Nuclear Nuts
Filed Under Bullshit, Energy, Environment, Madness | Leave a Comment
Dawn on California’s northern coast — crystal clear and cold.
Inflicted with insomnia the last couple of years, I see dawn just about every day — Saturday, though, I did sleep in well past sun up, due to a rare return to sleep.
Early to bed, and early to rise put’s a body out of sync with a lot of normal activity, but at the same time, if given the time to ponder, allows insight into the chilling shit that currently consumes the planet.
Even beyond the tragedy of Whitney Houston — what a sad waste.
And Fukushima won’t go away — despite claiming a cold shutdown for the plant in December, now one of the reactors seems to be reheating.
Just in the nick, the US NRC last week approved two new nuclear reactors in a move of near-pure and absolute insanity — the learning curve is so f*cked.
(Illustration found here).
Two years ago last month, on a Saturday, we had a goody earthquake of a 6.5 magnitude about 40 miles south where I was sitting on my ass, trying to connect with’300′ again on DVD, and not really liking it, when…WHOA!
If you want, read my account here.
Anyway, in the wake of the big shake was this comment which seemed to encompass mankind’s so-far fortunate life encounter with a mega-calamity-waiting-to-happen — such as atomic shit: “On the whole, I think we dodged a bullet,” said State Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata. “It could have been far, far worse.”
A little saying easily applied to just about any given situation or circumstance.
(What Chesbro was talking about was the very-small injury and damage done in the local area by a so-relatively-close 6.5).
And with the 33rd anniversary of Three Mile Island coming next month, coupled with earthquake concerns at a Virginia nuclear plant last summer and Fukushima’s one-year milestone also coming in March, one has to ponder just how long before some weird, nasty shit happens.
One of the most-ugly of situations with nuclear power — beyond meltdowns, explosions and such — is the horror of radioactive waste. As of last spring, the US has in storage 71,862 tons of this waste and adds about 2,200 tons a year.
And the nuclear people haven’t one single-asshole of a clue what to do with this most-terrible of stuff.
The big plan for nearly three decades was to bury the shit in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, but that was scuttled by President Obama for a load of reasons — now the waste is stored on site of each of the plants, either in cooling pools or these huge dry casks.
The above mentioned nuclear plant in Virginia has a sister facility in the state and between the two of them there’s 5.2 million pounds of waste stored, with nowhere else to go.
A reminder via a fact sheet on the total dumbness of this stuff (from a Quick View of pdf report): When 100 tons of uranium fuel is fissioned in a nuclear power plant it becomes one billion times more radioactive than the original uranium, and more than 200 new radioactive elements are made. These elements are radioactive waste.
Despite this waste being able to kill for thousands of years, there’s apparently no growing concern for what to do about it, though, it’s about the money, or the lack of it.
From the Wall Street Journal last August on Obama’s so-called presidential panel on atomic shit:
The draft report issued July 29 by the panel, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, said the U.S. nuclear-waste disposal program had “all but broken down” and suggested a series of fixes.
One recommendation was an overhaul of what it called the “dysfunctional” Nuclear Waste Fund arrangement.
And from The Hill earlier this month on the final report of that so-called commission:
The most important recommendations surround how to store the waste, both temporarily and permanently.
The report notes that, even if Yucca Mountain were opened, the current, and growing, volume of spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. means that it would quickly be filled, and a new permanent repository would have to be built anyway.
Even though the process could take twenty years, it is important to begin as soon as possible.
Let’s see now, two thousand-plus extra pounds of waste a year, times 20 years equals a shitload of crazy.
And crazy is as crazy be — from the New York Times on Friday on the desultory clean-up of a village 20 miles from Fukushima: A day laborer wiping down windows at an abandoned school nearby shrugged at the work crew’s haphazard approach. “We are all amateurs,” he said. “Nobody really knows how to clean up radiation.”
Somebody really, really needs to earn their nuclear nuts.
Crazy Cute
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Sleep wasn’t too happy this cycle — insomnia is a baffling infliction, hard to judge and makes a mess of a day.
But, what the hey?
Wee-early is crazy time.
