More than one actually but all I want is one good one.

Into the no-man’s land of Fukushima
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 16:26 EST
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Topics: Fukushima Daiichi ♦ Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant ♦ japan


FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI, Japan — Every two minutes on the bus ride through the ghost towns surrounding Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a company guide in a white protective suit holds up a display showing the radiation level. And it is rising.

Passing through the disaster exclusion zone visitors catch sight of houses that look like they could be anywhere in Japan, except for the odd sign that there is no-one to look after them; that no-one has lived here for nearly a year.

Occasionally an animal appears in a garden, left to fend for itself by owners who fled when the plant’s nuclear reactors began spewing their poison last March.

Still the radiation level is rising.

The small delegation of visitors, including an AFP journalist, sit quietly on the bus, covered head to toe in suits designed to keep radioactive particles off their skin, their clothes and out of their hair.

A row of pine trees stands at the entrance to Fukushima Daiichi, a name that has become become etched into public consciousness over the past 12 months as the world watched the worst nuclear accident in a generation unfold.

Still the radiation level is rising.

The nervous chatter quietens and some on the bus pull their protective suits tighter around their necks before full face masks that cover the eyes, nose and mouth are handed out.

Dosimeters tucked inside the suits silently measure any radiation that makes it through the protective gear as passengers file out of the bus in front of the mangled remains of one of the reactors.

Twisted metal and debris litter the ground near the building, which was partially destroyed by a hydrogen explosion following the enormous tsunami that swept through an unprepared power station last March.

The now gentle waves lap at the shore just metres (yards) from the tour group as it passes broken vehicles and splintered trees that are still to be cleared.

A five-minute ride away is the plant’s control centre, a building that is fully staffed round the clock by some of the 3,000 workers at the plant whose duty it is to tame the reactors.

Among the half dozen bunk beds that line the room, French Energy and Industry Minister Eric Besson is briefed on efforts to shutter the plant, a project that even the most optimistic say will take decades.

Besson, the first foreign politician to set foot inside the plant since the disaster struck, urges courage from the employees and contract workers for Tokyo Electric Power who spend their days at the plant.

For France, which relies on nuclear power for 80 percent of its electricity needs, the blow to nuclear power that Fukushima struck hit home hard.

“We continue to believe in a civilian nuclear energy programme operated in the safest possible way. We are relying on you to revive this sector,” Besson told workers.

For power-hungry Japan, a solution to its energy problems cannot come soon enough.

All but a handful of its 54 reactors are offline amid public disquiet over the safety of the technology. Within weeks of the anniversary of the disaster on March 11, the last of them is expected to be switched off.

Back on the bus, the minister and his entourage remove their masks again.

The company guide shows them the radiation reading.

Passengers stare out of the window as they pass back through the gates of the plant and back into the no-man’s land of the exclusion zone, where tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes.

In parts of this zone, people will be allowed back some time in the next year or so.

Other areas will be uninhabitable for 30 years.

The bus winds its way back through empty villages, past the deserted houses.

And the radiation reading begins to fall.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/21/into-the-no-mans-land-of-fukushima/

Is nuclear based anything really worth it?

Oh yea, I am sure that I do.

I am not very trusting of anyone including my family so I am sure that triggers red flags.

And then when someone tries to manipulate me, the result isn't good and I am sure that is more than a trigger

Jefferson's Secret Bible (VIDEO)

First Posted: 02/20/2012 9:17 am Updated: 02/20/2012 9:21 am


The first presidential candidate to face attack for his religious beliefs was Thomas Jefferson, in the campaign against incumbent John Adams in 1800. Northern clerics branded Jefferson not only a deist, but an “atheist,” a “heretic” and a “Jacobin” of the French Revolution. “The election of any man avowing the principles of Mr. Jefferson would ... destroy religion, introduce immorality, and loosen all the bonds of society,” wrote one. Jefferson himself did little to push back against the rumors or contradict the inaccuracies. From his perspective, religion was purely a matter of personal concern, not the business of the public at large. After all, Americans had overthrown the institution of the monarchy, which proclaimed the head of state to be also the head of an established religion that all the king’s subjects were supposed to follow. By contrast, the American Presidency was a purely secular office. Why should the voters care -- or even know -- about a candidate’s private beliefs?

Today, historians try to piece together Jefferson’s religious beliefs from what little he wrote about it. Some of the best evidence lies in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in the small volume that is often called “Jefferson’s Bible.” It is a book that Jefferson made himself in the years 1819-1820, when he was retired from public life. Starting with multiple printed copies of the New Testament, Jefferson literally cut and pasted excerpts of the text onto blank pages to create what he called “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” He selected from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in order to compose a single biographical account of Jesus’s life. He included Jesus’s moral teachings, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the many parables recounted in the Gospels. At the same time, Jefferson left parts of the Gospels out of his compilation. Influenced by the Enlightenment, he omitted anything that seemed to him contrary to “Reason,” which included anything miraculous (as the loaves and the fishes) or anything that suggested Jesus himself was divine (the Annunciation and the Resurrection). Jefferson believed that those parts of the New Testament represented misunderstandings or mistakes made by Jesus’s disciples, or inaccuracies added later by authorities of the Christian church.

