Sunday, July 31, 2011

Guantanamo Bay prisoners to be interviewed by Scotland Yard in explosive new twist to MI6 torture enquiry

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020404/Guantanamo-Bay-prisoners-interviewed-Scotland-Yard-explosive-new-twist-MI6-torture-enquiry.html

 

Sunday, Jul 31 2011

Guantanamo Bay prisoners to be interviewed by Scotland Yard in explosive new twist to MI6 torture enquiry

By James Slack

Last updated at 11:25 PM on 29th July 2011

Scotland Yard detectives plan to interview prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in an explosive twist in the MI6 torture inquiry.

Police are investigating whether an unnamed Secret Intelligence Service officer witnessed the inhumane treatment of detainees by the U.S. military.

Officers have asked the U.S. government for permission to travel to the Cuban detention camp and interview terror suspects who may have seen the incident, according to ITV News.

Quizzed: Prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay are set to be questioned by Scotland Yard to find out whether they were tortured in Afghanistan

Quizzed: Prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay are set to be questioned by Scotland Yard to find out whether they were tortured in Afghanistan

The investigation began in September 2009 after MI6 referred ‘an incident’ at Bagram U.S. Airbase to the Attorney General, who passed it to the police.

Detectives are trying to track down many of the nearly 50  prisoners who were at the base in Afghanistan in January 2002. Some of these are at Guantanamo.

Police have reportedly already spoken with one man who was held at Bagram, Sami el-Hajj, a cameraman who was arrested in Pakistan and released in 2008. He alleges prisoners were brutally treated, if not tortured.

In an interview in London in May, he told police: ‘The soldiers came and kicked me and threatened to shoot me if I moved. I could hear the shouting of others. They left me on the ground, repeating the same questions, “Why have you come to fight us?” I was telling them that I was a journalist not a fighter but they continued to hit me.’

Open up: Nearly 50 prisoners the Yard want to quiz are now at Guantanamo

Open up: Nearly 50 prisoners the Yard want to quiz are now at Guantanamo

He allegedly added: ‘Other abuses that I was told happened included tying the person’s hands behind his back, and pushing his face into a bucket of water so he would feel he was drowning.’

Sami el-Hajj says that he and a number of others who were at Bagram in January of 2002 were transferred to Guantanamo Bay.

He was released in 2008 but he claims one man, who is still in Guantánamo, was threatened with rape at Bagram, given a toothbrush and told to clean the cage in which they were held.

It is not suggested that the MI6 officer under investigation witnessed or took part in any of this alleged mistreatment.

Police are investigating whether he conducted an interview with a detainee and warned his superiors that he was concerned about his ‘handling’.

When they suggested to him what he had described may not be proper, he took no further action, they believe.

An inquiry set up by the Prime Minister into claims that the British Security and Intelligence services turned a blind eye to the abuse of suspects in US custody has been delayed partly because of the ongoing police investigation.

In October 2010 Sir John Sawers the Chief of MI6 said: ‘Torture is illegal and abhorrent under any circumstances, and we have nothing whatsoever to do with it.’

But experts say there was a period where there were concerns about the inhumane treatment of prisoners held by other countries.

The scene: US soldiers stand guard beside prison cells at Bagram prison, north of Kabul where incidents of torture taking place are being investigated

The scene: US soldiers stand guard beside prison cells at Bagram prison, north of Kabul where incidents of torture taking place are being investigated

Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2020404/Guantanamo-Bay-prisoners-interviewed-Scotland-Yard-explosive-new-twist-MI6-torture-enquiry.html

© Associated Newspapers Ltd

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

Nuclear plant workers developed cancer despite lower radiation exposure than legal limit

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110727p2a00m0na010000c.html

 

Nuclear plant workers developed cancer despite lower radiation exposure than legal limit

The late nuclear power plant worker Nobuyuki Shimahashi's radiation exposure monitoring databook indicated

The late nuclear power plant worker Nobuyuki Shimahashi's radiation exposure monitoring databook indicated "Y" or yes for jobs he could engage in before some of them were corrected to say "N" or no. (Mainichi)

Of 10 nuclear power plant workers who have developed cancer and received workers' compensation in the past, nine had been exposed to less than 100 millisieverts of radiation, it has been learned.

