Hysterical & Hysterically Funny Maps of Nuclear Radiation and Danger Zones in Japan

I just read some reports saying that Tokyo was so radioactively contaminated that it needed to be evacuated - all 30 million plus of us who live here. That alarmed me so I got out my handy dandy Geiger counter and measured the background radiation here in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. It was basically the same it always has been. And completely within safe levels. (To see the current levels look that the top of this blog for link.)

If you want to read this outlandish reporting, you can. It is here. But I will quote this report at length:

(San Francisco) Widely known Physicist Dr Paolo Scampa, the publisher of the EU AIPRI Blog and an eminent chemical physicist, announced today his latest calculations of deadly radioactivity in Tokyo itself.  Both the nuclear regulatory and media responses have been missing in action.

.....

The Tokyo suburbs are about 100 miles or 160 km South of the six destroyed, deteriorating and badly leaking nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Station for Nuclear Reactors.

Dr Scampa stated:

“An absorbed dose of 2,94 microSievert/hour at 1 meter of soil means an average deposit of 9,065E5 Bq/m2 of Cs137 -0,661 MeV-. This amount for 1 meter is in fact situated between a maximum deposit of  5,439E6 Bq/m2 for low energy gamma rays from radioactive elements such as U238 (0,0495 MeV) and a minimum deposit of  2,176E5 Bq/m2 of very energetic gamma rays from radioactive elements such as Co60 (2,55 MeV). This dose corresponds to 25 times the maximum permissible “artificial” hour dose (0,114 microSievert/h-1) and 5 times the maximum permissible total – natural and artificial – hour dose (0,571 microSievert/h-1). [1]” Dr. Scampa. [End Quote]

This is a tragedy of huge proportions. There are 30 Plus Million People in Greater Tokyo. It is brought home personally to each person who sees the work of Fukushima Diary by Mochizuki.

There are thousands of US troops stationed with their families in Japan. American politicians must remove all US Troops and dependents from Japan immediately.

You might notice that Dr. Scampa's statement is about dangerous levels of radiation. This I don't argue; those dosages are dangerous. My only question is where in Dr. Scampa's statement does he say something like, "Tokyo is experiencing currently dangerous levels of radiation"? He doesn't. This is typical of the wild unsubstantiated claims being made in some circles. 


May I ask that the facts be given and then relevant information also be given? I don't see how a dissertation on dangerous radiation levels - something I can learn in a book - can be directly related to facts on the ground here in Tokyo by what I have read in this article. This reminds me of the claims about a year ago that the "Top 1/3 of Japan is uninhabitable for decades." 


This sort of panicky reporting is still going on... Fear mongering and completely baseless.


But how do the Japanese see it the nuclear problem? Here is a bunch of excellent, funny and cynical maps that have been making the rounds on the Internet here in Japan amongst the Japanese.


This is from the Testosterone Pit: Nuclear Contamination as Seen by Japanese Humor

After an endless stream of horrid reports on the tragedy of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and the subsequent nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima, and the hotspots that are cropping up in odd places, and food scares, and even contaminated grasshoppers, we’re ready for something ... lighter. This has been circulating in the Japanese internet community for months, has garnered countless comments, and a lot of nodding, agreement, and knowing smiles. Though it’s not based on science or statistics, and certainly not on any polls, it represents, in the eyes of many Japanese, a larger tongue-in-cheek truth.

Note: the areas seen as contaminated are marked in red.

Thanks to Zerohedge and Testosterone Pit

Japan is Earthquake Capital of the World Visualization Animated Map

After the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and subsequent Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, I was inundated with all sorts of ridiculous mails claiming that I was working for the nuclear industry or an "nuclear apologist." The more absurd ones were from people who claimed that the March 11 disaster was caused by HAARP or, as Benjamin Fulford claimed, "The USA detonating a nuclear bomb undersea off the coast of Japan."

All nonsense. I am no expert on HAARP but I like to think I know a tad bit about Japan. Japan has a hell of a lot of earthquakes. We had two yesterday that I felt. We have them almost everyday... Hell, we have hundreds of them everyday. Don't believe me?

Well, then watch this. Here is an animated map of earthquake activity in Japan in 2011. See if you can find where the nuclear attacks were:

2011: The Year of Power Saving in Japan. Time Lapse Video of Tokyo After March 11 Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima had a profound effect on, not just Japan, but also the world.

