Monday, October 31, 2011

New Arnie Gunderson Video

Bloated Nuclear Weapons Budget and Arsenal


The New York Times: The Bloated Nuclear Weapons Budget
"Twenty years after the end of the cold war, the United States still has about 2,500 nuclear weapons deployed and 2,600 more as backup. The Obama administration, in an attempt to mollify Congressional Republicans, has also committed to modernizing an already hugely expensive complex of nuclear labs and production facilities. 

Altogether, these and other nuclear-related programs could cost $600 billion or more over the next decade. The country does not need to maintain this large an arsenal. It should not be spending so much to do it, especially when Congress is considering deep cuts in vital domestic programs...

"Washington and Moscow pledged in the 2010 New Start treaty to reduce their number of deployed long-range nuclear weapons to 1,550 from 2,200 by 2017. But unless something changes, both countries will increase nuclear spending in coming years, as they replace or upgrade aging nuclear production facilities and delivery vehicles — submarines, missiles and bombers. That makes no sense..."

READ THE ENTIRE OP ED LINKED ABOVE



BPA and Behavior Problems in Kids

 

Washington Post: Study links BPA exposure in womb to behavior problems in toddler girls  

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/study-links-bpa-exposure-in-womb-to-behavior-problems-in-toddler-girls/2011/10/24/gIQA6ihRDM_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines


"A chemical used widely in plastic bottles, metal cans and other consumer products could be linked to behavioral and emotional problems in toddler girls, according to a government-funded study published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.



"After tracking 244 Cincinnati-area mothers and their 3-year-olds, the study concluded that mothers with high levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in their urine were more likely to report that their children were hyperactive, aggressive, anxious, depressed and less in control of their emotions than mothers with low levels of the chemical."
 

Helen Caldicott Video Oct 28 Earth Focus


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsrik7HEvh8

Caldicott's vision of Fukushima 2 days after disaster began: "this was like descending into hell and that there is nothing anyone could do about it, or will be able to do about it, and the results are irreversible"

She frames her comment in the past-tense and does not state whether her interpretation has changed.

Here is a summary (paraphrased) of her comments:

Nuclear power produces large quantities of global warming emissions because of the infrastructure required to generate and process uranium and to make and de-commission the reactors

Nuclear power is not cheap, but is only financially viable at all because of major tax payer subsidies and guarantees

Nuclear power exists ony because of the desire for nuclear weapons: each reactor makes 500 pounts plutonium a year.

The average doctor does not understand the health effects of radiation from nuclear power and weapons

Over 1 million people have died because of Chernobyl and there has been a major cover up--the "biggest cover-up in the history of medicine"



The Top 1% in the US

The Economics of Species Suicide


NHK: Noda: Japan to continue to export nuclear tech http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_38.html

"Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says Japan will export nuclear power generation plants to Vietnam as planned despite the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi facility...

They discussed an agreement reached in October of last year between the 2 countries that Japan would sell 2 nuclear reactors to Vietnam...

Noda and Dung also agreed on the joint mining of rare earth minerals in Vietnam."


NHK: Vietnam PM confirms Japan's nuclear plant contract
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/31_25.html
"Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has reconfirmed his country's policy to purchase Japanese nuclear reactors despite the Fukushima accident...."


Bloomberg March 16: GE $1 Billion Nuclear Unit at Risk as Nations Mull Atomic Future http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-16/ge-s-1-billion-in-nuclear-sales-at-risk-as-nations-ponder-industry-future.html
General Electric Co. (GE)’s goal of broadening its $1 billion nuclear service-and-parts business with sales of new reactors risks stalling as world leaders reconsider the future of atomic energy....
 
Shreyans Kumar Jain, chairman of the Nuclear Power Corp. of India, said in Mumbai that Japan’s disaster may be a “big dampener” on the nuclear program in the country, which has planned $175 billion in spending by 2030.
 
 
Kyodo: Hitachi maintains reactor sales goal despite nuclear crisis fallout
Posted at Anti-Nuclear Sep 2 2011
http://www.anti-nuclear.com/hitachi-maintains-reactor-sales-goal-despite-nuclear-crisis-fallout/

"After reviewing the business outlook for atomic power amid the Fukushima plant disaster, Hitachi Ltd. has decided to keep its nuclear business development plan and aims to land orders for more than 38 reactors from around the world by 2030, a top company executive said.

“Nuclear plants are globally important electricity sources,” Tatsuro Ishizuka, a vice president and executive officer, said in a recent interview. “We would like to further improve the safety of nuclear plants and promote them as a key business pillar.”


PROJECT CENSORED (Dated 2000 but still relevant for illustrating economics of nuclear plant sales). U.S. Taxpayers Underwrite Global Nuclear Power Plant Sales
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/5-us-taxpayers-underwrite-global-nuclear-power-plant-sales/

"The U.S. tax-supported Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is solidly backing major U.S. nuclear contractors such as Westinghouse, Bechtel, and General Electric in their efforts to seek foreign markets for nuclear reactors. Between 1959 and 1993 Ex-Im spent $7.7 billion to help sell American-made reactors abroad.

"Most countries do not have the capital to buy nuclear power, so contractors, in order to be competitive, provide 100 percent of the financing. Ex-Im offers terms too good for Third World countries and Eastern European buyers to pass up. If the host country defaults on its loan, the Ex-Im steps in with American taxpayer dollars.

"Westinghouse built the Bataan nuclear power facility in the Philippines in 1985 at a cost of $1.2 billion, 150 percent above their projections. However, the Bataan plant was never brought on line due to the fact it was near an active volcano. Despite the fact that the plant never generated a single kilowatt of energy, the Philippines still pays about $300,000 a day in interest on the Ex-Im loan that funded the project. Should the Philippines default, U.S. taxpayers will pickup the tab..."


MAJIA HERE: The nuclear industry is powerful and selling power plants is a big, big business that is heavily subsidized by governments. Furthermore, countries wishing to develop nuclear weapons need nuclear plants to enrich uranium.

