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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

U.S. Jobs Situation Is Worse Than It Looks VIDEO The Great Recession Story told in pictures: HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN - Animals

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Why the Jobs Situation Is Worse Than It Looks

We now have more idle men and women than at any time since the Great Depression

www.usnews.com
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The Great Recession has now earned the dubious right of being compared to the Great Depression. In the face of the most stimulative fiscal and monetary policies in our history, we have experienced the loss of over 7 million jobs, wiping out every job gained since the year 2000. From the moment the Obama administration came into office, there have been no net increases in full-time jobs, only in part-time jobs. This is contrary to all previous recessions. Employers are not recalling the workers they laid off from full-time employment.
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The real job losses are greater than the estimate of 7.5 million. They are closer to 10.5 million, as 3 million people have stopped looking for work. Equally troublesome is the lower labor participation rate; some 5 million jobs have vanished from manufacturing, long America's greatest strength. Just think: Total payrolls today amount to 131 million, but this figure is lower than it was at the beginning of the year 2000, even though our population has grown by nearly 30 million. [Check out a roundup of political cartoons on the economy.]
The most recent statistics are unsettling and dismaying, despite the increase of 54,000 jobs in the May numbers. Nonagricultural full-time employment actually fell by 142,000, on top of the 291,000 decline the preceding month. Half of the new jobs created are in temporary help agencies, as firms resist hiring full-time workers.
Today, over 14 million people are unemployed. We now have more idle men and women than at any time since the Great Depression. Nearly seven people in the labor pool compete for every job opening. Hiring announcements have plunged to 10,248 in May, down from 59,648 in April. Hiring is now 17 percent lower than the lowest level in the 2001-02 downturn. One fifth of all men of prime working age are not getting up and going to work. Equally disturbing is that the number of people unemployed for six months or longer grew 361,000 to 6.2 million, increasing their share of the unemployed to 45.1 percent. We face the specter that long-term unemployment is becoming structural and not just cyclical, raising the risk that the jobless will lose their skills and become permanently unemployable. [See a slide show of the 10 best cities to find a job.]
Don't pay too much attention to the headline unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. It is scary enough, but it is a gloss on the reality. These numbers do not include the millions who have stopped looking for a job or who are working part time but would work full time if a position were available. And they count only those people who have actively applied for a job within the last four weeks.
Include those others and the real number is a nasty 16 percent. The 16 percent includes 8.5 million part-timers who want to work full time (which is double the historical norm) and those who have applied for a job within the last six months, including many of the long-term unemployed. And this 16 percent does not take into account the discouraged workers who have left the labor force. The fact is that the longer duration of six months is the more relevant testing period since the mean duration of unemployment is now 39.7 weeks, an increase from 37.1 weeks in February. [See a slide show of the 10 cities with highest real income.]
The inescapable bottom line is an unprecedented slack in the U.S. labor market. Labor's share of national income has fallen to the lowest level in modern history, down to 57.5 percent in the first quarter as compared to 59.8 percent when the so-called recovery began. This reflects not only the 7 million fewer workers but the fact that wages for part-time workers now average $19,000—less than half the median income.
Just to illustrate how insecure the labor movement is, there is nobody on strike in the United States today, according to David Rosenberg of wealth management firm Gluskin Sheff. Back in the 1970s, it was common in any given month to see as many as 30,000 workers on the picket line, and there were typically 300 work stoppages at any given time. Last year there were a grand total of 11. There are other indirect consequences. The number of people who have applied for permanent disability benefits has soared. Ten years ago, 5 million people were collecting federal disability payments; now 8 million are on the rolls, at a cost to taxpayers of approximately $120 billion a year. The states today owe the federal insurance fund an astonishing $90 billion to cover unemployment benefits. [See cartoons about the deficit and debt.]
In past recessions, the economy recovered lost jobs within 13 months, on average, after the trough. Twenty-three months into a recovery, employment typically increases by around 174,000 jobs monthly, compared to 54,000 this time around. In a typical recovery, we would have had several hundred thousand more hires per month than we are seeing now—this despite unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus (including the rescue of the automobile industry, whose collapse would likely have lost a million jobs). Businesses do not seem to have the confidence or the incentive to add staff but prefer to continue the deep cost-cutting they undertook from the onset of the recession.
But hang on. Even to come up with the 54,000 new jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics assumed that 206,000 jobs were created by newly formed companies that its analysts believe—but can't prove—were, in effect, born in May under the so-called birth/death model, which relies primarily on historical extrapolations. Without this generous assumption in the face of a slowing economy, the United States would have lost jobs in May. Last year the bureau assumed that 192,000 jobs were created through new start-ups in the comparable month, but on review most of them eventually had to be taken out, as start-ups have been distressingly weak given the lack of financing from their traditional sources such as bank loans, home equity loans, and credit card lines. [Read more stories on unemployment.]
Where are we today? We have seemingly added jobs, but it is not because hiring has increased. In February 2009 there were 4.7 million separations—that is, jobs lost—but by March 2011 this had fallen to 3.8 million. In other words, the pace of layoffs has diminished, but that is not the same thing as more hiring. The employment numbers look better than they really are because of the aggressive layoffs in the early part of this recession and the reluctance of American business to rehire workers. In fact, the apparent improvement in job numbers has been made up of one part extra hiring and two parts reduced firing.
Even during past recessions, American firms still hired large numbers of workers as part of the continual cycle of replacing employees. Of the 150 million workers or job seekers in America, about one third turn over in a typical year, leaving their old jobs to take new ones. High labor "churn" is characteristic of our economy, reflecting workers moving to better jobs and higher wages and away from declining sectors. As Stanford business professor Edward Lazear explains so clearly in the Wall Street Journal, the increase in job growth over the past two years is attributable to a decline in the number of layoffs, not from increased hiring. Typically, when the labor market creates 200,000 jobs, it has been because 5 million were hired and 4.8 million were separated, not just because there were 200,000 hires and no job losses. But when an economy has bottomed out, it has already shed much of its excess labor, as illustrated by the decline in layoffs—from approximately 2.5 million in February 2009 to 1.5 million this April. In a healthy labor market like the one that prevailed in 2006 and into 2007, American firms hired about 5.5 million workers per month. This is now down to about 4 million a month. Quite simply, businesses have been very disciplined in their hiring practices. [Read Zuckerman: America's Fading Exceptionalism.]
We are nowhere near the old normal. Throughout this fragile recovery, over 90 percent of the growth in output has come from productivity gains. But typically at this stage of the cycle, labor has already taken over from productivity as the major contributor of growth. That is why we generally saw nonfarm payroll gains exceeding 300,000 per month with relative ease. This time we have recouped only 17 percent of the job losses 23 months after the recession began, as compared to 207 percent of the jobs lost from previous recessions (with the exception of 2001). There is no comfort either in two leading indicators of employment, with no growth in the workweek or in factory overtime.