Locally, it caused the government and people of Japan to reassess Japan's dependence upon nuclear power.

After the nuclear disaster forced the reassessment and closure of 1/2 of Japan nuclear power plants, the entire nation has spent the rest of 2011 in what has been called, 節電 (setsuden) or "power saving." No matter where you go in Tokyo, you will see signs that say, "Setsuden chu" (currently saving power).

After this "Setsuden chu" campaign started up, all over Tokyo, you could see signs of companies and stores saving power. At some of the subways stations, 1/2 of the escalators were shut off; at department stores, many of the brightly colored and lit displays were turned off... The worst part of it all, and what everyone feared the most, was the hot and humid Japanese summer. Luckily for us, this year's summer was quite unseasonably cool (Man Made Global Warming, don't you know?) and even thought the air-conditioning was off or very low at most places, it was bearable.

I stumbled upon this very cool and interesting video of time lapse photography showing places around Tokyo before and after Setsuden. I thought it was beautiful and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

DOUBLE CLICK ON IMAGE FOR FULL SCREEN

Best Place for Up-to-the-Minute Radiation Readings for All of Japan

In English 日本語もあり ここです （http://blog.safecast.org/ja/）。 Nationwide readings. Proper measurements by independent worldwide volunteer organization called Safecast. If that link doesn't work, see: http://blog.safecast.org


There have been many recent stories of high radiation readings in Tokyo that were proven to be not related to Fukushima. For example, false alarms in the water, in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, and a litany of others, Safecast data proves that Tokyo is well within safe limits and has lower radiation levels than major international cities such as Rome, Italy or Hong Kong, China.


PBS recently featured Safecast:

From Youtube:


Eight months after a tsunami caused a nuclear accident in Japan, ordinary people are using new technology and the power of crowdsourcing to find radiation hotspots. NewsHour science correspondent Miles O\'Brien reports from Japan.


The results still show several danger zones in and around Fukushima... The Tokyo areas show completely safe levels. Please check your area for yourself.

Japanese Gov't to Rent Land Near Fukushima? Nuts!

There's some things going on about the Fukushima disaster that I just cannot understand. These problems all involve the government handling of the situation. I've written much about my dissatisfaction with that. 

The problem with the entire situation stems from government incompetence and the desire to be all things to all people in this crisis.


Yesterday, it came to fore that areas near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plants will be declared uninhabitable for many ears to come. Does that come as a surprise to anyone? I wouldn't think so.


Now, it seems that the Japanese government is going to reimburse land and property owners near the Fukushima plant by paying them rent for all the coming years that they won't be able to live in their homes. I am completely against this notion and think this is just another government boondoogle that makes the rest of us pay for something that we had nothing to do with.


The New York Times reports:

TOKYO — Broad areas around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant could soon be declared uninhabitable, perhaps for decades, after a government survey found radioactive contamination that far exceeded safe levels, several major media outlets said Monday.

The formal announcement, expected from the government in coming days, would be the first official recognition that the March accident could force the long-term depopulation of communities near the plant, an eventuality that scientists and some officials have been warning about for months. Lawmakers said over the weekend — and major newspapers reported Monday — that Prime Minister Naoto Kan was planning to visit Fukushima Prefecture, where the plant is, as early as Saturday to break the news directly to residents. The affected communities are all within 12 miles of the plant, an area that was evacuated immediately after the accident.

Why is this a surprise? Didn't everyone expect this long ago? When the government announced a few weeks ago that they were planning to allow residents to return this year, didn't everyone think they were talking like the fools that they are?

The government is expected to tell many of these residents that they will not be permitted to return to their homes for an indefinite period. It will also begin drawing up plans for compensating them by, among other things, renting their now uninhabitable land. While it is unclear if the government would specify how long these living restrictions would remain in place, news reports indicated it could be decades. That has been the case for areas around the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine after its 1986 accident.

Like I said, under what twisted rules will the government determine the land value of these areas? Their current value must be zero, right? What is the difference between this and the US government buying all those billions of dollar of so-called "toxic-assets" from the failing uS banking system? There isn't any. It is just throwing public money down the toilet.

