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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Consumer Ripoff by the Utility Companies

I started in 1977 making  the statement that nuclear power plants had the possibility of being dangerous.  I wrote: “The Nuclear Catastrophe”,  a fiction novel of suspense  and survival.  It foretold the idea  that an earthquake might cause the  control rods in a nuclear plant to become frozen in place and could no longer be used to control the speed of the nuclear decay of the fuel …… with an explosion and fires resulting….and the release of radioactive matter into the atmosphere, the water, the soils, the people etc.  That was just what happened in March of 20ll in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Then as time went on I wondered why an executive at the Southern California Gas Company , married to a sister of my friend could afford to build one of the largest homes in Palos Verdes Estates (Southern California) while we were in our 40’s and still establishing our careers.  What did he do at this utility to earn so much money?  And later in Thousand Oaks, California, a water executive retired at an early age with a one million dollar bonus  (I think he had not taken vacation time – is that worth one million tax payer dollars – is not vacation absence work needs  covered by the other workers?).

Then my real estate career took off and I was busy with that and my family.  When the Fukshima Nuclear Catastrophe happened in March 2011 I googled the name of my novel (which was out of print, but had been purchased by many libraries).  It was still being sold as a used book by Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and survival sites.  So, over a period of time, I updated it and brought it out again as a 3rd edition in EBook and paperback formats.  (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WDRWXY)

Now I was interested in not only nuclear problems, but the whole concept of public utilities and what they are up to WITH OUR MONEY.  Utilities are a monopoly.   About ten  years ago in California, someone decided to let electricity be sold to private companies and let those companies resell  it to consumers on a competitive basis.  Since I  managed apartment complexes, I loved it…..the utility bills at these complexes went down about 50%.  But someone important must have been losing money because that whole deal was abruptly cancelled and once again I had one company only that I could buy from at their prescribed mandatory rate.

And where does that rate come from?  There is a Public Utilities Commission.  And an advocate for the consumer (available for complaints).  Have you EVER gotten a response from the Public Utiities Commission or the consumer advocate?  I HAVE NOT AND I HAVE COPIES OF THE LETTERS AND FORMS I HAVE FILLED OUT AND SENT.

Published in the LA Times on 12/29/12 page A14 is the following statement:  “Utilities charge ratepayers for every dollar spent…for which the state of California guarantees utilities an annual return of 11% for 40 years”.  That guaranteed return is paid by YOU, THE UTILITY USER!.

And what return is available to you, the utility user, in your investments?  1/10 of one percent to 1% at a local bank. 4 to 5% in tax free bonds (some are insured).    Even junk bonds don’t pay much more in today’s economy.  SO WHY ARE UTILTIES GETTING 11% GUARANTEED FOR 40 YEARS?  Because they can, or have, or have someone in their  pocket.  Our state and federal deficits are HUGE.  I continually hear that we will have to cut medicare.  What about cutting the UTILTIES hold on us?  We are a prisoner that no one is interested in paroling.

I wrote the Public Utilities Commission and stated that our local water company (a public company) had shown profit increases of 20% per year and they were still increasing rates.  NO RESPONSE.  My water bill started out at $500 per month in the summer and went up to $3000 per month in the summer within 5 years, until I  gave up and started letting things die.  I certainly would not want to interfere with their necessary increased profits by demanding reasonable water rates.

Have you heard the rumor that the Japanese Mafia controls their nuclear/electric production?  And that is why even though they experienced the horrific  Fukushima nuclear plant disaster, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs, there are still  public officials making the statements that they “cannot do without nuclear”.  It is my understanding that all their nuclear plants were shut down for almost a year after the disaster…..and they still had enough electricity for the nation.  Nuclear plants require a large investment of money – and then return a large amount of dollars to their owners.  Big Bucks for Big People.  What about the rest of us – the consumers who pay to make this happen.  We need to make our displeasure a priority. Cut utility returns in half and give half  of the savings to the consumer and half to the government and we would, as a nation, come out ahead.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

GUNS, DEATH, AND ANSWERS – a response to The Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

The tragedy of death to innocent children, and adults who were their caregivers, is overwhelming. So what is to be done to prevent this irrational taking of life that seems to be occurring again and again?



Gun proponents seemed to be lacking on national television to defend their views. The other elected officials who were interviewed said something has to be done. I agree. And I am a licensed, concealed carry, gun advocate.



Prohibition of alcohol (and drugs) has not worked in the United States. Prohibition was tried in the Al Capone days and was a miserable failure. Illegal speakeasies and bootleggers were everywhere. Alcohol was eventually made legal again. Marijuana is slowly working its way into our culture, state by state. Just as these previous controls failed, I am predicting that gun legislation will not be able to effectively ban guns. Illinois is the only state where it is illegal for individuals to carry concealed weapons for protection in public, and the federal court of appeals struck down that ban this week. The state must appeal to the US Supreme Court or put a new law in place within 180 days. Even if it were passed – people are afraid.



What are they afraid of? Other people. In one affluent neighborhood there have been 11 home invasion robberies in the last 2 months. Men dressed in ski masks with guns are simply breaking into the homes and demanding cash and jewelry. Because they CAN. They are in and out very quickly. They have neighborhood watch, local meetings, email alerts......and the break in gangs are still prevailing. But there are jails for those people when they are caught. In the meantime people want the protection of having a gun. But the shooters who select large groups to kill, rather than a home to rob, seem to be a growing problem.



So what do we address if we cannot get rid of the guns?



Answer: what makes guns safer to the public. Cars kill and maim. We don't get rid of cars. We make them safer and make stricter rules for the drivers.



FEDERAL legislation should cover:



Guns cannot be purchased over the internet or at gun shows without background checks. (They can be now.) All gun stores would also be included in this. Said background checks would be expanded to a federal database that includes medical records of mental illness.



