My Japanese Friend: Through my post polio support group I recently became friendly with a lovely Japanese woman whose name is Miwako Hosoda. She is a visiting research fellow at Harvard School of Public Health and is from Tokyo, Japan.
After the disaster in Japan she has been working closely with a newly developed grass roots physicians’ organization and wrote the letter below concerning the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear tragedy which letter, hopefully, will appear in print soon.
Japan, as we all know, has suffered unparalled multiple tragedies heretofore unique in our besieged world. We all have a common humanity which I think should compel us to act. As our charismatic President, John F. Kennedy stated so eloquently “… in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children’s futures, and we are all mortal.” I believe we should remember those words, treat other’s suffering as our own and take all steps necessary to help ameliorate it with all deliberate speed!
My friend states as following:
Japan Needs Help
On March 11, 2011, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan. A subsequent tsunami and nuclear power disaster from it ensued. It has killed ten of thousands of people. People have lost their loved ones, sometimes entire families, their houses, and all their possessions. Entire villages have been swept away leaving a tremendous and incalculable void in their lives.
In response to this disaster many people are helping through fund-raising and other activities. Surprisingly, I have read articles in some media such as the New York Times and Reuters which report that the government keeps refusing the aid, most especially medical aid, from foreign organizations. The reasons for this are hard to fathom. It may be a language translation issue but, I believe, not to accept help does a great disservice to the Japanese people.
According to a grass root physicians’ network in Japan, many healthcare providers who have been working in the affected areas are severely overwhelmed and suffering from a shortage of human power as well as a shortage of drug and medical supplies. Some have not been able to go back to their homes and are working at hospitals without knowing whether their family members are safe or not. In addition, there are a lot of overworked healthcare providers too who are treating so many patients from the affected areas round- the-clock.
Therefore, we urgently need your help. I ask people in the United States and around the world to continue to donate to organizations such as Red Cross, globalgiving, and Mayor’s fund to advance New York, and Japan Society which links I provide below.
There should be no barriers between people who suffer catastrophes such as this. We are all one race, the human race, and obstacles such as language and customs can and should be overlooked. Our main concern as human beings must be the survival and healing of our fellow individuals. Now it is Japan’s moment to ask for help. I urge you to continue to donate to some of the organizations listed and know that the Japanese people will be forever grateful.
American Red Cross
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_BigRedButton
Japanese Red Cross Society
http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/relief/l4/Vcms4_00002070.html
globalgiving
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/japan-earthquake-tsunami-relief/updates/
Mayor’s fund to advance New York,
https://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/donate/donate.shtml
Japan Society
http://www.japansociety.org/earthquake
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Nuclear Nightmare -- Ralph Nader speaks the truth:
In The Public Interest
Nuclear Nightmare
By Ralph Nader
3-18-11
The unfolding multiple nuclear reactor catastrophes in Japan is prompting overdue attention to the 104 nuclear plants in the United States—many of them aging, many of them near earthquake faults, some on the west coast exposed to potential tsunamis.
Nuclear power plants boil water to produce steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power’s overly complex fuel cycle begins with uranium mines and ends with deadly radioactive wastes for which there still are no permanent storage facilities to contain them for tens of thousands of years.
Atomic power plants generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. Over forty years ago, the industry’s promoter and regulator, the Atomic Energy Commission estimated that a full nuclear meltdown could contaminate an area “the size of Pennsylvania” and cause massive casualties. You, the taxpayers, have heavily subsidized nuclear power research, development, and promotion from day one with tens of billions of dollars.
Because of many costs, perils, close calls at various reactors, and the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, there has not been a nuclear power plant built in the United States since 1974.
Now the industry is coming back “on your back” claiming it will help reduce global warming from fossil fuel emitted greenhouse gases.
Pushed aggressively by President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu, who refuses to meet with longtime nuclear industry critics, here is what “on your back” means:
1. Wall Street will not finance new nuclear plants without a 100% taxpayer loan guarantee. Too risky. That’s a lot of guarantee given that new nukes cost $12 billion each, assuming no mishaps. Obama and the Congress are OK with that arrangement.
2. Nuclear power is uninsurable in the private insurance market—too risky. Under the Price-Anderson Act, taxpayers pay the greatest cost of a meltdown’s devastation.
3. Nuclear power plants and transports of radioactive wastes are a national security nightmare for the Department of Homeland Security. Imagine the target that thousands of vulnerable spent fuel rods present for sabotage.
4. Guess who pays for whatever final waste repositories are licensed? You the taxpayer and your descendants as far as your gene line persists. Huge
decommissioning costs, at the end of a nuclear plant’s existence come from the ratepayers’ pockets.
5. Nuclear plant disasters present impossible evacuation burdens for those living anywhere near a plant, especially if time is short. Imagine evacuating the long-troubled Indian Point plants 26 miles north of New York City. Workers in that region have a hard enough time evacuating their places of employment during 5 pm rush hour. That’s one reason Secretary of State Clinton (in her time as Senator of New York) and Governor Andrew Cuomo called for the shutdown of Indian Point.
6. Nuclear power is both uneconomical and unnecessary. It can’t compete against energy conservation, including cogeneration, windpower and ever more efficient, quicker, safer, renewable forms of providing electricity. Amory Lovins argues this point convincingly (see RMI.org). Physicist Lovins asserts that nuclear power “will reduce and retard climate protection.” His reasoning: shifting the tens of billions invested in nuclear power to efficiency and renewables reduce far more carbon per dollar (http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/whynewnukesareriskyfcts.pdf).
The country should move deliberately to shutdown nuclear plants, starting with the aging and seismically threatened reactors. Peter Bradford, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) commissioner has also made a compelling case against nuclear power on economic and safety grounds (http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/whynewnukesareriskyfcts.pdf).
There is far more for ratepayers, taxpayers and families near nuclear plants to find out. Here’s how you can start:
1. Demand public hearings in your communities where there is a nuke, sponsored either by your member of Congress or the NRC, to put the facts, risks and evacuation plans on the table. Insist that the critics as well as the proponents testify and cross-examine each other in front of you and the media.
2. If you call yourself conservative, ask why nuclear power requires such huge amounts of your tax dollars and guarantees and can’t buy adequate private insurance. If you have a small business that can’t buy insurance because what you do is too risky, you don’t stay in business.
3. If you are an environmentalist, ask why nuclear power isn’t required to meet a cost-efficient market test against investments in energy conservation and renewables.
4. If you understand traffic congestion, ask for an actual real life evacuation drill for those living and working 10 miles around the plant (some scientists think it should be at least 25 miles) and watch the hemming and hawing from proponents of nuclear power.
The people in northern Japan may lose their land, homes, relatives, and friends as a result of a dangerous technology designed simply to boil water. There are better ways to generate steam.
Like the troubled Japanese nuclear plants, the Indian Point plants and the four plants at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon in southern California rest near earthquake faults. The seismologists concur that there is a 94% chance of a big earthquake in California within the next thirty years. Obama, Chu and the powerful nuke industry must not be allowed to force the American people to play Russian Roulette!