Since the Fukushima accident, evacuations have been a sensitive topic for the government, which has been criticized for being slow to admit the extent of the disaster and trying to limit the size of the areas affected, despite possible risks to public health. Until now, Tokyo had been saying it would lift the current evacuation orders for most areas around the plant early next year, when workers are expected to stabilize Fukushima Daiichi’s damaged nuclear reactors.

Ha! No one who has been paying any attention even thinks anything the government says is anything but a sick joke. Once again, they show their total incompetence and lack of common sense and delusion. Kan and his cronies keep hoping that things will get better but as a friend once told me, "Hope isn't a very good business plan." How in the world it is that Kan is still prime minister is astounding.

The government was apparently forced to alter its plans after the survey by the Ministry of Science and Education, released over the weekend, which showed even higher than expected radiation levels within the 12-mile evacuation zone around the plant. The most heavily contaminated spot was in the town of Okuma about two miles southwest of the plant, where someone living for a year would be exposed to 508.1 millisieverts of radiation — far above the level of 20 millesieverts per year that the government considers safe.

The survey found radiation above the safe level at three dozen spots up to 12 miles from the plant. That has called into question how many residents will actually be able to return to their homes even after the plant is stabilized.

The only good note that can be deemed from all of this is that, with everyone being so nervous and doing some serious checking and investigation, that no one has found any wide contamination in Tokyo is a good thing. Let's hope it stays that way and people remain vigilant.


Frankly speaking, in a nutshell, here's what I think:


1) The TEPCO nuclear power plant is a privately owned business. When they made profits, they kept them. When they lose money (as in the recent accident) I don't understand why the public has to bail them out. They make a profit, they pocket the money. They lose money and the public has to pay through increased taxation? Does that seem fair to you? It doesn't to me.


2) Once again, the government is easy to spread around public tax monies paid for by you and me.... After all, it's not their money.


3) This sounds really cold, but the people who lived around those nuclear power plants profited in their businesses and livelihoods for decades due to the business and economic benefits those nuclear power plants provided as a main source of jobs and revenue for the people living in the area. Why are they different than TEPCO? They profited for many years off of businesses and jobs created by the TEPCO plant. Now that there has been a terrible accident, why do the rest of us have to pay them rent for their houses that they can no longer live in?


4) Who will decide the amount of rent to be paid? Surely we will be paying way over current market value on those properties as their current value - since the disaster - must be close to zero.


5) Why are we, the public, being asked to pay for these properties? What is the purpose of private so-called "fire and marine" insurance? (Insurance for covering accidents and disasters befalling private property?) If the owners of property had no insurance, then that is their stupidity and loss. Why should the rest of us pay for that?  When, say, a property on a mountainside is burned down in a fire, are the rest of us expected to pay for that property owner's loss? No.


The disaster of March 11 is a tragedy for those who lost homes, family and livelihoods. These sorts of occurrences are why there is insurance. There is no good reason that the government has volunteered for the rest of us to pay for these people's losses. They profited from the good times, they must suffer for the bad. 


Paying these people, like paying TEPCO, is not fair. It is the same as the US government using tax monies to bail out the big banks when they were in trouble.


The rest of us didn't experience personal or financial gain from the good times, we should not be expected to pay for the bad.


I am against this sort of expenditure of public monies whether it is to be spent to help a private business like TEPCO or a private landowner like those who lived near the Fukushima reactors. People must have known the risk. They should have moved if they didn't like the chances. The rest of us should not be expected to pay for their poor judgement or bad luck.


That is what insurance is for.


As with all tragic events, I wish for good luck for those people and survivors of these disasters... But I can't see how you or I should be forced to pay for it.

Attack of the Fukushima Nuclear Flies! Trillions of Disgusting Flies!

Oh, this is just plain disgusting (but a cool sensationalist title, eh?) Now, after the disaster of March 11, to add insult to injury, the people in Tohoku have to contend with a massive fly invasion. Gross!... Now, I know where Japan got all those ideas for those weird monster movies in the 1960's....

Those weren't weird ideas thought up by some guy at home. In Japan, this stuff really goes on in real life. Earthquakes, tsunami, nuclear accidents! Heck, remember the attack of the giant jellyfish I wrote about on the very morning of the earthquake disaster?