Fer instance, Tom Brady’s old lady gets whipped after whining — Gisele Bundchen was overheard lambasting fumble-fingered receivers, but the Giants’ Brandon Jacobs retorted: “She just needs to continue to be cute and shut up…I mean, she’s supposed to stay out of things like that,” he said. “But at the end of the day that’s their relationship, and she has the right to say whatever she wants to.”
Really?
(Illustration found here).
And GOP politics makes some go out there.
Via Raw Story:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has inspired a New York-based condom company to create a prophylactic for “anyone with an elite penis.”
The product, sold on RomneyCondoms.com, features packaging with Romney’s likeness, the words “never settle” and a background of $100 bills.
“Despite Mitt’s Inability To Stick To A Position, Romney Condoms Are Great For ANY Position,” the website boasts.
…
The former Massachusetts governor recently told CNN that he was “not concerned about the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, I will repair them.”
But according to the RomneyCondom.com website, this product is “one ‘safety net’ that doesn’t have any holes.”
…
In addition, the website touts that Romney Condoms “are tax free so even the poor can afford them.”
One needs to get one’s mitts on those.
Even as the shit fills the war news, US leaders are choking on their own bowel’s entrails.
Are Afghan security/military good enough to handle NATO gone?
One yes, many no — from The Australian and the US spin:
Afghan forces will be “good enough” to take over their country’s security by the end of 2014, even though only a small number of them now operate independently from NATO-led troops, a top US general has said.
Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of US forces and the head of the NATO-led force’s joint command, acknowledged that Afghan army and police still had a way to go before overseeing security without major assistance from foreign troops.
…
“At times, a (US) private will tell me they’re not that good. But a private’s looking at it from the perspective of how he’s trained, or the Marine’s trained, and the standards are very different,” the general said.
“I can tell you personally from experience and from feedback from others, these soldiers will fight, particularly at the company level.
There’s no question about that,” he said.
“And they’re going to be good enough, as we build them, to secure their country and to counter the insurgency that they’re dealing with now,” he said.
Right.
Bullshit knocked by more bullshit — via the New York Times last month:
American and other coalition forces here are being killed in increasing numbers by the very Afghan soldiers they fight alongside and train, in attacks motivated by deep-seated animosity between the supposedly allied forces, according to American and Afghan officers and a classified coalition report.
A decade into the war in Afghanistan, the report makes clear that these killings have become the most visible symptom of a far deeper ailment plaguing the war effort: the contempt each side holds for the other, never mind the Taliban.
The ill will and mistrust run deep among civilians and militaries on both sides, raising questions about what future role the United States and its allies can expect to play in Afghanistan.
…
“The sense of hatred is growing rapidly,” said an Afghan Army colonel.
He described his troops as “thieves, liars and drug addicts,” but also said that the Americans were “rude, arrogant bullies who use foul language.”
‘Foul language?’ — WTF?
And a lot young US peoples most likely are using ‘foul language’ while hunting down a job.
From HuffPost:
Just 54 percent of Americans ages 18 to 24 currently have jobs, according to a study released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.
That’s the lowest employment rate for this age group since the government began keeping track in 1948.
And it’s a sharp drop from the 62 percent who had jobs in 2007 — suggesting the recession is crippling career prospects for a broad swath of young people who were still in high school or college when the downturn began.
A lot of crazy shit out there, from all over.
While all this is going on, this particular morning keeps on going, too.
A loss of sleep won’t really raise its shaggy head until later this afternoon when I’ll be so tired and sick of it all that I just might tell some asshole Lottery player to go f*uck themselves.
One thing cute and crazy is the weather — it’s been one warm winter not only here on California’s northern coast, but all around the US as well — all the time Europe is freezing their asses.
A dream-like shroud is falling across the world.
But US peoples are trying to weather their elected government — they so dislike their Congress critters.
From Bloomberg:
The public’s contempt for the U.S. Congress continues to grow.
The Gallup Poll’s latest gauge of public sentiment for the job Congress is doing sank to a record low, with 10 percent of Americans registering approval.
That’s down from 13 percent in January and a previous low of 11 percent in December.
Of those surveyed, 86 percent disapproved of the job Congress is doing.
That ties with a record disapproval rating set in December.
Not crazy, and way-not cute.