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F.B.I. Grabs Wrong Web Servers, Knocking Sites Offline


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Steven Musil
CNET
June 22, 2011
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The FBI seized Web-hosting servers from a data facility today, causing a number of sites to go down or transfer operations to other facilities.
Agents confiscated three racks of blade servers from a Maryland facility run by DigitalOne, the Switzerland-based hosting company said. DigitalOne’s site, as well as real estate blog Curbed and restaurant blog Eater–two sites affected by the outage, according to The New York Times–were inaccessible this afternoon.
Another site, bookmarking site Pinboard, was also affected by the server confiscation but had transferred some pages to a backup server, the site said in a status update:
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Missouri River Flooding in Hermann Could Move 4th of July Activities


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 Flooding could move 4th of July activities
hermannadvertisercourier.com
June 22, 2011
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With flooding being a concern all along the Missouri River, Hermann's Fourth of July celebration could be moved off the riverfront and other downtown locations.

Jim Grebing, Hermann's tourism director, said Monday the city is looking at "Plan B" in the event that the river floods the areas where Independence Day events are held.

The Hermann Area Chamber of Commerce sponsors Fourth of July activities--games and food at the Riverfront Park, a parade that ends at First and Gutenberg, a band concert at the amphitheatre, and fireworks at the riverfront, which has drawn upwards of 5,000 people annually.