THE CRAMPS - HUMAN FLY

In April of 2011, just 3 weeks after the March earthquake and tsunami, my friends and I went on a relief trip to Ishinomaki. One of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami (video at bottom).


Even though it was early April and still quite cold (one needed a coat outside)... The place reeked. There were dead fish and other animals everywhere. Now that summer is here it seems that flies are breeding in the trillions.

Daily Yomiuri

Hordes of flies continue to plague areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake, some of them threatening survivors with serious disease.

Flies have thrived on the ample rotten fish and sludge that riddles the disaster-hit areas. Municipal and private exterminators kill them, only to see more emerge, and residents constantly in need of bug sprays and swatters are becoming increasingly irritated.

In mid-July, extermination companies nationwide were dispatched to an industrial complex in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. The workers, who wear protective suits and masks, used about two tons of bug spray in the morning alone.

"This is an abnormal situation," one of the exterminators, Hideaki Yamanaka, 63, from Osaka Prefecture, said. "It's the first time in decades that I've used such a large amount of spray."

Flies are hatching from rotten fish carried out of destroyed processing facilities by the tsunami, and also sludge-filled drains. Local governments have been taking measures such as burying rotten fish underground and abandoning them at sea.

According to experts, flies are also residing in the styrofoam containers the fish were kept in. These containers have stayed afloat at sea, spreading the fly outbreak even further.

An Ofunato city government official said, "Even in commercial and residential areas without fisheries companies, we have received numerous requests to exterminate flies."

One problem is that flies are hatching from areas previously cleared by exterminators. Since April, the Tokyo-based Japan Pest Control Association, which includes harmful insect-exterminating companies and other entities, has dispatched a total of 4,000 workers to 14 municipalities, including Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, and Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate Prefecture.

Motokazu Hirao, 73, deputy head of the association, said, "Removal of debris has progressed and the peak of the [fly outbreak] has passed."

But he added, "Flies hatch every 10 to 20 days. We need to persistently exterminate them."

The Self-Defense Forces have taken the fly outbreak seriously, dispatching 10 teams of 15 members each for "epidemic prevention assistance" since mid-July. They have even deployed spraying vehicles and portable sprayers normally used to defend against biological and chemical weapons.

By the end of July, the teams had sprayed bug-killing chemicals at 12 locations in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures upon request of the municipal governments. Although they cleared those areas, an SDF officer in charge of the teams said, "Because the bug killer chemicals are only effective for one week or so, we'll stand by for more requests from the local governments."

Mutsuo Kobayashi, director of the Department of Medical Entomology of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said that the majority of flies in May and June were the Calliphora nigribarbis variety, which prefers outdoor environments. Recently, most flies in the area have been smaller varieties such as house flies and green bottle flies, he said.

Kobayashi warned: "There has been a report that house flies are transmitting O-157 E. coli bacteria, which causes intestinal bleeding. It's important to use mesh-screens on windows and not leave food unattended."

In evacuee shelters, residents have struggled in their efforts against flies, such as hanging flypaper. At Minato Middle School in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, which is being used as an evacuation center, an uncountable number of flies can be seen in its garbage collection site. There is a site for temporary storage of disaster debris nearby.

A volunteer in the shelter said, "One can of [bug] spray runs out so quickly."

Although mesh window screens are attached to the school's windows, flies are able to penetrate small gaps. The city government dispatched 15 temporary workers to spray the area, but the number of flies has not decreased.

Katsuro Daikoku, a 72-year-old evacuee in the shelter, said, "Every time I have a meal I have to kill flies with a fly swatter."

Ugh. What did I tell you? Disgusting. 

I understand that the flies are a problem but I wonder about the wisdom of killing them all with chemicals. The flies are part of nature's process to decompose rotting organic material. Also, what effect will massive dumping of chemicals have on the environment and the surrounding waters that these chemicals will eventually run into?

But, then again, according to Know Your Pests:

One need only consider the ability of flies to transmit diseases. Mosquitoes and black flies are responsible for more human suffering and death than any other group of organisms except for the transmitted pathogens and man!


Here is a video we made of our trip to Ishinomaki in April. 

ISHINOMAKI - BLACK WATER

No Nuclear Power? Dangers of Natural Gas!

Here's an interesting video about the dangers of natural gas mining. Food for thought...


