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Road to 9/11 * Fascism * FBI * Prisoners * Nukes


30 July 2007
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains
seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all
must be most aware of change in the air - however slight -
lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."


-- William O Douglas

1) The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America
- - An Open Letter To All Senate Judiciary Committee Members
- - House Panel Cites Bush Aides for Contempt of Congress
- - 9/11 Victim's Family Member Demands News Coverage
- - Producer of 9/11 Conspiracy Film 'Loose Change' Arrested
- - Destabilizing Iraq, Broadly Defined
- - Martial Law is Now a Real Threat
- - Tillman Murdered? Guantanamo and Common Dreams
- - Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out
- - Iraqis Blame US Depleted Uranium for Surge in Cancer
- - 1934: The Plot Against America
- - The Dark Heart Of Fascism In The United States
- - Another case IRS loses challenge to prove INCOME tax liability
- - New Radio Ad calls for Activism on 9/11/07
- - GENERAL STRIKE - September 11, 2007 - Poster
2) Corrupt FBI - Families Get $101 Million In Wrongful Conviction
- - Three Decades of Injustice [and counting] for Leonard Peltier
- - The State Is Trying Again To Kill Zolo Agona Azania
3) Accidents Dim Hopes for Green Nuclear Option
- - Genpatsu-shinsai: the language of disaster that is stalking Japan
- - Lies and Leaks: The Earthquake That Screamed "No Nukes!"
- - Converting Waste Heat Into Power

Editor’s Notes:

Item 1 begins with a new book by Peter Dale Scott, called: The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America. Next is an open letter by the ‘Jersey Girls’ to members of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, regarding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ Congressional testimony on July 24, 2007. The letter states: “During Gonzales' testimony, it became abundantly clear that Americans were witnessing the unraveling of the fabric of America. We do not feel that this is an overstatement..” If anything it may be an understatement, as following resources in this item indicate. Note, too, the new radio ads and poster calling for a general strike and new investigation on this September 11.

Item 2 covers more on a corrupt justice system. First is from a court case in Boston, which provided families with $101 Million from an FBI wrongful conviction case. Next is on Leonard Peltier, a Native American who has been in jail for more than three decades, who will be lucky if he gets out alive; and Zolo Agona Azania, an African American, where the courts in Indiana are trying to execute him for a third time.

Item 3 is more on the earthquake in Japan and the fallout that could help stop the insane justification that nuclear power is good for our environment.

"Up to 1,300 million people have been killed, maimed or diseased by nuclear power
since it's inception. The industry's figures massively underestimate the real cost
of nuclear power, in an attempt to hide its victims from the world.."

-- Dr. Rosalie Bertell



1) The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America

- - An Open Letter To All Senate Judiciary Committee Members
- - House Panel Cites Bush Aides for Contempt of Congress
- - 9/11 Victim's Family Member Demands News Coverage
- - Producer of 9/11 Conspiracy Film 'Loose Change' Arrested
- - Destabilizing Iraq, Broadly Defined
- - Martial Law is Now a Real Threat
- - Tillman Murdered? Guantanamo and Common Dreams
- - Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out
- - Iraqis Blame US Depleted Uranium for Surge in Cancer
- - 1934: The Plot Against America
- - The Dark Heart Of Fascism In The United States
- - Another case IRS loses challenge to prove INCOME tax liability
- - New Radio Ad calls for Activism on 9/11/07
- - GENERAL STRIKE - September 11, 2007 - Poster

The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire, and the Future of America
by Peter Dale Scott
http://www.amazon.com/Road-11-Wealth-Empire-America/dp/0520237730/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt/104-4869662-5881559

DESCRIPTION
This is an ambitious, meticulous examination of how U.S. foreign policy since the 1960s has led to partial or total cover-ups of past domestic criminal acts, including, perhaps, the catastrophe of 9/11. Peter Dale Scott, whose previous books have investigated CIA involvement in southeast Asia, the drug wars, and the Kennedy assassination, here probes how the policies of presidents since Nixon have augmented the tangled bases for the 2001 terrorist attack. Scott shows how America's expansion into the world since World War II has led to momentous secret decision making at high levels. He demonstrates how these decisions by small cliques are responsive to the agendas of private wealth at the expense of the public, of the democratic state, and of civil society. He shows how, in implementing these agendas, U.S. intelligence agencies have become involved with terrorist groups they once backed and helped create, including al Qaeda.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter Dale Scott is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of California, Berkeley,
and is the author of Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America (1993) and
Deep Politics and the Death of JFK (1996), both from UC Press.

