AUSTRALIAN MEDIA PRINTS RADIATION WARNINGS TO 2020 OLYMPIC ATHLETES

THESE ARE THE SOUNDS VISITORS TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES NEAR AND IN FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE COULD HEAR, IF ALLOWED TO, IN 2020. 

In Fukushima, contamination is now omnipresent, you cannot see it nor smell it, nor taste it but it is there. And in 2016, an unprecedented public project began..
Japan's contamination is made visible by its 1/1000 second clicking sounds.

You can't see it but you can now visualize the power of those radioactive disintegrations by hearing their sounds, so that the inoffensive looking becquerel per kg numbers of an invisible contamination now take on a new dimension, as the violence of their power is suddenly revealed through their disintegration sounds.

REMEMBER, PLEASE, THE ADMISSIONS 8 YEARS AGO:
"At least one billion becquerels a day of radiation continue to leak from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant."

A STANDING OVATION FOR 'THE AUSTRALIAN' FOR HAVING THE GUTS TO PRINT A DOCTOR'S WARNING! 

WHY THE HELL DON'T ALL NEWS MEDIA  DO SO?
IT COULD SAVE LIVES AND THE HEALTH OF MANY YOUNG ATHLETES. 

DO YOU KNOW WHICH MAJOR NEWS AGENCIES EVEN MENTIONED THIS WARNING?

NONE!
NOT ONE!
AS OF 10:30PM, CDST, ON OCT. 29, 2019, NOT A SINGLE ONE  

'ANTINUCLEAR.NET' ALONE REPRINTED THE AUSTRALIAN ARTICLE. 
IN A WEB SEARCH USING THE TERM "Fukushima fallout warning for Olympians",
I GOT THIS FROM THE SEARCH ENGINE:

"No news articles found for Fukushima fallout warning for Olympians."

SEARCHING ON THE ENTIRE WEB?
i GOT ONLY THIS: 
"Not many results contain Fukushima warning olympians." 

Yeah, most were 4 to 6 years old or older, and even when I modified the search to include the Dr,'s  name and used 'Olympics', nothing but these two I list here came up.

Shame, damned sorry shame. 

Everybody deserves full disclosure on this very real threat, especially, like Ruff says, pregnant women, young children (and I'd add the elderly and anyone with a compromised immune system).

ALL who are considering attending have a RIGHT to know the honest, factual data and make a CHOICE!

I really expected Greenpeace to make a lot more noise on this.

What happened to the ex-Prime Ministers and ambassador who have come out against Abe's lies to the Olympic Committee, to the people of the world?

Former Japan PM Koizumi accuses Abe of lying over Fukushima pledge.
“When [Abe] said the situation was under control, he was lying,” Koizumi told reporters in Tokyo. “It is not under control.”

Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan said that the nuclear accident is “still going on” today.
“One reactor meltdown could destroy the whole plant and, however unlikely, that is too great a risk.”
He criticized his successor, prime minister Shinzo Abe, for restarting some of the country’s nuclear power stations, all of which were shut down after the crisis, saying that Japan had “not learned the lessons enough.”

Former Japanese ambassador to Switzerland, Mitsuhei Murata, recently proposed an eminently reasonable solution. "It is time," he says, "for Japan to stage an honorable retreat” from hosting the 2020 Olympics while there is still time to select and prepare an alternative site.
As Murata noted in the conclusion of his article, “Heaven and Earth will not long countenance immoral conduct.”

Where are scientists like Michio Kaku, Arnie Gunderson, Tim Mousseau, all who initially and for years told the press the truths about Fukushima?

Where are the Physicians for Social Responsibility like Catherine Thomasson and Alex Rosen when we need their voices again to warn those thinking of being in Japan for the 'games'?

NO, THERE IS ONLY THIS SMALL GLIMMER OF TRUTH OUT THERE IN A SMALL AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER. 

Fukushima fallout warning for Olympians

The AOC (Australian Olympic Committee) has been urged to inform its athletes and team members about the ongoing health effects of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster for those attending the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo ...

Dr.Tilman Ruff, a public health expert who co-founded the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in Melbourne, said he had written to the AOC to warn that levels of radioactivity in certain areas could be above the recommended maximum permissible exposure level.

He said the Japanese Olympic Committee planned to host baseball and softball competitions and part of the torch relay in Fukushima City, 50 kilometers away from the ruins of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

In 2011, multiple nuclear meltdowns at the damaged facility caused radioactivity to leak out across Japan and the Pacific.

“The Japanese government is making a concerted ­effort to present the Fukushima nuclear disaster as over and effectively dealt with in the lead-up to the Olympics. Some of these ­efforts are misleading and should not be accepted at face value,” Dr Ruff said.

He said thyroid cancers had notably increased among young people in Fukushima, with a total of about 200 cases.

He has made several visits to Fukushima since 2011, the latest in May when he provided radiation health advice to the Fukushima prefectural government.

Dr Ruff said he then wrote to the AOC urging it to “properly ­inform and safeguard the best interests of the Australian staff and team, and their accompanying families, especially women who may be pregnant and young children”.

He said short-term visits to areas contaminated by radioactive fallout “now involve low to minimal risk”.

“However, if any (AOC) members or athletes plan to be based in Fukushima or neighbouring contaminated prefectures for weeks or months, they should be informed about the health risks of radiation exposure,” Dr Ruff said.

International physician groups have criticised the Japanese government’s decision shortly after the 2011 disaster to increase the maximum permissible radiation dose for Japanese citizens from one (1) to 20 millisieverts. 

[Dr. Paul Dorfman of the Energy Institute at University College, London, in 2017, on the Japanese government raising allowable radiation levels to 20 times the acceptable high level in the rest of the world: .

"This is inexplicable, since 20 mSv is the allowable dose for an adult radiation worker," Dorman said. "Given that infants and children are still in their developmental stage, they should not have been subjected to this dose. 

"Unfortunately, what this means is that we may be seeing increased ill health in the future. Not simply gross cancers and possibly heart problems, but also things that are difficult to detect through epidemiology, such as immune problems."]

“Eight years later, it has not reversed that decision,” Dr Ruff said. 


“No other government in the world has ever accepted such a high level of radiation beyond the immediate emergency phase of a nuclear disaster for its citizens.”


An AOC spokesman said Tokyo 2020 provided regular updates to the IOC regarding the situation. “We have been given assurances that radiation levels in Fukushima City are safe, noting that the IOC Co-ordination Team has made several visits to the region and that ongoing monitoring is conducted independently of the Japanese government,” the spokesman said.


THEY'RE LYING, AOC!
THEY'VE BEEN LYING FOR GOING ON 9 YEARS!

YOU'D BE FOOLISH TO TRUST A GOVERNMENT OR A UTILITY COMPANY THAT HAS BEEN BUSTED AS MANY TIMES AS JAPAN'S CO-CONSPIRATORS HAVE BEEN.

DITTO FOR ANY/ALL "NUCLEAR PROTECTION AGENCIES".
THEY ONLY PROTECT THE BIG BOYS OF THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY.

BACK-TO-BACK TROPICAL STORMS IN JAPAN HAVE WREAKED HAVOC IN THE FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE.

We have no clue to the possible damage done to the failed power plant there.

SINCE NO FOREIGN SCIENTISTS, NUCLEAR EXPERTS OR JOURNALISTS ARE ALLOWED UNACCOMPANIED ACCESS TO THAT DESTROYED PLANT, WE CANNOT POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT THE CURRENT READINGS ON RADIATION ARE.

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!

WARN THE WORLD ABOUT THE ONGOING LEAKS AND HIGH-LEVEL RADIATION IN AND WITHIN 100 MILES OF FUKUSHIMA, AND EVEN IN TOKYO. 

LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE IF THEY STILL WANT TO ATTEND. 

LET THEM TAKE GEIGER COUNTERS TO THE GAMES, MEASURE EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE.

GIVE THEM ALL DOSIMETRY BADGES IF IT'S SO SAFE.

SHOW THE WORLD THE READINGS!

Dec. 11, 2016: Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarusian writer who won a Nobel Prize for her book on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, visited evacuees in Fukushima Prefecture to hear about their experiences. "I try to listen to people no one sees or hears," Alexievich says. "There’s much more power in their emotions than in economic or medical data.... So I think it’s important to remember their lives.

Alexievich was also told the story of a dairy farmer, who committed suicide. A close friend of the farmer took her to the place where he died.
"He left a note saying, ‘I wish there'd been no nuclear power plants here,'" the farmer's friend Kenichi Hasegawa told her.

Alexievich has spent years focusing on the suffering of ordinary people and making their voices heard.
Visiting the 2 disaster-stricken regions has renewed her sense of determination.

"No one completely understands the horror of nuclear power. Literature should communicate it, and so should philosophers. It’s not a job for politicians alone," Alexievich said. "In other words, we need to look at what happened in Chernobyl and Fukushima and put them together, to form new knowledge.... I saw the future, not the past, and we need to work on that future."

Alexievich spent more than 10 years interviewing over 300 people, sometimes on camera. "In the last few days, whenever I lifted my husband’s body, his skin would peel off and stick to my hand," the wife of one firefighter told her.
She then wrote about their deep shock and continual sadness.

It has been 30 years since the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, and 5 years [almost 9 now] since the one in Fukushima. The future depends on never letting the voices of “the ordinary people” go unheard -- that’s the message from Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich.


ANYONE, EVERYONE WHO MAKES A DILIGENT, OPEN-MINDED, FACT-SEEKING SEARCH OF THIS UNENDING NUCLEAR NIGHTMARE CANNOT FAIL TO SEE, AS DID
OPPENHEIMER, GOFF, AND MOST ALL "MANHATTAN PROJECT" SCIENTISTS, THAT NUCLEAR ANYTHING IS A LONG-TERM KILLER. IT'S AN OPENED 'PANDORA'S BOX' THAT WE JUST CAN'T CLOSE.

THEY ALL REGRETTED UNLEASHING THAT MONSTER ONTO HUMANITY.
I REGRET THAT THEY DECIDED TOO LATE THAT IT IS A MONSTER. 

IT'S NOT A FAIRY TALE, NOR A 'CONSPIRACY THEORY', IT'S A CONSPIRACY FACT THAT WE WILL ALL BE BOMBARDED BY FUKUSHIMA RADIATION FOR HUNDREDS TO THOUSANDS OF YEARS, DEPENDING ON WHICH RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES WE CHOOSE TO MONITOR THAT ARE STILL BEING EMITTED FROM THAT CURSED CRIPPLED NUKE PLANT.

IT'S SIMPLY A FACT OF LIFE FOR ALL OF US.
NO PANIC IS NECESSARY.
THE TRUTH IS WHAT IT IS, IT'S DONE, AND NOW WE SIMPLY SIT BACK AND 'PAY THE PIPER' FOR OUR FAILURE TO STOP IT. 






_________________________________


-- TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE BASICS OF RADIATION READINGS AND WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO REALIZE ABOUT THIS NUCLEAR DISASTER, PLEASE READ
"A FUKUSHIMA AND RADIATION PRIMER. WE LEARN OR WE PERISH"


--POSTSCRIPT, FROM MY BLOG OF JANUARY 3, 2017:

THREE AND A HALF YEARS AGO, SOME TRUTH WAS TOLD, BUT MAINSTREAM MEDIA DOWNPLAYED IT, REFUSED TO CARRY IT, OR CALLED IN BIG NUKE'S WELL-PAID 'EXPERTS' TO DISCREDIT IT AND THE WORLD, WANTING TO FEEL SAFE, ACCEPTED THAT ALL WAS WELL AND FORGOT ABOUT FUKUSHIMA.

Key findings from a report, which was released at a press briefing March 9, 2016, include a 10-fold increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer in children.

"As of February 2016, 116 children in [ONLY] Fukushima Prefecture had been diagnosed with aggressive and fast-growing, or already metastasizing, thyroid cancer, against an expected number of 1 to 5 cases per year, the report notes.

An additional 50 children have been diagnosed with suspected thyroid carcinoma.
More than 10,000 (and perhaps as many as 66,000) excess cases of cancer are expected among residents of the Fukushima area and the rest of Japan as a result of radiation exposure from the March 11, 2011, Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, according to a report from Physicians for Social Responsibility and the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.

THE GOVERNMENT HAS REFUSED TO TEST ALL CHILDREN IN JAPAN.
WHY?
AREN'T THEY 'WORTH' THE COST?
OR WOULD RESULTS BE TOO HORRIFYING AND STRIP JAPAN OF THE OLYMPICS, CREATE OUTRAGE IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY AS THEY FIGURED OUT THAT ABE IS WAGING AN ONGOING, 'STATIONARY NUCLEAR WAR' ON ALL OF US?

FUKUSHIMA IS NOT OVER. IT WILL CONTINUE FOR GENERATIONS.

THE FAILURE OF THE GOVERNMENT IS AN OUTRAGE.
"Unfortunately, the full health impact of Fukushima may never be known, due to Japan's failure to immediately track radiation releases as well as a disturbing lack of testing of the general population for radiation-related diseases and other impacts, such as miscarriages and fetal malformations, leukemia, lymphomas, solid tumors or cardiovascular disease," Dr Thomasson said.

The report also notes that independent research data on the effects of the disaster are needed. Most of the data for the report come from pro-nuclear organizations in Japan. Dr Thomasson noted that the "massive initial radioactive emissions were not recorded at the time of the triple-reactor meltdown, and some radioactive isotopes, including strontium-90, have not been measured at all by the government.

"What is badly needed now is a series of epidemiological studies to investigate the health consequences of the excess radiation exposure, especially diseases that can be detected and treated early," the report concludes.

BUT SHINZO ABE WILL NOT ALLOW THAT!

Briefing speaker Alex Rosen, MD, pediatrician and vice-chair, International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (Germany), said, "The important thing about this report is not so much counting cases of cancer or predicting how many cases of cancer there will be but pointing out that there are people in Japan right now whose right to life in a healthy environment is being taken away from them."

Robert Alvarez, senior scholar specializing in nuclear disarmament, environmental, and energy policies, Institute for Policy Studies, and former senior policy advisor, US Department of Energy, said: "Radioactive fallout from the reactors has created de facto 'sacrifice zones' where human habitation will no longer be possible well into the future.
In November 2011, the Japanese Science Ministry reported that long-lived radioactive cesium had contaminated 11,580 square miles (30,000 sq km) of the land surface of Japan. Some 4500 square miles — an area almost the size of Connecticut — was found to have radiation levels that exceeded Japan's allowable exposure rate of 1 mSV (millisievert) per year. Fourteen of the nation's 54 reactors are permanently shut down, as they are on fault lines, and only four have been restarted."

"It is unfortunate," added Tim Mousseau, PhD, professor of biological sciences, University of South Carolina, "that, in some regards, we have better and more complete data about the impacts of Fukushima radiation on trees, plants, and animals than we do on humans."

"It is such an obvious measure that could be completed in about six months, but the government has done absolutely nothing for three years," said Koichiro Ono, a local kindergarten teacher. "The government is worried that if the results suggest that there is a link, it will ruin its plans to restart nuclear reactors."

[AND HOST THE OLYMPICS!] 

"How can anyone talk about life returning to normal in Fukushima until everything has been done to ensure that people have their health?
Politicians keep talking about recovery, but that doesn't mean anything to people living around here."Toshiyuki Kamei whose 12-year-old daughter was found to have nodules on her thyroid.

IF YOU CAN'T STOP THE LEAKS, RAISE THE ALLOWABLE LEVEL OF RADIATION...
The Abe regime's decision to raise allowable radiation exposure standards in Japan to 20 millisieverts of radiation a year, up from the prior level of 2 mSv a year, far surpasses the globally-accepted limit for radiation absorption of 1 mSv a year.

This means that children were and are being exposed to the same levels of radiation that are permitted for adult nuclear power plant workers in Europe.

Some officials even argued that zones where rates were as high as 100 mSv a year should be considered ‘safe’.
FOR CHILDREN?
THAT'S CRIMINAL!

New Orleans-based attorney Stuart Smith observed wryly:

“Instead of taking corrective measures to protect its people, Japan has simply increased internationally recognized exposure limits. It seems that the priority – as we’ve seen in so many other industrial disasters in so many other countries – is to protect industry and limit its liability rather than to ensure the long-term health and well being of the masses.”

-- SEE ALSO "TOKYO'S RADIATION OLYMPICS" BY ENVIROREPORTER







//WW

VIOLENCE, HATE AND THE 'MORAL ORDER' WE ACCEPT

SOME OF THE FIRST WRITTEN WORDS IN HUMAN HISTORY WERE ABOUT WAR, VIOLENCE AND CIVIL SOCIETAL CONFLICTS. 

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
― attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

“Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.”
― Bertrand Russell


Until about five thousand years ago, human beings lived in a state of anarchy without central government or enforceable laws.

Genocides were committed and written about by the early people of the Middle East, Asia, Athenians, Romans, the 'Crusaders', invaders/'colonizers' of the 'New World' ("Americas"), of Africa and of Australia.

Genocides were part and parcel of civil wars, 'world' wars, all wars.

Such is still the case.

But now we see POLITICAL wars erupting all over the world, internalized, vicious, hate-filled and mostly of a 'civil war' nature.

It isn't the first time violence was born of politics, but we should have taken lessons from history, by NOT repeating the errors of the past, by NOT insanely doing the SAME things over and over again, expecting ...what? Different results?
There won't be any different results.

If you think that 'psychopaths' are more prone to violence than the kind people next door, you're wrong.

Of all violent crimes committed, less than 10% are committed by those who can be diagnosed as 'psychopaths'/the mentally ill, which leaves 90% of violent acts that are committed by 'normal' people. 

Non-psychopathic people are harming/killing others in much greater numbers than the psychopaths.

WHY? 

Most of us are convinced that WE will never engage in an act of extreme brutality.

WE would never shoot, stab, choke, drag or bludgeon someone to death. WE would never rape another human being or set them on fire. We would NEVER strap a bomb to our chests and blow ourselves into a million pieces in some crowded place, or aim our vehicle at a crowd of people and step on the gas pedal.
NO, NOT US, NEVER!

When faced with these violent, senseless acts, most of us would find ourselves at a loss to explain the actions of anyone who would commit them. What possible purpose could they serve?
WHY do people hurt and kill one another?

It sounds like an unanswerable question, but there IS an answer.
The answer is simple, powerful and very disturbing.
We purposely or 'subconsciously' fail to recognize and/or admit the answer almost everywhere a valid, honest answer is needed.

However, IF, if we REALLY want to solve the problems of human violence and wars and senseless deaths, there is nothing else to do but admit the answer IS valid and true.
We have to risk an answer that may threaten our own values, our own way of life.

We have to gaze into a very dark abyss.

There we will find "moral justification".

A psychiatrist, sociologist, or behavior therapist may say that violence is enabled by loss of self-control. Something 'triggers' a person and makes them 'snap', then they just say to hell with it all (become 'disinhibited) and attack.

But that "disinhibition theory" avoids the question of why humans are motivated to be violent in the first place.
The drive to become violent has to come from somewhere, and this theory is silently lacking about where that 'somewhere' might be.

What about what some call the "rational choice theory", wherein one might just decide it's a grand idea to kill off others so he/she can be 'king of the hill', or decides to kill their friend or family member to obtain a fortune?
These rational-choice models predict that the likelihood of violence increases when the benefits of violence go up or its costs (risks of being caught in the act, punishments) go down.


A study a few years back out of the UK found that foreign nations are much more likely to intervene in a civil war when the country at war within itself also has valuable oil reserves. Fossil fuels are triggering violent conflicts all over the world, says Michael Klare, Professor of Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, the US.

Klare zooms in on four areas – Iraq/Syria, South Sudan, the Crimea/Ukraine, and the South China Sea – to argue that the desire to control valuable oil and gas assets is fueling long-standing historic tensions. “In a fossil-fuel world, control over oil and gas reserves is an essential component of national power,” he warns.

The trouble with "rational choice theory" is that it also doesn't answer the question of WHY people frequently resort to violence when, by any measure of practical sense/logic, non-violent measures would be easier and far more effective, would carry NONE of the risks or punishments associated with committing a violent or deadly act.

A quick look at history shows even those thinking of doing violence that "Wars harm both sides, most crimes yield little financial gain, terrorism and assassination almost never bring about the desired political changes, most rapes fail to bring sexual pleasure, torture rarely elicits accurate or useful information..." (That is a PDF)

Another study posited to those involved in civil war over territory (land), in which those at war valued the land as 'sacred', that a large cash settlement would be handed to them if they simply gave up the land, but showed that such an offer elevated levels of anger and disgust, as well as increased enthusiasm for violence from both sides. Those who did NOT see the land as sacred were enthusiastic to take the monetary incentive and call it a wrap.

That blows the "rational choice theory" right out of the water. Such a theory cannot handle/explain this kind of data. Adding material incentives should never make the deal worse, but sometimes it does.

Neither the disinhibition theory nor the rational choice theory provides a complete picture for why people harm one another, why they go to war.
And to the extent that we try to rely on these theories to reduce violence, we will fail again and again.
What are we missing?

Looking at violence across time and cultures, looking long and hard and honestly, a pattern emerges in all the violence. There IS a unifying theme, with all the predictive and explanatory power one could wish for.

Humans determine within their own minds and within their own cultural and/or chosen groups that violence is obligatory, necessary, proper.

Violence is motivated by moral sentiments, a deep, inner surety that some actions of others DEMANDS retribution, DEMANDS that the person who committed even an imagined 'sin'/wrong MUST be punished.
Some tell themselves that their victims "brought it on themselves", that they "begged for it" when they did thus or so.

Drill sergeants, gang leaders and guerrilla fighters brutally ‘beat in’ new recruits believing it creates lifelong bonds and unflinching obedience to superiors, both of which are fundamental to success in battle.

A father in New Guinea pours hot fat down the inner arm of his son and hopes he will endure it 'like a man' because this is imperative if he is to become a respected adult in that culture.

Suicide bombers in the Middle East kill themselves and others in the name of the authority they respect and out of loyalty to 'the noble cause'.

A brother in India or in an Islamic nation kills his sister because her sexual infidelity has contaminated and shamed their family and her death is the only way to restore the family’s honor and prove the family is devout and noble.

Fighter pilots bomb a 'terrorist' target, killing several terrorists along with many nearby civilians because their commander said it was an 'acceptable loss' in order to achieve a 'greater good', i.e.,the death of their enemies.

One can find examples of such 'moral justification' without end.

If indeed violence is motivated by moral sentiments, what is it motivated toward?
What are these perpetrators of violence trying to achieve?

The answer seems to be that violence is intended to regulate social relationships.

Across all cases that have been studied, that we ourselves can study, perpetrators are using violence to create, conduct, sustain, enhance, transform, honor, protect, redress, repair, end, and mourn relationships they see as "immorally detrimental" and/or "unjustified".

The jilted spouse or lover is convinced that the one who jilted them was unjust, evil, morally corrupt, and that allowing the one who jilted them to go unpunished would leave them free to do the same to the "next guy".

Maybe the jilted decides that harsh physical punishment is enough to change the offenders actions, or they may decide such an unjust person needs to be erased from the earth.

Maybe they feel a cultural 'moral need' to regain their 'honor', their sense of community worth by not allowing the deed to go unpunished. Others are watching, after all. Being 'unjustly shamed' demands retribution so that the scales balance once again in their society.

In every case, the violent act is perceived by the perpetrators, and by at least some who observe their violence (and in some cases even by the victims themselves) as just.

As examples...public executions have often been popular community events, with families picnicking at hangings throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, gathering to watch 'justice served'.
Remember the 'witch hunts', the approved massacres of Indigenous Tribes in colonial times, the celebrations of won, often undeclared wars that we see an abundance of today.
Syria is in ruin, people in Yemen are starving to death, all because our pals in Saudi Arabia are scared of Iranian influence there, but House of Saud rules OPEC, so, Yaaay, team!

WHY would we applaud that?
Because the ones we're told are 'wicked' got their "just desserts" and order will be restored.
Let's not forget that oil prices will drop once the fighting and killing are over.

Individuals and cultures vary widely in the ways they accomplish their set of 'regulations', these 'necessary, violent acts'.
The contexts in which each culture or individual believes violence is an acceptable means of making things right also vary, but the goal is the same.

The purpose of violence, in the minds of the violent, is to sustain or restore an accepted "moral order".

Violence is still celebrated by everyday 'good' people TODAY.

Every time "terrorists" are killed, many celebrate and determine to kill more (which makes US the terrorists to those whom we attack), while others who are attacked are incensed and vow to annihilate every man, woman and child in whatever culture/nation that killed their 'heroes', their loved ones, their countrymen.

PAUSE, REWIND, REPLAY....OVER AND OVER AGAIN, THROUGHOUT HISTORY.

