The Nuclear Power Lie

If there is a silver lining in the Japanese catastrophe, and it will be a very well hidden silver lining at present, it is that it may finally nail this crazy obsession with Nuclear power.
It has been pushed as the alternative to dirty, polluting coal fired power stations and Governments everywhere seems to have swallowed the ideal and gone crazy building nuclear power stations. There are curently 442 nuclear power plant in operation around the globe.
The continuing crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant has sparked a review of thinking about the safety of nuclear technology with Germany announcing it will close down seven older reactors, Italy and Poland suspending plans to sign on to nuclear energy and Russia ordering a review of the future of Russia's atomic energy sector.
The problem with nuclear energy is when it goes wrong, as in Chernobyl, it goes catastrophically wrong with devastating results for the environment but that isn't its worst aspect.
The waste from nuclear power stations, the low level less dangerous stuff, remains deadly to humans for thousands of years. The high level waste is hazardous for a million years!
The preferred solution everywhere is to dump it in a big hole in the ground. A very, very deep hole and forget about it.
The IAEA said that the Fukushima incident is rated a level four out of seven on its scale of seriousness. Chernobyl was a seven rating. France's nuclear safety authority, however, said the situation is at level six.
The events in Japan must now open our eyes to a clean, safe energy source that doesn't require burning coal or include radioactive fuel rods. It's a wake up call that we must discard the misplaced faith in nuclear energy that has been misrepresented and sold to us as safe when, in reality, it threatens the very future of our planet and all of us on it.

Why Libya?

In one country, the people rise up against a ruthless regime and the West is itching to join in with no-fly zones and arming the rebels. In a neighbouring country the people rise up against a ruthless regime and the West goes all quiet. So what is different between Libya and Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain or Algeria?
The Libyan regime is killing civilians who dare try to depose it, but so did the Tunisian, Egyptian and Yemenese Governments.
Maybe it is the numbers involved, the number of dead Libyans is put around 6000 while in Egypt it was 384, 230 in Tunisia and 40 and rising in Yemen. Is there a magic number of dead where the West will tolerate a certain number of civilian deaths but when the number is reached, start to consider things unacceptable?
Is Gaddafi's regime less democratic than those around him? In the World Democracy League Table, Libya are bundled into the 4th Division with Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Oman, Jordon and UAE.
In the Corruption League Table Libya are above Yemen and share the same rating as Iran. If corruption and lack of Democracy is the trigger, than we should be looking at places like Uzbekistan who are below Gaddafi's regime in both tables.
The Moroccans have been suppressing and killing civilians in the Western Sahara since 1979, the Israelis have been suppressing and killing civilians in Palestine since 1948, the leaked American embassy cable point the finger at Saudi Arabia as the largest donor of funds to Al Queada along with Qatar and Kuwait.
Up until a few weeks ago, Libya was one of those those countries in the region friendly to the West, keeping the oil and gas flowing our way and paying billions for our weapons.
Somewhere along the line, Gadaffi moved from a tolerated friend to a must-be-removed foe although it is hard to work out when he moved from one to another and why he, and not others, are now in that particular column.
David Cameron and French President Sarkozy are the main pushers for a no-fly-zone above Libya, even when the Americans are pausing for thought about another military adventure. A no-fly-zone would include air strikes on radar and anti-aircraft positions and with them civilian deaths, the very reason David Cameron is calling for military action on Libya.
David Cameron is looking for a distraction and he thinks he has found one because as Margaret Thatcher will tell you, a good, quick successful war is a vote winner at home.
Not sure how he can explain how our bankrupt government who have slashed everything to the bone in order to save money, has enough stashed away somewhere to wage yet another inappropriate and avoidable war.

Time For Arsene To Go?