Reviews--

"Peter Dale Scott exposes a shadow world of oil, terrorism, drug trade and arms deals, of covert financing and parallel security structures-from the Cold War to today. He shows how such parallel forces of the United States have been able to dominate the agenda of the George W. Bush Administration, and that statements and actions made by Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld before, during and after September 11, 2001, present evidence for an American 'deep state' and for the so-called 'Continuity of Government' in parallel to the regular 'public state' ruled by law. Scott's brilliant work not only reveals the overwhelming importance of these parallel forces but also presents elements of a strategy for restraining their influence to win back the 'public state', the American democracy."
--Ola Tunander, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo

"A powerful study of the historic origins of the terrorist strikes of September 11, this book offers an indispensable guide to the gluttonous cast of characters who, since Watergate and the fall of Nixon, fashioned an ever more reckless American empire. By exposing the corrupt U.S. 'deep state'-transfer of public authority to America's wealthy and to the nation's unaccountable secret intelligence agencies-Peter Dale Scott's The Road to 9/11 illuminates the path toward a more democratic and inclusive republic."
--David MacGregor, King's University College at the University of Western Ontario

"The Road to 9/11 provides an illuminating and disturbing history of the American government since World War II. Scott's account suggests that the 9/11 attacks were a culmination of long-term trends that threaten the very existence of American democracy, and also that there has been a massive cover-up of 9/11 itself. This book, which combines extensive research, perceptive analysis, and a fascinating narrative, will surely be considered Scott's magnum opus."
--David Ray Griffin, author of Debunking 9/11 Debunking

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VIDEO - JFK and 9/11 – [Peter Dale Scott]
Insights Gained From Studying Both
57 min - Nov 18, 2006
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7404458118476453937

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- - An Open Letter To All Senate Judiciary Committee Members

By Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken

July 26, 2007

Watching Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testify before Congress on July 24, 2007, for the third time, was excruciatingly painful.

During Gonzales' testimony, it became abundantly clear that Americans were witnessing the unraveling of the fabric of America. We do not feel that this is an overstatement.

The Attorney General, a man who supposedly personifies America's rule of law, obfuscated, committed perjury, and belittled the very institution, the Congress, which makes America a great Democracy. Over and over, we publicly witnessed Gonzales' refusal to answer the questions posed by you - a Committee authorized to conduct oversight duties. You were made to look frustrated and foolish as your attempts at Executive Branch oversight were thwarted by the bizarre, circular non-answers of Attorney General Gonzales. For the third time, you were unable to penetrate his stonewalling.

We want to know, is it not a crime to mislead and outright lie to the Congress? How many more opportunities will you give Attorney General Gonzales to make a farce of our system by denying Congress information that would allow you to do your job and properly perform your oversight role?

The Bush Administration has repeatedly told us that American troops are fighting to spread democracy in Iraq. Ironically, here in America we seem to be losing the core principles that make us one. Mr. Gonzales' testimony and the Administration's refusal to have key people testify at the hearings, without any accountability, make a mockery of our system of checks and balances. We are supposed to have three equal branches of government: the Executive, Judicial and Legislative. While they are often on opposite sides of an issue, the three branches are to be unified in the maintenance of American civil liberties, not working in concert to covertly undermine and rescind them. Again, no one branch is supposed to have absolute power, nor should any combination of the other two be cowed or manipulated into consensus against the interests of the American people.

And, while we support these inquiries and applaud your patience and attempts to solicit truthful and substantive answers to your questions during all of the Gonzales hearings, it was disconcerting to watch the disdainful contempt that the Attorney General exhibited for the entire process.

Sadder still, it appears that you are becoming unwittingly complicit in your own undoing. It is evident that what we are watching is the U.S. Congress in the process of making itself irrelevant. When the Executive Branch alone is allowed to act without any oversight, or any accountability, then what we will become is a dictatorship. And once all Americans realize that Congress is unable to perform any oversight, whether it is due to lack of will or complicity, you will no longer be needed. Once it becomes apparent that the Executive Branch is not only making the laws but also deciding which laws to follow, the Congress will be just a quaint, unnecessary and useless artifact.

