Month: March 2011

Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Workers Try To Pump Out Radioactive Water From Reactors – Radiation Levels Soar To 10,000 Times Above Safety Limit

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The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, rushed to deliver fresh water to replace corrosive salt water now being used in a desperate bid to cool the plant’s overheated reactors.
Source: AP


Added: 25.03.2011

Two weeks after Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disaster, the number of people killed has climbed above 10,000.

And there is a new alarm at the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power station.

Radiation levels have soared to 10,000 times above the safety limit.

As Al Jazeera’s correspondent Wayne Hay reports from the capital Tokyo, people are on edge.

A99 Operation Empire State Rebellion: House of Cards

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Dear Financial Tyrants,

Your days are numbered.
We have the power.
We are the people.
Expect us.

http://ampedstatus.org/network

See also:

– Operation Empire Rebellion Starts: Hackers Deface Chinese Government Site

– A99 Operation Empire State Rebellion: World’s Most (In)Famous Hacker Group ‘Anonymous’ Brings Peaceful Revolution To America To End Corrupt Two-Party System And Above All To Break Up Global Banking Cartel (Federal Reserve, IMF, BIS And World Bank)

Texas: Worst Drought in 44 Years Damaging Wheat Crop, Reducing Cattle Herds

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Wheat futures in Chicago are up 50 percent in the past year, after drought in Russia and floods in Australia hurt output and sent global food prices surging. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

Mar. 24 (Bloomberg) — The worst Texas drought in 44 years is damaging the state’s wheat crop and forcing ranchers to reduce cattle herds, as rising demand for U.S. food sends grain and meat prices higher.

Texas, the biggest U.S. cattle producer and second-largest winter-wheat grower, got just 4.7 inches (12 centimeters) of rain on average in the five months through February, the least for the period since 1967, State Climatologist John Nielsen- Gammon said. More than half the wheat fields and pastures were rated in poor or very poor condition on March 20.

Dry conditions extending to Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado may cut crop yields in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter, as too much moisture threatens fields in North Dakota and in Canada. Wheat futures in Chicago are up 50 percent in the past year, after drought in Russia and floods in Australia hurt output and sent global food prices surging. Wholesale beef reached a record this week, and the U.S. cattle herd in January was the smallest since 1958.

“We’re probably already seeing some damage, but in the next couple of weeks, we’ll surely go downhill major if we don’t get some rain,” said David Cleavinger, who is irrigating 75 percent of his 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of wheat in Wildorado, Texas. “With the prices we’re seeing, we’re trying to hold on, but there’s nothing that takes the place of a rainstorm.”

Read moreTexas: Worst Drought in 44 Years Damaging Wheat Crop, Reducing Cattle Herds

Buried Provision In House GOP Bill Would Cut Off Food Stamps To Entire Families If One Member Strikes

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Update: Believe it or not, there are already a whole host of sanctions against strikers in the current Food Stamp program — the section quoted is actually part of a 1981 Reagan era law. Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) has introduced a bill to do away with these restrictions. A 1988 Supreme Court case reversed lower court decisions that ruled these sanctions unconstitutional.

All around the country, right-wing legislators are asking middle class Americans to pay for budget deficits caused mainly by a recession caused by Wall Street; they are attacking workers’ collective bargaining rights, which has provoked a huge Main Street Movement to fight back.

Now, a group of House Republicans is launching a new stealth attack against union workers. GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (OH), Tim Scott (SC), Scott Garrett (NJ), Dan Burton (IN), and Louie Gohmert (TX) have introduced H.R. 1135, which states that it is designed to “provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, to provide additional work requirements, and to provide an overall spending limit on means-tested welfare programs.”

Much of the bill is based upon verifying that those who receive food stamps benefits are meeting the federal requirements for doing so. However, one section buried deep within the bill adds a startling new requirement. The bill, if passed, would actually cut off all food stamp benefits to any family where one adult member is engaging in a strike against an employer:

The bill also includes a provision that would exempt households from losing eligibility, “if the household was eligible immediately prior to such strike, however, such family unit shall not receive an increased allotment as the result of a decrease in the income of the striking member or members of the household.”

Read moreBuried Provision In House GOP Bill Would Cut Off Food Stamps To Entire Families If One Member Strikes

The Great Sea Level Humbug: There Is No Alarming Sea Level Rise!

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Flashback:

– Top Scientist: Rise of Sea Levels is ‘The Greatest Lie Ever Told’

Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner:

– The Great Sea Level Humbug There Is No Alarming Sea Level Rise (PDF)


(Click on image to enlarge.)

‘The IPCC group and the Presidents of the Maldives and Tuvalu continue to claim that the flooding is in progress, and will soon flood the islands and wipe those island nations off the surface of the globe (or rather ocean). Already here we are facing a behavior that well might be termed a “sea-level-gate.” In an open letter to the President of the Maldives (Mörner 2009), I addressed the divergence between his claim and our field observations. No reply has come.’


