Reuters
Excerpt: "The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday.'
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he 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that nearly three-quarters of the firms on the Fortune 500 list of biggest American companies by gross revenue operate tax haven subsidiaries in countries like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The Citizens for Tax Justice and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund used the companies' own financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach their conclusions.

Technology firm Apple (AAPL.O) was holding $181.1 billion offshore, more than any other U.S. company, and would owe an estimated $59.2 billion in U.S. taxes if it tried to bring the money back to the United States from its three overseas tax havens, the study said.

The conglomerate General Electric (GE.N) has booked $119 billion offshore in 18 tax havens, software firm Microsoft (MSFT.O) is holding $108.3 billion in five tax haven subsidiaries and drug company Pfizer (PFE.N) is holding $74 billion in 151 subsidiaries, the study said.

"At least 358 companies, nearly 72 percent of the Fortune 500, operate subsidiaries in tax haven jurisdictions as of the end of 2014," the study said. "All told these 358 companies maintain at least 7,622 tax haven subsidiaries."

Fortune 500 companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid taxes, with just 30 of the firms accounting for $1.4 trillion of that amount, or 65 percent, the study found.

Fifty-seven of the companies disclosed that they would expect to pay a combined $184.4 billion in additional U.S. taxes if their profits were not held offshore. Their filings indicated they were paying about 6 percent in taxes overseas, compared to a 35 percent U.S. corporate tax rate, it said.

"Congress can and should take strong action to prevent corporations from using offshore tax havens, which in turn would restore basic fairness to the tax system, reduce the deficit and improve the functioning of markets," the study concluded.

Richard Falk | Saudi Arabia and the Crime of Royal Impunity
Richard Falk, Middle East Eye
Falk writes: "Saudi impunity makes us appreciate the value of normal relationships that do not require promises of impunity in relation to international crimes and human rights violations."
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Snowden: US, UK Spies 'Want to Own Your Phone'
Cory Bennett, The Hill
Bennett writes: "American and British spy agencies have been aggressively developing tools to hack smartphones, government leaker Edward Snowden told BBC's 'Panorama' in an interview aired Monday night."
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California to Become Fifth State to Legalize Assisted Dying
Associated Press
Excerpt: "California will become the fifth state to allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives using doctor-prescribed drugs after Governor Jerry Brown announced Monday he signed one of the most emotionally charged bills of the year."
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The EPA Closed the Lab That Might Have Caught VW Years Ago
Peter Whoriskey, The Washington Post
Whoriskey writes: "More than 20 years ago, an engineer at the Environmental Protection Agency invented a device that allows technicians to measure the emissions of a car as it is traveling in the real world."
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Even Appalachia Is Walking Away From Coal
Daniel Gross, Slate
Gross writes: "The coal industry has entered a rough patch. Its largest customers - electricity producers - are systematically shutting down plants that use the material."
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US Corporate Welfare Queens and the Enlarged Testicles of these CEOs who pay NO TAXES, GET TAX REFUNDS

Has Corporate America thanked you for their TAX REFUNDS that you sent? 

It takes some large testicles for Wall Street to speak out with the level of Corporate Welfare and these CEOs not paying their fair share. 

FWIW, Gary Loveman was salivating to invade Massachusetts even as Caesars's debt [formerly Harrah's] was so outrageous, their entire cash flow went to service Caesars' debt. 

Bernie Sanders Calls Out 18 Corrupt CEOs For Stealing Trillions, Outsourcing Jobs, and Evading Taxes

Last week, 80 CEOs jointly published a letter in the Wall Street Journal calling for austerity spending cuts to deal with the deficit, in a new effort to "starve the...

OCCUPYDEMOCRATS.COM/BERNIE-SANDERS…

Last week, 80 CEOs jointly published a letter in the Wall Street Journal calling for austerity spending cuts to deal with the deficit, in a new effort to “starve the beast” and slice funds away from public programs, especially Medicare and Medicaid, reducing their effectiveness to make their calls for privatization more effective. It’s the same old game that corporations and Republicans across the country have played time and time again, one that has the American people losing.

Senator Bernie Sanders, champion of the middle class and economic justice, published his own response- a scathing condemnation of their hypocrisy and blatant opportunism:

“There really is no shame. The Wall Street leaders whose recklessness and illegal behavior caused this terrible recession are now lecturing the American people on the need for courage to deal with the nation’s finances and deficit crisis. Before telling us why we should cut Social Security, Medicare and other vitally important programs, these CEOs might want to take a hard look at their responsibility for causing the deficit and this terrible recession.

Our Wall Street friends might also want to show some courage of their own by suggesting that the wealthiest people in this country, like them, start paying their fair share of taxes. They might work to end the outrageous corporate loopholes, tax havens and outsourcing provisions that their lobbyists have littered throughout the tax code – contributing greatly to our deficit.

Many of the CEO’s who signed the deficit-reduction letter run corporations that evaded at least $34.5 billion in taxes by setting up more than 600 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens since 2008. As a result, at least a dozen of the companies avoided paying any federal income taxes in recent years, and even received more than $6.4 billion in tax refunds from the IRS since 2008.