"We would obviously like to keep it down at the riverfront, but we are planning an alternate site in the event of flooding," said Grebing. "We are looking at options and seeking approval to hold it elsewhere in town if those areas are flooded."

Grebing said Fourth of July activities will not be canceled. He said one of the options is moving the games, band concert and fireworks out to the high school campus.

Traditionally, the band concert is held at the Clara E i t m a n n - M e s s m e r Amphitheatre on Gutenberg Street, and that area floods frequently.

Grebing also said the parade, which starts at 4 p.m., could be modified, and a decision to move the events on the Fourth would be made sometime next week.

The Army Corps of Engineers has released massive amounts of water from six dams in the upper Missouri River basin.

Any significant rain could worsen the flooding especially if it falls in Nebraska, Iowa or northwest Missouri, which are downstream of the dams.

The river is expected to rise to a foot over flood stage on Sunday, June 26. Flood stage at Hermann is 21 feet, and it was at 21.56 feet at 4 p.m. Monday, June 20.

The Corps predicts the river will remain high until at least August.
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Emperor Penguin Lost in New Zealand First Sighting in 44 years VIDEO


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June 22, 2011

No free ride home for penguin lost in New Zealand


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PEKA PEKA BEACH, New Zealand (AP) -- There will be no free ride back to Antarctica for a young penguin who defied the odds by swimming all the way to New Zealand. The trip could spread infections, authorities say, and there's no way to transport the animal this time of year.
Wildlife officials said Wednesday they will let "nature take its course" after the Emperor penguin ended up on picturesque Peka Peka Beach on New Zealand's North Island - 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from Antarctic waters - in the country's first sighting of the bird in the wild in 44 years.
The penguin could have caught a disease by swimming through warmer climes, and wildlife officials would not want to be responsible for introducing illnesses into the insulated Antarctic penguin colony, said Peter Simpson, a program manager for New Zealand's Department of Conservation.
Then there are the logistics.
Right now, it is dark almost 24 hours a day in Antarctica. Virtually no one travels there this time of year, Simpson said, and even if they did, there would be no simple way to transport and cool a bird that stands almost three 3 feet (1 meter) high and is well insulated with fat.
Wildlife officials say the penguin has been eating wet sand, likely mistaking it for snow, and Simpson said its plight has sparked entreaties from around the world asking New Zealand to help the penguin get home since it was spotted by a resident on Monday.
"We are going to let nature take its course," he said. "It roamed here naturally. What is wrong with that?"
Simpson said he hopes the bird will find its own way back - particularly as it starts to become hungry. The penguin appears healthy and well fed, he added, and may not need another meal for several weeks.
The unusual bird attracted all sorts of attention at the beach Wednesday. School groups visited, television crews took footage, and onlookers snapped photos and even sketched it.
The penguin has been resting on the sand throughout the day but apparently has been taking to the water at night, Simpson said.
Experts don't know if the bird is a male or female - because the two sexes are almost indistinguishable among Emperor penguins.
The tallest and largest species of penguin, Emperors typically spend their entire lives in Antarctica. Their amazing journey to breeding grounds deep in the Antarctic was chronicled in the 2005 documentary "March of the Penguins," which highlighted their ability to survive - and breed - despite the region's brutal winter.
Christine Wilton was walking her dog Monday when she discovered the bird and called conservation authorities. She said it seemed a little more lethargic Wednesday than earlier in the week but was still alert and appeared unfazed by all the attention.
"It looks really grand when it stands up," she said. "I hope it stays safe, I really do, because it is just too precious."
Estimated to be about 10 months old, the penguin probably was born during the last Antarctic winter and may have been searching for squid and krill when it got lost, experts said.
Emperors can grow up to 4 feet (122 centimeters) tall and weigh more than 75 pounds (34 kilograms) . They can spend months at a time in the ocean. It's unclear how this one became disoriented, but it likely came ashore for a rest, said Colin Miskelly, a curator at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand.
It needs to find its way south to cooler waters if it is to survive. He said Emperor penguins can drink salt water, but eat snow in the winter to hydrate themselves.
The last confirmed sighting of a wild Emperor in New Zealand was in 1967 at the southern Oreti Beach, Simpson said.



