Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

And what prey tell, is a single man, president or not, supposed to 'do' when a weather catastrophe happens and is not even over yet...

Congressional Republicans’ 2011 budget would slash funding for government agencies directly responsible for issuing tsunami warnings and severely reduce the government’s capacity to track and respond to these disasters, the president of the union that represents employees of the National Weather Service told ThinkProgress today in the wake of the tragic tsunami in the Pacific. The House Republican budget, which was rejected by the Senate this week, would have cut funding to NOAA — the agency directly responsible for tsunami monitoring and warning — restricting the government’s ability to respond.

Dan Sobien, the president of National Weather Service Employees Organization, said in a statement to ThinkProgress that while his agency, a subsidiary of NOAA, has made contingency plans, the GOP cuts would “put considerable stress” on the country’s tsunami monitoring and response systems

Proposed GOP budget drastically cuts Tsunami warning centers:

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/11/gop-budget-tsunami/

Meh...Who cares if we lose a few thousands lifes. We're saving money!

Does Think Progress publish anything that's accurate?  I mean really, everytime someone posts a link, it turns out to be bullshit.  In this case, the source is a union guy, not managment or any agency budget heads that say warning centers have been targeted.

I guess for that reason I shouldn't mind you guys constantly using it.  Carry on!

Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, called the GOP cuts reckless and even dangerous.

"This disaster displays the need to keep the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center fully funded and operational," said Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I hope my Republican colleagues in the House are now aware that there was a horrific earthquake and tsunami in the Pacific."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said the disaster in Japan demonstrates the importance of public safety programs such as the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

"The warning center provided critical information to public safety officials for an effective response to the tsunami," Akaka said. "The House-passed bill that attempts to slash the warning center's budget is shortsighted and puts our nation's security at risk."

That's not just a TP piece, it's an AP news item. If you don't want to listen to a commie pinko union head, maybe you'll listen to a commie pinko Congresswoman?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031103810.html
 


Or perhaps a commie pinko Senator:
 

I would like someone to point out where the proposal cuts Tsunami warning centers.  That was the original accusation.

Japanese wind energy plants threatened by tsunami damage (http://www.scaringthecat.com/index.php?a=2)

Who cares about them. I'm worried about the nuke plants!

I would like someone to point out where the proposal cuts Tsunami warning centers.  That was the original accusation.

KING: The tsunami warning centers, it’s really — the timing of that really puts attention on the subject matter. I don’t know that I would go back and look at that. I would ask people to come forward with the facts on this — how badly do we need them and do the tragic events in Japan give us a different perspective. I would look at it from a different perspective. I don’t know I would at this point know say that I’d be willing to make that change. I think we often over-react to emergencies, especially natural disasters, before we assess the limit of the damage, and particularly with the nuclear part of this.

Cantor dismissed complaints from NOAA employees who have criticized the scope of the cuts to their agency.

"Nowhere have we indicated that we are directing NOAA not to emphasize the services it provides for the safety, wealth and welfare of American people," Cantor said. "We've all got to do more with less."

Despite the depth of some of the cuts proposed by Republicans, they would skim less than half of a percentage point from current deficit levels because they tackle only discretionary spending, which makes up a relatively small portion of government spending.

Seems like your guys are finally speaking:

http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/530566/gop_rep_against_restoring_tsunami_funding,_warns_against_%E2%80%98over-reacting'/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/eric-cantor-defends-foreign-aid-cuts_n_835598.html

I would like someone to point out where the proposal cuts Tsunami warning centers.  That was the original accusation.

Am I reading this right?  Are you admitting your first story was bullshit?

KING: The tsunami warning centers, it’s really — the timing of that really puts attention on the subject matter. I don’t know that I would go back and look at that. I would ask people to come forward with the facts on this — how badly do we need them and do the tragic events in Japan give us a different perspective. I would look at it from a different perspective. I don’t know I would at this point know say that I’d be willing to make that change. I think we often over-react to emergencies, especially natural disasters,

"Nowhere have we indicated that we are directing NOAA not to emphasize the services it provides for the safety, wealth and welfare of American people," Cantor said. "We've all got to do more with less."

We're gonna slash your budget. If you can't track hurricanes, tornadoes, or tsunamis it's not our fault. We told you to make do with your dime and didn't specifically say what to cut, cuz that's how we roll.

This was your point.

You, of course, don't pay attention to what one Republicans says:

Instead you dwell on Cantor's remarks, which are a bit more obscure in the Republican way of obtuse-speak:

Real world translation:

 ::)

This was your point.

You, of course, don't pay attention to what one Republicans says:

Instead you dwell on Cantor's remarks, which are a bit more obscure in the Republican way of obtuse-speak:

Real world translation:

 ::)

 A Small Japanese Town, Swallowed By The Sea (http://www.npr.org/2011/03/29/134946960/a-small-japanese-town-swallowed-by-the-sea?sc=fb&cc=fp)

npr/photos

The U.S. government said Wednesday that traces of radiation have been found in milk in Washington state, but said the amounts are far too low to trigger any public-health concern.

The Environmental Protection Agency said a March 25 sample of milk produced in the Spokane, Wash., area contained a 0.8 pico curies per literlevel of iodine-131, which it said was less than one five-thousandth of the safety safety guideline set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The EPA said it increased monitoring after radiation leaked from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. It expects more such findings in coming days, but in amounts "far below levels of public-health concern, including for infants and children."


The U.S. government said Wednesday that traces of radiation have been found in milk in Washington state. Joe White has details.

Iodine-131 has a half-life of about eight days, meaning levels should fade quickly. "These findings are a minuscule amount compared to what people experience every day," the agency said.

For example, a person would be exposed to low levels of radiation on a round trip cross country flight, watching television, and even from construction materials," Patricia Hansen, an FDA senior scientist, said in a written statement distributed by the EPA late Wednesday.

The FDA last week said it will block imports of Japanese milk products and certain other foods produced in the area around the Fukushima nuclear facility because of concerns about radiation contamination.

An EPA spokesman said that while the agency isn't certain that the iodine-131 found in the sampled milk came from Fukushima, its discovery is "consistent with" what the agency knows has been released so far from the damaged nuclear reactors there.

 
"We know we don't normally see iodine-131 in milk. We know there's been an incident where it's been released," the spokesman said. "And now we're seeing it."

Dairy industry officials stressed that products remained safe.

"Consumer safety is the highest priority for dairy farmers and dairy foods companies, and today's report by EPA and FDA confirms that our nation's dairy products continue to be safe to eat and drink," said Rob Vandenheuvel, general manager of the Ontario, Calif.-based Milk Producers Council, which represents dairies in Southern and Central California. "We recognize the concerns of our consumers, and the U.S. dairy industry will continue to work closely with federal and state government agencies to ensure that we maintain a safe milk supply."

Write to Stephen Power at stephen.power@wsj.com

(NaturalNews) Several nuclear power plants in the southeastern US have begun to detect low levels of radioactive iodine-131 in the air, which is the same type of radiation now being found all over the place as a result of the mega-earthquake and tsunami that struck the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan on March 11, 2011. Reuters has indicated that power plants in both North and South Carolina, as well as one in Florida, have all detected what they say are "low levels" of the non-native radioactive substance.

"If there were radiation coming from one our own sites, we would be seeing other types of radiation than iodine-131," said Drew Elliot, a spokesman for Progress Energy. "Other nuclear stations throughout the East Coast all started picking this up within the last week. It all points to something coming from overseas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both say it poses no threat to public safety."

Progress Energy's Hartsville, SC, plant and Crystal River, Fla., plant both detected what the company says are low levels of radioactive iodine-131. And Duke Energy's two plants in South Carolina, as well as its plant in Huntersville, NC, all reported levels of the non-native radioactive substance as well.

The report ties in to various others that have detected radioactive particles in rainwater in Massachusetts, California, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. It appears that all across the US, evidence of the Fukushima nuclear fallout is gradually beginning to turn up, and yet with every report comes empty assurances from government officials that everything is fine, and that the levels being detected are supposedly harmless to humans (http://www.naturalnews.com/031871_r...).

Meanwhile, continued reports are trickling in that indicate a rapidly-escalating crisis at the Fukushima plant. Deadly plutonium is beginning to show up in soil samples near the plant, and dangerously-high levels of radiation are now being detected in seawater nearly a mile from where the nuclear plant dumps water into the ocean. And this is only the information that is being publicly released, sometimes days after officials have become aware of it.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011...

Does anyone else think that this is the beginning if not further into the apocalypse? Regardless of how the quake happened, I'm not talking conspiracy. I'm saying that I don't think any of the atomic bombs or previous nuclear accidents are even comparable to what we're experiencing. The radiation as I'm sure we've all seen is in the rainwater, milk and will obviously be in every part of the food chain. I don't think there''s any such thing as experts on ground for which the territory is uncharted.

I'm saying that I don't think any of the atomic bombs or previous nuclear accidents are even comparable to what we're experiencing. The radiation as I'm sure we've all seen is in the rainwater, milk and will obviously be in every part of the food chain. I don't think there''s any such thing as experts on ground for which the territory is uncharted.

Does anyone else think that this is the beginning if not further into the apocalypse? Regardless of how the quake happened, I'm not talking conspiracy. I'm saying that I don't think any of the atomic bombs or previous nuclear accidents are even comparable to what we're experiencing. The radiation as I'm sure we've all seen is in the rainwater, milk and will obviously be in every part of the food chain. I don't think there''s any such thing as experts on ground for which the territory is uncharted.

I would be more worried about the poor radiation soaked people who live in Denver. 

Does anyone else think that this is the beginning if not further into the apocalypse? Regardless of how the quake happened, I'm not talking conspiracy. I'm saying that I don't think any of the atomic bombs or previous nuclear accidents are even comparable to what we're experiencing. The radiation as I'm sure we've all seen is in the rainwater, milk and will obviously be in every part of the food chain. I don't think there''s any such thing as experts on ground for which the territory is uncharted.

a whole new world coming soon?  yes.

Dare tell!

I'm not in the conspiracy thread ;D

I'm thinking an England circa 1500 political/social climate..

Nah.  England circa 1976.

Still we got The Damned, The Clash, and The Buzzcocks out of it so we got that goin for us... 

Dancing Queen forever dude..

Press Release (Apr 19,2011)
Plant Status of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (as of 0:00 pm, April 19)


*Updates are underlined

All 6 units of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have been shut down.

Unit 1(Shut down)
-Explosive sound and white smoke were confirmed after the big quake
 occurred at 3:36 pm on March 12th. It was assumed to be hydrogen
 explosion.
-At approximately 2:30 am on March 23rd, seawater injection to the nuclear
 reactor through the feed water system was initiated.
-From 3:37 pm on March 25th, we started injecting freshwater and are now
 injecting fresh water by a motor driven pump powered by the off-site
 transmission line.
-As it is suspected that hydrogen gas is accumulated inside reactor
 containment vessel, we commenced the valve opening operation concerning
 injection of nitrogen gas into the reactor container vessel at 10:30 pm
 April 6th and commenced injection at 1:31am April 7th.

Unit 2(Shut down)
-At approximately 6:00 am on March 15th, an abnormal noise began emanating
 from nearby Pressure Suppression Chamber and the pressure within the
 chamber decreased.
-From 10:10 am on March 26th, we started injecting freshwater to the
 reactor and are now injecting fresh water by a motor driven pump powered
 by the off-site transmission line.
-From 7:35 pm on April 12th, we started transferring the high level
 radioactive accumulated water in the trench of the turbine building to
 the condenser by an underwater pump. At 5:04pm on April 13th, the
 scheduled transfer was completed.

Unit 3(Shut down)
-Explosive sound and white smoke were confirmed at approximately 11:01am
 on March 14th. It was assumed to be hydrogen explosion.
-From 6:02 pm on March 25th, we started injecting fresh water to the
 reactor and are now injecting fresh water by a motor driven pump powered
 by the off-site transmission line.

Unit 4(outage due to regular inspection)
-At approximately 6:00 am on March 15th, we confirmed the explosive sound
 and the sustained damage around the 5th floor rooftop area of the Nuclear
 Reactor Building.
-At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside the
 reactor happened.

