What Happens In Asia, Doesn't Stay In Asia

The graphic above shows, of course, the after-effects of the Fukushima nuclear melt down of 2011. You can tell because of that little nuclear symbol hovering over Japan.

Depending upon who you listen to, we along the West Coast of North America are all going to die horribly from residual nuclear radiation, or everything is just peachy-keen. Take your pick.

The World Nuclear Association is, quite naturally, on the Pollyanna side of the equation. After all, it's not like they have a vested interest in calming fears and promoting nuclear power development. In the linked article, they say, and I quote:

• There have been no deaths or cases of radiation sickness from the nuclear accident, but over 100,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes to ensure this. Government nervousness delays their return.
• Official figures show that there have been well over 1000 deaths from maintaining the evacuation, in contrast to little risk from radiation if early return had been allowed.

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Fukushima-Accident/

So zero sickness or deaths from radiation, but well over 1,000 deaths from the evacuation, itself. Do you get that? I don't. What are they counting? All refugee deaths from traffic or illness or other causes and tossing that into a mix to come up with some number that minimizes the harm caused by the three reactors melting down? I don't know, but it sure as shootin' is Pollyanna talking.

On the other hand, we get the really gloomy news: We're All Going To Die.

http://www.naturalnews.com/Fukushima.html

In this, there's the offing of a potential hydrogen explosion, skyrocketing thyroid cancer in the United States, just all sorts of good news from this 'happy chat' site.

I'm sure it probably isn't really that bad. After doing a Google search on Naturalnews and reading a bit about them, they seem to be a group that probably spends its Saturday nights dressed like this:

Somehow, I think the news is somewhere in the middle. It's bad. The fisheries are severely impacted and probably millions of fish and other forms of sea life have died, but I haven't eaten seafood since the BP mess in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. It's not worth it.

What got me started with this post is that I was walking down the street yesterday. Because of the huge fires over in Lake County and several days of off-shore flow - the wind blowing from the Cenral Valley toward the coast - it's been hot and yesterday was very smoky. It was also a Spare the Air Day, as declared by the Bay Area Air Quality District.

Okay, fine. I'm all for being sensible and reasonable and a good steward. It's in my best interests not to burn things just to create smoke, or drive a car that smokes from burning oil. But, in my opinion, the concept of Spare The Air days are not just ridiculous. They are downright stupid.

You're not supposed to drive, you're supposed to take public transit. Well, I suspect that if you do drive it's because you can't take public transit. Not every place in the Greater Bay Area is served by buses or trains and driving to the places to which public transit goes, particularly into San Francisco from almost anywhere else, is expensive. So I suspect those who can take public transit already do. The rest need their car for their job, to get to where they need to be.

So back to why I'm writing about this. Take a look at the first image I posted. I got that by Googling "typical north pacific jet stream". How does the wind typically get to California. It comes from Asia - which is why we're all going to die. Which we will whether from nuclear radiation from Japan or from unregulated pollutants issuing from Chinese factories.

Which brings me to the primary point of this post:

Why am I and others like me being made to feel guilty about simply living my life on 'Spare the Air' days? Does China have 'Spare the Air' days? They should if the image below is any indication. That's the Air Quality Index around Beijing. Now, remember the first image in this post, the one that shows the drift from east to west? That's the jet stream and that river of wind carries all of that unhealthy, filthy air from China across the Pacific to North America.

Here, on Spare the Air days I'm not supposed to drive. I'm supposed to take public transit. I know, I know. It's a reminder to everyone to use commonsense and think, but it still irritates me because I am careful and I do think. I don't drive simply for the joy of driving. I can't afford that luxury.

I also think that if we are really serious about improving the environment on this planet, we cannot put the burden on people already doing their best to be good stewards. It is the responsibility of governments to put needed pressure on other governments who flaunt the responsibility of good stewardship.

My car and I, and others like us, aren't going to solve the problem. We can't stop wildfires or volcanic eruptions or other natural effects that cause problems. But, with strict intervention we could have a major impact on the quality of life for everyone if we can influence the Chinese government and others that are the primary polluters that it's in their best interests to clean up their act.

I am not an activist who marches in a circle thrusting a placard in people's faces, but maybe, if we are interested and serious, we can reduce Chinese pollution through individual effort. Like not buying absolutely everything we do from Chinese producers. What about looking for other sources? If the Chinese factories aren't working to produce what we buy, maybe that will impact the air quality for everyone. I'm willing to try, how about you?

Maybe this should be one of the planks in the political platforms this coming election cycle. After all, we all breathe the same air. Wouldn't it be nice if it was cleaner?

