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I like Pat. And I like this article, mostly.

However, there are a LOT of circumstances not covered. The 2012 US-drone-strike on targets in the Philippines, condemned by the PH congress back then: that’s one.

Another is the fact that “innocent passage” through the S China Sea is still allowed. It is US warships that China objects to.

Fishing is another issue in the disputes. China is NOT building bases in the S China Sea. (I have read both sides and I am pretty sure of that. However, I am open to new info on this.)

Lastly, PH is a sovereign nation and who knows what BS has been proposed or attempted or achieved by BHO and the World Bank, that we have not heard about. I thank that could be a MAJOR contributing factor in Duterte’s disgust with America: BHO. (”Son of a whore” is an accurate translation of what Duterte said. It means that Obama’s mom was for sale, and that Obama has no birthright. Huh.)

So, I have speculation. Duterte is in a leadership position in a country that is complex, and ready to grow. Like Taiwan (an economic freezone with deep ties to China), the Philippines could become a place of peace, law and order, freedom from crime and terrorism, and prosperity for its people.

Obama (or hillary!) leading the “war on terrorism” in the southern portion of the Philippines is a recipe for DISASTER!!

And manipulation by globalists is a recipe for bankruptcy.

JMHO.

Elections come and go. Republicans make some gains. Their policy of appeasing Democrats continues. Our pprezindnt signs plenty of executive orders. In other words, no big change. However, once the elections are "safely" over, the economy declines.

JMHO.

“Skyrocket”. Hmph. A 1000% increase of 1 death per 100K people is 10 deaths per 100K people.

The Wall Street Journal article explains much and I highly recommend it.

I work at a nuclear power plant much closer to sea level than most of the nuclear plants in the United States. We have sealed vaults to protect some of the important pumps closer to sea level. The majority of the plant is clear of 70' above sea level. If we had a tsunami that high, then we there would be SUCH great death and destruction that our shutdown nuclear power plant would be a drop in a huge bucket. In fact, the same thing is true of Fukushima. (Did you actually read the WSJ article? If so, then you know that the deaths due to radiation exposure is far less than 10 percent of the deaths due to the tsunami itself.)

I don't have blinders on, I am not "bought and paid for" or a "corporate sellout". In fact I am a technician making hourly wages. I have to study all kinds of changes in power plant design and construction over the years, most of them due to problems that have occurred in power plants both in the US and in other countries (dozens of incidents contribute to improvements, not just three mile island). Thus we have redundancies in safety pumps, electrical buses, diesel generators, etc. The goal is that multiple failures will not result in catastrophe during a "design basis accident" (a kind of worse-case scenario).

All that being said, Fukushima was an eye-opening catastrophe. And TEPCO's response was deplorable. The American nuclear power industry is required to change available equipment and facilities and re-evaluate how emergency plans would be implemented in the case of an extended loss of off-site power (along with multiple failures of redundant diesel generators). And lack of plant access due to a natural disaster is now a part of our worst-case scenario planning. Just as security has responded (to the nth degree!) to possible terrorist threats, Emergency Planning is responding to possible natural disasters on the scale of Fukushima.

I don't think I will reassure those who say "We don't know or cannot measure the full effects of the leakage". I can say that controversy and conflict are much more interesting, exciting, newsworthy, and dramatic than realism and facts. And I know that outrage and adrenaline can be addictive.

I just gotta say there are people who fall down a flight of stairs to avoid something with a radioactive material sticker on it (this happened in the Navy, where the stairs are more like ladders). The guy was lucky he survived, no kidding. And the radioactive material was in transit and contained less curie content than a bag of fertilizer.

So, just in case you are still interested in the truth, then here it is, paraphrased and simplified: Other factors being equal, airline pilots are more likely to have occupational-related cancer than nuclear power plant workers. People who live in Denver (the mile-high city) receive a higher annual whole-body dose than the average US nuclear power plant worker. Smokers -- well do I really have to say it??

Groundwater contamination is a problem, radioactive waste leakage into the ocean is a problem, the cancellation of Yucca Mountain waste repository is a problem. (Utilities who contributed millions of dollars for the construction of Yucca Mountain are now having to arrange storage of used fuel on their own plantsites at great expense, and requiring increased security measures).