Several of the companies received a total taxpayer bailout of more than $2.5 trillion from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.

Many of the companies also have outsourced hundreds of thousands of American jobs to China and other low wage countries, forcing their workers to receive unemployment insurance and other federal benefits. In other words, these are some of the same people who have significantly caused the deficit to explode over the last four years.”

He then released a list of the eighteen CEOs who are responsible for triggering the recession, destroying the middle class, corrupting our politicians, underpaying their workers, and outsourcing jobs overseas.

These are the names of traitors who have forsaken their people and nation to worship at the altar of greed:

1) Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $1.9 billion tax refund.

Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? Over $1.3 trillion.

Amount of federal income taxes Bank of America would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.6 billion.

2) Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $278 million tax refund.

Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $824 billion.

Amount of federal income taxes Goldman Sachs would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.7 billion

3) JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon
Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $416 billion.

Amount of federal income taxes JP Morgan Chase would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $4.9 billion.

4) General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $3.3 billion tax refund.

Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve? $16 billion.

Jobs Shipped Overseas? At least 25,000 since 2001.

5) Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $705 million tax refund.

American Jobs Cut in 2010? In 2010, Verizon announced 13,000 job cuts, the third highest corporate layoff total that year.

6) Boeing CEO James McNerney, Jr.
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? None. $124 million tax refund.

American Jobs Shipped overseas? Over 57,000.

Amount of Corporate Welfare? At least $58 billion.

7) Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
Amount of federal income taxes Microsoft would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $19.4 billion.

8) Honeywell International CEO David Cote
Amount of federal income taxes paid from 2008-2010? Zero. $34 million tax refund.

9) Corning CEO Wendell Weeks
Amount of federal income taxes paid from 2008-2010? Zero. $4 million tax refund.

10) Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $74 million tax refund.

11). Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2009? Zero. $55 million tax refund.

12) Deere & Company CEO Samuel Allen
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2009? Zero. $1 million tax refund.

13) Marsh & McLennan Companies CEO Brian Duperreault
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $90 million refund.

14) Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs
Amount of federal income taxes Qualcomm would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $4.7 billion.

15) Tenneco CEO Gregg Sherill
Amount of federal income taxes Tenneco would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $269 million.

16) Express Scripts CEO George Paz
Amount of federal income taxes Express Scripts would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $20 million.

17) Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman
Amount of federal income taxes Caesars Entertainment would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $9 million.

18). R.R. Donnelly & Sons CEO Thomas Quinlan III
Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $49 million tax refund.

These are astonishing numbers. There are billions of dollars missing from the federal budget because huge multinational corporations don’t pay any taxes while crying for spending cuts and austerity measures placed on the backs of the American people. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate really confronting these issues, and we must hear his message. We cannot allow the proud heritage of American democracy to slide into the dark pit of oligarchy, where the worker becomes a serf and the mega-rich rule like lords.

Many thanks to True Activist.com for the story.

http://www.occupydemocrats.com/bernie-sanders-calls-out-18-corrupt-ceos-for-stealing-trillions-outsourcing-jobs-and-evading-taxes/

Alan Grayson

Everyone's thinking it. I'll say it: Donald Trump is racist and his supporters are nuts.

Rep. Alan Grayson

Firebrand Congressman Alan Grayson, running for Senate, joins Chris Hayes to talk Trump, Hillary and whether the Iran deal makes sense.

MSNBC.COM

"America has been trending stupid for a long time. Now the stupid wants out of its cage, and Trump is urging it on. There are a lot of ways this can go wrong, no matter who wins in 2016."

Donald Trump Just Stopped Being Funny

Win or lose, Trump's campaign threatens to unleash the Great American Stupid

ROLLINGSTONE.COM

RSN: One Percenter Sacrifices Some of His Wealth to Raise Minimum Wage

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*THE HUGE IMPORTANCE OF OUR SUSTAINER SUBSCRIBERS: We sincerely appreciate every contribution we receive, large or small. The monthly donor Sustainer-Subscriber contributions however are the ones that are doing the most to change the way Reader Supported News functions. Those dependable monthly contributions, even as little as ten dollars a month, significantly reduce the amount of money we need to raise through our funding drives on a monthly basis. That's huge. This month, due to the continued strength of the Sustainer-Subscriber signups, we only need to raise 27K during our August funding drive. By comparison one year ago, for August of 2013 we needed to raise 45K. The difference has been, the new monthly donors. The advantage to the donor is that you no longer receive the fundraising emails. Please seriously consider becoming a Reader Supported News Sustainer-Subscriber. / Marc Ash - Founder, Reader Supported News*

Okay, I'll make a donation.

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FOCUS: Carl Gibson | One Percenter Sacrifices Some of His Wealth to Raise Minimum Wage

Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News
Gibson writes: "Who knew that a former executive at General Electric, a company widely-known for its tax dodging and outrageous lobbying expenses, would take a bold, selfless stand against income inequality as president of a public university?"
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Please continue to support Corporate Welfare! They LOVE you!

USAction shared Citizens for Tax Justice's photo.

LIKE & SHARE this if it's true for you. http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers

HINT: If you paid any income taxes at all between 2008 and 2012, it's true for you. These corporations all paid negative tax rates -- less than zero -- during those years.