Guns should be required to be locked up with formidable combination locks that others, especially those under 21 and/or mentally challenged, do not have access to. Guns come in parts. Guns should be stored disassembled to some degree and the parts kept separately when non-permit holders are living on or visiting the premises.. Permits for guns should include training, testing, and an assessment of family medical and social history.



People in charge of gathering students or people in groups should be instructed as to defensive measures and use of guns, and required to pass tests in these areas. They should be provided with an appropriate defensive weapon after proper instruction and testing. The Connecticut school principal of the elementary school was shot to death as she, unarmed, charged the gunman who was armed. If she had a weapon, and knew how to use it, it might have ended then and there. Airplane pilots are now armed in the cockpit. Arizona allows concealed weapon carry. When the Gabby Gifford shooting incident occurred in Arizona, one of the bystanders had a gun but did not use it because of the number of people that he might have hit. But he was gun educated and when the shooter ran out of ammo and stopped to load again, he jumped him.



Schools and other large gathering areas need to be able to effectively sweep and scan large areas for large metal objects or even for ammunition. We have the technology for computers, smart phones, travel to outer planets, complex video games – silent alarm scanners that protect our entrances and exits to movie theaters, malls, commercial buildings, and other public places is lagging because no one has presented an interest in purchasing such on a large scale. So they have not been developed. But with the number of mentally ill people who are using killing to express their unhappiness in the world, the time has come for change and prevention. We need immediate notification to police and the people controlling an area when a gun/and or ammunition has entered an area. Police and security can be provided with a chip that bypasses the alarm with a universal code. This should be a challenge presented to our programmers of today with a large reward for the technology selected.



More people have mental illness in the United States than have cancer or heart disease. Our systems for treating mental illness and containing it have broken down. One psychological expert featured on television said you can never predict who is going to be violent. I wonder about that statement. The shooter of these children and teachers was written up by the Los Angeles Times as a troubled, but bright, youngster who was removed from the school system by his Mother and home schooled. He, at 20 and still living with her, shot her and used her guns to commit these horrendous crimes. Could this not have been foreseen in some way? Do these shooters share some particular profile that is not yet recognized? It seems that medical records have become so private that we are prohibited for getting answers that are needed.



All children are tested for IQ, abilities, etc. Tests for violent propensity should be developed, administered and noted in private medical records but reported to a federal database that is used for gun permits. Those people should not be allowed guns. Medical people treating mental illness must be mandated to inform of danger (they are now, but not to the degree that prevents mentally ill persons from buying weapons). Awareness in parents should be raised from the testing of the children. Those that are withdrawn from society by homeschooling, should be required to pass a socialization test to obtain a gun.



Is this a terrible deprivation of rights and invasion of our privacy? Or is this protecting our society? Again, if you can't get rid of the guns, then keep the mentally ill people and criminals from obtaining guns. Have federal programs for gun education, use, safety, and permitting. Have federal grants for development of new technology for better protecting our public gathering areas from guns by silent alarm scanners. Have federal legislation on gun purchase, private home storage, public detection, background checks and data banks, that are stricter. It's time to stop this senseless slaughter.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

THE ARAFAT MYSTERY


“At first the blood pressure was ninety over sixty. Rubbing his hands together, his fingers felt stiff, his right arm heavy. His blood pressure dropped slightly – 85 over 50 and harder to hear than before.

The pain began in the tips of his fingers. At first he couldn't really call it a pain. It was more of a numbness – an unpleasant lack of feeling. The numbness eventually gave way to a persistent electric discomfort– worse when he pressed down, but not completely gone when he didn't. Huddled in the darkness he tested his fingertips one by one. All of them ached. It was just nerves, he thought.

Then the buzzing pain began in his toes. He began to be frightened. He reached up to his cellphone to call someone. The effort of reaching was excruciating. He glanced at his hands. The fingers and thumbs from the first knuckle to the tip had turned almost black. The rest of his hand was a dusky gray. As time passed his left hand, now fixed in a semi claw was nearly useless. He could work his right arm and fingers, but even slight movements of them sent intense pain shooting up his arm. Then the blood pressure went down to seventy-five systolic. It couldn't be heard in the right arm at all. The arm, from at least the elbow to the hand was dusky and mottled. For whatever reason, the arteries and smaller arterioles supplying blood to that limb had become blocked. To a lesser extent the blood flow to the left arm and both legs seemed compromised as well.

His hands and feet were throbbing. The cold gray hands with their blackened fingertips looked like out of a horror movie. He glanced at herself in the mirror. Something was wrong with his face. It took several seconds to understand the dark streams of blood that had begun winding down from his nostrils, across the top of he lip and alongside the corners of his mouth. He watched as his front turned a deep crimson as stain spread over the groin and legs. He was hemorrhaging from his nostrils and mouth. Fresh and drying blood covered him and was spatter on the floor and wall. Suddenly he threw up and it was all bright red blood. He tried to speak but the words were only in his mind. They would not come out. His vision seemed blurred, and there was glazed fear in his eyes. The left side of his body was paralyzed. Terror beyond any he had ever known took hold.

DIC - disseminated intravascular coagulation – the most dramatic and horrifying of all blood-clotting emergencies. A fatal stroke caused by a cerebral hemorrhage was a terrifying possibility.” (1)


Yasser Arafat, 75, died in a French military hospital near Paris on Nov. 11, 2004. His health had deteriorated suddenly during an Israeli military siege of his Ramallah, West Bank, headquarters. French hospital reports attributed his death to a massive brain hemorrhage, but gave no details on what caused a related blood condition called disseminated intravascular coagulation, also known as DIC.

No autopsy was done at the time of Arafat's death at the request of his wife. But she later filed a lawsuit spurring a French investigation. French medical teams ruled out poisoning and an 8 year Palestinian investigation found no conclusive evidence of foul play. However, In July 2012, tests carried out by the Swiss Institute of Radiation Physics as part of a nine-month investigation found traces of polonium in quantities much higher than could occur naturally on Arafat's personal belongings, such as his clothes, fur hat, and toothbrush used in his final days. (2)

Polonium is a highly radioactive element occurring in uranium. The murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian dissident, in 2006 was announced as due to Polonium poisoning, but never definitively proven. It has also been suggested that Irène Joliot-Curie was the first person to die from the radiation effects of polonium. She was accidentally exposed to polonium in 1946 when a sealed capsule of the element exploded on her laboratory bench. In 1956 she died from leukemia. According to the book The Bomb in the Basement, several death cases in Israel during 1957–1969 were caused by Polonium. A leak was discovered at a Weizmann Institute laboratory in 1957. Traces of Polonium were found on the hands of professor Dror Sadeh, a physicist who researched radioactive materials. Medical tests indicated no harm, but the tests did not include bone marrow. Sadeh died from cancer. One of his students died of leukemia, and two colleagues died after a few years, both from cancer. The issue was investigated secretly, and there was never any formal admission that a connection between the leak and the deaths had existed. (3)

But, for imagination's sake, is it possible to visualize what could have happened to Arafat? How would the polonium contamination get on his hat, his clothes, his toothbrush? Wouldn't someone have to have transported and opened a sealed capsule of the radioactive material? And wouldn't they themselves be exposed? Perhaps in this day of suicide bombers, that is of no concern to some terrorists. Where would the terrorist obtain the polonium? There probably is a black market for everything – or a government could easily provide it from their uranium stockpiles. But just as we never found out who, beyond the actual assassin, was responsible for killing John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King, this too will probably remain a mystery.

By November 24, 2012, Arafat's body had been exhumed from its concrete encasement, samples taken, and he was reburied. Testing will be done in Switzerland, France, and Russia with results expected in a few months.


  1. Based on a fictional account of DIC in “Natural Causes” by Michael Palmer
  2. Los Angeles Times, “Remains of Arafat to be exhumed” by Maher Abukhater & Mark Magnier
    11/25/12
  3. Wikipedia

Sunday, September 16, 2012

SILENT WARRIORS


SILENT WARRIORS – From  “Collapse”  a fiction novel by Richard Stephenson

“Domestic terrorists are the hardest for us to capture…..We have seen some progress capturing  waves of Silent Warriors that make it across our 7612 miles of borders.  The majority of terrorists invaders have no identification of any kind, not so much as a fake driver’s license………

The invasion of America was done in secret.  It was quiet. ….The Empire of Iran sent an entire regiment of Muslim warriors to sneak into the United States to do one thing and one thing only – install fear, panic, and paranoia in citizens of every walk of life.  Their mission was clear and they did not discriminate.  No one was off limits.

…..Arriving via Iranian submarines or by simply walking across the Mexican border, the warriors breached the US with only the clothes on their backs.  They were given no specific instructions, no target to destroy, they were simply told to be creative and improvise.”

These paragraphs are taken from the fiction novel “Collapse” by Richard  Stephenson (which I loved).

 And  assuming there is truth in fiction -destroy is what these people have done very effectively. While not every immigrant to the US is a silent warrior, there are those that fit this profile.

They are funded with cash monthly payments of $2,000 and up, per month, wired in to anonymous accounts (wire transfer receipts have been documented).  They start a business and after establishing credit and credibility run up debts to everyone and  then file bankruptcy.  They marry and have children and when divorced, fail to pay child support.  They hide money from the courts and secretly buy property.  They pay up front fees to rent an apartment or house after they have no credit and then default, causing further losses to the owner.  They destroy the unit as they take as much time as legally allowed to vacate – 6 to 9 months with no payments.

Some may  argue that born and bred Americans do this also.  That is what they are allowed to do under the laws of the country in which they were born in.  However:

These are the silent warriors……the economic terrorists coming from outside our country.  Our laws are written to protect well meaning citizens who “make a mistake”.  These are not mistakes – these are a way of life.  And these people, who have immigrated and become citizens…..should have this  citizenship revoked and sent back to their country of origin.  Sorry, but since when did we  invite people to come live here to be abusive to others?

This is like the 3 strikes law that puts you away for the rest of your life.  Here’s an immigrant who  1)defrauds creditors of money borrowed and files for bankruptcy protection (bankruptcy fraud  can be perpetuated)  2) marries and defrauds the child and wife of support   3) then  rents  and due to the laws that protect renters, can defraud the rental owner of almost a year’s income……with no punitive damages to this terrorist.  This particular case I refer to managed to buy a 40 acre piece of property for $150,000 cash during his bankruptcy and failure to pay his wife or landlord or creditors, stating in court papers he had no earned income.

And another of another many cases:

LA Times: 9/16/2012  Adel Daoud, a US citizen from Chicago, was arrested in a sting operation wherein an undercover agent provided him with a phony car bomb by pretending to be a terrorist looking  for co-conspirators.  The FBI watched him press the fake trigger.  He is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to destroy a building with an explosive.

Silent Warriors.    And I hope you read the newly updated version of my fiction novel of survival:

“TheNuclear Catastrophe”  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WDRWXY

Sunday, July 29, 2012

TAKE ACTION BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE


                                TAKE ACTION BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

Nuclear accidents are recognized as part of the nuclear package. They are a threat to our health, well-being and even our survival as a world. Many people would like to see nuclear power plants dismantled, shut down, phased out. Especially since the spent fuel has no place to be safely stored.

