Japanese Lab Refuses To Test Urine And Breast Milk For Internal Radiation Exposure – Fukushima Gov. Just Stopped Urine Testing For Radiation

Flashback:

Prof. Yury Bandazhevsky: Over 50 Bq/Kg In Humans Leads To Irreversible Lesions In Vital Organs – CRIMINAL WHO And IAEA EXPOSED (Video)


Japanese lab rejects urine and breast milk test (Fukushima Diary, Dec. 22, 2011):

Following up this article http://fukushima-diary.com/2011/12/internal-exposure-map-is-open/

Japanese people finally started to try to check the internal dose amount.

To determine the internal dose, urine test is one of the best ways in terms of cost / benefit balance.

However, today a Japanese mother tweeted this:

Read moreJapanese Lab Refuses To Test Urine And Breast Milk For Internal Radiation Exposure – Fukushima Gov. Just Stopped Urine Testing For Radiation

High Levels Of Radiation In Tokyo: 3.58 MicroSieverts/Hour In Shibuya House, 2.47 MicroSieverts/Hour In Katsushika Appartment, 1.54 MicroSieverts/Hour In Tama, 1.38 MicroSieverts/Hour In Adachi, 1.36 MicroSieverts/Hour In Shinagawa, 1.31 MicroSieverts/Hour In Minato

3.58 microSv/h in Shibuya – in a house (Fukushima Diary, Dec. 22, 2011):


YouTube

12/7/2011, 9:00PM
They measured 3.58 microSv/h in Shibuya, in an interior room.
The person used SOEKS01M?Ver1.CL.
After taking this video, it went up to 3.69 microSv/h.

Apart from this, a lot of hot spots are found in Tokyo. (Source)

12/18/2011 Adachi ku Tokyo

1.38 microSv/h at 5cm away from a gutter.


Größere Kartenansicht

12/11/2011 Katsushika ku Tokyo

2.47 microSv/h on the second story of an apartment.


Größere Kartenansicht

Read moreHigh Levels Of Radiation In Tokyo: 3.58 MicroSieverts/Hour In Shibuya House, 2.47 MicroSieverts/Hour In Katsushika Appartment, 1.54 MicroSieverts/Hour In Tama, 1.38 MicroSieverts/Hour In Adachi, 1.36 MicroSieverts/Hour In Shinagawa, 1.31 MicroSieverts/Hour In Minato

‘Fukushima Power Plant Is Far From ‘Cold’ (Deutsche Welle)

Deutsche Welle: “Fukushima power plant is far from ‘cold’ “ (EX-SKF, Dec. 21, 2011):

Germany’s Deutsche Welle’s take on PM Noda’s declaration of the “cold shutdown state” at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is more severe than New York Times.

Alexander Freund at Deutsche Welle Asia Desk says it is not the power plant that has been stabilized and controlled:

“The nuclear power lobbyists are the ones who can claim credit for stabilizing their own situation and getting the government under control. “

Enough said.

From Deutsche Welle (12/16/2011):

The Japanese government has claimed to have reached a cold shutdown in Fukushima. But experts are skeptical and believe it could take another 40 years to get the situation under control.

Headlines from Japan surely sound good: Fukushima is under control, the dilapidated nuclear power plant is stable. But these headlines are nothing more than a euphemism. The situation at Fukushima is nowhere near under control.

Read more‘Fukushima Power Plant Is Far From ‘Cold’ (Deutsche Welle)

Radioactive Rice: Watari District, Fukushima City: 1540 Bq/Kg

#Radioactive Rice from Watari District, Fukushima City: 1540 Bq/Kg (EX-SKF, Dec. 22, 2011):

News of radioactive cesium rice just keeps coming from Fukushima Prefecture. This time, it is from Watari District again, and the number is the highest found so far.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (12/22/2011):

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Radioactive cesium exceeding the national provisional safety limit (500 becquerels/kg) has been found in rice harvested in Fukushima City and other cities in Fukushima Prefecture. On December 22, the Fukushima prefectural government announced that 1540 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found in rice grown by a farmer in Watari District in Fukushima Prefecture.

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It is the highest level of radioactive cesium in rice detected so far. The rice is kept at the farmer’s home, and not sold in the market.

Well, it is the “official” highest level, and it is approaching the “unofficial” high (2600 becquerels/kg) measured in rice grown in the soil taken from Iitate-mura by Professor Kazue Tazaki of Kanazawa University. A similar amount of radioactive cesium was detected in rice grown in Iitate-mura (unofficially by an irate farmer who was forced to relocate).

Read moreRadioactive Rice: Watari District, Fukushima City: 1540 Bq/Kg

Stolen MF Global Client Funds Traced Back To … JP Morgan

See also:

Max Keiser And Gerald Celente On MF Global Bankruptcy Implications – The JP Morgan Connection – Goldman Sachs – CME (‘Chicago Mafia Exchange’) – Gold, Silver – Syria, Iran – Entire Financial System Collapsing, One Big Global Ponzi Scheme – False Flag, WW III – Bank Holiday, Economic Martial Law – ‘YOUR MONEY ISN’T SAFE’

JP Morgan Crashed MF Global to Avert COMEX Failure, They Stole All The Accounts That Were Going To Take Delivery – (Jim Rogers: QE Has Never Stopped – QE 3 Is Operation Twist)

Who Gave Permission To A Bankrupt MF Global To Sell Italian Bonds To JP Morgan At A 5% Discount To Market Value?

The Great Wall Street Rehypothecation Scandal: ‘Engaging In Hyper-Hypothecation Have Been … JP Morgan($546.2 Billion) And Morgan Stanley ($410 Billion)’

The Gold ‘Rehypothecation’ Unwind Begins: HSBC Sues MF Global Over Disputed Ownership Of Physical Gold

Jon Corzine: ‘Don’t know’ Where MF Global Customers’ $1.2 Billion Went (Video)

Bill Clinton Collected $50,000 Per Month From MF Global

Gerald Celente: ‘IT’S FASCIST. CAN’T YOU SEE IT?’ – ‘It’s A TAKEOVER’ – ‘Hail Obama!’ – ‘The United States Has Become One Big Warsaw Ghetto’



Jon S. Corzine, former chief of MF Global, testifying before a House financial services subcommittee about the firm’s collapse.

E-Mail Clues in Tracking MF Global Client Funds (New York Times, Dec. 20, 2011):

Federal authorities investigating the collapse of MF Global have uncovered e-mails that detail the transfers of money in the firm’s last days, including transfers that contained customer money, according to people close to the investigation.

One e-mail chain refers to the transfer of roughly $200 million that MF Global owed JPMorgan Chase on Oct. 28 — the firm’s last business day before it filed for bankruptcy. In that chain, a senior official in the firm’s Chicago office was told to make the transfer, said the people close to the investigation who requested anonymity because the inquiry was still open.

That official, Edith O’Brien, a treasurer at MF Global, is considered a “person of interest” in the investigation, said two of the people, who added that authorities expected to interview her in the coming days. It was not clear who had directed Ms. O’Brien, whose job was to oversee the customer money, to make the Oct. 28 transfer. The roughly $200 million that JPMorgan Chase received is said to be entirely customer money.

Ms. O’Brien has hired a prominent criminal defense lawyer, Reid H. Weingarten of Steptoe & Johnson, according to one of the people. Ms. O’Brien has not been accused of any wrongdoing. And there is no indication that she had reason to suspect that the money being transferred included customer money.

Read moreStolen MF Global Client Funds Traced Back To … JP Morgan

Local Cops Ready for War With Homeland Security-Funded Military Weapons

See also:

NDAA ‘Indefinite Detention Bill’: Mourning The Lost Freedom in America: US Is Now A Battlefield, A Fascist Military Dictatorship, Constitution Has Been Repealed, Farewell Bill Of Rights (Video)

Police, FBI, DEA Use Predator Drones From U.S. Air Force Base In Domestic Operations

The Pentagon Is Offering Free Military Hardware To Every Police Department In The US (… To Be Used Against US Citizens)


Local Cops Ready for War With Homeland Security-Funded Military Weapons (The Daily Beast, Dec 21, 2011):

A decade of billions in spending in the name of homeland security has armed local police departments with military-style equipment and a new commando mentality. But has it gone too far? Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz of the Center for Investigative Reporting report.

Nestled amid plains so flat the locals joke you can watch your dog run away for miles, Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communities. North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.

Click here to find out more!

But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.

Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where it’s been parked near the children’s bounce house.

NDAA ‘Indefinite Detention Bill’: Mourning The Lost Freedom in America: US Is Now A Battlefield, A Fascist Military Dictatorship, Constitution Has Been Repealed, Farewell Bill Of Rights (Video)


YouTube Added: 19.12.2011

More:

Top Constitutional Expert: ‘President Obama Says That He Can Kill You On His Own Discretion’: Without Charge Or Trial (Video)

‘Indefinite Detention’ For American Citizens: Congress Passes $662 Billion National Defense Authorization Act – White House Drops Veto Treat

Ron Paul Furious Over The NDAA (‘Indefinite Detention Bill’): ‘This Is A Giant Step – This Should Be The Biggest News Going Right Now Literally Legalizing Martial Law’

Senator Carl Levin: Obama Required US Citizens To Be Included In Indefinite Detention!

Gerald Celente: ‘IT’S FASCIST. CAN’T YOU SEE IT?’ – ‘It’s A TAKEOVER’ – ‘Hail Obama!’ – ‘The United States Has Become One Big Warsaw Ghetto’

Read moreNDAA ‘Indefinite Detention Bill’: Mourning The Lost Freedom in America: US Is Now A Battlefield, A Fascist Military Dictatorship, Constitution Has Been Repealed, Farewell Bill Of Rights (Video)

Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano: US Regime Wants ‘License To Lie’ And ‘Ability To Destroy Records’


YouTube Added: 19.11.2011

Description:

US police state tried to pass law making it legal to lie to people requesting information via the freedom of information act.
Now it wants to make it hard to impossible for you to get such information.

Sources:
Freedom watch: 2011 11 17 , 2011 11 03

Asahi Newspaper Estimate Based On TEPCO’s Press Release: 462 Trillion Bequerels Of Radioactive Strontium Leaked Into The Ocean

462 trillion Bq of Strontium leaked to the ocean (Fukushima Diary, Dec. 20, 2011):

This is an estimation of Asahi newspaper so it is not trustworthy enough.

However, it would be some kind milestone to judge something.

One of the propaganda mass media – Asahi newspaper – yet tried to estimate the total amount of leakage of strontium.

They are based on the Tepco’s press release. They assumed it only leaked from reactor 2 in April and from reactor 3 in May for some reason. Also, they ignored the strontium from the fall-out as well.

However, it turned out to be as bad as the worst historical sea contamination of Sellafield in 1970?s, which was about 500 trillion Bq. Probably this “500 trillion Bq of leakage” is a false data as well.

Even Asahi newspaper warns about the biological concentration in the sea. They requires radiation measuring of the sea to be conducted as soon as possible.

(Source)

Read moreAsahi Newspaper Estimate Based On TEPCO’s Press Release: 462 Trillion Bequerels Of Radioactive Strontium Leaked Into The Ocean

Deadly Blasts Kill At Least 63 In Baghdad In First Major Violence Since US Pullout

Deadly blasts rock Baghdad in first major violence since U.S. pullout (Washington Post, Dec. 22, 2011):

BAGHDAD — More than a dozen explosions in Baghdad killed at least 63 people Thursday — the first major violence in Iraq since the United States completed its troop pullout.

At least 194 people were reported injured in the two-hour spate of bombings, said officials at the Ministry of Interior, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make public statements.

The violence comes just days after the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq, and in the midst of an ongoing governmental emergency in which sectarian rifts and ethnic tensions threaten to rip apart the country’s fragile ruling coalition.

Read moreDeadly Blasts Kill At Least 63 In Baghdad In First Major Violence Since US Pullout

‘Public Health Fallout From Japanese Quake’ (Canadian Medical Association Journal): Nuclear Expert: ‘However, Since The Fukushima Accident, It’ s Become Clear The Japanese Government Was Lying Through Its Teeth, … And Probably Still Is’

Must-read:

21dec11 Public Health Fallout From Japanese Quake

Ira Helfand, MD

Tilman Ruff

More info:

Read more‘Public Health Fallout From Japanese Quake’ (Canadian Medical Association Journal): Nuclear Expert: ‘However, Since The Fukushima Accident, It’ s Become Clear The Japanese Government Was Lying Through Its Teeth, … And Probably Still Is’

Totally Insane Japan: Nursery School Reopens, Only 25 km From Fukushima Nuclear Plant (Video)


YouTube Added: 20.12.2011

Description:

I cannot believe this

Original video:

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YouTube Added: 17.12.2011

Description:

Read moreTotally Insane Japan: Nursery School Reopens, Only 25 km From Fukushima Nuclear Plant (Video)

Fukushima: ‘Reactor No. 4 Is Looking More And More Like The Leaning Tower Of Pisa Right Now’ – If It ‘Falls Over It’s Just Gonna Dump A Whole Reactor Core Right Out Onto The Ground’ (And Tokyo & Yokohama Will Be Lost!) (Video)

See also:

Confirmed: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Is Falling Apart, Wall Was Lost On The South Side (Video, Photos)

Flashback:

Reactor 4 Spent Fuel Pool Is Completely ‘EXPOSED’ – Ambulances Heard At Least 10 Times A Day At Fukushima Nuclear Plant (Video)

TEPCO: Fukushima Reactor No. 4 ‘Air Duct’ Explosion On 4th Floor

If Fukushima Reactor No. 4 Fuel Rods Spill On The Ground Tokyo And Yokohama Will Be Lost:

If the fuel rods spill onto the ground, disaster will ensue and force Tokyo and Yokohama to close, creating a gigantic evacuation zone. All scientists I have talked with say that if the structure collapses we will be in a situation well beyond where science has ever gone. The destiny of Japan will be changed and the disaster will certainly compromise the security of neighboring countries and the rest of the world in terms of health, migration and geopolitics.

Chief nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen:

Leave Tokyo If There Is A Severe Aftershock And The Unit 4 Building Collapses



YouTube Added: 19.12.2011

Description:

Thom Hartmann talks with Paul Gunter, Director, Reactor Oversight Project, regarding the latest on the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The Tokyo government is expected to declare soon that it has finally regained control of the plant’s overheating reactors. But even before it has been made, the announcement is facing serious doubts from experts.

More info:

Read moreFukushima: ‘Reactor No. 4 Is Looking More And More Like The Leaning Tower Of Pisa Right Now’ – If It ‘Falls Over It’s Just Gonna Dump A Whole Reactor Core Right Out Onto The Ground’ (And Tokyo & Yokohama Will Be Lost!) (Video)

Mutated Vegetables In Japan

Mutated vegetables (Fukushima Diary, Dec, 21, 2011):

Having the harvesting season, more and more mutated plants are found.

? From Sankei newspaper, Ibaraki 12/17/2011.

The man who runs his Soba shop grew these “carrots”.

He is “happy” to find them. He thinks it looks like paper, scissors, rock.

He has no question to serve them at his shop.

? Location unknow. Ms.Miwae (79) grew this from her farm. It’s 40cm long. The bottom is split into 5 parts.

She says she has been growing plants for decades but she has never seen a Japanese radish like this.

Read moreMutated Vegetables In Japan

FBI Says Activists Who Investigate Factory Farms Can Be Prosecuted As TERRORISTS!

And we know what will happen to terrorists!

Top Constitutional Expert: ‘President Obama Says That He Can Kill You On His Own Discretion’: Without Charge Or Trial (Video)

‘Indefinite Detention’ For American Citizens: Congress Passes $662 Billion National Defense Authorization Act – White House Drops Veto Treat



This recent investigation of a McDonald’s egg supplier is an example of the type of activism the FBI calls terrorism. YouTube

FBI Says Activists Who Investigate Factory Farms Can Be Prosecuted as Terrorists (Green Is The New Red, Dec. 20, 2011):

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force has kept files on activists who expose animal welfare abuses on factory farms and recommended prosecuting them as terrorists, according to a new document uncovered through the Freedom of Information Act.

This new information comes as the Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a lawsuit challenging the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) as unconstitutional because its vague wording has had a chilling effect on political activism. This document adds to the evidence demonstrating that the AETA goes far beyond property destruction, as its supporters claim.