Via our friends at Citizens for Tax Justice

 

 

Share this on if it's true for you.

HINT: If you paid any income taxes at all between 2008 and 2012, it's true for you. These corporations all paid negative tax rates -- less than zero -- during those years.

http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers

Are you supporting Plutocracy?

It's always impressive when self-proclaimed 'Conservatives,' 'Republicans,' and 'Tea Partiers' spew the rhetoric of ALEC with no understanding of the Sale of Our Democracy.

If nothing else, stop voting against your best interests and supporting ALEC.

Stand your ground hurt ALEC with donors. (photo: James Fassinger/stillscenes.com)

The ALEC Documents Exposed

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

07 December 13

he Guardian -- which, of course, we should all ignore because people don't like Glenn Greenwald and will not have him over for dinner any time soon -- has gotten its hands on a whole trove of documents from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and is doing god's work with them. The most interesting of them notes that ALEC started seriously bleeding corporate support when it lined up on the wrong side of the shooting of Trayvon Martin, who was killed by misunderstood crimebuster George Zimmerman for the crime of carrying snack food in a neighborhood where Zimmerman didn't think he belonged. It also notes that ALEC is concocting new scams to revive itself.

The Guardian has learned that the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), which shapes and promotes legislation at state level across the US, has identified more than 40 lapsed corporate members it wants to attract back into the fold under a scheme referred to in its documents as the "Prodigal Son Project". The target firms include commercial giants such as Amazon, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Kraft, McDonald's and Walmart, all of which cut ties with the group following the furore over the killing of the unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in February 2012...The reference to the Prodigal Son Project is just one of many revelations contained in a batch of internal Alec documents that have been obtained by the Guardian. The documents, prepared for its most recent annual board meeting in Chicago in August, cast light on the inner workings of the group. They show that: Alec has set up a separate sister group called the "Jeffersonian Project" amid concerns over possible government inquiries into whether its activities constitute lobbying - which would threaten its tax-exempt status; the network has suffered a decline in its membership among state-based Republicans and among big corporations following the Trayvon Martin controversy; its income raised from conferences, membership fees and donations has fallen short, leaving the group with a potential funding crisis; a draft agreement prepared for the board meeting proposed that Alec's chairs in each of the 50 states, who are drawn from senior legislators, should be required to put the interests of the organisation first, thus setting up a possible conflict of interest with the voters who elected them.

Nobody has any excuse any longer. Reporters -- local and national -- no longer have any excuse to treat ALEC and its work product as anything more than corporate-funded propaganda designed to exist outside the imperatives of democratic self-government. Voters -- local and national -- no longer have any excuse that they were somehow fooled by their representatives, who were acting out of loyalty to some distant boardroom and not to the people who elected them. Democratic parties -- local and national -- no longer have any excuse to keep fro crushing this organization in whatever new guise it chooses to camouflage itself and its agenda. That last part -- the "draft agreement" by which state legislators agree to be big old 'ho's for the people who run ALEC -- should be politically suicidal. It's long past time to ACORN these bastards in the public mind.

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Charlie has been a working journalist since 1976. He is the author of four books, most recently "Idiot America." He lives near Boston with his wife but no longer his three children.

 

 

When the Republican Jackasses Shut Down Government......

Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim Nuclear, both operated by Entergy, are of the same General Electric design and age as Fukushima, as are others around the nation.

Pilgrim Nuclear was shut down.

We don't know why because NRC is the cost of the Republican Government Shutdown.

This is the cost of the Republican Jackasses promoting Anti-Government sentiment.

Are you safe?






Forcing Another Fukushima: 90% of America's Nuclear Reactor Regulators Now to be Furloughed

The federal government has failed to find a sufficiently safe place for spent nuclear fuel


As if the world needed another catastrophe of Fukushima proportions, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission just announced that it expects another 3900 employees to be furloughed this week due to budget shortages. This comprises more than 90% of the agency’s workforce who are charged with making sure more than 100 nuclear reactors spread across 63 sites in the US remain safe.

Only approximately 300 personnel will remain on staff, including 150 resident inspectors and a ‘skeletal’ management crew along with some emergency staffers. While we might be able to go without many of the ‘services’ of the government: the FDA, CDC and EPA, it seems preposterous for our politicians to play with nuclear fire in view of the recent upgrade of the Fukushima disaster to catastrophic proportions.

After all, America’s nuclear power plants are aging. The average plant is over 30 years old with the oldest two nuclear sites being in Oyster Creek, New Jersey, and Nine Mile Point 1 in New York, respectively. Some plants were recently closed due to safety concerns and the permanent decline of their systems. Many plants are showing injured steam generators and others have structural damage.

NationofChange is a 501(c)3 nonprofit funded directly by our readers. Please make a small donation to support our work.

Also, the populations living near nuclear plant sites have sky-rocketed in the past decades. In some places populations have increased nearly four times since the 1980s. If an emergency occurred residents would be expected to evacuate a ‘nuclear fall-out area’ on old two-lane highways meant to act as sufficient infrastructure more than 4 decades ago.