It has not been easy being an Arsenal fan over these last 13 days. From going for the quadruple 2 weeks ago to beaten in the League Cup Final, knocked out of Europe and now out of the FA Cup all in the space of a fortnight.
It could be put down to bad luck with Arsenal getting drawn against Barcelona in Europe and Manchester United in the FA Cup although anyone who saw the Barcelona game and our record breaking nil attempts on goals could see we were severely out of our depth.
It may seem conceited and selfish for Arsenal fans to whine about things like only reaching the Cup Quarter Finals and the last 16 in Europe when other clubs are going to the wall but Arsenal are one of the big four clubs in England and we should be challenging for the major honours each year, but we are not.
Listening to the radio phone-ins this morning and after the game last night, it seems more and more Arsenal fans are thinking the unthinkable and considering a change of manager.
After 14 years, questions are being asked about Arsene Wenger's ability to take Arsenal up a level and deliver them from the annual bridesmaid role in the major competitions.
It is six years since Arsenal last won anything and although we are second in the league, there is a sense of pessimism around amongst Gooners that Arsenal can last the pace in the run-in.
Myself i am willing to wait until the end of the season and if we win the League (and we have an easier run in than Man Ure) everything will be forgotten and forgiven.
If we drop away and end up biting our nails over qualification for a European place next season, i will sadly have to admit that it is time for a change at the top.

Supermoon?

Humans seem intent on making more and more destructive weapons but as the events in Japan have shown, nothing we have come up with yet can match nature at its awesome worst.
One report i read put the energy in the 8.9 earthquake as equivalent to 336 megatons or 336 million tons of TNT.
Whereas floods, extreme weather and droughts can arguably be placed at the doorstep of us humans, earthquakes and volcanoes are acts of nature and unfortunately there is nothing we can do about them, just be prepared for when they do rear up.
One explanation for the quick succession of earthquakes in New Zealand and now in Japan is the arrival of next Saturdays Supermoon when the moon is at its closest point to Earth.
True that the moon influences the tides and can even change peoples behaviour, the police increase patrols on nights where there is a full moon, so when the moon is closest, it make sense that it's effect is stronger, but can it actually influence the earths crust?
The last time the moon got this close was on January 10, 2005 around the time of the devastating 9.0 Indonesian earthquake.
John Vidale, a seismologist at the University of Washington and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, states 'Both the moon and sun do stress the Earth a tiny bit, and when we look hard we can see a very small increase in tectonic activity when they're aligned. At times of full and new moons, you see a less-than-1-percent increase in earthquake activity, and a slightly higher response in volcanoes.'
Personally, i put the harrowing scenes from Japan on our televisions due to the country sitting on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', one of the world's most active areas for earthquakes and less to do with the moons orbit.
Nobody to blame and your heart goes out to the victims although you can't help wondering about the decision to build nuclear reactors right on the coast of a country prone to major earthquakes and tsunamis.

Black Metal Finds New Fan

I don't know what the Pope is up to these days but for some reason he was on the television doing Popely things which seemed to amount to waving and sitting down a lot. It was when he sat down after a heavy bout of waving that i noticed something about the Popes chair. A closer look confirmed it, the Holy one has only gone and become a Satanist.
Proof is right there where the Holy derriere is perched, an inverted cross carved on the chair.
When goats heads and pentagram are not readily available, devil worshippers and heavy metal headbanger types have made the upside cross the ultimate sign of sticking a middle finger up to Christianity and adorn themselves with the symbol that inspires churchy types to tut loudly at them.
They obviously thought themselves as pretty hardcore, take that Jesus, but there's only one man on Earth who is death metal enough to have an inverted cross carved into his own throne. Born to raise hell Ratzs.
Thoughts of the Pope starting his next sermon with the words 'I'm an axe grinder, pile driver, I got no brain, I'm insane' were short lived because if i and Cradle of Filth had paid attention in Sunday School we would have realized that the inverted cross is actually the intellectual property of Saint Peter, the first Pope, and one of the most revered figures in Catholic lore.
My priestly neighbour expanded on the subject that Pete was crucified and requested to be crucified upside down because he didn't feel worthy of dying the same way as Jesus.
So it seems all those satanists thought they were being clever and showing their disdain for everything Churchy, they were unknowingly joining the Pope in showing humility and unworthiness before Christ.
Suckers.

