Global
The mystery has been solved.
Where is this "new reactor renaissance" coming from?
There has been no deep, thoughtful re-making or re-evaluation of atomic technology. No solution to the nuke waste problem. No making reactors economically sound. No private insurance against radioactive disasters by terror or error. No grassroots citizens now desperate to live near fragile containment domes and outtake pipes spewing radioactive tritium at 27 US reactors.
No, nothing about atomic energy has really changed.
Except this: $645 MILLION for lobbying Congress and the White House over the past ten years.
As reported by Judy Pasternak and a team of reporters at American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, filings with the Senate Office of Public Records show that members of the Nuclear Energy Institute and other reactor owner/operators admit spending that money on issues that "include legislation to promote construction of new nuclear power plants."
Where is this "new reactor renaissance" coming from?
There has been no deep, thoughtful re-making or re-evaluation of atomic technology. No solution to the nuke waste problem. No making reactors economically sound. No private insurance against radioactive disasters by terror or error. No grassroots citizens now desperate to live near fragile containment domes and outtake pipes spewing radioactive tritium at 27 US reactors.
No, nothing about atomic energy has really changed.
Except this: $645 MILLION for lobbying Congress and the White House over the past ten years.
As reported by Judy Pasternak and a team of reporters at American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, filings with the Senate Office of Public Records show that members of the Nuclear Energy Institute and other reactor owner/operators admit spending that money on issues that "include legislation to promote construction of new nuclear power plants."
Everything you're reading about torture lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee getting off the hook is wrong. They are not torture lawyers, they are not off the hook, there never was any hook, they may not be lawyers for long, impeachment and indictment are on the agenda, and you have a role to play.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- The Commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, predicted a coup was "unlikely" during the Pentagon's military training exercise on Thai soil, but a powerful Red Shirt opposition movement has now targeted America's relations with Thailand's coup-minded army.
"In the unlikely event of a coup, we will take our direction from D.O.D.," Lt. Gen. Mixon said a few days ago in an e-mail interview, referring to U.S. Department of Defense guidelines.
Ultimately, a coup did not occur during the Cobra Gold 2010 joint military exercise, which began on February 2 and successfully ended on Thursday (February 11).
South Korea participated for the first time, and joined Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand with a combined total of 11,500 personnel, including 6,000 from America, the U.S. Army's Pacific Public Affairs Office said.
But simultaneously, 20,000 Thai security forces are separately being deployed throughout Bangkok at strategic sites.
"In the unlikely event of a coup, we will take our direction from D.O.D.," Lt. Gen. Mixon said a few days ago in an e-mail interview, referring to U.S. Department of Defense guidelines.
Ultimately, a coup did not occur during the Cobra Gold 2010 joint military exercise, which began on February 2 and successfully ended on Thursday (February 11).
South Korea participated for the first time, and joined Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand with a combined total of 11,500 personnel, including 6,000 from America, the U.S. Army's Pacific Public Affairs Office said.
But simultaneously, 20,000 Thai security forces are separately being deployed throughout Bangkok at strategic sites.
"I'm tired of rallies---I want to FIGHT!" So said Tim Burga, Operations Director of the Ohio AFL-CIO, addressing the hundreds who'd braved the cold, this past Saturday, to attend a "Pass It Now" rally for health care reform at the SEIU, Local 1199 hall in Columbus, Ohio.
There was a sense of real urgency in the hall, as speaker after speaker pounded on the point that, as Brian Rothenberg of Progress Ohio stated; "We now have 6 weeks to win the fight our people have been fighting since the Truman administration---Health Care for all!"
Becky Williams, President of SEIU, 1199, was interrupted by loud cheers as she led off the rally, telling the crowd;
"We have three things to tell the administration and the majority in congress; (1) we worked for and voted for change last year. That means actually changing what was there when you got there. (2) We need for you to lead with courage, not be intimidated by Fox News and Teabaggers, and (3) don’t be fooled by lies! If you do these things," she said, "we'll be with you, and the 66% of Americans who, according to polls are demanding that Health Care Reform be passed."
There was a sense of real urgency in the hall, as speaker after speaker pounded on the point that, as Brian Rothenberg of Progress Ohio stated; "We now have 6 weeks to win the fight our people have been fighting since the Truman administration---Health Care for all!"