But, nuclear is here in the United States and elsewhere because it has very high financial returns. Perhaps not for the taxpayers and utility users. But for the owners of the plants. The San Onofre plant online information states that the plant generates electricity for 1.4 million average homes. If this average home had a $100 monthly electric bill that would be almost 1.7 billion dollars of revenue per year! Of course there are costs to run a plant, but investors want a return on their money or they wouldn't be doing it.

So now that there are problems with the plants, the safety, the aging of the structures, the fact that they are not earthquake proof, there are calls to shut them down. But this is a free society and how are you going to get them shut down? Not enough people signed the nuclear initiative in California to get it on the ballot. It was a fear driven negative campaign that energy rates would go up and we wouldn't have enough energy. So far, with San Onofre shut down, nothing has happened. No blackouts, no anything different.


There is an avenue open to the voting people of the United States to rid ourselves of the nuclear problem. And that is make them “financially unfeasible”. This method may or may not apply to other countries, depending on their ways of governing throughout the world.


If we have to keep these plants, at least there should be some motivation to make them safer (the “owners” are probably a protected entity with limited liability such as a corporation or LLC – and they certainly don't live near a plant! So why should they spend what could be profits to install proper updated equipment?) Therefore nuclear plants MUST HAVE UNLIMITED LIABILITY  FOR THEIR ACCIDENTS.

Right now, insurance policies do not cover nuclear damage to homes or automobiles. This is specifically excluded. If your home, car, or personal possessions were damaged by a radiation release you are not covered by much of anything. (If you don't understand the risks to your home and property from a radiation release – please read my fiction novel – The Nuclear Catastrophe – a novel of suspense that has a family involved in a worst case scenario). There is a government Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that could help if the President declared a disaster area and perhaps would provide a small loan or monetary assistance. But in a large disaster don't count on the government. That's why nuclear plants MUST HAVE UNLIMITED LIABILITY FOR THEIR ACCIDENTS. If they want the big dollar returns they must take the big dollar risks with complete liability, extending to outside the corporation to all shareholders, owners, etc., with PERSONAL LIABILITY.

Banks call for personal liability on risky loans. They often require it for construction loans, for small business loans, anything they consider risky. And certainly nuclear has been proven to be risky. So.... nuclear plants MUST HAVE UNLIMITED LIABILITY FOR THEIR ACCIDENTS.

If the voting public is unwilling to sign petitions to get nuclear plants shut down out of fear of cost increases for their utilities, they are gambling their life and their health for lower costs. But at the very least they can get it on the ballot of each and every state that: nuclear plants MUST HAVE UNLIMITED LIABILITY FOR THEIR ACCIDENTS.

The following chart from Wikipedia compiles costs of different kinds of electricity from different studies. Yellow represents costs of nuclear energy production. Who is paying for this? YOU ARE.
It's time for nuclear energy to pay up - They MUST HAVE UNLIMITED LIABILITY FOR THEIR ACCIDENTS.


Monday, July 9, 2012

Trashed by the Trashy


TRASHED BY THE TRASHY

Writers have to have thick skins. And as author of “The Nuclear Catastrophe” a fiction novel of suspense, I certainly am no exception. Who are my main critics? Why, the PRO NUCLEAR group of course.

I have never said I was anti-nuclear. Instead I have stated I was anti-nuclear ACCIDENT. If we could have nuclear power without the possibility of these terrible contaminating accidents that have occurred, I would be first in line to support it. But, the acceptance of nuclear power means that one must also accept that, the worst scenario in terms of death of our population and contamination of our environment  is possible. And is that worth it?

So when I go to my Amazon.com book page and see critics who so clearly have not read the book they cannot even come up with a good criticism (I was a school teacher for some years – I know how to grade papers) I am amazed that they have to stoop so low. If nuclear power is defensible – then defend it. But to say “your characters are from a comic book”, “you don't know what you are talking about”, “the dialogue is wooden”, makes one wonder what kind of research THEY have done.

I'm sorry but they get an “F” in those book reports. The book was originally published in hardcover and can still be found in libraries across the United States. I brought it back out as a paperback and an Ebook because it was still being sold as a used book by Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and survivalist sites on the web years after it was out of print. This week it was in the top 20% of paid kindle books.

So Friday is “Book Buy” day for a group of writers that work together to publicize our books. If you would like to join in then Friday is the day to purchase “The Nuclear Catastrophe”. If you have not read this book, then even if you are pro-nuclear, and wish to defend your cause, you can then pick items that I have brought up that relate to the role of nuclear in our lives . For the rest of you book lovers, it was written to entertain and raise nuclear awareness. I hope you will participate on Friday, July 13, 2012, and invest 99 cents.


Barbara Griffin Billig
Author: The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of suspense) also published in paperback as:
            THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe

Monday, June 4, 2012

Make Up Your Own Mind - The Experts Have Different Opinions

Fukushima Risk Less Than Feared
By Sabrina Richards | May 24, 2012 in the NUTSHELL

Cancers due to radiation will not increase in Japan, according to studies conducted in the wake of the 2011 nuclear disaster.

The radiation emitted during the Fukushima nuclear accident is unlikely to lead to increases in cancer, according to two separate studies conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). Based on estimates of radiation doses received after the accident, even cases of cancer in the nuclear plant workers highest exposed will be difficult to attribute to radiation, according to the reports on radiation exposures in the first year after the accident.

Both the WHO and UNSCEAR assessed public exposure. “If there’s a health risk, it’s with the highly exposed workers,” Wolfgang Weiss, UNSCEAR’ chair, told Nature. More than 150 nuclear plant workers received high enough exposures to slightly raise their risk of cancer, but most civilians did not, according to the WHO’s evaluation.