Fukushima Reactor No. 3 Suffers Likely Core Breach, Now Leaking Water At 10,000 Times Normal Radiation Levels

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(NaturalNews) The Fukushima situation took a turn for the worse today as two nuclear repair workers stepped into some water at Reactor No. 3 and suffered severe radiation burns requiring immediate hospitalization. The water, it turns out, measures 10,000 times normal radiation levels, and it appears to be leaking from the core of Reactor No. 3.

If confirmed, this can only mean one thing: A containment breach that now risks the spewing of enormous quantities of radiation into the environment, easily dwarfing the releases from Chernobyl in 1986.

Read moreFukushima Reactor No. 3 Suffers Likely Core Breach, Now Leaking Water At 10,000 Times Normal Radiation Levels

Fukushima: Salt buildup likely to harm pumping system before reactor, expert says

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See also:

– Director General of Finland’s Nuclear Safety Authority Warns Japan About Using Seawater To Cool Fukushima Reactors

– Salt buildup likely to harm pumping system before reactor, expert says (CNN):

(CNN) — While the buildup of salt from seawater pumped in to cool reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may become a concern, it is likely to affect the pumping system itself before it affects the fuel rods, one expert said Thursday.

“In the core, it’s probably not that great of a concern because it’s going to be pretty hot in there,” and the salt is likely to melt before the core reaches a dangerous temperature, said Gary Was, a nuclear engineering expert at the University of Michigan.

Seawater has been used as an emergency measure after the tsunami that followed the March 11 earthquake left the plant crippled.

When salt water boils and evaporates, it leaves the salt behind. There are some concerns that those salt crystals could adhere to the fuel rods — insulating them against future efforts to cool them, allowing the temperature to rise and possibly resulting in overheating.

Read moreFukushima: Salt buildup likely to harm pumping system before reactor, expert says

Radiation will not reach US? – Radiation: Nothing to See Here?

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On March 18:

– Obama: Radiation will not reach U.S. (CBS NEWS):

And yes, it is also absolutely SAFE to swim in the Gulf of Mexico!

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: The Four Destroyed Reactors at Fukushima Was About 70 Billion Lethal Doses, finely divided

– Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Multiple Times Worse than Chernobyl

“One or more of the Japanese plants is a MOX or Mixed Oxides of Plutonium plant. Plutonium is the deadliest substance on the planet since 1 molecule of Plutonium in your body guarantees the development of cancer, according to radiation medicine experts.”
– Dr. Rima Laibow

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: This Is Like Admitting That MOX Reactor No. 3 Has Been Breached And Has Released Plutonium

Radiation: Nothing to See Here?

Obama Administration spokespeople continuously claim “no threat” from the radiation reaching the US from Japan, just as they did with oil hemorrhaging into the Gulf. Perhaps we should all whistle “Don’t worry, be happy” in unison. A thorough review of the science, however, begs a second opinion.

That the radiation is being released 5,000 miles away isn’t as comforting as it seems. The Japanese reactors hold about 1,000 times more radiation than the bombs dropped over Hiroshima.(1) Every day, the jet stream carries pollution from Asian smoke stacks and dust from the Gobi Desert to our West Coast, contributing 10 to 60 percent of the total pollution breathed by Californians, depending on the time of year. Mercury is probably the second most toxic substance known after plutonium. Half the mercury in the atmosphere over the entire US originates in China. It, too, is 5,000 miles away. A week after a nuclear weapons test in China, iodine 131 could be detected in the thyroid glands of deer in Colorado, although it could not be detected in the air or in nearby vegetation.(2)

The idea that a threshold exists or there is a safe level of radiation for human exposure began unraveling in the 1950s when research showed one pelvic x-ray in a pregnant woman could double the rate of childhood leukemia in an exposed baby.(3) Furthermore, the risk was ten times higher if it occurred in the first three months of pregnancy than near the end. This became the stepping-stone to the understanding that the timing of exposure was even more critical than the dose. The earlier in embryonic development it occurred, the greater the risk.

Read moreRadiation will not reach US? – Radiation: Nothing to See Here?

IMF Prepares For ‘Threat To International Monetary System’

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Back in April 2010, before Waddell and Reed sold a few shares of ES, effectively destroying the market on news that Europe was insolvent, we made the following observation: “The IMF has just announced that it is expanding its New Arrangement to Borrow (NAB) multilateral facility from its existing $50 billion by a whopping $500 billion (SDR333.5 billion), to $550 billion.” Little did we know that our conclusion “something big must be coming” would prove spot on just a month later after Greece, then Ireland, then Portgual, and soon Spain, Italy, Belgium, and pretty much all other European countries would topple like dominoes tethered together by a flawed monetary regime. Well, based on news from Dow Jones we can now safely predict the following: “something bigger must be coming.” As if the IMF’s trillions in open lending facilities (many of which have recently been adjusted to uncapped) were not enough, we now learn that the world lender of last resort (which in theory is the Fed, but apparently Bernanke has been getting a little shy lately so is offsetting his direct lending directives to secondary organizations like the IMF, leaving the Fed with only USD liquidity swaps) is about to activate a “Special Funding Pool” – Dow Jones explains: “The International Monetary Fund is expected to soon activate a special funding pool that will boost the fund’s ability to prevent or resolve economic crises, two people familiar with the situation said Thursday. One of the people said the activation of the funding–which can only be made by a special request from the IMF managing director to the board–was in anticipation of an expected wave of new IMF programs, including the possible expansion of the Greek bailout package.” Wonderful. Global financial cataclysm rinse repeat all over again…

