A Kobe, Japan, private-sector group announced the results of their studies on sunflowers in the contaminated areas of Japan.
They grew sunflowers in 4 fields in Minamisoma City, within 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
They found that soil contamination was reduced between 20% and 50%. Radiation was absorbed by the sunflowers’ roots. The problem is that the sunflowers are now considered nuclear waste.
Researchers at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Kyoto University and other institutes say the actual radiation pouring into the Pacific Ocean, from Fukushima Daiichi, is at least three times what Tokyo Electric Power Company is officially reporting.
The researchers say that at least 15,000 terabecquerels (1 terabecquerel = 1.0 × 10+12 becquerels) of radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137 has entered the ocean!!! They say TEPCo is not monitoring airborne radiation that falls into the ocean.
Texans are suffering the worst fires in Texas history. Did you know that Governor Rick Perry slashed the state firefighting budget by 75%?
Earlier in 2011 Perry said he was planning on slashing funding for the volunteer fire department from $30 million down to $7 million! Back in May, Forest Service Director Tom Boggus told Reuters that volunteer programs were the number one defense against wild fires. Despite this, the Texas Forest Service is expected to see $34 million in cuts over the next two years, no thanks to Rick Perry.
Rick Perry recently tried to blame Obama for lack of funding for Texas firefighters: “It is not only the obligation of the federal government, but its responsibility under law to help its citizens in times of emergency.”
Perry’s cronies say their cuts are necessary to save money: “We understand the difficulty they have had in dealing with almost unprecedented numbers of fires this year. We also understand that in order to balance the budget, everybody needs to endure some reductions.”-Talmadge Heflin, Center for Fiscal Policy/Texas Public Policy Foundation
But get this, the ‘savings’ in cuts to Texas firefighting services have been totally negated by the cost of this year’s ongoing fires. So far damages are estimated to be $5 billion, and counting!
And yet the historic fires of Texas aren’t enough to stop ‘christian’ Rick Perry from campaigning for President of the United States!
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?
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?
September 8, Reuters reporting at least 40 Israelis being arrested after blocking traffic, and breaking into the Tel Aviv city hall.
This after the biggest anti-regime rallies in Israel’s short history, on Saturday.
Anti-regime protests erupted in Israel in mid-July as activists began setting up tents in Tel Aviv to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s economic and social policies.
The protestors are also opposed to Israel’s illegal settlement expansions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“We want to make a decent living as doctors in Israel….We have a great public health system and you have to invest money and funds and the government is just letting the health system collapse.”-Doctor Shuli Swetitzki, Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv
She said a lot of doctors sought to leave either Israel or their profession “because it is so hard to get by.”
Israelis have been protesting the high costs of living and social injustice over the recent months. The largest anti government protest by Israelis took place on September 3, when around one million Israelis held protest rallies in at least 50 cities.
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.
Remember, the money made by the USPS does not come from taxes, and yet they’re being forced to over pay into federal funds.
Postmaster Donahoe has asked Congress to refund the over payments and they refused! Congress is also refusing to allow the USPS access to it’s own money in the other funds. Why? Can it be that the U.S. Congress is using the non taxpayer Postal funds to pay for the day to day operations of the Congress? Afterall, the U.S. government is broke, and they sure haven’t had any problems stealing from the taxpayer funded Social Security accounts!!!