The U.S. Department of Justice says Japanese tire maker Bridgestone has agreed to plead guilty to bid rigging, and bribing Latin American governments.
It involves giant hoses used to transfer oil from oil tankers to storage facilities.
The illegal practice of bribing and bid rigging went on for ten years, from 1997-2007. Bridgestone admitted that it bribed government officials in Mexico and other Latin American countries to secure deals. They are facing a fine of only $28 million.
16 September 2011, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency says the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could have been avoided.
They say if water injection began four hours sooner there would have been no melt downs.
Anyone who’s been following the situation from day one knows that Tokyo Electric Power Company has dragged their feet on just about everything connected to dealing with the disaster. Especially at the beginning when it seemed that TEPCo officials just refused to believe that anything was wrong!
Of the plant’s six reactors, reactors 1 and 3 suffered meltdowns after losing cooling functions.
Reactor 2 suffered a hydrogen explosion on 15 March, which caused the release and spread of massive amounts of radioactive isotopes.
16 September 2011, ever since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began, waste incinerator sites across Japan have reported high levels of radiation in the ashes of burned garbage and sludge.
The latest tests show three Prefectures still with levels of cesium contamination exceeding safe limits: Iwate, Fukushima and Chiba.
The highest measurement was 144,420 becquerels per kilogram at one facility in Fukushima!
The Japanese Environment Ministry realized that the incinerators reporting high levels of radiation contamination, are storing the garbage outside, where it can be contaminated by airborne cesium. This is also an indicator of just how much airborne radiation is being spread across Japan.
The Environment Ministry has now decided to test all incinerators sites, that store the garbage outdoors.
Read more about incinerator contamination:
“The big increase in new foreclosure actions may be a signal that lenders are starting to push through some of the foreclosures delayed by robo signing and other documentation problems. It also foreshadows more bank repossessions in the coming months as these new foreclosures make their way through the process.”-James Saccacio, CEO RealtyTrac
The latest RealtyTrac survey put Idaho in the top ten for foreclosures. One in every 348 Idaho homes were in foreclosure in August 2011. The report also says one in every 570 homes in the United States was facing foreclosure in August 2011.
The three most populous counties in eastern Idaho broke down like this; Bannock: 238 foreclosures. Bingham: 132 foreclosures. Bonneville: 320 foreclosures.
Nevada still holds onto the number one position for home foreclosures, for the 56th straight month!
California is number two with a 55% default rate, and one out of every 226 homes being foreclosed in August!
Arizona was number three for the second month in a row.
The rest of the top ten list is made up of Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Colorado and Utah.
September 15, Pocatello, Idaho, to be hit by latest USPS closings. Local postal workers told me that the Gateway distribution center, on Flandro Road in Pocatello, could be part of the surprise announcement made by U.S. Postal Service officials today.
This would mean all east Idaho mail would be shipped off to Salt Lake City, Utah, to be sorted.
I checked the USPS mail processing facilities list of closings, and the Pocatello distribution center is the only facility in Idaho on the list!
Postal officials say it will result in much slower delivery times. That’s not all, the USPS is considering ending First Class letter service altogether!
Local postal workers told me they were notified yesterday, September 14. This latest announcement of closings are for as many as 252 mail processing facilities (distribution centers), cutting 35,000 jobs, across the country. They were not listed on the recent Post Office closing list!
Local postal workers also told me that they suspect the U.S. Congress is conspiring to fully privatize the Postal Service. There is no reason for that, since the USPS does not get any taxpayer money!!!
The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge. The U.S. Congress controls what the USPS can charge, and, according to testimonies by the U.S. postmaster general, Patrick Donahoe, and Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, the U.S. Congress has forced the USPS to over pay into several federal funds.
A ProPublica report shows more than 1,000 Idaho doctors were paid by 12 drug companies, to the tune of more than $2 million within the last year. The Idaho Board of Medicine sees no harm in it.
Some of those payments were in the form of free meals (a Boise doctor got $607 worth) in exchange for attending seminars that pushed new drugs. Others made money giving the talks at those seminars. A Sun Valley psychiatrist made more than $100,000 for giving such talks.
The ProPublica.org report is part of their ongoing investigation into how Corporate America, and possibly your doctor, are ripping everyone off. Many people, who’ve left comments on the ProPublica story, expressed surprise to learn their personal doctor was on the list.
Beginning in 2013, drug companies are supposed to publicly report who they gave money to.
“Since the democratic transition in Spain, we have not seen such a hard attack on social services and essential public services. This is an attack by Madrid’s regional government against employment and public education.”-Cayo Lara
Spain’s attempts to pay down its debt has seen huge cuts to education spending, at least 13,000 temporary teachers will lose their jobs.
The public school system in Spain has never had a good track record: One of Europe’s highest dropout rates with nearly 30% of students under the age of 16.
More education strikes are planned for September 20 & 21.
September 15, scores of protesters hurled smoke bombs and other objects, even a cow’s lung, at the police.
The riots took place outside the Italian Parliament. Italian politicians are trying to come up with a new debt reduction plan. The plan will be similar to the Greek plan, meaning Italian taxpayers, and the unemployed are going to suffer.
The Italian government is trillions in debt. The latest debt reduction plan hopes to have the debt paid off by 2013. It can only be done with drastic tax increases and cuts to taxpayer funded government services (which will mean more people getting laid off).
“The participation rate in the strike is over 90%. The workers are striking to protest the looting of their income.”-Yiannis Grivas, head of the tax collectors’ union
You know things are bad when the government’s own tax collectors join the protestors. Not just tax collectors, but Customs officers joined the latest protests of the Greek government’s debt repayment plan.
The plan places the burden on the taxpayers of Greece, many are unemployed. The government’s plan will add to the unemployment by cutting government jobs, and cutting government pay: “We are talking about cuts to our income of 60% over the past one and a half years, 30% last year and 30% this year with the new wage structure. Of course we are obliged to protest.”-Yiannis Grivas, head of the tax collectors’ union
If you think about it, the Greek plan isn’t about building a good economy, but totally about paying down government debt by raising taxes on those few who still have jobs, and cutting services for everyone!
“The biggest single concern is that we may face a outright tax revolt. Those who have been paying taxes are now being asked to pay again, and there is a fear they won’t be able to pay any more.”-Unnamed Greek official
“I had one year left on my mortgage, and it would have been paid off, I wanted to live here for as long as possible.”-Linda Hatchel
Linda Hatchel spent decades, and tens of thousands of dollars renovating her Chicago home.
What makes it all the more terrible is that more than twenty years ago she paid about one dollar for the home. It was a demolition sale. She took out loans to renovate the house, but her cancer treatment, and the loss of her job left her unable to make the final payment (she had one payment left), now she’s about to become homeless.
In Texas, 101 year old Texana Hollis was evicted from her home this week. In 2003, her son asked her to sign it over to a reverse mortgage company for $32,000 to help with home repairs. Despite claims that reverse mortgages can keep you in your home, the bank kicked her to the curb.