Tag Archives: taxes

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Radiation decontamination of cities a big fail in Japan!

04 December 2012, more than a year after the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor disaster began, decontamination of residential areas isn’t anywhere near completion.

Japan’s Environment Ministry released the results of their study of the progress of radiation cleanup.  More than 80% of homes have not been decontaminated!

Of nearly 100,000 homes picked for decontamination only 18% have been cleaned up.

69% of educational facilities were cleaned up, as well as 51% of roads.   Only 38% of parks and sports facilities have been decontaminated.

International, Technology, U.S.

Breaking news: Iran uses electronic warfare to capture yet another U.S. drone!

04 December 2012, Iranian media reports that Islamic Revolution Guards Corps have captured a U.S. Navy ScanEagle drone, which flew into Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf.

The ScanEagle is a small recon unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).  The recon drone had been flown over the same area for several days.  Iranian IRCG officials claim they captured the drone by taking electronic control away from U.S. naval forces.

Last year Iran captured a more expensive stealth drone.  At that time, one Iranian parliament member said war would be on if another drone was captured violating Iranian airspace.

International

Religious Evil: More evidence the Israelis don’t want peace

“The land in Judea and Galilee is occupied by the Arabs.”
“Well, we’ll take it from them.”……
…….“…We’ll harrass them until they get out … Let them go to Transjordan.”
“As soon as we have a big settlement here we’ll seize the land, we’ll become strong, and then we’ll take care of the Left Bank. We’ll expel them from there, too….”-cultural Zionist, Moshe Smilansky (1874-1953), claims he overheard this conversation after moving to Palestine from Ukraine, he hoped for a more peaceful alternative

“We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country.”-Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), co-founder political Zionism, 1895 diary entry

“We must surely learn, from both our past and present history, how careful we must be not to provoke the anger of the native people by doing them wrong, how we should be cautious in our dealings with a foreign people among whom we returned to live, to handle these people with love and respect and, needless to say, with justice and good judgment. And what do our brothers do? Exactly the opposite!…..They deal with the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, trespass unjustly, beat them shamefully for no sufficient reason, and even boast about their actions…..these people [Arabs] will be revengeful like no other.”-Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (1856-1927), co-founder cultural Zionism, 1891 writing Wrestling with Zion, beginning to realize what European Jews had in store for Palestinians and regretting it

Note that these quotes sound a lot like Adolph Hitler’s National Socialism (NAZIsm), yet were stated decades before.  There is growing evidence that Hitler and the Zionists were directly connected: “Dr. Leo Baeck was a Freemason of the 33rd degree, leader of the German conference of Rabbis and Großpraeses of the German district of the Jewish order B’nai B’rith. In order to expose the deeper wisdom of the National Socialists, he was assigned by Hitler to be President of the Reich’s Deputation of the German Jews.”–Gerd Schmalbrock (IKC-Presse, Gladbeck, “Ihr Programm”, Nr. 83 v. 19. Nov. 1979)

International, U.S.

Government Incompetence & World War 3: U.S. Marines banned from off camp drinking

03 December 2012, after all U.S. military personnel were banned from drinking alcohol off base in Okinawa on Saturday, the USMC has now extended that order to all U.S. Marines throughout Japan.

This comes after months of increased aggressive behavior (including rape and assaults) by U.S. personnel towards Japanese civilians.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 27 – 30 November 2012. Britain refuses to hand over prisoners! New U.S. general in Afghanistan? Unknown disease kills fast, chemical warfare? Georgia sending more troops! More evidence of international tax money laundering!

30 November 2012

In Ghazni Province, at least four people killed, one wounded, after they drove over a landmine.

United Kingdom is refusing to hand over prisoners to Afghan control.  British say it’s because they suspect the Afghan security officials will torture the prisoners (kettle calling the pot black).  This comes after President Hamid Karzai ordered the execution of dozens of suspected Mujahideen held in Afghan controlled prisons.

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee is backing the appointment of USMC General Joseph Dunford Junior, to take over command of ISAF in Afghanistan.

