Sunday, March 13, 2011

A Visit to an American Tent City

Reading the headlines over the last eighteen months one would think that the recession of 2008 is all but over. Unemployment, officially, is on the mend, with a reported 9.5% of Americans unable to find work (as opposed to official Great Depression numbers as high as 25%). Foreclosures seem to be stabilizing. Gross domestic product is in positive growth territory, signaling forward progress in the economy. Inflation, according to the latest Consumer Price Index statistics, is under control.

“The worst of the storm has passed,” declared President Obama in his 2010 State of the Union address. For all intents and purposes, any threat of a second great depression has been averted.

But what is depicted by our media and the official statistics put forth by government number crunchers, and what is happening on the ground on Main Street America, are two wholly different things.

Doug Walden, who lost his job during the onset of the recession, and now spends a good portion of his time helping others who are out of work or facing dire economic straits through his loosely-based organization called the Great Depression Enterprise Group explained it best when he described the desperate situation facing average Americans:

Here on Earth, outside the distorting intellectual gravitation field that is Washington DC, conditions are deteriorating for increasing numbers of Americas. The middle-class is being eroded from the bottom, as more people fall into poverty and outright destituion, and from the top, as more people find they cannot maintain their debt-financed psuedo-rich pre-2005 lifestyles.

Recently, Doug spent a day in one of the many “tent cities” popping up around America. These modern equivalents of the Hoovervilles of the 1930′s were believed to be relics of a different time – a time where there existed no social support structure or regulatory oversight of financial markets and banking institutions. After the Great Depression, the extreme poverty experienced by millions in post-1929 America was all but forgotten. For most in today’s generation, the thought of living without 21st century amenities like on-demand electricity, sewage, refrigeration, air conditioning, heat, and the other conveniences of suburban lifestyles does not even enter into the sphere of thought. It is a different time, and such a thing can’t happen today.

The reality, however, is in stark contrast to the dogma of a debt driven, consumer-based society.

Doug Walden has seen it with his own eyes. He’s spent time talking to those individuals who have lost everything and have nowhere else to go. Doug, in his own words, describes his experience below:

I met with Minister Brigham yesterday at his Homeless Tent City in a wooded area of Lakewood, New Jersey. (See attached pictures)

My initial, impression was one of shock and dread. Shock at seeing something I never thought I would see in America; Dread at the feeling in my gut that I was glimpsing my (an my loved ones) Future.

However, after meeting Minister Brigham and walking through the community, I feel oddly comfortable and guardedly optimistic. Minister Steve Brigham has been helping the homeless for 11 years and operating this camp for 4. It has grown significantly over the last 2 years.

Listening to Steve was like reading “The Long Emergency;” he gets re-scaling, localizing and living within rational environmental limits. He’s on the front-line of the collapse of Cheap-Energy American Society.

The camp is set back 200 feet into a wooded area. It consists of about 30 structures: a few school buses, lean-tos, tents and more elaborate structures (designed with great ingenuity), a common/community building. One circular home had a solar array to power LED lights. They have a generator for the “office”, bath/laundry facilities and common area. The bath/laundry building has a 45ft deep well, propane hotwater heater, sink & shower, and a washer and dryer.

There are about 45 residents. Most were working poor cast off in the Great Recession; but the newer residents come from the lower end of the middle-class. People who had homes, jobs and “secure” lives and now have nothing.

This is not a place I would choose to live, but, if necessary it is a place I could live. These people have faced a crisis most Americans have yet to experience and have come together, with the guidance and help of a kind smart man, and designed and established an effective way to Survive and Adapt to a sick dying economy. They are nice quiet people who, in spite of their old lives being destroyed, have retained their dignity and humanity.

It was an Oddly Uplifting Day.

Doug Walden
Asbury Park, New Jersey

Images from an American Tent City

As mentioned in his letter, Mr. Walden took numerous photographs while on site. He has been kind enough to share them with our readers.

A sign greets residents and visitors. It reads: “We are a community. Please respect the community…Yourself…And Others…Thank you!!!”

Shelters and community areas are distributed throughout the area:

Bath / Laundry / Water Building:

Wood is the primary heating fuel:

A variety of shelters built from available materials, with energy efficiency in mind:

Minister Brigham’s shelter re-purposes an old school bus and comes complete with Wifi, electricity and wood stove:

Preparing a garden for the growing season:

While Americans argue amongst themselves over wages, union bargaining rights, government spending, monetary easing, and a host of other issues, including who’s to blame for the country’s malaise, Minister Brigham and his community trudge on, despite what’s happening outside of their neighborhood microcosm. As millions struggle to hold on to the American Dream, the residents of this New Jersey “Tent City” have already experienced loss, and the emotional roller coaster that inevitably follows. They’ve gone through the first four stages of loss – denial, anger, bargaining, depression. In a situation where everything has been lost, and hope seemingly doesn’t exist, only the fifth stage, acceptance, becomes applicable. These individuals and families have accepted what has happened, and understand that they have a choice. Either give up and wallow in regret and blame. Or, empower oneself, and those around you, and move forward by whatever means are available.