The link between nuclear plants and nuclear weapons was made clear in a Wall Street Journal article dated Oct 28, 2011

WSJ: In Japan, Provocative Case for Staying Nuclear (print version p A14).
"Many of Japan's political and intellectual leaders remain committed to nuclear power even as Japanese public opinion has turned sharply against it...

"'I don't think Japan needs to possess nuclear weapons, but it's important to maintain our commercial reactors because it would allow us  to rpoduce a nuclear warhead in a short time,' Shigeru Ishiba, a fo rmer defense minister said in an interview..."


MAJIA HERE: There has been considerable speculation that Japan actually had a nuclear weapons lab at Fukushima. I have no way of knowing whether that is true, but the WSJ article certainly raises questions.



 







Sunday, October 30, 2011

Fukushima Narrative in the US & UK: Suppression of Information is the Norm

I would like to remind readers of the Zardov story. This story involved a hacker who discovered that the Norwegian Institute providing air dispersion maps of the radiation fallout from Japan had 2 SETS OF MAPS, one was public and one was not.

The Zardov files are the private files that were hacked. They showed radiation exposure levels much, much higher than the public files did.
http://globalcooperative.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/radiation-map-analysis-europe-australasia/

MAJIA'S NARRATIVE
Japanese simulations estimated that radioactive dust was lifted high in the atmosphere over Japan on March 14 and 15 by updrafts and reached the U.S. via the jet stream by March 17th or 18th (“Radioactive dust”, 2011).



President Obama went on record on March 17 declaring to U.S. citizens that they faced no risk of significant radiation fallout in the U.S. (Landau, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-17/us/nuclear.concerns_1_potassium-iodide-radiation-levels-radioactive-material?_s=PM:US).

Despite assurances, radioactive fallout occurred in the US beginning in mid-March. On March 29,“Traces of radiation from the crippled nuclear plant in japan” were reported as being detected in states from California to Massachusetts but “state officials say there is no public-health risk” (3/29 Hotz & Levitz, 2011, p. A12).

The assertion of no public health risk echoed in media accounts across the U.S. and Canada, despite levels of Iodine-131 three hundred times background reported in March in British Columbia (Landau, 2011; Smith http://www.straight.com/article-419976/vancouver/group-wants-radiation-tests).

Air filter analyses conducted by independent scientists were made public in June by nuclear engineer Arnie Gunderson. Gunderson reported that scientists found high amounts of “hot” particles of cesium, strontium, plutonium, uranium, cobalt-60, and revealed that U.S. citizens breathed in on average 5 hot particles a day in Seattle (citizens in Tokyo inhaled approximately 10 a day and those in Fukushima prefecture over 30 times that amount Gunderson CNN and Fairewinds ).

Hot particles lodge in bodily tissues and emit radiation as they decay. In the right circumstances, one hot particle can cause cancer.


Furthermore, the EPA’s own data documented high levels of radioactive fallout in the U.S. The EPA’s data were eventually published online, but were not publicized at the time of detection.

Consequently, public activist groups criticized the EPA for failing to notify the public of its findings. For instance, the Seattle nuclear watchdog group complained in July of 2011 that the EPA had failed to warn the public of high levels of Iodine-131 detected in rainwater. The level on March 24, according to EPA data exceeded federal drinking water standards by 130 times (Chittim http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43720548/ns/us_news-environment/).


The mantra of no health effects from Fukushima fallout was in fact orchestrated carefully: "No health effects are expected among the Japanese people as a result of the events at Fukushima,” read a statement issued by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry trade group, at a June Washington Press conference (cited in Grossman, 2011 June 16). The mantra was in fact a propaganda campaign, as documents released by The Guardian prove.

Two days after the earthquake British government authorities contacted nuclear companies including Westinghouse, Areva, EDF Energy, and the Nuclear Industry Association to coordinate a public relations campaign aimed at assuring the public nuclear is safe in order to avoid resistance to a new generation of nuclear plants planned for the UK (Edwards, 2011).

In April the UK office for nuclear development met with nuclear companies in London to "to discuss a joint communications and engagement strategy aimed at ensuring we maintain confidence among the British public on the safety of nuclear power stations and nuclear new-build policy in light of recent events at the Fukushima nuclear power plant" (cited in Edwards http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/30/british-government-plan-play-down-fukushima).

The collusion between government and industry coupled with the apparent willingness to deceive the public about the scope of the disaster produced public outrage in the U.K. but was little remarked upon in the U.S. press, despite the fact that Americans received far more fallout than persons in the U.K.


Public assurances by the nuclear industry and western governments that fallout from the disaster poses no public health risk were from March onward contested by international scientific and medical authorities. On March 30, Dr. Chris Busby published a report on the internet warning of Fukushima’s health dangers (BusbyThe health outcome). The Australian anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott also warned early on of the dangers of fallout in Japan and across the northern hemisphere in a video that was published on youtube.

These warnings were largely ignored by the mainstream press, despite the official documents by the international IEA, the U.S. NRC, and the US EPA stating that there exists no “safe” level of exposure to radionuclides.


The deliberate suppression of information about the dangers of ionzing radiation from nuclear plants is not a new phenomenon. For instance, Dr. Janette Sherman, a toxicologist and contributing editor to the book Chernobyl: The Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment claims was quoted by Carl Grossman in an essay on the disaster and the nuclear industry as stating:

 “We’ve known about radioactive isotopes for decades,” says Dr. Sherman. “I worked for the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s and we knew about the effects then. To ignore the biology is to our peril. This is not new science. Cesium-137 goes to soft tissue. Strontium-90 goes to the bones and teeth. Iodine-131 goes to the thyroid gland” (cited in Grossman http://counterpunch.org/grossman06162011.html).