This Administration, aided and abetted by some members of Congress, has repeatedly deceived the American people by allowing the Executive Branch to ignore the rule of law and divisions of power specifically stated in the Constitution. This Administration's "constitutionally and legally challenged" activities include, but are certainly not limited to: taking America into a pre-emptive war on false pretenses, warrantless wiretapping, illegal torture, and the political firing of attorneys. Where are those who took an oath to uphold the Constitution and are supposed to represent us in our government ... our Congress?

While we understand that you only have limited tools in your arsenal to address these matters, what we don't understand is why you have yet to use them. We also understand that using these tools may involve a lengthy and highly contentious process that we will all have to endure. Yet in the annals of history, the only thing that will count is whether or not you upheld the rule of law and fulfilled your Constitutional responsibilities. The mere countenance of argument and eventual capitulation will only ensure our collective demise, and the continued abuse of power by others in the future. But by seeking the truth and reestablishing the balance of power you can negate the current Administration's unilateral quest for domination, and hopefully, begin to restore the United States' international and regional standing in the world.

Thus, all options for achieving these goals should be put back on the table.

Show the American public and the world that our democracy has been reinstated. That the system put in place by our forefathers, the system that this Administration says it wants to spread throughout the world is once again viable and indeed worth saving. Fight with all that you have to save our democracy here in America. You owe it to every American, but most of all you owe it to the men and women in the military that have been repeatedly put in harm's way attempting to establish a democracy overseas.

The future of our Democracy is in grave danger. It is imperative that you act immediately.

September 11th Advocates

Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken

http://www.911blogger.com/node/10248
also
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/september-11th-advocates_b_58141.html

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- - House Panel Cites Bush Aides for Contempt of Congress
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/25/2771/

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- - 9/11 Victim's Family Member Demands News Coverage
Takes Story to the Media Directly

9/11 Victim's Family Member Demands News Coverage,
Takes Story to the Media Directly

JonesReport.com | July 25, 2007

During a rally cry for more groups within the anti-war movement to help expose 9/11 truth, Manny Badillo, whose uncle, Thomas J. Sgroi, died in the World Trade Center Towers on September 11, took time out to bullhorn a local news van in attempt to persuade greater news coverage of 9/11 truth.

Badillo, along with other truthers, give a spirited effort, particularly as it was undertaken spontaneously.

Video and rest of article:
http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/250707_911_media.html

False flag operations at 911blogger
http://911blogger.com/node/10130

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- - Producer of 9/11 Conspiracy Film 'Loose Change' Arrested
for Deserting the Army

From 911Truth.org: Originally reported 7/25 in the New York Daily Star, and followed up with another story on 7/26, Loose Change producer Korey Rowe was arrested Monday night at his home in Oneanta, NY. "Rowe was arrested on a 'military warrant' that [the Sheriff] said was brought to the attention of deputies by the Oneonta Police Department, who received information from a source outside of that department."

911truth.org contacted Dylan Avery to ask how we could best help, and were asked, like everyone, to keep this relatively quiet until they figured out "what was going on." Korey has since been released, and posted a video statement at the LooseChange blog.

Almost daily, we learn of more troops being prosecuted for various reasons relating to their resistance and speaking out against the war, including attempts to "re-discharge" them at less than honorable status after previously having been honorably discharged, courts martial, and detention. Many of these soldiers' stories are being told by Courage To Resist, and this week's newsletter from them included information about Korey Rowe. Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW.org) members have particularly come under harassment--they have a good section at the IVAW site on this.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, "President of the Hip Hop Caucus, and an officer in the United States Air Force Reserve, received notification from the Air Force that they were taking action to honorably discharge him on the basis of 'behavior clearly inconsistent with the interest of national security' a week after he announced the launching of a national 'Make Hip Hop Not War' tour at a press conference on Capitol Hill. After anti-war activists, including Cindy Sheehan, began organizing a protest outside the gates, the military later postponed their July 12th hearing at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia."

Clearly, it is very important that we support these GI resisters who are willing to risk saying, "Sir, No Sir", as much as possible. Rev. Yearwood's powerful statement, "Now is the time for us to stand up and stand together," is posted in full at the end of this article.

Interesting that Foxnews.com picked up Korey Rowe's story, and mentions the UK theatrical release of Loose Change Final Cut ... when is the last time we've seen something this "fair and balanced" from them?

— Ed.

Thursday , July 26, 2007
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

'Loose Change' filmmakers Korey Rowe, Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas

One of the young filmmakers behind a controversial 9/11 conspiracy documentary was arrested this week on charges that he deserted the Army, even though he claims he received an honorable discharge.