Doug Walden is an advocate for those millions of Americans who are no longer being counted by the official statistics. Facing the real possibility of never finding meaningful labor due to a job market that has been completely gutted, Doug took it upon himself to not only provide assistance to those around him who needed help getting their bearings straight, but to learn from those who are finding ways to not only cope, but thrive during hard times.

For his part, Doug has yet to find employment in the traditional sense of the word. But this has proved to be just a minor obstacle in his push to mitigate personal economic collapse. In addition to working with friends, family and acquaintances in an effort to help those in his support group recover and move forward, Doug has started his own business, offering green energy residential services in a socially responsible and charitable manner, and is actively pursuing the creation of online support groups for those who have been adversely affected by our modern day depression.

Americans are rugged individuals – and when pushed into a corner we often find a way to push ourselves right out of it. This is what makes us exceptional. Going it alone is certainly admirable. But working within a support community of family, friends, and like-minded thinkers may prove to be a more expedient and efficient way for those in distress to achieve personal success. To contact Doug and discuss your personal situation, thoughts and ideas, you can email him at Talk@EconomicRefugees.org.

EXPOSED: Anti-Muslim Protestor’s Hate Speech Video (Must Watch!)

—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—

JAMAICA, New York (March 2, 2011) — Watch the video of a rally organized by anti-Muslim bigots to protest a fundraiser held by ICNA Relief USA for relief work and charity in the U.S.


Protest was sponsored by groups such as: “We Surround Them OC 912″ (a local Tea Party group), Rabbi David Eliezrie of Chabad – Yorba Linda, North Orange County Conservative Coalition, ACT! for America, and Pamela Geller (whose group “Stop the Islamization of America” has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center).

The protest rally was addressed by Congressmen Ed Royce and Gary Miller, Yorba Linda Councilman John Anderson and Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly.

The Islamic Circle of North America is a leading American Muslim organization dedicated to the betterment of society through the promotion of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts.

—END—

Gerald Celente "Socialpaths Run The Whole World"

9500 People Missing In ONE Japanese Coastal Town

Nuclear Meltdown Fears Grow - Japanese Government Slow To React With Potassium Iodide