Furthermore, most nuclear sites shave been allowed to run at maximum capacity for many years now, increasing radiation risks, even if no major incident, such as an earthquake, tsunami, tornado, or other unforeseeable weather event were to happen. Even a small flood, could cause a chain reaction which would lead to the same events we have observed in Japan, particularly at sites were reactors are aging and fragile to begin with.

The National Resources Defense Council has mapped out areas where nuclear fallout are most probable in the event of a catastrophe, but they fail to detail just how likely that occurrence could be.
Moreover, imagine the government response to an actual crisis – and remember the people who went without food, shelter or medical care during Hurricane Katrina for weeks. Can we trust our leaders – especially during a government shut down to usher in needed emergency services should they be required?

The federal government has also failed to find a sufficiently safe place for spent nuclear fuel. Who will be making sure this poison isn’t dumped in our backyards during the government furlough?

Halting some government programs during the shut-down has seemed acceptable, possibly even with a smug nod of ‘good-riddance’ from some who see the government as a bloated entity to begin with, but sending home workers who make sure we don’t have another Fukushima right here on American soil is sheer wickedness.

http://www.nationofchange.org/forcing-another-fukushima-90-america-s-nuclear-reactor-regulators-now-be-furloughed-1381673321

Fukushima

Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim Nuclear on Plymouth, MA, both operated by Entergy, are of the same design and age as FUKUSHIMA.

Are we tired of the lies by the Nuclear Energy Industry?

Where are the solutions? Where are the PLANS?

Greg Palast

New Fukushima leak after workers overfill gaugeless storage tank spilling around 100 gallons

More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24377520

Fukushima

Vermont Yankee and Pilgrim Nuclear, both operated by Entergy, are the same design and same age as Fukushima.

Fukushima Leaks Radioactive Water Into Pacific 03 Oct 2013 A new leak of highly radioactive water is believed to be flowing into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's stricken nuclear plant after a storage tank overflowed. A Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) official said workers at Fukushima detected the toxic fluid dripping from the top of a tank when they were patrolling the site. Tepco estimates 430 litres of the water, which contains highly radioactive doses of strontium, has leaked outside a concrete barrier surrounding the tank.

New radioactive water leak at crippled Fukushima plant 03 Oct 2013 Another leak of radioactive water has been found at Fukushima, the plant's Japanese operator said Thursday, the latest setback for the troubled clean-up at the broken nuclear power station. Tokyo Electric Power said highly-polluted radioactive water, which spilled out of a storage tank as it was being filled, may have made its way out to the Pacific Ocean. The utility, whose 'efforts' to fix the mess at Fukushima have been derided as sloppy, said 430 litres (110 US gallons) with a radioactive load of up to 580,000 becquerels per litre, had leaked from one of the 450-tonne tanks because of recent typhoon-brought heavy rainfall.

Four tonnes of radioactive water spilled in Fukushima --Some tanks have leaked highly radioactive waste water, which might [?!] have washed to sea. 01 Oct 2013 The operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant said Tuesday workers had spilled four tonnes of radioactive water, likely contaminating the soil and possibly groundwater. Workers were pumping rain water that was trapped in a concrete gutter into an empty 12-tonne tank that sat on open soil, said a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO). "Work crew started operating the pump around 10:38 am. At 11:50 am, they found water was spilling from the manhole on top of the tank," the spokesman said.

Ex-PM Koizumi raps government push for nuclear power as 'irresponsible' 02 Oct 2013 Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi criticized the government’s push to restart nuclear power generation and urged it to reconsider. "It is irresponsible to pursue nuclear power when there is no permanent disposal site for radioactive waste," Koizumi said at a lecture in Nagoya. The government under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has retracted its predecessor’s goal of phasing out nuclear power and opened the way for the restart of idled reactors.

The demand for a global take-over at Fukushima has hit critical mass

Frontline offered a documentary about FUKUSHIMA that's worth watching and doesn't seem currently available for a link.

Once again, this highlights why PBS is crucial. The chronology and complexity is explained in easily understood terms. 

Fukushima is the same design and age as Pilgrim Nuclear in Plymouth, MA and Vermont Yankee, both operated by Entergy.


The demand for a global take-over at Fukushima has hit critical mass
September 30, 2013

More than 48,000 global citizens have now signed a petition at www.nukefree.org asking the United Nations and the world community to take charge of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. The petition was first linked at Nukefree

Another 25,000 have signed at Roots Action. An independent advisory group of scientists and engineers is also in formation.

The signatures are pouring in from all over the world. By November, they will be delivered to the United Nations.

The corporate media has blacked out meaningful coverage of the most critical threat to global health and safety in decades.

The much-hyped “nuclear renaissance” has turned into a global rout. In the face of massive grassroots opposition and the falling price of renewable energy and natural gas, operating reactors are shutting and proposed new ones are being cancelled.

This lessens the radioactive burden on the planet. But it makes the aging reactor fleet ever more dangerous. A crumbling industry with diminished resources and a disappearing workforce cannot safely caretake the decrepit, deteriorating 400-odd commercial reactors still licensed to operate worldwide.