But if you want a little perspective, then consider the role of alcohol in murders, suicides, and accidental deaths. Less widespread --I mean less pervasive than the role of alcohol in all sorts of deaths-- and relatively less risky would be auto accidents in general. Somewhere around here (maybe more risky than auto accidents) would be lifestyle choices that lead to heart disease and obesity. (I am avoiding any introspection at this point). The agricultural, mining, and oil supply and refinery industries are the biggest occupational hazards (as I understand it). Demographically, some urban residents are quite likely to die of a gunshot wound.... I think that would be somewhere around here. Then as the relative risk continues to go down, we have accidental deaths at the home, infections contracted at hospitals, encounters with animals and snakes, recreational activities (this might be variable depending on the type of activity, eh?), choking and drowning, contracting a disease from an illegal immigrant -- oops did I really write that??? -- and then maybe something like being struck by lightning. Finally (deal with it, liberals) accidental gun deaths. Yes, they are indeed more rare than dying of being struck by lightning, no kidding.

So.... not that I am getting ready to go to the gym ... if you want to worry maybe we should all consider worrying about something we have control over!

The human performance standards, licensing and procedures, regulatory oversight, continuous "operating experience" lessons learned, security measures and screening of personnel, multiple and redundant control and safety systems including automatic shutdown designs, and a comprehensive plan for emergencies that includes power plant corporate leadership as well as local, state, and federal authorities, are all part of making a nuclear power plant safe -- YES, safe enough to live next to!

I will tell you what I tell my wife: if an emergency evacuation is declared due to the nuclear power plant 10 miles away, lock the doors and STAY INSIDE!! Windows can be open if you wish, but you might want to lock them due to possible looters. Do not get in the car and do not travel on the roads. The nuclear power plant is NOT a threat compared to the evacuation chaos, panic, and stupidity.

You life could depend on understanding relative risks, and knowing what an appropriate response would be in various circumstances.

"Careful with that axe, Eugene."

Thanks for posting.
Ping for later reading.

thanks for posting.

Just a little bit more info from someone who works in commercial nuclear power (me). A dying breed?

The Department of Energy was created in the 1970's for the purpose of ... wait for it.... yep "ending dependence on foreign oil". Heh.

Since then no one has taken up the cause or promoted nuclear power (at least not in a major way). We have an ignorant populace -- and not just about nuclear power-- unable to understand comparative risks of all kinds, and the accompanying return on investment.

Industries such as agriculture, chemical, drilling and refining, and non-nuclear power generation have HUGE accident, injury and fatality rates compared to nuclear power plants and occupational radiation exposure. (I have read that a worker receiving the average dose per year -- about 300 mrem, or several chest x-rays -- every year has about a 1 in 1000 chance of cancer related to their occupational exposure, contracted late in life. Airline pilots receive more dose and have about the same statistical risk.)

Yet the public is not informed about this.

A standardized pre-approved power plant design would go a long way toward making nuclear power safer and more affordable. But instead our regulatory agencies require plants meet the standards set forth in multiple volumes of the "Code of Federal Regulations". And multiple submittals of design and construction details are necessary over a period of years in order to determine if the standards are met and the approval eventually granted.

Carbon output? None.

Um... NEI (Nuclear Energy Institute) does a poor job of promotion, even though that is one of their stated goals. INPO (Institute of Nuclear Power Operators, the industry's self-regulation group) has the sharing of operating experience, improvements in standards, and auditing performance at the forefront of their mission. This does help promote nuclear power, mainly by preventing problems in advance. WANO (World association of nuclear operators) is a good group for similar reasons as INPO. And EPRI (Electrical Power ~?research?~ Institute) contributes technical standards and comparative studies. NRC does nothing to promote nuclear power. Corporations may try, but they are --of course-- treated as evil empires by the media. Misinformation abounds, with anti-nuclear groups spreading fear and intolerance even where (or maybe especially where) nearby nuclear power plants keep the local economy afloat.

Its a shame.

And President Obama promised a nuclear renaissance "as long as a safe means of storing and disposing of waste is possible." Then he axed Yucca Mountain, the government project that many nuclear power plant companies contributed to so that their fuel could be moved and stored long term. The US Government owes companies millions of dollars for defaulting on that agreement, but chances are it will never be repaid.

So, of course, without a safe place to send spent fuel, companies have to safely store it themselves, leading to increased costs of engineering, construction, and security, thus effectively paying for storage/disposal twice. And without Yucca Mountain, our president can say -- if he chooses to -- "there is no safe way to store spent fuel, so we cannot go forward with new plants".

New plants are in planning stages in Georgia and South Carolina. don't know how far along they are.

Please put me on your “ping” list.

WHOOOO HOOOOOO yes that journalist's name is certainly FAMILIAR is it not? (See David Cordea and "Fast and Furious")

Oh, I sure hope she is careful and avoids the zippy-critic-sudden-death syndrome! [need I cite sources??? Sheesh]

Its time for more of them to break ranks, stop the lock-step marching to the LyinK ing's tunes, and report the truth. Woodward sure did get lambasted for suggesting (simply remembering the facts, that is) that "sequester" was the Whiet H ouse's idea, no?

You know... this posting (and news story) makes SO MUCH more sense when read correctly. Because at first I thought maybe the LOCK-step de'mon crats had lost their talking points, or that maybe one of them had "left the reservation."

Then I realized it was our wonderful TV commentator/constitutional law specialist Judge Andrew Napolitano, and not Janet Napolitano. HEh. Everyone has to get old someday I guess.

In the end, the truth comes out. Whatever the creature was, it was overexposed in the photo. A good thorough ~analysis by the author of this article has resulted in a rebuttal worth spreading far & wide.

Thanks for posting.

Bookmarked for later.

Thanks for posting.

Back to the top for this one.

Worth a listen as well as a PING!

Thanks for posting! (Bookmarded for later listening).

OldPossum: Elvis Costello was after my time but man, did I love Smokey Robinson! I was working my way through college working part-time as a disc jockey at radio stations from 1962 to 1966 and it was great to hear Smokey and similar artists on the station’s earphones and speakers (believe me, it sounded better than what was on the air). They sounded great. Too bad that today’s young people have to listen to the crap that passes for pop music.

Heh. Fascinating! I wish I had experienced "being a disc jockey", even if it had been on a small radio station, or a college station or whatever. There is very little out there in the way of a playlist generated by a person without the help of the recording industry, the advertising department, computer-generated lists for a target audience, etc etc. I guess maybe on satellite radio and maybe some on the internet?

Oh! Well, radio paradise dot com is something I've enjoyed for quite a few years now. Its playlist is crafted by a guy and his girlfriend or wife I think. And its GREAT!! Songs that you don't generally associate with one another flow naturally and enhance each other. You can sometimes tell the theme (for lack of a better word) of the songs that are being picked. Also, one song will lead to another in ways that show that a HUMAN BEING is behind the programming. And there are no ads, except a short station identifier every once in a while. They are "listener supported". I don't think I have ever heard the same song twice on there. (As you are probably aware, many stations have a "rotation" list, which means of course that you go back to the top and start over at some point.) Radio Paradise opened my eyes to new songs and artists (and to some degree, genres) that I had not heard before.

Their website allows you to choose the streaming rate and digital media type, so you can listen to it on practically any internet link, or with any software.

And I was pleased to see that Roku offers it as a choice on their "streaming media" player. The station owners have added beautiful HD photographs that get displayed on your TV while the songs play. And the artist and song name show up on the screen unobtrusively. I recommend it.

LRoggy: ‘Cruisin’ was my choice for the first dance at my wedding but the band didn’t know it.

Just curious: what year did you get married? No matter what year, "Cruisin" would be a song a good cover band should know. And, yeah! for that amound of money, they SHOULD learn it!! LOL

HMPH. I take this posting personal. Its not good kosher. Its stan-factu-twist dobulued.

Stope now. Hugh. I mien it.

For the music lovers on Free Republic dot com

Thanks for posting.

Did anyone besides me notice that --in spite of the fact that devout Islamists do not have to participate in Obamacare -- there is a man named "Mohammad Akhter" chairing the "D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority Executive Board" ?? Ironic, no?

Please add me to the Benghazi ping list. Thanks

WHo is that in the photo with Broadwell?? (post #144)