September 9, Canada’s Vancouver Island felt a 6.7 quake, according to the USGS.
Many Canadians on the mainland said they didn’t notice. The epicenter was 175 miles (281.6 km) west of the city of Vancouver, and 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Port Alice, British Columbia.
“This was not a deliberate act. The employee was just switching out a piece of equipment that was problematic.”-Daniel Froetscher, Arizona Public Service
At least 2.5 million people in the U.S. and Mexico, lost power because of maintenance at a Yuma, Arizona, substation.
Around 15:30 September 8, monitoring equipment was replaced. That caused power to go out for about 56,000 customers. Ten minutes later, after an attempt to restore power, the lights went out for 2.5 million customers from Yuma, Arizona, to San Diego, California, to Tijuana, Baja California.
Apparently circuits were shorted out. Power company officials are trying to find out why such actions would have created a “cascade” effect along the power grid.
The power outage also shut down the San Onofre nuclear plant, and caused a 3.2-million gallon sewage spill San Diego beaches.
“Turkish warships, in the first place, are authorized to protect our ships that carry humanitarian aid to Gaza. From now on, we will not let these ships to be attacked by Israel, as what happened with the Freedom Flotilla.”-Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey
Erdogan said that Turkey will boost its naval presence in eastern Mediterranean to challenge Israel’s domination in the sea.
In a reference to Israeli plans to exploit huge gas and oil reserves found beneath the Mediterranean Sea, that are claimed by Lebanon, Erdogan said Turkish forces will also stop Israel from exploiting natural resources in the area.
On July 26 Lebanon issued similar warnings to Israel: “We warn Israel against extending its hands to this area to steal Lebanon’s resources from Lebanese waters.”-Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General
The Turkish prime minister indicated that Israel’s claim to all the resources of the Mediterranean is what will lead to war: “You know that Israel has begun to declare that it has the right to act in exclusive economic areas in the Mediterranean. You will see that it will not be the owner of this right, because Turkey, as a guarantor of the Turkish republic of north Cyprus, has taken steps in the area, and it will be decisive and holding fast to the right to monitor international waters in the east Mediterranean.”
In less than a day after Japan’s new policy chief Seiji Maehara recommended changes to Japan’s military policies, Russia has declared a no fly zone north of Japan.
The no fly zone could be part of Russia’s planned war games in the Sea of Okhotsk, northeast of Hokkaido. Japan is asking for details from Russia.
Russian officials are confirming that two of their Tu 95 Bear bombers flew around Japan. But insisted they were over international water. The Japanese scrambled fighter jets, the Japanese pilots confirmed the Russian bombers were over international water.
These incidents have got the fragile Japanese government on edge. Russia and Japan are disputing claims over islands north of Hokkaido.
Currently the Japanese constitution does not allow the sale of Japanese made weapons to other countries. It does not allow Japanese troops to be used outside Japan, although the government got around this by ordering their troops not to carry weapons on ‘peacekeeping’ missions.
Japan’s new policy chief Seiji Maehara, is recommending changing the constitution to relax criteria for weapons use by Japanese Self-Defense Forces taking part in UN peacekeeping operations. He says Japanese troops could help the U.S. by being able to actually fight alongside U.S. forces.
Also, Maehara claims that without letting the Japanese military industry sell weapons to other countries, and take part in advanced weapons development with countries like the United States, Japan’s military defenses could become technologically outdated.
Corporate bankruptcies in Japan have risen for the second month in a row, they blame the rising value of their yen, which is being pushed up by the falling U.S. dollar.
Credit research firm Teikoku Databank says 969 companies failed in August!
The strong yen is causing a drop in orders and exports, and causing trading losses in currency derivatives.
The research firm warns of a vicious spiral, with more companies shifting production overseas to escape the high yen, in turn cutting even more orders to Japanese firms and putting them at risk of bankruptcy.
Australia’s economy is doing much better that the U.S. economy, thanks to their deals with China, yet the state government of New South Wales is going to layoff 5,000 government employees, and cap government wages!