Alex Jones is Moving in the Wrong Direction. Victory Starts in Texas

Alex. I come to the conclusion.Yes you do your homework and I give you credit for that. You have come a long way. I been observing him and come to the realization he is trying to knock down a target at 200m away with a 9mm when the maximum effective range is only 50m. A loose cannon that overshoots its target. Alex can do much better and more effective if he made certain adjustments in how he broadcast. I done my homework too and here is my conclusion. I will not blame Alex for all of Texas's failings and shortcomings. We all share responsibility for not doing enough to get our state lawmakers to pay attention to the will of the people.I write this out of frustration and a sense of urgency. Alex is in a better position to move Texas in the right direction.There is not much time anymore unless we as patriots change our direction and strategy. Now I will speak my mind..
Globalist think strategic too.First by taking over the media and academics in the beginning to direct the population to think in a certain direction. Alex just like me has been suckered by the same media going in a certain direction on where they want us to look and what to think. Alex has been directing his energy in the wrong direction. Has Alex figured out Washington DC is irrelevant yet? Has he figured out to stop whining about the fat ,dumb, lazy people and yuppies? If they have not grasp the gravity of the situation. Leave them behind. If they never will understand. It is not worth the aggravation anymore.It is very counter productive.Alex should stop wasting his breath on useless brain dead people. Sometimes I think he alienates his audience who does understand because of the zombie population is still in a trance.What is the point to waste broadcast time on some people who will never get it. Live and let live.Let them watch American Idol and move on.
As a blogger I been trying to direct my energy to put pressure on the state legislator to erect barriers against Federal encroachments. Texas could be the model state in how to take back power from Washington DC. If Alex directed his audience to put pressure on the lawmakers to push for alternate currencies and a state bank. It might help do some good. But he is not. He laments about those bad globalist without solutions being more defeatist about it and their evil plans for us. He blurps about the real power is in states rights at the same time never directing the listeners in that direction to take back there states. If he says it is the real power resides in the states. Why is he not motivating his audience enough to mobilize in that direction?
As patriot bloggers and broadcasters. It is too late in the game to complain about people who are blind of how far this nation has fallen. We all have to be on the same page. First truth is Washington DC is beyond repair and can not be fixed. There is no sense trying to fight a government so distant and far away. Our energy and resources have to be diverted to the government that is closest to us. That is our state lawmakers and our local governments. That is where we can erect barriers against unlawful Federal incursions.
When Alex had Lindsey Williams on as guest both having the tone that nothing can be done to stop this small clique of greedy monsters.We have to allow this to happen and we have to get the shaft from the elitist. I do not accept that at all. Just because the elites are saying we will have $200 a barrel of oil,rolling blackouts,hyperinflation and high food prices.It does not have to happen. This all can be averted if Alex Jones directed his audience to pressure the State Lawmakers in Texas to take countermeasures.We can start to push back. We did not hear that at all. All I heard was is we have lost before it happens. We give the globalist too much credit and their words too much power. Just because it is written in the elitist white papers and publications. It does not mean it will happen unless we give them to power to do it.The states is where this globalist agenda plan can become powerless. Just saying the Globalist will do it based on ink printed on a piece of paper is just words.When we allow those words on paper to become reality to happen before it begins is when Alex giving them our consent to give us the shaft saying we can not stop it.I refuse to believe it and accept such defeatist attitudes.Texas can make the globalist efforts powerless.
Texas could be the model state in how to take back the republic from a group of tyrants.That is if we pressured our state lawmakers that is the government closest to us . Our efforts have to be directed to where we will be most effective. That place is not Washington. It is in our state capitals. Alex do you know what the Texas State Legislator is debating over now on the floor? Is it state sovereignty pushing back against Washington DC? No it is not. They are debating over dog insurance and slot Machines.Why?Because there is not enough people are watching them and shows lawmakers do not fear Alex Jones because he is not watching them.They will get away with it as long as he rants about Saudi Arabia burning and not watching Austin that is about go up in flames real soon. The Texas State Legislator is either asleep at the wheel or the lights are on and no one is home. Homeland security is rolling out tyranny on the streets of Texas with no lawmaker resisting. What would the lawmakers be doing if we concentrated our efforts on the state level. Their priorities would be very different.
Looking back on memory lane. Alex was one of the most effective forces shutting down two things. One is shutting down the Trans Texas Corridor/The NAFTA Super Highway and the mandatory gardesil vaccines for teenage girls.It was possible by mobilizing people in Texans to put pressure on the state legislator to act. If Alex used that same intensity directing his audience in Texas to put pressure on State lawmakers to push back against tyranny. Texas be a very different state and would not be having rolling blackouts and a water shortage in Happy,Texas because of unconstitutional Federal interference. Gov. Rick Perry will have to back up his tough talk with action.
We can not no longer lament about what the other side is doing. We can not longer complain about the people who will never understand. Forget about the people who still watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. They are not worth wasting our breath on anymore. We have the knowledge we can take to our state lawmakers and influence them with facts. If you are a part of the 911 truth or We Are Change.What activist a person maybe. Freedom has to be taken back one state at a time. Texas is the perfect place to start the march of reclaiming our God given liberties.We have the numbers in Texas to make it happen if we are all on the same page going in the right direction.
Many battles are not fought and won trying to take the whole field all at once. Victories have been achieved taking a piece of dirt at a time. Globalist know how to mobilize the population to go in a certain direction and take over institutions in a strategic manner .We have to be the same way. We have to be strategic and start to think the same way too against the enemies of freedom. The globalist did not take the whole country all at once in a single battle either.They did taking one step at a time. If we are going to take back our country. It has to be one state at a time. Texas is the perfect place to start having real victories again.Alex I hope you are reading this. Texas is the place to start taking back lost ground. Freedom starts in Texas.We will win if we leave our egos at the door and stay the course.

Nuclear Emergency: All eyes on Fukushima

More Than 50% of U.S. Senate to Attend AIPAC POLICY CONFERENCE

Celebrate the Fleecing of America by the Worlds Most Powerful Force for Criminality and Abuse of Human Rights

On May 22-24, the pro-Israel America conference from AIPAC is coming to Washington, D.C. Will you be there?

You gotta know that the U.S. Congress will be. They must go as their hands will be out taking cash bribes with their blackened hearts spilling with no shame as they send our billions earned by the sweat of each American to a land far far away that has no consequence to the everyday welfare of Americans.

It’s the biggest scam in history and we need to celebrate it don’t we? Why not? I mean, if we are going to take it up the wazoo we ought to enjoy the violent and vile party ya think?

The AIPAC Policy Conference is the pro-Israel community’s preeminent annual gathering. More than 6,000 community and student activists from all 50 states, more than half of the Senate, a third of the House of Representatives and countless Israeli and American policymakers and opinion leaders will be attending and paying hommage to their masters.

Last year the esteemed speakers were aplenty:

“UNITED STATES will Stand with Israel Now and Forever” – Former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Quartet Representative and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY)
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
  • Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN)
  • Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan
  • Alan Dershowitz, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
  • Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
  • Dan Senor, co-author of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle
  • Robert Kagan, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace


During the three-day conference, delegates will have the opportunity to choose from dozens of informative sessions and participate in the pro-Israel community’s largest and most important advocacy day.

HOMELESS : Millions of US Citizens in Dire Straits While Our Congress Sends Israel Billions of Dollars It Does NOT need! Where’s the Justice? What’s Wrong with this Picture?