All of which pales before the crisis at Fukushima. Since the 3/11/2011 earthquake and tsunami, the six-reactor Daichi site has plunged into lethal chaos.

For decades the atomic industry claimed vehemently that a commercial reactor could not explode. When Chernobyl blew, it blamed “inferior” Soviet technology.

But Fukushima’s designs are from General Electric (some two dozen similar reactors are licensed in the US). At least four explosions have rocked the site. One might have involved nuclear fission. Three cores have melted into the ground. Massive quantities of water have been poured where the owner, Tokyo Electric (Tepco), and the Japanese government think they might be, but nobody knows for sure.

As the Free Press has reported, steam emissions indicate one or more may still be hot. Contaminated water is leaking from hastily-constructed tanks. Room for more is running out. The inevitable next earthquake could rupture them all and send untold quantities of poisons pouring into the ocean.

The worst immediate threat at Fukushima lies in the spent fuel pool at Unit Four. That reactor had been shut for routine maintenance when the earthquake and tsunami hit. The 400-ton core, with more than 1300 fuel rods, sat in its pool 100 feet in the air.

Spent fuel rods are the most lethal items our species has ever created. A human standing within a few feet of one would die in a matter of minutes. With more than 11,000 scattered around the Daichi site, radiation levels could rise high enough to force the evacuation of all workers and immobilize much vital electronic equipment.

Spent fuel rods must be kept cool at all times. If exposed to air, their zirconium alloy cladding will ignite, the rods will burn and huge quantities of radiation will be emitted. Should the rods touch each other, or should they crumble into a big enough pile, an explosion is possible. By some estimates there’s enough radioactivity embodied in the rods to create a fallout cloud 15,000 times greater than the one from the Hiroshima bombing.

The rods perched in the Unit 4 pool are in an extremely dangerous position. The building is tipping and sinking into the sodden ground. The fuel pool itself may have deteriorated. The rods are embrittled and prone to crumbling. Just 50 meters from the base is a common spent fuel pool containing some 6,000 fuel rods that could be seriously compromised should it lose coolant. Overall there are some 11,000 spent rods scattered around the Fukushima Daichi site.

Dangerous as the process might be, the rods in the Unit Four fuel pool must come down in an orderly fashion. Another earthquake could easily cause the building to crumble and collapse. Should those rods crash to the ground and be left uncooled, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Tepco has said it will begin trying to remove the rods from that pool in November. The petitions circulating through www.nukefree.org and www.moveon.org , as well as at rootsaction.org and avaaz.org, ask that the United Nations take over. They ask the world scientific and engineering communities to step in. The Rootsaction petition also asks that $8.3 billion slated in loan guarantees for a new US nuke be shifted instead to dealing with the Fukushima site.

It’s a call with mixed blessings. The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency is notoriously pro-nuclear, charged with promoting atomic power as well as regulating it. Critics have found the IAEA to be secretive and unresponsive.

But Tepco is a private utility with limited resources. The Japanese government has an obvious stake in downplaying Fukushima’s dangers. These were the two entities that approved and built these reactors.

While the IAEA is imperfect, its resources are more substantial and its stake at Fukushima somewhat less direct. An ad hoc global network of scientists and engineers would be intellectually ideal, but would lack the resources for direct intervention.

Ultimately the petitions call for a combination of the two.

It’s also hoped the petitions will arouse the global media. The moving of the fuel rods from Unit Four must be televised. We need to see what’s happening as it happens. Only this kind of coverage can allow global experts to analyze and advise as needed.

Let’s all hope that this operation proves successful, that the site be neutralized and the massive leaks of radioactive water and gasses be somehow stopped.

As former Ambassador Mitsuhei Murata has put it: full-scale releases from Fukushima “would destroy the world environment and our civilization. This is not rocket science, nor does it connect to the pugilistic debate over nuclear power plants. This is an issue of human survival.”

----------------------

Harvey Wasserman is senior editor of the Columbus Free Press and www.freepress.org. He edits Nuke Free, where all factual material in this article can be linked. He hosts the Solartopia Green Power & Wellness radio show at www.prn.fm, and is author of Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth (Harvey Wasserman).


http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7/2013/1986

Syria, Egypt, War Profiteers, Corporate Gravy Train and GREED

Below is another collage of articles that are helpful in formulating an opinion of U.S. intervention in Syria.

Do we really want to continue to be the World's Arms Provider? the World's War Mongers?
Will the U.S. continue to fight RESOURCE WARS rather than reduce our Fossil Fuel Gluttony and switch to Clean Energy?  

Egypt is the largest U.S. Aid recipient. Israel is the 2nd largest U.S. Aid recipient.
Do you see anything that improves the lives of the citizens in the respective countries?
 
AlterNet / By Alex Kane

6 Corporations Making Money From U.S. Aid to the Brutal Egyptian Military

 

The $1.3 billion sent to Egypt's armed forces every year functions as a major subsidy program to American military contractors.

