Posts Tagged ‘news’

#Fukushima ; The Living Nightmare

Posted: June 13, 2014 in Frackishima
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by @anarchyroll
6/13/2014

There have been a number of articles published on this website about fracking. The other half of the Frackishima label is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Very few news events that I have no control over have kept me up at night, given me nightmares, and made me fearful for my existence on planet Earth the way Fukushima has. Let’s take a look at some of the facts as to what worried me so much:

The vast majority of people simply don’t want to think about Fukushima. Who can blame them? But not wanting to think about something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist and that the problems won’t be affecting us as a human race for…ever.

Do we really think that all that nuclear waste and radioactive material that is still in the ocean isn’t going to have negative ramifications?

How much radiation in the water and land are we as a species willing to tolerate before enough is enough?

I sometimes wonder if all this radiation, oil, and chemicals that have leaked and/or spilled into so much of our water supply has something to do with the global rise in cancer rates. How about  you?

Earth is a very big planet. What happens on one side of the planet doesn’t necessarily effect what is happening on the other side of the planet. I find it hard to believe that the repeated nuclear bomb tests, bomb drops, and reactor meltdowns aren’t having/won’t have a negative effect on the planet and the people who inhabit it.

I may not be a scientist but I can do addition. I am smart enough to know that all of these toxic materials poisoning our air, water, and land have to be adding up to something. It’s not 1950, it’s 2014 there have been a lot of oil spills, chemical spills, and nuclear materials around the globe. Just because they were mistakes (mostly) doesn’t make what happens after the incidents any different from if they were on purpose.

Are we poisoning the planet?

That is not a sarcastic question. That is not a rhetorical question. That is however what has kept me up, made me worry, and given me nightmares.

Because when I wake up, splash some cold water on my face, and turn the lights on; Chernobyl still happend, Exxon Valdez still happened, Deepwater Horizon still happened, Fukushima still happened, and thousands of nuclear bombs have been tested and continue to be tested (North Korea). What effects that we know about are happening to the planet and all species who inhabit it? What effects that we don’t yet know about?

These are things that are way outside of my sphere of influence, knowledge base, and pay grade. But I think about them nonetheless and I hope other people do too, because not thinking about it doesn’t mean these events haven’t happened, aren’t happening, and won’t have consequences we as humans must deal with for generations to come.

Are we poisoning the planet?

#Snowden Gets an Endorsement from #Gore

Posted: June 11, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
6/11/2014

When you’ve been labeled a traitor by the United States federal government and are in hiding in Russia, you’ll take just about any endorsement you can get. Having one of the three most recent Vice Presidents of the United States give you a thumbs up, is Christmas come early.

Al Gore said that Edward Snowden, in addition to breaking the law, “provided an important service” in exposing the NSA bulk surveillance programs.

Gore didn’t completely pardon Snowden’s actions, admitting that he did break the law and would have to serve some penalty for doing so. But Gore also refused to label Snowden a traitor, which is a huge step forward in the public debate on this issue.

The court of public opinion must shift if Snowden is to be able to return to America. The one thing Democrats and Republicans seem to have in common these days is condemning Edward Snowden as a traitor and kissing up the to Military Industrial Complex.

Gore’s endorsement of the good that came out of Snowden’s action are a good start and a good step in the right direction for those in power and on the left to come around to seeing Snowden as more of a whistleblower and less of a traitor.

The #China Bubble

Posted: May 28, 2014 in Excess and Algorithms
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eanda logoby @anarchyroll
5/27/2014

What happens when the country that we borrow from needs to borrow from someone?

China is starting to see companies collapse and borrowing go up. Why should you care?

Because the United States of America is dependent on China whether we want to be or not, whether people know it or not. China now has to spend $4 to make a $1.

If China goes through a depression or a recession or even something resembling a recession, we are going to feel the negative effects here at home. Not just because they buy so much of our government debt, but because China is responsible for 1/3 of global economic input according to the article linked to above.