HOMELESS : Millions of US Citizens in Dire Straits While Our Congress Sends Israel Billions of Dollars It Does NOT need! Where's the Justice? What's Wrong with this Picture?

It should be a exciting few days while our Secretary of State Hilliary Clinton bends over and takes it up the Zionist wazoo and we, the people of the United States of America, get to pay for all of it with our hard earned tax payer monies in the form of direct aid to a country that does NOT need it nor deserves it as it commits crimes against humanity on a daily basis to the Palestinians in a far worse manner that Muammar Gaddafi or Hosni Mubarek have done respectfully in their crimes.

“The Men Who Manage Men Manage but the Men Who Manage Money, Manage All” Johnny Punish

So don’t forget America, get ready to pay hommage to our masters and celebrate the fleecing of our people!

Raise the flag of Zionists and pledge your allegiance…..L’Chaim!

ukushima Dai-ichi Unit 1 reactor schematic

The schematic diagram above shows the GE Mark I Boiling Water Reactor reactor building structure, the Fukushima Dai-ichi Unit 1.

The explosion at Fukushima has apparently disintegrated the upper third of the reactor building. The video and pictures currently available indicate that the "blow out panels" of the reactor building and roof cover were blown away by an energetic explosion likely due to a hydrogen gas detonation. The reactor core refuelling deck and the surface of the elevated irradiated nuclear fuel pool are now exposed to the atmosphere. Essentially, the photos show the remaining steel I-beam structure for the weather cover that was over the refueling deck and the top of the "spent fuel" pool. These panels are designed to "blow out" at overpressure.

The actual "pressure suppression system" structures credited for containment sit below this structure inside the concrete reactor building, namely the drywell and wetwell or "torus." The drywell is the large inverted lightbulb steel structure which is 100 feet tall and a nominal wall thickness of 1.5 inches. The reactor vessel sits inside this structure. In the event of a coremelt accident involving high pressure and high temperature, the highly radioactive steam and pressure would be vented into the drywell and then routed through the large diameter pipes to the "wet well" or "torus" which is the large 18 foot diameter hollow doughnut-shaped structure that surrounds the drywell. The torus contains approximately 1 million gallons of water and designed to receive the pressurized radioactive steam where it is supposed to be quenched and contained.

The status of the reactor containment in the reactor building remains unclear, but apparently remains intact. Fuel damage has apparently occurred because elevated levels of radioactive iodine and cesium are being monitored outside of reactor containment.

What is additionally unclear is how much cooling water is left in the fuel storage pools and whether or not there has been damage to irradiated fuel stored in that pool. There are reports of sea water being brought in to cool this facility.

Radiation levels are reported to have fallen following the explosion. David Lochbaum, Senior Reactor Safety Engineer for the Union Concerned Scientists, has reported that the explosion may acutally have occurred in the turbine hall building adjacent to the reactor building.

An anonymous Japanese government spokesperson has attributed the explosion to the buildup of a combination of hydrogen and oxygen that detonated inside the concrete reactor building but not the crdedited containment structure. Industry reports that the containment structure itself was not compromised or breached by the explosion.

Explosion at nuclear plant in Japan

Video of blast at Fukushima nuke plant, radiation leak reported

Fresh pictures from the port where 9,500 people are missing after it was swept away by the megaquake

  • 9,500 people missing in Minamisanriku 24 hours after double disaster struck
  • Official death toll hits 574, but hundreds believed to be buried under rubble or washed away by waves
  • Explosion at nuclear power plant, but experts say reactor is not at risk
  • Region hit by repeated aftershocks, some up 6.8-magnitude
  • Rescue operation begins but some areas still cut off by road damage and flood waters
  • Force of quake shifts Japan 8ft to the East

Half of the population of a Japanese coastal town are still unaccounted for as the death toll from the massive earthquake and tsunami looks set to rise.

Government officials revealed the fate of 9,500 people in the north eastern port of Minamisanriku was still unknown more than 24 hours after the double disaster hit.

The official death toll stands at 574, but more than 1,700 people are believed to have been buried in the rubble or washed away by the waves.

Catastrophe: The true scale of the devastion that the tsunami unleashed is clear in this picture of the port city of Minamisanriku town where 10,000 people are unaccounted for

Catastrophe: The true scale of the devastation that the tsunami unleashed is clear in this picture of the port city of Minamisanriku town where 10,000 people are unaccounted for

Wreckage: Residents walk past debris, including an overturned fishing boat, in the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi, as the full scale of the devastation caused by the tsunami becomes apparent

Wreckage: Residents walk past debris, including an overturned fishing boat, in the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi, as the full scale of the devastation caused by the tsunami becomes apparent

Rescue teams have been unable to reach some areas after the 9-magnitude quake destroyed and cut off airports on the country's east coast.

Japan launched a massive military rescue operation today after the quake killed hundreds of people and left part of the northeastern coast a swampy wasteland.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said 50,000 troops would join rescue and recovery efforts after a 30ft tsunami smashed through towns, airports and submerged highways.

The official death toll currently stands at 586, but 784 people were still missing and more than 1,000 injured.

Police said between 200 and 300 bodies have been found along the coast in Sendai, the biggest city in the area near the quake's epicentre.

Soldiers brought in to help with the rescue operation walk across debris and mud in Minamisanriku
houses that managed to withstand the force of the tsunami wave are clogged up with bricks and wood

Flooded: Soldiers brought in to help with the rescue operation walk across debris and mud in Minamisanriku

Surveying the damage: Soldiers walk along a road past an iron girder that has been uprooted from the ground and a fire that is still smoking in Minamisanriku

Surveying the damage: Soldiers walk along a road past an iron girder that has been uprooted from the ground and a fire that is still smoking in Minamisanriku

Scale of destruction: A tanker has been washed ashore by the massive wave in Kamaishi City

Scale of destruction: A tanker has been washed ashore by the massive wave in Kamaishi City

Untold numbers of bodies are believed to be buried in the rubble and debris.

Rail operators lost contact with four trains running on coastal lines on Friday and still had not found them by this morning.

East Japan Railway Co. said it did not know how many people were aboard the trains.

More than 215,000 people are living in temporary shelters in five states and a million homes have been left without water.

The region has continued to be hit with aftershocks 24 hours after the initial quake, which struck at 5:46am GMT 80 miles off the east Japan coast.

More than 125 aftershocks have occurred, many of them above 6 on the Richter scale.

Japan is well prepared for quakes and its buildings can withstand strong jolts, but there was little that could be down about the killer tsunami.

Gutted: Smoke billows from vessels off the harbour in Kesennuma

Gutted: Smoke billows from vessels off the harbour in Kesennuma

Japan earthquake
Cut off: Two bridges, one of which was being built, were badly damaged in Namegata by the 9-magnitude quake

Cut off: The town of Yamamoto was swamped by the massive wave and, right, two bridges, one of which was being built, were badly damaged in Namegata by the 9-magnitude quake

Apocalyptic: A lone cyclist makes his way through a debris-choked street in Miyako

Apocalyptic: A lone cyclist makes his way through a debris-choked street in Miyako

It swept inland around six miles in some areas, swallowing homes, boats, car, trees and even aircraft.

Koichi Takairin, a 34-year-old truck driver who was inside his lorry when the wave hit Sendai, said: 'The tsunami was unbelievably fast.

'Smaller cars were being swept around me. All I could do was sit in my truck.'

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said: 'Most of the houses along the coastline were washed away, and fire broke out there. I realised the extremely serious damage the tsunami caused.'

A total of 190 military aircraft and 25 ships have been sent to the affected areas.

International aid has also begun arriving, including a team from the UN disaster relief team.

Supplies at supermarkets and petrol stations have been running low as hundreds of people queued up along the eastern coastline.

Scale of the devastation: A satellite image from the National Space Organisation shows Sendai before the earthquake, left, and after

Scale of the devastation: A satellite image from the National Space Organisation shows Sendai before the earthquake, left, and after

Damage: This satellite image shows towers that have collapsed at the Kirin plant in Sendai

Damage: This satellite image shows towers that have collapsed at the Kirin plant in Sendai

Rescue: Workers look for missing people in Yamamoto, but many areas are still cut off by damage to roads or flood waters

Rescue: Workers look for missing people in Yamamoto, but many areas are still cut off by damage to roads or flood waters

Tsunami warnings were issued to the entire Pacific seaboard, but the worst fears were not realised. Widespread damage was caused to some coast areas, including California, but there were no reports of fatalities.

President Barack Obama has pledged U.S. assistance and said one aircraft carrier was already in Japan and a second was on its way.

Japan's worst previous earthquake was an 8.3-magnitude temblor in Kanto which killed 143,000 people in 1923. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe killed 6,400 people in 1995.

The country lies on the 'Ring of Fire' - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching across the Pacific where around 90 per cent of the world's quakes occur.

Counting the cost: People walk past a car that has been washed into a wall in Miyako

Counting the cost: People walk past a car that has been washed into a wall in Miyako

Japan graphic

Shelter: A young girl watches the news in a community centre in Fukushima, where an explosion destroyed a building at a nuclear power plant earlier today

Shelter: A young girl watches the news in a community centre in Fukushima, where an explosion destroyed a building at a nuclear power plant earlier today

Japan earthquake
Japan earthquake

Carnage: Boats, cars and buildings lie in ruins in Miyako and, right, rescue workers survey the damage from the top of a shattered building in Rikuzentakada

An estimated 230,000 people in 12 countries were killed after a quake triggered a massive tsunami on Boxing Day, 2004, in the Indian Ocean.

A magnitude 8.8 quake which struck off the coast of Chile in February last year also generated a tsunami which killed 524 people. Authorities mistakenly told people in coastal regions there was no danger of a tsunami.

Fukushima, Japan - Nuclear Reactor Explosion - March 12, 2011

Possible Fukushima Nuclear Fallout Projections For the U.S. Based on Wind Patterns

UPDATE: Some news outlets are reporting that the meltdown was a level 4 which means it will only have local consequences. Whether this level changes remains to be seen.

When this article was first posted a picture was used that turned out to be a fake. This was a clear accident and has been fixed. All information on this article is up to date and will be updated as more information comes in. SEE THIS ARTICLEJapan nuclear fallout map – HOAXThe problem with the hoax is that the map was consistent with actual jet stream maps but was labeled as official when it was not.

Multiple alternative medicine specialists have been quoted as saying that the west coast is likely to get hit.

The Associated Press, in an article that was released 23 mins ago(12:09pm pacific) has clearly shown that we are NOT out of danger at this point and that a meltdown seems likely.

Last night when the explosion initially happened the Japanese media was reporting that there was radiation all over the area and the BBC was even quoted as saying there was simply nothing anyone could do.

The Japanese Media is reporting that the reactor did NOT explode and that radiation levels are going down. How this is possible and if it is true remains to be seen. Multiple citizens around the area have already been hospitalized from radiation exposure.

Regardless whether or not people want to hear the facts, we will continue to report them. We have no proof that radiation is definitely headed this way but it is very possible

Obama tells GOP: Nice try on health care records

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama once promised that negotiations over his health care overhaul would be carried out openly, in front of TV cameras and microphones. Tell that to the White House now.

Republican congressional investigators got the brush-off this past week after pressing for details of meetings between White House officials and interest groups, including drug companies and hospitals that provided critical backing for Obama's health insurance expansion.

Complying with the records request from the House Energy and Commerce Committee "would constitute a vast and expensive undertaking" and could "implicate longstanding executive branch confidentiality interests," White House lawyer Robert Bauer wrote the committee. Translation: Nice try.

It's one more roadblock for Republicans who tapped into widespread anxiety about the scope and costs of the new health care law to regain control of the House in last fall's elections.

So far, they've been unable to repeal the landmark legislation they dismiss as "Obamacare." GOP efforts to deny administration agencies the money to carry out the law are running into unintended consequences, not to mention the sheer difficulty of tracking those dollars. Now it looks like oversight isn't going to be easy either.

"We are both concerned and disappointed by your response," the committee chairman, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., wrote back to Bauer. "The American public deserves the information we have requested. The secret meetings conducted by (White House officials) are a perfect example of why transparency in government is so important."

Upton urged the White House to carefully reconsider, but it's uncertain he'll ever get what he wants. Even if the standoff dramatically escalates to a congressional subpoena, history shows that presidents usually succeed in keeping records away from snooping eyes.

President George W. Bush's administration beat back efforts to reveal the dealings between Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force and industry. President Bill Clinton's administration successfully resisted demands for records of its failed push to remake the health care system, which was overseen by then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The request for records from Obama's health care reform office is broad. The committee asked for a list of every meeting, briefing or telephone call regarding changes to the health care system, as well as notes or summaries of those encounters. It wants a list of every employee of the now-disbanded health reform office, including their salaries. Committee investigators are also seeking any written communications, whether by letter or e-mail, with outside groups.

White House visitor records released at the request of The Associated Press in late 2009 show that Obama's top aides met frequently with lobbyists and health care industry leaders during the marathon congressional debate over health care overhaul.

The list included George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Health Plans; Scott Serota, president and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association; Kenneth Kies, a Washington lobbyist representing Blue Cross/Blue Shield, among other clients; Billy Tauzin, then head of PhRMA, the drug industry lobby; Richard Umbdenstock, chief of the American Hospital Association; and numerous others.

Nearly every health industry group has complaints about aspects of the final legislation. But they're also working to carry out its provisions, even as challenges to the law's constitutionality advance in federal court. Some sectors got significant concessions from the administration.

The pharmaceutical industry and hospitals agreed early on to tens of billions in savings to help finance new coverage for the uninsured. When an amendment to allow importation of low-cost prescription drugs came up in the Senate, the administration worked successfully to defeat it, although Obama had supported the idea as a presidential candidate. Hospitals won a reprieve of several years from cuts proposed by a new Medicare cost control board.

The White House sent the Energy and Commerce Committee some 100 pages of records that have already been made public, including visitor logs and press releases. That may be all they get for a long time.

---

Federal Reserve expected to claim no homes have been wrongfully foreclosed

Can you justify putting a family out on the streets?

What about millions of families?

According to remarks at a recent public meeting, the Federal Reserve is preparing to do just that.

In a recent meeting of the Fed's Consumer Advisory Council, the nation's central bank came under intense criticism by consumer advocates for an upcoming report that's expected to claim that after an investigation, they've determined that no wrongful foreclosures have been carried out by US banks.