Nuclear industry officials and captured politicians rely on the public’s poor understanding of ionizing radiation Grossman interviews Dr. Steven Wing, an epidemiologist specializing in the health effects of radioactivity,


The generally accepted thinking about the safe dose is that, no, there is no safe dose in terms of the cancer or genetic effects of radiation. The assumption of most people is that there’s a linear, no-threshold dose response relationship and that just means that as the dose goes down the risk goes down, but it never disappears…As the radiation clouds move away from Fukushima and move far away to other continents and around the world, the doses are spread out…

"But it’s important for people to know that spreading out a given amount of radiation dose among more people, although it reduces each person’s individual risk, it doesn’t reduce the number of cancers that result from that amount of radiation. So having millions and millions of people exposed to a very small dose could produce just as much cancer as a thousand or a few thousand people exposed to that same dose.”


Finally, Grossman quotes Joseph Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project, who claims the denial of harm is part of a larger cover up, “The absurd belief that no one will be harmed by Fukushima is perhaps the strongest evidence of the pattern of deception and denial by nuclear officials in industry and government.”

Mangano’s belief that Tepco deliberately withheld and distorted information was seconded by Dr. Robert Jacobs, Professor of Nuclear History at the Hiroshima Peace Institute who in an interview with RT described how Tepco "managed" the media and public opinion by slowly releasing as "news" over 3 months information that they had since the first days of the disaster http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_rAX9TzY2A).


MAJIA HERE: The point of posting this narrative is to remind readers that we should be wary of any official pronouncements today about the dangers of Fukushima. Lies have predominated and truths have been buried in misinformation and outright propaganda.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Fukushima Headlines October 29


Fukushima Diary: Another large earthquake predicted for Japan
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/204-new-fuel-rods-turned-out-to-be-in-the-spent-fuel-pool-at-reactor-4/


Fukushima Diary also reports that as of 10/14/2011, "Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced that the pool (#4) contained 204 units of new fuel rods as well."



NHK is reporting that the lastest Tokyo hot spot wasn't from Fukushima (yaeh, right).
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/society.xml

(I was having some trouble with the link so it may not work)


Japan Today: TEPCO asks for reported Y1 tril aid for Fukushima
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/tepco-asks-for-reported-y1-tril-aid-for-fukushima

“The company did not reveal the amount of cash it asked for and said the figure would remain secret until it was approved by the government. However, media reports put the figure at up to 1 trillion yen.

"The utility is looking to receive the first tranche from a government-backed aid body so it can avoid having a negative net worth on its April-September balance sheet, local media reported."


Japan Today: Decommissioning Fukushima nuclear plant likely to take 30 years

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/decommissioning-fukushima-nuclear-plant-likely-to-take-30-years


Ashi: Report to form basis for stricter food radiation standards


The Guardian: "Fukushima released 'twice as much' radioactive material as first thoughtFar more radioactive caesium was released into the atmosphere than previously estimated, according to study"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/28/fukushima-released-double-radioactive-material?INTCMP=SRCH


MAJIA HERE: The Guardian article is referring to the new study published by Atmos. Chem. Phys Discussion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/28/fukushima-released-double-radioactive-material?INTCMP=SRCH
(original study: http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/28319/2011/acpd-11-28319-2011.html)


Enformable: Fukushima Disaster Produces World's Worst Nuclear Sea Disaster
http://enformable.com/2011/10/fukushima-disaster-produces-world%e2%80%99s-worst-nuclear-sea-contamination-ever-over-27-1-peta-becquerels-of-cs-137-entered-pacific-ocean/


As Always Check Enenews for latest updates
http://enenews.com/category/japan/fukushima-reactors


Check Alexander Higgins EPA feed for Radiation Readings
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/04/12/realtime-epa-radnet-japan-nuclear-radiation-monitoring-every-us-city-single-page-16511/




Friday, October 28, 2011

Why I Didn't Report Anthing About Japan Today


I didn't feel up to re-posting the story about  110 to 170 microsieverts an hour found at a supermarket in Japan

What can be sound about that which has not already been said. 
The contamination in Japan is terrible and it is ongoing and little-to-nothing is being done to protect citizens.

I suspect the radiation is very bad in the US and Canada as well.

More bad news about radiation in the ocean and radiation from the plant keeps being slowly leaked.

If Potrblog is correct, things are going to continue getting worse, slowly or very quickly if an explosion occurs.http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/potrblog-latest-video-criticality-cycle.html

I still think that all efforts will be directed at preventing an explosion - even if it means greater radiation exposure occurs by endlessly prolonging fissioning - in order to perpetuate the fraud that all is well in Fukushima.

I just don't know what else to say other than the people of Japan, Canada, the US and other countries need to add Fukushima to their list of demands for accountability and transparency!





MORE ON WHAT HAPPENED IN OAKLAND


I am reposting a comment made at Zerohedge in response to a very good story by Washington's Blog:

Did Oakland Police Intentionally Shoot Marine Vet Scott Olsen In the Head?

The story can be found here:
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/%3F-older-posts-did-oakland-police-intentionally-shoot-marine-vet-scott-olsen-head

The comment I'm reposting was made by VIDEOPRO

"Make do doubt about it, this was a deliberate attack designed to maximize disabling injuries to the greatest number of people possible. It is NOT a random rogue action by an officer acting in the heat of the moment as the Oakland Police department is attempting to characterize it.

It is NOT a tactic suited to civilian crowd control and outright contraindicted according the Geneva Conventions against war crimes, as correctly noted within the posting, This is an illegal tactic even under wartime battlefield conditions. The United States et al. and it's constituents are a signator of this international law.

What you see in the video is a highly formalized tactic that is designed specifically for a war-time battle field. It is standardized training for all branches of military despite it's outlawed status and has a specific goal and clear objective:

* First, to create a disabling injury among one or a few battlefield combatants.

* Next to draw in others in larger numbers to assist and evacuate the wounded.

* To attract a high-priority target for elimination, specifically battlefield medics.

