Health and the Nuclear Gamble

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Published on Sunday, March 27, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

Health and the Nuclear Gamble

by Robert Dodge

The world has anxiously watched the events in Japan unfolding this past two weeks after the horrific earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster. The feelings are magnified out of a sense of helplessness in aiding the victims in Japan mixed with concerns for potential effects and implications to our own health and communities. In assessing the devastating effects of natural disasters, we must pause as we consider the potential for catastrophic effects of man made disasters, specifically from nuclear power plants.
The radiation effects of this disaster are unknown at the present time with greatest concern for the firefighters and those workers and people in the immediate vicinity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Unfortunately the news has gotten worse on a daily basis and has not been entirely forthcoming or transparent. We have moved from reassurance of no leakage to a small fissure in the containment chamber to the leaking of critical water from the cooling pools with variable releases of highly radioactive isotopes to the probability of a breech of the containment vessel that houses the nuclear core. The latter posses the greatest threat.
Fortunately the risk and radiation detected at our shores appears nominal at the present time. However our own National Academy of Sciences has stated that any exposure to radiation increases a person’s risk of cancer. There is no safe level of radiation exposure. The amazing fact is not that the radiation that reaches our shores is described low level at the present time but that it reaches us at all traveling 5000 miles from Japan. This underscores the interconnectedness of our planet and energy decisions made anywhere in the world. With nuclear power and all of its safeguards, it remains imperfect and with the fragility of human technology there always exists the possibility of a nuclear accident with its risk of radioactivity release.
These invisible radioactive isotopes are intensely toxic to humans. Our bodies when exposed to them incorporate them into our cells as though they were life giving molecules. This is coupled with their extended half lives where they can persist for years promoting health risks. Thus far Iodine 131 and Cesium 137 have been the 2 isotopes confirmed at present. Iodine 131 has a half life of 8 days and is taken up by the thyroid gland where it emits radioactivity increasing the risk for thyroid cancer. Cesium 137 with its half life of 30 years is handled by the body like potassium which is rapidly disseminated throughout our entire bodies where it can cause burns, radiation sickness, cancer particularly of the soft tissues and death.
The other isotopes of concern are Strontium 90 and Plutonium 239. Strontium 90 with its half life of 29 years is utilized by the body like calcium depositing it in teeth and bone where it can cause cancer of the bone, bone marrow and soft tissues around the bone. Finally Plutonium 239 is the most dangerous isotope. Its cancer causing ionizing radiation risk can be either as an external hazard from outside the body or internal hazard by ingestion or inhalation where it is presents a significant lung cancer risk. Once it circulates through the body, it exposes the blood, kidneys, liver, and spleen to its cancer causing alpha particles.
At the present time, Iodine 131 has been found in the drinking water in Tokyo at levels 200% above the allowable for infants and children who are the most vulnerable to its cancer causing effects. Milk and food within the region are showing radioactive contamination. The water within the Reactor 3 which is a mixed oxide fuel reactor of plutonium and uranium has shown radiation levels 10 thousand times that typically seen.
As physicians our ability to respond to these potential toxins is woefully inadequate focusing mainly on supportive care and comfort measures while observing for the delayed effects of these agents. As with most serious illnesses in medicine, prevention is the best practice. As physicians, it is our obligation to do whatever we can to prevent illness.
If there were to be a meltdown, there is the potential for an astonishing release of radioactive material. We are talking about the radiation potential of about 1000 Hiroshima bombs in only one core. Chernobyl was comparable to 400 Hiroshima’s.
As the world grapples with this latest complex compound disaster, a serious reflection and reconsideration of our own nuclear power industry is in order. Nuclear energy is too risky, dirty and too expensive. Are these risks to the health of our children and community ones we are willing to take? We need investment in safer energy sources in particular renewable sources. As long as nuclear power plants exist, prevention of nuclear accidents is paramount. We also must have local disaster preparedness efforts and make ourselves aware of them.

Dr. Robert Dodge is a family practice physician in Ventura, California. He became active in the peace movement as a college student at the University of Colorado, Boulder in the 1970′s where he majored in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. He is a Board Member and Nuclear Ambassador of, Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles (www.PSRLA.org),and Board Member of Beyond War (www.beyondwar.org).