Huffington Post reporter Shahien Nasiripour was at the meeting and caught a number of key remarks, namely council members attacking how the Fed's investigators had defined what a wrongful foreclosure is.

According to Nasiripour, they defined it as a foreclosure which happens when a home owner is not significantly behind on payments -- leaving out a litany of other situations and acts that consumer advocates call criminal behavior.

Nasiripour noted that the Fed's conclusions were basically the same as the banking industry's: that despite some sloppy workshopping of the foreclosure process, homeowners who've been tossed out were by and large vastly behind on payments.

Of course, to people who've actually lost their homes, wrongfully or not, the findings of this report might prove offensive.

That's largely due to the thousands of foreclosure horror stories that have flooded the American public as the Bush administration's financial crisis has continued to amplify economic difficulties across the world.

But it's not just the painful stories of foreclosure that may galvanize vocal opposition to the Fed's claims: it's also the details of those sloppy foreclosure workshops that seem to be brushed over in these findings.

According to sworn statements released last year by the Florida Attorney General's office, one of the state's "foreclosure mills" bribed employees with jewelry, cars and houses to forge and alter documents required by courts conducting foreclosure proceedings.

In some cases, random people were brought in and given titles like "foreclosure expert," even when they had no background in the financial industries. Employees came from places like factory assembly lines, Walmart or salons, and they were used to gin up as many foreclosure documents as possible.

The discovery of this practice, known as "robo-signing," was a key revelation in the lead-up to an investigation launched by all 50 state Attorneys General, looking into foreclosure fraud on part of the financial institutions. Banks that were involved in robo-signing included GMAC, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

A settlement for this situation, proposed by the Obama administration, would see the banks create a $20 billion fund to underwrite underwater mortgages, then create their own mortgage modification programs supported by the money set aside.

Thanks to the increased scrutiny of their practices, Lenders have in recent months slowed foreclosure activity and in some cases paused it altogether.

February 2011 reportedly saw the least number of foreclosures out of any point during the last 36 months, with just 255,101 structures receiving foreclosure notices, representing a 14 percent decline from January.

Read Nasiripour's full report here.

What Has Destroyed a Viable Future for the American Children

Jim W. Dean: Libya – Veterans Today Was Right

“Attack Gadaffi to save thousands of innocent Libyans”


On February 25th our senior editor Gordon Duff wrote that we must attack Gadaffi now. We had boxed him in with freezing his assets and a war crimes investigation. He had nowhere to go and that tends to make a man go down swinging. And that can mean a big body count…thousands and thousands of extra people dying that didn’t have to if grownups did what they were supposed to.

The rebels had the momentum back then. The eastern part of the country fell quickly, the Libyan diplomatic community resigned, and the police and regular army were defecting. The unanimous UN security council vote was icing on the cake. It was time to close the deal, attack his command and control network and keep his air power down. He had already done enough nasty stuff to justify this.


YouTube - Veterans Today -

But what has happened now is the old deer in the headlights syndrome. Obama thought his coded message to the Muamar & Son’s palace guard that the best way to save their own skins was to deliver up the boss. The international court jail in the Hague is usually empty so putting a hundred henchmen on trial would be no problem. But we sat back and waited for the heavy lifting to be done for us, the Santa Claus approach. We miscalculated. We gave the crazy man with tons of money time to regroup and plan his counterattack. Thousands more Libyans will die now. Oil could go up to $150 a barrel.

Muamar used his time well, sending his B-team squads out. They probed the defenses and fighting capability of the rebel captured towns close to Tripoli while he kept his anti-coup brigades close to home. The B-team folks learned that no night ambushes were being set up outside the captured towns to break up night time maneuvering for dawn attacks, a standard tactic for a weaker force. Ask Gordon Duff. He pulled 200 night ambushes during his year in Vietnam. Gadaffi

MARINE "GRUNT" DUFF (VIETNAM 1969)

gave up ground and the cities in the East to avoid spreading his forces out while he dealt with his close in flanks.

The instant soldier rebels got over confident…but not their new national council. They knew they had no army, but just a mob really. Every kid in town had a Kalashnikov and thought that make him a soldier. The most rudimentary unit combat tactics were replaced with shooting into the air and yelling God is Great.

Media video clips showed no fire control whatsoever, nor officers or noncoms present to effect any discipline. Every car load was an independent force. They bunched up on the roads, vehicles and people all packed together, a dream come true for a fighter bomber or artillery spotter. Zero tactics. Nobody was thinking that Muamar’s people were also watching the three ring bravado circus. Al Jazeera effectively was a video spy in the rebels rank, showing that these unfortunate souls were no match for a professional opponent.

Back at the world opinion ranch the war of words continued with debates over no fly zones, Arab liberals going nutsover ‘western intervention, stealing the oil’, etc….while Muamar smiled and said “thanks for the free interference you are running for me while I polish up my counter offensive.”