Korey Rowe, 24, who served with the 101st Airborne in Afghanistan and Iraq, told FOXNews.com that he was honorably discharged from the military 18 months ago — which he said he explained to sheriffs when they pounded on his door late Monday night.

“When they came to my house, I showed them my paperwork,” Rowe said. “The cops said, 'You’re still in the system.'”

Rowe is one of the producers of "Loose Change," a cult hit on the Internet espousing the theory that the U.S. government and specifically the Bush administration orchestrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The movie is set to be released in about 40 British theaters in late August, according to Rowe and fellow filmmakers Jason Bermas and Dylan Avery.

Police arrested Rowe at his house in Oneonta, N.Y., about 10:45 p.m. on Monday and took him to the Otsego County jail, where he spent a day-and-a-half before he was released, he said.

[EXCERPT]

"Loose Change" makes the shocking claim that the World Trade Center's Twin Towers were brought down on Sept. 11, 2001, by the U.S. government in a controlled demolition. It also contends that the military flew a missile into the Pentagon.

For original article: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290942,00.html
For editorial and article, see:
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070727113658379

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- - Destabilizing Iraq, Broadly Defined
July 23, 2007, Washington Post

Be careful what you say and whom you help -- especially when it comes to the Iraq war and the Iraqi government. President Bush issued an executive order last week titled "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq." It could be interpreted as targeting the financial assets of any American who directly or indirectly aids someone who has committed or "poses a significant risk of committing" violent acts "threatening the peace or stability of Iraq" or who undermines "efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform" in the war-torn country.

The text of the order, if interpreted broadly, could cast a far bigger net to include not just those who commit violent acts or pose the risk of doing so in Iraq, but also third parties -- such as U.S. citizens in this country -- who knowingly or unknowingly aid or encourage such people. The targeting of not just those who support perpetrators of violence but also those who support individuals who "pose a significant risk" of committing violence goes far beyond normal legal language related to intent and could be applied in a highly arbitrary manner, said Bruce Fein, a senior Justice Department official in the Reagan administration. Fein also questioned the executive order's inclusion of third parties, such as U.S. citizens who assist, sponsor or make "any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services" to assist people on the Treasury list. "What about a lawyer hired to get someone off the list?" Fein asked. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control keeps a "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons" roll that includes those covered by several such executive orders. It most recently ran to 276 pages.

Truncated, for the complete article, see:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072201141.html

Note: To read the full text of the Executive Order, "Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq,"
click here.

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- - Martial Law is Now a Real Threat
Declaring the US a Battlefield
Pubished in Counterpunch - July 27, 2007
By Dave Lindorff
www.counterpunch.org/lindorff07272007.html

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- - Tillman Murdered? Guantanamo and Common Dreams

Was Pat Tillman Murdered? AP Gets New Documents
www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/27/2819/
also
www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070729135726856
also
Soldier at Tillman's side recalls former final moments
By Martha Mendoza, AP National Writer, July 28, 2007
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/28/state/n181202D33.DTL

5 Years Later, Cameraman Still Held at Guantanamo
www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/27/2814/

Officer Calls Guantanamo Reviews a Sham
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/27/2816/

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- - Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published intelegraph.co.uk - 29 July 2007

Iraqi leader tells Bush: Get Gen Petraeus out
Stormy relationship: Nouri al-Maliki and Gen David Petraeus

Relations between the top United States general in Iraq and Nouri al-Maliki, the country's prime minister, are so bad that the Iraqi leader made a direct appeal for his removal to President George W Bush.

Although the call was rejected, aides to both men admit that Mr Maliki and Gen David Petraeus engage in frequent stand-up shouting matches, differing particularly over the US general's moves to arm Sunni tribesmen to fight al-Qa'eda.

One Iraqi source said Mr Maliki used a video conference with Mr Bush to call for the general's signature strategy to be scrapped. "He told Bush that if Petraeus continues, he would arm Shia militias," said the official. "Bush told Maliki to calm down."

At another meeting with Gen Petraeus, Mr Maliki said: "I can't deal with you any more. I will ask for someone else to replace you."

Gen Petraeus admitted that the relationship was stormy, saying: "We have not pulled punches with each other."

President Bush's support for Mr Maliki is deeply controversial within the US government because of the Iraqi's ties to Shia militias responsible for some of the worst sectarian violence.