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Missouri River Flow to Increase: Gavins Point Dam releases now up to 160000 cfs


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Gavins Point Dam outflow to increase




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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is about to increase the flow of the Missouri River downstream from its Gavins Point Dam. The corps late Tuesday afternoon published data showing that the Gavins Point Dam will increase its output to 160,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) from its current 150,000 cfs by Thursday. Hydrologic data shows that upstream reservoirs are still taking in more water than dams are able to release. The corps’ data shows the 160,000 cfs rate will continue through at least the 15th of July. The Gavins Point Dam near Yankton, South Dakota is the last of the “upstream” dams on the Missouri River that control levels in reservoirs used for flood control. 

The previous record for releases from Gavins Point prior to this flood was 70,000 cfs. Monday, the Corps’ commanding officer in the Missouri River Basin, Brig. General John McMahon called increasing out flow from the Gavins Point Dam “a worst case scenario.”  



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Gasconade County Fatal Car Accident HWY 100 West of Route J, Late Tuesday Night JUNE 21, 2011

2nd Fatal Accident in Two Days
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A man from the St. Louis area has died in a one-car crash in Gasconade County, Mo.
The Missouri Highway Patrol identifies the victim as Charles G. Wozniak, 23, of St. Louis.
Wozniak was driving west on Highway 100 in Gasconade County at about 11 p.m. Tuesday. The 1997 Nissan he was driving went off the right side of the road, a half-mile west of Route J.
The car overturned. Wozniak was thrown from the car and landed on the roadway, the patrol says. He had not been wearing a seatbelt, the patrol says.
Wozniak was pronounced dead just after midnight Tuesday by the Gasconade County coroner.

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Crash Report Details:
FATALITY ACCIDENT, NEXT OF KIN NOTIFIED. VEHICLE 1 TRAVELLED OF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROADWAY AND OVERTURNED EJECTING THE DRIVER ON TO THE ROADWAY . DRIVER 1 WAS PRONOUCED AT 0002 HRS BY GASCONADE CO CORONER BEN GROSSE.
Crash Information
Investigated By Incident# Date Time County Location Troop
CPL. K. KREFTMEYER 934 AND ASSISTED BY GASCONADE COUNTY SO 110149611 06/21/2011 11:00PM GASCONADE MO 100 .5 MILES WEST OF RT J F
Vehicle Information
Veh. # Vehicle Description Damage Disposition Driver Name Driver Gender Driver Age Safety Device Driver City/State Driver Insurance Vehicle Direction
1 1997 NISSAN TOTAL TOWED BY HARVEY'S TOWING WOZNIAK, CHARLES G MALE 23 NO ST LOUIS, MO AMERICAN STANDARD WEST BOUND
Injury Information
Veh. # Name Gender Age Injury Type Safety Device City/State Involvement Disposition
1 WOZNIAK, CHARLES G MALE 23 FATAL NO ST LOUIS, MO DRIVER TRANSPORTED TO TOEDTMANN AND GROSSE FUNERAL HOME HERMANN, MO
 
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Misc. Information
FATALITY ACCIDENT, NEXT OF KIN NOTIFIED. VEHICLE 1 TRAVELLED OF THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROADWAY AND OVERTURNED EJECTING THE DRIVER ON TO THE ROADWAY . DRIVER 1 WAS PRONOUCED AT 0002 HRS BY GASCONADE CO CORONER BEN GROSSE.
LINK TO 1st Fatal Accident: Gasconade County Fatal Car Accident MONDAY, June 21, 2011



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MISSOURI COLD CASE and MISSING: State Highway Patrol Most Wanted - Timothy Thomas Coombs


(The above photos, especially the full face photo, make Coombs look bigger than he actually is.) TIMOTHY COOMBS, commonly known as JAMES WILSON or Cal Liberty, is wanted for First Degree Assault, Armed Criminal Action and Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution. He is a suspect in the shooting of a Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper, who was shot, sniper-style, through the kitchen window of his home. The Trooper's 12-year old daughter was standing near him when he was shot. A 762x39 caliber rifle was used in the assault. Warrants have been issued for Coombs' arrest in this assault. He may be armed with two pistols, one in the center of his back and one in a holster on his ankle. Coombs has worked as a tree planter for private contractors in National Forest areas. He has also worked as a paramedic and volunteer firefighter. Coombs talks freely about his Christian Identity beliefs, and proudly identifies himself as an Ambassador for the "Kingdom of Yahweh Ministries." The F.B.I. has offered a $100,000.00 reward in this case for information leading to Coomb's arrest. The person providing this information may remain anonymous. Any department having information as to the whereabouts of TIMOTHY COOMBS, AKA/James Wilson, is asked to contact Sgt. Curt Wirths, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop F DDCC, Jefferson City, MO (573) 751-1000 or Missouri State Highway Patrol, Division of Drug and Crime Control-OCAT Unit, Jefferson City, MO (573) 526-6122. 
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WANTED - ARMED & DANGEROUS

TIMOTHY COOMBS AKA:

James Wilson
William Patterson
Cal Liberty
James Mason

LKA: Witts Spring, Arkansas

DOB: 2-21-59 & 7-7-59

FBI: 926619V4

AR SID: 629771

Small build

5'7" to 5'8" tall

140-150 pounds

Brown hair / Blue eyes

Receding hairline, thinning on top

Coombs has no marks, scars or tattoos. He normally wears a beard or a combination of sideburns & moustache. He will probably be wearing glasses, possibly wire-rimmed. Coombs is known to wear fringe or lace on the hemline of his clothing.

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Most Aging Nuke Plants Have Leaked Radioactive Tritium

This photo made available by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shows a 10-gallon-per-minute leak which sprung Oct. 19, 2007, in rusted piping that carried essential service water at the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois. The water is needed to cool the reactor in an emergency. The plant was immediately taken offline for repairs. Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews. (AP Photo/Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

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US Nuclear Power Plants
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June 22, 2011