The national council started putting the word out that they wanted a no fly zone, troops landed, stingers, anti-armour weapons and immediate trainers. They knew that going to Tripoli down the open coast road exposed to air strikes, artillery and ambushes galore would rout their mob army in two seconds.
"Libyan fighter bomber"

Libyan fighter bomber

The media bombing videos showed that bombs hitting a 100 yards away from the road sent the rebels running for their cars and pulling back. No pilots could miss highway strikes so many times. I have not seen a single rebel or position where anyone was digging in or sandbagging, not one shovel…and no bulldozers making protective berms to protect their anti-aircraft guns from long range 50 calibre fire. They could look this stuff up online at a ‘how to’ website, or call us. Only today did we get a report that a road had been broken with a direct hit.

The towns near Tripoli began getting hit with stronger forces…more armor as the earlier attacks revealed the rebels had no anti-tank weapons, no foreign Special Forces helping the defenders with those kinds of goodies. The defenders began taking serious causalities…and the mob army in the East was not about rush to Tripoli to save them. And still the UN, NATO, the Arab League talked and talked, with Muamar once again saying thank you.

I imagined Muamar on the phone with his UN contact requesting ‘can you guys give me about two more weeks to crush the rebels before you decide what action you are going to take?” Their answer, “No problem, Muamar.”

With Gadaffi’s obvious move to retake the rebel towns closest to him using his best troops to get them blooded with a sure victory, the rebel army now had to begin moving toward Tripoli to maintain any credibility at all. But Muamar was ready. He started out by bombing the rebel columns but always missing by a 100 yards. He was testing the world reaction to see if that triggered an immediate no fly zone decision. What they gave him was more debate over how difficult this was going to be, signaling that he had plenty of time.

"Libyan Oil Pipelines"

Libyan Oil Pipelines

If Gadaffi had been paying me to advise him, I would have said,

“Muamar, you have got to use your best troops now while you still have them and can maneuver freely. You are bunched up here in Tripoli and a much easier target for these units to be bombed and for command and control strikes. Move now while you can, take control of their key areas, especially the oil facilities so any concentrated foreign attacks will assure their destruction, and where you can then blame the high, devastating oil prices on them.”

Muamar now knew that he could retake the cities with coordinated attacks and also hold them without having to use large forces. The March 10th amphibious attack on Ras Lanuf, a reported 150 real troops coming in from a dummy ship in the harbor showed that the Tripoli people are not planning to surrender anytime soon. Now, if a no fly zone is imposed, the new Ras Lanuf defenders have supplies already on barges (like lots of explosives).

Food prices are already at a 20 year high, and would go higher. Can you say food riots, poor countries defaulting on their debt, etc…and the international community locked into a blame game fiasco? Can you imagine anyone taking the blame for not having taken Muamar and Sons out sooner?

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress today that time was on Gadaffi’s side…that the longer things dragged out he could survive. The rebels will need the no fly zone with the air defenses taken out, and also air

Saif Gadaffi

attacks on Muamar’s command and control as stage two of encouraging the palace guard to turn on Mr. G. Humanitarian supply ships are not coming into the Eastern Libyan ports without air cover.

As for the rebel army going to Tripoli and whipping Muamar and Sons, even with all of the above they would probably need outside help. Where is that going to come from…Jordanian officers…Saudis maybe…Iraqi ones??? I don’t think so.

Gadaffi is going to use civilians as human shields. Don’t be surprised to see bunches of them around his air defenses and other high value targets so if they are hit there will be lots of dismembered bodies to put on Al Jazeera. And he could rig his oil facilities with explosives to play that card. He can’t sell the oil anyway. If outside forces team up with the rebels, why would he not play that card, while he can?

France and Britain seem to be reading the tea leaves. France recognized the rebels today, and the Brits are signaling they might not wait for group approval. They might be planning to go in, maybe with us, to secure the oil terminals and resupply what towns are still in rebel hands. But that would be boots on the ground, something no one really wants to do.

For my money, the National Council will give them the OK…and they will go in with that…the ole ‘being invited in’. Those that don’t do the shooting will be given the refugee and humanitarian work to do (and pay for).

Don’t get me wrong. I will still be praying for a coup…the cheapest way out. But that could turn into a bloodbath, too. Zawiya fell yesterday after a gallant stand against Gadaffi’ best troops, the Khamis brigade. His PR son, Saif, was quick to hold a press conference and capture the line of the day.

Jim Rogers: There's no such thing as a sound currency anymore

Must See Chart: This Is What Class War Looks Like

Download full size (105 KB)

via dailykos.com

This chart puts the class war in simple, visual terms. On the left you have the "shared sacrifices" and "painful cuts" that the Republicans claim we must make to get our fiscal house in order. On the right, you can plainly see WHY these cuts are "necessary."

http://jackdean.posterous.com/must-see-chart-this-is-what-class-war-looks-l