The New York Times claimed yesterday that Saudi Arabia was refusing to work with Mr Maliki and has presented "evidence" that he was an Iranian intelligence agent to US officials. "Bush administration officials are voicing increasing anger at what they say has been Saudi Arabia's counterproductive role in the war," it reported.

Alongside the firm support of Mr Bush, Mr Maliki also enjoys the backing of Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador and his predecessor, Zalmay Khalilzad, now America's representative at the United Nations.

Mr Khalilzad took a swipe at Saudi Arabia in an editorial published earlier this month that was widely seen as an appeal for a larger UN role in stabilising Iraq.

Mr Crocker, who attends Mr Maliki's stormy weekly meetings with Gen Petraeus, said the Iraqi leader was a strong partner of America.

"There is no leader in the world that is under more pressure than Nouri al-Maliki, without question," he said. "Sometimes he reflects that frustration. I don't blame him. I probably would too."

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/28/wirq128.xml

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- - Iraqis Blame US Depleted Uranium for Surge in Cancer
www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/24/2742/

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- - 1934: The Plot Against America
By Scott Horton
Published by Harper's Magazine
July 28, 2007

I’m back from the land of heather and thistles, not to mention wee drams and lukewarm ale, but on my way out a friend at the BBC alerted me to this, a not-to-miss program on the BBC this morning, accessible over the next several days by internet. It’s the story of the Plot Against America. I don’t mean the Philip Roth novel, nor even the Sinclair Lewis book, It Can’t Happen Here, but rather the historical events upon which these two works of fiction were based.

In November 1934, federal investigators uncovered an amazing plot involving some two dozen senior businessmen, a good many of them Wall Street financiers, to topple the government of the United States and install a fascist dictatorship. Roth’s novel is developed from several strands of this factual account; he assumed the plot is actually carried out, whereas in fact an alert FDR shut it down but stopped short of retaliatory measures against the plotters. A key element of the plot involved a retired prominent general who was to have raised a private army of 500,000 men from unemployed veterans and who blew the whistle when he learned more of what the plot entailed. The plot was heavily funded and well developed and had strong links with fascist forces abroad. A story in the New York Times and several other newspapers reported on it, and a special Congressional committee was created to conduct an investigation. The records of this committee were scrubbed and sealed away in the National Archives, where they have only recently been made available.

The Congressional committee kept the names of many of the participants under wraps and no criminal action was ever brought against them. But a few names have leaked out. And one is Prescott Bush, the grandfather of the incumbent president. Prescott Bush was of course deep into the business of the Hamburg-America Lines, and had tight relations throughout this period with the new Government that had come to power in Germany a year earlier under Chancellor Adolph Hitler. It appears that Bush was to have formed a key liaison for the group with the new German government.

Prescott Bush, of course, went on to service as a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, and his son, George H.W. Bush emerged from World War II as a hero.

The Plot Against America portrayed in this episode of the BBC series “Document” gives fascinating insight into a dark and little known piece of American history in which the nation stood on the brink of betrayal. The role of the most powerful political dynastic family in the nation’s history in this whole affair is shocking.

Harper's Magazine is an American journal of literature, politics, culture, and the arts published from 1850. Subscriptions start at $16.97 a year.
© The Harper's Magazine Foundation. All rights reserved. · About Harper's · http://www.harpers.org/harpers/contact Contact Harper's

www.harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000651

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- - The Dark Heart Of Fascism In The United States

The Whitehouse Coup

BBC Audio Documentary

Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American

The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush's Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18074.htm

The Dark Heart Of Fascism In The United States

The Whitehouse Coup

BBC Audio Documentary

Document uncovers details of a planned coup in the USA in 1933 by right-wing American

The coup was aimed at toppling President Franklin D Roosevelt with the help of half-a-million war veterans. The plotters, who were alleged to involve some of the most famous families in America, (owners of Heinz, Birds Eye, Goodtea, Maxwell Hse & George Bush’s Grandfather, Prescott) believed that their country should adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression.

Mike Thomson investigates why so little is known about this biggest ever peacetime threat to American democracy.

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Click following URL to listen to the BBC Radio 4 investigation.
www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2007/240707fascistcoup.htm

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- - Another case IRS loses challenge to prove INCOME tax liability
By Jack Topel

Since the release of the video FREEDOM TO FASCISM" by the renowned Hollywood director Aaron Russo, there has been ever increasing court challenges, particularly from ex-IRS agents themselves, concerning the actual existence of a law, which mandates that citizens pay personal income taxes (taxes on wages).