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Opeyemi Parham on Dealing With Radiation

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HOLISTIC Approaches to Radiation fears for Mind, Body and

 SOUL: Pass them on!

Hello everyone. I have been posting information that I believe is helpful to maintaining balance and centeredness during these challenging times. what A blessing to have this information simply flow to me, through links, and blogs, and other web pages.

Here is some valuable information, posted through the H2O program (see http://www.h2opportunities.net/)

From Dori Midnight:

 

As you've probably heard, there may be some radiation moving across the

pacific in the next weeks heading towards the west coast from Japan. To keep

going, be alive, and not shut down, we need courage, nourishment, and

support - make a pot of soup!

1. SEAWEED: eat nori, put wakame, kombu, and hijiki in your soups and stews.

The iodine in kelp helps draw out the radiation and protect your thyroid

from radioactive uptake.

 

2. MISO: good medicine full of live cultures, amino acids, minerals, and

protein. I'd recommend making a big pot this week, having a bowl everyday

and feeding it to all your friends- recipe follows.

3. MUSHROOMS: strengthen your immune system with some shitake mushrooms,

sauteed or in soups.

 

4. Eat vegetables, especially DAIKON radishes and BURDOCK root- stick them

in your soup too or make a shredded salad (recipe below). Daikon has been

used for drawing out radiation, post nuclear fall out- it's cooling and

detoxifying.

5. BATHS in epsom salt and baking soda (1 lb of salt, with a bit of baking

soda 2x week)

 

6. DRINK lots of WATER

7. IMMUNE support: do the things you know boost your immune system- sleep

well, eat garlic and Vitamin C rich foods, and go easy on the sugar.

 

8. LOVE: send prayers, love, healing thoughts for those who need it most.

Instead of freaking out or shutting down, let your anger, fear, and grief

flow- it's what makes us human and feel connected to what's going  on in the

 world right now. Crying is a potent way to detox, friends. (emphasis mine)

9. HERBS: if you want to get herbal, some great allies are nettle tea,

cilantro (eat a lot of it or take a tincture- it helps draw heavy metals out

), and milk thistle (helps your liver process toxins). Also Yarrow

Environmental Essence from FES is a beautiful formula to support the body in

environmental disasters.

 

RECIPES:

Magical Medicinal Miso Soup

Saute one onion, sliced thin, til translucent. Add water, seaweed of choice

(I like Kombu and Wakame), shitake mushrooms (dried or fresh), burdock root,

carrots, and any other hearty roots you like. Simmer for 25 minutes.

I like to add shredded or sliced ginger near the end, so it's strong, and

some garlic, which I like really strong. You can also add greens, like kale

or spinach. Simmer another 5 minutes.

Because you don't want to boil your miso, I usually put a large dollop of

miso paste in my bowl and then pour the broth on top to dissolve it.

Drink and offer bowls to all your loved ones and neighbors, kiddos and pets,

family and friends.

Get your Daikon

Easy Shredded Salad

Shred carrot and daikon radish (2-3 roots)

Mix with sesame oil and a little umeboshi vinegar (also a great medicine!),

sesame seeds, whatever fresh herbs you've got on hand (I love mint or

cilantro), and a little tamari. Eat and feel alive and well thanks to the

plants, the sun, the water and the farmers.

 

Dori Midnight

community folk healing + magic + apothecary

www.dorilandia.com <http://www.dorilandia.com/>

http://midnightapothecary.blogspot.com/

<http://midnightapothecary.blogspot.com/>

 

And, this meditation from a channel for the Hawthors:

(see http://tomkenyon.com/who-are-the-hathors)

A Hathor Planetary Message Through Tom Kenyon

 

Medicines of Light:

Protection and Healing from Radiation Poisoning, Neurotoxins, Bacteria and

Viruses.

With the earthquake in New Zealand, followed by the earthquake in Japan, it

is clear that you have entered a more complex phase of the Chaotic Node.

 

We wish to impart a method for protection and healing from radiation

poisoning as well as other physical conditions. We call this Medicines of

Light.