Becky Williams, President of SEIU, 1199, was interrupted by loud cheers as she led off the rally, telling the crowd;
"We have three things to tell the administration and the majority in congress; (1) we worked for and voted for change last year. That means actually changing what was there when you got there. (2) We need for you to lead with courage, not be intimidated by Fox News and Teabaggers, and (3) don’t be fooled by lies! If you do these things," she said, "we'll be with you, and the 66% of Americans who, according to polls are demanding that Health Care Reform be passed."
To understand Martin Scorsese's well-crafted psychological thriller Shutter Island, viewers should do an internet search on the following three terms: MK-Ultra, Manchurian candidates, and Operation Paperclip. For the extended value-added search, throw in the combination of "CIA" and "LSD."
Shutter Island is being released at a very propitious time. Just look at Saturday's (Feb. 21) front page of the New York Times. Above the fold we have two related stories, the first, under the inaccurate headline "A new report, a new verdict, in terror fight." A more accurate title would read "U.S. government and Obama administration reaffirm Bush administration commitment to torture."
The post-World War II U.S. administrations and its rising security-industrial complex covertly embraced torture and secret dosing of unsuspecting people with psychedelic drugs to control their behavior and create assets and assassins during the Red Scare. Now, overt torture done in the name of "fighting terror" has been embraced by the administration of Mr. "Hope and Change."
Shutter Island is being released at a very propitious time. Just look at Saturday's (Feb. 21) front page of the New York Times. Above the fold we have two related stories, the first, under the inaccurate headline "A new report, a new verdict, in terror fight." A more accurate title would read "U.S. government and Obama administration reaffirm Bush administration commitment to torture."
The post-World War II U.S. administrations and its rising security-industrial complex covertly embraced torture and secret dosing of unsuspecting people with psychedelic drugs to control their behavior and create assets and assassins during the Red Scare. Now, overt torture done in the name of "fighting terror" has been embraced by the administration of Mr. "Hope and Change."
Audio file
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman with Tom Over live on Conscious Voices 2-19-10. They discuss the problems with nuclear power and the role activism plays with this and other issues.
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman with Tom Over live on Conscious Voices 2-19-10. They discuss the problems with nuclear power and the role activism plays with this and other issues.
In a country with the kind of tumultuous history that Ireland has it's not
surprising that a man being arrested and jailed for seven months would
escape the notice of the media, at least outside of Ireland. What should
hopefully pique some interest is that this is a man with a long history of
being bullied, intimidated, arrested and treated roughly by the authorities
for his nonviolent resistance against Shell Oil's construction of a gas
pipeline, and now the judge is calling him a bully and jailing him for
seven months on the extremely dubious charge of intimidating an officer.
To be sure, this is not Nigeria, where Shell regularly massacres those opposed to the oil drilling which is destroying the environment and the livelihoods of so much of the population. Shell doesn't run Ireland in the way it controls Nigeria. But at the same time, much like my own country, the Irish government has proven itself to be far from free of corruption.
To be sure, this is not Nigeria, where Shell regularly massacres those opposed to the oil drilling which is destroying the environment and the livelihoods of so much of the population. Shell doesn't run Ireland in the way it controls Nigeria. But at the same time, much like my own country, the Irish government has proven itself to be far from free of corruption.
The media’s habit of revisiting certain issues at set intervals can be strange and even illogical at times. For example, many news outlets commented on President Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office, as well as on the anniversary of his election win, and then again one year after his inauguration day. With every new round number, more commentators joined in and discussions heated up between proponents and detractors of his government’s performance.
I am not exactly sure why we like round numbers. Is it because they make valuations easy, even when the particular number is irrelevant? Some philosophers, Plato included, believed that order and symmetry are innate values in the human psyche. Perhaps. Or, perhaps, in the case of the media, numbers give us the sense, deceptively, that we have a grasp over certain truths. We determine the order in which legacies such as Obama’s should be dissected. After a decided date, the subject can be ignored until the next round number arrives, bringing with it more useless chatter.
I am not exactly sure why we like round numbers. Is it because they make valuations easy, even when the particular number is irrelevant? Some philosophers, Plato included, believed that order and symmetry are innate values in the human psyche. Perhaps. Or, perhaps, in the case of the media, numbers give us the sense, deceptively, that we have a grasp over certain truths. We determine the order in which legacies such as Obama’s should be dissected. After a decided date, the subject can be ignored until the next round number arrives, bringing with it more useless chatter.