The U.S. Navy has withdrawn 10 ships from Japan. They say it’s because they are no longer needed for supply efforts, now that more roads have been cleared.
Most roads and rail systems in the north east of Honshu were destroyed in the 11 March disasters.
The U.S. still has plenty of troops in the area, including a special nuke team sent to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
Timothy Geithner is warning the U.S. Congress that if they don’t get their act together soon, the United States government will hit its legal limit on debt.
That could mean defaulting on loans owed to the rest of the world. The Treasury Department is forecasting that the debt limit will be reached between April 15 and May 31.
Some politicians want to reduce spending to prevent default. Others want to legally increase the debt limit.
Surprisingly, Geithner and Ben Bernankie want the debt limit raised. That would only mean getting taxpayers deeper in debt.
Geithner said the Treasury has some actions it can take, until Congress figures out what it’ll do, but that will only delay the debt crisis until July 8.
Some Congressmen have asked if selling off the country’s Federal Student Loans, or selling off gold reserves, would help. Geithner basically said no way: “To attempt a fire sale of financial assets in an effort to buy time for Congress to act would be damaging to financial markets and the economy and would undermine confidence in the United States.”
In other words: Time to get your rear in gear, Congress!
Gaddafi said it, exclusive reports in some western media sources said it, and even the U.S. Admiral in charge of NATO said it: Al Qaeda is operating with the Libyan rebels we are supporting. And now they are taking the weapons for the rebels, for later use against the West.
Reuters is reporting that Algerian intelligence has proof that al Qaeda is operating in Libya, and they’re taking Western supplied, and captured Russian, weapons out of Libya.
Algeria, right to the west of Libya, has spent years trying to keep al Qaeda out. Now they’ve stepped up security operations because of the Western backed rebellion in Libya, precisely because they know al Qaeda is involved.
Algerian officials are amazed that the U.S., and other UN coalition countries are supporting, essentially, al Qaeda.
Haven’t we been here before? We supported a certain group who fought in the Afghan/Soviet War, that group became al Qaeda led by bin Laden (by the way not Afghani, but Wahhabi Arab), and that group declared war on the United States. Then we invade Iraq, supposedly because of connections to al Qaeda, which were false, and as a result al Qaeda actually got into Iraq (Saddam Hussein was actively fighting al Qaeda before we invaded). Now there is more and more proof that we are supporting al Qaeda in Libya. Sompin’ funny goin’ on here!
Remember the old “Sanford and Son” TV show? Let me paraphrase Red Fox’s character’s favorite phrase for his son: “Obama, you big dummy!”
Despite trying to be optimistic, Toyota has now admitted that the parts supply problem is so bad that it will have to close ALL its North American plants.
Toyota spokesman Mike Goss, said the shut downs will take place later in April. At least 25,000 employees will be affected. How long the shut downs last depends on parts supply issues.
Goss said that the North American plants, in Mexico, U.S. and Canada, get only 15% of their parts from Japan, but they are crucial for assembly of the vehicles.
There is about one week’s worth of parts for North America. Toyota, as well as other car makers, are scrambling to find factories outside Japan to make the parts.
Dengue fever is spread by Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, and thanks to the extra rain South America is getting, those mosquitoes are breeding like flies. Even Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean, is reporting cases.
Brazil is the hardest hit, so far, already more than 30,000 cases, just in the state of Rio alone, and at least 23 dead. The capitol city Rio de Janeiro is reporting that so far this year, cases have skyrocketed 2059%, compared to the same time last year.
Argentina is already warning of the spread of Dengue to other South American countries as the wet weather continues.
In Paraguay, so many people have crowded into hospitals with Dengue that officials canceled elective surgeries to free up beds. So far this year 18 people have died of Dengue in Paraguay. Compare that to all of last year, when they had 15 deaths.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed at least four cases in Pearl City, Oahu, Hawaii, with 12 more suspected cases. In Hawaii Dengue is spread by the Asian Tiger mosquito (Aedus Albopitus).