The revelation comes amid reports that a number of workers battling the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant were found to have been exposed to more than the emergency limit of 250 millisieverts, which was raised from the previous limit of 100 millisieverts in March.

According to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry statistics, of the 10 nuclear power plant workers, six had leukemia, two multiple myeloma and another two lymphatic malignancy. Only one had been exposed to 129.8 millisieverts but the remaining nine were less than 100 millisieverts, including one who had been exposed to about 5 millisieverts.

Nobuyuki Shimahashi, a worker at the Hamaoka Nuclear Power Plant, where operations were recently suspended by Chubu Electric Power Co., died of leukemia in 1991 at age 29. His 74-year-old mother Michiko remembers her son dropping from 80 kilograms to 50 kilograms and his gums bleeding.

Shimahashi was in charge of maintaining and checking measuring instruments inside the nuclear power plant as a subcontract employee. He had 50.63 millisieverts of radiation exposure over a period of eight years and 10 months.

His radiation exposure monitoring databook, which was returned to his family six months after his death, showed that more than 30 exposure figures and other listings had been corrected in red ink and stamped with personal seals.

A worker in the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is seen in this May 9 photo. (Photo courtesy of Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

A worker in the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant is seen in this May 9 photo. (Photo courtesy of Tokyo Electric Power Co.)

Even after he was diagnosed with leukemia, the databook had a stamp indicating permission for him to engage in a job subject to possible radiation exposure and a false report on his participation in nuclear safety education while he was in reality in hospital.

"The workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant may be aware that they are risking their lives while doing their jobs. However, the state and electric power companies should also think about their families. If I had heard it was 'dangerous,' I would not have sent Nobuyuki to the nuclear power plant," Michiko Shimahashi said. "The workers who have done nothing wrong should not die. The emergency upper limit should be cut immediately."

Workers' compensation for nuclear power plant workers rarely receives a mention.

Koshiro Ishimaru, 68, leader of a civic group in the Futaba district in Fukushima Prefecture, notes that six workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant applied for workers' compensation before the nuclear disaster and four received recognition. Only two of the four identified themselves.

"There are many people who are benefiting from the nuclear power plant and do not want other members of this small community to know about compensation," Ishimaru points out.

When it comes to being entitled to workers' compensation due to diseases other than cancer, the hurdle is much higher.

Ryusuke Umeda, a 76-year-old former welder in the city of Fukuoka, worked at the Shimane Nuclear Power Plant run by Chugoku Electric Power Co. in Matsue and the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant run by Japan Atomic Power Co. in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, between February and June 1979.

He soon had symptoms such as nose bleeding and later chronic fatigue before having a heart attack in 2000. He suspected nuclear radiation, applied for workers' compensation in 2008 but was rejected.

Workers install a pressure sensor inside the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant on June 3, in this photo provided by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Workers install a pressure sensor inside the No. 1 reactor building at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant on June 3, in this photo provided by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

His radiation exposure stood at 8.6 millisieverts. Umeda says, "Nuclear power plant workers have been used for the benefit of plant operators. If left unchecked, there will be many cases like mine."

The current guidelines for workers' compensation due to radiation exposure only certify leukemia among various types of cancer. In these cases compensation is granted only when an applicant is exposed to more than 5 millisieverts of radiation a year and develops leukemia more than one year after being exposed to nuclear radiation. For other types of cancer, the health ministry's study group decides if applicants are eligible for workers' compensation.

 (Mainichi Japan) July 27, 2011

Copyright 2011 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

Feds Defend Seizure of WikiLeaks Supporter's Laptop

Threat Level Privacy, Crime and Security Online

 

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/07/house-lawsuit/

Feds Defend Seizure of WikiLeaks Supporter’s Laptop

The Justice Department on Thursday fired back against a lawsuit filed by a WikiLeaks supporter and friend of accused leaker Bradley Manning over the warrantless seizure of his laptop, arguing that they held onto the machine for a lengthy 49 days only because he refused to provide the password, and because his dual-boot Linux/Windows configuration taxed federal agents’ forensics capabilities.

