NRC ASLB rules against environmental coalition's contentions challenging 20-year license extension at Davis-Besse
"Homer Simpson and Humpty Dumpty act out" the Blizzard of '78 "snow job" root cause theory for shield building cracking at Davis-Besse's front entrance on March 24, 2012. The street theater was held in solidarity with the SAGE Alliance's Shut Down Vermont Yankee day of action, and protested FENOC's cherry-picked "root cause of convenience," first floated on Feb. 28th.The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) today issued two rulings rejecting an environmental coalition's intervention against the 20-year license extension sought by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) at its problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo.
Ten of my favorite things about 2012
There are many things to be thankful for in 2012, starting with the fact that the world didn’t end on December 21 and that we don’t have to witness the inauguration of Mr. One-Percent Mitt Romney. The global economic crisis continued to hit hard, but people have been taking to the streets around the world, from students in Chile to indigenous activists in Canada to anti-austerity workers in Europe. And while the excitement of the Arab world uprisings has been tempered by divisions and losses, the struggles are far from over.
Here are some US and global issues that experienced newfound gains in 2012.
Here are some US and global issues that experienced newfound gains in 2012.
The 2d Amendment does NOT condone random slaughter
The Second Amendment does NOT guarantee the right of any and all citizens to own any and all kinds of guns.
It DEMANDS, in the name of national security, that we regulate it.
NEVER let assertions of the so-called "sanctity" of the 2d Amendment bully you into thinking it guarantees unregulated weapon ownership.
It does NOT.
Contrary to the propaganda perpetrated by the gun lobby, the 2d Amendment is the most heavily modified, curbed, explained, complex and contradictory of all the first ten Amendments.
The slaughter of small children along with teachers, a principle and so many other innocents was the furthest thing from James Madison's mind when he wrote the Bill of Rights.
He compiled it from a wide range of documents, including the Bills of Rights of Virginia (co-written with Thomas Jefferson) and other states to pacify the new nation's grassroots abhorrence of a strong federal government. If our basic rights were not clearly and explicitly guaranteed, Americans were ready to rise up for a second revolution.
It DEMANDS, in the name of national security, that we regulate it.
NEVER let assertions of the so-called "sanctity" of the 2d Amendment bully you into thinking it guarantees unregulated weapon ownership.
It does NOT.
Contrary to the propaganda perpetrated by the gun lobby, the 2d Amendment is the most heavily modified, curbed, explained, complex and contradictory of all the first ten Amendments.
The slaughter of small children along with teachers, a principle and so many other innocents was the furthest thing from James Madison's mind when he wrote the Bill of Rights.
He compiled it from a wide range of documents, including the Bills of Rights of Virginia (co-written with Thomas Jefferson) and other states to pacify the new nation's grassroots abhorrence of a strong federal government. If our basic rights were not clearly and explicitly guaranteed, Americans were ready to rise up for a second revolution.
Nothing ‘balanced’ about focusing on cuts for vulnerable Americans
The pressure is growing in the face-off over the so-called “fiscal cliff” in Washington.
The president put his plan on the table. Republican Speaker John Boehner rejected it out of hand. And then . . . nothing. Republicans refused to make a counteroffer.
They are apparently waiting for the president to make another offer. Obama made that mistake before and got nothing in return. He is not likely to make the same mistake again.
Republicans are demanding that to get any increase in revenue to bring down deficits, Democrats have to agree to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
They have not said how much they want cut, but Senate leader Mitch McConnell suggested raising the eligibility age for Medicare by two years, and changing the cost-of-living index for Social Security so the benefits lose value over time. Republicans have also voted for a budget in the House that would turn Medicaid into a block grant to the states and dramatically cut the federal payment. These changes, we are told, are part of a “balanced” agreement.
The president put his plan on the table. Republican Speaker John Boehner rejected it out of hand. And then . . . nothing. Republicans refused to make a counteroffer.
They are apparently waiting for the president to make another offer. Obama made that mistake before and got nothing in return. He is not likely to make the same mistake again.
Republicans are demanding that to get any increase in revenue to bring down deficits, Democrats have to agree to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
They have not said how much they want cut, but Senate leader Mitch McConnell suggested raising the eligibility age for Medicare by two years, and changing the cost-of-living index for Social Security so the benefits lose value over time. Republicans have also voted for a budget in the House that would turn Medicaid into a block grant to the states and dramatically cut the federal payment. These changes, we are told, are part of a “balanced” agreement.
The turmoil in Washington over the “fiscal cliff” is a distraction from other crises besetting the nation
The lengthy and heated budget storm in Washington is zig-zagging toward a compromise that will in the end not have much of an effect on reducing the federal government’s deficits or national debt. Any foreseeable compromise will also not rule out future budget stalemates (e.g. on raising the debt ceiling). Any compromise in the works will additionally not reduce unemployment and underemployment, not reign in rising health costs, and not ameliorate the crisis. The list of important neglected issues does not end there. The compromises being considered would not lower the poverty rate, food insecurity, or other unmet needs associated with low incomes (i.e., 200% of the poverty line and below).
Timeline 2004 – One more look at the Ohio election
More than a year ago, a reporter named Craig Unger asked me a brilliant question about the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. Referring to reports that the counting of votes was rerouted through SMARTech computers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at precisely 11:14 PM EST, and the possibility that the vote count was altered thereby, he asked me about the forensic evidence we had photographed or otherwise uncovered in eighteen counties in Ohio. He asked me to look at the timeline. Did the counties in which we found evidence of fraud report their results before 11:14 PM, or after? And, if after, was the evidence consistent with an after-the-fact effort to get the election records to match an altered vote count?