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.
International, Opinion, U.S.

How will U.S., U.K. & France fund the attacks on Libya? You!

War isn’t free, and there is no true return on the ‘investment’ into war mongering.  So how are those countries attacking Libya going to fund their operation?  I have a suspicion, but in the case of the United States it’s not oil.

Notice that the lead countries in this act of war are; United States, United Kingdom and France.  All of them are in big financial/economic trouble.   They are all implementing austerity measures to address lack of funding for their governments.  That includes cutting many social programs for their citizens.

The push to attack Libya came fast, especially when compared to how much effort Bush Jr put into pushing for attacking Iraq.  Back then it was thought he rushed the process, but compare that to Obama’s push to attack Libya.  One U.S. congressman said Obama did not consult with Congress, at least Bush Jr did.

This is all suspicious. Especially when it is clear the Libyan protesters are not peaceful, and that in other Arab countries truly peaceful protesters have been killed, yet there is no call by Obama to take out those governments.

Most people around the world believe the attack on Iraq was about oil.  It was, but not for U.S. oil companies.  British Petroleum was awarded the biggest oil contracts in Iraq (by the way BP has been quietly taking over oil operations within the United States). In fact most oil contracts in Iraq did not go to U.S. oil companies.

Why would the U.S. take part in oil grabs if its oil companies are not benefiting? This is proof that the United States has become the bully puppet of the British Commonwealth (aka British Empire).

Notice that the price of oil shoots up when something like this happens.  Our governments are controlled by the corporations. The corporations make big profits when prices go up.  The corporations now use the governments to create situations that cause prices to go up.  Of course the corporations are not 100% reliant on oil sources in North Africa and the Middle East.  In fact BP has been busy taking over oil production in the U.S., and has just made deals with the Russians.  But the price of oil still goes up during war, regardless of where the oil comes from.  So they can shut down oil supply in one area, through war for example, driving up the price, and they will still make hugh profits off their other sources of oil.  Does anybody notice that despite oil companies saying their operating costs keep going up, they continue to report record profits?

So military action may be for the benefit of the oil corporations, but that doesn’t explain how the governments are going to fund the operations.   We the people are going to pay for it.  Through increased taxes, new taxes and cuts to the benefits you’re supposed to be getting in return for your tax payments.  Anybody remember the official reason for the American colonists revolution against the British Empire?  Taxes placed on the American colonists to pay for wars fought by the British Empire, and, lack of representation for the American colonists in the British government.  That’s what created the United States.

Here we area again, paying for wars that benefit the British Empire, and with this latest war our Congress wasn’t even consulted!  Taxation without representation!  Wake up people!

 

International, U.S.

Anti War Protests reving up in Europe and United States

People in the United Kingdom are taking to the streets to protest their government’s involvement in the attacks on Libya.

The Stop the War Coalition says the end result will not be the freedom of Libyans, but control by the western world. They also want to know why their country (U.K. aka Britain) is attacking Libya, supposedly to protect citizens, and has done nothing to stop other countries from attacking peaceful protesters.

In Boston, U.S., Members of Act Now to End War and End Racism were protesting, saying that oil was the only reason that The United States wants to attack Libya.

In Washington DC, more than 100 anti-war protesters, including the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers about Vietnam, were arrested outside the White House.

Protests are taking place on the west coast of the U.S. as well. Some protesters are targeting military recruiters.

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel , D-NY, said he was angry that Congress was not consulted before the military strikes. He said he was undecided on whether the military action against Libya was justified.

International, U.S.

Arab League regrets supporting UN resolution against Libya. Emergency meeting called

“What we want is civilians’ protection not shelling more civilians.” said Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League.

Moussa said international military actions have gone beyond any so called no fly zone, and are actually causing more civilian deaths.  This is exactly what critics of the resolution warned of.

French president Sarkozy worked hard to convince the Arab League to support a so called no fly zone. When you read the historic resolution it is clear that it is more than a no fly zone, because it authorizes any/all military action.