The 2003 FBI file details the work of several animal rights activists who used undercover investigation to document repeated animal welfare violations. The FBI special agent who authored the report said they “illegally entered buildings owned by [redacted] Farm… and videotaped conditions of animals.”

The animal activists caused “economic loss” to businesses, the FBI says. And they also openly rescued several animals from the abusive conditions. This was not done covertly in the style of underground groups like the Animal Liberation Front — it was an act of non-violent civil disobedience and, as the FBI agent notes, the activists distributed press releases and conducted media interviews taking responsibility for their actions.

Based on these acts — trespassing in order to photograph and videotape abuses on factory farms — the agent concludes there “is a reasonable indication” that the activists “have violated the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, 18 USC Section 43 (a).”

The file was uncovered through a FOIA request by Ryan Shapiro, who is one of the activists mentioned. The file is available for download here. [Please note that this document has additional redactions in order to protect the identities of the other activists, at their request.] Shapiro is now a doctoral candidate at MIT.

Click here to view the FBI document.

“It is deeply sobering to see one’s name in an FBI file proposing terrorism charges,” he said in an email. “It is even more sobering to realize the supposedly terroristic activities in question are merely exposing the horrific cruelty of factory farms, educating the public about what goes on behind those closed doors, and openly rescuing a few animals from one of those farms as an act of civil disobedience.”

Read moreFBI Says Activists Who Investigate Factory Farms Can Be Prosecuted As TERRORISTS!

Is This 2008 All Over Again? No, It’s Worse. Much Worse. Get Ready For Worldwide Currency Devaluation!

Recommended:

Worse Than 2008 (ZeroHedge, Dec. 21, 2011)

Prepare for collapse.

Got physical gold and silver?

Don’t miss:

Max Keiser And Gerald Celente On MF Global Bankruptcy Implications – The JP Morgan Connection – Goldman Sachs – CME (‘Chicago Mafia Exchange’) – Gold, Silver – Syria, Iran – Entire Financial System Collapsing, One Big Global Ponzi Scheme – False Flag, WW III – Bank Holiday, Economic Martial Law – ‘YOUR MONEY ISN’T SAFE’ (Video)


Top Constitutional Expert: ‘President Obama Says That He Can Kill You On His Own Discretion’: Without Charge Or Trial (Video)

Constitutional Expert: “President Obama … Says That He Can Kill You On His Own Discretion” Without Charge or Trial (ZeroHedge, Dec. 21, 2011):

OBAMA SAYS HE CAN ASSASSINATE OR INDEFINITELY DETAIN AMERICANS ON AMERICAN SOIL WITHOUT ANY DUE PROCESS OF LAW

I’ve previously noted that Obama says that he can assassinate American citizens living on U.S. soil.

This may sound over-the-top.

But nationally-recognized constitutional law expert Jonathan Turley (the second most cited law professor in the country, one of the top 10 lawyers handling military cases, who has served as a consultant on homeland security and constitutional issues and is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues, who ranked 38th in the top 100 most cited ‘public intellectuals’ in a recent study by a well-known judge) said yesterday on C-Span (starting at 15:50):

It’s even worse than coming into your house. President Obama has just stated a policy that he can have any American citizen killed without any charge, without any review, except his own. If he’s satisfied that you are a terrorist, he says that he can kill you anywhere in the world including in the United States.

Two of his aides just were just at a panel two weeks ago and they reaffirmed they believe that American citizens can be killed on the order of the President anywhere including the United States.

You’ve now got a president who says that he can kill you on his own discretion. He can jail you indefinitely on his own discretion

***

I don’t think the the Framers ever anticipated that. They assumed that people would hold their liberties close, and that they wouldn’t relax those fingers …

THE GOVERNMENT HAS NEVER GIVEN A RATIONALE FOR ASSASSINATION
While one might assume that the government has given a valid justification for his claim that he can assassinate anyone anywhere, the Washington Post noted yesterday regarding assassination by drone:

Read moreTop Constitutional Expert: ‘President Obama Says That He Can Kill You On His Own Discretion’: Without Charge Or Trial (Video)

Chart Of European Emergency Liquidity Back At Record Levels, And Why Bank Of America Is Long French CDS

Chart Of European Emergency Liquidity Back At Record Levels, And Why Bank Of America Is Long French CDS (ZeroHedge, Dec, 21, 2011):

Yesterday we charted the combined ECB balance sheet which showed that it had hit an all time record of €2.5 trillion, exclusing today’s operation (to the stunned surprise of all those who scream that the ECB should be printing more, more, more). Today, we focus exclusively on the various forms of unsecured liquidity measures, such as today’s 3 Year LTRO, because as the following chart from Bank of America shows, European emergency liquidity provisioning post today’s liquidity bailout brings the total to €873 billion and is just shy of its all time record of €896 billion, a number which we expect will be taken out as soon as the next liquidity provisioning operation. In other words, European liquidity in euro terms, has virtually never been worse. And as today’s additional drawdown of Fed swap lines indicates, the USD liquidity crunch is getting worse not better (confirmed by the rapid deterioration in basis swap levels). Perhaps the fact that not only is nothing fixed, but things are about as bad as they have ever been explains why Europe closed blood red across the board, and also why Bank of America continues to push for an outright crash in all risk (and some were doubting our earlier analysis that BAC is outright yearning for a market crash): To wit from Bank of America’s Ralf Preusser: “The tender results do not however change either our longer term  cautious outlook on growth, or the periphery. We remain long 5y CDS protection on France, at 210bp (target 300bp, stop loss 175bp).” So let’s see: BAC is shorting the EURUSD, which implies they are pushing for a market drop, and now they want French CDS to soar? Who was it that said the megabanks do not want a crash?

And here is what near record liquidity needs look like:

Read moreChart Of European Emergency Liquidity Back At Record Levels, And Why Bank Of America Is Long French CDS

TSA Screenings Aren’t Just For Airports Anymore

See also:

Here Is What DHS Does With It’s $98.8 Billion Budget


Roving security teams increasingly visit train stations, subways and other mass transit sites to deter terrorism. Critics say it’s largely political theater.


A Transportation Security Administration behavior-detection officer patrols a train station in Charlotte, N.C. (Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times / December 11, 2011)

TSA screenings aren’t just for airports anymore (Los Angeles Times, Dec. 20, 2011):

Reporting from Charlotte, N.C. — Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way.

Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd, nosed Vetter’s trousers for chemical traces of a bomb. Radiation detectors carried by the marshals scanned the 57-year-old lawyer for concealed nuclear materials.

Read moreTSA Screenings Aren’t Just For Airports Anymore

‘Joe Biden’s Mad Solution For The Euro Debt Crisis: A Huge Obama-Style Bailout’ (Telegraph)

Flashback:

Joe Biden: We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt

Joe Biden on Shalom TV: ‘I am a ZIONIST’


Joe Biden’s mad solution for the euro debt crisis: a huge Obama-style bailout (Telegraph, Dec.20, 2011):

Joe Biden has caused a bit of a stir this week with his bizarre suggestion that “the Taliban per se is not our enemy”, just a decade on from the 9/11 attacks, carried out by al-Qaeda, and aided and abetted in Afghanistan by none other than the Taliban. The comments formed part of a wider interview on foreign policy given by Biden to Leslie Gelb of Newsweek. The stupidity of the vice president’s remarks on the war in Afghanistan were matched only by his reckless, almost surreal advice on the European financial crisis, which is so out of touch with reality that I doubt even the delusional Herman Van Rompuy would agree with him. Joe Biden’s solution for the EU’s massive debt crisis? A mammoth Obama-style bailout across the Atlantic, but this time in euros not dollars:

NEWSWEEK: I know you feel strongly and correctly that economics is really at the heart of not only our country’s future, but our power in the world. You have a bank crisis in Europe right now. And Goldman Sachs just said that at a minimum this means a 1 percent drop in our gross domestic product. And it’s likely to be much worse, as you know, because the Europeans can’t seem to conjure up the courage to tackle their problem seriously. What are we planning to do about it?

Read more‘Joe Biden’s Mad Solution For The Euro Debt Crisis: A Huge Obama-Style Bailout’ (Telegraph)

PIMCO’s Bill Gross Tweets: ‘Today Is A Santa Claus Rally! Prepare 4 Record Cold Winter, Solstice Upon Us’ … ‘US Is Not An Island’

Bill Gross: Enjoy The Santa Rally – The Hangover Is Coming As “US Is Not An Island” (ZeroHedge, Dec. 20, 2011):

Just tweeted from the bond titan who is getting more and more concerned about those asset management fees in a world in which fixed income is increasingly becoming risk free, courtesy of central planning, until Gresham’s law unwind destroys everyone.

Source: Twitter

The Fukushima ‘Cold Shutdown’ Effect (2): No More Joint Press Conferences On The Fukushima Accident

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant “Cold Shutdown” Effect (2): No More Joint Press Conference on the Fukushima Accident (EX-SKF, Dec. 20, 2011):

where the reporters get to ask questions to TEPCO and the relevant government ministries and agencies that deal with the accident, all in one room. The joint press conference, which has at least helped keep some politicians and bureaucrats honest or hold them accountable, is not only over for the month of December but over for good.

Why? Because the accident is declared by the prime minister of Japan to have been over, and the members of the Press Club has had enough, according to Ryusaku Tanaka, an independent journalist who’s been covering the Fukushima accident from the beginning.

From the blog of Ryusaku Tanaka (12/16/2011):

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There was a remark from Minister Hosono which was more chilling than the declaration of cold shutdown. He said, “Today (December 16) is the last day of the government/TEPCO joint press conference.”

Read moreThe Fukushima ‘Cold Shutdown’ Effect (2): No More Joint Press Conferences On The Fukushima Accident

The Fukushima ‘Cold Shutdown’ Effect (1): ‘Let’s All Visit Fukushima’ Japanese Government Campaign

Everyone that has studied the links provided below would have fled Fukushima, even Tokyo.


#Fukushima I Nuke Plant “Cold Shutdown” Effect: “Let’s All Visit Fukushima” Campaign by the National Government (EX-SKF, Dec. 19, 2011):

It looks as if a total, complete cold shutdown has been achieved in the heads of some ministers and agency heads and career bureaucrats in the Japanese national government.

The Japan Tourism Agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism launched a new campaign on the day of the declaration of the “cold shutdown/accident over” by Prime Minister Yoshikiko “Saved by Kim” Noda.

What’s the campaign, you ask?

“Let’s go visit Fukushima Prefecture, now that the Step 2 of the TEPCO/government Roadmap has been completed!” Rejoice, it’s safe!

From the Japan Tourism Agency press release (12/16/2011):

Read moreThe Fukushima ‘Cold Shutdown’ Effect (1): ‘Let’s All Visit Fukushima’ Japanese Government Campaign

Image Of Egyptian Soldiers Beating And Dragging A Young Woman During Clashes In Tahrir Square

The arrest and brutal treatment of this young woman reminds us that the revolution is far from over.


Egyptian soldiers beating and dragging a young woman during clashes in Tahrir Square. Her image has become the latest icon of the revolution. Photograph: Reuters

Image of unknown woman beaten by Egypt’s military echoes around world (Guardian, Dec. 18, 2011):

The woman is young, and slim, and fair. She lies on her back surrounded by four soldiers, two of whom are dragging her by the arms raised above her head. She’s unresisting – maybe she’s fainted; we can’t tell because we can’t see her face. She’s wearing blue jeans and trainers. But her top half is bare: we can see her torso, her tummy, her blue bra, her bare delicate arms. Surrounding this top half, forming a kind of black halo around it, is the abaya, the robe she was wearing that has been ripped off and that tells us that she was wearing a hijab.

Six years ago, when popular protests started to hit the streets of Egypt as Hosni Mubarak’s gang worked at rigging the 2005 parliamentary elections, the regime hit back – not just with the traditional Central Security conscripts – but with an innovation: militias of strong, trained, thugs. They beat up men, but they grabbed women, tore their clothes off and beat them, groping them at the same time. The idea was to insinuate that females who took part in street protests wanted to be groped.

Women developed deterrent techniques: layers of light clothing, no buttons, drawstring pants double-knotted – and carried right on protesting. Many of the smaller civil initiatives that grew into the protest movement: “We See You”, “Against Corruption”, “The Streets are Ours” were women-led.

Read moreImage Of Egyptian Soldiers Beating And Dragging A Young Woman During Clashes In Tahrir Square