UNSCEAR’s report calculated that the Japanese government’s estimates of exposure were correct within a factor of ten, but surveys and interviews examining public attitudes show continuing distrust of official numbers. Residents are reporting high levels of PTSD symptoms, and some feel that reports on radiation exposure, though independent, may not be thorough enough. “I think international organizations should stop making hasty reports based on very short visits to Japan that don’t allow them to see what is happening

DANA POINT, Larry Hamlin: (Regarding) the usual anti-nuclear alarmism about radiation risks from the operation of the San Onofre nuclear plant [“San Onofre cancer study,” May 31]. The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that the annual radiation dose received for populations within 50 miles of a nuclear power plant are more than 40,000 times less than that same population receives from natural background radiation.

Further, this nuclear power-plant-related EPA-estimated dose is more than 50 times less than a single dental X-ray, more than 200 times less than a single chest X-ray and more than 400 times less than a person receives in a one-way flight from Los Angeles to New York.

COMMENT: Every day we receive radiation from the sun. However, we do not have to be outside in that radiation. We can stay inside, wear protective clothes, etc. We do not breathe that radiation. Part of the radiation emitted from a nuclear power plant escapes with steam and the radioactive particles are attached and dispersed in a different manner than sunlight streaming down to earth. And it is possible to breathe these particles or have them drop on growing crops or water supplies to enter the food chain. Tuna off the coast of California as of August 2011 was found to have radioactive Cesium ten times higher than the prior year and that radioactive Cesium was linked to that produced in the Fukushima nuclear disaster. However, those amounts are still said to be so small that they will not hurt us. (Do you eat a lot of tuna?)

If we flew 200 round trips from New York to Los Angeles a year we would receive another ANNUAL dose of radiation equivalent to that from a nuclear power plant within a 50 mile range. Or had 50 dental films taken. Or had 200 chest x rays.

But do we want to have that extra annual dose of radiation from a nuclear power plant?

Opposing Views (and there are plenty besides these quoted):

Study #1:Nuclear power station causing cancer (www.timefor change.org)
An official study from the German government shows the risk of getting cancer is increasing for children growing up in the neighborhood of a nuclear power station. This is in particular true for leukemia, a special case of cancer.

Study #2:Leukemia death rates in U.S. children near nuclear reactors rose sharply (vs. the national trend) in the past two decades, according to a study that was published in the the European Journal of Cancer Care in 2009.

The greatest mortality increases occurred near the oldest nuclear plants, while declines were observed near plants that closed permanently in the 1980s and 1990s.
*******************

Knowing that coal power stations have their own risks does not make the risk from nuclear power stations any smaller. Renewable energy should be the way to go.

Germany now produces 50% of its energy from solar during mid-day hours. This is equivalent to 20 nuclear power plants operating at full capacity without any radioactive waste! LOOK – IT CAN BE DONE!

Don't forget – running nuclear power plants is big business and pays BIG BUCKS. No one involved in that industry wants to see it go – or be lessened.
But, make up your own mind. I have, and I don't want the risk.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

A Look at the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe by Natural News

A Look at the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe by Natural News

A Look at the Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe by Natural News

This is a guest blog from Natural News.

Fukushima reactor No. 4 at risk of catastrophic failure, dwarfing Chernobyl disaster; human civilization on the brink

May 6



NaturalNews Insider Alert ( www.NaturalNews.com ) email newsletter

Dear NaturalNews readers,
 
I'm interrupting our normal email schedule to bring you an urgent alert that makes everything else seem insignificant by comparison.

The issues of GMOs, fluoride, food freedom and vaccines won't matter at all if we don't solve this far bigger issue that threatens human civilization: Fukushima reactor No. 4.

Right now, the reactor's spent fuel pool is just one earthquake away from a structural failure that could set off a chain of events leading to the release of anywhere from 10 times to 85 times the Cesium-137 released in the Chernobyl disaster.

Such circumstances caused one of Japan's former ambassadors to make the following
extraordinary statement: "It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on No. 4 reactor." - Mitsuhei Murata, Former Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland and Senegal, Executive Director, the Japan Society for Global System and Ethics. A failure of the reactor -- and the subsequent catastrophic release of Cesium-137 -- would decimate human life across North America, killing off crops, polluting groundwater, causing widespread infant stillbirths and unleashing an explosion in cancer rates. North America could become uninhabitable by humans for centuries.

Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years, meaning that if North America is blanketed with a layer of radioactive dust in 2012, that radioactivity will still be half as strong in the year 2042. It will drop by half again by the year 2072. By the year 2102, it might be low enough to where humans could start to re-colonize the continent, but even then, rates of cancer and birth defects would likely be off the charts.

Yet, as we speak, the mainstream media is running a total media blackout on this story. Governments are pretending there is no problem, and the corporations that built these nuclear facilities (like GE) are quietly running disinfo campaigns to convince everybody there is no problem.
 
I've just published an urgent feature story on this issue, outlining the facts about Fukushima reactor No. 4:
http://www.naturalnews.com/035789_Fukushima_Cesium-137_Plume-Gate.html
 
I've also reprinted an urgent press release from a coalition of organizations calling for urgent UN intervention to deal with Fukushima before it kills us all:
http://www.naturalnews.com/035788_Fukushima_United_Nations_radiation.html
 
I'm urging you to forward and share these stories and help raise the alarm. Nothing else is important anymore. It doesn't matter who is running for President, what's in the vaccines, or whether GMOs are labeled if our civilization is dead from radiation! NaturalNews is shifting our editorial priorities to focus on Fukushima. All other stories are being made secondary to this urgent issue.

I'm also recording a "radiation survival 101" audio program.
 
I'm assigning coverage of Fukushima to our staff writers and investigators, so expect to see a lot more reporting on Fukushima until (and if) this Reactor No. 4 problem is properly addressed.

In the mean time, just one earthquake in Japan could unleash the worst-case scenario, sending a massive plume of Cesium-137 headed directly at North America. The fate of our world now rests on the unpredictability of Pacific Rim earthquakes! This is a stupidly risky roll of the dice we've all walked into, and if we don't make it, future archeologists will one day discover a fine layer of Cesium-137 dust followed by a global mass extinction event.