There’s no need to panic or ring a doomsday alarm. But China is in a debt crisis.When that language/terminology is used there must be cause for concern in the name of financial responsibility and fiduciary duty. Why is that the case? Why should you care about this?

China owns $1 Trillion with a T of US Government Debt.

That may not seem like a lot when you see the total amount of government debt. But a trillion dollars is a trillion dollars no matter how economists may try to justify it to themselves. Anytime a trillion dollars is involved, it’s safe to say that an eye and an ear should be paid to it at all times. Especially when a margin call from China could put us on a bullet train to a 2008 sequel. The sequel is never better than the original, but let’s keep this one in the territory of Casablanca and Old School and let the original stand alone with the test of time.

United Nations Quits on #Syria

Posted: May 16, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
5/16/2014

There has been another development in Syria this week and, as has become standard, it is not a positive one.

Lakhdar Brahimi; the man tasked with trying to broker a peace treaty or at least a long-standing ceasefire in Syria has resigned. He resigned due to the current Syrian regime not giving an inch, as well as the international community basically not giving a damn about what is going on in Syria as long as chemical weapons aren’t involved. What has been happening and continues to happen in Syria represents everything wrong with the human race.

150,000 dead and counting, with no end in sight, no hope in sight, for the people of Syria. The situation between Russia and Ukraine has shifted all focus away from Syria. The fatigue of the international community has felt from the constant flow of horrifying news coming out of Syria is palpable. No one is even putting up a front of enthusiasm towards of humanitarian solution in that country. When politicians can’t even put on a veil of political correctness on an issue, you know the shit is hitting the fan.

Unfortunately in Syria, it is not shit hitting the fan, it is the blood of women and children by the thousand. Civilians are killed every day and everyone looks away. I had the pleasure of meeting someone who volunteered in the region, at one of the refugee camps. I gave them my respect and attempted to stay in contact with them as they were in the process of trying to go back. That area needs all the help they can get. It is such a vast war zone, one wonders if there is anything that can actually, tangibly, help.

Frequenters of this site know I keep an eye and an ear one what is going on in Syria and have written about it often. I will continue to do so. It is important to know about what is going on there. Remember, the whole situation started with the government opening fire on protesters. Consider what is also happening in Egypt, Ukraine, Greece, and Spain. It seems opening fire on protesters is becoming the norm. It is important to be aware of things like this so a disease of government versus civilian violence do not spread to our side of the ocean.

 

#Google and the #NSA Sitting in a Tree; S-P-Ying on You & Me

Posted: May 10, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
5/7/2014

The last year has been full of vindication for all those paranoid schizophrenics out there.

We now know that not only has the NSA essentially been getting all the data on the internet and storing it, which is bad enough, but it came out this week that they weren’t using a back door but rather have the keys to the front of anything and everything Google. Which is basically everything that isn’t Apple.

The paranoia about what is done with our information is done online is spreading, and why wouldn’t it? It has also been found that our search engine uses and habits have changed in the wake of the NSA leaks.

I suppose I should think that unlawful spying is unlawful spying regardless. But something, and I’m not sure what exactly bothers me more than Google has been in on it the whole time. Call it naivety, and you’d probably be right or the other thing to call it is a natural reaction to massive trust violation.

This is why those agreements we have to sign before signing up for anything for free online is so long and in such small print I suppose. Fill it with loopholes so there is no legal obligation to not sell the information of every customer to a data broker or give it to Uncle Sam. What about the moral obligation? Oh, there’s that naivety again. It’s business, who has time for morals?  After all, what could be more moral than listening to one’s government?

It is sad how much Google is able to justify what they did to themselves. I suppose that there is a strong correlation with trust violation and monetary profit, not just these days, but basically since currency became the currency of the world. The amount of flagrant Big Brother going on with the NSA and telcoms physically weakens me. It makes me feel like not writing. All the more reason to write. The quality may not be on par, but if anyone learns about what is going on through my writing then it’s worth it.

Great news sources that stay on top of the NSA are: The Intercept, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and The Verge.

 

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