Loving Those Germans

The BBC World Service holds an annual country rating poll where it measures who the World views as having the most positive global influence and who has the most negative influence.
Germany came out top and the UK second with Canada third. The countries viewed most negatively were Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.
Now being a Brit i wonder just what has happened to make us considered the second best example.
I see us like one of those annoyingly yappy little dogs you see in the park that has a go at the bigger dogs who watch with amusement and then ignore it. I can't think of anything that we have done recently that makes other countries look at us and say 'Why can't we be more like those Brits?'
The economy is down the sink, we have been involved in all the major dodgy wars of late and we are one of the major exporters of arms to any despot that has the cash. If anything, our example is one to avoid not be admired.
No surprise that Canada is in the top 3 because apart from killing seal pups for their fur, they just sit there not doing anything and not annoying anyone.
No real surprise either that Pakistan, N Korea and Iran make up the bottom 3. None of them have been portrayed in the best light over the past few years.
Of the global powerhouses, the USA is viewed as a better influence than China and Russia is way down the list.
The largest jump up the table from 2010 is made by Brazil who are rapidly seen as having a positive influence in the world while the sharpest fall is made by Pakistan.

Rise & Fall Of REM

I have always felt a little let down by the group REM. In the early 90s they produced two great albums, Automatic for the People and Out of Time.
Songs like Drive, Everybody Hurts, Man on the Moon, Losing My Religion and Shiny Happy People were everywhere in the early 90s and added to what i think of as the golden age of music in my lifetime.
Then it all seemed to go pear shaped with the Monster album in 1994 and they have just been bobbling along not doing very much exciting ever since.
Now they have another album out 'Collapse into Now' but i have long given up on expecting anything as barnstorming as their earlier efforts.
I'm not really sure what to put down the rise and fall of REM to. They did their best work at the same time as the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam were producing the Grunge sound which is a million miles away from what REM were putting out but somehow REM were associated with that era, possibly because of the close friendship between Michael Stipe and Kurt Cobain.
I see plenty of young students wearing Nirvana, Guns n Roses and Pearl Jam T shirts and listening to the those bands music but R.E.M. and their music is not ageing very well. I have had conversations about Pearl Jam's and Nirvana's MTV Unplugged sessions but never R.E.M.'s Unplugged.
R.E.M. it seems, are regarded as an old band, much like how i always saw the Rolling Stones, living on past glories and not really noticed. Just hanging about bothering the charts occasionally.
I certainly won't buy their new album and won't go out of my way to listen to it. It seems that REM have turned into 'oldies music' who only really appeal to people of my generation and they stopped appealing to me around 1994.

Michael Moore And The Wisconsin Public Workers

Something seems to be brewing in Wisconsin. I wasn't sure what or why Wisconsin was in uproar but Michael Moore is involved and some commenter's from other sites have used my Michael Moore post about how he paid for the medical fees for the wife of the man who ran the anti-Michael Moore website as an example of what a decent guy Mr Moore is.
Following the links back i found that Wisconsin has a projected $3.6 billion deficit and Governor Scott Walker is hitting the public servants there by raising the cost of their health insurances, taking a hit to the pay packet and relinquishing workers rights to negotiate things such as working hours, work conditions, redundancy payments etc.
The health insurance costs and pay reduction you could make an argument for and i read that the unions accepted these conditions but balked at the third demand.
I fail to see how making workers unable to negotiate with their employers regarding their working conditions can be shoehorned into the states deficit reduction so what it does smell of is the Governor attempting to use the financial crisis to sidestep the workers unions.
This would enable the state to make redundancies on the cheap or the more cynical view, make working conditions so unpalatable that workers leave therefore negating any redundancy payments at all.
With the unions weakened, the state will be able to implement its own rules and we all see what happens when the powerful are left to their own devices.
I don't know if their is more to it, i have only a brief overview of events in Wisconsin but i am willing to put my faith in a cause Michael Moore feels strongly about because Michael Moore has not often been wrong.
You are lucky to have him America and all the best to the public service workers of the badger state.