The Arab League will now hold an emergency meeting.  This will affect the military action against Libya because several Arab League members are supposed to be taking part in that action.

Fukushima

Japan disaster adds to Global Food Supply woes

Not only have the agriculture industry, in north east Honshu, been hit by a natural disaster, they are suffering from the nuclear disaster as well.

Many farm fields were wiped out by the tsunami.  Because sea walls are destroyed, and land has actually sunk, the coastal areas could be under water for a time, especially during high tide. Now dairy and produce products are turning out to be contaminated with radiation.

Even though the Japanese government says they have stopped any shipments of such food, and that the levels are not harmful, shoppers have made it clear they won’t buy the stuff: “It’s a little hard to say this, but I won’t buy vegetables from Fukushima and that area,” said shopper Yukihiro Sato, at a Tokyo supermarket.

It’s also affecting Japan’s fishing industry, so far the winds have been blowing the radiation particles out over the Pacific Ocean.

In the immediate term Japanese food producers are benefiting as shoppers turn to their products, out of fear.  But, it will eventual stress the Japanese food industry.  Japan will have to increase imports of food from other countries.

This will add to what the United Nations said, earlier this year, is a growing food “supply” problem.  The supply problems is due to a combination of climate change and social unrest.  Some countries are experiencing long droughts, reducing crop production.  Other countries are experiencing flooding which destroys farm land.  Many countries in Asia experience both climactic conditions.  On top of that, social unrest, in Africa, Middle East (aka West Asia) and even Mexico (drug war) are causing the same end result, reduced crop production as well as interruption in supply.

Supply is the main concern of the UN because there are countries that have excess food but for many reasons, including the way the commodities markets work, the food is not being equally distributed around the world.

The food supply problem will have a bad result for consumers all over the world, prices will continue to go up.

 

Fukushima

JSDF NBC unit monitoring personnel at Fukushima Daiichi

Japanese Self Defense Forces Combat Nuclear Biological Chemical monitoring teams have been monitoring radiation levels to help protect workers fighting the nuclear disaster.

The military NBC units have been using lead suits, that weigh 48 pounds, and special armored cars that are equipped with NBC monitoring gear.  They are trying to make sure workers are rotated in and out of the plant for short time periods because of high radiation levels.

Most developed countries have NBC units in their military. Mainly because they also have WMDs, and have planned for their use on the battlefield.  Military NBC units can be used in a secondary role in case of something like what is happening in Japan.  I hope budget cutting here in the U.S. hasn’t affected our military NBC units.

Fukushima

Routine nuclear plant maintenance made things worse when Tsunami hit

Workers evacuated from Fukushima Daiichi immediately after the 9.0 quake/tsunami, say the reactors were already in trouble.

One worker said Reactor 1 suffered a hydrogen explosion the day after the tsunami.  He saw white smoke coming from reactor 1 while the tsunami swept by.  He also said because reactors were undergoing maintenance they were more susceptible to damage by the tsunami.

Fukushima

NBC Tanks to be used against nulcear plant

Officials dealing with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, said they will use military battle tanks as bulldozers, to clear away debris from around the reactors.

Japan’s military tanks have NBC protection. In the western militaries NBC stands for Nuclear Biological Chemical.  They have filtration and sealing systems to help prevent crews from contamination on the battlefield, in case of NBC attacks.

The damaged reactors have too much debris around them, and the sacrificial workers need it cleared way in order to complete their missions.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Another example of being ripped off by Insurance Companies

The 9.0 quake that struck Japan could very easily cost more than $100 billion in damages. Don’t expect that insurance policy to cover it.

Insurance companies might cover as little as $12 billion of losses.

Eqecat, a catastrophe-modeling firm, estimated that the quake may trigger only $12 billion to $25 billion of insured losses.

And the government of the United States wants a health care system totally controlled by the insurance industry?