Russia-gate has shed any premise of being about Russian interference, writes Daniel Lazare, but the idea that America may in anyway be responsible for its own fate is of course unthinkable.
Tag: united states
Juice Rap News ~ The Great Gun Debate
contributed by Gabrielle Price
Rap News is back with this special report,
nailing it with a reminder about another amendment we have ignored to our own peril.
Urgent Request to UN : Intervention to Stabilize Fukushima Unit 4
submitted by Gabrielle Price
[courtesy of Fukushima.greenaction-japan.org]
ADD YOUR VOICE TO THIS PETITION HERE
May 2, 2012
To: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
An Urgent Request on UN Intervention to Stabilize the Fukushima Unit 4 Spent Nuclear Fuel
Recently, former diplomats and experts both in Japan and abroad stressed the extremely risky condition of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool and this is being widely reported by world media.
Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), who is one of the best-known experts on spent nuclear fuel, stated that in Unit 4 there is spent nuclear fuel which contains Cesium-137 (Cs-137) that is equivalent to 10 times the amount that was released at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Thus, if an earthquake or other event were to cause this pool to drain, this could result in a catastrophic radiological fire involving nearly 10 times the amount of Cs-137 released by the Chernobyl accident.
Nearly all of the 10,893 spent fuel assemblies at the Fukushima Daiichi plant sit in pools vulnerable to future earthquakes, with roughly 85 times more long-lived radioactivity than released at Chernobyl.
Nuclear experts from the US and Japan such as Arnie Gundersen, Robert Alvarez, Hiroaki Koide, Masashi Goto, and Mitsuhei Murata, a former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, and, Akio Matsumura, a former UN diplomat, have continually warned against the high risk of the Fukushima Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.
US Senator Roy Wyden, after his visit to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 6 April, 2012, issued a press release on 16 April, pointing out the catastrophic risk of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4, calling for urgent US government intervention.
Senator Wyden also sent a letter to Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan’s Ambassador to the United States, requesting Japan to accept international assistance to tackle the crisis.
We Japanese civil organizations express our deepest concern that our government does not inform its citizens about the extent of risk of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. Given the fact that collapse of this pool could potentially lead to catastrophic consequences with worldwide implications, what the Japanese government should be doing as a responsible member of the international community is to avoid any further disaster by mobilizing all the wisdom and the means available in order to stabilize this spent nuclear fuel.
It is clearly evident that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool is no longer a Japanese issue but an international issue with potentially serious consequences. Therefore, it is imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work together on this crisis before it becomes too late. We are appealing to the United Nations to help Japan and the planet in order to prevent the irreversible consequences of a catastrophe that could affect generations to come. We herewith make our urgent request to you as follows:
1. The United Nations should organize a Nuclear Security Summit to take up the crucial problem of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool.
2. The United Nations should establish an independent assessment team on Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 and coordinate international assistance in order to stabilize the unit’s spent nuclear fuel and prevent radiological consequences with potentially catastrophic consequences.