"Fracking Hell"

I have written about this nuclear power versus coal or oil issue before. Click here.

Thanks to Douglas Phillips!

Radiation Levels in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday July 28, 2011 at 8:38 am

It's Thursday July 28, 2011 at 8:37 in the morning.  A slight rain has hit the Kanto area. Here is a map from Yahoo Japan:

I wanted to use this rainy day chance to measure the background radiation levels here in Tokyo. As you can see from the video, I measured the air and near a drainage spot in the road.

Radiation Levels in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday July 28, 2011 at 8:38 am

The levels were well within safe ranges between 0.11 ~ 0.12 microsiverts per hour. The levels are usually between 0.09 ~ 0.12.

For more up to the minute readings on the air and water with comparisons and simple, easy to understand instructions on how to read and understand them, see

here. If that link doesn't work, use this: http://bit.ly/eESfcx

Workers at Fukushima Complain of Bad Conditions.. So What?

The damaged nuclear reactor problem at Fukushima is becoming more and more stabilized. It's been more than a week since humans entered damaged reactor #. Of course, for the people living near the plant and the workers there, things are still terrible. For the rest of us, as is always prudent and wise, we must be ever diligent about what we buy and feed our children.

Complaining about harsh work conditions? Join the club.

Nevertheless, Fukushima hasn't become the disaster that some had claimed it would become.


The fact is that, in this country, as in life everywhere, the good must be taken with the bad. We have benefitted from nuclear power, we must bear the costs of that. Especially the people who lived near the plant who made livelihoods off nuclear power.


Whereas before, some elements of the mass media were screaming about nuclear holocaust, armageddon and nuclear winter, the hyperbole has slowly been dying away.


Once again, the scorecard must be examined, as I wrote in Radiation, Fukushima Facts and Blogger Frustration:

At Chernobyl, 237 people suffered from acute radiation sickness soon after the accident, of whom 31 died within the first three months.

Here's a fun fact for you about Fukushima: Total number of people reported to have acute radiation sickness from Fukushima; 0 (zero). Total deaths from Fukushima nuclear accident in first four + months; 0 (zero).    


Now, since millions haven't died, the news changes focus on the workers at Fukushima.

The Yomiuri Shimbun reports:

N-plant workers still labor under severe conditions

Severe summer heat causing heatstroke and poor accommodations have plagued workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, even though the government has announced that Step 1 of settling the crisis was nearly complete.

Improving worker conditions at the plant was one of the targets of Step 1. However, some employees are still not happy with their conditions.

Hoo hum. I bet that you could survey all employees in any field and find that most of them are not happy with their conditions.

On Tuesday, Goshi Hosono, the state minister responsible for dealing with the nuclear crisis, and Tokyo Electric Power Co., announced the near completion of Step 1.

Working conditions at the plant have improved to some extent. Worker exposure to radiation has been steadily reduced and efforts have been made to make workers more comfortable.

Currently, about 1,500 people work at the plant every day. A gymnasium at the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, about 10 kilometers from the No. 1 plant, is now equipped with showers and bunk beds for 240 people. Temporary dormitories are also under construction in the area, but problems remain.

I guess the danger from radiation can't be so bad for us living so far away. If it is so dangerous, then how is it that 1,500 people could be working at the plant everyday?

At the special earthquake-resistant building at the No. 1 plant, housing the crisis headquarters, workers are still forced to sleep on blankets on the floor. "I can't sleep well here," a TEPCO employee said.

The summer heat has been hard on workers wearing heavy protective gear including full-face masks, as temperatures around the No. 1 plant have exceeded 30 C almost every day.

This is Japan. It's summer. It's hot. We don't really need a weather report. We also do not need to be reminded that, since this is Japan, people sleep on the floor. Funny that. I sleep on the floor every night too.

According to TEPCO, 32 workers had been diagnosed as suffering from heatstroke as of Monday. On Tuesday, a worker in his 20s suffering heatstroke symptoms was sent to the hospital. Another TEPCO worker said, "It's too hot. My cool vest [containing refrigerant] doesn't work well."

Even though air-conditioned rest stations were set up at 11 locations in the plant, workers' faces are flushed from the heat when they remove their masks, according to TEPCO sources.

As radiation-tainted debris has steadily been removed, radiation levels at the plant have decreased.