This is obviously related to current events unfolding in Japan, however, as

future earth changes unfold, you may face similar challenges in your near

future from other locations around the world.

 

This method will assist you to both protect and heal yourself from exposure,

not only to radioactivity, but also to neurotoxins and to mutating forms of

bacteria and viruses. From our perspective you can expect to see an increase

of these in your near timeline.

The method involves connecting to your Celestial Soul, the BA. This action

is to connect to the realms of light that are a part of your being.

 

Everything that exists in your cosmos can be viewed as a qualification or

energetic expression of light—even your densest forms of matter are

essentially a form of light.

In this method you connect to your Celestial Soul, holding the intent and

expectation that it will impart to you an energetic that protects and/or

heals you. You send this intent to your Celestial Soul with the emotional

vibration of appreciation or gratitude. This is simply the vibrational

resonance that activates this higher aspect of your being.

 

Once you send this intent conjoined with appreciation or gratitude to your

BA, you shift your awareness into your heart chakra, receiving the energetic

of healing or protection into the heart chakra. You might experience this

energetic as a form of light, or as geometric patterns, or you may feel the

sensation of a descent of energy. You may also experience this energetic

simply as a thought/feeling.

Once the energetic is received in the heart chakra, it is ready to send.

 

For this phase you will need some pure water, since water holds this type of

information extremely well. Holding a container of water in your hands,

through intent, you send this energy that is in the heart chakra down the

arms into the hands and through the chakras that are in the center of each

palm. The energetic enters the water through this pathway.

We suggest you amplify this energetic by repeating the procedure three

times, for a total of three times—two more times in addition to the first.

You then drink the water. The water permeates the water element of your

body, and the healing and protective qualities eventually enter every cell.

 

Through this action you are qualifying light, causing it to descend through

the central pathway of your body into your heart and sending it into the

water element. The consciousness of the water receives this energetic, and

when you drink it, the body receives it.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have been exposed to

radioactivity you would engage this procedure as we have described it,

qualifying the energy that descends from the BA to protect and heal you from

any possibility of radiation poisoning. If you have other means to protect

yourself, you should obviously engage these as well, but even if you are

left with nothing but the tools of your own consciousness, you can protect

and heal yourself.

 

If you have been exposed to neurotoxins you would do the same. If you are in

the midst of an epidemic that involves bacterial or viral infections, we

advise you to do the same.

As you collectively enter more deeply into this more complex and intense

phase of the Chaotic Node, bacteria and viruses will mutate faster. This

method will allow you to protect and heal yourself from these mutating life

forms.

 

It is important to understand that you are creating the protection and

healing through the powers of your own consciousness. You have direct access

to your own light realms. You have the sovereign right to engage the light

realms on your own behalf and on the behalf of your loved ones.

If you find yourself in one of these difficult situations we have described,

we suggest you take the Medicine of Light—which is the water that you have

charged—several times a day, as your intuition guides you.

 

The physical ramifications of the earthquake activity in Japan and the

resulting tsunami are very difficult to deal with. But we wish to shift our

attention from the physical to the mental, emotional, and spiritual effects

created by such a disaster,

Due to the fact that you are in a Chaotic Node and energies from deep space

conjoined with solar flare activity are affecting your energy bodies, you,

as a collective, are more affected. What we mean by this is that witnessing

the suffering of your fellow humans shatters the heart. There is a

recognition that their predicament could easily be yours. This recognition

can create an opening in your heart, and it is through the heart—your

heart—that higher states of consciousness are realized, and so the

earthquake in Japan is, in many ways, an earthquake of the collective heart.

 

The times before you are not easy. From our perspective, increased earth

changes are upon you. But one result of such events is that you are shaken

to your roots and the mass hypnosis pauses for a moment.  And in such utter

and surrealistic devastation, many of you see very clearly that your

civilization rests on tenuous grounds. We mean this both literally and

figuratively.

And so our advice for this phase of the Chaotic Node is to learn and master

the ability to create Medicines of Light for yourself, so that when the time

arises, you know how to engage this power of protection and healing that you

possess in your very nature.  And we suggest you navigate through these times

not only with your minds, but with your hearts—and let your hearts be

touched, for it is through your hearts that you will ascend the spiral

pathway to your own greatness (emphasis mine).