Unit 5(outage due to regular inspection)
-Sufficient level of reactor coolant to ensure safety is maintained.
-At 5:00 am on March 19th, we started the Residual Heat Removal System
 Pump (C) in order to cool the spent fuel pool.
-At 2:30 pm on March 20th, the reactor achieved reactor cold shutdown. At
 around 5:24 pm on March 23rd, when we switched the temporary Residual
 Heat Removal System Seawater Pump, it has stopped automatically. At
 around 4:14 pm on March 24th we replaced the pump, and restarted cooling
 of reactor at around 4:35 pm.
-At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside the
 reactor happened.

Unit 6(outage due to regular inspection)
-Sufficient level of reactor coolant to ensure safety is maintained.
-At 10:14 pm on March 19th, we started the Residual Heat Removal System
 Pump (B) of Unit 6 in order to cool the spent fuel pool.
-At 7:27 pm on March 20th, the reactor achieved reactor cold shutdown.
-In relation to the two seawater side pumps of the Residual Heat Removal
 System, we switched the power source from temporary to permanent at 3:38
 pm and 3:42 pm, Mar 25 respectively.
-At this moment, we do not consider any reactor coolant leakage inside the
 reactor happened.

Operation for cooling the spent fuel pools
-From 10:17 am to 11:35 am on April 19th, we have sprayed water to Unit 4
 by a concrete pump vehicle.
-We will conduct further water spray depending on the conditions of spent
 fuel pools, if needed.

Others
-The national government has instructed evacuation for those local
 residents within 20km radius of the periphery and shelter in place for
 those residents from 20km to 30km radius of the periphery, because it is
 possible that radioactive materials are discharged.
-Currently, a large quantity of radioactive wastewater exists inside the
 turbine building of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Particularly,
 wastewater in Unit 2 is highly radioactive.
 We have been planning to transfer such wastewater to the Centralized
 Radiation Waste Treatment Facility once measures to prevent leakage are
 implemented inside the facility buildings. After transfer to the
 Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility, the wastewater will be
 stably stored.
  (Previously announced on April 15th, 2011)
 With this regard, on April 10th, we received direction from Minister of
 Economy, Trade and Industry to report on matters in connection with
 transfer of high level radioactive wastewater to the Centralized
 Radiation Waste Treatment Facility, such as necessity, assessment of
 safety, plans on permanent safety storage of wastewater and treatment
 facilities.
 Since we completed implementing measures to prevent leakage in the
 facility buildings, we have compiled the details based on the direction
 given and reported to Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry. The
 content of the report has been confirmed by Nuclear and Industrial Safety
 Agency.
 At 10:08 am on April 19th, based on the method described in the report,
 we started transferring high level radioactive wastewater to the
 Centralized Radiation Waste Treatment Facility.
-From 2:30 pm to 3:45 pm on April 15th, we installed 3 sandbags containing
 zeolite (as an absorbent material) between the screen pump rooms of the
 Unit 3 and Unit 4.
 Also, from 9:00am to 11:15am, we threw in two sandbags between the screen
 pump rooms of Unit 1 and 2, and five sandbags between the screen pump
 rooms of Unit 2 and 3.
-From 10:19 am to 5:00 pm on April 15th, we transferred distribution
 panels of the pumps to inject water to the reactors of Units 1 to 3 as a
 countermeasure against tsunami.
-At 2:34pm on April 17th, power supplies to a common spent fuel pool was
 temporarily stopped because a breaker at the upstream side was released
 due to an electrical short circuit which was caused by an insufficient
 treatment of the end of the unused cable which was connected to the power
 source of the common spent fuel in parallel. However, after removal of
 the cable and checkups, at 5:30pm, the power supplies to the common spent
 fuel pool was restored.
-From 11:30am to 2:00pm, we opened and closed the double doors and
 conducted surveys of the situation of the inside of the nuclear reactor
 building of Unit 3 and measured a dose of radiation, etc. by a remote
 control robot. Also, from 4:00pm to 5:30pm, we did the same kind of work
 on Unit 1. From 1:42pm to 2:33pm on April 18th, we opened and closed the
 double doors, measured a dose of radiation and so on, and conducted
 surveys of the situation of the inside of the nuclear reactor building of
 Unit 2, by a remote control robot.
-From 11:50am to 1:05pm on April 18th, we suspended operations injecting
 water to the reactor of Unit 1 to 3, and replaced hoses for injecting
 water, to the brand new ones.
-We will continue to take all measures to ensure the safety and to
 continue monitoring the surrounding environment around the power station.