Punctured Boone Co. Oil Pipeline Forces Some From Homes

Thousands Of Barrels Of Crude Oil Spew 30 Feet Into Air

These two (along with drilling ) energy sources have been in the media alot lately.. PLEASE DO NOT BE FOOLED


The reason we get this right now is because folks are scared.  They havent' thought through the process and logic of what these energy sources entail.  These industries have a lot of money and power to push THEIR advertising of their energy into the forefront.  DON"T BE FOOLED.

• Proliferation Risks
  • Plutonium is a man-made waste product of nuclear fission, which can be used either for fuel in nuclear power plants or for bombs.
  • In the year 2000, an estimated 310 tons (620,000 pounds) of civilian, weapons-usable plutonium had been produced.
  • Less than 8 kilograms (about 18 pounds) of plutonium is enough for one Nagasaki-type bomb. Thus, in the year 2000 alone, enough plutonium was created to make more than 34,000 nuclear weapons.
  • The technology for producing nuclear energy that is shared among nations, particularly the process that turns raw uranium into lowly-enriched uranium, can also be used to produce highly-enriched, weapons-grade uranium.
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responsible for monitoring the world’s nuclear facilities and for preventing weapons proliferation, but their safeguards have serious shortcomings. Though the IAEA is promoting additional safeguards agreements to increase the effectiveness of their inspections, the agency acknowledges that, due to measurement uncertainties, it cannot detect all possible diversions of nuclear material. (Nuclear Control Institute)
     
• Risk of Accident
  • On April 26, 1986 the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power plant (in the former U.S.S.R., present-day Ukraine) exploded, causing the worst nuclear accident ever.
    • 30 people were killed instantly, including 28 from radiation exposure, and a further 209 on site were treated for acute radiation poisoning.
    • The World Health Organization found that the fallout from the explosion was incredibly far-reaching. For a time, radiation levels in Scotland, over 1400 miles (about 2300 km) away, were 10,000 times the norm.
    • Thousands of cancer deaths were a direct result of the accident.
    • The accident cost the former Soviet Union more than three times the economical benefits accrued from the operation of every other Soviet nuclear power plant operated between 1954 and 1990.
  • In March of 1979 equipment failures and human error contributed to an accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the worst such accident in U.S. history. Consequences of the incident include radiation contamination of surrounding areas, increased cases of thyroid cancer, and plant mutations.
  • According to the US House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, "Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences (CRAC2) for US Nuclear Power Plants” (1982, 1997), an accident at a US nuclear power plant could kill more people than were killed by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
     
• Environmental Degradation
  • All the steps in the complex process of creating nuclear energy entail environmental hazards.
  • The mining of uranium, as well as its refining and enrichment, and the production of plutonium produce radioactive isotopes that contaminate the surrounding area, including the groundwater, air, land, plants, and equipment. As a result, humans and the entire ecosystem are adversely and profoundly affected.
  • Some of these radioactive isotopes are extraordinarily long-lived, remaining toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. Presently, we are only beginning to observe and experience the consequences of producing nuclear energy
     
• Nuclear Waste
  • Nuclear waste is produced in many different ways. There are wastes produced in the reactor core, wastes created as a result of radioactive contamination, and wastes produced as a byproduct of uranium mining, refining, and enrichment. The vast majority of radiation in nuclear waste is given off from spent fuel rods.
  • A typical reactor will generate 20 to 30 tons of high-level nuclear waste annually. There is no known way to safely dispose of this waste, which remains dangerously radioactive until it naturally decays.
  • The rate of decay of a radioactive isotope is called its half-life, the time in which half the initial amount of atoms present takes to decay. The half-life of Plutonium-239, one particularly lethal component of nuclear waste, is 24,000 years.
  • The hazardous life of a radioactive element (the length of time that must elapse before the material is considered safe) is at least 10 half-lives. Therefore, Plutonium-239 will remain hazardous for at least 240,000 years.
  • There is a current proposal to dump nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
    • The plan is for Yucca Mountain to hold all of the high level nuclear waste ever produced from every nuclear power plant in the US. However, that would completely fill up the site and not account for future waste.
    • Transporting the wastes by truck and rail would be extremely dangerous.
    • For a more detailed analysis of the problems of and risks incurred by the plan, see Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the DoE’s Yucca Mountain Plan
  • Repository sites in Australia, Argentina, China, southern Africa, and Russia have also been considered.
  • Though some countries reprocess nuclear waste (in essence, preparing it to send through the cycle again to create more energy), this process is banned in the U.S. due to increased proliferation risks, as the reprocessed materials can also be used for making bombs. Reprocessing is also not a solution because it just creates additional nuclear waste.
  • The best action would be to cease producing nuclear energy (and waste), to leave the existing waste where it is, and to immobilize it. There are a few different methods of waste immobilization. In the vitrification process, waste is combined with glass-forming materials and melted. Once the materials solidify, the waste is trapped inside and can't easily be released.
• http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/issues/nuclear-energy-&-waste/start/fact-sheet_ne&w.htm

Please see ENRON THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM!

This is ESSENTIAL viewing to understand the underlying pathology of human groups and greed.  Group think, irresponsible behaviors..

I am getting REALLY sick and tired of hearing about "Personal Responsibility" .. Sure.. yes it is a good thing if everyone would be PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE and ENLIGHTENED about their own actions.. Great.. good.. let's continue to move in that direction. HOWEVER.  Please do NOT flippantly blame the average consumer and say only THEY were irresponsible.  Yes.. The average consumer probably IS STUPID.  But why are they stupid???

Who ENCOURAGES that stupidity?

We have a culture that promotes a way of life that has been ultimately UNREALISTIC.  We live with MYTHS about Capitalism and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL.  Those messages are relentlessly pounded into our head.