Go breathe - carefully - and have a lovely day.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories

Here We Go Again. Another Shooting. Another Cry for Curtailment of Freedoms.

Another shooting by someone who should never have laid hands on a gun.

First off, from the Washington Post:

"Roof lived about 15 miles southeast of Columbia, the state capital, in Eastover, court records show. He was arrested twice earlier this year, once on a drug charge and later for trespassing, records show. Both arrests occurred near Columbia."

In one sentence, the CNN report says:

"It's uncertain who bought the gun Roof used."

In the very next paragraph the same report says:

 

"A senior law enforcement source told CNN the suspect's father had recently bought him a .45-caliber gun for his 21st birthday in April."

Followed by: 

"But Roof's grandfather says it was just "birthday money" and that the family didn't know what Roof did with that money."

A young man, recently arrested for drugs - not clear whether it was 'simple' possession or if he was dealing or trafficking - and daddy gives him a gun. Or maybe he bought it, as grandpa suggests.

In either case, this rat-ass punk needs to go down - hard and for a long time. Preferably permanently, in my view.

In this case, if his father provided him that gun, knowing his son uses drugs, the father should be charged as an accessory before the fact, and he should face precisely the same charges as the perp.

In this case, it seems that the dealer who sold the gun did not do the appropriate background check which should have turned up the pending drug charge. That would have knocked this moron off the eligible list for ownership - if he bought the gun, himself.

But let's go back to daddy. Did he buy the gun? Did he give it to his son, the one with the drug charges? If he did, see above. Charge the bastard as an accessory.

I got diverted, sorry. Now I'm really going to let loose because I'm tired of all this. Because I own guns I am, apparently, evil. I just posted this on Authonomy in response to a post there:

Good idea. Let's pillory everyone who owns a firearm. Completely ignoring the vast majority of gun owners who don't do evil things.

The fact that this moronic punk's idiotic father gave him the gun? Ignore it!
The fact that this moronic punk was arrested earlier this year on drug charges (still pending) and this punk's idiotic father overlooked that little titbit? Ignore it!

Pillory all the fucking gun owners who have never caused harm to another human being. Blacken us all with the same brush. We're all evil. Just little Satans waiting for our turn.

Oh, and while we're at curtailing the freedom given by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution - which is there for good reason if you read history (it's to ensure that the people have the ability to protect themselves and to protect their country, if it comes to it) - let's get rid of cars, too. Far too dangerous those things. Look at how many people are killed in this nation of 350M+ each and every day in car accidents.

Look at this: 2013 Traffic Deaths

There were 30,057 fatal motor vehicle crashes in the United States in 2013 in which 32,719 deaths occurred. This resulted in national motor vehicle crash death rates of 10.3 deaths per 100,000 people and 1.11 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

About the same as those who die by gunfire except that about 20,000 of gunfire deaths are deliberate and self-inflicted. If someone really wants to kill themselves, they don't need a gun to do it. With 11,000 gun murders … why that's three times fewer gun murders than fatal car accidents, meaning cars are three times more deadly than guns.

So yes, we need to ban cars. Immediately. Oh! And, they contribute to global warming or climate change (which ever is the term du jour), too. Their effect on the environment will cause far more death and destruction than guns when the seas rise and Florida gets inundated.

Let's ban drugs, too. All drugs. Not just the street drugs. Watch American television and see the ads from the ambulance chasing lawyers about ‘bad drug call so-and-so’. Drugs are bad. Drugs that are supposed to be good for you, to help you live, are bad - ban 'em. Every single one of them.

Doctors and hospitals - healthcare workers of all stripes need to be banned. Look at how many people die in hospitals due to preventable errors:

2014 Preventable Medical Deaths

It's a chilling reality – one often overlooked in annual mortality statistics: Preventable medical errors persist as the No. 3 killer in the U.S. – third only to heart disease and cancer – claiming the lives of some 400,000 people each year.

Why my god! These people go to medical school. They're trained and spend years learning their craft - but end up killing 400,000 people each year! Ban ‘em. Ban ’em all. Take away their medical licenses and if they practice, throw ‘em in prison.

They’re more than 300x more dangerous than a gun owner. Ban 'em all, I say!

Okay, rant over. All I ask is that people be reasonable. If this dumbass had deliberately driven his car into a crowd of black people, running over as many as he could while screaming racial epithets would we be talking about banning cars? No. We would be talking about what an evil person this man is.

Back to life, back to living and earning my keep.

Best~
Philippa

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories