GREAT ARTICLE ON FUKUSHIMA: Stop the Stupid

No comment necessary. Read it yourselves: Fukushima: Stop the Stupid

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=223916

Fukushima News Reports from Japan? Brief Explanation of Japanese News Sources and Why Some are More Sensationalist Than Others

Recently there is lots of reporting about how "if there is another massive earthquake, even a small one like a 5 or 6, the spent rod fuel pool at Fukushima could collapse and destroy the country and cause 40 million people to be evacuated from Japan." I seriously think people need to relax and get a bit more realistic. Worrying about this is worrying about something that is conjecture or speculation...

There's lots of things to worry about, folks, but the support system of the spent fuel rods pool building wasn't destroyed by a 9.0 earthquake, the sixth biggest earthquake in history, the plant and the building was damaged by a tsunami. A 9.0 earthquake is about 8000 times more powerful than a 6.0 earthquake. If the steel structure at Fukushima stood up to a 9.0 quake - and has since been reinforced - then I wonder what the chances are of a 6.0 quake destroying it? 


What are the chances of another 9.0 quake? An event that happens about once in one-thousand years? 


The walls of the building were damaged by an explosion, for sure. But the current state of having no walls around the spent fuel pools building is because the walls that were damaged by the explosion have been removed on purpose. They were removed because a new covering wall is in the process of being constructed and damaged walls are not stable.


The construction of the new walls started yesterday.


The last four paragraphs above are facts. That is what "news" is supposed to be; facts. Let me say an opinion, that, it is possible, that the world will end because of Fukushima. In fact, I'd give the odds of that happening, perhaps, a bit higher percent than the odds of life on this world getting extinguished by a massive asteroid blasting the earth to smithereens in the next year; or the sign of the Apocalypse when the Beirut river runs red with blood; or the sun suddenly exploding; or me winning the year-end lottery (and not giving a toss about any of this anyhow while I'm sipping wine on a yacht in the Carribbean). 


Folks, serious people in Japan are not following this story about Fukushima being the end of Japan or life on this planet as we know it. It's certainly not because the government is suppressing the story, either. I reckon people have their reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that the news services that are reporting this doomsday scenario are not credible news sources regardless of how many times they are repeated in the western press.

I love this headline!

I don't believe anything the press says anyway, but my reasons for not paying too much attention to this story about Fukushima, "ending life on the earth as we know it," is that there's many other things that are much more likely to kill me and I don't spend all day worrying about those either and, two, if it is the end of the earth, there's not another place I could move to that I know of. Is there?


But allow me to explain to the foreign audience the why's and what-fors as to why, in Japan's case, you need to consider the source about any news you hear... I'd like to just to put things in perspective for foreigners about Japan's news media....


In Japan, the TV networks are all affiliated with old school newspapers, so that explains editorial issues. Here are the five biggest news sources in Japan along with their political and business policy/slant. They are:


Sankei Shimbun (The most right wing of the major news sources. Pro-American, Anti-Chinese.)


Nikkei Shimbun (Pro business, pro market similar to Wall Street Journal. Affiliated with TV Tokyo)


Mainichi Shimbun (Liberal, often sensationalist)


Yomiuri Shimbun (Conservative. Most read newspaper in Japan. Populist positions. Affiliated with Nippon Television.)


Asahi Shimbun (The most left wing of the major news sources. Affiliated with TV Asahi)


Today, if we are talking about sensationalist reporting on Fukushima, then I'd like to talk about - must talk about - TV Asahi.

Asahi Newspaper

The news source that is reporting and running with this "Fukushima could be the end of the earth" scenario is TV Asahi. As stated, TV Asahi is affiliated with Asahi Shimbun but is a different company. Asahi news is Japan's oldest and second most circulated newspaper. Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) is second in circulation with about 8 million, but TV Asahi is one of the lowest rated national TV networks in Japan. If you realize that then it might make sense to you why they resort to really sensationalist reporting...


In TV Asahi's case, I suppose it's a chicken and the egg problem. Which came first? The sensationalist reporting or the bad ratings? So, now you know. There's a reason why TV Asahi's ratings are so bad. They've, for years, been guilty of sensationalist news reporting (if you can call it "news").

If it were Japan, Nancy Grace would be on TV Asahi

Another point that should make thinking people suspicious of anything Asahi news reports is that before the war (starting from the 1930s or so) Asahi news was an extremely right-wing publication and strongly supported the militarist  then prime minister of Fumimaro Konoe and was an ardent supporter of the war as well as harshly anti-captialist. After the war ended, they went 180 degrees the other way and are now the far left wing. They've been anti-business (pro-socialism and pro-statism) and anti-nuclear power since. 


If there is any news source in Japan who will be out in front first complaining about industry and these sorts of issues, it will be a leftist publication like Asahi Shimbun or TV Asahi. It is their audience.

That being said, TV Asahi's news is above and probably better than news sources like News of the World. So, if you like gossip and scandals, then they are the station for you...


If you want to watch "news" shows about the end of the world, then they have that everyday at about 9 am ~ 11:00 am as that's "Golden time" for housewives to watch TV...


People interested in serious news and economic reports do not tune to TV Asahi. They are not credible. In fact, to think that any TV news source is credible in this day and age is pure nonsense.




NOTE FROM A READER:


I have been living and working in Japan with the Navy since before the earthquake. The Navy has gone way overboard with radiation control measures and the only problem we have is that work gets stopped when we find radiation measurements that are about as high as you would find in a bunch of bananas. We have had a lot of nuclear trained officers and testing equipment on site since day one because we operate our own nuclear power plant on USS George Washington and the impact has been totally overblown. An "unprecedented" level of radiation can still be insignificantly low but just higher than normal.


- Fireman_Timmy

Two Stories About Fukushima - blowing up nuclear reactors with explosives! What could possibly go wrong with that? Chernobyl comparison

Two interesting articles caught my eye this morning concerning the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I don't really want to comment on them too much as I think when you want information on that, I recommend checking EX-SKF (though recently I've sometimes noticed an editorial slant.)

The first story made me just laugh for how idiotic it was. It seems stereo-typically American that one of the solutions to fixing a problem was to destroy it. Kinda like how Beavis and Butthead always wanted to "burn things and blow stuff up!" One prominent US scientist recommended that they use explosives on one of the damaging reactors to blow a hole in the side so that they could cool it off.


Blasting a hole in a damaged nuclear reactor with explosives? Sounds safe to me. I can't foresee anything going wrong with that! Can you? 


The Japan Times reports in: US side eyed blasting hole in side of reactor

An informal panel of experts in the U.S. Department of Energy discussed using military explosives to bring the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant under control, said panel member and physicist Richard Garwin, who pitched the idea. "I wanted to make a hole through the great shielding slabs, which are more than a meter of reinforced concrete, and one of the opportunities was to use the military shaped charge," Garwin said in a telephone interview, referring to the proposal he made to Energy Secretary Steven Chu at the panel meeting last April 5. 

"Military intelligence?" Now there's a contradiction!

You can't make this stuff up. It says, "...discussed using military explosives to bring the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant under control" !!!! Bwa Ha! Ha! Ha! These are supposed experts. Nah, blowing up nuclear reactors with explosives! What could possibly go wrong with that? I know that this was a unprecedented disaster and, hence, uncharted territory, but this idea sounds like the guy who came up with this idea watches too many Bruce Willis movies. Like I said, it's typically American. Typical in the fact that it seems that America likes to fix all sorts of things with explosions. Need an example? Well, a quick one that comes to mind is like bringing democracy and freedom to people by bombing and killing them. That has seemed to work quite well over these last 10 years or so.... What do they say? "Give a kid a hammer and the whole world is a nail."

Really. People like this need to get out more often. 

Say dinner at a Denny's sometime or something.

The next story, also from the Japan Times says that the soil contamination around Fukushima is only about 1/8th as bad as Chernobyl was:

In terms of soil contamination, the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant is only about an eighth as severe as the meltdown at the Chernobyl plant, in what is now Ukraine, in 1986, according to a report by the science ministry released Tuesday.

The study, which began in June and was conducted by the ministry in cooperation with universities and semigovernmental bodies including the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, looked at 2,200 sites within a 100-km radius of the Fukushima plant, which had three reactor meltdowns.

The group studied the radioactive isotopes in samples of the top 5 cm of soil at each site.

The site farthest from the plant to have high levels of contamination, at 1.48 million becquerels of cesium per square meter, was the town of Namie, in Fukushima, located 32.5 km from the power plant, the research revealed.

The 1.48 million becquerel benchmark was used to define the exclusion zone after the Chernobyl meltdown. Such levels of contamination were found 250 km from the Chernobyl plant, or eight times farther than from the Fukushima plant, the report said

"Oh look! It has a halo like an angel!"

Well, let's hope this is as bad as it gets. Long ago, I'd have believed this report, but after so many instances of the government hiding facts and recent experience with universities supporting Global Warming theory - then we find out they receive money to do so - all I can say is what I always say;


Be suspicious. Be very suspicious of everything you hear in the mass media.

Government Control, Fukushima and a Butter Shortage (Again) in Japan

You might wonder what Fukushima has to do with butter... Hopefully, not a lot, and I hope we can keep it that way... 

They say in the hey-days of epitome of the old command and control economy, the Soviet Union, the citizens were often in despair because of a wide and common shortage of basic foodstuffs and everyday goods. Whenever meats or bread would be delivered to any store, people would line up to buy whatever it was on hand and, soon, once again the store shelves would be bare.

Ronald Reagan used to make fun of his Russian counterparts with a story that went something like this:

"They say that production is so bad and so slow that it takes ten years to buy a car in the Soviet Union. Once the papers are filled out and the forms all stamped and signed, one still had to pay off the loan for the car before they could take delivery. 


Well, one day, after signing the forms and getting everything stamped and approved, a young fella asked when he'd get the car after the 10 years payment was finished and the government official said, 'On Dec. 12 of 2021.' The young fella then asked the government official at what time on that day would the car would come? The surprised government official replied, 'You have to wait ten years! What difference does it make morning, day or evening?' To which the young fella replied, 'Because the plumber is coming that day!'"

History proves that government control of the economy is a proven failure, yet people will often demand that the government take control of some industry in distress or come to the aid of the public. 

When will people ever learn that the government can't even fix a hole in the road on time and under budget (witness Japan's debt at 225% of GDP for evidence of that) certainly they cannot or could not, nor would we even want them too, take over a disaster or public nuisance like the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plants... Just to name one such example. 

It never ceases to amaze me how, even in what is ostensibly one of the world's most capitalist societies, Japan, the people will ask for more government control or approve of centralized government control and tinkering with the economy... Especially when it comes to Japan's food supply.

At the end of World War Two, the Japanese government vowed that Japan would never again run out of food. They swore to the Japanese people that they'd never go hungry again. Ever. The solutions to Japan's food problems, the government wonks insisted, called for centralized control of several areas of food production.

Odd thing is that, before and during the war, Japan's government had centralized control of the food production then too and Japan went hungry. 


You'd have thought that someone would have pointed this out. But no.

Fast forward to 2011. Yesterday, I went to the grocery store. There, where the butter always is, the shelves were bare. I asked a clerk and he said that there is a shortage so only one per customer and that you had to ask for it at the checkout counter. 

Government idiots! 

We just had a butter shortage a few years ago due to government meddling. 

Time Magazine reported in 2008:

The butter shortage results from a chain of events. When the country suffered an overproduction of milk in 2006, the government ordered about 1,000 tons of raw milk poured down the drain and dairy cows slaughtered to prop up prices and defend local milk farmers. Dairy prices were then managed to retain their advantage to imported milk and butter, whose prices were inflated by tariffs. (To protect domestic butter, the tax on imported butter went up twice last year. There is a nearly 30% tariff on butter imports.)

But now grain-feed prices have risen as a result of a drought in Australia as well as the accompanying use of corn for ethanol, which has reduced the amount available for feed for Japan's cows. The drought has also cut back on milk that would have been imported to supplement the Japanese market. Combined with competing demand for milk and milk products from emerging markets in China and Russia, the result is a collapse of the local butter production in Japan.

In 2008, when this became a big row, the government said they'd take care of it and that it would never happen again. Here it is 2011 and we have another butter shortage...

Think about this, folks... These clowns in government cannot even take care of our butter production, is there anyone who is still in favor of the Japanese government nationalizing a serious priority problem like Fukushima? 

One would hope that even 2 seconds of consideration of this question most people would say, "Absolutely not!"


We need much less government control of our lives and the economy if we are going to get out of our current malaise.

Best Place for Up-to-the-Minute Radiation Readings for All of Japan

In English 日本語もあり ここです （http://blog.safecast.org/ja/）。 Nationwide readings. Proper measurements by independent worldwide volunteer organization called Safecast. If that link doesn't work, see: http://blog.safecast.org


There have been many recent stories of high radiation readings in Tokyo that were proven to be not related to Fukushima. For example, false alarms in the water, in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, and a litany of others, Safecast data proves that Tokyo is well within safe limits and has lower radiation levels than major international cities such as Rome, Italy or Hong Kong, China.


PBS recently featured Safecast:

From Youtube:


Eight months after a tsunami caused a nuclear accident in Japan, ordinary people are using new technology and the power of crowdsourcing to find radiation hotspots. NewsHour science correspondent Miles O\'Brien reports from Japan.


The results still show several danger zones in and around Fukushima... The Tokyo areas show completely safe levels. Please check your area for yourself.

Empathy Survey - How Do You Feel When You See a Child Suffering?

I just bought a book by one of my favorite political columnists, Ted Rall. In the foreword, he talks about compassion and empathy. 


He wrote about a time he saw a homeless man and thought, "Thank god, if it weren't for a few lucky breaks, that could have been me." I've thought the same thing before many times too.


How about you?


I agree with what Ted writes in the book and will have a review of "The Year of Loving Dangerously" soon... But, until then, this...


I wonder about people today and think there are far too many people who feint compassion and concern, but it's all an act. Take, for example, the disaster of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 in Japan. So many people I know were actually sincere and got off their asses and did something...


But I also thought there were way too many people who only helped and contributed because it made them look good doing so. There's nothing so wrong with that, I suppose, as long as people are honest with themselves and open about intentions.


There's a word for this and it's Crocodile Tears.


I also think that there is far too little compassion and empathy amongst people today as a general rule.


Take, for example, the poor people who have suffered in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures. Terrible situation indeed... But the mass media seem to have gone on and people are losing interest.


Is it human nature to do so? Or are we all just robots with heart strings being pulled by the mass media?


I wonder why people will get together to make (at least the appearance of) an effort to help people who are on TV and suffering far away, yet, in their own neighborhoods, they scorn and look down upon the unfortunate in their own neighborhoods?


For those ends and my own research, I've made a survey at the right of this blog. It is asking the question:


"When you see a homeless person, what do you think?"


I hope you will help me by taking 5 seconds to answer the question (as many answers as you wish)... I will post the results on 10/31/11. 


Note: I changed the name of this post from "When you see a homeless person, what do you think?" to "How Do You Feel When You See a Child Suffering?" Because I know that if I write "Homeless" that is a distasteful subject and many will not bother to read the post.

The Race for Japan's New Prime Minister is On and the Entire Country is Abuzz....ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.......

Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan who was prime minister for just over one short year is resigning. The race for a new clusterf*ck prime minister of Japan is on. 


If you were to judge by the media, you'd think that the Japanese, as well as people all over the world, are gripping their arses in anticipation of who the next prime minister of the world's #3 (and dropping quickly) economy is going to be.


Will it be dumbf*ck number one or dillweed #2? The entire nation anxiously awaits the results of an election that they have absolutely no say in whatsoever.....So, I am....ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz.....


ZZZsnork! Where was I? Oh, yeah....


Kan, as you remember, was Japan's prime minister for just about 15 months. In that time, his infamy is often compared with that of many tyrants of the past. The destruction and devastation that occurred under Kan's rule will always be on the level of a Adolf Hitler, Chairman Mao, Attila the Hun, Caligula, Joseph Stalin and that Khan dude on Star Trek. 

The world will never forget the destruction they caused: 

Top (L to R): Hitler, Stalin, Mao

Bottom (L to R): Kan, Khan and Fine

See? Told you he's right up there with old usual suspects. 


Our own Naoto Kan, who, you'll remember singlehandedly was responsible for causing the earthquake, tsunami and subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster will also always be remembered for his positive achievements such as... his, er.... ummmm... And then there's... the... uh... 


See?


Things will be OK if you just remember to keep repeating the mantra: "March 11, disaster, earthquake, tsunami, Fukushima Dai ichi and Naoto Kan."

Kan! Kan! Khan! Damn you, Khan! We'll get you for this!


AFP reports:

TOKYO (AFP) Japan's ruling party is to kick off a two-day campaign Saturday to choose a new leader for the disaster-hit nation, with trade and industry minister Banri Kaieda emerging as a strong contender.

Who the hell is Banri Kaieda?

Five candidates of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) have so far run for the party's leadership election on Monday to succeed Prime Minister Naoto Kan as the nation's sixth premier in five years.