U.S. Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta, confirmed that U.S. personnel will stay in Afghanistan past the official 2014 pull out, but refused to say how many: “The fundamental mission in Afghanistan is to establish an Afghanistan that can secure and govern itself and ensure that al Qaeda never again finds a safe haven within Afghanistan from which to conduct attacks on the United States or any other country.”

In Faryab Province, fighting going on in Almar district.  At least two Mujahideen killed by airstrikes, and one U.S./NATO armored vehicle destroyed by landmine.

29 November 2012

In Baghlan Province, two people have died and at least five people are sick with an unknown disease in Uruzngan village in Deh-Salah district.  Locals say those who died did so within ten minutes of showing symptoms: “One of my relative died after receiving a short shiver and another neighbor died within 10 minutes from the same disease.” (nerve agent?)

In Uruzgan Province, ten people killed and eight wounded after a bus ran over a landmine.

In Helmand Province, U.S./NATO launched heliborne operations in Kajaki district’s Loe Manda area.  The battles lasted from the morning until midnight.  U.S./NATO forces retreated. Mujahideen at first said one of their own was killed, but later said they suffered no casualties. Also, in Nawzad district Mujahideen claim they destroyed a Georgian tank with multiple rocket propelled grenades (RPG).

28 November 2012

More scandal for the Kabul Bank.  After it was revealed that international customers have withdrawn billions in cash from the Afghan bank, a new report shows that bank employees helped 19 individuals and companies take as much as $861 million USD in fraudulent loans (92% of all loans issued), in what the International Monetary Fund called a Ponzi scheme.

In Kandahar Province, at least seven people wounded after a suicide bomber exploded his motorcycle.  The bomber was killed.

In Helmand Province, four people killed after they drove over a landmine.

In Badghis Province, three Afghan National Army personnel killed, four wounded, after they drove over a landmine.

U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, has resigned.  The reason given was that he wanted to “…return to private life”.

The country of Georgia revealed they have increased the number of troops in Afghanistan. They currently have 1,570 personnel in country, which is about double what they originally offered to send. According to Georgian Minister of Defense, Irakli Alasania, they are willing to send more if the U.S. requires, and they will remain past the official 2014 pull out.

27 November 2012

In Herat Province, International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) reports one of their drones crashed while on recon mission in Mujahideen territory.   Mujahideen say they did not shoot it down, that it crashed because of technical problems.

ISAF reports that 250 U.S./NATO bases have been turned over to Afghan government forces.

In Baghlan Province, local elections resulted in cop on cop firefights.  Police loyal to outgoing district security chief attacked police loyal to the newly elected district police boss. Local officials say at least two people killed, several wounded.

In Uruzgan Province, officials from Char Chino district report that U.S./NATO forces raided local homes in the Kakarki, Gohergeen and Nojoi areas. One man was killed, another wounded.

The government of Germany says Afghanistan is not ready for U.S./NATO pull out in 2014.  In the Afghanistan Report, Germany says too many Mujahideen remain operational, and there has been no efforts at reconciliation (blame the U.S. and even U.S. based NGOs for that).    Germany is planning on giving the Afghan government the equivalent of $558 million taxpayer dollars every year until the year 2016  (not counting the taxpayer funds going directly to Afghan security forces).

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek still losing money. New CEO? More stores to be closed, bankruptcy near

On 28 November 2012, women’s clothing retailer Coldwater Creek reported a loss of $20.5 million USD.  Investors were actually happy, because that was an improvement over the same quarter last year.

Coldwater Creek explained that their losses weren’t as bad as expected because sales actually went up, by 7.3% for same store sales.

Dennis C. Pence is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer, to be replaced by Jill Brown Dean (current Chief Merchandising Officer) on 01 January 2013.  Pence will stay on as Chairman, so actually no new blood is being added to the executive branch, so don’t expect any real changes.

A year ago Coldwater Creek had 366 stores, now it has 354.  They plan to close more stores throughout 2013.

According to GMI Ratings, Coldwater Creek is showing all the signs of going into bankruptcy within the next 12 months.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Evil: More evidence the demise of Sears & Kmart is all part of Romney/Bain style vulture capitalist scheme to intentionaly run the business into the ground!