More from Dow Jones:

Activating access to the funding pool could provide assurance to the market of the IMF’s ability to backstop any major funding crisis amid ongoing fears that Europe’s sovereign debt woes will worsen. The IMF board recently approved a boost to the so-called New Arrangements To Borrow, bringing the special pool of funding to around $580 billion, adding several hundred billion dollars to the total amount the fund has to tap. According to the IMF, the pool of supplementary resources are only to be activated when “needed to forestall or cope with a threat to the international monetary system.”

Read moreIMF Prepares For ‘Threat To International Monetary System’

Japan Cows Barred From Grazing as Damaged Plant Leaks Radiation

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A woman feeds her cattle at a farm in Kawamata, Fukushima prefecture. Photographer: Ken Shimizu/AFP/Getty Images

(Bloomberg )– Japan has asked farmers to keep cows and cattle in barns as radioactive contamination of milk spread from Fukushima prefecture, where high radiation levels and fires have hampered repairs of a crippled nuclear plant.

“To prevent milk contamination, we are advising farmers that cows should be barred from grazing, kept inside barns and fed with grass harvested before the nuclear plant accident,” said Mitsuhiro Honda at the milk and dairy products division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. “We are not concerned about the safety of beef as the meat now on the market came from animals born more than two years ago.”

Japan has restricted raw-milk shipments from Fukushima and neighboring Ibaraki prefecture after tainted products were discovered through random testing. Repair work at the site of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 has been plagued by explosions, fires and leaks of toxic material. Tokyo Electric Power Co. plans to drain radioactive water from the turbine building of the No. 3 unit at the damaged nuclear plant, where two workers suffered radiation burns yesterday.

Shoppers in Tokyo rushed to buy mineral water and soy milk, ignoring government assurances that food and tap water are safe. Countries from Australia to the U.S. restricted food imports from Japan on fears of radiation.

Read moreJapan Cows Barred From Grazing as Damaged Plant Leaks Radiation

Toyota tells US plants ‘prepare to shut down’

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Toyota’s U.S. manufacturing arm is preparing for a possible shutdown because of parts shortages from Japan, a Toyota spokesman said. Word has gone out to all 13 of Toyota’s factories in the United States, Canada and Mexico. This does not mean that the plants will stop working, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said, but that they should be ready in case the need arises.

“We expect some kind of interruptions,” he said.

While Toyota’s car factories in Japan have stopped working since the March 11 earthquake in Japan, the automaker was able to resume production of some auto parts on March 17.

Toyota employs 25,000 manufacturing and R&D workers in North America.

Read moreToyota tells US plants ‘prepare to shut down’

Japan Nuclear Crisis: The Four Destroyed Reactors at Fukushima Was About 70 Billion Lethal Doses, finely divided

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– Japan: The Solution to the Blown Reactors (Veterans Today):

UPDATE No. 1 – “Number of Lethal Doses.”

(San Francisco) – Physics Professor Paolo Scampa announced March 23, 2011 that the four destroyed reactors at Fukushima, Japan was about 70 Billion Lethal Doses, finely divided. Professor Scampa used only official IAEA data (International Atomic Energy Agency.)

According to the US Census Bureau there are approximately 6 Billion 907 Million people on Earth today. The wrecked General Electric nuclear reactors contained enough radioactive, highly poisonous fuel to kill every person on Earth about 10 times. The poison is in the atmosphere and spreading all over the world from Japan in 9  to 10 days.

See also:

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: This Is Like Admitting That MOX Reactor No. 3 Has Been Breached And Has Released Plutonium

–Japan Nuclear Crisis: Close-Up Aerial Video of Wrecked Reactors at Fukushima (25.03.2011)

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: High Levels of Radiation Leaking From Reactor No. 3

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: High-Radiation Leaks In Fukushima Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: Fukushima Nuclear Plant Emitted A Neutron Beam 13 Separate Times

– Fukushima Engineer Says He Helped In Cover-Up: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Built With Flawed Steel, Has A Faulty Reactor Inside

– Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation

– Japan Government on Fukushima: ‘We Are Not Able To Measure The Amount Of Radiation Coming From The Power Plant’

Read moreJapan Nuclear Crisis: The Four Destroyed Reactors at Fukushima Was About 70 Billion Lethal Doses, finely divided

Japan Nuclear Crisis: This Is Like Admitting That MOX Reactor No. 3 Has Been Breached And Has Released Plutonium

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Those poor people knew that this will be their last task an that they will die, but they are only cannon fodder in the eyes of the elite puppet governments and the elitists.

And what I heard today in the news is that it is their own fault that they are in such a bad condition!

– The Dying ‘Fukushima Fifty’

Japan Encourages a Wider Evacuation From Reactor Area

Mar. 25 (New York Times) TOKYO — News signs emerged on Friday that parts of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are so damaged and contaminated that it will be harder to bring the plant under control soon.

At the same time, Japanese officials began encouraging people to evacuate a larger swath of territory around the complex.
Speaking to a national audience at a news conference Friday night two weeks after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed it, Prime Minister Naoto Kan dodged a reporter’s question about whether the government was ordering a full evacuation, saying officials were simply following the recommendation of the Japan Nuclear Safety Commission.

“The situation still requires caution,” Mr. Kan, grave and tired-looking, told the nation. “Our measures are aimed at preventing the circumstances from getting worse.” The authorities said that they would now assist people who want to leave the area from 12 to 19 miles outside the plant and that they were now encouraging “voluntary evacuation” from the area. Those people had been advised March 15 to remain indoors, while those within a 12-mile radius of the plant had been ordered to evacuate.

The United States has recommended that its citizens stay at least 50 miles away.

“The state of the plant is still quite precarious,” Mr. Kan said. “We’re working hard to make sure it doesn’t get worse. We have to ensure there’s no further deterioration.”

One sign of possible deterioration came at reactor No. 3. Workers who were trying to connect an electrical cable to a pump in a turbine building next to the reactor were injured when they stepped into water that was found to be significantly more radioactive than normal. On Friday officials and experts offered conflicting explanations of what went wrong — but all pointed to greater damage to the reactor’s systems and more contamination there than officials indicated earlier.

Two workers were exposed to radiation and burned when water poured over the top of their boots and down around their feet and ankles, officials said.. A third worker was wearing higher boots and did not suffer the same exposure.

Like the injured workers, many of those risking their lives are subcontractors of Tokyo Electric, paid a small daily wage for hours of work in dangerous conditions. In some cases they are poorly equipped and trained for their task.

A Japanese physicist, who asked not to be identified so as not to damage his relations with the establishment, said it was “ridiculous” that the workers had not been wearing full protective gear.

Read moreJapan Nuclear Crisis: This Is Like Admitting That MOX Reactor No. 3 Has Been Breached And Has Released Plutonium

Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Downgrade Portugal’s Credit Rating, Potugal Said to Require as Much as $99 Billion in Any European Bailout

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Then come the other dominoes:  Spain, Italy, UK and France.

(Ireland and Greece have been totally destroyed.)

Spain is already ‘too big to bail out’:

Flashback:

– Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’:

Nouriel Roubini, the US economist, said Portugal should consider asking for a bailout before its financial plight worsens as the euro fell after the €85bn Ireland bailout failed to ease eurozone debt fears.

However, he said neighboring Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, is “too big to bail out.”

Unless the ECB prints euros ‘until Europe runs out of trees’.

Mar. 25 (Bloomberg) A bailout for Portugal may total as much as 70 billion euros ($99 billion), two European officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as credit-rating cuts threatened to deepen Portugal’s debt woes.

Preliminary calculations put the cost of a lifeline from 50 billion to 70 billion euros, said the officials, who declined to be named because the issue is confidential. Portugal continued to rule out a rescue after the parliament’s rejection of budget cuts led Prime Minister Jose Socrates to offer to quit.

Downgrades by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s dealt a further blow, as European Union leaders called on Socrates and the opposition parties to unite behind belt-tightening measures that might spare Portugal from becoming the third euro country to tap emergency aid.

Read moreFitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Downgrade Portugal’s Credit Rating, Potugal Said to Require as Much as $99 Billion in Any European Bailout

Japan Nuclear Crisis: Close-Up Aerial Video of Wrecked Reactors at Fukushima (25.03.2011)

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Japan says the core of Reactor 3, at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, may have been damaged. The operation there has been suspended as the development could lead to further radiation leaks. Japan’s prime minister says the situation at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant remains “grave and serious.”


Added: 25.03.2011

See also:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: High Levels of Radiation Leaking From Reactor No. 3

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: High-Radiation Leaks In Fukushima Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3

– Fukushima Engineer Says He Helped In Cover-Up: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Built With Flawed Steel, Has A Faulty Reactor Inside

– Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation

Read moreJapan Nuclear Crisis: Close-Up Aerial Video of Wrecked Reactors at Fukushima (25.03.2011)

Japan Nuclear Meltdown: High Levels of Radiation Leaking From Reactor No. 3

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MOX fuel containing plutonium has been used in reactor No. 3.


Added: 24.03.2011

See also:

– Japan Nuclear Crisis: High-Radiation Leaks In Fukushima Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3

– Fukushima Engineer Says He Helped In Cover-Up: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Built With Flawed Steel, Has A Faulty Reactor Inside

– Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation

– Japan Government on Fukushima: ‘We Are Not Able To Measure The Amount Of Radiation Coming From The Power Plant’

– The Dying ‘Fukushima Fifty’

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Reactor 3 ‘Nightmare’ – Reactor 1 ‘Worry’: Core Now At 380 Degrees Celsius, 80 More Than NORMAL Running Temperature

Read moreJapan Nuclear Meltdown: High Levels of Radiation Leaking From Reactor No. 3

Japan Nuclear Crisis: High-Radiation Leaks In Fukushima Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3

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Crippled Fukushima nuclear plant
Handout photo shows the frame of the building housing the No. 3 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Fukushima Prefecture on March 23, 2011. The upper part of the building housing the reactor was blown out by a hydrogen explosion. Efforts are under way to put the crippled plant under control since the March 11 quake and tsunami. (Photo taken and supplied by the Ground Self-Defense Force)(Kyodo)

TOKYO, March 25, Kyodo — Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Friday it has begun injecting freshwater into the No. 1 and No. 3 reactor cores at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to enhance cooling efficiency, although highly radioactive water was found leaking possibly from both reactors as well as the No. 2 reactor.

The latest efforts to bring the troubled reactors at the plant under control are aimed at preventing crystallized salt from seawater already injected from forming a crust on the fuel rods and hampering smooth water circulation, thus diminishing the cooling effect, the plant’s operator said.

The utility known as TEPCO is also preparing to inject freshwater into the No. 2 reactor core.

Read moreJapan Nuclear Crisis: High-Radiation Leaks In Fukushima Reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3

Japan Nuclear Crisis: Tokyo Runs Out Of Bottled Water

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People collect bottles of mineral water at a food distribution in Yamada, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, March 24, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria

While the broader population continues to read stories of a stoic Tokyo population, casually taking each day of deteriorating news from Fukushima in stride, the reality is far from what is being represented. The latest escalation: Tokyo is running out of bottle water, now that the government disclosed (with a two week delay), that drinking water is irradiated.

From Reuters:

“Many shops in Japan’s capital ran out of bottled water on Thursday after a warning of radiation danger for babies from a damaged nuclear plant where engineers are battling the world’s worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl.”

And if the government appears to be on the verge of losing control (and no city of 13 million can operate without water, no matter how bullish Douche Bank’s chief strategist sounds on CNBC) after disclosing this one factoid, what happens when the true extent of the secondary effects from Fukushima are made public:

“The government urged residents not to panic and hoard bottled water — but many shops quickly sold out.”

“If this is long term, I think we have a lot to worry about,” said Riku Kato, father of a one-year-old baby.”

Perhaps it is time for Malcolm Gladwell to do a tipping point analysis of herding mentality, vis-a-vis a decision to participate in a mass urban exodus. Which brings up tonight’s $64k question: is Snake Plissken too old for the “Escape from Tokyo” sequel.

From Reuters:

Nearly two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami that battered the Fukushima complex and devastated northeast Japan, Tokyo’s 13 million people were told not to give infants tap water where contamination twice the safety level was detected.

Read moreJapan Nuclear Crisis: Tokyo Runs Out Of Bottled Water

A ‘Unique’ Form of ‘Terrorism’: Liberty Dollar Founder Bernard von NotHaus Convicted On Federal Charges, Attorney Calls Him A Terrorist

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Here is an article on the case in German:

– Justizskandal: US-Bankenkartell schickt Schöpfer des Liberty-Dollar ins Gefängnis – Staatsanwältin nennt ihn »Terrorist«

Yet Helicopter Ben is innocent?:

– New York Sun: Von NotHaus is guilty but Bernanke is innocent? (GATA)

The New York Sun today editorializes brilliantly about the ironies in the conviction of Liberty Dollar founder Bernard von NotHaus. The editorial begins:”Here is a thought experiment concerning two men who have issued money. One issued gold and silver coins that will today bring more in dollars than he charged for them. The other issued paper notes that are today worth but a fraction the gold or silver they were worth at the time they were issued. One man is facing the possibility of years in prison after a federal jury found his issuing of money to have been a crime. The other man is walking around free and being treated by the authorities with great deference. Which is which?”

The editorial, most likely written by Sun editor Seth Lipsky, is headlined “A ‘Unique’ Form of Terrorism”:

– A ‘Unique’ Form of ‘Terrorism’ (New York Sun):

…..

Which is which?

It turns out that the man walking free is Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. A one-dollar note that his bank issued used to be worth — as recently as, say, the start of President Bush’s first term — a 265th of an ounce of gold; today it’s value has plunged to less than a 1,400th of an ounce of gold. The man who issued the coins that will fetch more dollars today than when he issued them is Bernard von NotHaus, 67. He called his coins “Liberty Dollars,” minted them with some similarities to government money, and even though they more than held their value it turns out they’re against the law.

Liberty Dollar founder Bernard von NotHaus was convicted today on federal charges in Statesville. The case has local implications, because Asheville Liberty Dollar head Kevin Innes also faces trial. Innes has asserted that he is innocent of any wrongdoing, and sought local support.

Full announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s office below:

STATESVILLE, NC – Bernard von NotHaus, 67, was convicted today by a federal jury of making, possessing and selling his own coins, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Following an eight-day trial and less than two hours of deliberation, von NotHaus, the founder and monetary architect of a currency known as the Liberty Dollar, was found guilty by a jury in Statesville, North Carolina, of making coins resembling and similar to United States coins, of issuing, passing, selling, and possessing Liberty Dollar coins, of issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money, and of conspiracy against the United States. The guilty verdict concluded an investigation which began in 2005 and involved the minting of Liberty Dollar coins with a current value of approximately $7 million. Joining the U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins in making today’s announcement are Edward J. Montooth, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Charlotte Division, Russell F. Nelson, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Charlotte Division, and Sheriff Van Duncan of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the evidence introduced during the trial, von NotHaus was the founder of an organization called the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Code, commonly known as NORFED and also known as Liberty Services. Von NotHaus was the president of NORFED and the Executive Director of Liberty Dollar Services, Inc. until on or about September 30, 2008.

Von NotHaus designed the Liberty Dollar currency in 1998 and the Liberty coins were marked with the “$”, the word dollar, USA, Liberty, Trust in God (instead of In God We Trust) and other features associated with legitimate U.S. coinage. Since 1998, NORFED has been issuing, disseminating, and placing into circulation the Liberty Dollar in all its forms throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. NORFED’s purpose was to mix Liberty Dollars into the current money of the United States. NORFED intended for the Liberty Dollar to be used as current money in order to limit reliance on, and to compete with, United States currency.

In coordination with the Department of Justice, on September 14, 2006, the United States Mint issued a press release and warning to American citizens that the Liberty Dollar was “not legal tender.” The Mint press release and public service announcement stated that the Department of Justice had determined that the use of Liberty Dollars as circulating money was a federal crime.

Article I, section 8, clause 5 of the United States Constitution delegates to Congress the power to coin Money and to regulate the Value thereof. This power was delegated to Congress in order to establish and preserve a uniform standard of value and to insure a singular monetary system for all purchases and debts in the United States, public and private.

Along with the power to coin money, Congress has the concurrent power to restrain the circulation of money which is not issued under its own authority in order to protect and preserve the constitutional currency for the benefit of all citizens of the nation. It is a violation of federal law for individuals, such as von NotHaus, or organizations, such as NORFED to create private coin or currency systems to compete with the official coinage and currency of the United States.

Von NotHaus, who remains free on bond, faces a sentence of up to fifteen years imprisonment on Count Two of the Indictment and a fine of not more than $250,000. Von NotHaus faces a prison sentence of five years and fines of $250,000 on both Counts One and Three. In addition, the United States is seeking the forfeiture of approximately 16,000 pounds of Liberty Dollar coins and precious metals, currently valued at nearly $7 million. The forfeiture trial, which began today before United States District Court Judge Richard Voorhees, will resume on April 4, 2011 in the federal courthouse in Statesville. Judge Voorhees has not yet set a date for the sentencing of von NotHaus.

“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,” US Attorney Tompkins said in announcing the verdict. “While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country,” she added. “We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government.”

The case was investigated by the FBI, Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. Secret Service, in cooperation with and invaluable assistance of the United States Mint. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jill Westmoreland Rose and Craig D. Randall and the forfeiture trial is being prosecuted by AUSAs Tom Ascik and Ben Bain Creed.

Posted by David Forbes in News
Mar. 18, 2011

Source: Mountain Xpress

Flashback:

– Chuck Baldwin: It Is Getting Very Serious Now:

First, it was a Missouri Analysis and Information Center (MIAC) report; then it was a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report; now it is a New York congressman’s bill. Each of these items, taken on their own, is problematic enough; taken together they portend “a clear and present danger” to the liberties of the American people. It is getting very serious now.

As readers may recall, the MIAC report profiled certain people as being potential violence-prone “militia members”: including people who supported Presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and myself. In addition, anyone who opposed one or more of the following were also included in the list: the New World Order, the U.N., gun control, the violation of Posse Comitatus, the Federal Reserve, the Income Tax, the Ammunition Accountability Act, a possible Constitutional Convention, the North American Union, the Universal Service Program, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), abortion on demand, or illegal immigration.

 

Thoughts On The Liberty Dollar Debacle

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I was in the midst of the Save America Convention in Tampa, Florida when I heard, first, that Libya was under bombardment by the UN (led by U.S. forces), and, that Bernard von NotHaus of Liberty Dollar had been convicted of “counterfeiting”. It was a stressful day, to say the least. For those not familiar with the Liberty Dollar incident, In November of 2007, federal officials raided the group’s headquarters nestled in a strip mall and seized all documents and the gold and silver that backed up the paper certificates and digital currency being distributed through the Liberty Services website. The Justice Department asserted that Von NotHaus was placing gold and silver coins, along with precious metals currency, into circulation with the purpose of mixing them “into the current money of the United States.”

