All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo says Cesium building up inside reactor buildings, could be from mini explosions!

Tokyo Electric Power Company reporting that cesium levels inside Reactor 2 building are shooting up.  The latest measurements showed 65 times current government emergency limits for reactor buildings.

TEPCo has been monitoring airborne radiation levels inside Fukushima Daiichi’s reactor buildings, using robots, because radiation levels became too high for humans.

TEPCo says the build up of cesium-134 could be from steam and explosions from within the reactor.  But they admit they’re not sure why the levels are increasing, and will continue their investigations.

Why didn’t they do what Bill Nye the Science Guy said, and pave the thing over?

International, U.S.

Incompetent Charities: 4 months later only 23% of donations have reached victims of the March 11 disasters

Within Japan, at least $3.7 billion has been raised by charities, like the Japanese Red Cross and Central Community Chest of Japan.  It was all to help the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis.

A report shows that so far only 23% of that money has actually gone to the victims.

The charities are working with local governments to get the money out, but local officials say the logistics of such an operation, because of the huge number of displaced victims, is making the job difficult.  On top of that, local governments are short on manpower.  Most government workers are involved with clean up, rebuilding, radiation checks and decontamination.

Here’s an idea:  Why not take some of the victims, who’re complaining of not having anything to do because their homes and jobs have been destroyed, and create a disaster relief crew that helps the charities distribute the donations?

The $3.7 billion does not include all the money Japan got from other countries.

 

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Radioactive beef more widespread than first thought, 75,000 becquerels of Cesium detected!

Officials with Fukushima Prefecture say the hay that cows were feed in Miniami-soma City, is contaminated with 75,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.

They’re still waiting for results of well water tests.

As a result of yesterday’s test results, Miniami-soma City is ordering all residents get tested for internal radiation contamination.  So far people from two areas of the city have levels of contamination that call for evacuations.

The contaminated cows got through radiation checks, before being shipped to slaughter, because only the outside of the cows were tested.  It turns out they were contaminated internally, because of the highly radioactive hay they ate.

Now more beef in a far off city have been found to be contaminated.  Officials in Shizuoka City, more than 300 kilometers (187 miles) from Minami-soma City, decided to check their meat packing factories.  They found that beef, bought back on June 10, is contaminated with 1,998 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram (the national safe limit is 500).

To make matters worse, most of that beef went to local restaurants, or retailers.   So far at least five prefectures have found contaminated beef.

A prefecture in Japan, is like a county in the U.S.   A region in Japan, is like a state in the U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Chinese industries continue to cut back on imports, blames lack of demand

“The slowdown in import growth will last two to three months or even longer due to both falling demand and possible commodity price drops.”-Li Wei, Standard Chartered Shanghai

While China’s industry activity looks great, compared to other countries, the fact is that it’s slowing down.  The latest import numbers are the lowest ‘increase’ since November 2009.  This means that Chinese industries are buying less materials from other countries.

Imports are at 19.3%, compared to the previous year.  But export numbers are down as well.

China’s June export numbers are 17.9%, compared to May’s 19.4%.  Export numbers to the U.S. and EU dropped to 16.9%.

“The slow recovery of the global economy and the European debt crisis have added uncertainties to export growth.”-Zheng Yuesheng, GAC statistics

While some Chinese industry analysts remain optimistic, some Chinese officials are not so positive: “Exporters in Zhejiang have experienced a disappointing first half, and the second half will not be better.”-Han Jie, Zhejiang Department of Commerce


 

 

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? European Union stumbling on second Greek bailout, as debt Emergency in Italy has EU officials scrambling

“We can’t go on for many more days like Friday. We’re very worried about Italy.”-European Central Bank official

July 11, European Union officials are in emergency mode, after it became clear that the second bailout loan for Greece will arrive too late to stop default, and now Italy is on the verge of financial collapse.

EU officials are scrambling to figure out how to get the bailout money to the Greek government faster, because it is now clear Greece is in much worse shape than thought, and will officially default soon.