More Real Than The Real — Really
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A horse walks into a bar in South Carolina, the bartender asks: Why the long face?
A newt peed on me, answers the horse.
The chaotic mess of the GOP primary is finally over and Newt Gingrich urinated on everything.
In shame of Republicans, half-crazed Steven Colbert humiliated the entire process by shoving the way-ugly of current US politics back in every straight-face that chimes democracy.
(Illustration found here).
In a land where up is really down, US peoples are laced up the asshole and remain income-challenged, wealth-challenged, and debt-constrained with nowhere to go — and no one to lead them there.
The GOP has no face and no real policies, and they’re tracking nobody — even across the aisle, President Obama is not leading, but just continuing to follow.
A bit of 2012 insight from the LA Times:
The pertinent question raised by Colbert’s attention grab on the day before South Carolina’s primary vote is why the four remaining Republican candidates are not drawing crowds as big and adoring as Colbert’s.
Yes, Colbert is a celebrity.
He’s an expert entertainer.
And it’s not too hard to get a few thousand college kids to skip class on any day of the week.
But four years ago at this point in the campaign, both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were pulling in crowds as big or bigger.
John McCain was packing the gymnasiums pretty well too.
And, later in the campaign, Sarah Palin proved she could rock an arena.
This year’s candidates are avoiding big events because they do not want to be photographed in half-empty halls.
Gingrich actually refused to speak to the GOP leadership conference because so few Republicans showed up.
Instead, voters have most often been invited to meet the candidates in the cramped confines of restaurants where a few hundred or even a few dozen people can look like a lot on TV.
An example of this small-scale café campaign is Newt Gingrich’s schedule for voting day: 8 a.m. at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, 10:45 at Tommy’s Ham House in Greenville, 3:30 at the Chik-Fil-A in Anderson and 5:45 at Whiteford’s Restaurant in Laurens.
One wishes Colbert/Stewart would actually be on the ballot in November — Obama would then have to actually lead, really talk the talk, or get punk’d.
Repugnancy Ringing
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Too early for nausea already — an election year with a bad, bad hangover of way-too much asshole behavior:
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows a new high — 84 percent of Americans — disapproving of the job Congress is doing, with almost two-thirds saying they “disapprove strongly.”
Just 13 percent of Americans approve of how things are going after the 112th Congress’s first year of action, solidifying an unprecedented level of public disgust that has both sides worried about their positions less than 10 months before voters decide their fates.
(Illustration found here).
And what has President Obama now have somewhat/maybe in common with Dick Nixon?
From ABC News:
Congress’ rating is a broad 35 points below Obama’s 48 percent approval, the biggest gap between approval of the president and Congress since 1990.
Obama, though, still has plenty of challenges of his own: In polling since 1940, just four previous presidents have started their re-election year with less than 50 percent approval.
Only one of them won, Richard Nixon in 1972.
This year is going to be really interesting, but so full of bullshit.
All this is a normal attitude for US peoples who have been ass-kicked by the assholes in Congress — and the White House — and ended 2011 with low wages in a losing job market, a bad housing operation and an economy that just won’t pick-up any kind of steam.
Not helping is the ugly, approaching fact the US market is shrinking — valuations are so low that executives would rather buy back shares than spend the cash to expand — and this will only bleed down to the guy on main street.
Hence, a change, an occupation is coming.
Instead of Wall Street, maybe Congress, and today is the day when a huge protest is expected in DC to highlight the bullshit on Capital Hill.
“Often the complaint that I hear is that, ‘you guys are targeting the wrong people.’ And so we have that discussion about you know whether or not Wall Street is the source of the problem or really Congress is,” said Aaron Bornstein, a 31-year-old neuroscientist and member of the Occupy Wall Street Think Tank, which will hold discussions at the event.
“They’re really two sides of the same coin,” he continued.
“You can’t have the corruptive influence without both the people who are doing the corrupting and the people who are corrupted.”
And never the twain…
‘Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain’
Filed Under Bullshit, Politics | 2 Comments
Finally and officially, the 2012 political bullshit starts today.