To be clear, NotHaus made some serious mistakes, including pressing his coins to look semi-similar to standard federal currency, and also using language which could be interpreted to insinuate that his currency was “legal tender”. There are many barter networks in the U.S. that use gold and silver that do not have these kinds of problems with the government simply because they are careful not to make the same blunders.

However, it wasn’t the conviction itself that struck me, so much as the language of the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins, in her post trial statement. Let me reprint my favorite parts for you here:

“Attempts to undermine the legitimate currency of this country are simply a unique form of domestic terrorism,”

“While these forms of anti-government activities do not involve violence, they are every bit as insidious and represent a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country,”

“We are determined to meet these threats through infiltration, disruption and dismantling of organizations which seek to challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government.”

Some in the Liberty Movement have interpreted this statement to be a warning to all of us that the Federal Government is declaring open season on alternative currencies. Others see it as a preliminary move towards the confiscation of all privately owned gold and silver. And yet others see the statement as dire prophecy, now cowering behind their 1040’s at the thought of the smallest barter transactions, as if the IRS is the all seeing eye of Sauron waiting to catch them in the act of trading apples for oranges and sending agents to crush them with their slimy orc-like fists of doom.

Perhaps I am the only one, but in contrast, I see the prosecutor’s statement as an expression of blatant fear. I’ll explain, but first, let’s dissect the nonsensical and irrational idiocy behind the saber rattling of Anne Tompkins.

First, U.S. prosecutors prevailed over NotHaus on a conviction of COUNTERFEITING! Unless I am confused, and he was using his silver currency to fashion a McGuyver-esque thermonuclear sound money bomb, it is more than just a stretch to try to equate his actions with domestic terrorism. In fact, the post trial statements of Tompkins are so insane it makes one question her level of paranoia, and perhaps her prescription drug habits. After finding no obvious hint of crazy eyed drool mouth in her photographs, I realized that perhaps she was not a zealot, but simply a messenger.

My feeling (and this is only an intuitive notion) is that Tompkins had little to do with the writing of those statements, or had much “coaching” from the Department of Homeland Security, which has been expanding its absurd definition of terrorism to include almost anyone who does not agree with the philosophies of establishment elites and corporate global banks. Even returning military veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have been listed as possible domestic terrorist threats. Why not proponents of gold and silver?

What we see here is the not so subtle conditioning of average Americans towards categorizing certain innocuous behaviors as being related to possible criminal or terrorist motives. Owning guns is anti-social, and you are a naughty bad person for liking big boom boom stick. What’s that? A pocket Constitution!? Didn’t McVeigh or one of the 9/11 hijackers carry around something like that? You have a survival garden? Hmm, that sounds fishy. I better call the FDA and make sure everything you’re doing is on the up and up. You want to trade gold and silver? Privately?! That’s obviously “black market” barter, and you are the reason the economy is so unpleasant. I don’t get as many food stamps and free big brother goodies as I used to, and I blame you and your dastardly sense of self sufficiency! The IRS should have your head! And so it goes…

So, I promote private barter networking and precious metals to safeguard communities from impending inflationary crisis, and am therefore a “non-violent domestic terrorist which represents a clear and present danger to the economic stability of this country”? How does Tompkins or anyone else, with a straight face, declare alternative markets and sound money as a danger to economic stability, when the U.S. economy has already been annihilated by the derivatives bubble conjured by international banks and the private Federal Reserve? What about the constant fiat injections by our central bank which have created an atmosphere prime for dollar devaluation and hyperinflation? Why in the hell hasn’t the U.S. Attorneys Office or Anne Tompkins placed the terrorist label squarely on the doorstep of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, or the Fed itself? I mean, if we are going to start equating the destabilization of the economy with white Al-Qaeda, then let’s be fair at least. Global banks have had far more to do with our financial downfall than gold or silver trade ever will.

What about the follow up chest beating proclamations of “infiltration and disruption” of any organization which seeks to “challenge the legitimacy of our democratic form of government”?

Wow. Isn’t that comment loaded with bile and stupidity. To begin with, if anyone, including Tompkins, can show me how our current form of government is legitimately “democratic” while both major parties are headed by globalists and corporatists who promote the same exact ideology and support the same exact legislation, while refusing to represent even a minority of Americans beyond the elite, then I welcome them to try. (By the way, Tompkins, I know they didn’t teach you this in public school, and probably not in college either, but America was founded as a REPUBLIC, not a democracy.)

Read moreThoughts On The Liberty Dollar Debacle

Japan Nuclear Crisis: Fukushima Nuclear Plant Emitted A Neutron Beam 13 Separate Times

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(Tokyo) — Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant is emitting a neutron beam as efforts continue to bring it under control.

The “Kyodo News” reports the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company, has spotted a neutron beam 13 separate times at the Fukushima plant.

The beam is a radioactive ray and could be evidence of a more serious leak from nuclear fission. All 13 sightings occurred after the massive quake and tsunami hit the region on March 11th. TEPCO says the beam was only emitted a tiny amount of radiation that isn’t considered dangerous.

Wednesday, March 23 2011

Source: MyStateLine

Fukushima Engineer Says He Helped In Cover-Up: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Built With Flawed Steel, Has A Faulty Reactor Inside

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See also:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Total Information Blackout On Fukushima Unit 4 Reactor

Mar. 23 — (Bloomberg) — One of the reactors in the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant may have been relying on flawed steel to hold the radiation in its core, according to an engineer who helped build its containment vessel four decades ago.

Mitsuhiko Tanaka says he helped conceal a manufacturing defect in the $250 million steel vessel installed at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi No. 4 reactor while working for a unit of Hitachi Ltd. (6501) in 1974. The reactor, which Tanaka has called a “time bomb,” was shut for maintenance when the March 11 earthquake triggered a 7-meter (23-foot) tsunami that disabled cooling systems at the plant, leading to explosions and radiation leaks.

“Who knows what would have happened if that reactor had been running?” Tanaka, who turned his back on the nuclear industry after the Chernobyl disaster, said in an interview last week. “I have no idea if it could withstand an earthquake like this. It’s got a faulty reactor inside.”

Read moreFukushima Engineer Says He Helped In Cover-Up: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Built With Flawed Steel, Has A Faulty Reactor Inside

Dr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation

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About Dr. Busby (Source: Wikipedia):

Christopher Busby (born 1945) is a British scientist and activist known for his work on the health effects of ionising radiation. In addition to his academic appointments he is the director of Green Audit, an environmental consultancy agency, and scientific advisor to the Low Level Radiation Campaign which he set up in 1995. Busby was also the National Speaker on Science and Technology for the Green Party of England and Wales, and the Scientific Secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risks, based in Brussels.

From 1987 onwards Busby has worked in particular on the health effects of ionising radiation, developing the ‘Second Event Theory’ which distinguishes between hazards from external and internal irradiation. He has studied the effects of low-dose radiation on health. Recent (2008) work by Busby, focusing on the photoelectric effect as a mechanism for cells to be damaged by ingested uranium, was covered by the popular New Scientist magazine.

“As member of the International Society for Environment Epidemiology, he was invited to Iraq and Kosovo to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium. He has also given presentations on depleted uranium to the Royal Society and to the European Parliament. He was a member of the UK Ministry of Defence Oversight Board on Depleted Uranium.” He served on the UK Government’s Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters (CERRIE), which operated between 2001 and 2004, ultimately disagreeing with the committee’s conclusions and publishing a “minority report” with another committee member.

If you haven’t done so, please read at least these articles:

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: Multiple Times Worse than Chernobyl

– Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant In Japan: A Dirty Bomb Waiting To Go Off

– Japan Nuclear Meltdown: It’s Much, Much Worse Than It Looks (Thanks To The Stupidity of Nuclear Engineers!) (MUST-READ!)

And watch this:

– Japan Government on Fukushima: ‘We Are Not Able To Measure The Amount Of Radiation Coming From The Power Plant’

Technology giant JAPAN cannot measure any amount of radiation? Oh, sure!

And if the following is true then ….

… I need a break.

The Japanese Government, IAEA & the Mainline Media all lied

It is clear that Nuclear Energy as a means of power generation is now dead in the water

Latest Newsflash:

Dr. Chris Busby verified today in an email that three spent fuel pools are totally blasted away and burned up. That puts the approximate radiation levels at 24,000 HIROSHIMAS x 3 = 72,000 times the radiation of Hiroshima now in the atmosphere. Remember, this is JUST from the spent fuel pools. Radiation escaping from the reactors is another story altogether.

We have now all had time to evaluate what we believe is the truth behind the Japanese Nuclear Incident (or should I say disaster) and it has become clear that we have all been deceived by the Japanese Authorities, their nuclear establishment, the IAEA, the international pro nuclear groups and more importantly the so called experts that are invited onto the mainstream media channels to blast us with nothing more than total spin. We have heard from nuclear experts from Chatham House (the NWO voice box) and such people as Prof. Gerry Thomas from Imperial College London.

They all keep playing down this disaster without themselves fully understanding the implications on human health and the antiquated testing methods used in the assessment of potential victims. It is only when one listens to such people as Dr. Chris Busby that you get to understand the true picture of the side effects of contamination by ingestion i.e. depleted uranium etc.

Before we go into what Dr Busby is saying about this disaster lets throw a few things around that will make you re think on how you yourself may have analyzed this event.

This was an excerpt from The Nation:

Read moreDr. Chris Busby: Fukushima Now 72,000 Times Hiroshima Radiation