HHS Warns That All Infant Formulas Are Contaminated With Toxic Fluoride
March 15th, 2011
Natural News
By: Jonathan Benson
Piggybacking on the recent government announcement concerning overexposure to fluoride, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has now announced that all infant formulas are contaminated with fluoride, and that when mixed with the fluoridated water provided in most US cities, the combination is a toxic threat to babies and infants.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly half of all US children are overexposed to fluoride. Many of these children are now afflicted with dental fluorosis as a result, which is a tooth disease involving the mottling and staining of enamel. In January, the CDC adjusted the recommended recommended water fluoridation levels from 1.2 milligrams per liter (mg/L) to 0.7 mg/L.
However, a 2009 study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association says that even the adjusted levels are too high, stating that “[m]ost infants from birth to age 12 months who consume predominantly powdered and liquid concentrate formula are likely to exceed the upper tolerable limit [of fluoride] if the formula is reconstituted with optimally fluoridated (0.7 – 1.2 ppm).”
Besides baby formulas and tap water, many other food items are also contaminated with toxic fluoride. Juices, crackers, breads, teas, and fruits often contain high levels of fluoride. And since there is no verifiable way to know precisely how much fluoride children are ingesting from various food and drinks, exposure is far more widespread than most people are aware.
“Exposure to excessive consumption of fluoride over a lifetime may lead to increased likelihood of bone fractures in adults, and may result in effects on bone leading to pain and tenderness,” says the US Environmental Protection Agency on its fluoride information page.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never properly tested fluoride for safety. It is the only unregulated, unapproved drug that is forcefully injected into the water supplies of millions of people who have no choice in whether or not they are exposed to it. There is no justifiable reason why fluoride is added to water, and there is no “safe” level of it.
Numerous studies have found, however, that fluoride exposure is linked to lowered IQ levels, mental retardation, thyroid dysfunction, bone problems, the calcification of the pineal gland and other organs, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, gastrointestinal problems, kidney disease, respiratory dysfunction, sexual disorders, cancer, and tooth decay
Click here for the full report from Natural News
Eggs Have Less Cholesterol
March 15th, 2011
OregonLive.com
By: Katherine Miller
If you’re an egg lover who needs that boost of protein in the morning but are worried about cholesterol, you can feel better now that a new report says eggs have less cholesterol — and more vitamin D — than they used to. We’ve also got a list of the seven worst supermarket rip-offs — and some of the entries may surprise you. Finally, you probably already know that most “baby” carrots aren’t babies at all, but did you know that they’re also less flavorful that regular carrots? We’ll tell you why and tell you about an unusual — but delicious-looking — recipe.
Good news for egg lovers (especially those with backyard hens), Progressive Grocer reports that eggs now have less cholesterol.
“According to new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the cholesterol content of eggs has dropped considerably since levels measured in 2002. Currently, the average amount of cholesterol in one large egg, or its 50-gram equivalent within the further processed egg ingredient category, is 185 milligrams, 12 percent lower than the amount found in 2002. The USDA’s analysis further showed that large eggs now contain 41 IU of vitamin D, an increase of 64 percent from the last analysis.
“Researchers believe one possible reason for the lower cholesterol content of eggs is the nutritional improvements in poultry feed, which is now composed mostly of corn, soybean meal, vitamins and minerals.”
We couldn’t resist the Yahoo Health headline: “7 Worst Supermarket Rip-Offs” — and we’re betting that neither can you. What’s on the list? It starts with organic avocados and onions, for obvious reasons. It also the shockingly airy Funyuns snack, and beef tenderloin, which, while tender, has a lot less flavor than other cuts and is supremely expensive.
Meanwhile, In California’s Orange County Register, Cathy Thomas has a good argument against eating “baby” carrots.
“I’m not a fan of machine-made “baby” carrots, those whittled-down beauties that look like itty bitty bunny food. Conical perfection. Taste bud depression. Oh, I know they are ready-to-eat convenient; that’s a good thing because more consumers make them part of their diet.”
Thomas explains that so-called baby carrots are most often shaved down from large carrots, so that the less flavorful core makes up a larger portion of what is eaten.
She then offers several nice recipes for real carrots. And if you can find yellow carrots, she says they’re the sweetest kind. Her recipe for Jamie Oliver’s Baked Carrots in a Bag, really had us drooling, with seasonings that include a slice of bacon, a dab of marmalade and some fresh rosemary. Be still our heart.