BUT WAIT!
Surely it’s not difficult to claim 'moral justifications' when one is actually motivated by selfishness or is just plain criminally evil, right?
Wouldn't some use moral justification as an EXCUSE to do whatever they pleased?
The excuses/justifications that perpetrators offer reveal the moral standards of those being appealed to who will take sides with the 'righteous vindicators', finding 'moral cause' handed out freely by those among us who AGREE with their violence, perhaps even encourage it. All this SHOULD be a terribly uncomfortable thought.

If we accept that dangerous people might be motivated by genuine moral beliefs, we face a deeply troubling subjective dimension to morality as such.

At the very least, we must face the possibility that someone can be sincerely wrong about violence being 'morally justified'.

Once we allow ourselves to go that far, it’s a short hop to thinking maybe WE, who agree with moral justification are the ones who may be wrong, or even that there’s nothing to be right about in the first place as far as JUSTIFYING violence.

Those who justify violence due to moral obligation may fail to see the group or communal or cultural HATRED for certain things that fuels violence and wars of all kinds.
According to a recent study, there are at least 917 organized 'hate groups' in the United States, all of which share a common 'moral code'.

Some are composed of Whites, some are created by Blacks, some by Latinos/Hispanics, some by "religious fanatics", others were formed based on political beliefs, etc.    
What motivates most humans to hate, collectively or individually?FEAR...mainly FEAR. 

1- Fear of “The Other”
If something or someone is not LIKE them, many people fear that and then begin to hate through their fear.
They see DANGER to their societal and 'sacred' beliefs and to their personal standing in the larger national society because of these "others". SURELY, they tell themselves, such 'others' will destroy society and replace it with something that enslaves or eradicates them.

Researchers like Patrick Wanis cite the in-group out-group theory, which posits that when we feel threatened by perceived outsiders, we instinctively turn toward our in-group—those with whom we identify—as a survival mechanism. Wanis explains, “Hatred is driven by two key emotions of love and aggression: One, love for the in-group—the group that is favored; and two, aggression for the out-group—the group that has been deemed as being different, dangerous, and a threat to the in-group.”

All we have to do to 'test' this theory is to read the news, listen to the 'platforms' these 'hate groups' are based on.

The Tea Room sees this fear quite clearly in the formation of political parties.

Political affiliation has kept America divided since our second Presidential election.

Politics gave us the "Great Civil War".

Democrats see Republicans as evil incarnate and Republicans view Democrats as Satan's spawn.

The very language of politics speaks to fear and hate.
We're told to FIGHT for America by BEATING the other party.
We're told by each party that the other party is AT WAR against America and seeks to DESTROY the nation.

And most Americans buy into that and choose sides, making sure we remain DIVIDED, making sure we ALL come to ruin rather than to UNITY.

2- Fear of Ourselves

According to Washington, D.C., clinical psychologist Dana Harron, the things people hate about others are the things that they fear within themselves. She suggests thinking about the targeted group or person as a movie screen onto which we project unwanted parts of the self.
The idea is, “I'm not terrible; you are.”

This phenomenon is known as projection, a term coined by Freud to describe our tendency to reject what we don’t like about ourselves and assign it to others. Psychologist Brad Reedy further describes projection as our need to be good, which causes us to project "badness" outward onto others and attack it.

We can almost immediately see in others what we see within ourselves and wish wasn't there or try to deny that it does lurk within US.
That's how we can point fingers at others so quickly and easilyWhat would happen if we stopped thinking of moral values as objective facts that are always true everywhere at all times, and saw them instead as subjective opinions that differ across cultures and history?

Again, at the very least, shouldn't we perhaps face the possibility that one (even we ourselves) can be "sincerely wrong" about "blanket" moral values?

I'm thinking of things like, oh, "manifest destiny", let's say, or during the Crusades, when only ONE religion was acceptable, or, in the case of Islam, that THAT religion alone is the only right religion for the entire world, or that ONLY a socialist society can "fix" the problems of the world.

3- Lack of Self-compassion

The antidote to hate is compassion — for others as well as ourselves. Self-compassion means that we accept the whole self. “If we find part of ourselves unacceptable, we tend to attack others in order to defend against the threat,” says psychologist Brad Reedy. “If we are okay with ourselves, we see others’ behaviors as ‘about them’ and can respond with compassion. If I kept hate in my heart for [another], I would have to hate myself as well. It is only when we learn to hold ourselves with compassion that we may be able to demonstrate it toward others.”

4- Hate fills a void

Psychologist Bernard Golden, author of Overcoming Destructive Anger: Strategies That Work, believes that when hate involves participation in a group, it may help foster a sense of connection and camaraderie that fills a void in one’s identity. He describes hatred of individuals or groups as a way of distracting oneself from the more challenging and anxiety-provoking task of creating one’s own identity:

"Acts of hate are attempts to distract oneself from feelings such as helplessness, powerlessness, injustice, inadequacy and shame. Hate is grounded in some sense of perceived threat. It is an attitude that can give rise to hostility and aggression toward individuals or groups. Like much of anger, it is a reaction to and distraction from some form of inner pain. The individual consumed by hate may believe that the only way to regain some sense of power over his or her pain is to preemptively strike out at others. In this context, each moment of hate is a temporary reprieve from inner suffering."

5- Societal and Cultural Factors

The answer to why we hate, according to Silvia Dutchevici, LCSW, president and founder of the Critical Therapy Center, lies not only in our psychological makeup or family history, but also in our cultural and political history. “We live in a war culture that promotes violence, in which competition is a way of life,” she says. “We fear connecting because it requires us to reveal something about ourselves.
We are taught to hate the enemy — meaning anyone different than us — which leaves little room for vulnerability and an exploration of hate through empathic discourse and understanding.
In our current society, one is more ready to fight than to resolve conflict. Peace is seldom the option.”


Can't we ever agree to LIVE AND LET LIVE? 
Can't we EVER just look at history, see the gross errors of our ways and determine to STOP BEHAVING AS THOUGH WE ARE INSANE by repeating those errors yet again? 

WHAT ABOUT TERRORISTS?
SHOULDN'T WE KILL ALL 'TERRORISTS'? 

Terrorism is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

NEWSFLASH!
MOST WHO BELONG TO POLITICAL PARTIES COULD BE LABELED AS "TERRORISTS" BY THAT DEFINITION!
READ THE DAILY HEADLINES AND SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES. 

The inclusion of damage to private and public property in the definition of terrorism is a point of contention, but it is generally accepted in legal and statistical contexts.

WE SEE THAT DAILY, TOO, DON'T WE? 

An action must also be carried out for political, economic, religious, or social purposes to count as terrorism.


THERE'S THAT "MORAL JUSTIFICATION"! "A political party is a group of people seeking to promote the enactment of their ideals into law which, unlike an interest group, consists of multiple interests and primarily uses the ballot box.

A terrorist organization is a group of people seeking to promote the enactment of their ideals into law and primarily use politically motivated violence.
The line between the two types of organizations is not solid and there are multiple linkages between them.
Terrorist groups can become political parties; political parties can become terrorist groups; political parties can use terrorism and the ballot box; both political parties and terrorist groups can form wings of the opposite variety; and factions within political parties can splinter off into terrorist groups.

In addition, interest groups or political movements can utilize terrorism or spawn political groups or terrorist groups."   (Weinberg and Pedahzur, Political Parties and Terrorist Groups. London ; New York: 2003)


WE'VE BEEN GOING ABOUT REDUCING CRIME ALL WRONG. 

For years, we have been trying to reduce crime by incarceration, by placing restrictions on the mentally ill, by teaching potential perpetrators how to exercise more self-control.
On the face of it, these all sound like plausible strategies.

But ALL of those missed their target. 

Decade after decade, our jails are full, we still have the mentally ill diagnosed in ever greater numbers, and nobody is going to 'exercise self control' until they honestly see a NEED to and can admit to that need. 

WHO likes to admit they're wrong or that they need help? 

Did you know that about 45% of federal inmates are rearrested within five years of release?
This is considerably lower than the more alarming calculation of the Bureau of Justice Statistics that 77% are rearrested within five years.

But the BJS number includes both federal prisoners and the far more numerous veterans of state prisons.

Prisoners released before turning 21 had a rearrest rate of about 68%.

OBVIOUSLY, incarceration doesn't change minds or intent. 

One of the most robust findings in criminology is that increasing the severity of punishment has little deterrent effect.

People simply aren’t as sensitive to the potential costs of crime as the rational-choice model predicts they should be, and so efforts to reduce it by cracking down have failed to justify the immense fiscal and social costs of mass incarceration.

Meanwhile, because most violent crimes are committed by psychologically healthy individuals, legislation that focuses on the mentally ill – for example, by stopping them from buying guns – would lead to only a small reduction.
If we really wanted to cut our rates of violence, we would have to focus on moral motives.

Simply stated, violence must be made immoral.

This must hold true for both perpetrators of violence and the people they care about and/or the people who justify acts of violence based on an accepted moral code.
Only when violence in ANY relationship is seen as a violation of EVERY relationship will it diminish.

NO! NO, you may NOT do violence and expect to be excused for it, EVER.

It must be instilled in all our minds that ANY violence against ANYONE is considered violence against us ALL, that NONE of us will ever again condone violence or justify it as a "moral obligation".

I've written before about the now-banned "Blood Law" of a few Indigenous Tribes, wherein THEFT, in ANY form within the Tribe, whether theft of a life (murder), theft of a blanket, or theft of the truth (a lie), was immediately punishable by death, and the perpetrator's family members were responsible for carrying out the sentence.
If the family refused, they, too, would be seen as thieves...of justice.
If that happened, then others would be assigned to step in and carry out the sentence...on everyone who had broken that law. 
In those Tribes, THIS was the one and ONLY law.
It was sufficient. 

Such criminal acts were not condoned and were not tolerated by ANY of the Tribal members, and that was made crystal clear to each child growing up in the Tribe.
From infancy they were warned, taught and there was NO excuse offered if ANYONE broke that one law. 

In his work to reduce gang violence in Boston, the criminologist David Kennedy helps to organize 'interventions'.

Killers, violent criminals, no matter their race or social standing, are confronted by local leaders and the families of victims, who all express the wrongness of killing and insist that violence against anyone undermines relationships with everyone.

Sure, legal sanctions are also present, but they prove insufficient on their own. Critically, the message HAS to come from respected people within the criminal’s own community.

As Kennedy puts it: ‘their own ideas about right and wrong matter most; the ideas of those they care about and respect matter more’.

These programs have been quite successful WHEN PROPERLY IMPLEMENTED.
Baltimore tried to conduct a similar program "on the cheap" which seems to have failed, but other cities HAVE seen real reductions in violence using Kennedy's strict methodology. 

It won’t be easy to change our culture of violence.
We have to give people the structural, economic, technological and political means to regulate their relationships peacefully, options aside from violence that will make the scales of justice balance once again.

ALL social groups, ALL races, ALL levels of society have to determine to SHAME AND SHUN, AS WELL AS DELIVER THE VIOLENT UP FOR JUSTICE, ANYONE WHO VIOLENTLY HARMS OR KILLS ANOTHER.

THIS CAN BE DONE.
It HAS been done in the past by cultures we might call 'third world' or 'tribal' or even 'savage or strange', but it IS happening as we sit here, in prosperous, modern nations as well.

Cultures CAN AND DO change once they see the benefits of change.

People everywhere, WHO WANT TO, are finding ways to satisfy their moral motives and social-relational aims non-violently.

This in no way means this work is finished.

People also still hurt and kill one another because they believe that it's the right moral thing to do.
But if their primary social groups make them understand that violence will result in their being completely ostracized by family and community AND sent to face swift justice, most WILL learn NOT to be violent.

Once everyone, everywhere, truly believes that violence is unacceptable, is inexcusable by ALL whom they value/care for, that violence carries a "double curse", not just a legal punishment, then violence will begin to end.
The desire to be a valued member of a group, 'part of the herd' has often over-ridden the desire to be a self-serving lawbreaker.

Would we still allow for self-defense?
I would think we should, but then I think of the victims of abortions, of child abuse, of elder abuse, the animals who suffer and die from animal abuse and how none of those can ever be said to have had a real "fighting chance" to save themselves.

I think of a city cop in Houston, TX, who bragged that he could always prove self-defense by placing one of his stash of confiscated weapons in the hand of anyone he shot.
SAME can be said of a civilian who commits a violent act believing it to be justified.

It's precisely FOR those who can't truly protect themselves, who have NO means of self-defense that we MUST change this tendency to violence among all members of society. 

We simply can't keep putting the entire burden on "law enforcement" and courts and expect those few to SEE HAPPENING what WE see happen daily in our own neighborhoods, streets, homes, to produce evidence of the violence that WE bear witness to but keep quiet about, make excuses for, acts of violence that we try to NOT see, WANT to excuse, violent acts that happen to the helpless, the innocents, the weak.

NO MORE "I've got your back, brother", NO MORE "I'll be your alibi", NO MORE I'll go to bat for you every way I can, pal/son/daughter/husband/wife/mom/dad".

NO!
It's NOT 'a jungle out there', it's a CIVILIZED WORLD.

NO!
NOBODY IS PREY!
NOBODY should be allowed to be a PREDATOR! 

VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE.
IT ISN'T NECESSARY IN THE DAILY LIVES OF AMERICAN PEOPLE.
IT ISN'T TO BE CONDONED. 

HATE ERASES SANITY AND CREATES UTTER CHAOS. 

REALIZING THAT WE ARE ALL EQUAL, NO ONE BETTER THAN THE NEXT, INVITES PEACE AND PEACEFUL SOLUTIONS.

ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT EQUAL WITH ALL OTHERS IS LYING TO YOU IN ORDER TO MANIPULATE YOU TO CARRY OUT THEIR 'MORAL JUSTIFICATION' TO DO VIOLENCE AND TO DESTROY YOUR FELLOW MAN. 








______________________________________

OTHER SOURCES AND FURTHER READING: 

-- CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
A PDF that shows the RISE in global conflicts since 2011, the astronomical number of civilians displaced by those conflicts and FAILS to include Europe, the USA, or Canada.


-- The Essential Guide to Defense Mechanisms
The 9 most common defense mechanisms used to prevent inner turmoil, angst and fear.


-- How the Long History of Human Violence Explains Why the Internet Causes So Much Chaos

We are currently living through the third communications revolution: the Internet. Invented late last century, its use has grown exponentially: by the end of 2018, more than half of the world’s population was online. It is currently disrupting our senses of nationhood, hierarchy, equality, resource sharing and employment, among other things. It is upending national consensuses on all of the five group problems at once.

The Internet is also laying the foundations for what could be a truly global society.

Scholars—from psychologists to political scientists specializing in conflict—are starting to understand that the desire to belong among humans plays an outsized role in generating group violence of all kinds. This evolutionary desire to belong does not mean belonging to just any group of humans, but to a cohesive social group that protects you from violence, and gives you access to resources and sexual partners.
And for a social group to remain cohesive it needs to have norms and rules that solve five basic coordination problems inherent to groups. These five problems are: hierarchy (who makes the decisions), identity (who is in the group and who is out), trade (how do we trade or share resources), disease (how do we manage disease with so many individuals living in close proximity) and punishment (who are we allowed to punish as a group, and for what). If a group fails to solve these five problems, violence ensues and the group splinters and cleaves into smaller groups.


--Tage Rai, a research associate and lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Massachusetts, is the co-author, with Alan Fiske, of Virtuous Violence (2014) which I used as a source. He also wrote an essay I much appreciated titled "How Could They?"


--Mental illness and violence
A Harvard Health article.
Most individuals with psychiatric disorders are not violent.
Although a subset of people with psychiatric disorders commit assaults and violent crimes, findings have been inconsistent about how much mental illness contributes to this behavior and how much substance abuse and other factors do.
An ongoing problem in the scientific literature is that studies have used different methods to assess rates of violence — both in people with mental illness and in control groups used for comparison. Some studies rely on "self-reporting," or participants' own recollection of whether they have acted violently toward others. Such studies may underestimate rates of violence for several reasons. Participants may forget what they did in the past, or may be embarrassed about or unwilling to admit to violent behavior. Other studies have compared data from the criminal justice system, such as arrest rates among people with mental illness and those without. But these studies, by definition involving a subset of people, may also misstate rates of violence in the community. Finally, some studies have not controlled for the multiple variables beyond substance abuse that contribute to violent behavior (whether an individual is mentally ill or not), such as poverty, family history, personal adversity or stress, and so on.





//WW

AMERICA'S NEW DEFINITION OF 'HATE'

IT JUST GETS MORE LUDICROUS EVERY DAY IN AMERICA.

THE "OK" SIGN WHICH PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD RECOGNIZE FOR WHAT IT IS, RATHER LIKE A "THUMBS-UP", OR A SMILE, SOMETHING POSITIVE, IS NOW A "HATE SYMBOL".

WHY?

BECAUSE A MINORITY OF CITIZENS SAY SO, ONLY THAT.... A TINY MINORITY CALLED THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE (ADL) HAS "RE-IMAGINED" IT AND ARE "OFFENDED" BY IT AND LIST IT NOW AS SOMETHING IT HAS NEVER BEFORE IN HISTORY BEEN.

AND THAT GROUP HAS ADMITTED THAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT USE "OK" AS A HATE SYMBOL, BUT THAT SOME "WHITE SUPREMACIST GROUPS MIGHT"...MIGHT. 

"More people than not will use the OK symbol as just 'OK.' But in those cases where there's more underlining meaning, I think it's important for people to understand that it could be used, and is being used, for hate as well."

Oren Segal, director of the ADL's Center on Extremism, told NPR said that while many of those images were misconstrued by users on the online message boards, the number of people espousing hate while using the gesture has grown so widespread that it can no longer be considered a prank.

WIDESPREAD?
HOW WIDESPREAD?

EXACTLY HOW MANY DOES IT TAKE TO DECLARE SOMETHING "WIDESPREAD"?

THREE, A DOZEN, A HUNDRED? HOW MANY IS WIDESPREAD?

DOES THE ADL DETERMINE FOR ALL OF US WHAT EXACTLY WIDESPREAD IS,TOO?
Segal pointed to the suspected white supremacist in Christchurch, New Zealand, accused of killing 51 worshippers at two mosques in March, who flashed the "OK" hand gesture during an initial court appearance.

REALLY?
WELL, THAT GUY (AND EVERY 'FRINGE GROUP' MEMBER) WAS ALSO BREATHING, LIKELY SMILED AT LEAST ONCE OR TWICE, BLINKED, SO DO WE CONSIDER BREATHING, SMILING, BLINKING AS HATE SYMBOLS, TOO? 

Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADL's CEO, said in a statement that old symbols, gestures and other images are rapidly acquiring new, hateful associations that may be too obscure for the general public to understand.
"We believe law enforcement and the public needs to be fully informed about the meaning of these images, which can serve as a first warning sign to the presence of haters in a community or school," he said.

I CALL B-S!

IT'S SIMPLY BULLS**T TO RE-LABEL SYMBOLS THAT HAVE LONG BEEN POSITIVE THINGS AS "HATEFUL" AND CALLING ALL WHO USE THEM IN A POSITIVE WAY AS "HATERS".

THE ADL RULING HAS SINCE COST PEOPLE THEIR JOBS! "A Florida theme park employee has been fired after the individual made the “OK” hand gesture used by some to symbolize white power while posing for a photo with a biracial 6-year-old girl."

JUST ONE WEEK HAD PASSED SINCE THE ADL's NEW RULING AND THAT'S ALL IT TOOK FOR SOME TO START SCREAMING "HATE" ABOUT "OK"!"Zinger described the incident involving her daughter as “heartbreaking.”

WAIT! IT DIDN'T BREAK HER HEART WHILE SHE WAS FILMING IT, BUT DID LATER?
SHE DIDN'T NOTICE IT WHILE IT WAS GOING ON?
NOW SHE'S SUING?

TALK ABOUT "FRINGE GROUPS", WHAT ARE THE GROUPS WHO WANT TO LABEL EVERYTHING AS HATE?
CLINICALLY SPEAKING, I'D CALL THOSE PEOPLE AS BEING ON THE "FRINGE" OF SANITY AND REASON.
THOSE WHO JUST CAN'T OR WON'T COME TO GRIPS WITH REALITY ARE RIGHT ON THE VERY EDGE OF 'MADNESS'.

WHAT'S NEXT, BANNING CONSUMPTION OF LIVER, BROCCOLI, GREEN BEANS OR BEETS BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE "HATE" LIVER, BROCCOLI, GREEN BEANS AND BEETS AND IT DISTRESSES THEM TO SEE OTHERS EAT IT?

ARE WE GOING TO PULL OUT FINGERNAILS BECAUSE THE SOUND THEY MAKE ACROSS A CHALKBOARD OR DRUMMING ON A TABLE CAUSES SOME TO FEEL ANXIOUS, OR 'CREEPED-OUT'?

FIRE!
FIRE KILLS MANY EVERY YEAR!
LET'S MAKE STARTING A FIRE A CRIME!
LET THOSE WHO USE FIREPLACES OR FURNACES FREEZE TO DEATH BECAUSE FIRE KILLS!
ONLY PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KILL PEOPLE WOULD USE FIRE!

FIRE REQUIRES OXYGEN.
OMG, BAN OXYGEN!

DO YOU SEE HOW FAR THIS CAN GO, AND TO WHAT EXTREMES? 

HOW DID WE GO THIS FAR DOWN THE ROAD TO THE ASYLUM? 

IN MY MOTHER'S CULTURE, OWLS WERE BAD OMENS, FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, AS WERE RAVENS AND A FEW OTHER THINGS, BUT, IF YOU'LL NOTICE, WHEN THE EUROPEANS ARRIVED, LO AND BEHOLD, THEY FOUND A LOT OF OWLS AND RAVENS ON THE LANDS OF THOSE VERY TRIBES WHO SAW THEM AS HARBINGERS OF DISASTER.

WHY, HOW? 
BECAUSE THOSE WHO WERE "STRESSED" BY OWLS AND RAVENS DIDN'T GO OUT AND WIPE THEM OFF THE EARTH, THAT'S WHY.

THEY COEXISTED WITH THINGS THAT INVOKED FEAR, STRESS, ANXIETY AND WITH THINGS THAT THE ADL AND MANY OTHERS LIKE THEM WOULD SEE AS THINGS THAT "HATED" THOSE TRIBES.

HAD THE ANCIENTS USED THE FALSE REASONING/LOGIC OF THE ADL, AND MANY OTHER 'ORGANIZATIONS', WE'D BE LIVING IN A BARREN WASTELAND, COVERING OUR EARS AND EYES SO WE DIDN'T SEE OR HEAR ANYTHING "OFFENSIVE" OR "SCARY" OR "HEARTBREAKING" OUT HERE IN THE REAL WORLD!

WE LIVE IN A VERY REAL WORLD, ADL, ET AL!

HATE, STRESS, ANXIETY, ALL THAT HUMANS MAY SEE AS "BAD", EXISTS 'OUT THERE', SAME AS ALL THAT MAY BE SEEN  AS 'GOOD'.

WE MERELY TAKE THE BAD WITH THE GOOD AND PRESS ON. 

WE LIVE NEXT DOOR TO THOSE WHO MAY HATE US AS WELL AS THOSE WHO MAY THINK WE HUNG THE MOON AND STARS.

WE LIVE ELBOW-TO-ELBOW WITH THOSE WHO WILL NEVER ONCE AGREE WITH ANYTHING WE HOLD DEAR, OR SACRED, OR SEE THE THINGS WE LIKE AS LIKABLE.

FOR THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF YEARS, HUMANS HAVE DISAGREED, FOUGHT WITH ONE ANOTHER, KILLED ONE ANOTHER.

NOTHING HAS ACTED AS A FINE ENOUGH DETERRENT TO STOP HATE.

HATE AND LOVE HAVE TO COEXIST!
IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE!

WHAT ONE PERSON SEES AS WONDERFUL MAY BE A NIGHTMARE TO OTHERS.
SO WHAT?
WE'VE MADE IT THIS FAR AND WE'LL KEEP MAKING IT NO MATTER WHAT! 

THE FEW  WHO JUST CAN'T/WON'T BECOME ADULTS WHO CAN HANDLE REALITIES, DISAGREEMENTS, DIFFERENT IDEOLOGIES, DIFFERENT WORLD VIEWS, DIFFERENT BELIEF SYSTEMS, DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, DIFFERENT ANYTHING SEEM TO BE THE ONES CREATING MORE AND MORE 'HATE'.

THOSE WHO "GET THEIR DIAPERS IN A WAD" AT THE DROP OF A HAT...OR A SYMBOL...OR A WORD, OR A HAT, OR A LOOK, ARE NOT LIVING IN REALITY.

IT SEEMS LIKE A DAILY RITUAL FOR THE FEW TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING NEW AND EVEN MORE LUDICROUS TO BE PISSED-OFF ABOUT AND 'TERRORIZED' BY.