CDC officials say Dengue originates in humans, but is spread by mosquitoes. Tracking Dengue fever is more about tracking where infected humans travel. Most people show no symptoms. The CDC website has more information.
Dengue cases are hitting all over the world, in mainly humid climates, or areas that are getting more rain than usual.
‘‘Although it is not the duty of the central government to decide how to distribute the funds, we would like to devise some sort of guidelines to enable speedy distribution.”-Yoshihiro Katayama, Internal Affairs and Communications Minister
In another example that shows Japan is not prepared for disasters, billions of donated money is sitting around waiting for the national (central), and local governments, to figure out what to do with it. Which is amazing because they were able to deal with a similar situation after the 1995 earthquake, what’s the problem now?
Local governments are complaining about how the money is going to be issued. Also, government officials say they are waiting for the charities to recommend how the money should be used. Did anyone tell the charities?
Text: AAron Hutchins
Photos by: Alex Hutchins (click on the pics to make them bigger. More pics, including plaques that explain HTRE, in the Galleries section, click on the INL Nuclear Power Site)
Barely noticeable from the two lane highway, sitting literally in the middle of nowhere, a brick building with some strange caged objects next to it. Getting any closer doesn’t help you identify the metallic two story tall objects, behind locked fences with barbed wire on top. They seem extraterrestrial. Perhaps some ancient Alien visitors left behind their space vehicle?
HTRE-3
It’s like something out of X-Files. But this isn’t Area 51, in Nevada. It’s not Roswell, New Mexico. It’s eastern Idaho, and today is windy and cold. As my son Alex said, “It’s Big Wind.”
As far as ‘ancient’ goes, well, some people might think 1950s is ancient. That’s when the strange twisted metal craft first appeared. Extraterrestrial? Many people in the 1950s thought the scientists of the day were out of this world with their crazy ideas, like nuclear powered jet aircraft.
Taking Exit 93 off Interstate 15, turn west towards Arco. Stay on Highway 26 for about 40 miles. As you drive the lonely 40 miles you’ll pass the big “Welcome to the INL” sign. Then you’ll come to an intersection, make a left, just follow the arrows to Arco. You’ll see building complexes to your right, that’s part of the main Idaho National Laboratory complex.
INL Entrance
At that point pay attention to your left. You should see a lone building in the distance, EBR-1, the world’s first nuclear reactor. That’s where the strange alien vehicle looking things are. There should be a left turn lane coming up, with signs for EBR-1. Make the turn, then another left turn lane, again follow the sign for EBR-1.
It’s a desolate place, my son and I were the only ones there that windy, cold day. We passed a couple of parked cars on the roadside, with no one in them, out in the middle of nowhere, mmm.
EBR-1
There they are, like something left behind, and forgotten, by some advanced species, in the middle of the vast, windy East Idaho desert, HTRE-1, 2 & 3. The three huge Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments units making up world’s first nuclear powered turbine engine. Intentionally twisted metal, big pipes, gigantic turbos, and two little jet engine exhaust at the back. Don’t think these guys are safe, they’re radiation warning signs all over. Many of the openings and fittings are sealed off. Even the giant weld seams on the reactor have been recently coated with a white colored material.
Nuclear powered jet engines and the lead-lined train that pulled them.
Some people would say that only an evil scientist would come up with such a thing. Maybe they’re right? General Electric spent one billion taxpayer dollars on the project, before it was canceled by President Kennedy in 1961. And that’s 1950s dollars, whew!
There are several informational plaques that give the visitor more understandable, and more interesting, info than what I found on the internet. Like “Operation Wiener Roast”. They actually burned a nuclear turbine engine to see if dangerous levels of radiation would be spread if a nuclear powered aircraft crashed.
Operation Wiener Roast
Testing of the reactor turbine was successful, but an actual aircraft was never developed. The program was conducted in Idaho, in Test Area North, of what is now called the INL. The project was managed by the U.S. Air Force and the Atomic Energy Commission. There’s lots more information on the signs, you need to go there to look for yourself.