“You make Sears sound like a liquidation play, not a retail recovery.”-from Fortune magazine

“The retail recovery is a potential upside. Regardless, you’ll see gigantic cash flows from the closing of locations, the pulling-out of the cash from inventory, work in process, and distribution centers. They’re not idiots when it comes to real estate. They understand that today’s standalone store can be tomorrow’s multi-use hotel/residential-retail center. I think Eddie Lampert [chairman of Sears Holdings] will end up being one of a few unbelievable case studies on what it means to be a long-term investor.”-answer from Bruce Berkowitz, a major stockholder in Sears Holdings

Fortune published a recent interview with Bruce Berkowitz, in which he basically said Sears and Kmart could make more profits for investors by being closed down and selling off their inventories and real estate.  I warned of this last year.

An InvestorPlace contributor, Will Ashworth, explained how the Romneyesque scheme is actually working.

For real estate, Ashworth says Berkowitz values the land property owned or leased by Sears Holdings to be about $17 billion USD.  Then there’s inventory.  Berkowitz estimates that a net profit of $2.5 billion could be made by selling off inventory. Ashworth himself is more conservative, thinking it be about a $1 billion net gain for investors.

Of course you can only sell off land and inventory by closing down the stores: “Many see Lampert using Sears as the next Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.B), taking the proceeds of assets sales and reinvesting them elsewhere until Sears, the retailer, ceases to exist. It might take awhile, but Berkowitz is willing to patiently wait because deep down he knows Sears is worth far more dead than alive.“-Will Ashworth, InvestorPlace

 

Fukushima, International

26 years later: Chernobyl expected to remain a threat for the next 100 years, at least! Warning for worse things to come from Fukushima Daiichi!

29 November 2012, two days ago workers in Ukraine raised steel arches over the entombed Chernobyl reactor: “This is a very significant milestone, which is a tribute to the ongoing commitment of the international donor community, and an important step towards overcoming the legacy of the accident.”-Suma Chakrabarti, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Those new steel arches weigh 5000 metric tons (5,511.5 tons), and are 22 meters (72 feet) tall!  The steel container won’t be finished until 2015.  It’ll weigh 20000 metric tons (22,046 tons) and is designed to allow ongoing decontamination work for the next 100 years!

26 years ago the Soviet designed reactor melted down, and it’s still spewing radiation.

The Soviets slammed Chernobyl with tons of concrete, sand and boric acid.  The impromptu concrete tomb was breaking down and a new one was built.  But even that one is breaking down, so a new massive steel tomb is being built, hopefully to contain the radiation for the next century.

Now realize that Chernobyl is only one reactor, with no spent fuel storage, and Japan’s General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi melt down disaster involves at least four damaged reactors with four spent fuel pools that contained hundreds of fuel rods, each.

Initially Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) said they could have Fukushima Daiichi cleaned up by July 2011!!!  In December 2011 the Japanese government published their own report, saying cleanup will take at least 40 years, TEPCo downplayed the government report.  Then in March 2012, TEPCo admitted that reactors actually melted down.  Now, at the beginning of November 2012, TEPCo is admitting that clean up will take much longer, and they’ve even doubled their estimated cleanup and compensation costs from $62.5 billion USD to $125 billion!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Japanese car production crashing in China! Japanese exports to China crashing!

29 November 2012, anti-Japanese sentiment in China is having a drastic effect on Japanese car production in the (supposedly) communist country.

Overall, the six Japanese car companies operating in China saw a 48.9% drop in production in October (compared to October 2011).  It’s even more drastic when you look at production for each company.

Mazda down 27.6%

Suzuki  down  32.6%

Nissan down 44%

Honda down 54.2%

Toyota down 61.1%

Mitsubishi down 84.6%

Even cars made in Japan for the Chinese market are not going anywhere fast:

Nissan exports to China down 75.9%

Toyota exports to China down 91.3%

Mazda exported zero cars to China in October!

There might be some good news for the United States.  Japanese car company officials say they will now shift focus of production of many vehicles to South East Asian countries, and the U.S.