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.
Idaho, Opinion, U.S.

What Global Warming? U.S. ABC, NBC & CBS News ignores cooling trend in Pacific Northwest

Climate change? Yes!  Global Warming? Doubtful, if your from the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

For the past few days we’ve been getting tired of hearing American Broadcast Company (not to be confused with Australian Broadcasting Corporation) news talk about the heat wave affecting “America”: “One week into June, America is in the grip of pulverizing summer heat…”-Diane Sawyer, ABC.

The National Broadcasting Company used The Weather Channel forecaster Kelly Cass, standing in front of a weather map which showed, deceptively, the Pacific Northwest in warm yellow temperatures.

At least CBS (formerly known as Columbia Broadcasting System) specified the heat wave was “…across about two thirds of the nation…”, instead of trying to make it look like it was the whole country.

I’m also getting tired of hearing experts on international news sources say this “heat” is proof of global warming. Well it ain’t hot in the Pacific Northwest!  It’s not even close to normal!

The average high temperature for Idaho, in June, is 77 Fahrenheit.  Today, June 8, in the cities of Pocatello and Chubbuck the official high was 56 (according to the Pocatello International Airport)!  Tomorrow’s forecasted high is 53 to 62 (depending on the National Weather Service, The Weather Channel, or Idaho Falls TV station KIFI)!  Add to that the rain we’re getting.  The average number of rainy days in June, for Idaho, is seven.  We are about to break that average.

The point is, the U.S. Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana) have been cooler than normal, by at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

The term Global Warming means a unified warming of the entire planet.  There are many places on Earth that are NOT warming.  What is going on is Climate Change.  Why does mainstream media keep harping on this Global Warming thing, and it’s all human’s fault because of their green house gasses, when there are places that are actually cooling down?  In fact there are reports that contradict the claims that the Earth is warming up.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Diesel Fuel usage new Canary in the Coal Mine, Recovery is Dead

“I was optimistic we’d have a better month, but it looks now like the recovery ended last summer, which means we’re just idling.”-Ed Leamer, University California Los Angeles economist

If you use diesel fuel you might have noticed that the price has been slowly going down.  That’s good for those of use who pay at the pump, but for the economy as a whole it’s a Canary in the Coal Mine of worse to come for our economy.

Diesel fuel prices are dropping because of a huge drop in demand.  That drop has been ongoing since last year, and in the past four months has been picking up speed.

Most users of diesel are transportation industries.  They ship products all over the country, but shipments of new products have dropped so much in eight of the past 12 months, that trucks, ships and aircraft are sitting idle.

According to the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index, the drop in diesel fuel demand is proof any economic recovery that might have been, is over.

Ed Leamer says the two main reasons demand is down: Low wages/lack of jobs and high debt.  Notice they’re the two things our elected officials, across the board from local leaders to the White House, can’t seem to deal with.

Leamer also says such a drop in demand, in the U.S., is a first in world history: “U.S. demand has been such a key for the rest of the world for so long. This is sort of uncharted territory.”

 

 

International, U.S.

U.S. to stay in Afghanistan until 2017

“We won’t complete doing what we need to do until about 2016, 2017.”-USA Lieutenant General William Caldwell

General Caldwell made his statement at the Brookings Institute on June 6.  His reasons are that only one in six Afghans, who join the Afghan government forces, can read and write.  Caldwell says that means it will take longer than expected for the U.S. military to train up Afghan troops to a level U.S. officials will feel secure with.

International

Pacific Ring of Fire: Chile Volcano continues to erupt

The pictures are impressive, of ash columns rocketing into the sky, surrounded by lightning strikes.  Believe or not it’s considered a moderate eruption.  It’s enough to spread enough ash to shut down airports in Argentina and Chile.

The Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano complex erupted on Saturday, June 4, causing thousands of people to evacuate.  Chile is home to hundreds of active volcanoes that periodically make themselves known, and most people know when it’s time to leave.

Vulcanologist say eruptions could continue for several weeks.

 

Business/Economics, International

Government Incompetence: Greece has been paying thousands of dead people money

The insolvent government of Greece has just discovered that 4,500 dead people have been receiving government retirement pay, for years.

The government is now investigating whether there was a slip up on their side, or the families never filed notifications of death.  At least $23 million was paid out to dead people.

The Greek government is also investigating another 9,000 possible dead recipients of retirement money.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Greenpeace & IAEA say radiation levels in Pacific Ocean too high

The nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi has resulted in hundreds of thousands of tons of radioactive water being spilled into the Pacific Ocean, and it hasn’t stopped.

Greenpeace says they’ve found ocean species with unsafe levels of radiation, 50 km (31 miles) from the nuke plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency announced they will begin monitoring the Pacific Ocean for radiation contamination.  Australia, South Korea and Indonesia will make up a team that will sample water from the Pacific Ocean, and the East China Sea.  They expect the process to take four years.

The contamination of the Pacific Ocean would not have reached this level, if Tokyo Electric Power Company, and the Japanese government, took the nuclear disaster more seriously at the beginning.  Chernobyl was handled in a matter of weeks, not ongoing after many months like Fukishima Daiichi.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radiation levels far higher than first “thought”!

As proof that the Japanese government, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, were just wild ass guessing about the radiation levels being released from Fukushima Daiichi, a new report says the levels are more than double.

The governmental Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is now saying the initial radiation release from the damaged nuke plant was 770,000 terabecquerels.  The independent Nuclear Safety Commission said they put the amount of radiation released, in the first month, at 630,000 terabecquerels.

The level of radiation being spewed from the plant has not let up.  On Saturday, 04 June 2011, radiation emitted from Reactor 1 hit 4,000 millisieverts per hour!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese Nuclear Emergency Response teams “dysfunctional”!

The Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Ministry maintains ‘off site centers’ near nuclear plants.  The centers are government run emergency response units based ‘off site’ of the privately run nuclear plants.

The public news station, NHK, got hold of a NISA report that admitted that almost all of their off site centers were dysfunctional at the beginning of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

NISA operates 22 nuclear emergency response centers throughout Japan.  On 11 March 2011, seven hours after the 9.0 quake, only three of those centers were staffed.  The off site response unit for Fukushima Daiichi had been shut down by the earthquake.  NISA claims all power generating capabilities, communications and other critical functions had been lost, making the off site response unit ineffective.

But, surprisingly, after it became clear there was a problem at the Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, NISA decided to move the emergency response unit away from the stricken plant.  Hello, what’s the purpose of the ‘off site centers’ emergency response units then?  NISA officials said they were afraid their off site center building was not radiation proof!  More proof of lack of planning and foresight by government officials.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. unemployment much higher than officially reported, Corporate America needs to create 500,000 jobs EVERY month

The official U.S. unemployment rate is currently 9.1%, but that does not count those unemployed who dropped off the official lists, or those who are discouraged job seekers.

Fadhel Kaboub, an economics professor at Denison University in Ohio, says when you take into account people who are no longer counted by official sources, the actual unemployment rate is 17%.

The U.S. Department of Labor said 14 million people are officially unemployed, but Kaboub believes it’s actually 20-23 million.

He said the reason the stock markets reacted badly to the May job creation numbers, is because the only way there can be a recovery is if Corporate America creates 500,000 new jobs every month.  That has yet to happen, and as demonstrated by the May numbers, jobs creation is actually going down.