I've seen a lot of sick stuff in my career, but this was sick on a new level.
Here was the handwritten log kept by a senior engineer at the nuclear power plant:
Wiesel was very upset. He seemed very nervous. Very agitated. . . . In fact, the plant was riddled with problems that, no way on earth, could stand an earth- quake. The team of engineers sent in to inspect found that most of these components could "completely and utterly fail" during an earthquake.

"Utterly fail during an earthquake." And here in Japan was the quake and here is the utter failure.

The warning was in what the investigations team called The Notebook, which I'm not supposed to have. Good thing I've kept a copy anyway, because the file cabinets went down with my office building ....

WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWER 1, FIFTY-SECOND FLOOR
NEW YORK, 1986

[This is an excerpt in FreePress.org from Vultures' Picnic: In Pursuit of Petroleum Pigs, Power Pirates and High-Finance Fraudsters, to be released this Monday. Click here to get the videos and the book.]

On Thursday, OccupyWashingtonDC.org teamed up with the Backbone Campaign, National People's Action, and the New Economy Working Group in a march from Freedom Plaza to the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA).

The demand they brought, along with giant props including a foreclosed house under water, was for a correction. The 1%, they said, inflated house values and made off with ill-gotten gains, but those left with underwater mortgages when the house values were brought back down have suffered. The demand is for mortgage values to be adjusted to match the current market values of houses.

"People in power know that the real solution to the continuing collapse of the housing market is universal principal reduction of American mortgages to real market value," said Bill Moyer of the Backbone Campaign. "It's time those with the power find the backbone to stand up to the banks and Institutions that hold these mortgages and insist they stop drowning America with false solutions, inaction and greed."

[Based on a tip from some guy floating in the Caspian Sea in Central Asia, we take off for Baku, Azerbaijan, the "Islamic Republic of BP." Stopping in London, the deathly ill MI6 double-agent Leslie the Bagman lays out the history of the coup d'etat, hooker-bait and the $30 million "sweetener" paid by Lord Browne to the oil nation's "president"—and suggests we find his old spy-mate, Natasha.

In the middle of this Byzantine maze, I'm looking for the real reason for the Deepwater Horizon explosion, not the bullshit seen on CNN. I get the goods, film it, get arrested for filming it, get film confiscated ...except for the film in the little Austin Powers camera-in-a-pen that has to find its way out of the country.]

From Chapter 2: "Lady Baba-land."

But we're not leaving.

That's when we find out the Security Ministry called our hotel and told them to seize our passports. Our passports with the visa stamps that allowed us in and, more importantly, allow us out.

The Occupy movement has done something amazing, getting Americans to start questioning our economic divides. It's created spaces for people to come together, voice their discontents and dreams, creatively challenge destructive greed. It's created powerful political theater, engaged community, an alternative to silence and powerlessness.

Chalk one up for everyday people. By defeating Issue 2, we beat back Governor Kasich’s Koch-funded massive attack on social and labor relations. It’s a major win, worthy of celebrating, but only for a couple days. Then, we MUST go back to organizing.

That’s because of three facts of political life. One is, power can not be bottled for later use: Use it, or lose it. Another is, Koch’s inherited billions can be saved for later use: That’s what banks and accountants are for. Finally, as the late US Senator, Everett Dirkson memorably observed: “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you’ve got BIG MONEY.”

When people say, as Governor Kasich did when I asked him a question at a press conference last Spring, “corporations and unions… and unions”, they are listing very different entities. Unions don’t have billions to buy banks, accountants and elections with, but corporations do. So, it’s our shoe leather, tenacity and enthusiasm against their billions.

We drew an unmistakable line in the sand yesterday.

Whatever our opponents thought they knew, they now know is very, very incorrect. Our message was delivered clearly and emphatically: "We did not and will not turn our backs on the people who watch ours."

Issue 2/Senate bill 5 was crushed 61% - 39% thanks to hardworking volunteers, voters, and contributors like you who defended Ohio's everyday heroes against shameless and extreme partisan attacks. We didn't start this fight, and it doesn't have to be this way moving forward.

Last night was a time to reflect upon and celebrate the fruits of our hard work, from petition gathering to rejecting SB5, but now we must lay the groundwork for what lies ahead. It's time to come together and focus our legislators on something worthwhile: protecting and creating good-paying jobs for all Ohioans.

You can get started really easily by using our SB5 tool to find out whether your legislator stood with or against you on Issue 2/SB5.

Vultures' Picnic, Chapter 10 - Fukushima, Texas
PRESS RELEASE: COLUMBUS COALITION FOR RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT TO FILE INITIATIVE PETITION TO REVISE CITY CHARTER AND REFORM COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL, SETS NOVEMBER 16TH DATE FOR PUBLIC MEETING AT OHIO HISTORICAL CENTER

November 7, 2011

A newly-formed organization named “Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government” announces it will be filing an initiative petition on November 8th, to revise the Columbus City Charter tomorrow, and in so doing, reform Columbus City Council.

The Green, Libertarian, Socialist, Constitution and American Elect Parties are all designated as official parties on the ballot for the 2012 presidential election in Ohio. On October 18, 2011 the Federal District Court in Columbus ordered Secretary of State John Husted to recognize the Libertarian Party, As a result of that order, Husted issued Directive 2011-38 on November 1, 2011 which placed the four other minor parties on the Ohio ballot.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit found Ohio’s minor party election laws unconstitutional in September 2006. In the case Libertarian Party of Ohio v. Blackwell, the court held that both Ohio’s laws involving minor party formation as well as ballot access were unconstitutionally restrictive.

In 2008, in the Green Party of Ohio v. Brunner, then Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner entered into a consent decree with the Green Party that allowed both the Green and the Constitution Party on the ballot. The federal judge set as a standard that the minor parties had to show a “modicum” of support in Ohio to stay on the ballot. The judge set the standard at 1% of the statewide vote.

When you VOTE on Election Day, November 8, 2011 -- let us know if you have any problems at the polling site! We have attorneys and video the vote volunteers standing by. Let us know if you were made to vote provisionally or prevented from voting. Did anything go wrong with the voting machines?
Call 614-253-2571.

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