30 April 2012
Shut Tomari (Japan)
1-2, 6-4 Higashisapporo, Shiroishi-ku, Sapporo 003-0006 Japan
TEL: +81-90-26951937 FAX:+81-11-826-3796 email: kaori-izumi@ta3.so-net.ne.jp
Green Action (Japan)
Suite 103, 22-75 Tanaka Sekiden-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8203 Japan
Tel: +81-75-701-7223 Fax: +81-75-702-1952 email: info@greenaction-japan.org
Endorsed by:
Hiroaki Koide Kyoto University Nuclear Reactor Research Institute (Japan)
Mitsuhei Murata Former ambassador to Switzerland and to Senegal
Board member, Global System and Ethics Society (Japan)
Akio Matsumura Former United Nations diplomat
Robert Alvarez Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, D.C. (USA)
Masashi Goto Former Nuclear Plant Engineer (Japan)
Signing organizations: 72 Japanese organizations have signed this petition (as of 30 April 2012)
1. Shut Tomari, Hokkaido
2. Green Action, Kyoto
3. Citizen’s Nuclear Information Center, Tokyo
4. Osaka Group against Mihama・Ooi・Takahama Nuclear Power, Osaka
5. Aging Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Group, Tokyo
6. Stop Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant!, Shizuoka
7. Espace des Femmes, Hokkaido
8. “Let’s learn Pluthermal” Shiribeshi Citizen’s Network, Hokkaido
9. Hairo Action Fukushima, Fukushima and Evacuation Areas in Japan
10. STOP MOX! Fukushima, Fukusima
11. Fukushima Moonlight, Fukuoka
12. Yawatahama Women’s Group to Protect Children from Nuclear Power Plant, Ehime
13. Ikata People Against Mox, Ehime
14. We Do Not Want Plutonium! , Tokyo
15. Genkai Nuclear Power Pluthermal Trial Support Group, Fukuoka
16. Genkai Nuclear Power Pluthermal Trial support Group, Fukuona
17. Pluthermal and 100 Years of Saga Prefecture Group, Saga
18. No Nuclear Plants! Yamaguchi Network, Yamaguchi
19. Food Policy Center・Vision21
20. Genpatsu Yamenkai, Fukuoka
21. Japan Environmental Law Lawyers Association （JELF）
22. Nonviolent Direct Action Network (HANET)
23. Anti-Nuclear-Power and Nuclear Fuels Reprocessing Protest Advertising Group, Tokyo
24. Kochi Green Citizen’s Network, Kochi
25. Kaku-no-Gomi Campaign, Chubu, Nagoya, Aichi
26. Aloha from Hawaii
27. Tohoku Asia Information Center, Hiroshima
28. No-Nukes Citizen’s Network, Tokushima
29. No-nukes Net Kushiro, Hokkaido
30. Fukushima Meeting for Environment, Human Rights and Peace, Fukushima
31. FoE (Friends of the Earth Japan), Tokyo
32. Citizen’s Group on Nuclear Waste, Horonobe, Hokkaido
33. Team From Now On, Hokkaido
34. No Nukes! Protect Children from Radioactivity
35. Concerned Citizens for Children’s Human Rights, Ehime
36. Protect the Sea of Sanriku from Radioactivity, Iwate
37. Iwate Organic Farming Study Group, Iwate
38. Dandelion House, Tokyo
39. Decommission All Nuclear Power! Women’s Group for Protection of Kariwa Village, Niigata
40. Sapporo Shoku Machi Network, Hokkaido
41. Citizens Wind for Peace, Tokyo
42. Together with the Earth NPO, Osaka
43. Kawauchi Tsuyukusa Group, Kagoshima
44. Group against Construction of Kawaunchi Nuclear Plant, Kagoshima
45. Hassei Group against Ikata Nuclear Plant, Ehime
46. For Citizen’s Autonomy, Hokkaido
47. No-Nukes Women Group・Hokkaido, Hokkaido
48. Hokkaido Peace Net, Hokkaido
49. Future for Fukushima Children, Hokkaido
50. Good Bye Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Project, Niigata
51. Weaving A Better Future Mothers’ Group
52. Group Aozora MeeMee
53. Mothers and Fathers’No-Nukes Declaration 2011
54. Southern Osaka Network for Protection from Radioactivity, Osaka
55. Kansai Network on Protection of Children from Radioactivity, Kansai
56. Journey To the Future
57. Morinokoya
58. Kaburaya
59. Nishiyashiki
60. Dandelion Fortress, Fukuoka
61. Dohatsuten Wo Tsuku Kai, Fukuoka
62. Global Ethics Association
63. Buppouzan Zenngennji
64. STOP Nuclear Plants BEFORE Huge Quake Strikes！
65. Lee Group to Prevent Earthquake Disaster and Nuclear Accident
66. Rokkasho Village・ Home of Flowers and Herbs, Aomori
67. Anti-TEPCO-Nuclear-Power Consumers Group, Tokyo
68. Miyazu Mitsubati Project, Kyoto
69. Citizen’s Plaza, Minoh , Osaka
70. Monoh Citizen’s Group on Good Bye Nuclear Power, Osaka
71. Campaign Fukuoka against Nuclear and Uranium Weapons, Fukuoka
72. Seeking for Japan-US Security Treaty Termination Notice, Tokyo
[Here is the link to the US petition to add to the growing number of signatories – we HAVE to let the UN and the Japanese people know – that the people of the United States SEE what is happening, regardless of how sugarcoated the news is or has been ignored entirely, to the great peril of the people and creatures who inhabit this beautiful planet. Nothing else you do in your lifetime will be as important as this. Please share, tweet, Digg, Reddit and take this viral. Thank you – GP]
Reference
1. http://bousai.tenki.jp/bousai/earthquake/seismicity_map/?area_type=japan_detail&recent_type=100days
2. http://jp.reuters.com/article/jp_quake/idJP2011040401000586
3. http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2012/4/16/japanese-diplomat-matsumura-warns-of-fukushima-daiichi-unit.html
4. http://jp.wsj.com/japanrealtime/blog/archives/10616/
5. http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/04/17/fukushima-daiichis-achilles-heel-unit-4s-spent-fuel/
6. http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/04/the-largest-short-term-threat-to-humanity-the-fuel-pools-of-fukushima.html
7. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/the-fukushima-nuclear-dis_b_1444146.html
8. http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/after-tour-of-fukushima-nuclear-power-station-wyden-says-situation-worse-than-reported
9. http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/video-and-audio/view/wyden-discusses-a-recent-onsite-tour-of-fukushima-japan-and-recovery-efforts
10. http://akiomatsumura.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/corrected-Mitsuhei-Murata-Fukushima-Dai-Ichi-Cesium-137-04-03-2012.pdf
11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bq81boQL_Y
12. http://akiomatsumura.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Letter-to-Prime-Minister-Noda-by-Amb-Murata.pdf
Disaster Capitalism Isn’t Racist ~ It Hates Everybody
The current capitalist mindset is that many want to believe that ‘business as usual’ is a good thing, growth without regulation is a good thing – but at what moral cost? Not just outwardly but our own moral code.
We are all learning that a lot of rich people are unethical – but the dots not getting connected in this day of ‘free market/disaster capitalism’ is that people become rich by BEING unethical. This system makes more by destroying, robbing, defrauding and marginalizing everyone. Me, you, your wife, husband, daughter, son…and it will be far, far worse for their kids if we ignore it. No matter what color you are.
There is no honor to be salvaged from this system. Americans need to break ties in this co-dependent relationship with an abuser. And stop defending it and apologizing for it because it DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU. I know it comes back and says nice things but that’s what abusers do – lulling you into a false sense of security before it snatches your pension, your healthcare, or takes your house. No matter what color you are.
And by defending the abuser, it has made a society not just financially but morally bankrupt. Ready to sell our own souls, sell out our own neighbors, wives/mothers/sisters, our children to be what? Part of the 1%? Part of a cacophony of paid parrots? What are we, trained monkeys pulling levers for an ‘atta boy’ moment of fleeting bottom-feeding jocularity? Or are we really as delusional as Steinbeck described – a country of ‘temporarily embarrassed millionaires’ – no matter what color we are?
What happened to standing tall and proud of being from this country? I’ll tell you what happened – our backs are hunched over trying to prop up a free market dead corpse with a flag in its hand. It’s not one man’s fault. It is the entire system – the entire two-party corporate Frankenstein that we’ve created has run loose through our country, our media, our workplace, our environment, our homes – I have seen people who have been neighbors for decades that can barely talk to each other today. Even people of the same color.
