Radiation Issues

The Fukushima, Japan nuclear accident has again raised questions about the use of this source of energy. Some info from the paper today. Radiation from the explosion is expected to reach the west coast of the US-California-by weeks end. Can we assume it will reach Hawaii sooner? I don't know; maybe the wind currents will take it elsewhere. The Chernobyl explosion in 1986 "spread (radiation) around the globe and reached the West Coast of the US in 10 days, its levels measurable but minuscule". The Diablo Canyon plant in California is near earthquake fault lines. The Indian Point plant is 35 miles north of NYC and "near a fault line". The Perry plant east of Cleveland is "within 40 miles of two faults". This industry is regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC. (As you might guess, I am not a fan of nuclear power).

(Source: Info taken from The Virginian Pilot on 3/17/11).

Update 3/19/11. The risks from radiation are not always easy to determine. Levels of radiation are measured in "millisieverts per hour"; a check x-ray is 0.15 millisieverts p/h. A high dose is over 500 millisieverts p/h and "can raise the risk of leukemia, breast, bladder, colon, liver, lung, esophageal, ovarian and stomach cancers and "the blood cancer multiple myeloma". A debate centers around the number of deaths caused by the Chernobyl accident. This source notes that there have been 6000 tyroid cancer deaths in the 25 years since 1986. "The US EPA says no amount of radiation is absolutely safe above the 3 to 6 millisieverts a year that most of us get from normal living". (I wonder if that sentence is correct)

(Source: "Risks aren't always clear in exposure to radiation" the AP. In The Virginian Pilot on 3/19/11).

Education 2011

I came across an excerpt from the Brown v. Board of Education ruling that we should all remember when budget cutting is in the air. It follows. "Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment".

(Source: A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russell. Free Press edition. Page 314).

Gitmo and Obama

Pres Obama has issued an executive order that will "create a formal system of indefinite detention" at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It would appear that the admin tried to open a facility in the US to conduct trials, but a bipartisan congress blocked him. Some of the detainees could be held for life w/o a trial. There are presently 48 of the remaining 172 detainees that the Obama order pretains to. It is noted that "the group could not be prosecuted in military commissions or in federal court because evidentiary problems would hamper a trial". The admin believes the "rules of war" allow for this treatment and some US courts have agreed; however they say "some detainees should be released for a lack of evidence against them". There is, what appears to be, a legal procedure for the trials that involves written review of their case, a gov't rep appointed to act as advocate, right to appear before a board, call witnessess and into evidence. One attorney who represented past detainees says the system is no different than the one Bush II created. The admin has decided "...not to release any Yemenis, even those cleared for repatriation". GOP congressman, Peter King, says that the Obama program is a "vindication" of the Bush II program. It seems the first to be tried is Al-Nashiri, for the Cole bombing, even thou an official of the military commission "...had dismissed the charges against him". He will be difficult to try due to the fact that he was waterboarded, tortured, and threatened with death by a power drill.

(Source: "Obama restarts Guantanamo trials" by staff and wire reports in The Virginian Pilot on 3/8/11)

Presidential Debt Commission

A number of senators-democrats and republicans-have taken up the recommendations of the Debt Commission and are pushing for President Obama to sign on. Mark Warner (D-Va) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga) have teamed with democrats Dick Durbin (one of the most liberal senators) and Kent Conrad and republicans Tom Coburn and Mike Crapo; they are refered to as the "Gang of Six". The national debt is $ 14 trillion and we are presently borrowing 40 % of every dollar spent. They want to reduce the debt by $ 4 trillion over 10 years. The commission's recommendations they are supporting are as follows. Lower tax rates while doing away with $ 1 trillion in tax breaks for individuals and corporations. Raise the age for social security retirement and increase the payroll tax on high earners. Raise the gas tax and cut spending on all programs including defense. Presently 16 republicans and 15 democrats have signed on. Warner says that the US is in for "financial Armagedon" if we don't get the deficit under control. He also notes the Chinese have been our biggest creditor and if we don't make changes, they will dictate them.

(Source: "Soaring US debt needs fix now, senators say" by Bill Bartel of The Virginian Pilot on 3/8/11).

Green Book

Traveling in the 1950's-before the Civil Rights Act-African Americans would use a guide called The Green Book to direct them to businesses that would provide them services without discrimination. This would make travel with their families less humilitating and less likely to result in conflict. In 1936 Victor H. Green of NYC published the travel guide that would indicate "lodging and gas stations to tailor shops and doctors offices across the nation" where African Americans would be welcome.

The Negro Travelers Green Book was the official name. One of the places noted was Robbins, Illinois being "owned and operated by Negroes". A professor at Dickenson College-Cotton Seiler-refered to the book as a guide to "driving while black".

(Source: "Travel guide helped African Americans navigate tricky times" by Emma Lacey-Bordeaux and Wayne Drash. Article found on cnn.com/2011/US/02/24/green.black.history/index.html?hpt=C1 on 2/25/11)

Nathan Bedford Forrest

General Forrest was considered by some to be an excellent soldier; he fought for the south in the Civil War-or the War Between the States as some would say. He was also responsible for the massacre of black Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tennessess in 1864. Forrest later became the organizer of the Ku Klux Klan. Forrest is now making news again; he is being considered by Mississippi for a "specialty license plate". The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) think this is a good idea, some history professors in Mississippi do not. The south is conducting a 150th anniversary of the Civil War from now till 2015. The plate is due to be issued in 2014.

(Source: "Miss. licence plate series may honor Klan leader" by The AP. In The Record on2/11/11).

Hitler song

I game across this bit of history while watching the movie "John Rabe" recently. Rabe was a German industrialist working in China in 1937; at the time the Japanese army attacked and destroyed much of that city. Rabe spearheaded an effort by foreign nationals there to save 200,000 Chinese civilians from certain death at the hands of the Japanese. He was able to do this-to some degree-because Germany and Japan were allies and Japanese military officials did not want to treat him too harshly. The obvious irony here is that Rabe-a German under Hitler-who may not have been a devoted Nazi, helped save innocent civilians from genicide.

On a lighter note the movie noted a anti-Hitler song written in 1939 who's basic lyrics were;

"Hitler has only one ball,

Goering has two but very small,

Himmler is somewhat sim'lar,

But poor Goebbels has no balls at all".

The lyrics are set to the "Colonel Bogie March".

If you google the song's first line you will find other verses to the song under Wikipedia.org. I am not sure how you might or should use this in a public school classroom, but I include it anyway.

(Source: John Rabe, a movie and Wikipedia.org under the song title. Researched on this date).