Archive for japan
Be proud, gun fetishists! Gun violence is causing students from other countries who are thinking about coming here to study to be so scared of our gun-loving ways that they reconsider.
John Kerry said he’s heard from people in other countries– Japan, for example, where gun laws are much more restrictive– that it’s safer “where people are not running around with guns.” He also said this:
“We had an interesting discussion about why fewer students are coming to, particularly from Japan, to study in the United States, and one of the responses I got from our officials from conversations with parents here, is that they’re actually scared. They think they’re not safe in the United States and so they don’t come.”
(CNN) – Unlike the United States, the right to private gun ownership in Japan is not guaranteed in law. Individuals wishing to possess any firearm must obtain a license and demonstrate a reason for owning the gun.
Out of a total 582 homicides in Japan in 2008, 11 were by guns.
How nice that this country’s reputation is becoming so unwelcoming, so violent, so Wild West version 2.0, that we’re turning off foreign visitors. Then again, many on the right are probably celebrating that very thing.
Via Washington Post
Back in March of 2011, I posted “Memo: Workers at San Onofre nuclear plant fear retaliation for reporting problems.”
In February of this year, I posted “New radioactive waste leak found at nuclear site, and clean-up could be halted by sequestration.”
And in a couple of other posts, I’ve repeated that we should remember to expect the unexpected:
The word “expect” keeps popping up, and that ambiguity is what makes many of us a little wary. That’s because the 9.0 magnitude was also not expected. The combo of a huge quake and a tsunami was not expected. Experts say they don’t expect a quake larger than 7.0 near the San Onofre nuclear plant, nor do they expect one bigger than 7.5 near Diablo Canyon, despite the fact that new fault lines are discovered from time to time, not to mention the proximity to the San Andreas Fault.
This breaking news bulletin from the L.A. Times just landed in my inbox:
A report on the root causes of problems at the San Onofre nuclear plant shows that officials considered making design changes to the plant’s new steam generators before they were installed but rejected some fixes in part because they would require further regulatory approvals.
Some of the generators began malfunctioning a year after they were installed, and the nuclear power plant has been shuttered for 14 months. The closure has already cost San Onofre’s operators, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, $470 million.
Ratepayers across the region are already shouldering some of those costs and could be on the hook for hefty future repair bills.
For the latest information, go to www.latimes.com.
So public safety and security got tossed aside because regulation was, you know, an imposition. What a pain! The result? Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bills and putting a whole bunch of us in harm’s way.
Ain’t nuclear energy grand?
I wish the first words in the headline were “The United States,” but I’m relieved to see Japan’s pledge to phase out nuclear energy by 2039 at the latest.
The Japanese government announced a dramatic turn in its energy policy Friday, vowing to make the densely populated island nation nuclear-free by the 2030s. [...]
The new blueprint calls for investing almost $500 billion over the next two decades to expand renewable sources like wind and solar power, the NHK broadcast network reported.
And no longer in the L.A. Times online post, but from my morning paper:
A 40-year limit has been set on operation of existing plants, meaning the last one would have to shut by 2039, but officials hope to close it earlier.
Expanding renewable energy sources is exactly what we should be doing, but the GOP has decided that’s too Kenyan. They prefer to take long, luxurious crude oil soaks while having their toesies massaged by Exxon CEOs.
And while they’re basking in the lovely green glow of leaking radiation, someone should remind them to expect the unexpected:
The word “expect” keeps popping up, and that ambiguity is what makes many of us a little wary. That’s because the 9.0 magnitude was also not expected. The combo of a huge quake and a tsunami was not expected. Experts say they don’t expect a quake larger than 7.0 near the San Onofre nuclear plant, nor do they expect one bigger than 7.5 near Diablo Canyon, despite the fact that new fault lines are discovered from time to time, not to mention the proximity to the San Andreas Fault.
But no, Republicans care more about profit than the health and well-being of their fellow Americans, so what do they do? They pass the No More Solyndras Act.
How’s that for forward thinking?
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