*THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE OF OUR TIME
* ** *Senator Al Franken said in Austin yesterday, "Let's not sell out. And let's not let the government sell us out. Let's fight for net neutrality" (video <http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/14/techcrunch-interview-senator-al-franken-talks-net-neutrality-and-his-morning-workout-routine/>). * *Transnational corporations now control nearly all of the mass media: television networks, cable companies, publishing houses by volume, daily newspapers, magazines by volume, radio networks, all trumpeting the same propaganda-- corporate greed at any cost to the public interest. * *Transnational corporations, without, as Jefferson put it "Loyalty to so much as the spot on which they stand," have spent billions of dollars buying up the mass media for control, and want to put a halt to the last medium for allowing a second opinion to reach the masses-- hence, their push to end net neutrality. * *Franken is introducing a bill <http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/149317-franken-wants-to-police-net-neutrality-through-antitrust-> that would make net neutrality violations a crime. For those who think it's a long shot at passing, we would advise that it doesn't have to pass into law to be effective. It is an excellent opportunity to raise the issue to the masses, who don't largely understand the consequence of an end to net neutrality dashing hope for an outbreak of democracy in the land. Please spread Franken's idea.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *FIRST THE DICTATORS, THEN THE KINGS... * ** *"Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain on Monday to help calm weeks of protests by the Shi'ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family on the island called a declaration of war," begins a piece in British news <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/us-bahrain-protests-forces-idUSLDE72D0KH20110314> this morning. * *With all of the democracy movements in the Middle East threatening to overturn the rule of dictators and monarchs, the Saudi King fears his own totalitarian regime, despite thousands of spies among his people, may be threatened. **King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa's regime in Bahrain is now beset by massive protests. * *Al Khalifa may be making things worse by inviting foreign troops to defend his totalitarian monarchy, because if he dealt with the moderate protesters now, they would be satisfied with just better representation, a slight move toward democracy. If people are gunned down, the more radical protesters will take charge, and their bottom line is the ouster of the king.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *WHEN DO WE LEAVE AFGHANISTAN? * ** *Senator Kirsten Gillibrand **is now pressing the administration for a clear redeployment plan <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/15/gillibrand-afghanistan_n_835739.html> so that the American public receives a degree of certainty regarding how much longer the war in Afghanistan will last. * *Polling has long indicated that the American people want the wars ended, and the troops brought home, so one wonders why we don't have better representation by top government officials. This is a welcome push, with an election year on the way and candidates already throwing hats in the ring. * *We must be watchful for scams though, President Obama has increased troop levels more than once since entering the White House, and any meaningful reduction this year should be to numbers below his buildup, otherwise we will see this as an election ploy, intended to fool his supporters. * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * "Japan's nuclear crisis verged toward catastrophe on Tuesday after an explosion damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at one reactor and a fire at another spewed large amounts of radioactive material into the air," beginsa /NY Times/ piece <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/world/asia/15nuclear.html?_r=1> this morning. When even the official newspaper of global capitalism spreads this kind of alarm, you know the situation at nuclear power plants in Japan is grave. Corporate media have been, for the most part, reporting as though they are part of the nuclear power industry up to now. * *About fifty workers remain of 800 workers at the plant in a desperate attempt to keep the worst from happening. These fifty may be compared to the heroic firemen at Chernobyl, who stayed to contain fires as much as possible, facing certain death from exposure to massive doses of radiation.*** ** ** *Despite what may be a nuclear meltdown in Japan, President Obama said yesterday <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/us-nuclear-usa-whitehouse-idUSTRE72D6F220110314> through a spokesman that he intends to go ahead with building new nuclear power plants in the U.S., and should have added, on behalf of the ruling Forces of Greed <http://members.cox.net/libertyuv/FOG.htm> who funded his campaign more lavishly than any other in history. This is as irresponsible as anything Obama has done to date. * *One is reminded of the Gulf oil disaster shortly following Obama's announcement that he would approve more offshore oil drilling. * **** **In the following piece, one of our favorite investigative reporters, Greg Palast, goes inside the building of nuclear power plants like the corporate media will never let you see. Had we a system of justice based on actual justice, those responsible would be doing twenty years to life at hard labor for ignoring safety rules intended to protect the public --Jack** **** ** ** *TOKYO ELECTRIC TO BUILD U.S. NUCLEAR PLANTS <http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457> * * * *by Greg Palast * *I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.* *I don't know the law in Japan, so I can't tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.* *But what will Obama plead? The administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas - by TEPCO and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough. Here are the facts about TEPCO and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:* *The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.