Awriiiiight! I think we should go for a new world record! You know that Italy has had more than 50 government's since World War II? yes. It's true. Come on, Japan! We can do better! Japan! Japan! Japan! Ganbare Nippon!

The party has set a deadline of Saturday morning for candidates to come forward for what is expected to be a close race.

Hoo hum....What? I missed the dealine for filing again?

Kan announced his resignation on Friday after nearly 15 turbulent months in power, during which his response to the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear plant accident drew fierce criticism.

Remember to keep repeating: Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Genghis Khan, Attila and Kan (sounds like some 70's Hippie Prog Rock group doesn't it?)

Through debates and speeches this weekend, the candidates will seek support of 398 DPJ lawmakers who can vote for a new party president to replace Kan. Parliament will then vote the leader in as PM on Tuesday.

Debates and speeches this weekend? Oh goody. That sounds like how I want to spend my weekends with the family! Listening to old political pharts droning on and on about this or that....

Former foreign minister Seiji Maehara, who has topped the list of hopeful successors to Kan in opinion polls, and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda were largely seen as pre-election favourites.

Is it just me or does the name Seiji Maehara sound like a horse racing jockey? 

But Kaieda, who has led efforts to contain the nuclear crisis, leapt into the front row alongside them late on Friday after party kingmaker Ichiro Ozawa, who controls the DPJ's biggest faction, voiced support for him.

And he lifted a pinky finger is his direction. Don't forget the power of the Ozawa pinky in your direction!

Ozawa, a divisive figure who faces a criminal trial over a donations scandal, leads up to 130 lawmakers, although he has lost his party membership following his indictment over the scandal.

This is great: divisive figure, criminal trial, donations scandal, leads 130 lawmakers...  think that pretty much sums up the political situation here in a nutshell.

"We need support of Ozawa at a time of crisis," Kaieda told reporters late Friday.

Ha! Ha! Ha! "We need support of Ozawa at a time of crisis"!? Tell me, Einstein, when is Japan not in a crisis?

Kaieda, 62, a well-known economist before he turned to politics, also won support of former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, a close ally with Ozawa.

Hatoyama? Oh, yeah. I seem to remember that name. He was the guy who promised to kick out the US military if elected and that he would..... ZZZZZZzzzzzzz.......

Kaieda came to be at odds with Kan, who made a policy shift away from nuclear power generation while Kaieda was trying to convince local governments to restart reactors that went offline after the disaster.

Maehara, 49, who stepped down as foreign minister in March over a donations row, could become the nation's youngest post-war prime minister. He is against raising taxes to ease Japan's fiscal woes.

Get it? Kaieda who has the support of a divisive figure who is involved with a criminal trail over a donations scandal and is supported by another loser who couldn't keep his election promises is up against another guy who has his own doantions scandal.... Ever see that British TV show, "Yes, Minister"? 

(and now for a short comedy interlude about government)

Back to the article:


Noda, 54, who recently courted controversy with statements supporting war criminals, has softened his earlier stance on hiking taxes.


Doh! How many times have I told these idiots that you don't talk about raising taxes before an election? See? This Noda guy is not completely and totally stupid. He's toned it down. Now, if he becomes PM that will only prove the rest of the nation is completely and totally stupid.

The winner faces the unenviable task of overseeing Japan's biggest post-war reconstruction, resolving the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago, and shielding the economy from a soaring yen.


...And the task of trying to stay in office for more than two weeks... With the even more daunting task of trying not to say something stupid once a day.

The new premier must also unite a divided parliament, decide on a new post-Fukushima energy policy and win market confidence that Japan can overcome a legislative quagmire to address the world's biggest debt mountain.


Read that last sentence again: "The new premier must also unite a divided parliament, decide on a new post-Fukushima energy policy and win market confidence that Japan can overcome a legislative quagmire to address the world's biggest debt mountain."


Bwa! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!


Just remember, no matter who becomes the next Japanese prime minister, he will look good is you just always repeat the mantra: March 11, disaster, earthquake, tsunami, Fukushima Dai ichi and Naoto Kan.


--------


NOTE: The international and local media are really turning up the gears on this new Japanese prime minister nonsense. Like I said, "who cares?" Nothing is going to change.


My good friend George Williams turned me on to this great British TV show, that I highly recommend that you watch. It is a wonderful documentary about how TV makes people stupid: