The First Amendment Bombs Nuclear Energy By Accident

In a journalistic drone strike gone horribly wrong, news outlets across the country ran images of a nuclear power plant last Saturday with their reports on a leaking underground radioactive nuclear weapons waste tank at the Government?s nuclear reservation many miles away. Everyone from the New York?s The Daily News to TV stations in Portland, Oregon seem to forget that nuclear weapons production from 60 years ago has nothing to do with a nuclear power plant today.

B-roll photos of Washington State?s only commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station, were used as the main image about a completely unrelated leaking waste tank that was built in 1944 at the Department of Energy?s Hanford Site (KXLY Spokane).

The tank contains waste left over from making nuclear bombs during and after World War II. The only thing the power plant did was lease the land from the U. S. Department of Energy.

Let me clarify the science behind this issue:

Nuclear Bombs ? Bad!

Nuclear Energy ? Good!

The icky sludge and saltcake generated from making weapons is nothing like fuel from a power reactor. The Daily News did pull the photo when it was pointed out to them that the photo had nothing to do with the story, but few seem to care. Scientific accuracy doesn?t appear necessary when reporting on nuclear issues.

The only news outlet to get the story, and the image, correct was the Tri-City Herald in Washington State, but then they know the nuclear issues very well and almost always gets them right (Tri-City Herald).

Slowly, outlets appear to be pulling the reports, but the damage is done. Another victory for ignorance!

Can you tell which of these pictures is of huge underground storage tanks filled with millioins of gallons of sludge and saltcake that is constantly monitored for activity, and which is of a nuclear power plant? Hint: the one with the steam turning turbines is not the waste tank. Bottom left -tank farm under construction. Top left ? inside a tank leaking from sludge and saltcake dewatering. Top right ? Waste tank farm being monitored. Bottom right ? nuclear power plant Courtesy of DOE and Columbia Generating Station.

The other thing that was misreported is that these leaking tanks hold high-level radioactive waste (HLW), which is not true.? They contain another, much less radioactive waste called transuranic waste (TRU waste) that is thousands of times less radioactive than high-level waste.? I?ve actually held this waste in my hand, so I?m not too impressed.

But everyone can be forgiven since only a few of us science geeks know the difference.

Although hundreds of gallons of this leaking water might be leaking from a tank each year, the 100 billion gallons of volume between it and the river won?t be much affected. The environmental impact is not even measurable and there won?t be any discernable effects on public health ? ever (Environmental Impact Statement DOE/EIS-0391). If all of this leakage reaches the river it will have less of an affect than if you moved to Colorado.

Terrible, I know.

Yes, we need to clean this up. Yes, we need to get this waste in the right geology where it can?t get out for a billion years. And yes, we know exactly how to do this and where to put it (Chris Helman ? Nuke Town).

We just need to be allowed to get on with it.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/02/24/the-first-amendment-bombs-nuclear-energy-by-accident/

Ben Wilson Latest Presidential Polls trump presidential debate debate marco scutaro Russell Means

Affleck's 'Argo' wins best-picture Oscar

Actor Jack Nicholson, left, presents the the award for best picture to producer/director Ben Affleck for "Argo" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Actor Jack Nicholson, left, presents the the award for best picture to producer/director Ben Affleck for "Argo" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Daniel Day-Lewis accepts the award for best actor in a leading role for "Lincoln" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Karen Lawrence, left, congratulates her daughter Jennifer Lawrence after she is announced as the winner of the award for best actress in a leading role for "Silver Linings Playbook" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Jennifer Lawrence accepts the award for best actress in a leading role for "Silver Linings Playbook" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Actor Christoph Waltz accepts the award for best actor in a supporting role for "Django Unchained" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Ben Affleck's "Argo," a film about a fake movie, has earned a very real prize: best picture at the Academy Awards.

From the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama joined Jack Nicholson to help present the final prize.

"There are eight great films that have every right, as much a right to be up here as we do," Affleck said of the other best-picture nominees.

In share-the-wealth mode, Oscar voters spread Sunday's honors among a range of films, with "Argo" winning three trophies but "Life of Pi" leading with four.

Daniel Day-Lewis joined a select group of recipients with his third Oscar, taking the best-actor trophy for his monumental performance as Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War saga "Lincoln."

"Hunger Games" star Jennifer Lawrence triumphed in Hollywood's big games, winning the best actress as a damaged soul in "Silver Linings Playbook," while Ang Lee pulled off a huge upset as best director for "Life of Pi."

Anne Hathaway went from propping up leaden sidekick James Franco at the Academy Awards to hefting a golden statue of her own with a supporting-actress Oscar win as a doomed mother-turned-prostitute in the musical "Les Miserables."

Christoph Waltz won his second supporting-actor Oscar for a Tarantino film, this time as a genteel bounty hunter in the slave-revenge saga "Django Unchained." Tarantino also won his second Oscar, for original screenplay for "Django."

Ang Lee pulled off a major upset, won best director for the shipwreck story "Life of Pi," taking the prize over Steven Spielberg, who had been favored for "Lincoln."

Lawrence took a fall on her way to the stage, tripping on the steps.

"You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell," Lawrence joked as the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

At 22, Lawrence is the second-youngest woman to win best actress, behind Marlee Matlin, who was 21 when she won for "Children of a Lesser God." Lawrence also is the third-youngest best-actress contender ever, earning her first nomination at age 20 two years ago for her breakout role in "Winter's Bone," the film that took her from virtual unknown to one of Hollywood's most-versatile and sought-after performers.

With a monumental performance as Abraham Lincoln, Day-Lewis became the only performer to win three best-actor Oscars, adding to the honors he earned for "My Left Foot" and "There Will Be Blood." He's just the sixth actor to earn three or more Oscars, tied with Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman and Walter Brennan with three each, and just behind Katharine Hepburn, who won four.

Hathaway, whose perkiness helped carry her and the listless Franco through an ill-starred stint as Oscar hosts two years ago, is the third performer in a musical to win supporting actress during the genre's resurgence in the last decade.

"It came true," said Hathaway, who joins 2002 supporting-actress winner Catherine Zeta-Jones for "Chicago" and 2006 recipient Jennifer Hudson for "Dreamgirls." Hathaway had warm thanks for "Les Miz" co-star Hugh Jackman, with whom she once sang a duet at the Oscars when he was the show's host.

Hathaway's Oscar came for her role as noble but fallen Fantine in the big-screen adaptation of the Broadway smash that was based on Victor Hugo's epic novel of revolution, romance and redemption in 19th century France.

"Life of Pi" also won for Mychael Danna's multicultural musical score that blends Indian and Western instruments and influences, plus cinematography and visual effects.

"I really want to thank you for believing this story and sharing this incredible journey with me," Lee said to all who worked on the film, a surprise blockbuster about a youth trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.

A veteran performer in Germany and his native Austria, Waltz had been a virtual unknown in Hollywood when Tarantino cast him as a gleefully evil Nazi in 2009's "Inglourious Basterds," which won him his first Oscar.

"I have to cast the right people to make those characters come alive," said Tarantino, who won previously for "Pulp Fiction. "And boy, this time, did I do it. Thank you so much, guys."

Waltz has since done a handful of other Hollywood movies, but it's Tarantino who has given him his two choicest roles. Backstage, Waltz had a simple explanation for why the collaboration works.

"Quentin writes poetry, and I like poetry," Waltz said.

Oscar host Seth MacFarlane opened with a mildly edgy monologue that offered the usual polite jabs at the academy, the stars and the industry. He took a poke at academy voters over the snub of Ben Affleck, who missed out on a directing nomination for best-picture favorite "Argo," a thriller about the CIA's plot to rescue six Americans during the Iranian hostage crisis.

"The story was so top secret that the film's director is unknown to the academy," MacFarlane said. "They know they screwed up. Ben, it's not your fault."

"Argo" also claimed the Oscar for adapted screenplay for Chris Terrio, who worked with Affleck to create a liberally embellished story based on an article about the rescue and part of CIA operative Tony Mendez's memoir.

Terrio dedicated the award to Mendez, saying "33 years ago, Tony, using nothing but his creativity and his intelligence, Tony got six people out of a bad situation."

The foreign-language prize went to Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke's old-age love story "Amour," which had been a major surprise with five nominations, including picture, director and original screenplay for Haneke and best actress for Emmanuelle Riva, who turned 86 on Sunday and would be the oldest acting winner ever.

The top prize winner at last year's Cannes Film Festival, "Amour" follows the agonizing story of an elderly man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) tending his wife (Riva) as she declines from age and illness.

Haneke thanked his own wife for supporting him in his work for 30 years.

"You are the center of my life," Haneke said.

The Scottish adventure "Brave," from Disney's Pixar Animation unit, was named best animated feature. Pixar films have won seven of the 12 Oscars since the category was added.

"I just happen to be wearing the kilt," said "Brave" co-director Mark Andrews, who took the stage in his trademark Scottish garment.

The upbeat musical portrait "Searching for Sugar Man" took the documentary feature prize. The film follows the quest of two South African fans to discover the fate of acclaimed but obscure singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez, who dropped out of sight after two albums in the 1970s and was rumored to have died a bitter death.

"Thanks to one of the greatest singers ever, Rodriguez," said "Sugar Man" director Malik Bendjelloul.

There was a rare tie in one category, with the Osama bin Laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty" and the James Bond tale "Skyfall" each winning for sound editing.

William Shatner made a guest appearance as his "Star Trek" character Capt. James Kirk, appearing on a giant screen above the stage during MacFarlane's monologue, saying he came back in time to stop the host from ruining the Oscars.

"Your jokes are tasteless and inappropriate, and everyone ends up hating you," said Shatner, who revealed a headline supposedly from the next day's newspaper that read, "Seth MacFarlane worst Oscar host ever."

The performance-heavy Oscars also included an opening number featuring Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum, who did a classy dance while MacFarlane crooned "The Way You Look Tonight." Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt then joined MacFarlane for an elegant musical rendition of "High Hopes."

Halle Berry introduced a tribute to the Bond franchise, in which she has co-starred, as the British super-spy celebrated his 50th anniversary on the big-screen last year with the latest adventure "Skyfall." Shirley Bassey sang her theme song to the 1960s Bond tale "Goldfinger." Later, pop star Adele performed her theme tune from "Skyfall," which won the best-song Oscar.

Barbra Streisand injected some musical sentiment into the show's segment memorializing Hollywood figures who died in the past year as she sang "The Way We Were," the Oscar-winning song she did in the film of the same name.

A salute to the resurgence of movie musicals in the last decade included Oscar winners Zeta-Jones singing "All That Jazz" from "Chicago" and Hudson doing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from "Dreamgirls." Hathaway and Jackman joined cast mates of best-picture contender "Les Miserables" to sing songs from their musical.

Academy officials said all performances were sung live.

Fans had pondered how far MacFarlane the impudent creator of "Family Guy," might push the normally prim and proper Oscars. MacFarlane was generally polite and respectful, showcasing his charm, wit and vocal gifts.

MacFarlane did press his luck a bit on an Abraham Lincoln joke, noting that Raymond Massey preceded "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis as an Oscar nominee for 1940's "Abe Lincoln in Illinois."

"I would argue that the actor who really got inside Lincoln's head was John Wilkes Booth," MacFarlane wisecracked, earning some groans from the crowd. "A hundred and 50 years later, and it's still too soon?"

___

AP writers Christy Lemire, Sandy Cohen, Beth Harris and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-25-Oscars/id-97109bc680434538926e1a0bdfb4080d

taylor swift safe and sound delilah nevis 2012 sports illustrated swimsuit same day flower delivery valentines day cards hallmark

Public Seminar- Lord Michael Williams - 'Troubled Waters: Tensions in South China Sea'

'Troubled Waters: Tensions in South China Sea'

Presented by Michael C Williams, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Chatham House, London

Tensions in South China Sea between ASEAN members, especially Vietnam and the Philippines, and the PRC are unlikely to dissipate in the next few years. China's naval build up, popular hostility towards Beijing within key ASEAN states and Beijing's refusal to contemplate any outside mediation will continue to roil the region.

Michael C Williams is Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Chatham House, a Governor of SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) and a Trustee of the BBC. He is also a member of the House of Lords. He served with the UN in Cambodia and the Balkans (1992-96) and was Director for Asia and the Middle East in the UN department of Political Affairs, New York (2005 - 2007). Between 1999 and 2005 he was Special Adviser to two British Foreign Secretaries, Robin Cook and Jack Straw. In his final UN posting (2008-2011) he was UN Under Secretary General in the Middle East. His Ph.D from SOAS looked at Islam and revolt in colonial Indonesia. Last year he was a member of a UK parliamentary delegation to Indonesia.

?

Source: http://www3.secure.griffith.edu.au/03/events/view.php?eventID=26118

jake owen oosthuizen louis double eagle bubba masters winner instagram facebook mike wallace

Sequester 101: What happens on March 1?

Come March 1, the government cuts that nobody in Washington thinks are sensible are set to take hold.

Welcome to the ?sequester,? $85 billion in spending cuts poised to hit nearly every function of government and affect virtually all Americans.

The sequester is a complex concept with a tortuous history. Here are the basics on the automatic spending reductions set to come.

1. Where did the sequester come from?

This particular Washington doozy came out of another conflagration ? the debt-ceiling fight of 2011. Republicans, fresh off their electoral landslide in the 2010 midterms, demanded $1 in spending reductions for every $1 increase in the federal debt ceiling.

The messy negotiations that ensued buried the stock market and undermined consumer confidence, but policymakers did, in the end, hatch a plan to raise the US borrowing limit.

More specifically, Congress and President Obama agreed to the Budget Control Act (BCA), which matched some $2.4 trillion in debt-ceiling hikes with a similar amount of deficit reduction over the next decade.

Of the total deficit reduction, $900 billion was to be achieved through spending caps affecting all government functions outside of entitlement programs. For the rest, Congress was to explicitly decide on how to make the reductions through a bipartisan commission of lawmakers known colloquially as the ?supercommittee.? That group was supposed to cut $1.2 trillion but also had a goal of $1.5 trillion, with the possibility of going even higher.

Vested with immense power and special rules for moving its recommendations through Congress, the committee did what Congress does frequently of late: stalemated and failed.

That triggered the BCA?s backup plan: the sequester. This is $1.2 trillion in automatic, across-the-board reductions in nearly all government operations over the next decade.

These cuts were supposed to be so painful and so stupid that they would act as an incentive for the supercommittee to come to a deal. Apparently, lawmakers overestimated the painfulness of the reductions or underestimated their own fecklessness.

The sequester was set to go into place on Jan. 1 of this year, but lawmakers found some $24 billion in reductions (a 50-50 mix of specific cuts and new tax revenue) to delay it until March.

And thus, here we are.

2. What is the sequester set to actually do?

The sequester would spread out about $109 billion in cuts per year, every year, for 10 years.

As lawmakers already paid for $24 billion this year, the overall level for 2013 now stands at $85 billion. But there?s another twist: The $85 billion is really more like only $44 billion in actual cuts over the next six months of the fiscal year ? because some of the cuts would apply to spending obligations that stretch out over multiple years.

A standard year of sequestration, with $109 billion in cuts, would see about half that total, some $55 billion, come from the Pentagon. This is the side of the equation meant to bring Republicans to the negotiating table.

The Democratic priorities under fire are $43 billion in cuts to all other aspects of government ? from education to social services to NASA and the National Institutes of Health.

The final bit ($11 billion) is made up of something that?s annoying to both parties: a 2 percent reduction in payments to Medicare providers.

3. Who is to blame for the sequester?

Short answer: almost everybody.

The actual mechanics of the sequester ? dangling a deficit-reduction goal in front of a team of lawmakers with a harsh consequence for failure ? was dreamed up by the White House, notably by Treasury Secretary nominee Jacob Lew.

That?s the account given by veteran journalist Bob Woodward in his book, ?The Price of Politics.?

Yet every member of the congressional GOP leadership who now criticize the cuts as the ?president?s sequester? voted for the bill.

Another version of events, outlined by John Avlon of The Daily Beast, claims that the idea came from Speaker John Boehner?s office and the House Republican Policy Committee.

Whatever the case, the bill passed with 269 ?yea? votes in the House ? 174 Republicans (the vast majority of their conference) and almost 100 Democrats to boot.

On the Senate side, 28 Republicans joined nearly all Democrats to notch 74 "yea" votes.

4. What would the cuts do to the economy?

At $85 billion, the cuts amount to a sliver of the more than $3 trillion annual federal budget. They?re an even tinier speck of America?s $16 trillion economy.

Still, with impacts measured in billions of dollars, the sequester is not trivial. The cuts could cost 750,000 jobs in 2013 and reduce GDP by more than half a percentage point, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This estimate largely jibes with the prognostications of several private-sector forecasters.

5. Will everything happen on March 1?

The lights won?t go out on federal employees and economic output won?t stop on March 1, to be sure. But if Congress doesn?t act, some practical impacts will be felt soon thereafter ? such as fewer air-traffic controllers and TSA agents at airports and fewer open hours at national parks.

Many of the cuts would take weeks to directly whack the economy. Millions of federal workers facing furlough, for example, wouldn?t stay home one day a week until April under most circumstances, because of labor laws.

Federal agencies have been planning for the sequester?s impact for at least the past several months, moreover, and could work to delay some of the hardship in hopes of a political settlement.

Some programs, including Social Security and Medicaid, are shielded from any hit, the Congressional Research Service writes. Also included, it says: ?refundable tax credits to individuals; and low-income programs such as the Children?s Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Supplemental Security Income.?

The Congressional Research Service adds, ?Some discretionary programs also are exempt, notably all programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Also, subject to notification of Congress by the President, military personnel accounts may either be exempt or reduced by a lower percentage.?

One possibility is that Congress could restore or reshape the reductions by the end of March, when funding authorization for the entire federal government expires and lawmakers could again go into a potentially bruising financial battle.

However, the prospect of the sequester has already had an economic impact. Defense contractors drastically cut back their spending during the fourth quarter of 2012 in anticipation of the sequester, for example ? an indication that private-sector growth has already been hampered by expectations of the cuts.

Related stories

Read this story at csmonitor.com

Become a part of the Monitor community

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sequester-101-happens-cuts-kick-march-1-four-200603756.html

Dec 21 2012 doomsday Is The World Going To End