* *Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or "Seismic Qualification." That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from al-Qaeda.* *The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from "failed" to "passed."* *The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction, which will work with TEPCO to build the Texas plant. Lord help us.* *There's more.* *Last night, I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps.* *These safety backup systems are the "EDGs" in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn't save a building because "it was on fire."* *What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect of the emergency diesel system.* *Now be afraid. Obama's $4 billion bailout in the making is called the South Texas Project. It's been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that bought the US brand name, Westinghouse - Toshiba.* *I once had a Toshiba computer. I only had to send it in once for warranty work. However, it's kind of hard to mail back a reactor with the warranty slip inside the box if the fuel rods are melted and sinking halfway to the earth's core.* *TEPCO and Toshiba don't know what my son learned in eighth grade science class: tsunamis follow Pacific Rim earthquakes. So, these companies are real stupid, eh? Maybe. More likely is that the diesels and related systems wouldn't have worked on a fine, dry afternoon.* *Back in the day, when we checked the emergency backup diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuclear plant, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They'd been tested. The tests were faked; the diesels run for just a short time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels, "Snap, Crackle and Pop."* */The forces against independent journalism are growing. Help Truthout keep up the fight against ignorance and regression! Support us here. <https://members.truth-out.org/donate>/* *(Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.)* *In the US, we supposedly fixed our diesels after much complaining by the industry. But in Japan, no one tells TEPCO to do anything the Emperor of Electricity doesn't want to do.* *I get lots of confidential notes from nuclear industry insiders. One engineer, a big name in the field, is especially concerned that Obama waved the come-hither check to Toshiba and TEPCO to lure them to America. The US has a long history of whistleblowers willing to put themselves on the line to save the public. In our racketeering case in New York, the government only found out about the seismic test fraud because two courageous engineers, Gordon Dick and John Daly, gave our team the documentary evidence.* *In Japan, it's simply not done. The culture does not allow the salary men, who work all their lives for one company, to drop the dime.* *Not that US law is a wondrous shield: both engineers in the New York case were fired and blacklisted by the industry. Nevertheless, the government (local, state, federal) brought civil racketeering charges against the builders. The jury didn't buy the corporation's excuses and, in the end, the plant was, thankfully, dismantled.* *Am I on some kind of xenophobic anti-Nippon crusade? No. In fact, I'm far more frightened by the American operators in the South Texas nuclear project, especially Shaw. Stone & Webster, now the Shaw nuclear division, was also the firm that conspired to fake the EDG tests in New York . (The company's other exploits have been exposed by their former consultant, John Perkins, in his book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.") If the planet wants to shiver, consider this: Toshiba and Shaw have recently signed a deal to become worldwide partners in the construction of nuclear stations.* *The other characters involved at the South Texas Plant that Obama is backing should also give you the willies. But as I'm in the middle of investigating the American partners, I'll save that for another day.* *So, if we turned to America's own nuclear contractors, would we be safe? Well, two of the melting Japanese reactors, including the one whose building blew sky high, were built by General Electric of the Good Old US of A.* *After Texas, you're next. The Obama administration is planning a total of $56 billion in loans for nuclear reactors all over America.* *And now, the homicides:* *CNN is only interested in body counts, how many workers burnt by radiation, swept away or lost in the explosion. These plants are now releasing radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Be skeptical about the statements that the "levels are not dangerous." These are the same people who said these meltdowns could never happen. Over years, not days, there may be a thousand people, two thousand, ten thousand who will suffer from cancers induced by this radiation.* *In my New York investigation, I had the unhappy job of totaling up post-meltdown "morbidity" rates for the county government. It would be irresponsible for me to estimate the number of cancer deaths that will occur from these releases without further information; but it is just plain criminal for the TEPCO shoguns to say that these releases are not dangerous.* *Indeed, the fact that residents near the Japanese nuclear plants were not issued iodine pills to keep at the ready shows TEPCO doesn't care who lives and who dies, whether in Japan or the USA. The carcinogenic isotopes that are released at Fukushima are already floating to Seattle with effects we simply cannot measure.* *Heaven help us. Because Obama won't.* *http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457* ** ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *If you wish to be removed from this list, please let us know* ** *To join the Liberty Underground news service email [email protected] "join" for a subject* ** *You may also join our talk group athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyundergroundtalk/ <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyundergroundtalk/>if you would like to participate* ** *email: [email protected]* ** *Tell your friends about /LUV News/ because some people just don't get it* [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