 

--
                       Opeyemi  413-336-1291
                        P.O. Box 264

                        Hadley, MA. 01035  (www.ceremonyheals.com)         buy Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World 

it will INSPIRE and encourage you!     http://www.hopebeneathourfeet.com   

                                                         

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• Miso Soup (veggielover99.wordpress.com)

Entombing Fukushima?

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Published on Thursday, March 17, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

Entombing Fukushima?

Last Defense Not Being Used as Possible Meltdown Approaches

by Gary Houser

As all other methods fail to stop the tragic slide toward full meltdown, physicist Dr. Michio Kaku emphatically exclaimed in an interview on ABC News that the "Chernobyl option" must now be employed.  This was the use of military helicopters to "entomb" and seal the reactor by dropping massive amounts of sand and concrete. Here is a brief two minute clip of Kaku explaining why the time has come to utilize this last ditch maneuver.      

Kaku describes this as the last "ace card" we can play in the desperate fight to fend off catastrophe. Yet the Japanese government and power company continue to flail with irrational strategies such as dumping water from helicopters, most of which - by their own admission - is being diverted off target by cross winds. Due to multiple reactors, it would be a huge logistical challenge to get the sand and concrete dropped in time. But the sooner the decision is made to mobilize, the greater the chance of success. Precious time to avert disaster is slipping away while the last best preventative step is not even being utilized.   

 

What must be acknowledged by all parties is that those supervising the battle against meltdown are not only physically exhausted human beings but also very likely reeling and emotionally drained from the earthquake and massive tsunami. It does not appear that rational decisions are being made. It is a time when other parties not subject to such  duress need to step in and offer more clear strategies.  Citizens everywhere should be LOUDLY INSISTING that the Japanese government act responsibly and employ the last ditch Chernobyl option.  NOW is the only chance to act preventatively and prevent what could become a massive cesium and strontium poisoning of hundreds of thousands of people and a huge swath of the Pacific Ocean ecosystem.

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff is a career specialist in the management of nuclear waste who worked for the state of Nevada in estimating radiation levels involved in the storage of radioactive material at the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. In his piece published on Huffington Post, he uses the concept of "Hiroshima equivalents" to make the immense levels of radiation more comprehensible to the public:  "If Unit 4 operated for 35 years and produced 30 tons of irradiated fuel per year and each ton is equivalent to 24 times the amount of cesium-137 produced by the Hiroshima bomb, then each fuel pool could contain on the order of 24,000 times the amount of cesium-137 produced by the Hiroshima bomb, if all the produced irradiated fuel remains in the fuel pool." (emphasis mine)
  

It will be claimed that any publication of such numbers is the act of an irresponsible alarmist. In fact the opposite is true. In order to take the appropriate step with the greatest chance of preventing a harm from manifesting, one first needs to have a clear view of the level of danger. From this clarity, wiser decisions can be made.   

 

In a global emergency like this, many feel powerless - as if the scale is simply too large to even try to do anything to prevent the worst from happening.  But it is essential to break through that sense of passivity. We must empower ourselves to call out to our own public officials to act responsibly and intervene in a positive way in the Japanese situation before it is too late.  

 

Children would be the most vulnerable to the terrible impact of the radiation. Elevated and potentially massive rates of cancer would infect their youthful years, bring much suffering, and cut short their lives. Do we not owe it to these untold numbers of children to be able to say that we at least tried everything in our power to prevent this horrific tragedy from occurring ?  As of this moment in time - with the Japanese authorities flailing and squandering precious time by pursuing inadequate and irrational strategies - such a statement cannot be accurately made. 