Jefferson’s experience of public religious controversy was one reason that he kept his book a purely private project. He had no intention of publishing it or even, as far as we know, of showing it to friends or family members. He made it for himself. “I never go to bed without an hour, or half an hour’s previous reading of something moral,” he told one correspondent. His library included many books of philosophy, but the wear on the pages -- he dog-eared his favorites -- suggests that this book was often read.

After Jefferson’s death, the book stayed in the hands of his family. Late in the 19th century, the librarian of the Smithsonian Institution tracked it down and purchased it for the national museum. The book first went on exhibition at the Atlanta Cotton Exposition of 1895. A few years later, the U.S. Congress ordered facsimiles of the book and distributed them to the two chambers. (The Senate supply lasted up into the 1950s.) Meanwhile, the original volume stayed at the museum, but it gradually became more brittle. The museum’s paper and book conservators have now painstakingly rescued it from deterioration. The book is on exhibition, together with the English language Testaments from which Jefferson cut out his excerpts. It is the work of Jefferson’s own hands and the product of his remarkable mind -- a mind that helped to shape the early American republic.

Harry R. Rubenstein
Barbara Clark Smith
Curators of the Smithsonian National Museum Of American History

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/20/thomas-jefferson-secret-bible-v_n_1282852.html?1329747697

Has anyone read it?

Sounds like an interesting read.

I would like to see his interpretation. Although not completely independent thinking, he was daring for his time.

Happy B-day Art.

One year wiser, one year of daily miracles to experience and hopefully lots more of both for many more years.

Because the flu shot is not a live virus, you must have already had the flu when you got the shot.

Since "free will" in a Christian religion environment doesn't exist.

It cannot be a sin in that sense because the only free will that exists is outside of a religion.

The founders did not know how to appear reverent for this country without putting god into the mix. They figured you mentioned god and it got respect. Not realizing of course that they were doing exactly what they said in the constitution should not be happening.

That is why it is so "not" separate from the government as it should be.

Well the Muslim senator used the Quaran for his swearing in so I would suppose that if the president were atheist maybe they would do it on the constitution or something like that if they needed but I am sure it can be done without the bible.

They were rather uncouth.

This is not a violation of freedom of speech, its two idiots who said inappropriate things getting told about their idiocy.

Respectfulness is not a completely lost human trait at least not yet.

They are slowly taking the bible out of court proceedings. They just have people swear to tell the truth but not on a bible. At least here in our state.

So they are slowly realizing the mistake that has been made on having people swear on a god that doesn't make them be more truthful anyway.

Those before us were ignorant on this religion thing.

We have a fight now to get it out of the places it isn't supposed to be.

3 Economic Misconceptions That Need to Die
By The Motley Fool Posted 3:35PM 02/13/12 Economy
1200 Comments Text Size A A A
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GasolineBy Morgan Housel

At a conference in Philadelphia last October, a Wharton professor noted that one of the country's biggest economic problems is a tsunami of misinformation. You can't have a rational debate when facts are so easily supplanted by overreaching statements, broad generalizations, and misconceptions. And if you can't have a rational debate, how does anything important get done? As author William Feather once advised, "Beware of the person who can't be bothered by details." There seems to be no shortage of those people lately.

Here are three misconceptions that need to be put to rest.

Misconception No. 1: Most of what Americans spend their money on is made in China.

Fact: Just 2.7% of personal consumption expenditures go to Chinese-made goods and services. 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on American-made goods and services.

I used that statistic in a recent article, and the response from readers was overwhelming: Hogwash. People just didn't believe it.
The figure comes from a Federal Reserve report. You can read it here.

A common rebuttal I got was, "How can it only be 2.7% when almost everything in Walmart (WMT) is made in China?" Because Walmart's $260 billion in U.S. revenue isn't exactly reflective of America's $14.5 trillion economy. Walmart might sell a broad range of knickknacks, many of which are made in China, but the vast majority of what Americans spend their money on is not knickknacks.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics closely tracks how an average American spends their money in an annual report called the Consumer Expenditure Survey. In 2010, the average American spent 34% of their income on housing, 13% on food, 11% on insurance and pensions, 7% on health care, and 2% on education. Those categories alone make up nearly 70% of total spending, and are comprised almost entirely of American-made goods and services (only 7% of food is imported, according to the USDA).

Even when looking at physical goods alone, Chinese imports still account for just a small fraction of U.S. spending. Just 6.4% of nondurable goods -- things like food, clothing and toys -- purchased in the U.S. are made in China; 76.2% are made in America. For durable goods -- things like cars and furniture -- 12% are made in China; 66.6% are made in America.

Another way to grasp the value of Chinese-made goods is to look at imports. The U.S. imported $399 billion worth of goods from China last year, which is 2.7% of our $14.5 trillion economy. Is that a lot? Yes. Is it most of what we spend our money on? Not by a long shot.

Part of the misconception is likely driven by the notion that America's manufacturing base has been in steep decline. The truth, surprising to many, is that real manufacturing output today is near an all-time high. What's dropped precipitously in recent decades is manufacturing employment. Technology and automation has allowed American manufacturers to build more stuff with far fewer workers than in the past. One good example: In 1950, a U.S. Steel (X) plant in Gary, Ind., produced 6 million tons of steel with 30,000 workers. Today, it produces 7.5 million tons with 5,000 workers. Output has gone up; employment has dropped like a rock.

Misconception No. 2: We owe most of our debt to China.

Fact: China owns 7.6% of U.S. government debt outstanding.

As of November, China owned $1.13 trillion of Treasuries. Government debt stood at $14.9 trillion that month. That's 7.6%.
Who owns the rest? The largest holder of U.S. debt is the federal government itself. Various government trust funds like the Social Security trust fund own about $4.4 trillion worth of Treasury securities. The Federal Reserve owns another $1.6 trillion.

Both are unique owners: Interest paid on debt held by federal trust funds is used to cover a portion of federal spending, and the vast majority of interest earned by the Federal Reserve is remitted back to the U.S. Treasury.
The rest of our debt is owned by state and local governments ($700 billion), private domestic investors ($3.1 trillion), and other non-Chinese foreign investors ($3.5 trillion).

Does China own a lot of our debt? Yes, but it's a qualified yes. Of all Treasury debt held by foreigners, China is indeed the largest owner ($1.13 trillion), followed by Japan ($1 trillion) and the U.K. ($429 billion).

Right there, you can see that Japan and the U.K. combined own more U.S. debt than China. Now, how many times have you heard someone say that we borrow an inordinate amount of money from Japan and the U.K.? I never have. But how often do you hear some version of the "China is our banker" line? Too often, I'd say.

Misconception No. 3: We get most of our oil from the Middle East.

Fact: Just 9.8% of oil consumed in the U.S. comes from the Middle East.

According the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. consumes 19.2 million barrels of petroleum products per day. Of that amount, a net 49% is produced domestically. The rest is imported.

Where is it imported from? Only a small fraction comes from the Middle East, and that fraction has been declining in recent years. Last year, imports from the Persian Gulf region -- which includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates -- made up 9.8% of total petroleum supplied to the U.S. In 2001, that number was 14.1%.

The U.S. imports more than twice as much petroleum from Canada and Mexico than it does from the Middle East. Add in the share produced domestically, and the majority of petroleum consumed in the U.S. comes from North America.

This isn't to belittle our energy situation. The nation still relies on imports for about half of its oil. That's bad. But should the Middle East get the attention it does when we talk about oil reliance? In terms of security and geopolitical stability, perhaps. In terms of volume, probably not.
A Roomful of Skeptics

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe," said Andy Rooney. Do these numbers fit with what you already believed? No hard feelings if they don't. Just let me know why in the comment section below.


http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/02/13/3-economic-misconceptions-that-need-to-die/?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl11|sec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D136680

Very interesting information.

The right wing crazies want to dismiss the Occupiers the same as they want to dismiss the poor and middle class of this country as unmotivated and lazy.

Showing, of course, that they have never experienced being poor nor being in a life situation that caused them to have to ask for help.
I would never wish it on them but they obviously cannot and will not understand what it is like to be the 98 percent.

Showing how they need to not be put in power in this country since they do not and cannot relate to the majority.

To hear some man tell we are just second rate huh? A semen depository and once deposited it is our responsibility what happens from it. They have been taught that women are the control of their penises and it is our fault what happens from it getting hard as that is our fault too,

Those are the ones who are the problems in our society today.

In answer to your title of the thread, no he probably wasn't against abortion since it did exist in his day

I would say that men have been irresponsibly assigning women the responsibility of bringing children in the world or not for a long time.

So they did not even consider what they may be doing to stop that unwanted reminder of them from coming in to fruition

AH but Wux it may not have existed in the men's minds back then but women on the other hand have been using herbs to abort pregnancies for as far back as women have been able to know of herbs.

I believe the Chinese have the oldest known mixture that was used.