David Maurice House is one of several Boston-area friends of Manning who were interviewed by federal agents following Manning’s May 2010 arrest. House is also a founding member of the Bradley Manning Support Network, where he sits on the steering committee and does fundraising. He was a frequent visitor of the imprisoned Army private until early March.

The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU of Massachusetts, concerns a November 2010 incident in which House was met by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as he deplaned at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport after a vacation in Mexico. The agents searched House’s bags, then took him to a detention room and questioned him “for an extended period,” according to the lawsuit.

When House was released, the agents confiscated his laptop computer, a thumb drive and a digital camera. ICE held onto to equipment for 49 days, finally returning it only when the ACLU sent them a strongly worded letter on House’s behalf.

But in court filings (.pdf) Thursday, the government said House was interviewed for only “about 20 minutes.” The Justice Department conceded that it held onto House’s laptop for longer than the 30 days normally allowed under border-search regulations, but said they retained it for no longer than necessary to complete a forensics analysis and copy the hard drive.

“The lack of password access required ICE computer experts to spend additional time on Mr. House’s laptop,” the government wrote (.pdf), adding that agents also required additional time because House’s laptop was running both Linux and Windows, while the agency is accustomed to searching vanilla Windows or Macintosh machines. Additionally, there are only 220 ICE agents certified in computer forensics, handling cases from 7,000 agents nationwide, slowing the pipeline.

Under the “border search exception” of United States criminal law, international travelers can be searched without a warrant as they enter the U.S. Under both the Bush and Obama administrations, law enforcement agents have aggressively used this power to search travelers’ laptops, sometimes copying the hard drive before returning the computer to its owner. Courts have ruled that such laptop searches can take place even in the absence of any reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing.

In House’s case, the ACLU says the warrantless seizure and search of House’s data is particularly troubling. House, the ACLU claims, was targeted solely for his work with the Bradley Manning Support Network, and the seizure infringed House’s constitutional rights of speech and association.

The government disputed that as well.

[T]he Government is not prohibited from examining any items at the border simply because they may be related to the work of an organization,” the Justice Department wrote, “nor are there any factual allegations showing how Plaintiff’s organization has been targeted by the government, or that the routine search of Plaintiff’s electronic devices disclosure may impede the future activities of the organization.”

The government added that at this point it’s keeping House’s hard drive data only “for purposes of litigation.”

Top image: YouTube

Kevin Poulsen is a senior editor at Wired.com, editor of the award-winning Threat Level blog, and author of Kingpin: How One Hacker Took Over the Billion-Dollar Cybercrime Underground (Crown, 2011).
Follow @kpoulsen on Twitter.

Wired.com © 2010 Condé Nast Digital. All rights reserved.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

For Uganda Little Leaguers, Exhilaration and Then Heartbreak

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/sports/for-uganda-little-leaguers-exhilaration-and-then-heartbreak.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha27

 

The New York Times

July 30, 2011

For Uganda Little Leaguers, Exhilaration and Then Heartbreak

By PAUL POST

KAMPALA, Uganda — Felix Barugahare has no idea what a sporting goods store is. He shares a glove and swings someone else’s bat, and there is a good chance that his baseball cleats are the first pair of shoes he has worn.

Felix is a second baseman for the Rev. John Foundation Little League team, the first team from Africa to qualify for the Little League World Series. But the players’ aspirations for international success were dashed Friday when they were denied visas to travel to the United States. The State Department said that some of the visa applications included birth records that “several parents admitted had been altered to make some players appear younger than they actually are.”

It is a sad coda to an inspirational story of a fledgling program for poor children who hoped to test their skills against the best teams in the world. More frustrating for Uganda is that for the second year in a row, a seemingly open path to South Williamsport, Pa., where the tournament is held, has been blocked by adults behind closed doors rather than by children on the playing field.

Many of the boys on the foundation team live in crowded homes with their extended families, subsisting on as little as $100 a month. Some have no parents. And when there are parents in the picture, they are often illiterate, making it difficult to verify the birth certificate information and complicating State Department interviews.

Saying that “what happened shames our country,” Godfrey Mabirizi, the vice chairman of Uganda’s National Council of Sports, told The Associated Press on Saturday that in the future the council would verify players’ ages and documents. He also said the council would investigate and punish those responsible if they were found to have lied about players’ ages.

With the boys’ bleak prospects, there is little mystery why they have embraced America’s national pastime.

“Because there is a future in baseball,” said Felix, who is called Abooki and who began playing four years ago after his uncle took him to a playground where children were playing the game.

Felix lives in a one-room house, divided by a curtain, in an area of Kampala called Nsambya. He shares it with five others, including his grandmother, who is ill. He has one set of clothes: jeans shorts, a blue T-shirt and a black baseball cap that he never parts with. To reach the playground, he walks a narrow path separating the rows of densely packed one-story houses, most made of brick, some of mud.

Like children and adolescents everywhere, Felix is motivated by a complicated mix of current emotional needs and future dreams.

“Many people know me now,” he said. “I want to continue playing and join the major leagues, but if I can’t, I want to become an umpire. Through baseball, I have made many friends. Baseball is better for me than soccer. In baseball, I can be known in Uganda. In soccer, you just play.”

Uganda has had few international sports heroes, probably because resources for training are scarce. Soccer, boxing and distance running are major sports. Some Ugandans have gone to the Olympics, and one, Moses Kipsiro, won the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races at last year’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

In a short time, however, baseball has begun to capture the imagination of the young, in part because of the incentive of being able to compete internationally.

The Little League World Series, the pinnacle of the organized youth game, started in 1947 with teams only from the United States. Teams from Mexico and Canada joined in the 1950s. During the ’60s, the tournament grew to include Europe and Asia. The current 16-team format, which includes eight international teams, was adopted in 2001. This year’s play is scheduled to begin on Aug. 18.

Ivan Matovu, a pitcher who is Uganda’s top player, said he had been looking forward to visiting the United States.

“I want to see how American people live,” he said.

For Ivan, baseball is a chance for a better life. His parents separated when he was 3. Then his father died and his mother remarried and left him with her parents. His grandfather, who died last year, was the groundskeeper of a rugby field where baseball practices took place.

“Boys played baseball in the field next to the house,” Ivan said. “I liked it and started to play.”

Now his grandmother, Deziranta Namigadde, who is about 50, is his sole provider. Together they and two teenage girls and a boy in primary school live in a round tin shed, about eight feet in diameter, that was previously used to store tools. The house is dark and cramped. There is no netting to protect against mosquitoes that might carry yellow fever or malaria.

The other children are relatives of Ivan’s, although he calls them his brother and sisters. He is the only one who sleeps on his own mattress. Toilets are in a separate structure about 20 yards from the shed. The children fetch water from a well.

Ivan already has an idea about the doors baseball can open. At 6, he went to Japan with a group called JIGA, Japan’s equivalent of the Peace Corps, which provides baseball equipment to developing countries.

Where Felix is outgoing, Ivan is reserved — until he steps on the diamond, where he immediately takes charge.

“I would like to be a major league baseball player,” he said. “I want to achieve it by practicing hard.”

Little League baseball was introduced to Uganda eight years ago by Richard Stanley of Staten Island, a part-owner of the Yankees’ Class AA Trenton Thunder.

Stanley, 68, has spent more than $1.5 million of his own money carving emerald diamonds out of Uganda’s rich red earth, including a 40-acre complex in Mpigi, 20 miles west of Kampala, the capital.

He first visited the country under a United Nations economic development program. He founded the first youth team in Kampala in 2005.

Though baseball has caught on quickly here, only 200 children in the country actually play in Little League. The main obstacles are the lack of equipment and coaches.

In contrast to the United States, parents here are simply not involved. Most coaches are young men in their 20s and 30s, like Kirya Aron Jacob.

“Kids here have to explain to their parents about the game,” Jacob said. “Hardly any support is given to the kids, and sometimes, the parents stop their kids from playing baseball. But these kids have developed vision and hope for their lives through baseball, and most of them dream of playing in the major leagues.”

For the last two years, coaches from Major League Baseball’s Global Envoy Program have conducted two-week camps for players of all ages at the Mpigi complex, which is at the end of a long, rutted dirt road lined with small banana tree groves and windowless brick houses.

The children get up early, train all day and stick around for pickup games long after formal drills end. They all know English — Uganda is a former British colony, which Winston Churchill called the Pearl of Africa because of its lush, green landscape.

“Good dashing!” a player yelled out as his teammate hustled to first base.

“Boom!” was an affirmation of anything good, a solid hit or a sparkling defensive play.

Stanley travels to Uganda several times a year to oversee games, build fields and meet with government officials, whose support is needed for the program’s expansion.

Uganda, which was to play its first Little League World Series game against Canada on Aug. 19, qualified by winning the Middle East-Africa regional tournament last month against Saudi Arabia, which had won the zone for the last 11 years. The tournament was held in Kutno, Poland, to avoid the intense heat of the Middle East.

The victory seemed a vindication of sorts. A year earlier at the same tournament, Uganda defeated Saudi Arabia in a protest-marred game in pool play, but a loss to Kuwait and a tie-breaker rule that was first misinterpreted in Uganda’s favor — the criterion was fewest runs per inning allowed — kept the team out of the regional final.

This year, Uganda took a 6-1 lead into the last inning in the championship game. The Saudis loaded the bases with two outs, and a weak pop-up that should have ended the game fell between the shortstop and the third baseman. After a series of wild throws, the three base runners scored, leaving the batter standing on third with the potential tying run at the plate. But the next hitter grounded out, giving Uganda a 6-4 victory and igniting a wild celebration on the field.

“I feel good that we beat the Saudis and are the first African team to go to the U.S.,” Felix said.

Players chosen for the Ugandan team come from Little League programs in Kampala, Jinja, Mugazi and Soroti, about 100 miles to the north. In May, they were taken to Mpigi.

“The individual programs have no formal schedule of games,” Stanley said. “To qualify for tournaments, teams have to play at least 12 organized games. So we brought them here. They all played 14 to 15 games in the space of 10 days.”

The Little League World Series was to have been the first step toward his ultimate goal: sending players to the big leagues, just as in the Dominican Republic, South Korea and Japan.

“The world will come to know about baseball in Africa,” Jacob said before the State Department announced its decision. “This will put Uganda on the world baseball map.”

Unfortunately for the Ugandans, for this year at least, that talent will not be on display for the world to see.

“A kid may not know his birthday,” Stanley said. “They don’t have cake and ice cream.”

Tadej Znidarcic contributed reporting.

© 2011 The New York Times Company

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Buy a copy of Chernobyl - Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment/Some Worry Tennessee Town May Be World Nuclear Waste Dump

Dr. Janette D. Sherman will be speaking on August 6 at 5:30 PM at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Consider buying the book listed below, as she was its consulting editor.  Kagiso, Max

 

Chernobyl Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment

 

by Alexei V. Yablokov, Vastly B. Nesterenko and Alexey V. Nesterenko.

Consulting Editor:  Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger. 327 pages.

 

Originally published in 2009 by the New York Academy of Sciences at $150.00, the right to reprint has been transferred to the authors and is now available for $10.00, plus postage.  This includes an index that was not part of the original book.

 

Number of Books                               Postage          Total Cost

 

One   @  $10.00                                $2.82             $12.82

 

Ten      100.00                                12.82             112.82

 

Etc.!

 

Please order directly from:

 

GREKO PRINTING

260 W. Ann Arbor Rd.

Plymouth, MI 48170

734-453-0341  (9 to 5, Mon. to Fri., EDT)

e-mail:  ORDERS@GREKOPRINTING.COM

 

Include credit card number, expiration date, number of books and address where books are to be sent.

Orders from foreign countries welcome postage will be additional.

=============================================

As we watch events unfold at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan, radioactive nuclides are spreading around the entire northern hemisphere.  Prof. Yablokov and his colleagues cite some 5000 studies of wild and domestic animals, birds, fish, plants, trees, mushrooms, bacteria, viruses, and yes- humans - that were altered, some permanently as a result of the Chernobyl radioactive releases.  Animals and humans developed similar abnormalities and diseases, including birth defects and cancers.  Radioactive releases from Chernobyl continue today 25 years later.  This book documents the dangers from nuclear power, Fukushima being the most recent.

========================================================================

The E-book is available for $2.99

 

Please share this information with your associates.

 

Thank you,

 

Janette D. Sherman, M. D.

 

www.janettesherman.com

 

http://www.amazon.com/Chernobyl-Consequences-Catastrophe-Environment-ebook/dp/B004X8DOQC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1303313547&sr=1-1never-ending perils

 

=============================================

Some Worry Tennessee Town May Be World Nuclear Waste Dump

by Tim Ghianni

NASHVILLE, Tenn - A new contract to process 1,000 tons of nuclear waste from Germany has environmental activists concerned that the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee could become a prime destination for the world's nuclear trash.

The city in east Tennessee was founded by scientists who were developing the atomic bomb during World War II. It continues to be a center for the nuclear industry. A new contract to process 1,000 tons of nuclear waste from Germany has environmental activists concerned that the town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee could become a prime destination for the world's nuclear trash. (photo: theparadigmshifter)

It has processed nuclear waste for decades, including some from Britain and Canada. But the large German contract, its first from continental Europe, marks a significant expansion and has raised eyebrows.

"With current regulatory conditions, there is nothing stopping really great quantities of radioactive waste materials from coming from all over the world to be processed in Tennessee," says Don Safer, chairman of the board of the Tennessee Environmental Council, said on Tuesday.

The expansion comes at a time of heightened global concern about nuclear energy after the earthquake and the radioactive releases from damaged reactors in Japan. Since the Japan earthquake, Germany has decided to phase out its nuclear power industry by 2022 because of concerns about safety.

The company that processes the nuclear waste, Utah-based EnergySolutions LLC, said that under the German contract it will process residue from hospitals mainly by shrinking the volume a factor of 200-to-1, and then sending it back to Germany. The residue will begin arriving later this year, said Mark Walker, vice president of marketing and media relations for EnergySolutions in Salt Lake City.

"What people don't understand is that we are talking about the kind of products and waste materials that you find in your doctor's office. It's not high risk," said Parker Hardy, president of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

Initial fears about the project were allayed by briefings with EnergySolutions and a visit to the incinerators, said Oak Ridge city manager Mark Watson.

"What we are talking about is we aren't melting down heavy metals here," he said.

But Safer said that even people who are in favor of nuclear power should question importing foreign nuclear waste to a state which he said puts "very little scrutiny" on the industry.

(Editing by Greg McCune)

© 2011 Reuters

 

Source URL: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/07/28-1

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

 

Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 3

51] Rent Party – July 31

52] ReThink the Leaf – July 31

53] Sustainable Seafood – July 31

54] Get on Bridge for peace – July 31

55] Philadelphia Peace Vigil – July 31

56] Revolution Immortalized – July 31

57] Red Emma's Meeting – July 31

58] Pentagon Vigil – Aug. 1

59] Protest the death penalty – Aug. 1    

60] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Aug. 1 – Aug. 4

61] DC CISPES Reportback – Aug. 1    

62] Pledge meeting – Aug. 1

63] Hiroshima commemoration – Aug. 6

64] Nagasaki commemoration – Aug. 9

65] Raise funds to fight cancer – through Aug. 21

66] Sign up with Washington Peace Center

67] Fund Our Communities campaign

68] Submit articles to Indypendent Reader 

69] Donate books, videos, DVDs and records

70] Join Global Zero campaign

71] War Is Not the Answer signs for sale

72] Publish your peace article

73] Click on The Hunger Site 

74] Fire & Faith  

75] Join Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil

 

51] – There is an Old Fashioned Rent Party for Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture on Sat., July 30 at 6 PM at 4614 Central Ave. NE, WDC 20019 [1 ½ blocks east from Benning Rd. Metro Blue Line].  Long time community organizer and fighter for justice, Sister Asantewaa has recently been faced with severe financial challenges due to being laid off from work.  Her close friends and comrades, Rick and Michele Tingling-Clemmons are inviting you to their home for food, music, videos, great conversation and fun . . . all for a worthy cause! RSVP at 202-388-1111.

 

52] – ReThink the Leaf is a benefit and silent auction with the proceeds going to NORML Women's Alliance. It takes place on Sat., July 30 at 7 PM at the Metro Gallery, 1700 N. Charles St. Greta Gaines will perform southern rock, and there is no charge.  Call 410-244-0899 or go to http://www.themetrogallery.net.

 

53] – Sustainable Seafood is the Summer Sunday Discussion on Sun., July 31 from 10:30 to 11:30 AM with Lisa Alderson.  What is happening to the world's marine ecosystems? What can we do to reverse the trend(s), including how can we be responsible consumers? Join others at the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Baltimore, MD 21201-4517. Call 410-581-2322 or visit www.baltimoreethicalsociety.org.

 

54] – Maryland Bridges for Peace welcomes you to stand for peace Sundays from noon (or thereabouts) to 1 PM on the Spa Creek Bridge in Annapolis.  Contact Lucy at 410-263-7271 or mdbridgesforpeace@toadmail.com. Signs are not allowed to be on a stick or pole.   If there is interest, people will be standing on the Stoney Creek Bridge on Fort Smallwood Road in Pasadena [410-437-5379 or magicalgodmom@aol.com]. Go to http://BridgePeace.blogspot.com/

 

55] – Every Sunday, 4 to 5 PM, there is a Quaker Peace Vigil at Independence Mall, N. side of Market between 5th and 6th Sts., Philadelphia. Call 215-421-5811.

 

56] – Revolution Immortalized: A tribute to the Prophetic Work of Gil Scott-Heron takes place on Sun., July 31 from 5 to 7 PM at  Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th St NW, WDC 20001-2517.  This will be an evening of music, poetry, and film in tribute to one of the great political artists of recent decades.  It will feature musical performances by the Neo-Groove Movement, Head-Roc and Saleem Waters, who played with Gil Scott-Heron several times.  There will be poetry by Holly Bass, Jonathan Tucker, BYPO PHOENIX and the DC Youth Poetry Slam Team.  There is no cover, but $5 to $10 donations are encouraged and will go to Empower DC.  Go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=123170431110826.

 

57] – Red Emma's needs volunteers.  Stop in to the weekly Sunday meeting at 7 PM at 800 St. Paul St. or email info@redemmas.org.  The next meeting is July 31. There is no meeting on the first Sunday of the month.  Call 410-230-0450. If you would be interested in volunteering or becoming a collective member of 2640, send an email to 2640@redemmas.org.

 

58] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop.  The next vigil is Mon., Aug, 1, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.  Call 202-882-9649.

 

59] – There is usually a vigil to abolish the death penalty every Monday from 5 to 6 PM, outside the prison complex and across the street from Maryland's Super Max Prison, at the corner of Madison Ave. and Fallsway in Baltimore.  Recently death row was moved out of Baltimore, but it was decided to continue the vigil. The next one is scheduled for Mon., Aug. 1. Call 410-366-1637.

 

60] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Thursday from 5 to 7 PM on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org.   The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org 

 

61] – On Mon., Aug, 1, from 7 to 10 PM, you are invited to the DC CISPES Reportback at 1830 Belmont Rd. Washington DC, 20009!  During this celebration you will get an update on Salvadoran news from Jeannie who just returned.  Go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=258861550797999.

 

62] – The Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore usually meets on Mondays at 7:30 PM, and the meetings now take place at Max's residence.  At the next meeting on Aug. 1, the agenda will include a presentation by Molly Porter about her group Good Jobs, Better Baltimore, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki commemoration and a Town Hall meeting about military spending.  To get directions, call Max at 410-366-1637 or email mobuszewski at verizon.net. 

 

63] – Participate in Baltimore's Hiroshima commemoration on Sat., Aug. 6 at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., beginning at 4:30 PM with a Crabshell Alliance vigil to honor the victims of the nuclear energy disaster at Fukushima, Japan.  David Eberhardt will read poetry, and Janette D. Sherman M.D. [physician • author • activist] will address "Fukushima and the Nuclear Establishment." At 6:30 PM, there will be a potluck dinner. Email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

 

64] – Participate in Baltimore's Nagasaki commemoration on Tues., Aug. 9 from 5 to 6 PM at 34th & N. Charles Sts. with a vigil against the weapons contracts of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory--$846 million in FY 2010. At 6:15 PM, march to Bufano Sculpture Garden for a remembrance ceremony. David Eberhardt will read poetry. There will be a report on the U.S. Mayors Conference and the anti-war and anti-nuke resolutions which were passed. Then there will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St.  Email mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

 

65] – Susan Ingram is in training for the Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon set for Aug. 21 at Centennial Lake in Columbia.  She is doing the race to help me recuperate and get back in shape after suffering a broken right arm/shoulder in January.  She has registered to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and is racing in honor of her mom and dad, Tom and Margaret Ingram.  Both of my parents fought cancer. Mom survived. Dad did not.  Susan is blogging at her newspaper: www.communitytimes.com.  And if you feel so inclined, she would be grateful for any amount of donation you could make on her donation page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/md/irongcol11/singrambto.

 

66] – The Washington Peace Center has a progressive calendar & activist alert! Consider signing up to receive its weekly email: info@washingtonpeacecenter.org.

67] – Fund Our Communities campaign – is a new grass roots movement to get support from local organizations and communities to work together with their local and state elected officials to pressure Congresspersons and senators to join with Congresspersons Barney Frank and Ron Paul, who have endorsed a 25% cut to the federal military budget.  Bring home the savings to state and county governments to meet the local needs which are under tremendous budget pressures.  Go to www.OurFunds.org.      

 

68] – The new Indypendent Reader is seeking articles for its web site at http://www.indyreader.org.  Submit an article.  

 

69] – If you would like to get rid of books, videos, DVDs or records, contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at verizon.net. 

 

70] – Join an extraordinary global campaign for the elimination of nuclear weapons: http://www.globalzero.org/sign-declaration. A growing group of leaders around the world is calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons and a majority of the global public agrees.  This is an historic window of opportunity.  With momentum already building in favor of Zero, a major show of support from people around the world could tip the balance. When it comes to nuclear weapons, one is one too many.  

 

71] – WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER signs from Friends Committee on National Legislation are again for sale at $5.  To purchase a sign, call Max at 410-366-1637.

 

72] – Publish Your Peace Article. Daniel Frasier is soliciting peace articles for the biweekly series of commentaries Paths to Peace in the Frederick News Post Religion and Ethics section. For details, email path2peace07@yahoo.com.

 

73] – The Hunger Site was initiated by Mercy Corps and Second Harvest, and is funded entirely by advertisers.  You can go there every day and click the big yellow "Give Food for Free" button near the top of the page; you do not have to look at the ads. Each click generates funding for about 1.1 cups of food.  So consider clicking.  

 

74] – Go online for FIRE AND FAITH: The Catonsville Nine File. On May 17, 1968, nine people entered the Selective Service Offices in Catonsville, Maryland, and burned draft records in protest against the war in Vietnam. View http://www.prattlibrary.org/digital/.

 

75] – Peace Park Antinuclear Vigil takes place every day in Lafayette Park, 1601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 24 hours a day, since June 3, 1981.  Go to http://prop1.org; call 202-682-4282.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/.

 

"One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible. It may or may not be possible to turn the US around through nonviolent revolution. But one thing favors such an attempt: the total inability of violence to change anything for the better" - Daniel Berrigan