The rational:

To leverage the number of casualties and deaths by eliminating the ability for combatants to achieve recovery by resucitation, treatment of injuries or otherwise rehabilitated enough to return to battle. That means destroying medics, RNs, doctors or others that come to help the wounded. This ensures that other wounded recieve no assistance and serves to guarantee the effectiveness and success of an attack by way of:

INTENTIONALLY INFLICITING DISABLING INJURIES OR DEATH TO KEY TACTICAL TARGETS WITH FURTHER OBJECTIVE TO LEVERAGE THE NUMBER OF INCAPACITATING INJURIES TO THE GREATEST EXTENT POSSIBLE.

What happens next is to make the remaining combatants become easy pickings for destruction as they are bogged down by rescue efforts.

What Oakland Police did was in the purest sense and by definition of International Conventions a premeditated act akin to war as the tactic is formalized to that exact purpose. What has occurred is the clearest indication of how civilian policing has tranformed into a offensive based militaristic organization in direct violation of the Constitution of the United States.

The officer involved currently has a $1000 reward outstanding to secure his identification. There should be gathering around the idea of soliciting a much higher reward to ensure he is brought to justice under the jurisdiction of the (ICC) International Criminal Court. Carrying with it implicit promise, all other such illegal actions under the color of authority will also meet swift and sure punishment equal to a international war crime.

MAJIA HERE: END OF QUOTE see my previous story about how this could happen here.




OCCUPY WALL STREET: WHAT HAPPENED IN OAKLAND

 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlihC-466Mg

What happened at the Oakland OWS?


Why were police firing tear gas at demonstrators?

I offer one explanation:


Strategic US policy makers have been anticipating civil unrest in the U.S. because of growing inequality, lack of opportunity, and outright desperation and have pre-emptively militiarized the police.


Strategic planning documents and analyses created by institutions such as the Rand Corporation and the Dept. of Homeland Security particularly cited the potential for returning veterans to be, quote, "radicalized.”


And some returning veterans have been radicalized for good reasons. Many understand the lies that have fostered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and they return to an economically depressed society, whose efforts at demonstrating dismay and disgust are being met with repressive police forces.


The strategic documents anticipated all of these developments and their proposed solution is to MILITIARIZE DOMESTIC POLICE through training by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. 


In what follows I provide some background, drawing upon my book Governing Childhood:

In November 2008 the Strategic Studies Institute issued a report titled “Known Unknowns: Uncoventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development” authored by Nathan Freier. The report summary explains its objectives to anticipate and develop contingency plans for unconventional “dangerous future shocks” that “manifest themselves in ways far outside established defense convention” (vii). Although most of the shocks are anticipated to be “nonmilitary in origin and character,” Department of Defense (DoD) planning is recommended. The types of shocks included in this planning document include the following:

Threats of context might include but are not limited to contagious un- and under-governance; civil violence; the swift catastrophic onset of consequential natural, environmental, and/or human disaster; a rapidly expanding and uncontrollable transregional epidemic; and the sudden crippling instability or collapse of a large and important state. Indeed, pushing at the boundaries of current convention, it would be prudent to add catastrophic dislocation inside the United States or homegrown domestic civil disorder and/or violence to this category as well. (p. 17)

The report explains that most of these “contextual threats” are the origins of shocks since they operate as triggers or catalysts. The DoD will be forced to “fundamentally reorient strategy, capabilities, investments, and concepts in response” (p. 18). Shocks emerging within or external to the U.S. would force the DoD “to radically re-role for domestic security, population control, consequence management, and stabilization” (p. 18).

Paths to domestic civil violence that would require the DoD to reorient priorities “to defend basic domestic order and human security” include deployment of “weapons of mass destruction, unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and economic order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency,” etc (p. 32). Civil violence might require the “use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States” (p. 33). Moreover, the DoD “would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance” (p. 33). In other words, the report outlines when and how the DoD would assume responsibility for direct domestic governance

The American Civil Liberties Union reports that DoD terrorism training materials currently employed describe public protests as “low level terrorism” (“ACLU Challenges”). Additionally, the Pentagon plans to have 20,000 uniformed trained troops inside the U.S. by 2011, purportedly to help state and local officials respond to a terrorist attack or some other domestic catastrophe (Hsu and Tyson A1). The Washington Post reports resistance to this plan

Domestic emergency deployment may be "just the first example of a series of expansions in presidential and military authority," or even an increase in domestic surveillance, said Anna Christensen of the ACLU's National Security Project. And Cato Vice President Gene Healy warned of "a creeping militarization" of homeland security. (Hsu and Tyson A1)

Domestic policing has been militiarized as a strategy for repressively containing the growing civil unrest over the declining economy, the outrageously criminal banking sector, and the corrupt and inefficient government (both parties implicated here).

Thus, we can understand the incident in Oakland where a young veteran's head was cracked by what appears to have been a tear gas canister at a demonstration against corruption and inequality.


ACLU. “ACLU Challenges Defense Department Personnel Policy To Regard Lawful Protests As ‘Low-Level Terrorism.’”ACLU. 10 June 2009. 24 June 2009 http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/39822prs20090610.html.


Freier, Nathan. “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development.” Strategic Studies Institute November 2008. 12 December 2008 http://www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/.


Hsu, Spencer S., and Ann S. Tyson. “Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security.” The Washington Post 1 December 2008: A1.


U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” U.S. Department of Homeland Security 7 April 2009. 3 May 2009 http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf. 







Thursday, October 27, 2011

OWS Supporters


Now include Vet groups in the Marines, the Army, the US Airforce, the Navy, and domestic police
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/10/veterans-and-police-officers-support-occupy-wall-street-protesters.html


When the Rage Spills Over...


Fukushima Diary: 15 years old student died of subarachnoid hemorrhage (10 micro Sv/h on school playground)

http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/15-years-old-student-died-of-subarachnoid-hemorrhage-10-micro-svh/

MAJIA HERE: At this point there is no way to link this death to radiation exposure. However, if more children begin to die or become chronically ill, the rage will have no bounds.