Egyptian Army Soldiers during a military exercise with Spain and the U.S.
Photo Credit: USAF/Wikimedia Commons

August 30, 2013 |

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Most of the tanks, tear gas and bullets used to brutally clear the Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo in mid-August were bought with American money. While there are a number of reasons why the U.S. continues to allocate an annual $1.3 billion in cash for the Egyptian military—Israel, access to the Suez Canal and counter-terrorism cooperation—the profits that go to American weapons companies are a major incentive.


Since 1979, the glue that has stuck the Pentagon and Egyptian military together has been cash. In total, America has given the Egyptian military nearly $42 billion since 1948, according to a Congressional Research Service report. Under the terms of the Foreign Military Financing deal struck with Egypt, the vast majority of the arms equipment the country buys is American. Currently, an estimated 80 percent of the Egyptian military's weapons purchases are covered by American military aid.

Here's how the financing system works: the money allocated for the military aid gets sent to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Then, it gets delivered to a trust fund at the Treasury Department, and is finally given to military contractors who make the tanks and bullets that have transformed the Egyptian armed forces into one of the most powerful forces in the Middle East.
This system benefits some of the most powerful American military companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.

“It’s clearly a major subsidy program for these companies,” said Shana Marshall, an expert on military aid to Egypt and associate director and research instructor at the Institute for Middle East Studies at George Washington University. “It’s kept open their production line when they would have otherwise been closed down and it’s a source of really reliable profits for them.”

In the aftermath of the military's massacre of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, these defense contractors are closely watching the unfolding debate about U.S. aid to Egypt. But they have little reason to worry.

While reports about the Obama administration reviewing the U.S. military aid package have emerged in recent weeks, there is little chance of an U.S. aid cut off, despite the fact that American law mandates one if a coup is implemented.

“Every time someone mentions a suspension of aid or rethinking the aid program, they send a team of defense industry lobbyists to Capitol Hill to knock on doors to make sure that there’s no suspension of the aid program,” said Marshall.

Further complicating any talk of an aid cut-off is the fact that contracts to provide equipment to the military extend far into the future. Penalties for breaking those contracts would be inflicted on the U.S. taxpayer.

So these military contractors will continue to rake in cash from the U.S.-Egypt relationship for the foreseeable future. Here's a look at six of them.

1. Lockheed Martin
The Maryland-based military company is a tried-and-true customer of the U.S. military. With gross profits of $2.7 billion in 2011, Lockheed Martin is one of the most cash-rich military companies. The vast majority of those profits come from U.S. government contractors to provide fighter jets, missile defense and more. It 's also benefited handsomely from the Egypt-US relationship.
In 2010, Lockheed Martin inked a $2.5 billion deal with the U.S. military to provide 20 F-16 fighter jets to the Egyptian military. Fourteen of the jets have been delivered to Egypt; under the terms of the deal, the remaining six are to be delivered by December 2014. But in the wake of the Egyptian military's violence against supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi, the Obama administration announced it would delay the delivery of the remaining jets. While it was a punitive measure in response to human rights violations, in the grand scheme of things it's only a symbolic step, given that it's a temporary suspension and that the vast majority of U.S. military equipment will continue to be sent to the country.

A month after the fighter jet deal was reached, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary in Florida was awarded a $46 million contract to provide night vision sensor systems for Apache helicopters for Egypt.

2. General Dynamics
This major military company has also benefited from the Egyptian-American military relationship. Specifically, it is the source for key parts needed to build Egypt's M1A1 tanks, a vehicle that the U.S. has delivered to the country since the late 1980s. In total, Egypt's military has acquired more than 1,000 of these tanks—far more than the armed forces actually need—for over $3.9 billion.
Since 1992, General Dynamics has provided components for tank kits for M1A1 vehicles. In 2011, the U.S. military awarded the company a $395 million deal to provide these tank kits to Egypt. The parts are shipped to a production facility in Egypt—an example of how the military relationship with the U.S. also benefits Egyptian military engineers and provides some jobs for Egyptians. (Other contracts have similar arrangements, where some of the production of military goods occurs in the U.S. and the other portion occurring in Egyptian factories.) The deliveries of these specific tank kits will take place from July 2013-January 2016.
In 2012, General Dynamics signed another contract, this time for $37 million, related to M1A1 tanks.

3. L-3 Communications
Known for its prowess in the production of communications, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment for the U.S. government, L-3 Communications brings in billions of dollars in profits each year. Some of the money comes from its contracts with the U.S. military to provide Egypt communications equipment.

This year, L-3 Communications was awarded a $10.5 million contract to provide high-frequency transceivers for Egypt's military.
In 2010, L-3 Communications received even more benefits from the U.S. aid package to Egypt. The company made $24 million to assemble a sonar system for the Egyptian navy. “ L-3's sonar provides long range and detection capability under the harshest of sea state conditions, and we are honored to provide the Egyptian Navy with our high-performance solution,” crowed Jerry Ozovek, the president of L-3's Ocean Systems.

4. General Electric
General Electric has its hands in everything: energy, computers, digital cameras—and U.S. military contracting, specifically in the aviation field.

In August 2013, General Electric signed a $13.6 million deal with the U.S. Air Force to give Egypt's air force “service life extension kits” for the F110 jet fighter engine used in the Lockheed Martin-produced F16s.
“Orders like these translate into stable employment for years,” a GE spokesman told an Ohio newspaper.