This is not the whole article but enough to let you know what I am speaking of.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortion/a/ancientabortion.htm

Abortion in the Ancient and Premodern World
A History of Traditional Methods

From Pat Fox,
See More About:

abortion history
reproductive rights
ancient history


While modern technology is quite new in historical terms, the practice of abortion and menstrual "regulation" is ancient. Traditional methods have been handed down for hundreds of generations and herbal and other methods have roots in the distant past. It should be noted that many ancient and medieval methods and preparations are extremely risky and many are not at all effective, so experimentation is quite unwise.

We know abortion was practiced in biblical times from the passage in Numbers (note 1) where alleged infidelity is tested by giving an abortifacient potion to an accused pregnant woman. The "bitter water" used to "bring on the curse" may have been quinine or several of other herbal and natural concoctions that are considered emmagogues, or drugs that bring on menstruation.

Such herbs and other concoctions are in reality often implantation inhibitors or abortifacients. According to the biblical tale, if the woman had not been unfaithful, the drug would not work and the pregnancy was assumed to be the husband’s child. If she miscarried, she was considered guilty of adultery and no questionable parentage ensued.

Abortion was recorded in 1550 B.C.E. in Egypt, recorded in what is called the Ebers Papyrus (note 2) and in ancient China about 500 B.C.E. as well (note 3). In China, folklore dates the use of mercury to induce abortions to about 5,000 years ago (note 4). Of course, mercury is extremely toxic.

Hippocrates also offered abortion to his patients despite being opposed to pessaries and potions which he considered too dangerous. He is recorded as having instructed a prostitute to induce abortion by jumping up and down. This is certainly safer than some other methods, but rather ineffective. It is also believed that he used dilation and curettage to induce abortions as well (note 5). Abortion opponents often use the Hippocratic Oath of physicians as an argument against abortion per se, but the opposition had only to do with patient safety.

Herbal methods were likely more common and many of the traditional herbs and mixtures are in use even today. Pennyroyal dates at least to the 1200’s when manuscripts show herbalists preparing it (note 6), but the oil is extremely dangerous and modern herbalists avoid it. Deaths from its use were recorded in the US in the 1990's.

A medieval herbal reference called De Viribus Herbarum referred to herbs to induce abortions even earlier in the 11th century. Pennyroyal was among the herbs mentioned but so were catnip, rue. Sage, savory, cypress, and hellebore (note 6). Some of the drugs are listed as emmagogues rather that explicitly as abortifacents, but since the most common cause of a late menstrual period is pregnancy, there is little doubt why they were prescribed and used. Hildegard of Bingen mentions the use of tansy to bring on menstruation.

Some herbs have been mentioned for centuries. One is a plant called the worm fern whose root is used to cause an abortion. It is telling that it was also known as "prostitute’s root" historically. Also used in the same area of Europe were thyme, parsley, lavender, and savin juniper. Even concoctions of camel saliva and deer hair were used (note 7).

The right of women to seek abortions was not restricted in many places until fairly recently, with most restrictions being related to the time of "quickening" or fetal movement. Even Plato proclaimed the right of women to seek early terminations of pregnancies in "Theaetetus", but specifically he spoke of the right of midwives to offer the procedure. In early times, most pregnancies were not managed by doctors so it was logical that abortion be provided by midwives and herbalists.

Other measures to induce abortions have included iron sulfates and chlorides, hyssop, dittany, opium, madder in beer, watercress seeds and even crushed ants. Probably the herbs most commonly mentioned were tansy and pennyroyal. We know that tansy was used from at least the Middle Ages. One of the most brutal methods was practiced in the Orient in ancient times by violently kneading or beating the abdomen to cause abortion, a procedure with great peril to the woman who used it. Even in the 20th century, women were still trying Hippocrates’ jumping up and down method, likely with as little success as their ancient sisters (note 8).

Wise women have found and used herbs and other preparations to manage their fertility for generations. Some concoctions were contraceptive in nature and others were abortifacients or designated emmagogues. The latter are now believed to have worked to prevent implantation, a sort of ancient morning after pill. What we know for sure is that in the past as well as now women have found ways to manage unwanted pregnancies.

It should be noted that many ancient and medieval methods and preparations are extremely risky and many are not at all effective, so experimentation is quite unwise. There are modern practitioners who do know the folk remedies that are both effective and safe and should be relied upon before even considering such methods. Of course, modern women also have the more familiar medical procedures to choose instead of ancient remedies.
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Going on the Christian version of what god would be if he/she/it existed, god would be liberal. The rich can't reach the kingdom of heaven per the bible nor can any human who condones killing of other humans. Jesus was a great supporter of helping the poor and downtrodden which would make him liberal. Even criminals were forgiven in Jesus' eyes making him liberal.

It is good that they are finally getting data on weed smoking and driving.

It has been needed for a long time and using the data that had both alcohol and weed can't be accurate. So it is good that they are starting to get the data of weed alone now.

Again it would suck to be with a man who believes what the OP has spouted off.

So I do feel sorry for those women.

If a man doesn't want a child he best be doing something to stop it from happening.