I personally think that many good people, both religious and secular are embarrassed by the Uncle Sam monster – the giant, lumbering, senile, oil addict that we no longer invite to parties or conversation – we pity it because we want it to stop stealing and molesting and abusing – we still love it because of what it once represented in us. Now a shell of it’s former self, it is having a nervous breakdown – it’s time to move forward and quit encouraging the pity party.
People make a rule in some cases to refrain from speaking about politics and religion altogether before gathering – just to avoid the ugliness of discourse that seems to be rehashed every week of perpetual campaigning. Aren’t we sick of it? Aren’t we better than those political poo-flinging, rich dolts who have their speeches written FOR them? The people who gather with this rule in place are able to enjoy themselves – but the system doesn’t want us to behave civilly with one another. It prefers we abuse each other the way it abuses us. No matter what color we are.
NOW they have us arguing with each other about basic things that we all should have learned in kindergarten! Media asking us to believe that the law doesn’t work for all Americans – only white ones? I mean, C’MON! An American is an American. Soldiers of all colors, creeds and denominations fight for ALL OF US. No matter what color, creed or denomination YOU are, they take an oath to defend YOUR constitutional rights – not to defend politicians and media who would demean any soldier of color [and sex, I might add], so why ARE YOU participating in such UnAmerican hooey?!
If you say you support our troops – does that mean only some of them? Only black soldiers or white soldiers? Does that mean you only think that some parts of the Constitution apply or are worth dying for? I can’t imagine any soldier taking a half-assed oath like that when it means possible loss of life, not just the liberty it affords us ALL to enjoy. The only reason media spews the poison it spews is because they do it from on high, from a place of moneyed safety. The owners of this system laugh while they watch us scramble and pick each other apart like pawns in some sick Roman game. Mainstream media has offended and dishonored the place that was given to them by the Constitution. They are paid poo flinging monkeys, just like politicians. NO MATTER WHAT COLOR THEY ARE.
Why would you spew their garbage? You aren’t paid to do the bidding of the 1%, are you?
So I ask, what if Zimmerman had shot a different man in a hoodie – a black soldier home from leave? Do you still think he would have ‘stood down’ when the cops told him ‘not to pursue’? No, because it is the hoodie that would have kept his identity hidden from view – it could have been anyone under that hoodie. Zimmerman knew he was black…what other reason was given by him to pursue?
So, would we be talking about whether an unarmed soldier had problems in school, or if he looked like Michael Jackson compared to a different profile pic he didn’t like maybe? We’ve all taken bad ID pics – a few of mine don’t look a damn thing like me.
I saw the video of Zimmerman being brought in. He claimed his nose was broken. He lied.
Ask anyone who has had their nose broken or has seen one. His shirt would have been soaked with blood and he would have been taken to a hospital.
I mean, really, if you want to nitpick about non-issues and avoid the larger picture – that an UNARMED YOUNG AMERICAN DIED – and think those non-issues have bearing on any actual critical investigation – you’re either A) a fucking racist or B) you are brainwashed by watching racist propaganda.
Here’s the kicker – no one can tell those things apart.
We’re better than this system – we are NOT the system. We are not robots or borgs, so please stop behaving like you don’t have a bit of sense to call your own – because you DO.
I used to think the worst curse word in the English language was cunt. Right now, it pains me to think that word is too good for Americans – we lack the depth and the warmth that word implies. I no longer have pity for the The Uncle Sam monster or his old, pruned-faced, Jim Crow cheerleaders that should have retired after the cold war ended.
Yes. The cold war is over. Uncle Sam is still addicted to that, too. If you get between him and the last of the oil that is running out, question his actions or exercise your right to free assembly – he’ll bully you and call you a terrorist. He’s a dangerous, senile junkie who has been strung out by the 1%. He might even throw you in jail or shoot you if you piss him off. I don’t know if he can be rehabilitated…but I do know that if Americans don’t get their collective shit together, he will take us all off a cliff with him. No matter what color we are.
Disaster capitalism is an equal opportunity abuser.
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