Gary Houser is a long time public interest columnist with several articles and commentaries published on nuclear power. He has also acted as intervenor against the licensing of reactors. Can be reached at:  mountainmist8@yahoo.com

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• In Chernobyl's shadow: Japanese nuclear crisis stokes fears (calgaryherald.com)
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• Fukushima: How To Avoid A Potential Chernobyl? (businessinsider.com)
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America's True Crisis: Zero Vision, Zero Leadership

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Published on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 by Creators.com

America's True Crisis: Zero Vision, Zero Leadership

by Jim Hightower

The greatest problem our nation faces can be summed up in one word: leadership. OK, make that three words: lack of leadership.
America's corporate, political, media, academic and other leaders aren't. They're not leaders — because they refuse to stand tall, be bold, offer vision, inspire and ... well, lead. We've got too many 5-watt bulbs sitting in 100-watt sockets. They're squishing the historic can-do spirit of the American people, reducing it to a dispiriting ethic of surrender that says we-shouldn't-even-try.
Start with our leaders' willful abdication of the American dream. They've given up on the notion of producing a shared prosperity that creates a broad middle class. For more than a decade now, Wall Street and Washington have let millions of jobs disappear and pushed wages down. They now yawn at the entrenched jobs crisis that is eating the middle class, and rather than responding to the plight of millions of hard-hit families, they're trying to bust unions and kill minimum-wage laws.
They call it "the new normal," in which the workaday majority of folks should simply ratchet down their hopes and expectations. A national commitment to quality education, health care for all and a decent retirement has been reduced to a "YO-YO" program: You're on Your Own.
What about creating a vibrant new green economy based on renewable energy? Let China build it, they shrug. How about constructing a bold, nationwide, job-creating network of high-speed trains? Spain built a great one and even France has one, but we're told it's too much for America. Our deteriorating and dangerous infrastructure? Better that we cut taxes for the super-rich and pray for God to take care of infrastructure.
These people are pathetic. And shameful. You can't call yourself a leader if you're too weak and too afraid to lead.
One of the worst examples of their inability to lead is the new Securities and Exchange Commission's crackdown on the egregious pay packages that the elites of Wall Street keep grabbing.
By a three-to-two vote, SEC commissioners socked the money-grubbing bankers with a new "say on pay" rule. Rather than let top executives lavish money on themselves unchecked, the new rule lets shareholders of those financial giants vote on extravagant salaries, bonuses and perks. That'll rein in the excess, right?
Probably not. You see, the SEC has long been a gentle regulator, never wanting to hear a Wall Streeter say "ouch." Thus, the say-on-pay rule has no bite. Shareholders can indeed have their say, but it's a non-binding vote! Bank big-shots can simply ignore it. Yet even this velvet harness was too rough for the two soft-on-greed Republican commissioners, Kathleen Casey and Troy Paredes. Both voted no, with Casey explaining that the new rules "are unduly restrictive and impose unnecessary burdens" on bankers.
Don't despair, though, for justice still might be served. The SEC has since approved another compensation crackdown, this time specifically targeting outrageous multimillion-dollar bonuses. For the first time, big banks will henceforth be compelled to restrain themselves. How? By filing detailed annual reports about the bonuses they pay. Ouch, that'll sting, won't it?
Again, though, even this tiny pinch was too harsh for the compassionate Republican members. Both sided with the poor bankers, wailing that requiring reports is a big-government intrusion into the private sector, overreaching the SEC's authority.
Real leaders aren't in Washington — they're fighting for us on Main Street. Luckily, a public interest group named Bankster USA is rallying grass-roots support to curb banker greed. To find our nation's real leaders and have your own say and push for real reform, contact www.banksterusa.org.

© 2011 Creators.com

National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.

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Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus

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Why Evangelicals Hate Jesus

By Phil Zuckerman,  Professor of Sociology, Pitzer College in Claremont , CA

March 3, 2011

The results from a recent poll published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Tea-Party-and-Religion.aspx) reveal what social scientists have known for a long time: White Evangelical Christians are the group least likely to support politicians or policies that reflect the actual teachings of Jesus. It is perhaps one of the strangest, most dumb-founding ironies in contemporary American culture. Evangelical Christians, who most fiercely proclaim to have a personal relationship with Christ, who most confidently declare their belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, who go to church on a regular basis, pray daily, listen to Christian music, and place God and His Only Begotten Son at the center of their lives, are simultaneously the very people most likely to reject his teachings and despise his radical message.

