Whom do the New York Times and the Guardian REALLY work for?

New York Times editor Bill Keller's comments about the range of leaked documents by WikiLeaks fell into three categories: First was the importance of protecting individuals who had spoken candidly to American diplomats in oppressive countries. We almost always agreed on those and were grateful to the government for pointing out some we overlooked: That sometimes meant not just removing the name, but also references to institutions that might give a clue to an identity and sometimes even the dates of conversations, which might be compared with surveillance tapes of an American Embassy to reveal who was visiting the diplomats that day. The second category included sensitive American programs, usually related to intelligence. We agreed to withhold some of this information, like a cable describing an intelligence-sharing program that took years to arrange and might be lost if exposed. In other cases, we went away convinced that publication would cause some embarrassment, but no real harm. The third category consisted of cables that disclosed candid comments by and about foreign officials, including heads of state. The State Department feared publication would strain relations with those countries. We were mostly unconvinced!

Hugo Chavez Creates His Own Hague Tribunal

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is creating an analog of the Hague Tribunal and the Commission on Human Rights. He made a statement to that effect during the show "Hello President". According to him, that proposal has already been supported by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. According to Chavez, the action will promote greater independence in Central and South America. This was Chavez's hint that the dictatorship of the West, meaning the United States of America, which rules South America with an Iron Hand, will not achieve a unilateral dictatorship over Central and South America. Chavez points to the number of Serbs which were hunted by the West, often exceeding others involved in the conflicts in the Balkans, including Albanians, Bosnians, and Croats, among others. The action initiated by Chavez is apparently an act of self-defense, especially in view of the possibility of judicial action for the possibility of judging Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, for shooting at "civilians" with combat aircraft. At the same time, Chavez is concerned about his own fate: Like Libya, Venezuela has large oil reserves, which may be subject to outsider exploitation of more powerful superpowers like the United States.

US Declinesto Give Details on Japan's Radiation

US government officials, in private sessions on Capitol Hill Friday, repeatedly declined to give details of radiation measurements at the stricken Japanese nuclear complex, saying the situation is shrouded in a "fog of war." Separately, the Obama administration said Friday "miniscule quantities" of radiation from the Japanese nuclear accident were detected Friday at a monitoring station in Sacramento, Calif., a day after similar traces of radiation were detected in Washington state. The administration said the levels of the radioactive isotope xenon 133 were approximately equivalent to one-millionth the dose received from the sun, rocks or other natural sources. The Obama administration's reluctance to detail in public what it is learning from radiation-detection operations around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi complex in Japan highlights a broader sensitivity in the US's posture toward a stricken ally. The shift comes after statements Wednesday by the head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that painted a grimmer picture of the nuclear crisis than Japanese had offered, and suggested that the US didn't trust the information coming from the Japanese government.

Japan Contemplates 'Chernobyl Solution' For Nuclear Disaster!

Engineers at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant in northern Japan have extended a new emergency power cable to the front of the complex - hoping to create a medium-term solution to the plant's ongoing cooling problems. Staff at the plant have been battling to maintain cooling systems at the plant since the 9.0-magnitude earthquake a week ago - and the resulting tsunami - knocked out both the primary and backup cooling systems at each of the plant's six nuclear reactors. Each core reactor has faced the possibility of overheating as a result - with some of the active nuclear cores already having gone into partial meltdown. Overnight, however, engineers finished laying a new industrial electricity supply to the plant - a move which could allow the primary cooling systems to be restored, allying any major fears of further meltdowns. Operations to restore power through the new facilities were underway at the time of publication, government spokesman Yukio Edano confirmed. If the operation proves unsuccessful - or even if it is - a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has acknowledged that it could pursue the so-called "Chernobyl solution" to stop any further radioactive emissions from the facility. That solution would involve effectively burying the plant with sand and concrete to seal it off from the outside world - a tactic which, as the name suggests, was used at the Chernobyl power plant in the Ukraine after its explosion in 1986.

Christian Parenti: The Nuclear Crisis in Japan is out of Control

Three reactors are in partial meltdown, two are leaking radiation, at least one pool full of eighty tons of "spent" uranium fuel rods may be burning, two other such pools are getting very hot. Three major explosions have destroyed much of the Fukushima plant's basic infrastructure, like cranes, monitors and mechanical controls. Japanese officials have prevaricated, fumbled and have now largely retreated; the distressed plant is just too hot. Their understanding of the crisis is fragmentary. What they tell the public is even more limited. In total desperation they bombed the site with water dropped from helicopters but aborted that plan when radiation exposure proved too dangerous. Radioactive fallout is already sickening people, and this is just the beginning. Fukushima is a grave warning. The message is clear: Systems fail, the unthinkable happens. Yet even in the face of this catastrophe, a gang of pro-nuclear zealots, like Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Republican Congressman Devin Nunes of California, are saying the crisis will actually be good for the much-hyped but elusive "nuclear renaissance." Nunes wants the United States to build 200 new nuclear plants! But that figure, while stunning, is largely meaningless. Why not call for 301 or 517 new plants?

Lou Pritchett, Proctor & Gamble: A Chilling Letter From a Proctor and Gamble Executive to Obama!

Lou Pritchett is one of corporate America's true living legends, an acclaimed author, dynamic teacher, and one of our world's highest rated speakers: Here's what he has to say to Obama: "You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived, and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me. You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America, and culturally you are not an American. You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core. You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. You scare me because for over half your life, you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America, and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail. You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad. You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country, where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector. You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one. You scare me, because you you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves. You scare me because you want to kill the America goose that lays the golden egg, which provides the highest standard of living in the world. You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations. You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals. You scare me, because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people. You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient. You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do. You scare me, because you want to demonize and want to silence the Limbaugh's, Hannity's, O'Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view. You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing. Finally, you scare me if you serve a second term, because I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in eight years. By the way: Under George W. the deaths of our soldiers in Afghanistan numbered 575, while under Obama, they amount to 845. I rest my case!!

Japan's Unprecedented Nuclear Disaster Refuels

The nuclear disaster which is unwinding? in Japan has quickly refueled the debate in Europe over the risks associated with production of "nuclear" energy. Immediately after the disaster in the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear complex along Japan's east coast began, Western nuclear "experts" still tried to pacify public worries. It was, for instance argued that the "accident" involving failures of the cooling system in several of Fukushima's nuclear reactors ( yeah, right) could in no way be compared to the disaster that earlier that earlier took place in Chernobyl, in the former Soviet Union. Don't forget: X is an unknown quantity, and a spurt is a DRIP under pressure! But I digress: The explosion and meltdown of one of Chernobyl's nuclear reactors in 1986 admittedly engendered worldwide opposition opposition against civilian nuclear production, but there was no question of a repeat. Instead, the "experts" argued that the Fukushima-Daiichi "accidents" could at most be compared to 1979 accident on Three Mile Island "accident" in our US. But there was NO question of a repeat!