EXAMPLE: 
"LOOK! LOOOOOOK! SEE THOSE BASTARDS CALLING THAT PERSON WITH A FULL BEARD AND A BARE HAIRY CHEST AND AN OBVIOUS BULGE IN THE BRITCHES A "HE"! HOW DARE THEY!!! THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT GENDER THAT PERSON IDENTIFIES AS", SAY SOME.

PAUSE..."OH, WAIT, THAT'S WINNIFRED AFTER A SEX CHANGE OPERATION, SO, UMMM, YEAH, 'FRED' IS A 'HE' NOW! DAMNED GOOD THING YOU ADDRESSED FRED PROPERLY!"

AND THEN I AND OTHERS CRY DOUBLE STANDARD, HYPOCRISY, LUDICROUS DEMANDS FOR 'SPECIAL RIGHTS" AND "SPECIAL TREATMENT" FOR JUST THEIR "SPECIAL GROUP", OR FOR JUST THEMSELVES. 

HOW DID WE COME TO THIS POINT THAT WE'RE BEING RULED AND BULLIED, JUDGED AND CONDEMNED BY A SMALL BUNCH OF WHINERS WHO THINK ALL THE WORLD MUST DO AND SAY AND BE WHATEVER IT IS TODAY THAT MAKES THESE SELF-SPOILED CHILDREN, THESE HISSING, CRYING, WILD-EYED, SPITTING, DYSFUNCTIONAL FEW 'COMFORTABLE' OR HAPPY?

WHAT'S TO BE DONE ABOUT WHAT MAKES THE REST OF US UNCOMFORTABLE OR UNHAPPY?

DIFFERENT SET OF RULES FOR SOME? SPECIAL RIGHTS FOR SOME?

SCREW THAT!
WE'RE ALL EQUAL IN AMERICA! 

I'M VERY UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND WHINERS, SCREAMERS, THOSE WHO HAVE EMOTIONAL 'MELTDOWNS' JUST BECAUSE THINGS DON'T GO THEIR WAY, OR BECAUSE THEY :"FEEL" INSULTED, "FEEL" MALIGNED, "FEEL" ANXIOUS, "FEEL" DISTRESSED, OR EVEN IF THEY DON'T "FEEL" THEY'RE TOTALLY ACCEPTED BY ALL.

I'M UNCOMFORTABLE WHEN OTHERS TRY TO FORCE ME TO CALL MAKING AN "OK" SIGN WITH MY FINGERS A "HATE SYMBOL".
THE HELL IT IS AND THE HELL I WILL!

IT MEANS 'OK', NOT "WP".
IT MEANS WHAT IT ALWAYS HAS.

NO SMALL GROUP LIVING ON 'FANTASY ISLAND' WHO REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND DEAL WITH REALITY HAVE THE RIGHT TO REDEFINE EVERY WORD, EVERY ACTION, EVERY IMAGE FOR ALL OF US.  

MANY (MOST?) OF US ARE ALSO 'UNCOMFORTABLE' WHEN TRUTH IS DAMNED AS HATE, RACISM, BIGOTRY, ETC.

BOTH I AND MY CHILDREN, WHO ARE ALL IN THEIR FORTIES NOW, GREW UP AND LIVED PEACEABLY IN TIMES WHEN SAYING AN OBESE PERSON WAS 'FAT' WAS NOT SEEN AS HATE, WHEN SAYING SOMEONE WAS BLACK, WHITE, MALE, FEMALE DID NOT INCITE RIOTS OR LAWSUITS AND MEDIA MELTDOWNS. WE MERELY STATED FACTS.

 ALL OF US WERE PERFECTLY OKAY WITH ANYBODY SO INCLINED TO STAND ATOP A LITERAL 'SOAPBOX' ON ANY STREET AND STATE THEIR VIEWS PUBLICLY (WE SIMPLY WALKED BY THEM AND KEPT WALKING), WHEN SOMEONE SAYING "GOD BLESS YOU" WHEN ONE SNEEZED WAS APPRECIATED AND FOLLOWED BY A "THANK YOU", WHEN STATUES WEREN'T PULLED DOWN ANYWHERE SO THAT WE WEREN'T REMINDED THAT WE HAD A CIVIL WAR AND THE CONFEDERATES ALL HAPPENED TO BE DEMOCRATS, AND AMERICAN FLAGS, THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND THE NATIONAL ANTHEM WERE RESPECTED BY ALL.

WE DIDN'T ATTACK ONE ANOTHER FOR WEARING ANY HAT.
WE HAD 'BOY SCOUTS' AND 'GIRL SCOUTS' AND NOBODY LOST THEIR MINDS WHEN THOSE WORDS WERE SPOKEN.

WE ALL HAD OUR LIKES AND DISLIKES AND WE ALL KNEW WHO LIKED WHAT BECAUSE NONE OF US FELT 'TERRORIZED' WHEN SOMEONE SAID THEY DIDN'T LIKE US. WE SHRUGGED AND WENT ON.

WE MAY HAVE FELT BADLY FR ANYONE WHOM OTHERS CALLED 'UGLY' OR 'GROSS', BUT WE DIDN'T SEE IT AS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, SOMETIMES WE CALLED THE EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL KIDS 'UGLY' AS A METHOD OF WHAT WAS KNOWN AS 'TEASING'.
NOBODY OPENED A VEIN AND SAT IN A HOT BATH BECAUSE PEOPLE CALLED THEM "NAMES".
NOBODY NEEDED PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING FOR BEING CALLED "FOUR-EYES" (A TERM REFERRING TO THOSE WHO WORE GLASSES).

WE DIDN'T DRIVE NAILS INTO WOODEN CLUBS AND GO LAY IN WAIT FOR MEMBERS OF THE "OTHER PARTY" OR "OTHER TEAM" SO WE COULD BEAT THEM SENSELESS.
WE SIMPLY VOTED OUR CHOICE AND EXPECTED EVERYONE TO DO THE SAME, ROOTED FOR THE HOME TEAM EVERY GAME AND ACCEPTED A LOSS AS WE ACCEPTED A WIN.
TOMORROW WAS ANOTHER DAY.
WIN A FEW, LOSE A FEW.

WE DIDN'T SET ASIDE "SAFE ZONES" WHERE THE FRAGILE WERE PROTECTED FROM HEARING/SEEING/EXPERIENCING DISTASTEFUL THINGS, NOR RAISE HELL WHEN OTHERS EXPRESSED THEIR OPINIONS AND SAID SOMETHING WE DIDN'T LIKE.

WE KNEW THAT WE ALL HAD A RIGHT TO OUR OWN OPINIONS AND THE RIGHT TO VOICE THEM ANYWHERE WE HAPPENED TO BE.

IF ONLY EVERYONE WOULD LOOK UP FROM THOSE "HURT FEELINGS" AND THOSE MELTDOWN MOMENTS AND BEHOLD THE CENTER OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM...IT'S CALLED THE SUN, AND IT'S NOT YOU, AND IT'S NOT ME. 
IT'S NOT YOU OR YOUR LITTLE GROUP, PARTY, WHATEVER, THAT THE UNIVERSE, GALAXY, SOLAR SYSTEM OR THE EARTH REVOLVES AROUND.

NONE OF US COUNT FOR MORE THAN OTHERS.
WE'RE ALL MERE SPECKS ON A TINY PLANET, ALL OF US, INCLUDING THOSE WHO SEE THEMSELVES AS SOMEHOW MORE SPECIAL AND DESERVING THAN OTHERS.

IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS, "FEELINGS" COUNT FOR SO LITTLE THAT THERE IS NO MEASURING DEVICE TO SHOW YOU HOW LITTLE THEY COUNT.

WHAT YOU LIKE OR DON'T LIKE, WHAT YOU DO OR DON'T DO, SAY OR DON'T SAY IS ALL UP TO YOU, AS WELL AS HOW YOU CHOOSE TO REACT TO WHAT ALL THE REST OF US, ALL OF US WHO ARE EQUAL IN EVERY WAY TO YOU, DO, SAY, CHOOSE.

HOW YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE IS COMPLETELY UP TO YOU, INDIVIDUALLY, WITHIN YOUR OWN PRIVATE TINY THREE-TIERED 'WORLD' OF EGO/SUPER-EGO/ID (IF WE CARE TO ADHERE TO FREUD'S 'THEORY').

YOU DON'T NEED AN 'ENEMY' TO 'MAKE' YOU ANGRY, YOU'VE BEEN FINDING WAYS TO CREATE ANGER FROM WITHIN SINCE YOU HAD YOUR FIRST 'TEMPER TANTRUM' AS A CHILD.

YOU DON'T NEED OTHERS TO 'MAKE' YOU TO DO THUS AND SO, YOU WERE DOING WHAT YOU CHOSE TO DO AS A WEE TOT SNEAKING INTO THE KITCHEN FOR A 'FORBIDDEN' COOKIE, THEN LYING ABOUT IT WHEN YOU GOT CAUGHT.

YOU DON'T NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO BLAME FOR YOUR FEARS. YOU WERE FEARFUL BEFORE YOU COULD WALK.

FACE IT, THERE ARE NO REAL SCAPEGOATS, NO ONE TO BLAME OR CURSE BUT THE IMAGE IN THE MIRROR.

WHETHER INSIDE YOUR HOME BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, OR AT WORK, OR IN PUBLIC PLACES, THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION GRANTS YOU AND EVERY OTHER CITIZEN OF AMERICA, CERTAIN RIGHTS, AND THOSE RIGHTS APPLY TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US EQUALLY.

NO ONE IS SPECIAL UNDER THE BILL OF RIGHTS, CITIZENS OF AMERICA.

NO ONE IS TRULY 'ABOVE THE LAW', EITHER.


ACCEPT IT...WE ARE ALL EQUAL UNDER THAT OLD DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (INDEPENDENCE, NOT DEPENDENCE) THAT SIMPLY WRITTEN, EASY TO READ CONSTITUTION, ALL EQUALLY RESPONSIBLE TO OBEY THE LAWS OF OUR NATION, STATE, COUNTY, CITY, WORKPLACE AND NO ONE SHOULD SEE ANY REASON WHY ONE PERSON, OR ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE, SHOULD HAVE "SPECIAL RIGHTS", OR BE EXEMPT FROM ANY LAW JUST TO MAKE THEM "FEEL BETTER", TO "FEEL COMFORTABLE", TO "FEEL ACCEPTED".

EACH OF US DETERMINES OUR WORTH, AND NO ONE ELSE CAN DECIDE WHAT WE DETERMINE, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF 'US' CAN "MAKE" US "FEEL BAD" UNLESS WE GIVE THEM PERMISSION TO.

NO ONE CAN "MAKE" US ANGRY, SAD, HAPPY OR DEPRESSED...UNLESS WE ALLOW THEM TO.

HUMANS HAVE INCREDIBLE MINDS, INDESTRUCTIBLE WILLS, FREE CHOICE, SO, TO WHINE, SCREAM, RANT, RAVE WHEN OTHERS DON'T SHARE OUR VALUES, OUR BELIEFS, OUR STANDARDS, OUR CONCEPT OF SELF, OUR WISHES, OUR DESIRES, OUR ANYTHING IS BOTH ILLOGICAL AND A STEP BELOW CHILDISHNESS.

THE WORLD THRIVES ON DIVERSITY.

MOST LIKELY, NO ONE ELSE WOULD REALLY WANT TO BE YOU. EACH OF US WANTS TO BE WHO WE ARE. WE AREN'T YOU AND YOU'RE NOT US.
LET US ALL BE GLAD. 

BUT, SHOULD THE DAY ARRIVE WHEN WE DON'T LIKE WHO WE ARE, WE CAN CERTAINLY MAKE OUR OWN CHANGES, AS NO ONE ELSE CAN DO THAT FOR US, EITHER.

MY MOST BELOVED UNCLE OFTEN SAID OF THE UNHAPPY AND THE WHINERS, "THEY MUST LIKE THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE OR ELSE THEY'D DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MAKE THINGS BETTER."

HUMANS ARE NOT BORN TO HERDS OR FLOCKS, BUT ENTER LIFE QUITE ALONE AND QUITE UNIQUE.
EVEN IDENTICAL TWINS ARE NOT ENTIRELY IDENTICAL.
WE DON'T HAVE TO "FOLLOW THE LEADER".
WE CAN LEAD OURSELVES.

AS WE'VE SEEN THROUGHOUT HISTORY, IF WE FIND OURSELVES ON SOME DESERTED ISLAND, ISOLATED COMPLETELY FROM OTHER HUMANS, WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO 'HANDLE' THAT AND SURVIVE, IF WE CHOOSE TO.
IF WE LIVE IN SUCH HEAVILY POPULATED AREAS THAT WE ARE PACKED IN LIKE SARDINES IN A CAN, WE ARE ABLE TO HANDLE THAT AS WELL...IF WE CHOOSE TO, THAT IS.