The lying politicians and Tepco EXECUTIVES had better be prepared.

They need to stop deceiving and start anew with a full policy of transparency to reduce exposure risks and to help the Japanese better protect their children.

There will be chaos if children die.


CORRECTION! I WROTE PLANT WORKERS AND MEANT EXECUTIVES. THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP.

THE WORKERS ARE BEING SACRIFICED AND ARE HEROES!




Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Corbett Report Link

hat tip Whoopie (I think) at Enenews

Discusses some terrible rumours about the treatment of workers at Fukushima plant. I sincerely hope these turn out to be false.

http://www.corbettreport.com/fukushima-update-20111026/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

A Sad Story On Many Counts


The Washington Post is reporting on a sad story about two NIH study subjects who died after being contaminated with bacteria during a platelet injection. The platelets were contaminated because they were not properly stored or processed. They came from Walter Reed Medical Hopsital.

One of the physicians refused to agree (with the NIH) to keep the cause of the deaths secret, and went public.

Washinton Post: Activist group seeks investigation of NIH deaths
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activist-group-seeks-investigation-of-nih-deaths/2011/10/24/gIQAgF2GHM_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

"The activist group Public Citizen asked the secretaries of defense and health and human services on Tuesday to investigate the deaths of two people who received platelet transfusions contaminated with bacteria at the National Institutes of Health’s research hospital this summer..."

MAJIA HERE: I don't know whether Walter Reed Hospital mishandled the platelets or where the contamination happened. I am so sorry people died.

But what the hell was the NIH doing telling scientists to keep quiet about what happened when one of their subjects died?

That smacks of the worst kind of medical experimentation and/or coverup of incompetence.

What kind of government lies about its experiments on people?

Maybe the same kind of government that lies about the massive radiation experiment being conducted on the people of Japan, Canada, the US and all of the northern hemisphere right now.

Radiation levels according to the EPA's own data are getting worse in those cities still reporting accurately. Most cities stopped reporting or have huge or significant gaps every few weeks or less in their reporting.

This on-off again fissioning in Fukushima is one huge terrible human subjects (and other kinds as well) experiment and the results are not going to be pretty no matter how many Chernobyl recovery propaganda pieces the mainstream media run.

The lies will be revealed as such when the illnesses start, and they will.

The question is will it be too late to stop Fukushima and who knows what other imperiled reactors, when people finally wake-up?


Matt Taibbi: What Occupy Wall Street is REALLY About


IT IS ABOUT RESISTANCE AGAINST GREED AND CORRUPTION.

Matt Taibbi is a genius when it comes to his ability to critically analyze finance. I'm definitely a fan of his work. His latest essay addresses the "why" of OWS.

here are a few excerpts from his excellent analysis: "OWS's Beef: Wall Street Isn't Winning – It's Cheating" dated Oct 25 in Rolling Stone

"Goldman, Sachs in 2008 – this was the same year the bank reported $2.9 billion in profits, and paid out over $10 billion in compensation -- paid just $14 million in taxes, a 1% tax rate.

"Bank of America last year paid not a single dollar in taxes -- in fact, it received a "tax credit" of $1 billion. There are a slew of troubled companies that will not be paying taxes for years, including Citigroup and CIT.

"When GM bought the finance company AmeriCredit, it was able to marry its long-term losses to AmeriCredit's revenue stream, creating a tax windfall worth as much as $5 billion. So even though AmeriCredit is expected to post earnings of $8-$12 billion in the next decade or so, it likely won't pay any taxes during that time, because its revenue will be offset by GM's losses."

READ THE ENTIRE ESSAY HERE: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/owss-beef-wall-street-isnt-winning-its-cheating-20111025



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

POTRBLOG LATEST VIDEO: CRITICALITY CYCLE PRODUCING IODINE-133 AND NEPTUNIUM-239

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1279/926/Fukushima:_Dancing_With_the_Devil_In_North_America.html

Porterblog video dated Sunday October 23 describes recent detection of Iodine-133 in St Loius rain-water and compares it with detection of Neptunium-239 in rain-water on October 10.

The most recent detection is of Iodine-133 and Zenon-133.

Potrblog states that the exposure levels in the precipitation are 2.76 millirem an hour
(27.6 microsieverts an hour according to calculator I found here http://online.unitconverterpro.com/unit-conversion/convert-group/convert.php?cat=radiation---dose-equivalent)

Potrblog states that the “Troubling thing is we were not warned

There are things to do to protect against iodine fallout

He notes that since the Iodine 133 has a 20 hour half life, there was a lot coming from Fukushima

EPA has been giving no data on iodine detection since March

Rain concentrates fallout

OFF-ON CRITICALITIES

Potrblog describes the radioactive fallout cycle of first Neptunium 239 (Oct 10) and then the Iodine-133 (last week) that he believes derives from the on-off criticality of the corium in the ground water.

The Criticality Cycle stems from corium in ground water, which is creating a cycle of a neutron feast and neutron famine.

High Levels of criticality produce Neutron feast: Neutron bombardment creating neptunium-239 that decays into plutonium-239.

Something happens to change conditions leading to a neutron famine.

Neutron Famine: Iodine and zenon then get produced. Iodine-133 and zenon-133 absorb neutrons and thereby temporarily reduces intensity of criticality.

Alternating cycle of neutron feast and neutron famine explains the fallout Potrblog is detecting in St Louis.

He says that it is possible that this on-off cycle could produce a large explosion but says he lacks access to the data and the modeling to allow him to predict the likelihood of an explosion.

When is it risk mitigating to have an explosion to “de-criticalize” what is happening there he asks again?

My opinion is that the Potrblog team knows what they are talking about. This video uses data from the jet stream, the EPA, and detailed mathematical analysis of decay chains to support its claims and encourages viewers to offer alternative interpretations of the data.