One things for sure, this archeological find proves that the U.S. government spent taxpayer dollars on some really far out stuff in the 1950s.
Radiation signs next to jet engines.
Lead-lined train in the Arco desert in Eastern Idaho. Photo by Alexander Hutchins.
GHOSTLY NUKE TRAIN ROLLIN’ ‘CROSS IDAHO DESERT
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric, met with Tokyo Electric chairman Katsumata Tsunehisa on Sunday.
TEPCo officials said GE’s Immelt offered ‘maximum’ support for dealing with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which GE designed.
According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there are 23 nuclear plants in the United States that are similar in design as Fukushima Daiichi.
Immelt will meet with the Japanese Economy Minister on Monday. Under Japanese regulations, if the design of the plant is proven faulty then GE can be sued.
Immelt has also been pushing for taxpayer supported nuclear plant development in the U.S. The Guardian newspaper recently reminded people that Immelt once said that investors are not willing to take on the risks of nuclear power, and that those risks should be handled by the government (taxpayers). In other words, capitalist investors know nuclear power is a bad bet.
According to former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, General Electric paid no U.S. taxes in 2010. He also wants Jeffery Immelt to resign from President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
After three days of intense searching by about 20,000 U.S. and Japanese military personnel, only 78 bodies were found.
It was hoped the low tide would reveal more of the missing.
At this point, Japanese national police say there is more than 15,000 people missing. And that is based on reports from living relatives. Police say that the actual number is much higher, because entire families were washed away in the March 11 tsunami, leaving no one to report them missing. Also, documentation of residents in the hardest hit prefectures, were also washed away.
The death toll, so far, going by numbers presented at the prefectural level, is more than 10,000. Again, that is expected to go up as bodies are found.
According to Human Rights groups, and the United Nations, thousands of people in Mexico have been disappeared since the Drug War began, and the Mexican government is one of the suspects.
Those people being disappeared are not drug dealers, or drug runners, but human rights activists, oil workers, journalists and even migrant workers. The traditional ‘right’ leaning Mexican government has always viewed human rights activists as left wing commies, and more of a threat than illegal drug dealers.
To put the current situation in perspective, Mexico’s own National Commission on Human Rights, documented the disappearance of 532 people (disappeared by the government) thought to be rights activist in the 1960s-1970s (during the Cold War). Since 2006 more than 3,000 people have been disappeared.
In 2006, right wing President Felipe Calderón, went on the war path, officially against the drug lords. Is it a coincidence that the Mexican government’s so called war on drugs is actually killing and disappearing civilians?
The facts are that since the Mexican Drugs War began, the people being targeted are civilians, including U.S. citizens. Far more civilians have been killed than drug dealers. Keep in mind these killings are not from aerial bombing, but from shootings and beatings, and other means, by police, soldiers and drug gangs. That means the killers had to specifically target the victims.
To put it in perspective: In all of Afghanistan, in 2010, there were 2,421 civilian deaths (Congressional Research Service). In just one Mexican city, Ciudad Juarez, there were 3,111 civilian deaths. That’s one Mexican city compared to all of Afghanistan.
Total deaths in the Drugs War, according to Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s office, just for 2010, is 12,456 people by the end of November. And that does not count people disappeared.
In the city of Saltillo, there are 118 documented cases of disappearances since 2007. The government security forces are believed to be involved in at least 25 of those. Human Rights Watch documented 12 cases of disappearances in the state of Nuevo León, in which government military personnel and police are believed to be involved.
Hypocritically the Mexican government signed the UN International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, in 2008. To be fair, not all disappearances are linked to the Mexican government, but it sure is strange that there should be skyrocketing numbers of civilian killed and disappeared, since the Drugs War started in 2006. Are both the Mexican military and police, and the drug gangs, that bad at finding their targets?