Republicans are gathered like hogs at the trough as the Iowa caucuses gather to select somebody to head the GOP into November, but there’s a long, hard, pot-holed road ahead — millions of dollars squandered and 13 nonsensical debates later, all is at last hung out to dry in the sunlight of reality.
Yesterday, Mitt Romney blubbered so boldly: “We’re going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength…”
Is he another Newt Gingrich?
Newt early last month: “They’re not going to be the nominee…I’m going to be the nominee. It’s very hard not to look at the recent polls, and think, odds are very high, I’m going to be the nominee.”
And yesterday: “I don’t think I’m going to win. I think if you look at the numbers, I think that volume of negativity has done enough damage.”
Maybe he’s talking about all those nabobs of negativity culled from his own antics.
And through the last few months, each of these clowns had their time in the prime — Michele Bachmann, the early obvious nominee; then Rick Perry, but oops; then Herman Cain and his wonderful way with females; then Newt with intellectual history punching the airwaves and odds so high it’s way-hard to see the ground; and now the guy nobody wants — Romney.
However, they have attempted with much success to ignore a huge, nasty-faced elephant in the room — the last Republican in the White House.
In all the mindless squawk on taxes, war, and President Obama during all the ludicrous campaigning, the entire GOP apparatus has maintained a blissful silence on the guy who near-single-handily put the planet in the shitty spot it is now — George Jr.
One thing Republicans are hoping for is a giant, collective memory loss by US peoples.
Under George Jr.’s tenure, the whole show went to shit in a wire basket and the GOP seeks to put that whole episode in the way-background and focus on Obama, but will the trick play out among the 99 percent who saw their lives shattered by eight years of arrogant incompetence.
The problem, though, is what George Jr. did created such a enormous gap in any kind of GOP reasoning that one could easily drive an entire herd of elephants through with room to spare.
(Illustration found here).
Just take the money and run.
From the New York Times:
In 2001, President George W. Bush inherited a surplus, with projections by the Congressional Budget Office for ever-increasing surpluses, assuming continuation of the good economy and President Bill Clinton’s policies.
But every year starting in 2002, the budget fell into deficit.
In January 2009, just before President Obama took office, the budget office projected a $1.2 trillion deficit for 2009 and deficits in subsequent years, based on continuing Mr. Bush’s policies and the effects of recession.
Mr. Obama’s policies in 2009 and 2010, including the stimulus package, added to the deficits in those years but are largely temporary.
…
First, the Bush tax cuts have had a huge damaging effect.
If all of them expired as scheduled at the end of 2012, future deficits would be cut by about half, to sustainable levels.
And those mangled, horrible wars?
Bob Gates said it all: “In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined,’ as General MacArthur so delicately put it.”
Hundreds of thousands dead, at least two counties — Afghanistan and Iraq — have been for all purposes destroyed and literally trillions of dollars flushed down the graveyard drain.
As this political season starts to heat up, all Obama has to do is point to George Jr. and say, ‘Remember and Beware.’
Never has so, so few caused so much damage.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
“Republicans talk a lot about losing their way during the last decade, and when they do they’re talking about the Bush years,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont-McKenna College.
“For Republicans, the Bush administration has become the `yadda yadda yadda’ period of American history.”
…
The former president himself has been all but invisible since leaving office in 2009 with a Gallup approval rating of just 34 percent.
His predecessor, Democrat Bill Clinton, had a 66 percent approval rating in early 2001 when he stepped down after two terms marred by a sex scandal and impeachment.
In a presidential contest dominated by concerns over the weak economy, government spending and the $15 trillion federal debt, the Republican candidates have been loath to acknowledge the extent to which Bush administration policies contributed to those problems.
Republicans also controlled Congress for six of the eight years Bush was in the White House, clearing the way for many of his policies to be enacted.
…
Bush still has loyal supporters who believe his legacy will be vindicated by history.
But even they say the GOP field won’t be embracing him anytime soon.
“Sad to say, they’re looking at polling data that indicates they’re better off not bringing him into the campaign,” former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
“I think President Bush has made America a safer nation and better nation and I’m proud of it.
But politics isn’t about what’s fair, it’s about winning.”
In other words, little Ari, it’s okay to cheat, lie and don’t speak ill of even a criminal.