“Thanks to a fluke of orbital mechanics that brings the moon closer to Earth than it has been in more than 18 years, the biggest full moon of 2011 will occur on Saturday, leading some observers to dub it a "supermoon." Full Story
Nuke lobbyists clutter the halls of Congress like hyenas ready to spring into action if any legislation results from Japan’s Nuke crisis.
Twist this senator’s arm, pull that one’s finger. It’s shameful how some lawmakers are being lavished with thousands of dollars to turn their head the other way when it comes to the Nuke industry’s practices.
Hoyer (left), Upton and Waxman have all accepted donations from the industry. AP Photos
“Facing its biggest crisis in 25 years, the U.S. nuclear power industry can count on plenty of Democratic and Republican friends in both high and low places.
During the past election cycle alone, the Nuclear Energy Institute and more than a dozen companies with big nuclear portfolios have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions to lawmakers in key leadership slots and across influential state delegations.
The donations and lobbying funds came at a critical moment for the nuclear industry as its largest trade group and major companies pushed for passage of a cap-and-trade bill.
While that effort failed, the money is sure to keep doors open on Capitol Hill as lawmakers consider any response to the safety issues highlighted by multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns in Japan in the aftermath of last week’s monster earthquake and tsunami.” Full Story
Suddenly the rest of the news in the world and nation seems irrelevant. Everywhere I look on TV, and in the blogs, there’s something about what’s happening in Japan and anything remotely related to it.
That’s very understandable. We may be standing on the brink of a disaster that will make all other recorded disasters pale in comparison. The radioactivity levels escaping into the atmosphere, even as I write this, are spiking. No one knows for sure how high they are and we can’t trust the Japanese government or the company that owns the stricken reactors, or the world press – for 100% accurate information.
I remember the Cuban missile crisis and the run on supplies in stores. Even my normally unflappable father went to the nearest grocery story and stocked up on water and canned goods.
The atmosphere was a lot like it is now with the panic run on Iodine (for more information go here.) The same uncertainty. The same lack of accurate reporting. The same suspicions that we have now. The only exception is there’s more access to news sources worldwide to the average American today because of the Internet. (PHOTO - Empty shelves at a supermarket in Hiraizumi in Iwate prefecture.)
Humboldt bloggers who normally talk about all things Humboldt, are now covering the unfolding events in Japan as well as any news source you can go to. Here’s several good examples; Redheaded Blackbelt; Tom Seaborn Blog; and SoHum ParlanceII. I’ve been posting, off-and-on, about Japan’s triple crisis, but part of me has been thinking, “I need to get on with my life. I can’t do anything about what’s happening, so why stress myself out over it?”
The other part of me, the journalist, can’t get enough information on the subject and I’ve been reading headlines from around the world from the moment I wake up, till I retire at night.
Today, I’ve decided to ratchet my Japan crisis reading down. Just a few headlines and maybe an hour of news on the boob tube at 6:00 p.m. It would stress me out if I didn’t know what was going on. Not that I really have all the facts, but anything on the subject is better than nothing.
(PHOTO - An official checks a man at a radiation screening center in Koriyama, some 60 km away from the Fukushima nuclear facilities, on March 17)
Meanwhile, for those who have just been glued to the events in Japan, there’s some other pretty serious stuff going down regarding Libya! In shift, US now urges airstrikes on Libya (US urges UN to approve Libya airstrikes, no-fly zone) If we go though with the No-Fly Z
That’s right. The last thing in the world our nation needs is another OIL WAR!
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, speaking to lawmakers in recent weeks, has cautioned a no-fly zone would be a risky operation requiring air strikes to cripple local air defenses. A draft U.N. Security Council resolution is going to be voted on today at 6 p.m. ET.
UPDATE 6:15 PST UN OKs 'all necessary measures,' no-fly zone to protect Libyans
This can’t be good. I’m not surprised however. Big Oil (draped in an American flag) will do anything to protect it’s worldwide assets.
PHOTO - New York Times photographers Tyler Hicks (right, in glasses) and Lynsey Addario (far left), run for cover during a bombing run by Libyan government planes at a checkpoint near the oil refinery of Ras Lanuf on Friday, Mar. 11. The other photojournalists pictured, starting from second left are John Moore of Getty Images, Holly Pickett and Philip Poupin. Hicks and Addario, along with NYT correspondents Stephen Farrell and Anthony Shadid, were reported missing near lines of advancing Gadhafi forces two days ago, the NYT announced on Wednesday. Paul Conroy / Reuters
Does it make it easier reading or viewing the rest of the madness going on in this world? No. But it’s necessary (for people like me) in order to keep a perspective on what’s happening all over this planet.
In my overview, I try to balance the negative with the positive news – because both are always happening somewhere. With that in mind, here’s some stories that might even bring you a smile:
I’m happy to report he wasn’t reduced to roast ram and walked away from this experience.
Erin say what?
St. Patrick may be the patron saint of Ireland... but he never even set foot on the Emerald Island until he was 16, and he was dragged there kicking and screaming.
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2. Tennessee would like its own currency. But is meth a stable enough standard?
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!
We all know that means it’s a day for green beer and cabbage. There’ll be parties in bars and on the streets. Better wear green today or get pinched (where did this ritual get started?).
“Sometime tomorrow, around the time your alarm clock rings, you will hate yourself for trying to keep up with your college self this St. Patrick's Day. You used to b
It's not your imagination. Our bodies really do start to lose the capability to process booze as we get older, an alcohol expert explains.” Full Story
Federal agencies are beefing up their radiation-monitoring capabilities at home and abroad, even as they insist that significant amounts of fallout won’t waft from Japan onto U.S. territory.
At home, the Environmental Protection Agency said it's adding seven monitors in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam to its RadNet radiation-tracking system, which operates about 100 air-sniffing stations nationwide. Putting in those extra stations "allows us to gather data from a position closer to Japan," EPA said in an online question-and-answer guide.
Looking beyond America's borders, the U.S. Air Force is sending out a high-tech aircraft to sniff the air over Japan for radiation. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration are also sending experts to Japan to help counter the growing crisis at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant complex.
The NRC and the NNSA have teams who track how hazardous materials spread through the atmosphere, based on computer modeling and other methods. It was the NRC's revised analysis that led to today's advisory telling Americans to evacuate the area within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Fukushima reactors, or stay indoors if they can't get out of the area.
White House spokesman Jay Carney acknowledged that the NRC's advice goes far beyond what the Japanese government is telling its own citizens — that is, to keep indoors within a 19-mile (30-kilometer) radius of the plant.
"The advice the Japanese government is giving — based on information it has — is different from the advice that we would be giving if this incident were happening in the United States of America," Carney said. "It is not about the quality of information. It is about the standards set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission here in the United States and the kind of advice it would be giving should this incident happen in the United States."
For what it's worth, the NRC calls for protective action when projected doses exceed 10 millisieverts (1 rem) or 50 millisieverts (5 rem) to the thyroid. Radiation levels at the damaged plants rose as high as 400 millisieverts per hour.
Companies controlling the media. Sound familiar? BP basically tried to pull the same trick after the DeepWater Horizon disaster – and succeeded to a point.
Flaws in Japan’s leadership deepen sense of crisis
Excerpts:
“Left-leaning news media outlets were long skeptical of nuclear power and its backers, and the mutual mistrust led power companies and their regulators to tightly control the flow of information about nuclear operations so as not to inflame a broad spectrum of opponents that include pacifists and environmentalists.
“It’s a Catch-22,” said Kuni Yogo, a nuclear power planner at Japan’s Science and Technology Agency.
He said that the government and Tokyo Electric Power, or Tepco, the operator of the troubled nuclear plant, “try to disclose only what they think is necessary, while the media, which has an antinuclear tendency, acts hysterically, which leads the government and Tepco to not offer more information.”
The wariness between the public and the nuclear industry and its regulators has proven to be costly during this nuclear emergency. As the problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant unfolded, officials from Tepco and the Nuclear and Industry Safety Agency have at times provided inconsistent figures or played down the risks to the reactors and the general public. No person from either side has become the face of the rescue effort.
Politicians, relying almost completely on Tepco for information, have been left to report what they are told, often in unconvincing fashion.” Full Story
Archaeologists and geologists use imagery to find site ravaged by tsunami
With all the talk about tsunami’s right now, I thought this news story seemed appropriate to share.
The tsunami in this article went 60 miles inland!
Excerpt:
“A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain.
"This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.” FULL STORY HERE.
"Next Steps for Marijuana Reform in California," is a day-long gathering of marijuana reform advocates.
In the wake of Proposition 19's remarkably strong showing at the polls last year, this conference will address ongoing efforts to end failed marijuana prohibition in California, steps to reform the state's medical marijuana laws, and priorities for marijuana reform in the coming years.
The conference is presented by California NORML, Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, Americans for Safe Access, and VibeNation MultiMedia. Confirmed participants include leaders of the Proposition 19 campaign and other ballot initiative proponents, Latino Voters League, California NAACP, United Food and Commercial Workers, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and California Church Impact as well as political consultants, attorneys, medical marijuana advocates, and public officials.
The event is open to the public, and the audience will have the opportunity to comment and weigh in on competing proposals. A party and reception, featuring live music, other entertainment and refreshments, will be held at the Montalban Theater immediately following the conference until 10 pm.
The conference follows up the sold out "Next Steps" conference in Berkeley in January (http://www.canorml.org/nextsched.html).
What: "Next Steps for Marijuana Reform in California"
When: Saturday, March 19th, 9 am to 6 pm
Where: Ricardo Montalban Theater, 1615 Vine St., Hollywood
Tickets: www.drugpolicy.org/nextsteps
Conference Schedule: www.canorml.org/LAConfSched_Online.html
Admission: $20 for the conference; $20 for the reception. A $30 discounted ticket for both events is available online in advance only.
I can’t help thinking about natural disasters in America and what usually follows in their wake. A lawless atmosphere that includes looting.
How has Japan managed to maintain order in the aftermath of last week's earthquake and tsunami?
The chaos and theft that have followed many earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis have been noticeably absent in the wake of Japan's 8.9-magnitude quake. Instead, people have formed long, orderly lines outside grocery stores, where employees try to fairly distribute limited supplies of food and water. "Looting simply does not take place in Japan," says Gregory Pflugfelder, an expert in Japanese culture at Columbia University, as quoted by CNN. "I'm not even sure if there's a word for it that is as clear in its implications as when we hear 'looting.'" How has Japan managed to avoid this common after-effect of disaster?
PHOTO - People walk along a flooded street in Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture in Northern Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area.
Japan isn't superior, just different: “Japanese people are "taught that conformity and consensus are virtues," says James Picht at The Washington Times. To Americans, who prize individualism, "those virtues sound almost offensive." In normal times, "concerns about appearance and obligation" may be stifling, but in adversity they may be what trumps "the urge to smash and grab." Japanese culture isn't "superior," it's just "well suited to maintaining public order immediately after a major disaster." STORY HERE
“When Steve Pougnet was sworn in as mayor of Palm Springs, Calif., in 2007, his husband, Christopher Green, was at his side. In Pougnet's arms was his then 2-year-old son, Beckham, while Green held the other twin, Julia.
It was a moment neither man could have imagined possible when they met 19 years ago. Even then, they knew they someday wanted to have children, but they didn’t know if it would be possible and couldn’t be sure how their family would be viewed if they did.”
PHOTO - Christopher Green, left, and Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, right, shown with their 5-year-old twins Beckham and Julia, say gay families have become more public in recent years. When they first began talking about having children 19 years ago, “we didn’t see any gay couples with kids on the streets,” Pougnet said.
It's been nearly two decades since journalistic icon Dan Rather resigned from CBS after reporting a discredited story about then-Presid...