GAO: leaks at aging nuke sites difficult to detect


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U.S. nuclear power plant operators haven't figured out how to quickly detect leaks of radioactive water from aging pipes that snake underneath the sites - and the leaks, often undetected for years, are not going to stop, according to a new report by congressional investigators.
The report by the Government Accountability Office was released by two congressmen Tuesday in response to an Associated Press investigation that shows three-quarters of America's 65 nuclear plant sites have leaked radioactive tritium, sometimes into groundwater.
Separately, two senators asked the GAO, the auditing and watchdog arm of Congress, to investigate the findings of the ongoing AP series Aging Nukes, which concludes that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the nuclear power industry have worked closely to keep old reactors operating within safety standards by weakening them, or not enforcing the rules.
A third senator, independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, said the AP series has raised disturbing allegations about safety at aging plants and reiterated his demand that the Vermont Yankee plant be shut.
In the report released Tuesday by Democratic Reps. Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Peter Welch of Vermont, the GAO concluded that while a voluntary initiative that industry recently adopted is supposed to identify leaks, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission doesn't know how fast problems are detected.
"Absent such an assessment, we continue to believe that NRC has no assurance that the Groundwater Protection Initiative will lead to prompt detection of underground piping system leaks as nuclear power plants age," the report's authors concluded.
No leak is known to have reached aquifers that hold the drinking water supplies of public utilities, though tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, has contaminated residential drinking wells near at least three nuclear power plants. The tritium in those wells did not surpass the federal health standard. Though mildly radioactive, tritium poses the greatest risk of causing cancer when it ends up in drinking water.
Markey's spokeswoman said his office received the GAO report in early June after requesting it in 2009 following reports of a tritium leak at the Indian Point nuclear plant north of New York City. Typically congressional offices hold reports for 30 days, but Markey released it in response AP's tritium story, part of an ongoing investigative series.
In a written statement, he compared the ongoing nuclear crisis at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant to the kind of meltdown he said could happen in the U.S. if a pipe that is supposed to carry water to cool a reactor's core fails.
"There would be no warning because no one ever checks the integrity of these underground pipes," Markey said.
The industry's Nuclear Energy Institute cited its "underground piping integrity initiative policy," launched voluntarily in 2009, as proof that it takes tritium leaks seriously.
"The initiative commits the industry to a series of actions to establish more frequent inspection and enhance dependability of underground piping with a goal of protecting structural integrity and preventing leaks," the institute said in a statement.
The institute also criticized AP's overall findings and "selective, misleading reporting in a series of new articles on U.S. nuclear power plant safety."
Previously, the AP reported that regulators and industry have weakened safety standards for decades to keep the nation's commercial nuclear reactors operating. While NRC officials and plant operators argue that safety margins can be eased without compromising safety, critics say these accommodations are inching the reactors closer to an accident.
In response to those findings, New Jersey's two Democratic senators asked the GAO for a new investigation based on "the serious allegations" documented by the AP.
"It would be of grave concern to us if, in fact, aging power stations have achieved compliance with operating rules because of weakened NRC rules, rather than demonstrated compliance with existing standards," Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg and Robert Menendez wrote.
In a Senate speech Tuesday, Sanders said the NRC and Vermont Yankee operator Entergy have ignored the will of Vermonters. The Vermont state Senate recently voted to close the plant once its license expires next year.
He also called for a GAO investigation into the safety issues raised in the AP series. "These allegations by the AP are incredibly disturbing," Sanders said. "Safety at our nuclear plants should be the top priority at the NRC, particularly after what we saw happen in Japan. They should not answer to the nuclear industry, the NRC must answer to the public."
Sanders said the investigation should determine whether the NRC is systematically working with industry to undermine safety standards to keep aging plants operating.
California Democrat Barbara Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee, said she is supporting Sanders.
Late Tuesday, the NRC said it disagreed with AP's conclusions in the stories, but welcomed the attention to nuclear plant safety the stories have generated. The agency defended its standards and approach to safety.
"The NRC never wavers from its primary mission - ensuring that the public remains safe during the civilian use of radioactive materials in the United States," the statement said.
Addressing the main issue of the AP series regarding weakening of standards, the NRC said it "only endorses changes when they maintain acceptable levels of public safety; this can include adding or strengthening requirements.

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VIDEO: Nuclear Power Spent Rod Storage Worries World Wide Dilemma NO NEW NUKE PLANTS ANYTIME SOON pt.1
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“Humanitarian Intervention” ? Strange Definitions of War and Peace

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Strange Definitions of War and Peace

Ron Paul
Infowars.com
June 22, 2011
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Last week I joined six Republican and three Democrat colleagues to file a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its illegal war against Libya. Now that more than 90 days have passed since the president began bombing Libya, no one can seriously claim that the administration has complied with the clear requirements of the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
Ron Paul
In a remarkable act of chutzpah, the administration sent to Congress its response to the growing concern over its abuse of war powers.  Its argument, in a nutshell, is that the War Powers Resolution is not relevant because US armed forces are not actually engaged in hostilities because Libya is so militarily weak it cannot fight back!  This explanation would be laughable if not so horrific.  The administration wants us to believe that there is no real violence because the victim cannot fight back?  Imagine if this standard was applied to criminal law in the United States!  I am sure Libyans on the receiving end of US and NATO bombs feel hostilities are quite definitely taking place.
We must recall the origins of these attacks on Libya. The Obama administration made no claim that Libyan leader Gaddafi was killing his civilian population.  Rather, the claim was that Libya might begin killing its civilians in the future.  One need not defend Gaddafi’s regime — and I most certainly do not — to object to this flimsy and dangerous rationale for violating the sovereignty of another country.  Imagine a scenario where the UN approves military action against the United States as a preventative humanitarian measure over US enforcement of its immigration laws, for example!
Now in Libya we see the possible use of depleted uranium shells, we see infrastructure destroyed, we see universities bombed, we see all the “collateral damage.”  Yet, this is a “humanitarian intervention”?
In our lawsuit against the administration, among other critical issues we are demanding that the courts provide relief and protection to the country from the administration’s policy that a president may commit the United States to a war under the authority of the United Nations and NATO without authorization from Congress, and that previously appropriated funds by Congress may be used for an unconstitutional and unauthorized war in Libya or other countries. These are fundamental Constitutional issues and I expect the judicial branch to treat our challenge with the same level of gravity as we do in the legislative branch.
Remember, we were told that this attack would last “days, not weeks” and we are already three months and likely nearly a billion dollars into it.  As the bombings obviously target Gaddafi’s houses, even killing some of his family members, we can see that the real goal is regime change rather than protection of civilians.  Do we know much about the rebels whose side we have taken in what is, in fact, a civil war?
Although it is a bit late, I am pleased to see that congressional leadership has started to listen to our constituents, who are solidly against this war on Libya.  I commend Speaker Boehner’s expressions of dissatisfaction with the administration over this war and I sincerely hope he will use the full constitutional authority granted to the legislative branch to bring into check an administration clearly out of control.
Polls show that the American people increasingly favor a truly conservative foreign policy: one that rejects the leftist, utopian doctrines of nation building and preemptive war, and one that is NOT funded by debt.  Forcing the Obama administration to obey the clear letter of the law is one step towards restoring a traditional, patriotic foreign policy that serves American interests.


