Tag Archives: economy

Fukushima

Government/Corporate Incompetence: General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2 hits 96.4 Celsius on 13 February 2012!

Reactor 2, of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, continues to see increased temps, despite increased water injection.

At 10:00 hours on the morning of 13 February 2012 (Japan time) Tokyo Electric Power Company reported that the temperature hit 91.2 Celsius (196 Fahrenheit), by noon it was 96.4 C (205.5 F)!

TEPCo officials are hoping the thermometer is defective!  If the Reactor 2 hits 100 Celsius it will no longer be in cold shut down, and re-criticality is a possibility.

Two other thermometers are showing temps hovering between 30 to 35 Celsius.  However, TEPCo has just revealed there are three other thermometers, positioned about four feet lower down on the reactor, and they show temps dropping.  It sounds like all their thermometers are faulty!

TEPCo says all their eyes are on Reactor 2, and they’re working to get an accurate temp reading.  Reactor 2 is the only reactor, that went critical after the 11 March 2011 quake and tsunami, that did not explode.  Reactors 1, 3 and 4 exploded.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

White Horse, Pale Green Horse & World War 3: South American sanctions are starving out Falkland Islanders

On February 11, 2012, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) reported that people living on the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands are facing a food shortage, due to economic sanctions brought by several South American countries.

Argentina is upset because the United Kingdom failed to meet a UN resolution to discuss the return of the Islands to Argentine control.  Other South American countries became upset when the U.K. sent a sizable naval force to the Islands. They responded by halting food shipments.

Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay, are refusing to allow ships carrying the Falklands’ flag to dock in their ports.

Argentina is threatening to shut down the only air service to the Falklands from South America. That service is provided by Chile, but it must fly through Argentine air space.

The situation has been made worse by the discovery of huge oil deposits, and the involvement of a major U.S. oil company.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: Pentagon wants “urgent” upgrade for MAP Bombs, for use against Iran

“…are trying to ensure that 20 of the bombs are battle ready, possibly for use against Iran, though officials have been tight lipped on potential targets.”-Fox News

The Wall Street Journal reported that the 30,000 pound bunker buster bombs, known as Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MAP), were designed especially for use against Iran.  The 20 MAP bombs have already cost U.S. taxpayers $330 million!

Now Boeing, the contractor who makes the bombs, says they aren’t good enough and need to be upgraded!  Pentagon officials say it’s “urgent”, which implies they need the MAP bombs upgraded right now, for war with Iran.

Congress agreed to spend another $82 million to upgrade the MAPs.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

International, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: Germany wants war with Syria

Germany’s Defense Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, basically said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine that war is the only option for Syria: “The actions of the Syrian government against the people must be condemned internationally with a resolution of the United Nations….must isolate Assad….we must help the opposition in Syria.”

Maiziere says Germany and other countries do have the right to go to war with Syria: “International law does provide for a right to intervene to protect people in other countries against the violence of the rulers.”   (you think that might happen to the U.S. if Obama starts using his Republican Congress sanctioned national military police?)

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Germany & Turkey say Israeli war against Iran will be disastrous

Germany’s Defense Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine that if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear industry: “A success would be highly unlikely, and result in obvious political damage.”

Maiziere said the European Union sanctions should be allowed to go into effect before any military action takes place.  The EU sanctions will not be in place until July 2012.

Turkish officials also say war would be a mistake: “A military strike is a disaster. It should not be an option. Especially at a historic turning point in our region, we do not want to see another huge tension.”-Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Pepsi will lay off 8,700 employees, gives axe man a $2 million bonus

PepsiCo announced that they must radically restructure if they want to stay competitive.  This comes after Pepsi fell to third place, after Diet Coke.

Pepsi will lay off 8,700 employees around the world, and then spend big bucks on advertising to get you to buy more Pepsi products. Pepsi officials declined to say exactly how many U.S. employees would lose their jobs, but did say it should not be more than 3% of their U.S. operations.

Pepsi already laid off about 3,300 people from 2008 to 2009.

But here’s the thing, the former executive who caused Pepsi’s fall, is getting a $2 million bouns!  Massimo d’Amore ran Pepsi’s Global Beverages Group until September 2011.  He ordered changes in how Pepsi was marketed.  Those changes actually hurt sales.

So, d’Amore is let go, but walks away with $3.4 million in retirement and stocks, plus $2 million in severance, while 8,700 Pepsi employees will probably get nothin’ when they get axed!  And it’s not their fault Pepsi lost sales, it’s d’Amore’s fault!  Just another argument for employees to be the owners of their own business!

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Pale Green Horse & Global Food Crisis: Nepal, India & Vietnam getting hit hard by H5N1. Vietnam says What Global Warming?

The H5N1 virus isn’t just killing people, it’s killing off the food people eat.

A week ago Nepal said it would have to kill off 4,000 poultry because of H5N1.  Well, already 8,000 poultry have died, because the virus is spreading so fast!

India says yet another poultry farm there has been hit with H5N1.  The virus itself killed off more than 5,000 birds at one farm!  Local officials have ordered the killing of all poultry within a three kilometer (1.8 miles) radius of the farm, that means tens of thousands of birds meant to feed humans will be gotten rid of.

In Vietnam, officials there are blaming the unusually cold weather on the spread of H5N1, as well as the undocumented importation of poultry.

So far nearly 300 birds died from the virus, while nearly 4,000 where put down.  At least two people in Vietnam have died from H5N1.

Vietnamese officials say they can not trace where most of the imported poultry are coming from.  They say many of the birds were brought into Vietnam, illegally, during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Conservative Reganomics Economist says Republican supporters are Stupid when it comes to Taxes and the Economy

Bruce Bartlett, former Reagan and Bush Sr official, has published a new book called The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform – Why We Need It and What It Will Take.  But guess what? He says the wealthy have been getting huge tax cuts for decades, and that’s part of what put the federal government into record debt!