5. Exelis
While this company is a relatively small name in the world of military contractors, Exelis does well for itself. The Virginia-based company made nearly $6 million last year. The Washington Post describes it as specializing in “electronics and communications equipment such as radios, as well as technical services such as cybersecurity and intelligence offerings.”

This year, it inked a $24 million deal with the U.S. Navy to produce “six radio frequency repeater systems for the government of Egypt.”

6. Boeing
Boeing is the second largest military contractor in the world. Its relationship with the Egyptian military stretches back years.
In 2000, Boeing agreed to upgrade 35 of Egypt's Apache helicopters for $400 million. Nine years later, Boeing signed a $820 million contract to provide more Apache aircraft. The U.S. is set to deliver some of the remaining helicopters from that 2009 deal next month.
And in 2010, Boeing signed yet another contract to provide Apache helicopters, this time for $22.5 million.

Alex Kane is AlterNet's New York-based World editor, and an assistant editor for Mondoweiss. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

http://www.alternet.org/world/6-corporations-making-money-us-aid-brutal-egyptian-military?page=0%2C0

Obama Was This Close to Bombing Syria

flickr: @The White House

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/obama-was-close-bombing-syria/68934/

The Syria Intervention Plan Is Being Pushed by Oil Interests, Not Concern About Chemical Weapons

Massacres of civilians are being exploited for narrow geopolitical competition to control Mideast oil, gas pipelines

 

Photo taken August 21, 2013 shows an oil well near Tioga, North Dakota. New York oil rallied to the highest level for more than two years on Wednesday, with concerns about Middle East supplies intensifying as Western powers prepare for possible military a

August 30, 2013 |  

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On 21 August, hundreds - perhaps over a thousand - people were killed in a chemical weapon attack in Ghouta, Damascus, prompting the US, UK, Israel and France to raise the spectre of military strikes against Bashir al Assad's forces.

The latest episode is merely one more horrific event in a conflict that has increasingly taken on genocidal characteristics.

http://www.alternet.org/world/syria-intervention-plan-fueled-oil-interests-not-chemical-weapon-concern
 