Jesus unambiguously preached mercy and forgiveness. These are supposed to be cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punitive punishment over rehabilitation, and the governmental use of torture. Jesus exhorted humans to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent. And yet Evangelicals are the group of Americans most supportive of easy-access weaponry, little-to-no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, not to mention the violent military invasion of various countries around the world. Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God , that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one's money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation's poor -- especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of "socialism," even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training -- anything that might dare to help out those in need. Even though helping out those in need was exactly what Jesus urged humans to do. In short, Evangelicals are that segment of America which is the most pro-militaristic, pro-gun, and pro-corporate, while simultaneously claiming to be most ardent lovers of the Prince of Peace.

What's the deal?
Before attempting an answer, allow a quick clarification. Evangelicals don't exactly hate Jesus -- as we've provocatively asserted in the title of this piece. They do love him dearly. But not because of what he tried to teach humanity. Rather, Evangelicals love Jesus for what he does for them. Through his magical grace, and by shedding his precious blood, Jesus saves Evangelicals from everlasting torture in hell, and guarantees them a premium, luxury villa in heaven. For this, and this only, they love him. They can't stop thanking him. And yet, as for Jesus himself -- his core values of peace, his core teachings of social justice, his core commandments of goodwill -- most Evangelicals seem to have nothing but disdain.
And this is nothing new. At the end of World War I, the more rabid, and often less educated Evangelicals decried the influence of the Social Gospel amongst liberal churches. According to these self-proclaimed torch-bearers of a religion born in the Middle East, progressive church-goers had been infected by foreign ideas such as German Rationalism, Soviet-style Communism, and, of course, atheistic Darwinism. In the 1950s, the anti-Social Gospel message piggybacked the rhetoric of anti-communism, which slashed and burned its way through the Old South and onward through the Sunbelt , turning liberal churches into vacant lots along the way. It was here that the spirit and the body collided, leaving us with a prototypical Christian nationalist, hell-bent on prosperity. Charity was thus rebranded as collectivism and self-denial gave way to the gospel of accumulation. Church-to-church, sermon-to-sermon, evangelical preachers grew less comfortable with the fish and loaves Jesus who lived on earth, and more committed to the angry Jesus of the future. By the 1990s, this divine Terminator gained "most-favored Jesus status" among America 's mega churches; and with that, even the mention of the former "social justice" Messiah drove the socially conscious from their larger, meaner flock.
In addition to such historical developments, there may very well simply be an underlying, all-too-human social-psychological process at root, one that probably plays itself out among all religious individuals: they see in their religion what they want to see, and deny or despise the rest. That is, religion is one big Rorschach test. People look at the content of their religious tradition -- its teachings, its creeds, its prophet's proclamations -- and they basically pick and choose what suits their own secular outlook. They see in their faith what they want to see as they live their daily lives, and simultaneously ignore the rest. And as is the case for most White Evangelical Christians, what they are ignoring is actually the very heart and soul of Jesus's message -- a message that emphasizes sharing, not greed. Peace-making, not war-mongering. Love, not violence.
Of course, conservative Americans have every right to support corporate greed, militarism, gun possession, and the death penalty, and to oppose welfare, food stamps, health care for those in need, etc. -- it is just strange and contradictory when they claim these positions as somehow "Christian." They aren't.
This article was co-authored by Dan Cady is an assistant professor of history at California State University , Fresno . He publishes on the history of the American West, music, and religion.

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Are The Magnetic Poles Flipping?