Copying Solon

I don't know what was in the water in Ancient Greece but they sure did churn out a lot of philosophers, probably the most famous being Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. All very impressive and a good case could be made for all of them being the greatest thinkers ever, but i have always been impressed with the lesser known Solon who is credited for thinking up the earliest form of Democracy that would later become the
system that we would say we adopted but never actually did.
Solon was not only a statesman, lawmaker and philosopher, but he would write his policies in the forms of poems. On the idea of money he wrote:

'Some wicked men are rich, some good men poor,
But I would rather trust in what's secure;
Our virtue sticks with us and makes us strong,
But money changes owners all day long'

I never said they were good poems but what a great idea and one that should be revived so all our politicians can only pass new laws and make statements if they are done through poems.


Say I, David Cameron with dignity
To Gadaffi the black prince of tyranny
Please be a good chap
stop this killing folk crap
or we'll light up your state like a Christmas Tree

Gadaffi's reply:

The British all think that i'm mad
They want to kill me and my lad
But i will not despair
and us he can't scare
Cause he sold me all the arms that he had


How much more fun would it be and what with the age of austerity we are now in, all those poems about bankers although i'm struggling to think of any words that rhyme with bankers.

Libya 2011 Iraq 2003

2011 and an anti-western leader of an oil rich country is being threatened with military action by the West?
Been here before haven't we in 2003 when an anti-western leader of an oil rich country was threatened with military action by the West.
Yes Gaddafi is a vile tyrant and yes he is killing his own people but so was Saddam and look how that turned out when we went steaming in all guns blazing.
David Cameron has said that he has not ruled out military action in Libya and the Pentagon has said it is moving naval and air forces into positions near Libya in case military intervention is required.
A no-fly zone looks an increasing possibility to deter Gaddafi from using his planes to attack demonstrators but that is exactly how Iraq began and developed into the monstrous mess it is now.
The West cannot stand by and watch obviously but the military option is a disaster waiting to happen and opens Cameron and Obama, quite rightly, to the same accusations levelled at Blair and Bush of just going after the oil.
As he is showing in Pakistan, Obama is not averse to dropping bombs on countries he has no right to be dropping them on. He has also, in contradiction to the peace loving President we expected to get, stepped up attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan with horrific results. President Hamid Karzai issued a denunciation of American military operations just last week after 64 civilians were killed by an American helicopter assault in Ghaziabad.
Another similarity to Iraq and the absurd idea that we can make things better with our missiles is the arming of Gaddafi in the same way as we did Saddam.
We are the people who wanted to be both there friends so we could buy their oil and sell them arms knowing full well that both were unhinged tyrants, but that didn't bother our conscience.
When they showed their true colours, the West threw up their hands in disgust and make threats. Both Saddam and Gaddafi accussed the West of betrayal and they are both right. Neither has shown to be anything other than what we expected while it is us faking the moral outage as if we are appalled that they used the arms we sold them for anything other than peaceful means.
The momentum is moving at pace towards a NATO led (not UN rubber stamped you notice) invasion into another oil rich country, coincidentally the one with the largest oil reserves in Africa.
It seems we just don't learn, even as the folly of Iraq and Afghanistan rumbles on.
Opponents of the Gaddafi regime based in eastern Libya said they did not want any foreign intervention in the country and Cameron and Obama should keep the US and UK military as far away from Libya as possible.
Recent history shows that when we do attacks on 'humanitarian grounds' we kill more civilians, stoke more anti-western feeling, increase the long term damage and end up controlling the oil wells when we get all Rambo on leaders who were once our good friends.