Click here for the full report from OregonLive.com
Bank Of America Anonymous Leak Alleges ‘Corruption And Fraud’
March 15th, 2011
Huffington Post
By: Ryan McCarthy
The WikiLeaks-allied hacker group Anonymous has posted a series of emails purported to be from a former Bank of America employee, which the organization says prove “corruption and fraud” at the nation’s largest bank.
In a release announced with the Twitter hashtag #BlackMonday, Anoymous posted the emails on the site BankofAmericasuck.com, where an emailer who identifies himself as an ex-Bank Of America employee airs a number of grievances against his former employer. The website’s availability was up and down early Monday morning, potentially due to high traffic. The e-mails could not be independently verified.
In a statement to Reuters on Sunday, a Bank of America spokesman said the emails are simply clerical and administrative errors. “”We are confident that his extravagant assertions are untrue,” the spokesman told Reuters.
Bank of America did not immediately return multiple calls on Monday.
The claims of the person purporting to be a former employee appear to begin with so-called “forced-place insurance,” in which a mortgage borrower who doesn’t maintain an insurance policy on their home has a policy “placed” for them by their insurer. The problem with forced-place insurance, as Felix Salmon noted in November, comes when a mortgage servicer owns an insurer. This can allow for highly inflated premiums and inadequate policies forced upon borrowers without their knowledge.
The emailer’s accusations involve Balboa Insurance, a company that Bank of America acquired in its purchase of Countrywide Financial in 2008 and recently sold to the QBE Group, an Australian insurer. Balboa is a market leader in forced-place insurance.
The following section appears to be the main thrust of the emails:
“My name is (Anonymous). For the last 7 years, I worked in the Insurance/Mortgage industry for a company called Balboa Insurance. Many of you do not know who Balboa Insurance Group (soon to be rebranded as QBE First by Australian Reinsurance Company QBE according to internal communication sent to all Balboa associates) is, but if you’ve ever had a loan for an automobile, farm equipment, mobile home, or residential or commercial property, we knew you. In fact, we probably charged you money…a lot of money…for insurance you didn’t even need.
Balboa Insurance Group, and it’s largest competitor, the market leader Assurant, is in the business of insurance tracking and Force Placed Insurance (aka Lender Placed Insurance, FOH, LPI, etc). What this means is that when you sign your name on the dotted line for your loan, the lienholder has certain insurance requirements that must be met for the life of the lien. Your lender (including, amongst others, GMAC, Aurora Loan Services [a subsidiary of Lehman Bros Holdings], IndyMac Federal Bank [a subsidiary of OneWest Bank], Saxon, HSBC, PennyMac [a collection agency started by former Countrywide Home Loans executive Stan Kurland after CHL and Balboa were sold to BAC], Downey Savings and Loans, Financial Freedom, Select Portfolio Services, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, and the now former owners of Balboa Insurance themselves…Bank of America) then outsources the tracking of your loan with them to a company like Balboa Insurance.
Balboa makes some money by charging these companies to track your insurance (the payment of which is factored into your loan). If you do not meet the minimum insurance requirements set by your lienholder, Balboa Insurance places a force placed insurance policy on your loan. You are sent a letter telling you that you do not have insurance, and your escrow account is then adjusted for the inflated premium of a full coverage policy placed by Balboa’s insurance tracking group, run by Steven Ramsthel, Sr Vice President of Loan Tracking Operations & Customer Care at Balboa Insurance Group, as seen on his LinkedIn profile below..
How is Balboa able to charge such inflated premiums and get away with it?
It’s all very simple.
First, when you call in to customer service, for say, GMAC, you’re not actually speaking to a GMAC employee. You’re actually speaking to a Bank of America associate working for Balboa Insurance who is required by their business to business contract with GMAC to state that they are, in fact, an employee of GMAC. The reasoning is that if you do not realize you’re speaking to a Bank of America/Balboa Insurance employee, you have no reason to question the validity of the information you are receiving from them. If you call your insurance agent and ask them for the lienholder information for your GMAC/Wells Fargo/etc lien (home or auto) you will be provided with their name, but the mailing address will be a PO Box at one of Balboa’s 3 main tracking locations (Moon Township/Coreaopolis, PA, Dallas/Ft Worth, TX, or Phoenix/Chandler, AZ)
Click here for the full report from the Huffington Post
Japan Braces For Potential Radiation Catastrophe
March 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
March 15th, 2011
Raw Story
By: Reuters
Japan faced a potential catastrophe on Tuesday after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating toward Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility — a population of 140,000 — to remain indoors amid the world’s most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Officials in Tokyo — 240 km (150 miles) to the south of the plant — said only minute levels of radiation had been detected so far in the capital, which were “not a problem.”
Radiation levels in the city of Maebashi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Tokyo, and in Chiba prefecture, nearer the city, were up to 10 times normal levels, Kyodo news agency said. Foreign experts disagreed on whether this was harmful or not.
Around eight hours after the explosions, the U.N. weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries. The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization added that weather conditions could change.
As concern about the crippling economic impact of the nuclear and earthquake disasters mounted, Japan’s Nikkei index fell as much as 14 percent before ending down 10.6 percent, compounding a slide of 6.2 percent the day before. The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.
Two of the reactors exploded on Tuesday at the Fukushima Daiichi plant after days of frantic efforts to cool them. Kyodo news agency said the nuclear fuel pool at the No. 4 reactor may be boiling, suggesting the crisis is far from over at the plant.
“The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening,” a grim-faced Kan said in an address to the nation. “We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly.”
Levels of 400 millisieverts per hour had been recorded near the No. 4 reactor, the government said. Exposure to over 100 millisieverts a year is a level which can lead to cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association.
The plant operator pulled out 750 workers, leaving just 50, and a 30-km no-fly zone was imposed around the reactors. There have been no detailed updates on what levels the radiation reached inside the exclusion zone where people live.
“Radioactive material will reach Tokyo but it is not harmful to human bodies because it will be dissipated by the time it gets to Tokyo,” said Koji Yamazaki, professor at Hokkaido University graduate school of environmental science. “If the wind gets stronger, it means the material flies faster but it will be even more dispersed in the air.”
Despite pleas for calm, residents rushed to shops in Tokyo to stock up on supplies. Don Quixote, a multi-storey, 24-hour general store in Roppongi district, sold out of radios, flashlights, candles and sleeping bags.
In a sign of regional fears about the risk of radiation, China said it would evacuate its citizens from areas worst affected but it had detected no abnormal radiation levels at home. Air China said it had canceled flights to Tokyo.
Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside Tokyo.
“I’m scared. I’m so scared I would rather be in the eye of a tornado,” said 10-year-old Lucy Niver of Egan, Minnesota, who was on holiday in Japan. “I want to leave.”
Click here for the full report from RawStory.com
Nuclear Crisis Highlights History of ‘Cover-Ups’
March 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
March 15th, 2011
ABC.net.au
A documentary filmmaker who has spent much of his career focusing on the Japanese nuclear industry says it has a long history of cover-ups.
All eyes are on the industry after Friday’s deadly earthquake and tsunami affected the cooling systems of several Japanese reactors, with two explosions at one plant in Fukushima.
Tony Barrell told PM while it appears authorities are being transparent in this latest crisis, their record is tarnished.
“It’s not been good. This recent occasion is an example of the new regime if you like, of actually telling people in a blow-by-blow way of what’s going on,” he said.
“Well they had to really, because that wave and the earthquake were so obviously threatening nuclear power plants on the east coast of Japan that they couldn’t very well pretend they weren’t.
“Whereas that has been the case on many occasions, including [by] the company that operates those plants.”
He says in 2003 reactors across the country had to be shut down after it emerged the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had hid accidents.
“They had to shut down 17 plants in 2003 because they’d been falsifying the records about what had been happening at them,” he said.
“Now the accidents weren’t of a major nature. They weren’t anything like what’s going on in Fukushima.
“But they were serious in the sense that lives were threatened, systems broke down, there were failures to report and there were cover-ups. People pretended things hadn’t happened.”
He says while this is the largest incident the industry has had to deal with, there have been several other major events.
“Well it depends how you define major. It’s the first partial meltdown. That’s fair enough. But there have been serious accidents where people have been killed and injured,” he said.
“Maybe one of the most spectacular was the collapse of the cooling system of Japan’s first commercial fast breeder reactor which is on the coast, on the opposite coast to the Pacific coast over on the Japan Sea side.
“A place called Monju, which in 1995 sprang a leak in its liquid sodium cooling system which made the whole thing absolutely red hot and had to be shut down immediately and stayed shut down until the beginning of last year – 15 years.”
Local opposition
Mr Barrell says the latest crisis will continue to fuel local opposition to the plants.
“I think because the proliferation of nuclear power plants has been sort of so gradual and extensive that it’s taken a long time for people to realise just how many of these places there are,” he said.
“They’re all built in remote areas, often in multiples as in Fukushima. There’s six in one complex and four in another.
“Now that’s the sort of accumulation of anxiety which has driven a very grassroots kind of movement to say, ‘well wait a minute, we don’t want one in our backyard’.
“But in fact the backyard is always somewhere remote where people actually have little to say in what really happens to them. And it’s very occasionally you get a grassroots movement that gets together enough support to actually stop something happening.”
He says the unfolding emergency will also raise questions over the role of nuclear power in combating climate change.
“There has in the last few years been quite a strong movement to suggest that nuclear power is the answer to global warming or climate change, whatever you want to call it,” he said.
“And the Japanese government has actually come out in favour of that as a strategy. So that’s a bit up in the air now.”
But Mr Barrell says whatever happens in the future, it is clear several plants will have to be closed as a direct result of the crisis.
“I suppose it depends on how many of them actually do go down, because although they’re saying there’s no explosion and no danger of a really huge disaster, the plants that are affected could be terminally – I mean one of them is definitely finished once it starts melting down,” he said.
“It should have been shut down years ago because it’s 40 years old this month.”
Click here for the full report from ABC News
Link Found Between Secondhand Smoke and Diabetes
March 15th, 2011
AOL Health
By: Catherine Donaldson-Evans
Smokers and people exposed to secondhand smoke have a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes than those who aren’t around smoke at all, according to new research. And the more you breathe it in, the greater the risk.
Experts say the findings about secondhand smoke’s potential role in the risk of diabetes were unexpected.
Lead researcher Dr. John P. Forman of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and his team studied 1982 data from questionnaires given to more than 100,000 women. The respondents were nurses who were part of a larger national survey that stretched over several decades.
They were asked how much time they spent around cigarette smoke and secondhand smoke, Reuters said.
Over the course of the following 24 years, about 1 in 18 of the participants were told they had type 2 diabetes. The National Institutes of Health estimates that 1 in 13 in the United States live with the disease.
The findings, published in the journal Diabetes Care, showed that the nurses who smoked more than two packs of cigarettes a day had the highest risk of getting diabetes. About 30 of the heavy smokers were diagnosed with the disease each year for every 10,000 women in the study. About 25 nonsmokers in 10,000 who were frequently around secondhand smoke got type 2 diabetes, according to the research.
Surprisingly, however, the risks of developing the disease were higher for former smokers and women exposed to secondhand smoke, with about 39 in 10,000 getting diabetes every year.
After the researchers accounted for other potential contributing factors, including age, weight and family history, they saw that the ex-smokers had a 12 percent higher chance of getting diabetes than the participants who routinely breathed in secondhand smoke.
It wasn’t clear why a link emerged between type 2 diabetes and smoking, but inflammation in the cardiovascular system and cells is thought to play a part.
Dr. Gerald Bernstein, the director of the Diabetes Management Program at the Friedman Diabetes Institute in New York, said the findings make sense.
“Everything we do that is not good for you creates an inflammatory reaction of some kind,” Bernstein told AOL Health. “Among them is cigarette smoke.”
But, he said, the number of people at risk for type 2 diabetes is “enormous” to begin with.
“Because so many people are at risk for type 2 diabetes, the probability that a smoker could be next to somebody with that risk could be high,” Bernstein said. “It will have an impact on the vascular system. Along with that, it might have an impact on the cells in the pancreas where insulin is produced.”
Type 2 diabetes is characterized by the body’s inability to process sugar, leading to potentially deadly complications and requiring sufferers to get regular insulin injections. It generally crops up in adulthood and can sometimes be managed with diet and exercise changes.
Dr. David Nathan, the head of the Diabetes Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the research doesn’t mean smokers should keep up the habit, nor does it mean that women are more susceptible to diabetes than men if they’re around cigarette smoke.
“There’s no a priori reason to think that this wouldn’t apply to men as well,” he told Reuters.
The observational, retrospective study didn’t establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the disease and smoking, but simply showed that the two seem to be associated.
But that doesn’t take away from the study, Bernstein said.
“When you look at people with type 2 diabetes, you will see inflammatory events occurring around the beta cells. [Smoking] could just aggravate that,” he told AOL Health. “That’s conjecture because it’s not proven … but it’s real. And it’s not surprising.”
Click here for the full report from AOL Health
Wisconsin Unions Rush Deals Ahead of Bargaining Law
March 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
March 15th, 2011
AOL News
By: AP
School boards and local governments across Wisconsin are rushing to reach agreements with unions before a new law takes effect and erases their ability to collectively bargain over nearly all issues other than minimal salary increases.
The law doesn’t go into effect until the day after Secretary of State Doug La Follette publishes it and it doesn’t supersede contracts already in place, fueling unions’ desire to reach new deals quickly. La Follette said Monday that he will delay publication until the latest day possible, March 25, to give local governments as much time as possible to reach agreements.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker had asked La Follette to publish the law Monday, but the Democratic secretary of state said he didn’t see any emergency that warranted him doing so. La Follette opposed the bill and said he sat in his office watching parts of a weekend protest that brought as many as 100,000 people out in opposition to the law.
“This is the biggest change in Wisconsin labor management history in 50 years,” La Follette said, describing his reasoning for holding off on its enactment.
The law ends collective bargaining for public workers over everything except salary increases no greater than inflation. It also forces state workers to make benefit concessions that amount to an 8 percent pay cut on average.
Walker also is proposing a nearly $1 billion cut in aid to schools in his two-year budget plan that would take effect in July. He argued that for that reason, districts needed to get more money from their employees to help mitigate the loss in aid. Walker also wants to limit the ability of schools and local governments to pay for the cuts through local property tax increases.
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards is telling districts to be cautious about approving contracts that will make it more difficult for them to handle the cuts in aid Walker is seeking. Since Walker unveiled the bill on Feb. 11, between 50 and 100 of the state’s 424 districts have approved deals with unions, said Bob Butler, an attorney with the association.
The vast majority of them included benefit concessions consistent with what Walker proposed under the new law, Butler said.
The Madison school board met in a marathon 18-hour session Friday night to reach an agreement with the local teachers union to approve a new contract that runs through mid-2013.
That agreement freezes wages and requires the same pension contribution as state workers will be required to pay starting later this month under the new law. It also allows the district to require health insurance premium contributions up to 5 percent in the first year of the deal and up to 10 percent in the second year.
The Racine school district voted to approve a new contract with its teachers union on Wednesday evening, as Walker’s collective bargaining proposal was being approved by the state Senate. Several local governments, including the city of Janesville and La Crosse County, also have pushed through contracts in the past month ahead of the new law.
Schools and local governments would be foolish to rush through deals that don’t account for concessions at the same level or greater than what is called for under the law, said Republican Rep. Robin Vos, co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget committee.
Click here for the full report from AOL News
Man With 4th Amendment on Chest Sues Over Airport Arrest
March 15th, 2011
AOL News
By: Lauren Frayer
A college student who was arrested for stripping down at airport security to reveal the Fourth Amendment written across his chest is now suing the U.S. government for violating his rights as ordained in — you guessed it — the Fourth Amendment.
Aaron Tobey’s dramatic strip-protest is one of the latest in a series of stunts by American travelers fed up with airport security procedures some consider too invasive. A YouTube video of a California man’s airport security pat-down, in which he warns the agent not to “touch my junk,” went viral last year. John Tyner’s infamous quote has been made into T-shirts and bumper stickers and even became the colloquial title of proposed legislation, the Transportation Security Administration “Don’t Touch My Junk” bill.
The Constitution’s Fourth Amendment outlaws “unreasonable searches and seizures.” Tobey, a 21-year-old University of Cincinnati architecture student, had those very words scrawled across his chest and abdomen when he stripped down to his underwear at a Richmond, Va., airport back in December. He was heading to his grandfather’s funeral at the time. Tobey was arrested and cited for disorderly conduct.
The misdemeanor charge has since been dropped, but Tobey is still suing. The defendants listed in his legal filing are Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the head of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, the Richmond airport authority and several security officers there. He’s seeking $250,000 in damages and reimbursement for legal fees.
“This action seeks vindication of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of Aaron Tobey, who … was arrested without probable cause, falsely imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted,” the legal complaint states. The civil lawsuit was filed on Tobey’s behalf by the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group.
“Tobey was unduly seized by government agents in violation of the Fourth Amendment, despite the fact that he did nothing to disrupt airport routine,” John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said in a statement on his group’s website.
Neither federal officials nor Richmond airport authorities could immediately be reached for comment. Tobey also did not respond to an e-mailed request by AOL for an interview.
Both Tobey and “Don’t touch my junk” Tyner exercised their right to opt for a thorough pat-down from TSA agents rather than walk through sophisticated X-ray machines and imaging scanners newly introduced at airport security checkpoints. Some cite health or privacy concerns about the machines.
Tobey claims he was handcuffed and held for 90 minutes after stripping off his clothing during the pat-down. He still made his flight.
Click here for the full report from AOL News
Japan: Dangerous Radiation ‘Released Directly Into the Atmosphere’
March 15, 2011 by Andrew
Filed under Government
March 15th, 2011
AOL News
By: Eric Talmadge and Shino Yuasa
Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan’s northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world’s third-largest economy.
Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond — an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool — and that “radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere.” Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boiling, though the reported levels of radiation had dropped dramatically by the end of the day.
Late Tuesday, officials at the plant said they were considering asking for help from the U.S. and Japanese militaries to spray water from helicopters into the pool.
That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.
If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, nuclear officials said. But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.
Experts noted that much of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent, they said.
“It’s not good, but I don’t think it’s a disaster,” said Steve Crossley, an Australia-based radiation physicist.
Even the highest detected rates were not automatically harmful for brief periods, he said.
“If you were to spend a significant amount of time — in the order of hours — that could be significant,” Crossley said.
Less clear were the results of the blast in Unit 2, near a suppression pool, which removes heat under a reactor vessel, said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been, said Shigekazu Omukai, a spokesman for Japan’s nuclear safety agency.
Though Kan and other officials urged calm, Tuesday’s developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next. In the worst case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.
Tsunami Relief: Network for Good
“I worry a lot about fallout,” said Yuta Tadano, a 20-year-old pump technician at the Fukushima plant, who said he was in the complex when the quake hit.
“If we could see it, we could escape, but we can’t,” he said, cradling his 4-month-old baby, Shoma, at an evacuation center.
The radiation fears added to the catastrophe that has been unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people were facing a fifth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures and snow as they dealt with the loss of homes and loved ones. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.
Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken Japan’s northeast and Tokyo since the original offshore quake, including one Tuesday night whose epicenter was hundreds of miles (kilometers) southwest and inland.
Officials have only been able to confirm a far lower toll — about 3,300 killed — but those who were involved in the 2004 Asian tsunami said there was no question more people died and warned that, like the earlier disaster, many thousands may never be found.
Click here for the full report from AOL News
Al Franken: ‘They’re Coming After The Internet’
March 15th, 2011
Politico
By: Mike Zapler
Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are “hoping to destroy” the Internet and issued a call to arms to several hundred tech-savvy South by Southwest attendees to preserve net neutrality.
“I came here to warn you, the party may be over,” Franken said. “They’re coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.”
Net neutrality, he added, is “the First Amendment issue of our time.”
Receiving a hero’s welcome from the liberal crowd, Franken took repeated shots at big telecoms, singling out Comcast.
He said Comcast is looking to change the basic architecture of the Web by implementing a pricing scheme that allows moneyed interests to pay for faster speeds, leaving everyone else behind. That would be a particularly bad development for the independent musicians and artists gathered here, he said.
“The real end for Comcast is to put Netflix out of business entirely,” Franken said, because of the threat that Netflix’s streaming video business could pose to Comcast’s cable franchise. “In the end, the American people will end up paying a lot more for worse service.”
Comcast is now embroiled in a dispute with Level 3, a networking company that carries online video feeds for Netflix, over fees Comcast wants to charge to carry the high-bandwidth content.
In response to Franken’s comments, a Comcast spokeswoman said Monday that the dispute with Level 3 isn’t about net neutrality but is “a peering issue.” “Under the FCC order for the Comcast NBCU transaction, Comcast is required to comply with the FCC’s recent open Internet rules even if they are overturned in court. Our customers can access all Netflix content,” said Sena Fitzmaurice, Comcast’s vice president of government communications.
Franken, who was an aggressive opponent of the Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal, implored SXSW attendees to fight the political influence of the big telecom firms.
“Unfortunately one thing these big corporations have that we don’t is the ability to purchase favorable political outcomes,” he said. “Big telecoms have lots of [lobbyists], and good ones, too. … The end of net neutrality would benefit no one but these corporate giants.”
Franken said talk of a “government takeover” of the Internet by net neutrality critics has as much credibility as claims of “death panels” in the health care legislation and claims that “Obama’s a Muslim,” calling them a “pantheon of lies.”
Franken finished up his half-hour speech by imploring the crowd to preserve net neutrality to avoid a future in which they’re “stuck listening to the Black Eyed Peas and reminiscing about the days before you had to sell out to make it.”
“Let’s not let the government sell us out,” he said. “Let’s fight for net neutrality. Let’s keep Austin weird. Let’s keep the Internet weird. Let’s keep the Internet free.”
Click here for the full report from Politico