Image via Wikipedia By Opeyemi Parham



Wow. "Waving Overwhelming Wonder". That is the skill that I am honing as I bear witness to a world in chaos.
What May Be Coming Next has many possibilities.
In El Mundo Bueno *, the Japanese continue to demonstrate awe-inspiring interpersonal connection, and political transparency in dealing with the disaster as it continues to unfold. In el Mundo Bueno we all move forward together with a clear and powerful warning, regarding the dangers of nuclear energy. The entire world begins to move away from such deadly technologies.
In El Mundo Malo, the problematic nuclear reactors have escalating issues. Perhaps more damage, as aftershocks of 5 and 6 (we call those earthquakes elsewhere) continue. Perhaps a meltdown. Perhaps (this being el MUCHO mundo malo) a meltdown, followed by another tsunami, and contamination of the ocean, with radiation.
I do not speak these possibilities as a fear monger, but as an oracle.
With Katrina, we were offered to possibility of looking at our emergency preparedness, our classism, and racism in this country. Did we learn our lessons?
With Haiti, we marveled at the resiliency of a people with the spirit to be dancing on the beaches the night of their catastrophe. Then we sent aid that introduced cholera and worsened their suffering.
With BP Oil, we felt panic as raw crude bled into the gulf waters. We are chafing at the bit to begin drilling again, as gasoline prices soar to $3.50 a gallon, and the corporate villains in that scandal plot new ways to avoid paying damages.
With Haiti, we marveled at the resiliency of a people with the spirit to be dancing on the beaches the night of their catastrophe. Then we sent aid that introduced a Southeast Asian cholera and worsened their suffering.
FACT: the magnetic poles are shifting, possibly preparing for a "flip":
"The last time the poles switched was 780,000 years ago, and it's happened about 400 times in 330 million years. Each reversal takes a thousand years or so to complete, and it takes longer for the shift to take effect at the equator than at the poles. The field has weakened about 10% in the last 150 years. Some scientists think this is a sign of a flip in progress"
from http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/question782.htm
FACT: we have no idea what this might look like, feel like or how it will affect humans, other than the likelihood of a period of time when the earth loses it's protection from solar radiation for an unspecified period of time. Maybe minutes. Or hours. Or days.
Learning more about how to protect ourselves from radiation exposure seem EXACTLY RIGHT, right now.
BY THEIR DIETS AND LIFESTYLE, THE JAPANESE ARE WELL EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH RADIATION EXPOSURE, relative to other parts of the world (like the Ukraine or Three Mile Island)) where radiation exposure has happened; I still trust that the biosphere/Gaia/Mother Earth is being as gentle as possible with us 7 billion humans...
She is saying "wake up, and STAY AWAKE"
My personal response to my own fears and anxieties is to remind myself to breathe, to inform and to share actual facts with as many as will listen. I  listen to that calm, still voice inside of me that is telling me what to do and how to refuel my heart with awe for the magic in my day to day world. I don't believe that the answers are on-line, or in the world of science. We must find them in co-created ways, for ourselves. We must use right and left brains, hearts, and souls to be with all of this change.
I will post the messages that I receive from Spirit, after I go and sweat my prayers for Japan and the World on Sunday, March 13.
                            In love and light-- OPEYEMI (eternally grateful)
* a phrase used by Starhawk in the novel "The Fifth Sacred Thing
--
                       Opeyemi  413-336-1291
                        P.O. Box 264

                        Hadley, MA. 01035  (www.ceremonyheals.com)
         buy Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring Our Place in the Natural World 

it will INSPIRE and encourage you!     http://www.hopebeneathourfeet.com   

                                                         

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An 8.9 Quake Could Have Irradiated the Entire US

An 8.9 Quake Could Have Irradiated the Entire US

by Harvey Wasserman

Had the massive 8.9 Richter-scale earthquake that has just savaged Japan hit off the California coast, it could have ripped apart at least four coastal reactors and sent a lethal cloud of radiation across the entire United States.

The two huge reactors each at San Onofre and Diablo Canyon are not designed to withstand such powerful shocks. All four are extremely close to major faults.

All four reactors are located relatively low to the coast. They are vulnerable to tsunamis like those now expected to hit as many as fifty countries.

San Onofre sits between San Diego and Los Angeles. A radioactive cloud spewing from one or both reactors there would do incalculable damage to either or both urban areas before carrying over the rest of southern and central California.

Diablo Canyon is at Avila Beach, on the coast just west of San Luis Obispo, between Los Angeles and San Francisco. A radioactive eruption there would pour into central California and, depending on the winds, up to the Bay Area or southeast into Santa Barbara and then to Los Angeles. The cloud would at very least permanently destroy much of the region on which most Americans rely for their winter supply of fresh vegetables.