WE CAN ALWAYS SEEK A WAY OFF THE DESERTED ISLAND, OR A WAY OUT OF A CROWDED CITY...IF WE CHOOSE TO.
CERTAINLY WE CAN ALSO CHOOSE TO JUST GIVE UP, SIT DOWN, DO NOTHING.
EITHER WAY, IT'S OUR CHOICE.

IN EVERY GAME, THERE IS A WINNER AND THE REST ARE LOSERS.
IN EVERY RACE THERE IS BUT ONE 'FIRST PLACE'.

IN LIFE, ALL DAY, EVERY DAY, IT'S THE SAME.

SOMETIMES WE WIN, SOMETIMES WE LOSE.
WE MAY REVEL IN OUR WINS, BUT WE LEARN FROM OUR LOSSES.
LOSING MAY PROMPT US TO HONE OUR SKILLS, TO REASSESS OUR TACTICS, TO BECOME BETTER AT 'THE GAME', IF A GAME IS WHAT WE WANT TO INVLVE OURSELVES IN.

THERE IS NO TRUE SHAME IN LOSING UNLESS WE OURSELVES ASSIGN SHAME TO IT.
I'VE PERSONALLY NEVER SEEN THE POINT NOR THE 'FUN' IN GAMES OF CHANCE, A ROLL OF DICE, SAY, OR THE FLIP OF A COIN, SPINNING A ROULETTE WHEEL, ETC.
NO SKILL INVOLVED, ALL ODDS, AND WE DON'T CONTROL THE ODDS.
I'VE WATCHED OTHERS LOSE FORTUNES ON SUCH GAMES AND THEN DEEPLY REGRET EVER PLAYING.
TOO LATE.
THEY CHOSE TO PLAY, BUT HAD NO CHOICE AS TO WHO WOULD WIN.

POLITICS IS A GAME OF CHANCE, OF ODDS, AND THE BETS ARE MADE ON EACH PARTY'S ABILITY TO WIN.
AGAIN, THE WIN DEPENDS ON ODDS.

OF "X NUMBER" OF QUALIFIED, REGISTERED VOTERS, HOW MANY MIGHT ACTUALLY BOTHER TO CAST A VOTE?

HOW MANY WHO ARE 'REGISTERED' AS A MEMBER OF ONE PARTY WILL DECIDE TO VOTE FOR THAT PARTY'S CANDIDATE?

HOW LIKELY ARE VOTING MACHINES TO MARK THE BALLOTS AS VOTERS INTENDED?
WHAT ARE THEIR FAIL RATES?

HOW LIKELY ARE ELECTION OFFICIALS TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST?

ISN'T IT POSSIBLE THAT THE BEST LIAR WILL WIN, THE ONE WHO CAN SWAY THE MOST PEOPLE TO CAST A VOTE FOR HIM/HER, PERHAPS EVEN THOUGH THAT CANDIDATE HAS 'RUN' BEFORE AND HAS BEEN SHOWN TO HAVE MADE EMPTY CAMPAIGN PROMISES, WHO HAS BEEN 'BUSTED' AS A LIAR PREVIOUSLY?

WILL ENOUGH PARTY LOYALISTS GO AHEAD AND VOTE FOR THE SAME LIARS AGAIN JUST TO HAND THE PARTY ANOTHER WIN AND KEEP "THE OTHER SIDE" FROM WINNING?

HOW MANY WILL VOTE BASED ON THE OLD SAW OF "WELL, I VOTED FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS'?

HOW FEW WILL SUDDENLY DECIDE TO JUST VOTE THIS TIME FOR THE BEST QUALIFIED, THE ONE WHO SEEMS MOST CAPABLE, EVEN IF THAT ONE IS NOT RUNNING AS A CANDIDATE FOR EITHER OF THE TWO MAJOR PARTIES?

HOW MANY MIGHT SEE NONE ON THE BALLOT WHOM THEY DEEM QUALIFIED, HONEST, CAPABLE, TRUSTWORTHY AND WRITE-IN A NAME TO SEND THE MESSAGE, "NONE OF THE ABOVE"?

WILL SOME NEW CANDIDATE APPEAR WHO IS A BETTER LIAR, WHO LOOKS MORE PROMISING THAN THE OLD LIARS?

WILL A NATURAL DISASTER OR SOME VIRAL EPIDEMIC PREVENT ENOUGH VOTERS FROM VOTING TO SWING THE ELECTION FOR THE "WORST OF TWO EVILS"?

TOO MANY CRAZY ODDS, ISN'T IT?

BUT THAT'S JUST HOW THE COOKIE CRUMBLES, IT'S ALL A GAME OF CHANCE AND, AS ANYONE CAN SEE, BOTH MAJOR PARTIES TAKE TURNS RUINING AMERICA.

IF YOUR PARTY DIDN'T WIN THIS TIME, NO NEED FOR THREATS OF SUICIDE OR THREATS TO LEAVE AMERICA, OR THREATS AGAINST THE WINNER OR HIS PARTY. 

SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP, THAT'S JUST LIFE! 

POLITICS AND THE STOCK MARKET CAN GO EITHER WAY.

WHEN WE 'LOSE' IN EITHER, WE HAVE NO JUST CAUSE TO SCREAM AND CRY AND WRING OUR HANDS AND PRETEND WE WERE "CHEATED OUT OF THE WIN". 

TOO MANY VARIABLES, TOO MANY STRANGE ODDS, TOO MUCH LEFT TO CHANCE TO GET BENT OUT OF SHAPE WHEN OUR CHOSEN PARTY LOSES.

IT'S A BIT LIKE THE WEATHER...IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, HANG ON FOR AWHILE AND IT WILL CHANGE, GUARANTEED.

LIFE TENDS TO BE A BIT LIKE THE WEATHER AS WELL.

SOME DAYS GO EXACTLY AS WE'D LIKE FOR THEM TO.
SOME DAYS NOTHING SEEMS TO GO AS WE'D HOPED.

SOMETIMES WE HAVE BAD WEATHER FOR WEEKS, MONTHS, BUT THEN, ONE DAY, IT ALL CHANGES.

LIFE, TOO, CAN SEEM GLOOMY ONE MOMENT AND ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL THE NEXT.

MUST WE ALWAYS WIN TO BE HAPPY?
MUST EVERY DAY BE GRAND?
NO.
SOMETIMES IT'S SIMPLY PLEASURABLE TO PLAY THE GAME, RUN THE RACE, BE INVOLVED, LIVE AND LEARN.

WE WIN OR LOSE, HAVE GOOD DAYS AND BAD, ALL IN AN INSTANT.

AT NO TIME SHOULD WE ALLOW THOSE INSTANTS TO BECOME 'FOREVER', BUT MUST ALLOW THEM TO PASS INTO HISTORY AND NOT DRAG US WITH THEM.

WE CAN'T CHAIN OURSELVES TO LOSS AND GRIEVE 'FOREVER'.
WE DON'T GET 'FOREVER', AS ALL OUR FRAGILE HUMAN LIVES WILL END ONE DAY OR ANOTHER AND WE DON'T HAVE A CLUE HOW LONG WE HAVE HERE.

TO WASTE EVEN ONE DAY CAUSING OURSELVES GRIEF, MAKING OURSELVES UNHAPPY, CLINGING TO YESTERDAY LIKE A DROWNING MAN MIGHT CLING TO A STRAW, IS INHERENTLY POINTLESS.

TO SPEND OUR FINITE TIME HERE IN REGRET OR ANGER OR A BITTER DESIRE FOR RETRIBUTION, OR TO PERMIT ANYTHING TO ROB US OF OUR DESIRE, OUR VERY REAL NEED TO BE SANE, LOGICAL, REALISTIC, AND CONTENT TO TAKE OUR JOY AND PEACE WHERE WE CAN FIND IT, IS RATHER LIKE CURSING THE DARKNESS BECAUSE IT IS NOT THE LIGHT.

OUR REAL WORLD HAS BOTH LIGHT AND DARKNESS.

AND, IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, NEITHER THE SUN NOR THE MON FIGHT EACH OTHER FOR THE SKY.

NO ZEBRA DAMNS A GIRAFFE FOR BEING TALLER, NO TREE RIDICULES THE GRASS BENEATH IT FOR BEING GRASS, NO OCEAN OR MOUNTAIN  POUNDS ITS CHEST AND SHOUTS, "I'M THE BEST!"

WATER SPRINGS UP IN THE HIGH GROUND, FLOWS OVER ROUGH ROCKS, FALLS DOWN MOUNTAINSIDES, FINDS THE LOWLAND AND FLOWS INTO THE SEA, ALL WITHOUT CURSINGS, HATRED, ANGER, OR TEARS.

THINGS HAPPEN. THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS.

IF WE SLIP ON THE GRASS AND FALL INTO MUD, IT DOES NO GOOD TO DAMN THE GRASS OR THE MUD.
WE GET UP, WASH OURSELVES AND GO ON.
WE CANNOT ALL BE 'STARS', NOR CAN ALL BE CONSIDERED EXQUISITELY BEAUTIFUL, OR GENIUSES, OR EVEN LIKABLE BY ALL.

THAT'S PERFECTLY FINE.

WE ARE, HOWEVER, ALL QUITE UNIQUE, RARE, ONE-OF-A-KIND INDIVIDUALS, UNDUPLICATED ANYWHERE.

WE ALL HAVE GREAT WORTH IN SOME FORM, OR IN MANY FORMS.

WE EACH HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS.
WE EACH HAVE THE SAME HOURS IN EVERY DAY TO ADJUST OUR SAILS AND GO ON WITH THIS MAGNIFICENT VOYAGE CALLED LIFE.
.
WE ALL HAVE THE SAME FREE WILL TO CHOOSE HOW WE LIVE OUT OUR LIVES WHILE WE DRAW BREATH.

HOW DARE WE DENY ANY OTHER BEING WHAT WE OURSELVES SO CRAVE?

WE MAY NOT AGREE ON ANYTHING.
WE DON'T HAVE TO.

IT'S OKAY TO BE WHO WE ARE, WHOM WE HAVE DECIDED WE WILL BE (AS LONG AS WE'RE CONTENT WITH THAT), AS LONG AS WE AREN'T BREAKING LAWS OR DOING TO OTHER BEINGS WHAT WE CONDEMN BEING DONE TO US AND AS LONG AS WE DON'T DEMAND MORE FOR OURSELVES THAN WE DEMAND FOR OUR FELLOW TRAVELERS ON THIS TINY BLUE MARBLE OF A SPACESHIP.

DECIDE TO STOP ALLOWING THINGS TO "GET TO YOU".

NO ONE HAS TO LIKE YOU OR AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT ANYTHING.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIKE ANYONE OR AGREE WITH THEM ABOUT ANYTHING.
FACT IS, WE ALL HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS.

BE MINDFUL OF DAMNING OTHERS FOR WHAT YOU YOURSELF ARE DOING.

EXAMINE SELF FIRST, EVERY NEW DAY.
"FIX" SELF BEFORE YOU PACK UP YOUR TOOLS TO GO FIX OTHERS.
UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR VALUES AND BELIEFS MAY BE YOURS ALONE, AND THAT OTHERS MAY HOLD BELIEFS THAT ARE THEIRS ALONE.

WE HAVE NO RIGHT NOR REASON TO SIT AS JUDGE AND JURY FOR OTHERS.

NONE OF US ARE SO PERFECT THAT WE SHOULD BE CLONED AND THE REST OF THE WORLD ERADICATED AND REPLACED WITH COPIES OF "ME".

IN THIS WORLD, IN THIS REALITY, THOSE WHO FAVOR "ME, ME, ME" OVER "ALL OF US, THE SAME" WILL ONLY KNOW SORROW AND FEAR.

SURE, YOU'RE AS GOOD AS 'THE NEXT GUY', BUT THE NEXT GUY IS ALSO AS GOOD AS YOU. 

WHETHER STRAIGHT OR GAY, WHITE OR BLACK, MALE, FEMALE, OR NO GENDER, RICH OR POOR, EXQUISITELY BEAUTIFUL OR HORRIBLY DISFIGURED, HEALTHY OR TERMINALLY ILL, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN, CHRISTIAN OR ATHEIST, YOUNG OR OLD, WE ALL HAVE THE EXACT SAME RIGHTS, NO EXCEPTIONS, NO "FAVORED ONES", NO "SPECIAL RIGHTS", NO ONE ABOVE THE LAW.

WE MUST STOP BLAMING OTHERS FOR OUR UNDOING, OUR PERSONAL DISCOMFORTS AND START BLAMING THE ONE WE SEE IN THE MIRROR, IF THAT ONE DEMANDS SPECIAL TREATMENT OR DEMANDS THAT ALL CONFORM TO JUST ONE STANDARD OF LIVING.

WE CERTAINLY ARE ALL QUITE SPECIAL, BUT NOT SPECIAL ENOUGH TO BE BOWED AND SCRAPED TO BY OTHERS.

WHEN WE ALL RECOGNIZE THAT ALL OF US HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS, MAYBE THE WHINING AND FEAR AND ANGER CAN CEASE?

IF YOU DON'T LIKE TODAY, HANG TOUGH.
THINGS CAN AND HAVE CHANGED IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.

IF YOU'RE CONTENT WITH WHOM YOU'VE CHOSEN AND DETERMINED TO BE, GOOD FOR YOU!
WALK RIGHT ON DOWN THAT PATH AND DON'T LOOK BACK AT WHERE THE REST OF US ARE HEADED. 

IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS WHAT OTHERS DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES, IT'S NOT YOUR CHOICE TO MAKE, IT'S THEIRS.

JUST GO YOUR WAY IN PEACE. 

IT'S THE RIGHT OF EVERYONE ELSE TO DO THE SAME.







//WW

LIES AND FAILURES INCREASE AT FUKUSHIMA, ENDANGERING ALL OF US

Even after decontamination, radiation dose rates were measured higher than 2uSv/h on decontaminated fields, the equivalent of an annual dose higher than 10mSv/year or 10 times the maximum allowed dose to the general public. In the untouched and heavily contaminated forests, radiation dose rates are typically in the range of 1-3uSv/h – high levels that will remain for many years to come.
--Photograph: Sutton-Hibbert 


“It’s a real shame that the authorities hide the truth from the whole world, from the UN. We need to admit that actually many people are dying. We are not allowed to say that, but TEPCO employees also are dying. But they keep mum about it.”        
(Source: Katsutaka Idogawa, former mayor of Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture in "Fukushima Disaster: Tokyo Hides Truth as Children Die, Become Ill from Radiation" – Ex-Mayor, RT News, April 21, 2014)

“The ashes of half a dozen unidentified laborers ended up at a Buddhist temple in a town just north of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. Some of the dead men had no papers; others left no emergency contacts. Their names could not be confirmed and no family members had been tracked down to claim their remains. They were simply labeled “decontamination troops” — unknown soldiers in Japan’s massive cleanup campaign to make Fukushima livable again five years after radiation poisoned the fertile countryside.”       
(Source: Mari Yamaguchi, Fukushima ‘Decontamination Troops’ Often Exploited, Shunned, AP & ABC News, Minamisona, Japan, March 10, 2016)


For inexplicable reasons (actually explicable but a long story), nuclear accidents are given 'Get Out Jail Free' cards by the world’s press and associated governmental orgs and NGOs.

Yet, over time, the truth comes out, and when it does it’s dreadfully atrocious.
Of course, it is important to take note of how “wordsmiths” describe the death numbers, i.e., “died as an immediate result of Chernobyl (Fukushima, Three Mile, Hanford, etc) ” can only include someone standing at the site when it happened, leaving out all cases of radiation exposure that kills and cripples over subsequent days, months, and years.

Belarus had 99,693 cleanup workers in 1986. Thousands have since died from their work there.
By 2008 in Belarus alone 40,049 liquidators or cleanup workers of Chernobyl were registered with cancer, and ONLY 5% of cleanup survivors are "healthy", according to the Russian Academy of Sciences AND Ukranian authorities. 

WHY THE HELL CAN'T JAPAN BE EVEN HALF THAT HONEST?

AS THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE SAID IN 2011,    

"So far, Japan’s government has exhibited lack of leadership and largely failed to manage the crisis effectively. 

It is a matter of record that in 2002 TEPCO admitted to falsifying the results of safety tests on reactor one’s containment vessel.

In previous decades, the company had doctored reactor shroud safety records.

In 2003, TEPCO prohibited inspectors from visiting reactors and later acknowledged that it systematically covered-up inspection data that showed cracks in reactors.

Following a relatively small earthquake in 2007, a fire ensued at another nuclear plant, and TEPCO masked the fact that hundreds of gallons of radioactive water leaked out.

Making matters worse, TEPCO’s response to the ongoing nuclear crisis has been seriously flawed.

Regulatory Failure: The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis is exposing the extent to which Japan’s powerful nuclear industry has been subject to lax oversight, or worse. 

Lax oversight of existing regulations is also to blame.

In 2004, five workers were killed at a nuclear plant when super-heated steam punctured a pipe. It was later discovered that the pipe had not been inspected in 28 years.

In 2007, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) forced companies to reveal unreported safety breaches.

Ultimately, seven out of 12 public utilities admitted to falsifying records."

NOTHING HAS CHANGED IN ALMOST 9 LONG YEARS, EXCEPT THINGS HAVE GOTTEN MUCH WORSE.


From the South Korean News Agency 'Arirang News', Updated: 2019-10-18:
Japanese media report that traces of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant have been found in various places following the season's strongest typhoon, Hagibis.

The Tokyo Shimbun reported Friday that ten bags that had contained radioactive waste were found empty along the Furumichi River, indicating that the contents had spilled out.
Those are understood to be some of the bags that the nearby city of Tamura said earlier this week were swept away by the storm's heavy rain.

Meanwhile, two other villages in Fukushima Prefecture, Kawauchi and Nihonmatsu, say they found a total of 33 bags downstream and two of them were empty.

The Japanese government had collected about 30 million tons of radioactive debris after the nuclear disaster in March 2011.

The Tokyo Shimbun also pointed out that the authorities had not managed the nuclear waste facilities properly.

According to local media, four of the temporary storage units in Gunma and Fukushima Prefectures have been made inaccessible because of landslides and floods, so workers cannot even inspect them.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened.
In 2015, around 240 bags of contaminated waste from the Fukushima plant went missing in similar circumstances when the region was hit by torrential rain.   

WHY DON'T THEY EVER LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES?
THOSE WHO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES CONTINUOUSLY CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

THEY EVEN ALLOWED ENTIRE BULLET TRAINS TO REMAIN IN A KNOWN FLOOD-PRONE AREA AND BE LOST, WHEN THEY COULD HAVE BEEN MOVED TO HIGHER GROUND.

Reported from Tokyo, Oct. 15, 2019: 

"East Japan Railway Co. said its Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train services connecting Tokyo and Kanazawa were reduced because of flooding of six trains at its railyard in Nagano.

The trains sat in a pool of muddy water that was up to their windows.

Questions have been raised about the site of the rail yard, which sits in an area noted on a prefectural hazard map as a flood area.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the operator's preparedness should be investigated later but the priority is to get the trains out of the water. Some water has been pumped out, but more than half of the rail yard is still underwater. 

In Fukushima, 11 bags containing radioactive soil and debris removed as part of decontamination efforts from the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were washed from two outdoor temporary storage sites and found downstream, the Environment Ministry said.

A massive number of such bags are still being kept at 760 similar sites across Fukushima. Their transfer to a longer-term storage facility near the plant is expected to be completed by March 2022.

Some 34,000 homes were without power and 110,000 lacked running water.
More than 30,000 people were still at shelters as of late Monday, according to the Cabinet Office's latest tally.

Kyodo News agency, citing its own tally, put the death toll at 69."


SCORCHING HEAT AND RADIATION FOR THE OLYMPICS
OCTOBER 18, 2019

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 24th to August 9th next year.
At that time of the year, highs in the Japanese capital can hit a sweltering 40 degrees Celsius.

During the same period this year, around 50 people died due to the intense heat and thousands were hospitalized.

In order to protect athletes from the scorching heat, the International Olympic Committee has announced plans to shift the location of the marathon and the walking races to Sapporo, Hokkaido, a cooler northern island in Japan. 

Some 800 kilometers north of Tokyo, the region is, on average, five degrees Celsius cooler than the capital.

The IOC's sudden announcement is causing headaches for the 2020 organizers as they had already scheduled tours taking in spots along the original marathon course and had been preparing to promote it worldwide.

"The plan to move those events from Tokyo to Sapporo was a bit of surprise. To be honest, we only received this news several days ago."

There are also growing concerns about radiation.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe previously insisted the crippled Fukushima power plant was nothing to worry about when Tokyo was bidding for the Games in 2013.

However, with Typhoon Hagibis striking Fukushima, Japan's poor management of the contaminated waste was laid bare.

Despite forecasts predicting torrential downpours, storage was not sufficient to stop an unknown number of bags containing contaminated waste from floating away and disappearing.

Local officials insist the incident will not affect the environment, but half of the bags that were retrieved were found to be empty.


THE BIGGEST LIE?

Updated: FEB. 10, 2017

Based on analysis of the images from robot-mounted cameras, the radiation reading inside the No. 2 reaction at the No. 1 nuclear plant was 650 sieverts an hour.

[NOTE: TEPCO LATER ADMITTED THAT THE SHIELDING WAS CLOSED ON THE CAMERA AND THAT THIS READING WAS "LIKELY" HIGHER. THE ROBOT WAS SUPPOSEDLY DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND RADIATION LEVELS UP TO 1000 SIEVERTS AN HOUR. RADIATION HAD TO HAVE EXCEEDED THAT AS THE ROBOT FAILED IN UNDER 2 HOURS.] 

During a similar probe late last month (January, 2017), Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) estimated the radiation in the primary containment vessel to be 530 sieverts an hour.

The robot entered the reactor on Thursday for the first time since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami …to inspect and clean a passage before further examinations.

Despite the off-the-chart figures, which can kill a person almost instantly, TEPCO officials insist radiation is not leaking outside of the utility." 

Getting basic data about where the nuclear fuel is located, however, is critical to beginning the 40-year decommissioning process in earnest. “Confirming the conditions inside the reactor is a first step toward decommissioning,” Hiroshige Seko Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a news conference. 

[WHAT HE'S SAYING IS THAT WE CAN ALL EXPECT AT LEAST ANOTHER 40 YEARS OF RADIATION LEAKS, ERRORS, WITHHELD FACTS, FAILURES, EXCUSES AND LIES.] 

In an earlier article in The Guardian, Justin McCurry reported that three previous attempts to place a robot inside reactor No 2 failed when radiation fried the gadgets.

The previous high in the reactor was 73 sieverts an hour, recorded in 2012, reported The Japan Times.

Japan Times also stated that "The actual condition of the melted fuel remains unknown because the radiation is too high to check it. 

"Similar remote investigations are being planned for Daiichi Units 1 and 3.
We should not be surprised if even higher radiation levels are found there, but only actual measurements will tell."

One sievert—the international measurement of radiation exposure—is enough to cause radiation sickness, infertility and cataracts. 

[NOTE: STUDIES THAT COVER DECADES IN JAPAN HAVE SHOWN A STEEP DECLINE IN BIRTH RATE AND DECREASED FERTILITY. "The Japan Ageing Research Centre in Tokyo predicted that the nation's total fertility rate will fall to 1.16 in 2020."     

COULD SO MANY NUCLEAR REACTORS, SO MUCH LEAKED RADIATION FROM VENTING, 'RECYCLED' COOLING WATER AND UNREVEALED LEAKS HAVE CAUSED THIS CRISIS? 
IS IT A 'GLITCH' IN THEIR DNA HANDED DOWN FROM HIROSHIMA/NAGASAKI? 
WE MAY NEVER KNOW.] 

Exposure to 10 sieverts will lead to a person’s death within weeks, McCurry reported."


THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THAT NEITHER TEPCO NOR THE ABE GOVERNMENT IS ALLOWING FOREIGN RESEARCHERS OR REPORTERS ONSITE WITHOUT TEPCO AT THEIR SIDES. 
HOW WILL WE EVER KNOW THE TRUTH?

THAT LEVELS ROSE FROM A LETHAL 73 SIEVERTS TO AT LEAST 650 SIEVERTS DIDN'T SEEM TO PHASE JAPANESE OFFICIALS AT ALL. THEY MADE LIGHT OF IT.

THEY ALSO BADGERED INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCIES TO EDIT THESE NEW FINDINGS TO SAY THAT IT DOES NOT 'NECESSARILY' MEAN RADIATION IS STEADILY INCREASING AT THE REACTOR SITES.

I CALL A LOUD "B-S" ON THAT!
OF COURSE THEY'RE CONSTANTLY RISING.

THE DAMNABLE CORIUM ISN'T GOING TO STOP EMITTING RADIATION JUST BECAUSE ABE AND TEPCO WISH IT WOULD!

EVERYTHING NEAR THOSE MELTED PILES OF FUEL IS DAILY ABSORBING AND SPREADING RADIATION.

ALL OFFICIALS THERE NEED A HEFTY DOSE OF HARSH REALITY...AND INTERVENTION BY AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM THAT CAN DO SOMETHING TO FIND AND CONTAIN WHAT IS NOW OUT OF CONTAINMENT.

ABE'S SILENT NUCLEAR WAR NEEDS TO BE ENDED BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. 

CBS NEWS 
NOV. 25, 2018   

Three reactors melted down, creating up to 3,000 tons of deadly radioactive fuel and debris that lays in the plant’s ruins.

Daiichi can’t be encased in concrete, like Chernobyl, says Barrett, because the potential for another earthquake or tsunami that could compromise the structure is too high.

Humans can’t get near the material; it will remain deadly for thousands of years.
Authorities hope specially designed robots will find, remove and secure the toxic material in special containment vessels.

But it could take 50 years and cost an estimated $200 billion. 

Lesley Stahl: Why not just bury this place? Why not do what they did at Chernobyl? Just cover it up, bury it, and just leave it here all-- you know, enclosed?

Lake Barrett: Number one this is right next to the sea. We're 100 yards from the ocean. We have typhoons here in Japan. This is also a high earthquake zone. And there's gonna be future earthquakes. So these are unknowns that the Japanese and no one wants to deal with.

Lesley Stahl: How many tons of radioactive waste was developed here?

Lake Barrett: Probably 500 to 1,000 tons in each building. 

Lesley Stahl: So how long will it be lethal?

Lake Barrett: It will be lethal for thousands of years.

Lesley Stahl: What we're talking about really is three meltdowns?

Lake Barrett: Yes. It was truly Hell on Earth. 

At the plant they're capturing contaminated groundwater, about 150 tons a day, and storing it in tanks, as far as the eye can see.

Lake Barrett: Water is always the major challenge here. And it's going to remain a major challenge until the entire cores are removed.

One robot, called the Scorpion for its ability to raise its camera-carrying tail, struck debris and became stuck only ten feet into its $100 million mission.

We went with a team of TEPCO workers to unit three, one of the reactors that melted down on that March day, seven years ago, that the Japanese call, simply 3/11.

AS THEY STEP INTO UNIT 3...
Lake Barrett: These are shield plates (on the floor) because there's cesium in the ground.

Lesley Stahl: There's this number I've been seeing, 566.

Lake Barrett: Right. That's telling you the radiation level that we're in. It's fairly high here. That's why we're gonna be here a short time.

Lesley Stahl: How close are you and I, right this minute, to the core?

Lake Barrett: The-- the melted cores are about 70 feet that way.

Lesley Stahl: Seventy from here--

Lake Barrett: Correct, that's right over in here. We don't know quite where other than it fell down into the floor.

Lesley Stahl: So if you sent a worker in right now to find it, how long would they survive?

Lake Barrett: No one is gonna send a worker in there because they'd be overexposed in just a matter of seconds.

Lesley Stahl: This is gonna take you said decades with an "S." How many decades?

Lake Barrett: We don't know for sure. The goal here is 40-- 30-- 40 years. You know, I personally think it may be even 50-- 60, but it's--

Lesley Stahl: Oh, maybe longer.

Lake Barrett: It, well, it may be longer.

AND IT MAY BE NEVER. 


WHARTON UNIVERSITY ASSESSMENT, OCT. 3, 2013: FUKUSHIMA'S ACCIDENT WAS MAN-MADE. 

"Three widely cited investigations of the Fukushima disaster — one by the Japanese government, one by an independent team of experts in Japan and a third by The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace — have now concluded that the nuclear disaster of March 2011 was not, as it first seemed, the inevitable result of events no one could have predicted.

“It was a profoundly man-made disaster that could and should have been foreseen and prevented,” said Kiyoshi Kurokawa, chairman of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission, established by the National Diet of Japan.

In the midst of chaos, leaders should stop looking for control and start looking for answers."


JAPAN'S GOVERNMENT HAS MANAGED TO WHINE, BULLY, PLAY THE VICTIM, LIE  AND COERCE ITS WAY OUT OF TOTAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND SHOWS NO REAL, CONSISTENT CONCERN FOR CLEANING UP ITS HUMAN-CAUSED DISASTER, ITS FAILURE TO SAFEGUARD THE WORLD'S PEOPLE FROM A NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST. 

WHO WILL HAVE THE INTESTINAL FORTITUDE TO FINALLY CALL ABE AND TEPCO TO TASK AND INTERVENE, ON BEHALF OF ALL HUMANITY, TO END THIS NIGHTMARE? 

OBVIOUSLY, THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND ITS "PROTECTION' AGENCIES (NRC, EPA, FDA, ETC) DON'T INTEND TO DO ANYTHING BUT HAND OUT EXCUSES FOR THE CONTINUED POISONING OF EARTH'S ENVIRONMENT. 

I HAVE TO IMAGINE THAT RUSSIA JUST MIGHT HAVE SOME REAL SOLUTIONS, OR THAT EVEN CHINA AND SOUTH KOREA, SO NEAR THAT AREA, CAN FIND BETTER WAYS TO END IT. 

I LOOK INTO THE FACES OF MY GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT-GRANDCHILD AND AM IN DAILY ANGUISH AS TO WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR THEM WHEN THIS UNHEARD-OF LEVEL OF RADIATION CONTINUES FOR DECADES, BIOACCUMULATING IN THE WORLD'S FOOD CHAIN, RAINING DOWN ON US FROM THE ATMOSPHERE, SENT ALOFT OVER AND OVER AGAIN FROM OPEN-AIR BURNING OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE MATERIAL, FROM THOSE MILLIONS OF BAGS OF WASTE, FROM SOIL AND FORESTS AND MOUNTAINS THAT CAN NEVER, EVER BE "DECONTAMINATED", FROM THE CURSED NUCLEAR PLANT ITSELF, ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. 

IT GRIEVES ME TO MY CORE THAT NOTHING MORE IS BEING DONE. 

WHAT IF ALL OF US WITH CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, LOVED ONES SHOUTED TO ABE AND HIS TROUPE, "FIX IT NOW, DAMN YOU! CANCEL THE OLYMPICS, CANCEL EVERYTHING EXCEPT ENDING THIS NOW, OR WE WILL, BYALLTHEGODS, TAKE MATTERS INTO OUR OWN HANDS!" 

TEPCO AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS REFUSE TO LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES, REFUSE TO BE HONEST, REFUSE TO ALLOW OUTSIDE INSPECTIONS OF THE SITE WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT BY JAPANESE OFFICIALS.

THE ENTIRE WORLD SHOULD BOYCOTT, SANCTION, STAND UP TO JAPAN AND CEASE MAKING EXCUSES FOR THE REPEATED FAILURES.

MAYBE THAT WOULD CAUSE THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN TO DEMAND FOREIGN SOLUTIONS TO THIS DISASTER, NO MATTER WHAT THE COST.


THE ABE REGIME SHOULD NOT BE REWARDED FOR POISONING THE PLANET AND FOR USING A NUCLEAR PLANT AS A STATIONARY NUCLEAR WEAPON OF WAR! 






_____________________________

FURTHER READING:

-- LIES ABOUT DEATHS AND CANCER RATES 
By 2008 in Belarus alone 40,049 liquidators or cleanup workers of Chernobyl were registered with cancer.

As of January 2018, 1.8 million people in Ukraine, including 377,589 children, carried a status of 'victims of the disaster', according to Sushko and his colleagues.

According to a USA Today article – Chernobyl’s Legacy: Kids With Bodies Ravaged by Disaster, April 17, 2016: “There are 2,397,863 people registered with Ukraine’s health ministry to receive ongoing Chernobyl-related health care.

Of these, 453,391 are children — none born at the time of the accident.
Their parents were children in 1986.

These children have a range of illnesses: respiratory, digestive, musculoskeletal, eye diseases, blood diseases, cancer, congenital malformations, genetic abnormalities, trauma.” Many of the children are hidden away deep in the forested countryside in orphanages in Belarus.

Today, after Fukushima, there are numerous instances of governmental meddling to hide the truth, starting with passage of the 2013 government secrecy act, The State Secrecy Law, aka: Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets (SDS), Act No. 108, which says that civil servants or others who “leak secrets” will face up to 10 years in prison, and those who “instigate leaks,” especially journalists, will be subject to a prison term of up to 5 years.
Subsequently, Japan fell below Serbia and Botswana in the Reporters Without Borders 2014 World Press Freedom Index.

Horrifically, at the end of the day, when nuclear goes bad, it takes everyone along on a daunting trip for years and years and more years, outliving life spans but continuing generation after generation, like the 453,391 Chernobyl-radiated-influence children born after the nuclear blowout in 1986. Chernobyl altered their genes before they were born
FUKUSHIMA WILL NOT BE 'OVER' FOR CENTURIES, IF EVER, AND WE HAVE NOT BEGUN TO SEE ITS DEVASTATION ON OUR CHILDREN, AND THEIRS. 


-- The overall radiation release from the plant is staggering – 770,000 terabecquerels in the wake of the accident and a billion becquerels still being added each day while engineers struggle to seal the broken containment structure.

There is not much the people can do about it. Full-body scans – promised by the government – will take time. Checking the radiation in every item of food is almost impossible, but one group is trying to help out. The Citizen's Radiation Monitoring Station in Fukushima – which has been set up by the journalist Ryuichi Hirokawa – offers free grocery checks. It is a slow process. Each item must be peeled, ground or grated, bagged and then placed in an LB 200 Becquerel Monitor for 20 minutes.

Akiko Sakuma drove from two hours away to test the potatoes in her allotment. "It's terrifying. I think about the radiation every day," she says and shows me a notebook in which she meticulously records the doses to which she is exposed. When it snowed after the explosion on 15 March, the level was over 100 microsieverts per hour – equivalent to 1 x-ray. She said she suffered headaches and nosebleeds. "I want to run away to Tokyo, but there is no work. I could never understand why people in Chernobyl didn't flee, but now I'm in the same situation."

WHAT DO THE UNBORN FACE? 
Due to give birth next month, Mari Ishimori, another pregnant evacuee in Tokyo, is now alone.
She avoids eating fish, meat or eggs, and is deeply skeptical about official safety assurances. "I don't trust anything they say. Tokyo Electric and the government have told us so many lies."
"I love my husband, but I will never return to Fukushima," she says over a coffee. "I want my child to have a normal childhood. But if we are in Fukushima, I will have to say, 'You can't touch the ground or touch the leaves or go in the river.' I want my child to grow up without worrying about that, just as I did. That's hard. I'm not sure if my husband and I will live together again."


-- I HOPE YOU WILL READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT AN INDEPENDENT STUDY LED BY A FORMER EDITOR OF ONE OF JAPAN'S MOST POPULAR NEWS AGENCIES AND SEE WHAT HIS RESEARCH FOUND. 
The culture of Japan's "nuclear village."

Yoichi Funabashi, a former journalist who once headed one of Japan's leading news organizations, decided what was needed was a truly independent investigation.

In its months of interviews and inquiries, the commission found plenty of failures of design and performance behind the meltdowns. But, Funabashi says, the biggest problem the commission identified wasn't with technology — it was with the culture of Japan's "nuclear village."

It was a culture, Funabashi says, in which “regulators pretended to regulate, [and] operators pretended to be regulated.”
Funabashi describes this "nuclear village" as a closed world of nuclear power plant operators and regulators in Japan — impervious to public scrutiny and accountability within Japan, and resistant to innovations and new safety technologies from elsewhere.

Within this bubble, he says, the Japanese nuclear village built up a myth of the absolute safety of the country's plants, and the firm belief that the country’s reactors were the safest and most advanced in the world.

“I think they actually have found themselves caught in their own trap,” says Funabashi." 


-- An extensively updated and expanded version of the Independent Investigation Commission on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident report published in English by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) cautions that Japan has not yet fully learned the lessons of the Fukushima reactor disaster, particularly the several ways in which the “human factor” played a major role paving the way for the crisis and worsening its aftermath.

Concluding with the warning that “Fukushima must never be forgotten,” the new book – “The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Disaster: Investigating the Myth and Reality” was  issued on March 11, 2014, the third anniversary of the Fukushima disaster.


https://thebulletin.org/2014/03/updated-fukushima-civilian-panel-report-highlights-largely-unaddressed-human-factors-as-important-as-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-2011-reactor-disaster/




//WW