In The Public Interest
Nuclear Nightmare
By Ralph Nader
3-18-11
The unfolding multiple nuclear reactor catastrophes in Japan is prompting overdue attention to the 104 nuclear plants in the United States—many of them aging, many of them near earthquake faults, some on the west coast exposed to potential tsunamis.
Nuclear power plants boil water to produce steam to turn turbines that generate electricity. Nuclear power’s overly complex fuel cycle begins with uranium mines and ends with deadly radioactive wastes for which there still are no permanent storage facilities to contain them for tens of thousands of years.
Atomic power plants generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. Over forty years ago, the industry’s promoter and regulator, the Atomic Energy Commission estimated that a full nuclear meltdown could contaminate an area “the size of Pennsylvania” and cause massive casualties. You, the taxpayers, have heavily subsidized nuclear power research, development, and promotion from day one with tens of billions of dollars.
Because of many costs, perils, close calls at various reactors, and the partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979, there has not been a nuclear power plant built in the United States since 1974.
Now the industry is coming back “on your back” claiming it will help reduce global warming from fossil fuel emitted greenhouse gases.
Pushed aggressively by President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu, who refuses to meet with longtime nuclear industry critics, here is what “on your back” means:
1. Wall Street will not finance new nuclear plants without a 100% taxpayer loan guarantee. Too risky. That’s a lot of guarantee given that new nukes cost $12 billion each, assuming no mishaps. Obama and the Congress are OK with that arrangement.
2. Nuclear power is uninsurable in the private insurance market—too risky. Under the Price-Anderson Act, taxpayers pay the greatest cost of a meltdown’s devastation.
3. Nuclear power plants and transports of radioactive wastes are a national security nightmare for the Department of Homeland Security. Imagine the target that thousands of vulnerable spent fuel rods present for sabotage.
4. Guess who pays for whatever final waste repositories are licensed? You the taxpayer and your descendants as far as your gene line persists. Huge
decommissioning costs, at the end of a nuclear plant’s existence come from the ratepayers’ pockets.
5. Nuclear plant disasters present impossible evacuation burdens for those living anywhere near a plant, especially if time is short. Imagine evacuating the long-troubled Indian Point plants 26 miles north of New York City. Workers in that region have a hard enough time evacuating their places of employment during 5 pm rush hour. That’s one reason Secretary of State Clinton (in her time as Senator of New York) and Governor Andrew Cuomo called for the shutdown of Indian Point.
6. Nuclear power is both uneconomical and unnecessary. It can’t compete against energy conservation, including cogeneration, windpower and ever more efficient, quicker, safer, renewable forms of providing electricity. Amory Lovins argues this point convincingly (see RMI.org). Physicist Lovins asserts that nuclear power “will reduce and retard climate protection.” His reasoning: shifting the tens of billions invested in nuclear power to efficiency and renewables reduce far more carbon per dollar (http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/whynewnukesareriskyfcts.pdf).
The country should move deliberately to shutdown nuclear plants, starting with the aging and seismically threatened reactors. Peter Bradford, a former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) commissioner has also made a compelling case against nuclear power on economic and safety grounds (http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/whynewnukesareriskyfcts.pdf).
There is far more for ratepayers, taxpayers and families near nuclear plants to find out. Here’s how you can start:
1. Demand public hearings in your communities where there is a nuke, sponsored either by your member of Congress or the NRC, to put the facts, risks and evacuation plans on the table. Insist that the critics as well as the proponents testify and cross-examine each other in front of you and the media.
2. If you call yourself conservative, ask why nuclear power requires such huge amounts of your tax dollars and guarantees and can’t buy adequate private insurance. If you have a small business that can’t buy insurance because what you do is too risky, you don’t stay in business.
3. If you are an environmentalist, ask why nuclear power isn’t required to meet a cost-efficient market test against investments in energy conservation and renewables.
4. If you understand traffic congestion, ask for an actual real life evacuation drill for those living and working 10 miles around the plant (some scientists think it should be at least 25 miles) and watch the hemming and hawing from proponents of nuclear power.
The people in northern Japan may lose their land, homes, relatives, and friends as a result of a dangerous technology designed simply to boil water. There are better ways to generate steam.
Like the troubled Japanese nuclear plants, the Indian Point plants and the four plants at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon in southern California rest near earthquake faults. The seismologists concur that there is a 94% chance of a big earthquake in California within the next thirty years. Obama, Chu and the powerful nuke industry must not be allowed to force the American people to play Russian Roulette!
A Letter to Rachel Maddow: Quoting from an MSNBC story: "Crucial to the effort to regain control over the Fukushima plant is laying a new power line to the plant, allowing operators to restore cooling systems. The operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., missed a deadline late Thursday but said Friday that workers hoped to complete the effort in 10 to 15 hours, said nuclear safety agency spokesman Minoru Ohgoda. But the utility is not sure the cooling systems will still function. If they don't, electricity won't help."
This is, in my non expert opinion, Chernobyl on steroids. What the hell will they connect electricity to? Rachel so well has shown the ugliness and destruction of those plants. They are, understatedly, a total MESS. It would be one thing if it were just another area but it's NOT it is a NUCLEAR area and nuclear reactors that are destroyed. A prediction: ALL of those reactors will be encased ultimately by the Japanese in cement with Borax as Chernobyl was forever. The area surrounding them will be uninhabitable for decades maybe centuries. There will possibly not be at least part of a northern Japan that will exist for human habitation. I cannot say how much I HOPE I am in error, I am wrong and I eat my words. I would love nothing more than to do so.
The optimism does a disservice. People MUST be given the truth for their own physical safety. I believe a cloud will pay a visit to our west coast relatively soon -- not as badly as Japan but who needs it AND if they do not get it under control the plants will still be spewing radioactive material and STILL incurring a multi-meltdown possibility the resulting danger of which will grow exponentially, over years. There will in the future be an increase in deaths from cancer (thyroid, leukemia, bone) especially in the young, the sick and the elderly. There will, of course, be the inevitable birth defects in future generations. Again, I surely want to be in error. The risk of nuclear power is simply not worth it. When it runs well it is wonderfully clean BUT it takes only ONE failure whether human or natural to create an epic catastrophe.
On another bleak front: A THIRD war is opening up in the Middle East similar to Iraq. IF the UN (the US, France, Britain, Germany, etc.) wins we will be there for DECADES with the US in the lead and they will resent our footprint. One only need hear one of history's greats our own Secretary of Defense Gates: He said IF we put another soldier in another country in the Middle East we are crazy. I think we are CRAZY. If we don't win, well, I cannot even contemplate that! And how about that deficit?
President Obama's policy on this one has been sorely lacking as the military industrial complex and neocons wield their ugly might again. Who can stop them? I believe, if one in halls of power advocates for war THEY must physically fight it, Congress should declare it and there should be a draft. They, of course, will not do that as the American public by all polls wants OUT of war in the Middle East and would in Vietnamesque fashion revolt.
If we are dropping bombs on Libya for humanitarian purposes then why did we not go into Dafur? We all know why. Oil, money and the power it bestows are unstoppable. Humanitarian rationales are a Trojan Horse!
UPDATE: Libya Declared a cease fire. This story is still developing. I would LOVE to eat my words on this one!
This is, in my non expert opinion, Chernobyl on steroids. What the hell will they connect electricity to? Rachel so well has shown the ugliness and destruction of those plants. They are, understatedly, a total MESS. It would be one thing if it were just another area but it's NOT it is a NUCLEAR area and nuclear reactors that are destroyed. A prediction: ALL of those reactors will be encased ultimately by the Japanese in cement with Borax as Chernobyl was forever. The area surrounding them will be uninhabitable for decades maybe centuries. There will possibly not be at least part of a northern Japan that will exist for human habitation. I cannot say how much I HOPE I am in error, I am wrong and I eat my words. I would love nothing more than to do so.
The optimism does a disservice. People MUST be given the truth for their own physical safety. I believe a cloud will pay a visit to our west coast relatively soon -- not as badly as Japan but who needs it AND if they do not get it under control the plants will still be spewing radioactive material and STILL incurring a multi-meltdown possibility the resulting danger of which will grow exponentially, over years. There will in the future be an increase in deaths from cancer (thyroid, leukemia, bone) especially in the young, the sick and the elderly. There will, of course, be the inevitable birth defects in future generations. Again, I surely want to be in error. The risk of nuclear power is simply not worth it. When it runs well it is wonderfully clean BUT it takes only ONE failure whether human or natural to create an epic catastrophe.
On another bleak front: A THIRD war is opening up in the Middle East similar to Iraq. IF the UN (the US, France, Britain, Germany, etc.) wins we will be there for DECADES with the US in the lead and they will resent our footprint. One only need hear one of history's greats our own Secretary of Defense Gates: He said IF we put another soldier in another country in the Middle East we are crazy. I think we are CRAZY. If we don't win, well, I cannot even contemplate that! And how about that deficit?
President Obama's policy on this one has been sorely lacking as the military industrial complex and neocons wield their ugly might again. Who can stop them? I believe, if one in halls of power advocates for war THEY must physically fight it, Congress should declare it and there should be a draft. They, of course, will not do that as the American public by all polls wants OUT of war in the Middle East and would in Vietnamesque fashion revolt.
If we are dropping bombs on Libya for humanitarian purposes then why did we not go into Dafur? We all know why. Oil, money and the power it bestows are unstoppable. Humanitarian rationales are a Trojan Horse!
UPDATE: Libya Declared a cease fire. This story is still developing. I would LOVE to eat my words on this one!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The Change: The catastrophe in Japan has changed me in ways I never could have imagined -- philosophically, politically AND even psychologically as the Japanese people are incredibly accepting of their fate. It should, I think, teach us the lessons they seem to have learned. I cannot believe the peacefulness, lack of violence and gentleness of this people at least so far. They have shown a fortitude few seem to have.
This catastrophic experience shows, I believe, life and its resources are limited for all of us. We live on life's precarious delicate balance, moored by the laws of physics to a fate which often is not tipped in our favor but can occur at a moment's notice. It is a thing, I believe, we must accept and do what we can do today to show love to those we care about and to help remedy the condition of man one human being at a time!
This catastrophic experience shows, I believe, life and its resources are limited for all of us. We live on life's precarious delicate balance, moored by the laws of physics to a fate which often is not tipped in our favor but can occur at a moment's notice. It is a thing, I believe, we must accept and do what we can do today to show love to those we care about and to help remedy the condition of man one human being at a time!
An event NOT related to the disaster:
Planned Parenthood is a WONDERFUL organization. They, of course, are PRIMARILY involved in family planning and women's reproductive heath care which is the majority of what they do. They save lives! It is important, in view of the radical right wing insanity attack on it, that people who care about family and women's health, support it.
A rally is being organized this Saturday in Boston to do just that. Click on the link below for those of you who are in the Boston area, who think it important as I do to attend, to see the details of the event. For those of you out-of-state, please forward this to any you know in this area or even not in this locale who you may think would want to attend.
Thanks much!
http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/1737
Planned Parenthood is a WONDERFUL organization. They, of course, are PRIMARILY involved in family planning and women's reproductive heath care which is the majority of what they do. They save lives! It is important, in view of the radical right wing insanity attack on it, that people who care about family and women's health, support it.
A rally is being organized this Saturday in Boston to do just that. Click on the link below for those of you who are in the Boston area, who think it important as I do to attend, to see the details of the event. For those of you out-of-state, please forward this to any you know in this area or even not in this locale who you may think would want to attend.
Thanks much!
http://www.openmediaboston.org/node/1737
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
"Red Alert in Japan: An Unfolding Nuclear Catastrophe": Accept this or reject this source as you see fit. It is one man's point of view. This man has been writing, interviewing on his radio show and involved in politics of a left wing persuasion. He is a graduate of Wharton School of Business at Harvard (Donald Trump's alma mater if that means anything.) As I said it is one man's opinion but everyone has a right to hear it, read it and decide for themselves what to believe. I paste his blog below.
In my opinion, it is now out of our hands except for what SHOULD be prescient future policy with regard to nuclear energy and its cousin nuclear weaponry. Japan is crying out and we as part of the human species must help them and heed nature's warning. It is up to you if you want to leave your fate and the future generations which harbor your DNA, to religious stupidity and mythological thinking. If you think a god will come down out of the heavens and swoop you up to safety, I suggest you are in grave error and put your family in grave danger as well to fend off the dire consequences of that disordered thinking. Again, it just my opinion. You and I must choose the correct path. I know where I stand. Do you?
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/
In my opinion, it is now out of our hands except for what SHOULD be prescient future policy with regard to nuclear energy and its cousin nuclear weaponry. Japan is crying out and we as part of the human species must help them and heed nature's warning. It is up to you if you want to leave your fate and the future generations which harbor your DNA, to religious stupidity and mythological thinking. If you think a god will come down out of the heavens and swoop you up to safety, I suggest you are in grave error and put your family in grave danger as well to fend off the dire consequences of that disordered thinking. Again, it just my opinion. You and I must choose the correct path. I know where I stand. Do you?
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Visit: Hell came and paid Japan and all of us -- all of the human race -- a visit. Maybe nature or fate came down and said nuclear should not be in our vocabulary. Rachel Maddow explained the overview of a nuclear reactor and what is in it, what fuel rods mean, and how it is constructed. She said, and she is right, a nuclear reactor, is NOT a nuclear bomb BUT -- and this is the important thing -- the two are inextricably linked. This is why the world goes berserk at the thought of nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable states OR really ANY state. It is why when J. Robert Oppenheimer and others who created this monster at the Manhattan Project during WWII to be ultimately dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki quoted from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita "Now I have become death destroyer of worlds."
Humans, do well to head this quote and see what our capacity for evil has done. This can never be undone and nuclear war can never be undone either. Mark well what Japan has shown us. It is our modern day example of the danger of things nuclear. This existential threat can and must never happen again!
Humans, do well to head this quote and see what our capacity for evil has done. This can never be undone and nuclear war can never be undone either. Mark well what Japan has shown us. It is our modern day example of the danger of things nuclear. This existential threat can and must never happen again!
THIS is my real feeling after the Japan holocaust taken from CREDO.COM
CREDO Action | more than a network. a movement.
President Obama: Reverse your support of risky nuclear power.
No nukes. Not now.
Nuclear Energy: Not Now, Not ever!
Clicking here will add your name to this petition:
President Obama: Reverse your support of risky nuclear power.
Take action now!
First came the earthquake. Then the tsunami. Then multiple explosions at nuclear reactors. Several Japanese nuclear reactors are at risk of melting down with unthinkable release of radiation.
The crisis in Japan is heart wrenching. The latest reports suggest at least 10,000 dead from one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history followed by a devastating tsunami. And that number is likely to rise.
But perhaps the worst is yet to come as multiple nuclear reactors in Japan are redlining and officials frantically release radioactive steam into the atmosphere in hopes of averting a total nuclear meltdown.
Tell President Obama: No more nukes. Not now. Clicking here will automatically sign the petition.
Even now, politicians of both parties are so beholden to the nuclear industry, that they are racing to microphones to say that the U.S. must EXPAND its taxpayer support of building even more nuclear reactors.
President Obama's 2012 budget includes $36 billion in loan guarantees to the nuclear energy industry. With Congressional leaders competing to cut public spending, we face a spectacle where senators in both parties were quick to defend nuclear power in the days following earthquake. Sen. Chuck Schumer, vice chair of the Democratic Senate caucus, has joined with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in refusing to support a moratorium on building new nuclear reactors in seismically active areas in the U.S.1
Nuclear power generation is so financially risky that it requires government intervention to obtain sufficient financing for development. Even nuclear power proponents admit the stakes. According to John Rowe, the CEO of the nation's largest nuclear operator Exelon, said "Except with massive subsidies, there's really nothing one can do to make a whole lot of nuclear plants economic right now."2
Tell President Obama: We need investment in clean, renewable energy, not more nuclear time bombs. Clicking here will automatically sign the petition.
What does it take for Congress and President Obama to get the message? In just the last year, we have suffered massive disasters as a result of declining and risky energy technologies. Coal, oil, and now nuclear power have been the center of soul searching crises in the past 12 months. First came the massive coal mine collapse in West Virginia courtesy of the rapacious Massey Energy. Then came the massive BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico which failed to slow significant advances by the oil companies in drilling offshore of the United States. And now comes a massive nuclear crisis in Japan, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Yet nothing has been done.
It's time to stand up and defend the planet. Tell President Obama: Enough is enough: No new nukes.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
P.S. If you want to help fund relief efforts in Japan through progressive organizations, Doctors Without Borders, a group CREDO members have long supported with their phone bills, is on the ground with medical teams. Find our more here. Another CREDO supported organization, Mercy Corps, is directing donations to its local partner Peace Winds Japan. You can get updates from Peace Winds Japan and find donation information here.
1 "Will nuclear industry feel the fallout from Japan?," Politico, March 13, 2011.
2 ibid.
CREDO Action | more than a network. a movement.
President Obama: Reverse your support of risky nuclear power.
No nukes. Not now.
Nuclear Energy: Not Now, Not ever!
Clicking here will add your name to this petition:
President Obama: Reverse your support of risky nuclear power.
Take action now!
First came the earthquake. Then the tsunami. Then multiple explosions at nuclear reactors. Several Japanese nuclear reactors are at risk of melting down with unthinkable release of radiation.
The crisis in Japan is heart wrenching. The latest reports suggest at least 10,000 dead from one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history followed by a devastating tsunami. And that number is likely to rise.
But perhaps the worst is yet to come as multiple nuclear reactors in Japan are redlining and officials frantically release radioactive steam into the atmosphere in hopes of averting a total nuclear meltdown.
Tell President Obama: No more nukes. Not now. Clicking here will automatically sign the petition.
Even now, politicians of both parties are so beholden to the nuclear industry, that they are racing to microphones to say that the U.S. must EXPAND its taxpayer support of building even more nuclear reactors.
President Obama's 2012 budget includes $36 billion in loan guarantees to the nuclear energy industry. With Congressional leaders competing to cut public spending, we face a spectacle where senators in both parties were quick to defend nuclear power in the days following earthquake. Sen. Chuck Schumer, vice chair of the Democratic Senate caucus, has joined with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in refusing to support a moratorium on building new nuclear reactors in seismically active areas in the U.S.1
Nuclear power generation is so financially risky that it requires government intervention to obtain sufficient financing for development. Even nuclear power proponents admit the stakes. According to John Rowe, the CEO of the nation's largest nuclear operator Exelon, said "Except with massive subsidies, there's really nothing one can do to make a whole lot of nuclear plants economic right now."2
Tell President Obama: We need investment in clean, renewable energy, not more nuclear time bombs. Clicking here will automatically sign the petition.
What does it take for Congress and President Obama to get the message? In just the last year, we have suffered massive disasters as a result of declining and risky energy technologies. Coal, oil, and now nuclear power have been the center of soul searching crises in the past 12 months. First came the massive coal mine collapse in West Virginia courtesy of the rapacious Massey Energy. Then came the massive BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico which failed to slow significant advances by the oil companies in drilling offshore of the United States. And now comes a massive nuclear crisis in Japan, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Yet nothing has been done.
It's time to stand up and defend the planet. Tell President Obama: Enough is enough: No new nukes.
Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets
P.S. If you want to help fund relief efforts in Japan through progressive organizations, Doctors Without Borders, a group CREDO members have long supported with their phone bills, is on the ground with medical teams. Find our more here. Another CREDO supported organization, Mercy Corps, is directing donations to its local partner Peace Winds Japan. You can get updates from Peace Winds Japan and find donation information here.
1 "Will nuclear industry feel the fallout from Japan?," Politico, March 13, 2011.
2 ibid.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Off the top of my head Modest Proposal: I just had a brilliant idea because I was thinking of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." For all those Republicans (and a few conservaDems too) I think that they should begin a state of their own. How about transporting them to Idaho. Then move ALL the nuclear power plants to Idaho with them. Then they can all be together and make love to as many nuclear power plants and the waste from them that they want. They can even swim in the waste plants in summer. While they are there they can work very hard because, sorry, no health care UNLESS the free ever so free market will offer health care which they can purchase at a HUGE price but they won't mind because the glories of the free market will make sure they are rich, VERY rich.
Moreover, they could pollute to their hearts' content (as long as the pollution stays in Idaho) and they can even deny global warming and rev those car engines up twice as much and business would not even have to monitor their smoke stacks or waste plants. Hey chemicals just add to the high of swimming in a stream they roll into in summer. They could EVEN pull cigarette warnings from packages. When they get cancer, heart attacks and strokes well such is life they just die and a new generation takes their place. God will surely protect the ones who do not have heath care and there is ALWAYS heaven. In addition, while they are at it they can take evolutionary developments in bio-chemistry and the prevention of disease OUT of their books. Nope creation "science" only. When new flues evolutionarily morph the Idahoians will have to go it alone and, well, they can pray. Yep there is always prayer which is a sure cure for disease.
Now, gays well they present a problem. If a Republican has a gay son or daughter, they can enroll them in a "Change a Gay" Christian program and again pray a LOT and presto their kid is straight or they can just give them the death penalty if they don't change.
And oh yes, guns. They can have ALL the guns they want. Feel free carry them everywhere, into the mens' room, the ladies' rooms, to school, to church even into surgery in case the doc screws up you can just shoot him.
Moreover, they could pollute to their hearts' content (as long as the pollution stays in Idaho) and they can even deny global warming and rev those car engines up twice as much and business would not even have to monitor their smoke stacks or waste plants. Hey chemicals just add to the high of swimming in a stream they roll into in summer. They could EVEN pull cigarette warnings from packages. When they get cancer, heart attacks and strokes well such is life they just die and a new generation takes their place. God will surely protect the ones who do not have heath care and there is ALWAYS heaven. In addition, while they are at it they can take evolutionary developments in bio-chemistry and the prevention of disease OUT of their books. Nope creation "science" only. When new flues evolutionarily morph the Idahoians will have to go it alone and, well, they can pray. Yep there is always prayer which is a sure cure for disease.
Now, gays well they present a problem. If a Republican has a gay son or daughter, they can enroll them in a "Change a Gay" Christian program and again pray a LOT and presto their kid is straight or they can just give them the death penalty if they don't change.
And oh yes, guns. They can have ALL the guns they want. Feel free carry them everywhere, into the mens' room, the ladies' rooms, to school, to church even into surgery in case the doc screws up you can just shoot him.
A NOT WELL WRITTEN JAPAN RANT: This Japan disaster makes me want to SCREAM...FURIOUSLY because now I just tuned in to CNN and NOW they are saying how dangerous this nuclear cloud could be. It just keeps getting worse the more you tune in ..it's never contained because they CANNOT -- let me repeat that for the Republican and some Democratic IDIOTS who JUST LOVE nuclear power and who may read something as good as McClathchy News(Link below)...governments LIE ALL THE TIME they lie and News LIES all the time why? MONEY. That's what it comes down to. Lives second MONEY first. Last evening nuclear physicists "scientists" came on totally minimizing the negative effect of nuclear blasts from power plants. Saying this is not even like a CAT scan. BULL PUCKY that's what I say to them. Where did they get these "scientists" from the Midwest and south where these universities have HUGE contracts with nuclear power building.
Now the news is much worse on CNN now they are talking about the USS Reagan moving further away .. WHY? Not to get a ride but because of the radiation. This is WORSE MUCH WORSE than any scientist has said on the LAME stream media. IF MONEY is involved you cannot believe ANYONE related to it or to the building of waste plants or nuclear power facilities. They have a vested interest in keeping the public STUPID. DON'T LET THEM MAKE YOU STUPID. LIVES your kids lives, you elderly parent's lives are at stake! NBC is owned by GE a builder of one the Japan reactors that exploded..SO HOW objective will they be? ---- NOT!
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/13/110282/yucca-mountain-still-alive-under.html#ixzz1GZzQWpVr
Now the news is much worse on CNN now they are talking about the USS Reagan moving further away .. WHY? Not to get a ride but because of the radiation. This is WORSE MUCH WORSE than any scientist has said on the LAME stream media. IF MONEY is involved you cannot believe ANYONE related to it or to the building of waste plants or nuclear power facilities. They have a vested interest in keeping the public STUPID. DON'T LET THEM MAKE YOU STUPID. LIVES your kids lives, you elderly parent's lives are at stake! NBC is owned by GE a builder of one the Japan reactors that exploded..SO HOW objective will they be? ---- NOT!
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/13/110282/yucca-mountain-still-alive-under.html#ixzz1GZzQWpVr
Sunday, March 13, 2011
An Adult's Response to a child's alleged writing below. I was recently sent an email by someone who obviously is a believer and a Christian. I paste it below my response for your enjoyment.
I hesitated responding to this email. I decided to do so as long as it was sent to me so I could iterate my thoughts.
I do have strong liberal opinions, which I send to my own list and include those thoughts in my blog about the political, social and cultural issues of the day. Some may take issue with what I say and I can accept that. Sometimes I even encourage it. However, I have asked in the past, that those who forward me emails which are imbued with utterly phantasmagorical religious nonsense concerning angels with wings, clouds, rainbows and alleged "proof" of the existence of religious indoctrination, brainwashing and myth, refrain from sending that to me.
I object to this seemingly benign email on the following grounds:
1. I suspect while it may have been a school assignment, that it was written by an adult for a child. I have no proof, of course, that this is so but I personally suspect it is.
2. I am Jewish and while I eschew faith in general I PARTICULARLY dislike anyone sending me references to Jesus. Let me be perfectly clear. I do NOT believe in the divinity of Jesus, I would NEVER believe in Jesus, I never have believed in Jesus and it infuriates me that some make an apriori ignorant assumption that everyone does. Everyone does not. I beg to differ with that less-than-brilliant boy who wrote the letter. Atheists exist EVEN in Chula Vista, California!
3. The third, and perhaps my most vociferous objection is that the boy actually received an assignment like that from a public school. I understand if he attends a religious school which instructed him to write about that but assigning that in a public school should be beyond the parameters of the mandate of our Constitutional church state separation.
Our Founders as much as the extremist radical right loves to deny it were prescient to include "Establishment Clause" in the First Amendment separating church from state because these men of the Enlightenment KNEW how contentious religious belief was AND how lethal and divisive it could be for the state to be involved in or advocating for it. The state should be neutral in these matters.
While I would be thrilled to debate even the undebatable, because proof of god has never existed, does not exist and most probably will never exist, I cannot endure emails that waste my time with the indoctrination of religious myth and folly. Religions have seen man's need for the explanation of creation, suffering, pain, illness, and death to take advantage of many and in the process have made MILLIONS and attained the heights of power. I accept nothing as truth UNLESS science proves it. Religion is NOT science. It is faith. Either one has it, one doubts or one does not have it but it cannot be judged as truth.
I would bet there are thousands in Japan today who would wonder if the two god theory behind what that boy said is true why the two
standing god guards fell asleep. While he is at it I wonder if he could explain why a benevolent all powerful god did not answer the pleas of his doomed six million in Auschwitz. Please save your proselytizing for someone who could believe it. If you want an academic debate I would be glad to hear your point of view. A ludicrous letter, allegedly written by a less-than-genius child is almost insulting and falls on MY adult deaf ears. Save your effort.
CAN YOU FIND A BETTER EXPLANATION????? [MY EDIT: CAN I, REALLY, CAN I?]
Little Boy's Explanation of God -- Fabulous!!!
Out of the mouths of Babes-- [MY EDIT: OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES INDEED!]
"And a Little Child Shall Lead them"
(I certainly don't think an adult could explain this more beautifully!)