Well, the radiation levels at the plant have decreased? That's good news. Thirty two workers have heatstroke related problems in the summer in Japan because they are working in protective suits in 30 degree celsius (86 fahrenheit) temperatures and this is the news?!

You're kidding, right?

I have one piece of advice for the TEPCO workers at Fukushima; You accepted a job at a certain renumeration. No one forced you into taking that job. You decided to take it by yourselves. 

I hate to sound so cold, but, if you don't like it, then quit... Or ask for a pay raise. You guys took this job on your own volition. What did you expect?

We're Doomed! Japanese Nuclear Polluted Tires Found in Iraq!

I go to the store, walk around Tokyo, ride the trains, go to the grocery store. The kids are playing in the streets, school is out. Summer is here. Life in Tokyo is as always... 

Even the shat in their pants, run and ask pertinent questions later, panic stricken foreigners who were called "Flyjin" are back and too embarrassed to even bring up the subject (what subject? Oh, why returning to Tokyo now is OK when it's no worse or better now than it was on March 15th or 16th?)... 


Since millions have yet to die from Fukushima and 1/3 of Japan is still inhabitable (but for how long?) the purveyors of doom need something else to freak out about, so they have harped on about beef (in a nation that is a predominately fish eating country)... 


I don't eat beef or pork, but how come the pigs don't get equal billing? Just asking...


But now, this radioactive nonsense has gone surreal. The puppet government of Iraq (who is, I'm sure, absolutely not corrupt) wants a $1 million dollar fine for "tires polluted with radioactive rays" from Japan.


You're kidding me with this sh*t, right?


Wireupdate reports from Baghdad:

BAGHDAD (BNO NEWS) — Iraq’s Planning Ministry announced on Monday that a shipment of Japanese tires which bear traces of nuclear pollution were found to have entered the country.

“A shipment of Japanese tires, polluted with nuclear rays coming from Japan, has actually entered Iraq,” Iraqi Planning Minister, Ali Shukri, told a news conference in Baghdad on Monday, according to the Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Shukri said his Ministry has previously signed contracts with a French and a Swiss company to check the goods coming from other countries. “In the event that the two said companies, with whom the said contracts were signed, committed any violations, the Ministry will enforce a penalty of one million U.S. dollars on them,” he said.

Radioactive tires!? Riiiiiiiiiiight.


If these idiots had a clue they could find someway to make even more money on them than regular tires.


Thanks to my alert friend Scott McLean for the "hot" tip. 

Irradiated Beef Shows Japanese Government Incompetence

It seems the biggest ruckus about Fukushima is the contaminated hay that has been fed to cattle all around Japan.


Reuters reports:

Turmoil caused by the recent detection of cesium contamination of beef shipped from Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is spreading to hurt producers of high-quality beef in other parts of the country. With cattle shipments and bidding suspended or canceled due to people's fears over the contaminated beef, livestock farms and related firms worry they may be forced out of business. Since radioactive cesium above the government-designated limit was detected in beef cattle from Fukushima at a Tokyo slaughterhouse on July 8, it has been discovered that cattle possibly fed with contaminated straw have been transported across the country, except for Okinawa Prefecture.

I don't really have much to say about this excepting that this is once again proof of incompetent Japanese government.

Many might claim that this is proof that the situation at Fukushima is out of control and the government must do something about it... In fact, I gather that's what the vast majority of people think.

Well, I would like to point out something that seems missing from the conversation and ask dear reader a question:

Folks, think about this: That these animals were fed tainted hay is not proof of a situation growing out of control at all. This is only proof of government incompetence. This hay was harvested and feed to animals as feed. This is a past event. Not a current or future one. That this hay wasn't destroyed is proof that the government is unable to act and think proactively and, in any case, it is, undoubtedly, proof and another example of government incompetence.

Now, here's my question: Everyone knows how this event happened and the chain of events that lead to it. Consider that along with the government being unable to anticipate obvious problems, then how in the world would anyone in their right mind want that same government to nationalize TEPCO and take over the crippled nuclear power plants?

Now, that would be madness and would most definitely precede many future problems. It astounds me that so many people express opinions of such a nature

Don't people seem to realize the huge contradiction in their own thinking?

"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform." - Mark Twain