Not For Profit - For Global Justice

The Peoples Press - Powered By People - For People

"The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements." - Senator James W. Fulbright "All men having power ought to be mistrusted." - James Madison "There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams     America Totally Discredited Paul Craig Roberts If Obama goes it alone, he will be harassed for the rest of his life as a war criminal who dares not leave the US. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36036.htm Chemical Hallucinations By William Bowles So there we have it, all the essential elements of a false flag operation, initiated by Mossad. The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36037.htm The Lie of "Limited" War Against Syria By Shamus Cooke The rats are jumping ship. Obama's strongest allies can't stomach the stench of lies that are the foundation of the war effort against Syria. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36039.htm Cruise Missile Law Enforcement By David Swanson Of course, dropping missiles on people is a serious crime, just as kicking in your door at night with guns blazing is normally against the law. But if a policeman -- global or normal -- does it, well, then it's law enforcement, not law breaking. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36041.htm Engineering Consent For An Attack On Syria Kerry Makes Case For Syria Military Action Video   Kerry laid out some of the evidence U.S. intelligence has put together and shared with members of Congress and international allies. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36035.htm   Syrians In Ghouta Claim Saudi-Supplied Rebels Behind Chemical Attack By Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh Rebels and local residents in Ghouta accuse Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan of providing chemical weapons to an al-Qaida linked rebel group. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36032.htm Who Blocked Syrian Peace Talks? By Robert Parry Painful experiences of recent years should have taught the American people the danger that comes when the government and the mainstream press adopt a pleasing but false narrative, altering the facts to support a "good guy v. bad guy" scenario. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36034.htm   The Vassal's Revolt By Tariq Ali Rejoice. Rejoice. - For the first time in fifty years, the House of Commons has voted against participating in an imperial war. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36033.htm This Slaughter Has To Stop Incendiary Bomb Victims 'Like the Walking Dead'   BBC Video Report - Warning A BBC team inside Syria filming for Panorama has witnessed the aftermath of a fresh horrific incident - an incendiary bomb dropped onto a school playground in the north of the country. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36031.htm A Call to Resist By George Capaccio What is the difference between a Syrian father cradling the lifeless body of his son, a victim of some dreadful neurotoxin, and a mother in Iraq delivering a horribly deformed baby? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36038.htm NO U.S. WAR ON SYRIA! TAKE ACTION NOW Click here for list of actions around the country to oppose war with Syria. http://is.gd/Blw2R4 The Unknown Social Warriors, Bernays and Norquist By Steve "Our goal is to inflict pain. It is not good enough to win; it has to be a painful and devastating defeat. It is like when the king would take his opponent's head and spike it on a pole for everyone to see," http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36040.htm   Engineering Consent For An Attack On Syria: Kerry Makes Case For Syria Military Action : Video and Transcript: Kerry laid out some of the "evidence" U.S. intelligence has put together and shared with members of Congress and international allies. http://is.gd/Ybkjyu Deja Vu All Over Again: Colin L. Powell, Remarks to the United Nations Security Council: February 5, 2003: I cannot tell you everything that we know, but what I can share with you, when combined with what all of us have learned over the years, is deeply troubling. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3710.htm U.S. Had Intel on Chemical Strike Before It Was Launched: American intelligence agencies had indications three days beforehand that the Syrian regime was poised to launch a lethal chemical attack that killed more than a thousand people and has set the stage for a possible U.S. military strike on Syria. http://is.gd/8VGQPZ Washington's threats to attack Syria unacceptable - Russia: Washington's statements threatening to use military force against Syria unilaterally are unacceptable, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement. http://is.gd/rVqGOP Pentagon Can't Afford Syria Operation; Must Seek Additional Funds: The U.S. military, struggling after defense cuts of tens of billions of dollars, will be unable to pay for attacks on Syria from current operating funds and must seek additional money from Congress, according to congressional aides. http://is.gd/OxEce0 More than 150 members of Congress have signaled their opposition to airstrikes on Syria without a congressional vote: House members circulated two separate letters circulated that were sent to the White House demanding a congressional role before military action takes place. http://is.gd/g8gEmQ U.S. military officers have deep doubts about impact, wisdom of a U.S. strike on Syria: Marine Lt. Col. Gordon Miller, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, warned this week of "potentially devastating consequences, including a fresh round of chemical weapons attacks and a military response by Israel." http://is.gd/V39uSy British MPs reject military intervention in Syria: Any possibility of British involvement in a military campaign in Syria has been effectively ruled out after British lawmakers voted down the prospect in parliament, costing the US the nation's closest ally in a potential strike. http://rt.com/news/uk-parliament-vote-syria-181/ Syria: John Kerry slaps Britain in face as he calls France 'oldest allies': John Kerry delivers diplomatic slap in the face to Britain, failing to mention them among list of supporters and referring to France as "oldest allies". http://is.gd/OHiH2D Scant foreign support for US strikes on Syria: Not since the 1983 invasion of Grenada has the US been so alone in pursuing major lethal military action http://is.gd/rvNR5Z Turkish PM says Syria intervention should aim to end Assad rule: "It can't be a 24 hours hit-and-run," Erdogan told reporters at a reception in the presidential palace in Ankara. "What matters is stopping the bloodshed in Syria and weakening the regime to the point where it gives up," he said. http://is.gd/BZwD2Y Syria: Reports of 'napalm-like' bomb attack: Video - http://is.gd/OJj8qd Hands Off Syria: Protests Around The World Against The Planned Assault By Countercurrents.org http://www.countercurrents.org/cc020913.pdf As US president Barack Obama announced that he will seek congressional authorization for a military intervention in Syria, protesters from around the world rallied against any war against Syria. Polls in the US, UK, France and other countries show strong opposition against the possible war Take Action Against A War On Syria By David Swanson http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson020913.htm We who reject arguments for war are a majority now. We are a majority in Britain, where Parliament has already voted "No." We are a majority in Germany, which will not take part. We are a majority in France, where Parliament will be heard from soon. And we are a majority in the United States. Let Congress hear from you now! Syria: A 12 Point Case Against Military Intervention By Chandra Muzaffar http://www.countercurrents.org/muzaffar020913.htm The House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States of America should reject any form of US military intervention in Syria. Rejection would be a clear statement against war. It would be a lucid message on behalf of peace. There are at least 12 reasons why the US Congress, and the people of the world, should adopt such a stand How The U.S. Left Is Failing Over Syria By Shamus Cooke http://www.countercurrents.org/cooke020913.htm There are four pieces of information that all left groups have a duty to report about Syria, but they have either ignored or minimized: 1) Obama presented zero evidence to back up his main justification for war: that the Syrian Government used chemical weapons against civilians. 2) A top UN investigator, Carla Del Ponte , blamed a previous chemical weapons attack on the U.S.-backed rebels. 3) Any attack on Syria, no matter how “limited,” has a high risk of expanding into neighboring countries if Syria exercises its right as a sovereign nation to defend itself. 4) A war against Syria will be a violation of international law, since it is not approved by the UN, and therefore will make President Obama a war criminal The World Is Changing; The Middle East Must Too By Dr Salim Nazzal http://www.countercurrents.org/nazzal020913.htm What is clear is that the time of absurd intervention has gone .And this is a clear defeat for those who still believe in the Tomahawk policy. They need to open their eyes to realize that the world has changed. And if the world is changing, the Middle East must change too. The efforts must now be focused on stopping the civil war in Syria to reach a political solution, which allows Syria to change towards democracy. In addition, it is by the time to address seriously the root of the problems in the middle east, which is the Zionist occupation of Palestine Understanding Syrian Chaos: A Muslim Lens By Adfar Shah http://www.countercurrents.org/ashah020913.htm Assad should win the people back and connect to his public. He should not just deliver sermons in his house to his favorites but understand the mass suffering and compensate the victims properly. He should analyze the problem accurately and accept his mistakes but he is too confused at the moment. He should regulate his army and check any human rights violations further .Lastly, instead of fighting or killing the opposition (genuine groups), he should start negotiations for peace building