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Huge Marine Drill: Exercise Mailed Fist, Practice for Ground Invasion of Libya by October ?

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Huge Marine Drill Confirms

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
June 20, 2011
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On Sunday, CNN reported on a huge Marine war exercise dubbed Exercise Mailed Fist.
“The exercise is designed to test the capability of every type of Marine Corps aircraft, including MV-22 Ospreys and F/A 18 Hornets, as well as some Navy ships and Air Force planes,” CNN reported.
The exercise will encompass a large area on the U.S. East Coast – from Quantico Marine Base in northern Virginia to the Navy’s Pinecastle Bombing Range in Florida. Most of the exercise activity will occur above North and South Carolina.
The drill begins today and ends on Friday.
Thousands of Marines will take part. According to CNN, it will be biggest drill of its kind ever held on the East Coast.
“Exercise Mailed Fist is the first exercise of its specific kind and the largest 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing exercise conducted in recent history,” Staff Sgt. Roman J. Yurek, Marine Corps spokesman, told CNN. “In the past, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing units had to deploy to the West Coast to conduct this type of training.”
It appears the Pentagon has released information about the exercise exclusively to CNN. A Google News Search produces scant results on Exercise Mailed Fist.
CNN is a notorious focal point for Pentagon psyops. In 2000, the Pentagon confirmed that psyops personnel, soldiers and officers, have worked in the CNN headquarters in Atlanta. In February of that year, Dutch journalist, Abe de Vries, reported on the presence of U.S. Army personnel at CNN for the Dutch daily newspaper Trouw.
Obama will visit Fort Drum in New York on Thursday. It is speculated he will announce a decision on drawing down U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but the visit may also be related to a plan to send ground troops into Libya.
The huge military exercise comes at a critical time. As we reported last week, the United States is in the preparatory stages of a ground invasion of Libya and a campaign against Syria.
“Infowars.com has received alarming reports from within the ranks of military stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas confirming plans to initiate a full-scale U.S.-led ground invasion in Libya and deploy troops by October,” Aaron Dykes reported on June 15.


Moreover, the source stated that additional Special Forces will be sent to Libya in July, with the 1st Calvary Division (heavy armor) and III Corps deploying in late October and early November. Initial numbers are estimated at 12,000 active forces and another 15,000 in support, totaling nearly 30,000 troops.
Other calls to the Alex Jones Show from military personnel confirmed the reports.
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VIDEO: Obama Launching World War III

In this critically important update, Alex warns how the international banking cartel is using Obama and the US military to start World War III. The controllers of the New World Order believe they can achieve their one world government by destabilizing every country in the the middle east and northern Africa which will draw Russia and China into crisis to create a world-wide catastrophe. Once this event occurs, and the world is brought to the brink of total obliteration, the global banking cartel plans to move in with their final phase: a one world government and eugenics agenda.

Alex urges his listeners to get the word out about this point in history. We are right now in the beginning stages of world war three. If this situation escalates, it can result in the worst world war that mankind has ever suffered. (June 17, 2011)

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