He also says, in an interview with Bill Moyers, that right wing Republicans are stupid when it comes to understanding how much taxes they really pay, and how taxes really work:  “Back when the Tea Party first came into existence, back in 2009 they had a big demonstration in Washington. And we went around and we surveyed…You know, questions of just straight factual knowledge, not opinion. And it turned out that these people all thought taxes were vastly higher than they really are, and that they were paying exorbitantly high tax rates that would be impossible for them to pay.”

Bartlett also says the right wingers are stupid religious nuts: “…it’s very much like religion. And I think that it’s not a surprise that so many very, you know, devout Christians are a part of the Republican Party and accept a lot of this. Because the nature of deep religious belief is faith, which means you accept things for which there is no proof. And so, I think it’s not that hard to shift that faith over to believe …That if you cut taxes, revenues will go up…That all tax cuts are good and all spending cuts are good, and all government is bad.”

He blames Right Wing radio and Fox News: “You hear the same idea over and over again. Or you can call it propaganda if you like. It’s broadly believed and people just keep saying these things all the time, that ‘Rich people create jobs.’ ‘Yes, rich people create jobs.’ ‘They’re motivated primarily by taxation.’ ‘Yes, they’re motivated by taxation.’ ‘We must cut their taxes.’ ‘Yes, we must cut their taxes.’”

“Year after year after year of people watching Fox News and listening to talk radio, had conditioned them in advance to believe that the government is responsible for all of our problems.”

Bartlett says once enough stupid Tea Party members realize it’s their own Republican officials who are doing them in, they’ll Join the Occupy Movement: “…once they start to realize that the Republicans really do want to not just cut Medicare, but essentially abolish it, you know, I just think those people are not going to be part of the Tea Party. They’re going to be over with the Occupy Wall Street.”

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: U.K. and Argentina heading for Second Falklands War, major oil find could change the minds of U.S. leaders

Argentine Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman, demanded that the United Kingdom “…refrain from this military escalation that they are carrying out in the South Atlantic with the introduction of the latest generation of warships and warplanes, and dispatching a nuclear submarine with the capacity to unload nuclear weapons.”

While some British officials say the sending of Royal Navy ships to the Falklands (Malvinas) Islands is in response to Argentina’s growing demand to return the islands to Argentine control, other British officials say the move to send warships was planned long ago.

In any case the United Nations is asking the two countries to settle the issue peacefully: “The secretary general expressed concern about the increasingly strong exchanges between the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom on this issue. He expressed the hope that the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom will avoid an escalation of this dispute and resolve differences peacefully and through dialogue.”

In the 1990s. Argentina’s constitution was changed to make retaking of the Malvinas, from the British, a constitutional requirement.

Disputes over who controls the Falklands goes back to the late 1700s, and involves France, Spain and the United States, as well as Argentina and Britain.  This latest dispute is being exacerbated by the fact that oil has been discovered there.

If war were declared, the U.K. would find it a little more difficult to fight, than in the 1982 war, because several major South American countries have indicated they will help Argentina fight the British.

“The recovery of Malvinas Islands on part of Argentina is a fact that joins countries like Peru…It is part of our identity; there is a piece of colonial territory in these islands that still remains in South America.”-Rafael Roncagliolo, Foreign Minister of Peru

“…back Argentine sovereignty over the Malvinas and back the UN resolutions calling on the Argentine and British governments to hold talks on the issue…”-Antonio Patriota, Foreign Minister of Brazil

“I’m speaking only for Venezuela, but if it occurs to the British Empire to attack Argentina, Argentina won’t be alone this time.”-Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela

What does the United States have to say about this?  Basically the same thing they said in 1982: “Our position remains the same. This is a problem between two of our partners. We do not want to change our position…”-Roberta Jacobson, Acting U.S. Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs

However, a recent huge oil find might change the stance of U.S. leaders.  Because a major U.S. oil company, Anadarko, wants to get involved with the British company that discovered the huge oil field.

Anadarko wants to invest $1.5 billion into the British company Rockhopper: “A deal has been tabled. Anadarko has got approval to do this from the highest levels in the U.S., and they’ve been reassured the British will stand by the islands.”-unnamed British source

Anadarko was involved with British Petroleum and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010.  The British media says Anadarko has connections to the Pentagon because it’s current Board of Directors include Kevin Chilton, a former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, and Preston M “Pete” Geren III, who worked in the U.S. Department of Defense for at least ten years.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

U.S.

United Police States of America: Video shows rich White cops hunting poor black man in New York

Almost reminiscent of the British killer cops who started riots in poor London suburbs by killing an unarmed father, white New York City cops intentionally stalked a poor black man, and it was caught on video.

Ramarley Graham, 18, died last Thursday after NYPD broke into his grandmother’s home, went upstairs and held his grandmother at gunpoint, in the bathroom, while they shot her unarmed grandson point blank in the chest!

Officially the cops said Graham was running from a drug bust, however the apartment’s security camera video shows Graham calmly walking into the apartment.  Suddenly two cops run from around a corner and start kicking the door.  One cop is trying to conceal his identity with is hat and hoodie.  Witnesses say the cops never identified themselves.  The racists cops had their guns drawn almost from the beginning.

The liar cops also said, just like in the London case last year, that Graham had a gun as well as drugs.  One cop was said to be heard yelling “gun, gun” just before they shot Graham.  Guess what? No gun or drugs were found on Graham, or in his grandmother’s home!!!

Watch a local New York news report, with the security camera video