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, U.S.

Japan report shows TEPCO out of touch due to Sub-Contracting, Sub-Contracting continues even now

Kyodo News reporting that sub-contracting, and even sub-sub-contracting, is rampant at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and is playing a major role in the problems there.

Kyodo News interviewed one of the workers that was sent to the hospital with Beta Burns last week. It turns out the worker is a sub-sub-contractor.  He said the reason they didn’t have protective gear is the fact that TEPCo has a lack of communication with its sub contractors.  Tokyo Electric calls its sub-contractors ”associate enterprises”.

The injured worker suggests that the most dangerous work is being forced on the sub-sub-contractors.  He claimed lack of supervision, and lack of radiation monitoring for the workers. Also, he says the problem with radiation levels is worse than what’s being reported. Many highly radioactive materials litter the nuclear plant’s compound, after the hydrogen gas explosions.  They can not be removed because of their high levels of radiation.

Kyodo News found other sub-contractor employees who are no longer working at the plant. They said their employers begged them to come back to work, even offering 80,000 yen per day. They said no way, not with the amount of radiation there.

I have worked for corporations here in the U.S. that sub-contract, and my experience is that once a company sub-contracts, anything regarding safety & training is quickly forgotten, because it becomes the responsibility of the sub-contractor.  Companies like to sub-contract, not just because it saves them money, but because it passes on legal liabilities to the sub-contractor.  My experience is that sub-contractors are even less capable when it comes to providing training, or enforcing safety.  The sub-contractors I worked for expected training to be done by senior employees, but in many cases the ‘senior’ employees had recently been hired and didn’t really understand their job.

Also, the managers of the sub-contractors would hold so called ‘safety meetings’, where they would force employees to sign papers saying they attended a safety meeting.  The problem is that nothing was discussed at the so called meeting.  The safety meetings were ‘held’ on paydays, and the managers held back the paychecks until the employees signed the safety meeting documents.  I refused to sign the document, and threatened legal action if they didn’t give me my paycheck.  That works, because it’s the law. But, to my amazement, 90% of my fellow co-workers did what the management told them to do, for fear of losing their job.  Even my example of refusing to go along with sub-contractor management wasn’t enough to ease their fear.  I quit most of my jobs with sub-contractors because of training and safety issues (work environment was getting too dangerous). I think only once was my job threatened for my demanding they follow regulations (that’s because I actually turned them into state officials), so I don’t know why so many employees are afraid of losing their job.

This is just another example of why corporations suck!

By the way I began to see a similar situation developing within the U.S. military (specifically National Guard). I did complain about regulation violations to superiors, and it did affect my continued enlistment (they wouldn’t let me re-enlist after 13 years).

Fukushima, Idaho

Idaho National Laboratory sending Radiation Robots to Japan

The Idaho National Laboratory is sending robots hardened against radiation, along with hardened cameras to Japan.

That’s according to officials with the U.S. Department of Energy.  The robots will be used where radiation levels are too high for people, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.  The statements by Energy Department officials, about the INL robots, were made to a U.S. Senate panel on 29 March.

The U.S. department of Energy has sent, or is sending, 70 employees, along with tons of equipment, to help fight the nuclear disaster.

Just remember, this nuclear disaster is due to the lax disaster preparations of a Japanese capitalist corporation, and yet, the taxpayers of Japan are paying for it, and we taxpayers in the U.S. are paying for it. Corporations suck!

Fukushima

Japan now on “Maximum Alert”!

The situation at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant now has Japan officially on maximum alert.

To give an idea of just how much highly contaminated water they must try to remove before any more work can continue on the damage plant: Just one of the tunnel/trenches under the reactors holds 6,000 cubic meters of contaminated water, more than two Olympic swimming pools.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano Yukio says they have no choice but to keep pumping water in, to keep the reactors from melting down.

Fukushima

Set back for Toyota, telling dealers to make in house repairs

Due to continued parts supply shortages caused by the 11 March disasters, Toyota is now telling dealers NOT to replace damaged parts.

Toyota wants dealer auto shops to make in-house repairs of damaged parts, when possible.  Toyota says there could be at least 233 parts that are not available. They did not specify which parts, but could involve parts for suspensions and air bags.

Fukushima

Honda steps up production cut backs, parts shortage will now affect Auto Mechanics

Starting March 30, Honda will cut back on production within Canada and the United States.

Honda officials say the cut backs are due to prolonged shut down of parts suppliers in Japan. They do not know how long their production cut backs will last.

Honda has also warned car dealers that parts for their auto repair shops are dwindling. They told the dealers to expect shortages.

Honda did not give specifics regarding their production cut backs, but they hoped it would be enough to avoid total factory shut downs.

Fukushima

In one Japanese town evidence that Tsunami was 30 meters high (almost 100 feet)

A joint research team from Yokohama National University, and University of Tokyo, surveyed the city of Ofunato, in Iwate Prefecture.

Things like fishing gear and remains of boats were found on a cliff.  The only way the stuff could have gotten to the top of the cliff was if the Tsunami was at least 29.6 meters high (97 feet).

The height of the March 11 tsunami varies along the Japanese coast line, because of the shape of the land. The bay at Ofunato is very narrow and would force the wave higher.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Gaddafi was right, U.S. Admiral says al Qeada involved with “peaceful” Libyan Rebels

Remember when Gaddafi told international media that al Qaeda was behind some of the “peaceful” militant protesters? Even if you don’t, the U.S. media, and our government, laughed his claims off, saying it was proof he was crazy.

Guess what the U.S. commander of NATO said? Admiral James Stavridis said there were “flickers” of al Qaeda within the rebels. The admiral’s statement was backed up by a senior counter terrorism official, unnamed because he is not authorized to speak to the media. He said there is  “…a sprinkling of extremists to perhaps include al Qaeda,” adding that “It’s hard to tell who all the leaders are in the opposition.” So our government doesn’t know who we are supporting?  We could be supporting al Qaeda? Who’s crazy now?