Geopolitics and the Silence on Fukushima

NHK: US, Japan to boost alliance

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/25_28.html

"Japan's prime minister and the US defense secretary have agreed that the 2 countries will deepen their alliance to strengthen security in the Asia-Pacific region.

...At the meeting, Noda expressed appreciation for the US military's rescue operations after the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. He said it is his steadfast belief that the alliance with the United States is the basis of Japan's national security and diplomacy...."

MAJIA HERE: Japan's alliance with the US is no doubt seen as critical for hedging China, in the global game of geopolitics the US is playing.

China, India and Russia are wild cards for the US and so US foreign policy seeks to contain their influence by establishing overt US hegemony over strategic borderlands.

China has played the global game of imperialism using their financial influence rather than military might.

The US is a garrison state that relies extensively on military might to conquer and control. Japan's previous PM wasn't a totally compliant pawn but it looks as if the new one is.

for some background
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ENG504A.html

Geopolitical aims in the region explain why the US is not testing any Japanese imports and has censored news about Fukushima.

Of course, there other reasons the US has censored news about Fukushima, including contamination of the US and Canadian west coasts and unwavering US support of its nuclear industry in order to have a supply chain for its nuclear weapons program.

Counterpunch recently ran an article available only to subscribers that described Obama's unprecedented (post WW II) escalation of nuclear weapons spending:

Succeeding Where Bush Failed: The Obama Administration's Nuclear Weapon Surge. Counterpunch. By Darwin Bond-Graham

[excerpted] "Obama's first term will go down in history, however, as containing one of the single largest spending increases on nuclear weapons ever. His administration has worked vigorously to commit the nation to a multi-hundred-billion-dollar reinvestment in nuclear weapons, mapped out over the next three-plus decades.At the center of Obama's ambitious nuclear agenda is the expansion of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex via a multibillion-dollar construction program.

...Also, at the center of Obama's nuclear agenda is a commitment of tens of billions of dollars to designing and building the next generation of nuclear submarines, ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers. Stockpiled nuclear warheads will receive billions more in refurbishment and new components. All of this is now underway. Completion dates for various pieces of this puzzle span the next half-century. Finally, Obama's nuclear policies have been designed to leave the door open to new weapons at some future date..."


MAJIA HERE: So, the people of Japan and the US are simply disposable bodies in a the global chess game.




Monday, October 24, 2011

Fukushima Steaming and What About Reactors 5 and 6?


hat tip Sickputer at Enenews for finding this one of Fukushima Steaming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmxFvqi9TVY&sns=em

Fukushima Diary has posted that there is evidence that reactors 5 and 6 are now having significant problems also (are in "crisis")
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/reactor-5-and-6-are-in-crisis-too/

see also Enenews discussion http://enenews.com/report-fukushima-reactors-no-5-6-now-in-crisis-cesium-outside-release-points-up-1000-in-recent-days-local-says-hitachi-engineers-coming-to-help-video

Potrblog is reporting on google mapping of strontium and plutonium in Japan
http://www.potrblog.com/

Enformable has posted data on radiation in Japan collected by the NNSA (U.S.) 
http://enformable.com/2011/10/nnsa-releases-raw-data-from-radiation-monitoring-efforts-in-japan-will-return-in-november-to-update-readings/


And if the Fukushimas are not enough to tip us into permanent crisis, all it could take would be a strong geomagnetic storm hitting earth directly.

The Watchers is reporting that a strong EMP hit Earth today. Today's wasn't disruptive of our electronics (that we know of), but the possibility exists that a strong EMP could take down many electrical devices and grids
http://thewatchers.adorraeli.com/2011/10/25/geomagnetic-storm-in-progress-12/

Living in the Land of Death



by Fukushima Diary
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/living-in-the-land-of-death/

This is an incredibly sad post by Fukushima Diary. It reminds me strongly of the book On the Beach, that I read recently.

In the book, the citizens of Australia await a certain death, which will be inevitably blown in on the winds. The Australians attempt to maintain the rhythms of daily life in the face of their imminent death. However, the "normality" of daily life is punctuated by brief instances of madness and terror.

In the Fukushima Diary's tale, the citizens of a contaminated town also struggle to preserve normality in the face of uncertainty.

Death for them is not imminent, but hides in unknown locations ready to spring up and embrace the unwary with a debilitating illness (radiation sickness, cancer, circulatory disease) capable of stealing life more slowly, but just as effectively. 

In this town there is no confidence that the innocence of everyday locales and objects is authentic. Every space and every item could be an instrument of death.

Could it be that the reign of Death unleashed by Fukushima is not restricted to this town, or even Japan? Could it be that Death has expanded his terrain to include much of North America as well?

Death is patient and need not kill with a single blow, but instead savors the slow accumulation of poison in his unwary subjects. 

We are all Death's subjects, but usually he is content to allow us a period of grace before claiming his sovereignty.

But we have violated the terms of our grace by knocking on his door.
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/nuclear-power-knocking-on-devils-door.html




Sunday, October 23, 2011

Interesting Article on Radiation Contamination in the US and Canada


I don't know if this is old news to readers but I hadn't seen it.

Straight.Com "What are officials hiding about Fukushima?" By Alex Roslin, October 20, 2011
http://www.straight.com/article-491941/vancouver/what-are-officials-hiding-about-fukushima?page=0%2C2


[Excerpted]: "the data shows rainwater in Calgary last March had an average of 8.18 becquerels per litre of radioactive iodine, easily exceeding the Canadian guideline of six becquerels per litre for drinking water.



“It’s above the recommended level [for drinking water],” Eric Pellerin, chief of Health Canada’s radiation-surveillance division, admitted in a phone interview from Ottawa. “At any time you sample it, it should not exceed the guideline.”


Radioactive-iodine levels also spiked in March in Vancouver (which saw an average of 0.69 becquerels per litre), Winnipeg (which saw 0.64 becquerels per litre) and Ottawa (which saw 1.67 becquerels per litre), the data shows."

Read the entire article inked above

Birth Defects in Half of All Newborns?


Persistent Organic Pollutants Could Lead to Birth Defects in Half of All Newborns by Anthony Gucciardi of Blacklisted News Gucciardi is reporting on new research that has conclusively linked organic pollutants with birth defects. Keep in mind that the organic pollutants in this study are not "natural" and are not naturally in our environment
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Persistent_Organic_Pollutants_Could_Lead_to_Birth_Defects_in_Half_of_All_Newborns/16241/0/38/38/Y/M.html


I am going to post the link to the original research study and the abstract of that study here:
 
Association of selected persistent organic pollutants in the placenta with the risk of neural tube defects.Ren A, Qiu X, Jin L, Ma J, Li Z, Zhang L, Zhu H, Finnell RH, Zhu T. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Association%20of%20selected%20persistent%20organic%20pollutants%20in%20the%20placenta%20with%20risk%20of%20neural%20tube%20defects.

SourceInstitute of Reproductive and Child Health and Ministry of Health Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China. renag@bjmu.edu.cn

Abstract

"Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have been associated with a wide range of adverse health effects. Our case-control study was performed to explore the association between placental levels of selected POPs and risks for neural tube defects (NTDs) in a Chinese population with a high prevalence of NTDs. Cases included 80 fetuses or newborns with NTDs, whereas the controls were 50 healthy, nonmalformed newborn infants. Placental concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The medians of PAHs, o,p'-isomers of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and metabolites, α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), and α-endosulfan were significantly higher in case placentas than in controls. PAH concentrations above the median were associated with a 4.52-fold [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.10-9.74) increased risk for any NTDs, and 5.84- (95% CI, 2.28-14.96) and 3.71-fold (95% CI, 1.57-8.79) increased risks for anencephaly and spina bifida, respectively.

A dose-response relationship was observed between PAH levels and the risk of NTDs, with odds ratios for the second, third, and fourth quartiles, compared with the first, of 1.77- (95% CI, 0.66-4.76), 3.83- (95% CI, 1.37-10.75), and 11.67-fold (95% CI, 3.28-41.49), respectively. A dose-response relationship was observed for anencephaly and spina bifida subtypes.

Similar results were observed for o,p'-DDT and metabolites, α-HCH, γ-HCH, and α-endosulfan, whereas no dose-response relationship was observed for the last two pollutants. Elevated placental concentrations of PAHs, o,p'-DDT and metabolites, and α-HCH were associated with increased risks of NTDs in this population."




My Essay on Transactional Capitalism and Financial Fraud


This essay has a rather theoretical introduction, but a detailed discussion of the criminal-type behavior involved with high frequency trading, naked short selling, and credit defaults fraud can be found if one skips past the introductory pages and starts reading at "Recovery?" (page 3 of 35).

The phrase "transactional capitalism" comes from Max Keiser and Stacey Herbert. I found their work to be very instructive in developing this essay. http://maxkeiser.com/

Link to my essay
http://www.mediatropes.com/index.php/Mediatropes/index

or directly to
http://www.mediatropes.com/index.php/Mediatropes/article/view/15747


Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party

Washigton Post: For tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements, some common ground

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-tea-party-and-occupy-wall-street-movements-some-common-ground/2011/10/18/gIQAkIg07L_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines


Majia here: I think there is common ground across the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement and the Tea Party. Both parties see a predatory state that has prioritized the big banks (commercial and investment) over the common wealth.

However, although the OWS movement has not articulated its stance definitively, I think there are some areas of potential disagreement.

The OWS tends to be anti-war and anti-imperialist, based on the interviews and billboards I've read at the protests across the country.

The Tea Party movement includes anti-war libertarians, but also includes constituents who endorse a militant US foreign policy (correct me if I'm wrong)

The Tea Party is very much fixated on the national debt and wants to downsize government, especially its social-welfare aspects (e.g., health care) significantly.

The OWS has not made the national debt a priority and does not want to downsize government's social welfare and education programs.

The Tea Party does not support the EPA and sees economic growth as much more important than preserving and protecting natural resources.

The OWS wants a more aggressive and accountable EPA and favors preserving and protecting natural resources.

Both groups want tax reform but the Tea Party wants reduced taxes across the board and OWS wants a more progressive tax structure with fewer loopholes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations.

Neither group has articulated a stance that I am aware of on trade but my bet is there is some populist agreement across the movements on the desire for trade policies that do not gut our national economic infrastructures.

The biggest area of dispute is probably on the role of government. The Tea Party seems to want very little government services or regulation outside of defense.

Conversely, the OWS movement wants government to be used for the collective welfare of the population, not simply as a tool for exploitation.

Both parties are being actively co-opted by special interests and politicians.






OCT 23 GREENPEACE FINDS RADIOACTIVE SEAFOOD

This was published Oct 21 but I missed it.

Japan Today: Greenpeace urges tougher radiation screening, seafood labeling rules

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/greenpeace-urges-tougher-radiation-screening-seafood-labeling-rules

[excerpted] "Greenpeace called on Tokyo to toughen radiation screening and food labeling rules on Thursday after it said low levels of radiation had been detected in seafood sold at Japanese stores.


The environmental pressure group said it tested 60 seafood samples bought at stores in eastern Japan operated by five major supermarket chains and found 34 of them with radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137."



Saturday, October 22, 2011

GMOs Linked to Organ Damage

hat tip Naked Capitalism

Rady Ananda at Food Freedom: Three Approved GMOs Linked to Organ Damage

https://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/three-approved-gmos-linked-to-organ-damage/
 
"In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize.
 
Three varieties of Monsanto’s GM corn – Mon 863, insecticide-producing Mon 810, and Roundup® herbicide-absorbing NK 603 – were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities. The data used for this approval, ironically, is the same data that independent researchers studied to make the organ damage link...
 
"...The data “clearly underlines adverse impacts on kidneys and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, as well as different levels of damages to heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system,” reported Gilles-Eric Séralini, a molecular biologist at the University of Caen...."
 
READ THE ENTIRE STORY AT THE LINK ABOVE

ORIGINAL RESEARCH AVAILABLE HERE

A Comparison of the Effects of Three GM Corn Varieties on Mammalian Health. Int J Biol Sci 2009; 5:706-726. Joël Spiroux de Vendômois1, François Roullier1, Dominique Cellier1,2, Gilles-Eric Séralini

http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm#headingA11
Abstract:
"We present for the first time a comparative analysis of blood and organ system data from trials with rats fed three main commercialized genetically modified (GM) maize (NK 603, MON 810, MON 863), which are present in food and feed in the world. NK 603 has been modified to be tolerant to the broad spectrum herbicide Roundup and thus contains residues of this formulation. MON 810 and MON 863 are engineered to synthesize two different Bt toxins used as insecticides.

Approximately 60 different biochemical parameters were classified per organ and measured in serum and urine after 5 and 14 weeks of feeding. GM maize-fed rats were compared first to their respective isogenic or parental non-GM equivalent control groups. This was followed by comparison to six reference groups, which had consumed various other non-GM maize varieties.

We applied nonparametric methods, including multiple pairwise comparisons with a False Discovery Rate approach. Principal Component Analysis allowed the investigation of scattering of different factors (sex, weeks of feeding, diet, dose and group).

Our analysis clearly reveals for the 3 GMOs new side effects linked with GM maize consumption, which were sex- and often dose-dependent. Effects were mostly associated with the kidney and liver, the dietary detoxifying organs, although different between the 3 GMOs.

Other effects were also noticed in the heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system. We conclude that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded."

read the entire research article at the link above


Fukushima Web Cam October 22

webcam timestamp is 10-23-1:30

Looks like glow in far right side of screen in vicinity of reactor 4 building. The glow is illuminated by a floodlight but the glow does not appear to be from artificial light because it ebbs and magnifies more fluidly
http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/f1-np/camera/index-j.html

FUKUSHIMA HEADLINES OCTOBER 22


Japan Today: Radiation hotspot found in residential Chiba (Authorities tested the land and reported a reading of 57.5 microsieverts an hour.)
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/radiation-hotspot-found-in-residential-chiba


ENENEWS: Local Gov’t: 276,000 Bq/kg in soil sample near Tokyo, in Kashiwa — Almost 18 Million Bq/m²
http://enenews.com/local-govt-276000-bqkg-in-soil-sample-near-tokyo-in-kashiwa-almost-18-million-bqm%c2%b2


Fukushima Diary: Breaking news “276,000Bq/Kg soil from Chiba”
http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/10/breaking-news-276000bqkg-soil-from-chiba/


Video on Radioactive Food in Japan (hat tip Jeff Rense)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JUx3guPOKc&feature=uploademail


EnviroReporter in West LA: 2 Hepa Filters Oct 3
http://www.enviroreporter.com/2011/10/2-hepa-filters-aggregate-october-3-2011/
10:30 pm 10-minute INTERIOR average HONEYWELL & KENMORE HEPA FILTER DUST AGGREGATE: 83.6 CPM OR 216.0% OF NORMAL HIGHER than previous background


Is Nuclear Power Really a Trump Card Against Global Warming? (hat tip Nukefree.org)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/19/is-nuclear-power-really-a-trump-card-against-global-warming/

 
Fukushima: Towards the Formation of a Radioactive Graveyard in the Pacific Ocean? Japanese Officials & Experts Late Decision to Expand Testing Around Fukushima Daiichi by Lucas Whitefield Hixson http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=27220
 





Friday, October 21, 2011

ProPublica: Gas Pipelines are Big Business But Lightly Regulated

WSJ: Agency to Set Standards on Fracking Waste Water

by D. Solomon page A3.

"The EPA, responding to concerns about potential water contamination from natural gas drilling, said it would develop standards for disposing of waste water from the process.

The decision comes amid questions involving the drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves injecting large amounts amounts of water and chemicals deep underground to unleash natural gas trapped in shale formation. Much of that water, often laden with salt and chemicals and known as 'flowback,' returns to the surface and requires disposal."

Majia here: Fracking -- which uses enormous amounts of drinkable water along with toxic chemicals and which also releases radioactive materials and other hazardous substances in shale deposits -- has raised significant environmental and health concerns.


In New Mexico, for example, similar processes have leached toxic chemicals into the water table at 800 sites.” http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fracking


The explosion of natural gas drilling is going to compromise further the US supply of fresh water:


The Natural Resources Defense Council reports “More than One Out of Three U.S. Counties Face Water Shortages Due to Climate Change



The Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground aquifer that stretches from southern S. Dakota to northern Texas, is being drained


Since 1998, Lake Mead's capacity has plunged by more than 50% - down 5.6 trillion gallons


The US Faces Long Term Water Sustainability Problems
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/watersustainability/files/WaterRisk.pdf
 
Currently, the US allows states to regulate fracking.
 
Generally, the Environmental Protection Agency regulates anything that could affect underground drinking water supplies. But in 2005, the industry successfully lobbied for the exemption for fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act. That leaves regulation up to the states, which don't have the kind of resources the EPA does.” (NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104565793)
 
Fracking for Natural Gas is going to contaminate our drinking water and the US will be left with an expensive natural-gas infrastructure (like the proposed Keystone pipeline) that will rot after natural gas supplies are exhausted by our ever-growing energy demand.


In short time, we will have neither natural gas nor potable water.


Rather than burning through our water and fracking through our land, we need to develop sustainable energy sources, even if those sources are not able to maintain our current, profligate ways of living.


See Gasland video and image found at http://www.water-contamination-from-shale.com/main/170/