THIS IS FABULOUS!!!
It was written by an 8-year-old named, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to 'explain God.' I wonder if any of us could have done as well? [DO YOU REALLY WONDER ABOUT THAT??? REALLY???]
(And he had such an assignment, in California, and someone published it...I guess miracles do happen!)
EXPLANATION OF GOD: 'One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.'
'God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.'
'God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.'
'Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.'
'Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him. But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.'
'His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.'
'You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.'
'You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.'
'If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.'
'But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And...that's why I believe in God.'
(If you believe in God, please pass this on, and may God bless you too.) Have an awesome day, and know that someone has thought about you! [SIGH]
I hesitated responding to this email. I decided to do so as long as it was sent to me so I could iterate my thoughts.
I do have strong liberal opinions, which I send to my own list and include those thoughts in my blog about the political, social and cultural issues of the day. Some may take issue with what I say and I can accept that. Sometimes I even encourage it. However, I have asked in the past, that those who forward me emails which are imbued with utterly phantasmagorical religious nonsense concerning angels with wings, clouds, rainbows and alleged "proof" of the existence of religious indoctrination, brainwashing and myth, refrain from sending that to me.
I object to this seemingly benign email on the following grounds:
1. I suspect while it may have been a school assignment, that it was written by an adult for a child. I have no proof, of course, that this is so but I personally suspect it is.
2. I am Jewish and while I eschew faith in general I PARTICULARLY dislike anyone sending me references to Jesus. Let me be perfectly clear. I do NOT believe in the divinity of Jesus, I would NEVER believe in Jesus, I never have believed in Jesus and it infuriates me that some make an apriori ignorant assumption that everyone does. Everyone does not. I beg to differ with that less-than-brilliant boy who wrote the letter. Atheists exist EVEN in Chula Vista, California!
3. The third, and perhaps my most vociferous objection is that the boy actually received an assignment like that from a public school. I understand if he attends a religious school which instructed him to write about that but assigning that in a public school should be beyond the parameters of the mandate of our Constitutional church state separation.
Our Founders as much as the extremist radical right loves to deny it were prescient to include "Establishment Clause" in the First Amendment separating church from state because these men of the Enlightenment KNEW how contentious religious belief was AND how lethal and divisive it could be for the state to be involved in or advocating for it. The state should be neutral in these matters.
While I would be thrilled to debate even the undebatable, because proof of god has never existed, does not exist and most probably will never exist, I cannot endure emails that waste my time with the indoctrination of religious myth and folly. Religions have seen man's need for the explanation of creation, suffering, pain, illness, and death to take advantage of many and in the process have made MILLIONS and attained the heights of power. I accept nothing as truth UNLESS science proves it. Religion is NOT science. It is faith. Either one has it, one doubts or one does not have it but it cannot be judged as truth.
I would bet there are thousands in Japan today who would wonder if the two god theory behind what that boy said is true why the two
standing god guards fell asleep. While he is at it I wonder if he could explain why a benevolent all powerful god did not answer the pleas of his doomed six million in Auschwitz. Please save your proselytizing for someone who could believe it. If you want an academic debate I would be glad to hear your point of view. A ludicrous letter, allegedly written by a less-than-genius child is almost insulting and falls on MY adult deaf ears. Save your effort.
CAN YOU FIND A BETTER EXPLANATION????? [MY EDIT: CAN I, REALLY, CAN I?]
Little Boy's Explanation of God -- Fabulous!!!
Out of the mouths of Babes-- [MY EDIT: OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES INDEED!]
"And a Little Child Shall Lead them"
(I certainly don't think an adult could explain this more beautifully!)
THIS IS FABULOUS!!!
It was written by an 8-year-old named, who lives in Chula Vista, CA. He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to 'explain God.' I wonder if any of us could have done as well? [DO YOU REALLY WONDER ABOUT THAT??? REALLY???]
(And he had such an assignment, in California, and someone published it...I guess miracles do happen!)
EXPLANATION OF GOD: 'One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.'
'God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.'
'God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.'
'Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.'
'Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him. But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.'
'His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.'
'You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.'
'You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!
Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.'
'If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.'
'But...you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.
And...that's why I believe in God.'
(If you believe in God, please pass this on, and may God bless you too.) Have an awesome day, and know that someone has thought about you! [SIGH]
"Nuclear Meltdown in Japan" -- an Interesting blog: My relative politically is left of center to put it mildly. I agree with some of what he says BUT not all of it. Today, though, he wrote a piece entitled: "Nuclear Meltdown in Japan." I urge you to read it. We disagree vehemently on other issues but NOT on this one.
I believe he is not being unduly alarmist. To the contrary, in view of the Japanese disaster, the lives of millions are at stake!
The link to his blog is below.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/
I believe he is not being unduly alarmist. To the contrary, in view of the Japanese disaster, the lives of millions are at stake!
The link to his blog is below.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/
The Sage Helen Caldicot--Japan and the Relevance of Science: When I read MSNBC at first light each day the headlines about Japan are worse than the day before: Someone sent me a quote from Helen Caldicott. Wiki states: "Helen Mary Caldicott born 7 August 1938 is an Australian physician, author, and anti-nuclear advocate who has founded several associations dedicated to opposing the use of depleted uranium munitions, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons proliferation, war and military action in general. She wrote Nuclear Madness (1979), Missile Envy (1984), If You Love This Planet: A Plan to Heal the Earth (1992 and 2009), A Desperate Passion: An Autobiography (1996) hosts a weekly radio program, If You Love This Planet." How prescient was this scientist who for years, my relative stated, warned in her 1978 book, "Nuclear Madness," and I quote"
One wonders if the intellectually compromised who eschew science and whose attention span is about ten minutes, will FINALLY pay heed. I doubt it but I can hope. If this does not change a right wing extremist's Know Nothing view NOTHING will.
As a physician, I contend that nuclear technology threatens life on our planet with extinction. If present trends continue, the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we drink will soon be contaminated with enough radioactive pollutants to pose a potential health hazard far greater than any plague humanity has ever experienced.
One wonders if the intellectually compromised who eschew science and whose attention span is about ten minutes, will FINALLY pay heed. I doubt it but I can hope. If this does not change a right wing extremist's Know Nothing view NOTHING will.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Japanese Disaster: For once in my life I am at a loss for words. This post says it all and gives all relevant information as how to help Japan. My Facebook page also has much info. The quake moved the earth 8 feet and actually as I have read even moved the earth's axis. Is that possible?