Also, Australia’s biggest steel maker, BlueScopeSteel, is laying off 1,000 workers! Back in July solar power companies announced they were losing 73 jobs per day in New South Wales!
September 8 saw 30,000 protestors hit the streets in Sydney.
The latest economic news out of Australia says consumer spending is up, 1%, and their export economy hit 1.2% growth. Household savings is at 10.5%. Analysts expect overall economic growth to expand by 4.3% by the end of the year. Much better than the U.S.
So why are Australians still losing their jobs?
BlueScopeSteel claims they’ve been losing money, no thanks to the rising Australian dollar! Company officials says most of their sales are overseas, and the high Australian dollar makes their products too expensive for international customers.
Workers and union officials say it’s really because company management is financially incompetent.
As the U.S. dollar falls, other currencies, like the Australian dollar is rising.
The Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says because the New South Wales (NSW) government has failed to adopt the ‘Fair & Equal Price for Solar Solution’ plan, at least 73 solar power jobs are being lost per day.
NSW officials want a four month delay before adopting the plan, but company officials say that by then their companies could be shut down. The plan would allow residents to put affordable solar power on their own homes, then sell excess power back to the grid. The plan would not cost anything to the state government.
This brings us to the strange announcement that NSW is going to lay off 5,000 of its own employees, and cap wages for the rest.
From what I could find, the only reason for the government layoffs are because the elites of Australia want to privatize everything. NSW’s Premier Barry O’Farrell claims it’s a necessary step in preparing for a much more competitive world (the overall bad global economy caused by the United States, like the falling U.S. dollar driving up the Australian dollar).
Residents of NSW aren’t taking this laying down, not like most people in the United Police States of Corporate America. Here’s what some of the September 8 protestors had to say: “IR laws, stick it up your barrell O’Farrell.”
“Our message to Barry O’Farrell is you are a horrible bastard. You’re a liar and we’re going to fight you every inch of the way.”-Matt, prison guard
The protestors also sang the old Twisted Sister song “Were not gonna take it.”
NSW firefighters also protested, at least 500 firefighters with dozens of fire trucks arrived in Sydney, and union bosses told the firefighters to be ready “to drag this government into the gutter…”!
“O’Farrell doesn’t give a stuff how hard we work, how smart we work, all he wants us to be is cheaper. We have to say no.”-Jim Casey, Fire Brigade Employees’ Union
When will the slaves of the United Police States of Corporate America say no?
The area of Japan that was hardest hit by Typhoon Talas, could get drenched by tropical storm Kulap.
Kulap is expected to move around Japan and hit Korea, but heavy rain is still likely to hit Shikoku and southwestern Honshu.
So far 54 people have been killed by Talas, and four of 12 dams made by landslides are about to burst. The landslide dams are blocking rivers in hard to reach areas. Officials hope to use specially designed buoys to monitor the water levels of the new lakes.
State-owned China National Petroleum Corporation won the first oil and natural gas exploration contracts in Afghanistan since the U.S. led invasion in 2001.
It’s estimated that there are 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil in Afghanistan. The oil fields of Bazarkhami, Kashkari and Zamarudsay (areas under contract with CNPC) contain an estimated 80 million barrels.
In 2007 China got the rights to mine copper in Afghanistan. Isn’t nice that the U.S. led War on Terror is allowing other countries to get contracts to mine minerals and oil?
The Irvine 11 are accused of repeatedly interrupting Israeli ambassador Michael Oren when he spoke on the UCI campus in February 2010.
They are now facing trial for “disturbing a meeting”.
One student at a recent protest pointed out that there’s something wrong with U.S. citizens not being able to exercise their right to expression, while a foreigner is protected: “…a foreign ambassador that’s coming to our home, and talking to us about these issues, and we can’t have a voice at the table, nor can we voice it in a protest?”-Kifah Shah, supporter of Irvine 11
The Irvine 11, students at UC Irvine and UC Riverside, have already been punished by University of California officials, and now face court trial on charges of “disturbing a meeting”. Many students say the charges are totally politically motivated. It proves that students are not allowed to participate in public events.
If convicted the Irvine 11 could face six months in prison.