We did used to have more Ironically "conservative" values of frugalness, fiscal responsibility.. but if you look at our Capitalistic market place.. those values don't really jibe.  Here's why.  capitalism requires a level of RISK.  It also requires folks to BUY into things. Or PURCHASE things.  If folks were frugal.. and saved... and never spent beyond what they earned.. we probably would NOT have had the HUGE BOOMS and then consequently busts. that we constantly see in our markets.  When you start seeing fabulously wealthy people.. who buy gold this and gold that.. and Hummers and jets and so on.. and that level of frenzied behavior.. when you have Credit cards and advertising urging folks to BUY BUY BUY BUY.. .. put off paying for it later.. Who is honestly to blame?  Don't JUST BLAME THE CONSUMER!!!!!!!..

It is the entire SYSTEM that is pathologically messed up!!!.. We need to TRANSFORM our entire economic system.

The point is.. is that you can say.. "I don't want socialism"..  well.. do you EVEN UNDERSTAND what socialism IS??   Do you understand that the concept of INSURANCE is actually socialistic?  (Shared risk).. That we always pay with our common tax dollars common goods such as Police, fire and EMT services.? Our Roads..  socialized.  it is for the SOCIAL GOOD!.

SO.. socialism per se isn't bad.....

I would argue you can't really have a society without social services.  I mean. even if you said that every man for himself.. .. well who is going to physically remove that man's dead body from the street so you don't have to look at it?

I know this seems utterly simplistic.. but I don't think everyone is on the same page with our economic crisis.

We have to ZOOM OUT and look at the larger behavior and the values that we share or don't share and FIX THEM. 

Advertising is apparently necessary to encourage folks to buy goods and services.  Credit cards were created to extend credit to IMPROVE the profits of companies so folks would be encouraged to BUY MORE goods and services.. All this was dependent upon our economy continuing to be healthy and grow. 

However some said folks should not spend beyond their means.  Ok.. then quit advertising that they should.   Quit sending out those messages and then scold them when they do what you want them to do.. BUY.. SPEND...

It made a lot of people money .. and so they were silent.  But now folks are losing money and they are quick to blame the common man... well everyone is complicit.  But it is our entire SOCIETY and OUR PATHOLOGICAL leaders that encourage pathological behavior.

This entire thing will be a HUGE learning experience for everyone... the Global world.....  Perhaps this is just ONE PART Of the lessons we must learn as humanity and surviving on this planet in a responsible way.. how we interpret ABUNDANCE and care for our fellow humans so no one starves.. no one suffers... and no one kills for what they don’t' have.... big goal there... I know.. I honestly don’t' think we can do it.. We are going to suffer HARD... this is a HUGE Karmic lesson and if we tune this out.. I honestly believe this is our last chance.. The Universe is definitely putting some learning lessons in front of us.. How we choose to respond is up to us... Continue the dysfunctional patterns and behaviors.. or EVOLVE!?????

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

WASHINGTON - Some huge livestock farms produce more raw waste than cities as large as Philadelphia or Houston. But federal regulators are failing to control pollution from the gigantic operations or assess health risks from the enormous quantities of manure they produce, according to congressional investigators.

The Government Accountability Office report on the raw waste was being released Wednesday to a House committee hearing on federal oversight of factory farms.

The conclusions fueled concerns about a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule change that would eliminate one of the few federal oversight mechanisms over air and water pollution from big farms.

The rule would eliminate a requirement that farms report to federal, state and local officials when air emissions of hazardous substances like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exceed certain levels.

EPA proposed the rule change in December, contending the requirement created an unnecessary burden for farms and that the emission release reports usually weren't needed or acted upon.

"It is unclear to us" how EPA reached that determination, GAO said, noting that a national association representing emergency responders has said in comments to EPA that the reports are needed.

MORE

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26858881/

Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine

Now they did this to themselves!!!!! ha ha ha!!!!

Wal-Mart closes Ohio store over methane fears

Retailer 'confident the problems can't be fixed' at building atop landfill

GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has closed one of its stores in the Cleveland area built atop a landfill amid concerns about potentially explosive methane gas.

An independent contractor confirmed there is a problem with the odorless gas generated by rotting garbage, said Tara Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer. The closure of the store is probably permanent, she said.

Bush's Next War to Liberate the American Economy

Last week I sat across a table from President George W. Bush in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He told me and a dozen fellow economists that "the American economy is a theatre in the war on terrorism." With steely conviction he told us that he intends to win the war to liberate Iraq, and he intends to win the war to liberate the American economy.

That's the key message from an hour and a half's roundtable discussion with the president and his economic team. There, interacting with a very exacting group of professionals, Bush displayed both masterful knowledge and inspiring passion about his economic program, and he revealed a deep understanding of how economic security is inexorably linked to national security.

Bush told us that he is frustrated by critics who ask, "How can we have a war and a tax cut at the same time?" The president argues that for this kind of war, we can't not have a tax cut. Yes, we must spend on war and homeland security, too. But that just means we must take steps to grow the economy so that the expense of war and security will be as tiny a fraction of the overall economy as possible. Bush's tax-cut proposals now before Congress are all about enabling exactly that.

Eliminating the double taxation of dividends and retained earnings will increase the efficiency of capital investment. The result will be higher stock prices immediately -- by at least 15% as effective after-tax yields jump, and more in the longer run as corporations reap the benefits of a lower cost of capital. But the best result will come when we harvest the fruits of more-efficient capital investment in all the years to come. The fruits include millions of new high-quality jobs and new breakthrough technologies in both the civilian and military spheres.

Nonplussed by opposition in Congress -- from those who just can't seem to see how all this will work -- Bush said, "Sometimes I think some of these guys just don't like capitalism."