I am not a praying person but sometimes I admit I do. What else can we do for those besieged people? Send what you can.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
I am not a praying person but sometimes I admit I do. What else can we do for those besieged people? Send what you can.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Thursday, March 10, 2011
George Carlin the Brilliant: I enclose yet again this Utube of George Carlin entitled "The American Dream" which was made years ago. Especially after Wisconsin, it is THE most prescient of his renditions. How could a man be so brilliant? If you object to profanity then do not open it but I believe it is one of his best and says it all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q&feature=related
PBS Punts: Public financing of PBS is on the line. NPR shamefully fired their top fundraiser, Ron Schiller when they were caught in yet another Republican scam by the Republican scam artist and takdowner of ACORN, Andrew Breitbart through his "master" of disguise James O'Keefe. Republican lies win another round because their progressive opposition does not know how to defend itself and fight back. I urge people to support PBS when they can. It is the best in educational programming. I wrote to them the following:
NPR and PBS are the BEST that broadcasting has to offer. HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING from the 2010 elections? The biggest plus Republicans have is they do NOT bend. Just look at governor slime Walker of Wisconsin. He did not bend and used every conceivable trick in the book including doing something illegal to pass what he wanted. This should be a lesson to all of us who favor humanitarian causes and good journalistic practice. PBS, YOU CAPITULATED TOO FAST as Dan Rather did when he reported on the draft dodger Bush. Rather resigned too quickly because he was right and should not have resigned, but should have waited, defended himself and CBS should have backed him up.
Progressives, STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES and do not shake in your boots at the first sign of Republican attacks. When they attack one should know it is dubious and what one is saying is most probably true. Shirley Sherrod was yet another victim of Republican malfeasance and was railroaded by the head of the Obama appointed Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, progressives and even the NAACP who were afraid of Republican attacks. She was innocent of the Republican charges and she was innocent of bad Republican film editing. It did not matter. The Department of Agriculture secretary and the NAACP threw her under the bus because they were frightened.
PBS, DO NOT BE AFRAID OF YOUR SKIN! Saying the Tea Party is teaming with racists IS CORRECT. It is. Do not back down. Stand up for yourself because truth is most often on your side.
Your best financiers are those listeners of PBS who support PBS as I do. Barack Obama was elected by people like us. DO NOT DISAPPOINT us by cowering in the face of Republican onslaughts. Republicans are neither truthful NOR patriots and that is most especially true of the Tea Baggers within their party. What was said negatively about them is true and there is a plethora of evidence to prove it.
Shame on PBS for falling for the toxic Republican lies and playbook. I thought you were better than that.
NPR and PBS are the BEST that broadcasting has to offer. HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING from the 2010 elections? The biggest plus Republicans have is they do NOT bend. Just look at governor slime Walker of Wisconsin. He did not bend and used every conceivable trick in the book including doing something illegal to pass what he wanted. This should be a lesson to all of us who favor humanitarian causes and good journalistic practice. PBS, YOU CAPITULATED TOO FAST as Dan Rather did when he reported on the draft dodger Bush. Rather resigned too quickly because he was right and should not have resigned, but should have waited, defended himself and CBS should have backed him up.
Progressives, STAND UP FOR YOURSELVES and do not shake in your boots at the first sign of Republican attacks. When they attack one should know it is dubious and what one is saying is most probably true. Shirley Sherrod was yet another victim of Republican malfeasance and was railroaded by the head of the Obama appointed Dept. of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, progressives and even the NAACP who were afraid of Republican attacks. She was innocent of the Republican charges and she was innocent of bad Republican film editing. It did not matter. The Department of Agriculture secretary and the NAACP threw her under the bus because they were frightened.
PBS, DO NOT BE AFRAID OF YOUR SKIN! Saying the Tea Party is teaming with racists IS CORRECT. It is. Do not back down. Stand up for yourself because truth is most often on your side.
Your best financiers are those listeners of PBS who support PBS as I do. Barack Obama was elected by people like us. DO NOT DISAPPOINT us by cowering in the face of Republican onslaughts. Republicans are neither truthful NOR patriots and that is most especially true of the Tea Baggers within their party. What was said negatively about them is true and there is a plethora of evidence to prove it.
Shame on PBS for falling for the toxic Republican lies and playbook. I thought you were better than that.
Walker's Plank Walk--A letter to the Democratic Party and Unions: We all know what that slime excuse for a governor in Wisconsin did last night was abhorrent and anger provoking to our very core. He broke the law by using illegal political tactics to rid state workers of their collective bargaining right. We know, this is the Republican Party's national strategy and we ALSO know this is the Democratic Party's moment. The union giants which were in a state of somnolence are, I think, awakened -- FINALLY. It is up to the Democratic Party and the unions to unite again during, ironically enough, the anniversary of FDR's New Deal and at a time of the renewal of spring to take advantage of this resurrection for Democratic power that Scott the know nothing Republican governor so dutifully handed to us. The Democratic Party with the unions at our side needs to organize again all across the country. Take the "victory" of this shameful governor and turn it into his defeat.
Democrats continue to represent the interests of majority of the population but simply cannot and have not been able to get their message across strongly and well. Our president, sadly, has not and still does not do enough to help the union cause. Walker and so many others of his ilk took advantage of the political anti-government climate against the bailouts and through the Republican amazing ability to manipulate the media and the message convinced those who SHOULD be a part of a Democratic base to vote Republican and those like Walker into office in droves. Ironically, Walker has served to alienate a HUGE part of what was sadly part of his own base.
One can SEE clearly what happens when you take your vote for granted and do not show up. Walker happens and it is sad because the preponderance of the country does NOT believe as he does. 400 people, as Michael Moore said, control over 50% of the wealth. Walker and those like him in TRUTH do NOT represent the country. They did, however, in brilliant Republican style manage to steal the message any way they could even if they had to lie to do it. Republicans are TERRIFIC at the game and best of all for them the Supreme Court hand them the weapon of choice through their loathsome Citizens United decision making it possible for oligarchic election control.
Do NOT fail to capture this moment. It is here for a brief time and as we know about life, spring fades and winter ensues. Our president SHOULD be right at your side, walking, as he said he would, WITH the unions in their quest for economic parity and not cater to those forces who want desperately to unseat him. Those with whom he wants to compromise are NOT his friends. They are the wolves in sheep's clothing and the Trojan horse was their gift but it will, in the end, open up to destroy his presidency.
Do NOT let this happen and do not let this moment pass. Organize, organize, organize and make the so called governor Walker walk the electoral plank. Fix America by making hateful Republican politics, especially Tea Party politics, irrelevant to the American Dream.
Democrats continue to represent the interests of majority of the population but simply cannot and have not been able to get their message across strongly and well. Our president, sadly, has not and still does not do enough to help the union cause. Walker and so many others of his ilk took advantage of the political anti-government climate against the bailouts and through the Republican amazing ability to manipulate the media and the message convinced those who SHOULD be a part of a Democratic base to vote Republican and those like Walker into office in droves. Ironically, Walker has served to alienate a HUGE part of what was sadly part of his own base.
One can SEE clearly what happens when you take your vote for granted and do not show up. Walker happens and it is sad because the preponderance of the country does NOT believe as he does. 400 people, as Michael Moore said, control over 50% of the wealth. Walker and those like him in TRUTH do NOT represent the country. They did, however, in brilliant Republican style manage to steal the message any way they could even if they had to lie to do it. Republicans are TERRIFIC at the game and best of all for them the Supreme Court hand them the weapon of choice through their loathsome Citizens United decision making it possible for oligarchic election control.