Nothing else is important compared to this. We either solve the Fukushima situation -- and then eliminate ALL nuclear power plants on the planet -- or we carve our own graves in the sad, pathetic history of an arrogant civilization "suicided" by corporate-run science.

Pray for our world today. We may have already killed ourselves with stupidity.
 

Fukushima reactor 4 requires urgent intervention; coalition calls for emergency UN
action to halt catastrophic release of radiation (NaturalNews) Kyoto, Japan -- On 30 April, seventy-two Japanese NGO organizations lead by Shut Tomari and Green Action send an urgent request to the UN and Japanese government urging immediate action to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant...
 

Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Birth and Death of Democracy


The United States is now arguing over who has “too much” and who has “too little”.  While no one can predict the future, the following has been circulating over the internetIand bears some thought.  I have edited out the parts that "Snopes" has declared to be untrue.  The rest is for your imagination to consider.
A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as
 a permanent form of government.
A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters 
discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates 
who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the 
result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy,
(which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning
of history, has been about 200 years.  (Not verified)
During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following 
sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."

 
The United States has always been successful as a free economy. Being
supported by the government promotes dependency which leads 
(according to this history) to downfall.  Let us not abandon the poor or the 
sick  but we need to create jobs to empower our country.  And we 
need to foster knowledge to fight apathy.
 




Sunday, April 8, 2012

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON EARTH DAY?


EARTH DAY is Sunday April 22, 2012. Every year on April 22 Earth Day is celebrated since it was started in the 1970's, thought to be the beginning of the environmental movement. Most protestors at that time were against the Vietnam war. But cars were gas guzzlers, air pollution was acceptable, and climate change had not been thought up. However, a woman named Rachael Carson had published a book called “Silent Spring” in 1962. It sold over 500,000 copies in 24 countries and alerted people to the dangers of pesticides accumulating in the earth and its food chains. She has to be given credit for bringing thoughtfulness about our environment to the public eye.

The actual creator of Earth Day was Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson after he witnessed the massive oil spills off the coast of Santa Barbara, Ca. He proposed a “National teach-in on the environment” to the media and accumulated staff and volunteers to promote various events on April 22. Twenty million Americans gathered and demonstrated for a healthy, sustainable environment in coast-to-coast rallies. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.



The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.



In 1990 Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. President Bill Clinton awarded Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 -- the highest honor given to civilians in the United States -- for his role as Earth Day founder.



Earth Day 2000 had 5,000 environmental groups in a record 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of millions of people. Earth Day 2010 was focused on Earth Day Network which reconfirmed Earth Day as a powerful focal point around which people could demonstrate their commitment.

Mobilize the Earth. Earth Day. 4.22.12

On April 22, more than one billion people around the globe will participate in Earth Day 2012 and help Mobilize the Earth™. People of all nationalities and backgrounds will voice their appreciation for the planet and demand its protection.
Attend a local Earth Day event and join one of the Earth Day campaigns to elevate the importance of environmental issues around the world.
Share what you are doing for Earth Day: register your Earth Day events, put them on Facebook, or send a tweet.
Website: http://www.earthday.org/2012

And as you all know, my particular environmental interest revolves around nuclear awareness. We still are not sure of the far reaching effects of the Fukushima disaster. Dr. Helen Caldicott of Boston said if the number 4 nuclear reactor had a further meltdown and explosion of radioactive material she would evacuate her family to South America. There are further admissions of radioactive water being leaked into the ocean from the Fukushima site. The past Prime Minister Kan of Japan has stated he was not aware of how dangerous nuclear plants can be. He now wants all the plants closed in Japan and decommissioned. He reminds us that hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and cannot return to their homes because of this disaster.



Studies are now showing increased rates of cancer in certain of the populations residing next to nuclear reactors. 50% of the people polled around selected nuclear plants stated they had no idea what to do if the warning sirens went off. We may have to wait twenty years to see the full effects of the radiation released from Fukushima. Hopefully it will not be another Silent Spring.

Barbara Griffin Billig
Author: The Nuclear Catastrophe (a fiction novel of suspense) also published as:
THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe
Follow on Twitter: @ barbarabillig
Available as THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe in Paperback
Read an excerpt now: http://bit.ly/pY8HxX







Monday, March 12, 2012

Thanks to you ALL

Thanks to all of you that took the time to download my book, “The Nuclear Catastrophe”, a fiction novel of suspense. As you read it you may find that you are already aware of many of the facts that are portrayed through a fictional story. If so, pat yourself on the back for knowledge and skim those parts. If I provide any new knowledge to a reader, or perhaps start a thinking process, then I get a pat on the back. Hopefully, you will be entertained and experience enjoyment.

I, myself, just finished a novel that centered around a nuclear disaster caused by missiles and the survival of the fictional characters in the aftermath. The book is Jackie Druga's novel, “Dust”. I couldn't put it down. It is definitely a page turner. And if you enjoy “The Nuclear Catastrophe”, then this would be a good follow up book. It's all about survival. And while we hope all these stories will remain fictional, the archeologists will tell you that the ground beneath us is full of civilizations that have died out and been replaced by others. So, being prepared is just a form of insurance. A recent survey showed that 52% of the population living within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor have no idea what to do in the event of an emergency.

It would be appreciated if you mentioned (or emailed or tweeted) that you downloaded, and hopefully read, my book, “The Nuclear Catastrophe” to at least one other person. Why? Because the subject of whether or not to continue with our present nuclear plants is going to be more and more in the forefront of discussion. And there are proposals to build new nuclear plants in the United States and elsewhere in the world. The fictional tale of “The Nuclear Catastrophe” presents a worst case scenario, one that we hope will never happen. However, the question is.....Is nuclear power worth that risk? Each person has to make up their own mind.

California has already closed one of its nuclear plants. Citizens are collecting signatures to get the closure of the remaining 2 plants on the ballot in 2012 (The California nuclear initiative petition).
Germany has closed 8 plants and will have 100% shutdown of all by 2022.. Japan has closed 52 plants of its 54 plants. The Swiss will phase out all their nuclear plants by 2034. The world's oldest nuclear power plant (44 years) was shut down in Britain February 29, 2012. And please note......the world has not come to an end, Japan still has power for its country, residents are not paying 20 times more for utilities (I haven't heard that they are paying anything more in terms of bills for electricity).

While the opponents of these closures are stating that atmospheric carbon based emissions will rise without nuclear, that really depends on what type energy replaces nuclear. It's not a fact written in stone. Don't forget that not all utilities are publicly owned. Many utilities are owned by private or public companies and they are in business to generate a profit. And they will be opposed to anything that threatens their profit, including the start up of other competing companies generating power.

So, again, thanks for your interest and support of my efforts. Hope you had a nice NUCLEAR AWARENESS DAY, March 11, 2012. Let's hope we don't become one of those civilizations that are excavated out of the ground thousands of years later by the archeologists. And in closing, you might want to check out the web site: http://www.PreppingToSurvive. They have a good article on the pros and cons of nuclear.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

A fictional story, The Nuclear Catastrophe

Now that I have offered to give away a free copy of my EBook, The Nuclear Catastrophe, on NUCLEAR AWARENESS DAY, (March 11, 2012)  the comments are heating up.  I have always said I wasn't anti nuclear.  I'm antinuclear accident.  And terrible accidents have happened.  They may happen again.  The novel I wrote portrayed the possibility of a worst case scenario.  And Kevin Meyerson said it best:
The way to decide whether to use nuclear energy is to decide if you can afford the consequences of a worst-case nuclear catastrophe.

Someone wrote: the book is not good because it didn't list all the good things nuclear power does for us (or something like that).  It's a fictional story of what might happen.  It doesn't have vampires or ghosts.  It's a story that you can either believe or not.  Someone wrote "it couldn't possibly happen".  Really?  Never say never.  I am quoting when I say, "what can happen, will happen".

But the point is........each person gets to make up their own mind.  We all can think and the idea is to get people thinking, making choices, being prepared.  Don't let other people make up your mind for you.  Get your free EBook copy on March 11, 2012 - NUCLEAR AWARENESS DAY and make your own decisions.


Monday, February 20, 2012

NUCLEAR AWARENESS DAY - SUNDAY, March 11, 2012


I have deemed March 11, 2012 NUCLEAR AWARENESS DAY. I am giving away a free download copy (for kindle readers) of my novel, "The Nuclear Catastrophe" (a fiction novel of suspense) on that day. Kindle readers are free for smartphones and PC devices. The free kindle reader can be downloaded at amazon.com. On March 11 my EBook fiction novel will be free to download at Amazon.com.  Use this link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004WDRWXY

  This fiction story was originally based on the San Onofre power plant though in the novel it is called San Mirado. The people of the surrounding area are caught in a worst case scenario. Let's hope this novel always remains fiction. But acceptance of nuclear power means that a worst case scenario is possible.  I am encouraging people to read what a worst case scenario would be like - and I can't imagine anyone condoning this.

On March 11, I am encouraging all Californians who haven't signed the petition to get the closing of our nuclear power plants,  to download it (www.californianuclearinitiative.com), sign it, and mail it in to get this initiative on the ballot. Please encourage people to take the time to download the free kindle copy and read a fictional story of what might happen, as horrible as it is.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Update On Things You Might Not Know

Firstly - several prominent nuclear scientists weighed in and stated they WOULD live in Japan at this time. They feel that the radiation levels away from Fukushima are at acceptable levels and that the food is being monitored properly. So, just because I am a scared person may be reflective on my lack of knowledge (this is supposed to be a fair presentation - not a rant and a rave).

Secondly - my car was stolen yesterday and here's what I learned. Take heed - the police will not even take your telephone report if you do not have THE LICENSE PLATE AND THE VIN NUMBER. Now how many of your carry your license plate number AND VIN (vehicle identification number - imprinted usually on a metal plate on the dash of your car) in your wallet? Along with the telephone number of your insurance agent? Along with the policy number and telephone number of your insurance carrier? All that was in my car's glove box - which went with the car. They police cannot and will not look up your car from your driver's license. So get organized or get frustrated.

Had Onstar and Lojac installed on the car (as well as an alarm - forget that). Onstar was disabled (by the thieves?) so no GPS tracking for the car. Car was recovered... stripped and damaged...but have not been able to get info from the police as to how it was recovered. Will tweet that next week when I sign the paperwork and hopefully someone will tell me.

Thirdly - check the BACK of your credit cards. If there is a sound wave sign : nothing on the computer keyboard can do this: ))) in ascending 1/2 circles – it means that your card can be waved in the air to radio frequency scanner credit card machines and you don't have to pull it through the machine. However, it also means thieves can steal your credit card info without touching you. They walk up near you and read the card with their machine they are carrying. Here is the link to the YouTube video showing this being done:


The video states a protective card shield should be provided by the credit card maker to prevent this. My card is from CHASE. They didn't provide me with the protective case or the info that I am at risk. Beware.


Fourthly: Thyroid cancer is increasing (some say as much as a 4 times previously). They are also attributing it (possibly) to the fact that our thyroids are not protected during dental x-rays and mammograms. Supposedly the dental shield has a flap that is supposed to cover the thyroid. My appointment is in February. I will certainly be asking for it. And supposedly during a mammogram there is a neck device that if you ask for it they will provide it. Don't know about that but I certainly will ask, also. Better safe than sorry.

Have a great day, week, .... carry your car info and protect your credit cards & thyroid. Japan is up to you.


Monday, January 23, 2012

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?


HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

I was lucky enough to get the valuable advice of several prominent nuclear physicists and scientists over the last month. I have publicly thanked them at the end of this blog. The following are some excerpts from what they wrote in response to my concerns about radiation levels in our world changing after Fukushima.

  1. The ocean and radiation pollution:
    "THE SOLUTION TO POLLUTION IS DILUTION" ... in this case the ocean is so large in comparison to the amounts of contaminants that it is safe to say they are infinitely diluted away... that is not to say there will be a local gradient or plume within a few meters/ kilometers of the plant... but don't forget that nowadays we have very sensitive mechanisms for measuring things, especially radioisotopes, but just because we can measure something and put it on a map doesn't mean it's significant... we can also measure radioactive fluxes in galaxies zillions and zillions of light years away and none of that is significant to us... yet we can measure it and place it on maps...”

    The World Radiation Monitoring Center has placed monitoring points around the world, including our oceans for the detection of radiation.

  2. Radiation in our food:
    “Yes, seaweed is showing radioactivity - as are the bananas, milk, eggs etc that you eat every day. This comes from the radioactive Carbon, Potassium and Uranium/Thorium isotopes that are present in the environment. Sometimes there may be trace amounts of other nuclides as well (Cesium, Beryllium, Tellurium, Cobalt, ...) that are detectable if you measure the samples long enough (24h or longer). It all depends on which elements are biologically absorbed by the plant. In the case of seaweed, it is known that it bioabsorbs Uranium next to other heavy metals. Some people have even thought to use algae to 'harvest' uranium from the sea.” 

    3. What dose of radiation is safe?
    If you google “no safe dose of radiation” you will find page after page of articles talking about the view that there is no safe dose of radiation. One study followed patients who had myocardial infarctions requiring various radioactive low dose scans. After five years there was a significant increase in cancer in those patients receiving the scan(s) versus the control group that did not receive the low dose radioactivity.  But if you have had a heart attack (myocardial infarction) wouldn't you want a scan to see the condition of your heart and which vessels are blocked? How about if you take a fall and hit your head – wouldn't you want a scan to see if there were bleeding in your brain?
And the scientific community argues that if the dose of radiation is low enough (lower than the study above) it could be beneficial. Radiation homeostasis is the theory that low doses of ionizing radiation (around natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, and those repair mechanisms would not be activated in absence of ionizing radiation. While this is just a theory, there are many scientists strongly arguing for it. It is said that sunshine stimulates the production of Vitamin D in our bodies.
 
In the evolution of life,...the first one-celled life (bacterial films, pond scum) existed and evolved in a high ultraviolet radiation environment (without the ozone layer we have today) so adaptive mechanisms were established in cells from the very beginning in order to survive. Of course, they also mutated in form, (perhaps from the radiation) or we wouldn't be here today.



My thanks to Clemens Scholl, Nuclear Physicist at LIGA.NRW. (Consulting in radiation protection & monitoring and defense against nuclear hazards.Cologne Area, Germany) and Louis Pena, Senior Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory for taking the time to address my questions and expand my knowledge base.

And finally I did a brief survey (very unscientific) asking the question – Are you comfortable enough with the radiation levels in Japan's air, water, and food to live there for the next year?
Not one person answered yes.
How about you?









Monday, January 2, 2012

Looking back at 2011 and Forward to 2012


The Fukushima disaster in March of 2011 is a day that will go down in history – the largest nuclear accident in our history – and it may take 100 years to get it cleaned up. It made me google a book that I had written many years before and had been published in hardcover, “The Nuclear Catastrophe”, as a fiction novel of suspense. Surprise – while out of print it was still being sold as a used book by Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, and a few survival web sites. So, in this age of the internet, I decided to update it and bring it back out in paperback and as an Ebook. Many people (thank you all) suggested that I change the name of the book so that it didn't sound like something too boring to read. Finally the name was born: “THE DISQUIET SURVIVORS of The Nuclear Catastrophe”. However, by the time that got done, the originally named version was selling so well on Amazon.com that I left it alone there but changed it for B&N and smashwords. And thusly, this blog got started.

Some of the original topics were:
Stay or Flee? What would you do?
Radiation dangers
Survival List for Nuclear Disaster
Radiation sickness exposure table

Then I moved on to new topics:
French Nuclear Plant disaster, 7/2/2011
Responsibility of Nations to have laws with sufficient penalties
Nuclear Engineer whistleblower demoted
Greater LA food found high in radiation (2 peaches – but????)

By this time the Ebook had started to be more widely read. So I posted a review written by Terry Callister (Books and Novels to Read) who resides in Spain. And I wrote about the marvels of science – you can read all these Ebooks on your smart phone – whatever font size you want, backlit, and always handily with you.

But by August I was again addressing the perils of life:
The Great American Lie – nuclear accidents that have happened in the US and been covered up
Your Space and My Space and remembering 2011 – does believing you are right overshadow the rights of others?
Creating jobs in America – try the WPA way from the big depression
Where does the Truth Lie? There seems to be 2 different camps on nuclear energy
Wikipedia Tribute – they are funded by donations.
The Nuclear Industry's Dirtiest Secret – attracting unskilled labor with high wages for dangerous cleanup work at Fukushima

As we move into the new year of 2012,  I would like to leave you with some thoughts to ponder for the future.
Would you gamble your health by having electricity generated by a nuclear power plant near you? It may be perfectly safe. But time and time again it is showing us – that it's not. I actually am not anti-nuclear. I am anti-nuclear accident. So until they upgrade the existing plants which are now aging, or develop a better reactor system (if they can), I'm not into gambling.

Happy New Year to you all.