“We need to move on this in the next couple of weeks.  It’s not a case of waiting until late August or early September as Germany is saying.  That’s too late and markets will make us pay for it.”-European Union official

EU officials are also scrambling to plan a possible bailout of Italy’s collapsing economy.  On Friday, July 8, there was an unexpected sell off of Italian government assets.  Italy is considered the EU’s third largest economy.

Both EU officials, and Italian officials say the bond markets are actually making things worse.  That’s because a lot of the money for the Greek bailout, and now a possible Italian bailout, is coming from private sources (like investors).  Now many of those private bailout sources are having second thoughts because it’s very possible they won’t get their money back.

It’s not helping that Germany is pushing for a rethink of the second Greek bailout.  They say the problem in Greece could take 15 years to fix: “It [second Greek bailout] can’t be something that will suffice for a three-month period but rather has to offer solutions to the problem that will cover the next 10 to 15 years.”-Christian Wulff, President of Germany

Germany has a lot of power in the EU, because they seem to be the only member country who’s economy is booming, thanks to their deals with China.

 

Fukushima

Government, Corporate & Farmer Incompetence: Cows fed with radioactive hay!

Officials with Fukushima Prefecture announced they found the source contaminating beef cattle: Radioactive hay.

It was initially reported that beef farmers were feeding their cows with feed that was kept indoors.  Turns out they were not.  Farmers admitted that they quickly ran out of feed that was kept indoors, and began feeding the cows hay from outside.

Since people don’t eat hay, no one had tested hay for radiation.  Now they have, and it tested positive for cesium contamination.  The local government safe limit is 300 becquerels per kilogram, the national safe limit is 500.

Officials are still testing local well water.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits they’ve screwed up on trying to control nuclear plant!

Tokyo Electric Power Company has admitted that the many delays in getting the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant under control, are due to the use of improvised parts and equipment.

TEPCo says they were never prepared for such a disaster, as a result many of the equipment they put together to tackle the problems, are made of material that can not stand up to the job.

TEPCo admitted that many of the leaks that have plagued water decontamination and cooling are caused by the use of hoses that are not meant for the job.

We rarely hear about Reactor 5 (since the reactors of main concern have been 1,2,3 & 4), but it turns out its cooling system was shut down at the beginning of July, because of shoddy improvised hoses/plumbing.  TEPCo will try to install better hoses and re-start cooling operations.

Another reason for the use of shoddy improvised parts and equipment: Tokyo Electric Power Company officials admit they did not understand the severity of the situation at the beginning of the disaster, and thought they would have the nuke plant under control within a few days.  Now they are asking for more time, to get proper parts and equipment to replace the improvised ones.

 

U.S.

Study says relaxation can work almost as good as headache medication, and is cheaper

University of Mississippi researchers say relaxation can work just as good on migraine headaches, as expensive medication.

The study was actually a cost benefit analysis.  Researchers followed people for a year, and compared the cost of prescription medication against professional relaxation services like massage, hypnosis, etc (called minimal contact therapy).

The results were that the minimal contact therapy was just as effective, and $500.00 cheaper.  Some of the patients in the study say they’ve actually cut back on their professional relaxation treatment to just a few times a year, saving even more money.

 

International, U.S.

Deadly European E Coli hits Arizona, Michigan

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that an Arizona man died from the same strain of e.coli that has killed about 50 people in Europe.  The man died last month, after a trip to Germany.

The CDC confirmed six more U.S. citizens are infected.  They all live in Michigan.  Five of them had been in Germany.  There are possible cases in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

Fukushima

Corporate incompetence: TEPCo stops water decontamination…again

10 July 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company has stopped its water decontamination operation, again.  This time it’s due to chemicals leaking from the system.  The chemicals are used to absorb radiation from the water.

According to NHK, TEPCo is blaming the new leaks on “non-durable” materials used to build the decontamination unit.  Basically they used parts that could not withstand the pressure, radiation and chemicals in the system.

Many reports from Japan have been confusing, because they’ve referred to problems in the ‘cooling’ system, when they mean decontamination system.  This could be because the two systems are interconnected.