Do NOT fail to capture this moment. It is here for a brief time and as we know about life, spring fades and winter ensues. Our president SHOULD be right at your side, walking, as he said he would, WITH the unions in their quest for economic parity and not cater to those forces who want desperately to unseat him. Those with whom he wants to compromise are NOT his friends. They are the wolves in sheep's clothing and the Trojan horse was their gift but it will, in the end, open up to destroy his presidency.
Do NOT let this happen and do not let this moment pass. Organize, organize, organize and make the so called governor Walker walk the electoral plank. Fix America by making hateful Republican politics, especially Tea Party politics, irrelevant to the American Dream.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
The Health Care Competitive Fix: A response to Jeff Jacoby's March 9, 2011 Boston Globe Op Ed (link below) I agree with him in part. I am, of course, in favor of a national health care single payer system BUT if I cannot get that, I agree, AT LEAST open the market up to competition the lugubrious salivations of the lovers of the free market say will bring costs down. Let the free market do what those who have an orgasm over it say it WILL do if the savior of all -- competition -- is allowed to thrive.
I want markets opened up to ALL and I do mean ALL health care insurance AND I want the drugsters i.e. big pharma competition to be open up as well. The individual, the libertarians and lovers of free market everywhere say, should have the ability to make their own free choice even if it means purchasing drugs CHEAPLY from Canada. The consumer SHOULD have nothing standing in the way of his/or her free market ability to choose. Putting a restriction on from whom we can purchase health insurance or the drugs that can help us is the binding tie between government power holding hands with big corporate everything. It is a corrupt union, indeed, as the middle class chokes when it has to pay its health care bill but the insurance executives get their millions of dollars in revenue and bonuses taking fun trips to the Bahamas in their yachts. When THAT Gordian knot is severed MAYBE just maybe health care costs would go down IF consumers get the biggest bang for their ever dwindling buck!
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/03/09/a_romneycare_fix_for_romney/
I want markets opened up to ALL and I do mean ALL health care insurance AND I want the drugsters i.e. big pharma competition to be open up as well. The individual, the libertarians and lovers of free market everywhere say, should have the ability to make their own free choice even if it means purchasing drugs CHEAPLY from Canada. The consumer SHOULD have nothing standing in the way of his/or her free market ability to choose. Putting a restriction on from whom we can purchase health insurance or the drugs that can help us is the binding tie between government power holding hands with big corporate everything. It is a corrupt union, indeed, as the middle class chokes when it has to pay its health care bill but the insurance executives get their millions of dollars in revenue and bonuses taking fun trips to the Bahamas in their yachts. When THAT Gordian knot is severed MAYBE just maybe health care costs would go down IF consumers get the biggest bang for their ever dwindling buck!
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/03/09/a_romneycare_fix_for_romney/
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Just Want to be Free – the Mistakes of Tyrants: There are some in my family who are convinced the CIA/US is behind the Arab uprisings. For the life of me I cannot understand THAT one. The left sees the US behind every nefarious activity and plot and the right sees leftist socialists as the men behind the curtain pulling the strings. I'm very confused. Doesn't anyone think that human beings can act in their own self interest and impulse without anyone necessarily being behind it?
Allegedly this all began when one Tunisian vendor had had it up to his earlobes with his government's injustice. If true that was quite a feat. It seems our own revolution began when someone got a bit miffed that a tax on tea was levied and they had no say in the matter. Then bam in an instant British Red Coats fired on a group of probably drunk rabble rousing colonists. John Adams later argued the British were intimidated and it was merely self defense. That may be so but I bet the British said, if only if only as they lost what would become later quite a thing of value, their colonies. If only George the III did a small thing like say hey wait a minute I'll give you some representation. Seems like it would have been a small price to pay for what would become George the III's BIG mistake.
So how does this apply to the Middle East? Well, if only the Tunisian government under Ali, the Egyptian government under Mubarak, and now the Libyan government under Qaddafi could have been so prescient to have seen all that oil money they made, hid in banks and squandered on great villas, estates, cars and women could have been distributed through jobs to their people paying them for work and thus giving them a better life and little less unemployment.
There are, I think, lessons to be learned for ALL governments including our own. When 2% of the people own 98% of the wealth, gas prices and food prices are in the stratosphere unaffordable for most, the housing of the American Dream foreclosed upon do NOT for a happy country make.
I say to our illustrious elected representatives, CEO's of our HUGE banks, corporations and hedge funds LOOSEN UP A LITTLE WILL YA? How about releasing ALL that cash so our country can stand upright again even IF it might stand upright during a black president's administration? It might just ensure, in the long run, your way of life prevails and someday even under a white Republican. Injustice is a nasty thing. It makes people very mad.
I suspect while Qaddafi is holding his Tripoli, in the long run, he will lose just as the Brits in 1789 lost the colonies. People get mad as hell and will simply not take it any more and they have the wind of purpose at their back.
If only George III had thought of that. Instead of Old Glory flying high on our Capitol the Union Jack just might have. This is food for thought you tyrants and holders of all the wealth in the world. “People everywhere”, in the end, as the Young Rascals of the late sixties sang, “just want to be free”!
Allegedly this all began when one Tunisian vendor had had it up to his earlobes with his government's injustice. If true that was quite a feat. It seems our own revolution began when someone got a bit miffed that a tax on tea was levied and they had no say in the matter. Then bam in an instant British Red Coats fired on a group of probably drunk rabble rousing colonists. John Adams later argued the British were intimidated and it was merely self defense. That may be so but I bet the British said, if only if only as they lost what would become later quite a thing of value, their colonies. If only George the III did a small thing like say hey wait a minute I'll give you some representation. Seems like it would have been a small price to pay for what would become George the III's BIG mistake.
So how does this apply to the Middle East? Well, if only the Tunisian government under Ali, the Egyptian government under Mubarak, and now the Libyan government under Qaddafi could have been so prescient to have seen all that oil money they made, hid in banks and squandered on great villas, estates, cars and women could have been distributed through jobs to their people paying them for work and thus giving them a better life and little less unemployment.
There are, I think, lessons to be learned for ALL governments including our own. When 2% of the people own 98% of the wealth, gas prices and food prices are in the stratosphere unaffordable for most, the housing of the American Dream foreclosed upon do NOT for a happy country make.
I say to our illustrious elected representatives, CEO's of our HUGE banks, corporations and hedge funds LOOSEN UP A LITTLE WILL YA? How about releasing ALL that cash so our country can stand upright again even IF it might stand upright during a black president's administration? It might just ensure, in the long run, your way of life prevails and someday even under a white Republican. Injustice is a nasty thing. It makes people very mad.
I suspect while Qaddafi is holding his Tripoli, in the long run, he will lose just as the Brits in 1789 lost the colonies. People get mad as hell and will simply not take it any more and they have the wind of purpose at their back.
If only George III had thought of that. Instead of Old Glory flying high on our Capitol the Union Jack just might have. This is food for thought you tyrants and holders of all the wealth in the world. “People everywhere”, in the end, as the Young Rascals of the late sixties sang, “just want to be free”!
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