Tag Archives: Japan

Dec 30 2013

Fukushima First Responders beginning to get sick…

Sea Hawk prepares to depart USS Ronald Reagan ...

Sea Hawk prepares to depart USS Ronald Reagan to deliver supplies to Japan. (Photo credit: Official U.S. Navy Imagery)

First responders to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear meltdown have begun exhibiting symptoms, illnesses and sicknesses that are tied to severe radiation exposure very recently — and not just Japanese and likely others, but US Naval first responders, as well.

More than 100 US military service members joined a lawsuit against the owner of the nuclear plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, also known as TEPCO, stating that the exposure they received, which was deemed as safe by both TEPCO and the Japanese government was indeed, NOT safe.

Indeed, one female enlisted sailor aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, that spent roughly a month assisting efforts off the coast of Japan, stated that recently, her menstrual cycle has gone awry, causing excessive bleeding and has also received a recent diagnosis of asthma.  Further, another sailor complains of lumps in his skin and in his jaw, along with stomach ulcers and unusual weight and hair loss.  Frighteningly, when he was tested for radiation exposure after being on the deck of the vessel, the Geiger counter “went crazy” when it scanned his hands — as he was the sailor who lowered the American flag that was given to the Japanese people as a gesture of friendship.  Having been flying during the disaster, it was likely the flag and rope were highly contaminated with radiation.

This having been said, I’m interested to know why the mainstream media isn’t covering this heavily, in America.  I find it very interesting, actually.

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Oct 19 2013

China’s call for a “De-Americanized” Future?

317b5967cf5b1b4ca8849bfa3f7f89e52a4d4aeeWhile this would, no doubt, be disastrous for the American economy, which is vastly based on the “full faith and credit of the United States government” of the United States dollar — could China’s own less-than-impartial statement that the future of the world should be “de-Americanized” have a point?

Partisan infighting in Congress, on top of massive trade deficits with China and Japan (among others) are threatening the faith the world has in the US government’s ability to pay the debts it has already racked up — even in simple interest payments on Treasury Bills and other things.

While there’s yet been a default on any obligation of the United States, if partisan gridlock doesn’t change in Washington, could it be an inevitable future?

Those on the right say our borrowing to fund the government and to pay our obligations say this is an unsustainable model do have a point.  Borrowing forever with no intention to fix it will only result in a catastrophic failure — sooner or later.

However, liberal economics specifically state that when the economy is in a recession, or otherwise growing at an anemic rate, that it is the government’s duty to pump money into the economy to ensure that consumer confidence remains high and that people spend — particularly during problems like high unemployment or lower consumer confidence, the two silver bullets to economic futures.  When people are scared (fiscally speaking) they withhold money; and not spending money grinds the economy to a halt.  Very effectively.

Are both goals mutually exclusive?  I don’t think so.

While a plan to begin to work down our debt obviously needs to be in place, because consumer confidence still hasn’t fully recovered from The Great Recession, this is where [neo?]liberal economics comes in.  Adaptive economics, in particular.  The economy “running itself,” particularly without any regulation, obviously doesn’t work as much as an authoritarian, centrally planned economy.  A government buffer helps “prop up” the economy, while the wheels of the private sector continue to spin.

It’s a mess, but it’s one we can fix — if we come together and work the problem… and not just point fingers — and America can still be a leader in the world.

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Aug 6 2013

This Day in History: 1945: Hiroshima Nuclear Strike

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the United States’ attack on Hiroshima with the nuclear weapon dubbed “Little Boy.” This, along with the strike of “Fat Man” over Nagasaki three days later are the only two uses of Nuclear weapons to date, and catalyzed the end of the War in the Pacific.

The Emperor Showa (a wartime photograph).

The Emperor Showa

Following the signing of the Potsdam Declaration by the United States, the United Kingdom and the Republic of China which called for the surrender of the Empire of Japan on 26 July 1945, the Empire refused the order by the allies and vowed to continue forward.

A few days later, the first bomb was dropped — on Hiroshima. The equivalent of 50,000 pounds of TNT blasted above the city, killing over 100,000. Three days later, with the Japanese licking their figurative wounds from the first strike, the United States Air Force dropped the next weapon on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 50,000.

With further strikes of the weapons of mass destruction possible, including the fact that the Imperial Japanese Navy now devastated to such a point it was unable to function effectively as well as plans to initiate Operation: DOWNFALL, an allied-planned and manned invasion of Japan, AND now a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, the Emperor of Japan, Hirohito (now Showa) ordered the immediate surrender of the Imperial Japanese Forces and unconditionally accepted the terms of the allied forces in the Potsdam Declaration, bringing the War in the Pacific and World War II to an end.

Signing the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Emperor was the Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu si...

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government, on board USS Missouri (BB-63), 2 September 1945.

Afterward, the United States Military Occupation of Japan, which took effect immediately, lasted until 1952. The level of military devastation to the Japanese islands weren’t completely apparent until after the fighting stopped. Devastated infrastructure made caring for the Japanese nation very difficult, but was rebuilt by the efforts of the Occupation and the strong will of their new Japanese friends.

Today, the day is celebrated in Japan as a remembrance to those who died at Hiroshima, and to the valiant efforts to everyone, not just Japanese, who gave their lives to the battles that brought an end to World War on the planet.

In an age where just a few small weapons can destroy the world dozens of times over, those weapons brought about calls for global peace and calls for cooperation never before seen, so their usage would never again be necessary.

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