By the federal Price-Anderson Act of 1957, the owners of the destroyed reactors---including Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison---would be covered by private insurance only up to $11 billion, a tiny fraction of the trillions of dollars worth of damage that would be done. The rest would become the responsibility of the federal taxpayer and the fallout victims. Virtually all homeowner insurance policies in the United States exempt the insurers from liability from a reactor disaster.

The most definitive recent study of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster puts the death toll at 985,000.  The accident irradiated a remote rural area. The nearest city, Kiev, is 80 kilometers away.

But San Luis Obispo is some ten miles directly downwind from Diablo Canyon. The region around San Onofre has become heavily suburbanized.

Heavy radioactive fallout spread from Chernobyl blanketed all of Europe within a matter of days. It covered an area far larger than the United States.
Fallout did hit the jet stream and then the coast of California, thousands of miles away, within ten days. It then carried all the way across the northern tier of the United States.

Chernobyl Unit Four was of comparable size to the two reactors at Diablo Canyon, and somewhat larger than the two at San Onofre.
But it was very new when it exploded. California's four coastal reactors have been operating since the 1970s and 1980s. Their accumulated internal radioactive burdens could exceed what was spewed at Chernobyl.

Japanese officials say all affected reactors automatically shut, with no radiation releases. But they are not reliable. In 2007 a smaller earthquake rocked the seven-reactor Kashiwazaki site and forced its lengthy shut-down.
Preliminary reports indicate at least one fire at a Japanese reactor hit by this quake and tsunami.
In 1986 the Perry nuclear plant, east of Cleveland, was rocked by a 5.5 Richter-scale shock, many orders of magnitude weaker than this one. That quake broke pipes and other key equipment within the plant. It took out nearby roads and bridges.
Thankfully, Perry had not yet opened. An official Ohio commission later warned that evacuation during such a quake would be impossible.

Numerous other American reactors sit on or near earthquake faults.

The Obama Administration is now asking Congress for $36 billion in new loan guarantees to build more commercial reactors.

Harvey Wasserman's Solartopia! Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030, is at www.solartopia.org. He is senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, and writes regularly for www.freepress.org. He and Bob Fitrakis have co-authored four books on election protection, including Did George W. Bush Steal America's 2004 Election?, As Goes Ohio: Election Theft Since 2004 , How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008, and What Happened in Ohio

The Birth of the People’s Party?

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Published on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 by RobertReich.org

The Birth of the People’s Party?

by Robert Reich

Look at the outrage in Madison, Wisconsin. Look at the crowds in DesMoines, Iowa. Look at the demonstrations in Indiana and Ohio and elsewhere around America.
Hear what they’re saying: Stop attacking unions. Stop making scapegoats out of public employees. Stop protecting the super-rich from paying their fair share of the taxes needed to keep our schools running.
Stop gutting the working middle class.
Are we finally seeing average Americans stand up and demand a fair shake in an economy now grotesquely tilted toward the wealthy and the privileged? Are Americans beginning to awake to the fact that our economy now delivers a larger share of total income to the very top than at any time in living memory? That big corporations are making more money and creating more jobs abroad than in the United States?
That this concentration of income and wealth has so corrupted politics that corporations can extort whatever they want from the government — tax breaks, loan guarantees, subsidies — while the super-rich can take most of their income as capital gains (taxed at 15 percent), and the rest at the lowest top rate in 25 years? And that because of this our kids are crowded into classrooms, our streets and highways and bridges are falling apart, and our healthcare bills are out of control?
The Tea Party grew out of indignation over the Wall Street bailout — an indignation shared by the vast majority of Americans. But the Tea Party ended up directing its ire at government rather than at big business and Wall Street. Was this because billionaires Charles and David Koch and their like funneled money to the Tea Party through front organizations like Dick Armey’s Freedom Works, and thereby co-opted it?
Now we may be seeing the birth of a genuine populist movement. Call it the People’s Party. Like the Tea Party, the People’s Party doesn’t have a clear organization or hierarchy or single address. It doesn’t have lobbyists in Washington. It’s not even yet recognized by the mainstream media.
But the People’s Party seems to be growing in numbers and in intensity. And it’s starting to push elected officials — first at the state level — to listen and respond.

© 2011 Robert Reich

Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His "Marketplace" commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.

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