Time and time again, IRS LOSES the court cases. Why? THERE IS NO SUCH LAW!!!

Following the link to the documentary below, is the report from "World Net Daily" a conservative publication, on the latest case, which the IRS lost.

FREEDOM TO FASCISM
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/4705-america-from-freedom-to-facism

IRS loses challenge to prove tax liability
Lawyer is acquitted after arguing income levy lacks legal foundation
http://www.worldnet daily.com/ news/article. asp?ARTICLE_ ID=56855

Jack Topel

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- - New Radio Ad calls for Activism on 9/11/07

ActIndependent.org - New Radio Ad calls for Activism on 9/11/07

Submitted by Reprehensor on Mon, 07/30/2007 - 6:26am.
http://911blogger.com/node/10312 - actindependent.org | Activism

"Cheney and Chertoff are warning us of another 9/11 attack in the U.S. this summer. A new false-flag event—a pretext to attack Iran—could plunge America into dictatorship and martial law, and the world into nuclear war.

It's time to confront the cancer of deception and corruption within our government, and to stop the ruthless war machine.

A tidal wave of truth seekers is rising in America—united by purpose, not politics—that will descend on New York City and Washington DC, and throughout the country on September 11th, to honor the victims of 9/11 and of the wars that followed.

Join the new revolution—before it's too late!"

Streaming and D/L at ActIndependent.org/

Streaming mirror:
http://media.putfile.com/actindependent-7-30-2007

Actindependent.org encourages the placement of this ad on community radio, college radio, commercial radio (if you can afford it), and public radio (if they'll allow it!). Internet radio is free to play the spot at will.

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- - GENERAL STRIKE - September 11, 2007 - Poster

NO torture -lies - tyranny
NO school - work - buying

The time has come - September 11, 2007
HIT THE STREETS - DEMAND

IMPEACHMENT & TREASON TRIALS
END THE WAR - restore - BILL OF RIGHTS
A NEW 9/11 INVESTIGATION

General Strike Flyer link below - 4"x6" @ 300dpi - Jpeg –
Suitable for print - photobucket image - suitable for web

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r195/imgstacke/GENERALSTRIKE-9-11-07.jpg


For FN’s archives, see:
The Bush Conspiracy and 9/11 Investigative Reports,
looking into the unanswered questions.



2) Corrupt FBI - Families Get $101 Million In Wrongful Conviction

- - Three Decades of Injustice [and counting] for Leonard Peltier
- - The State Is Trying Again To Kill Zolo Agona Azania

Families Get $101 Million In Wrongful Conviction

(WBZ) SOUTH BOSTON A federal judge in Boston has ordered the government to pay more than $101 million to the families of four Massachusetts men wrongly convicted of murder.

Joseph Salvati , Peter Limone and the families of the two other men who died in prison after being convicted in a 1965 slaying had sued the federal government for malicious prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner said it took 30 years to uncover the injustice, and that (quote) "the government's position is, in a word, absurd."

In a scathing 220-page ruling, Gertner said she was shocked by the FBI's behavior in the case.

"The state investigation was a charade… Information they provided was false and misleading. Critical information was withheld and they knew it," she said.

"The FBI's misconduct was clearly the sole cause of this conviction."

Their lawsuit accused the FBI of withholding evidence that could have cleared them.

During a lengthy civil trial, lawyers for the men argued that Boston FBI agents knew Joseph "The Animal" Barboza -- a mob hitman -- lied when he named the four men as Edward "Teddy" Deegan's killers. They said Barboza wanted to protect a fellow FBI informant, Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi, who was involved in Deegan's murder.

The men were "acceptable collateral damage" in the FBI's priority at the time -- taking down the Mafia through the use of criminal informants, their lawyers said.

The government argued that federal authorities had no duty to share information with state officials who prosecuted Limone, Salvati, Tameleo and Greco. Federal authorities cannot be held responsible for the results of a state prosecution, a Justice Department lawyer argued.

Judge Gertner admonished the Justice Department in her ruling Thursday.

"The FBI knew his (Barboza's) testimony was false, but let perjury happen anyway," Gertner said.

"The FBI said the benefit outweighed the cost. To put it in current terms, these four men were collateral damage."

"Now is the time to say, without equivocation, this cost to these four men is not remotely acceptable."

Limone and Salvati stared straight ahead as the judge announced her ruling, but an audible gasp was heard from the area where their friends and family were sitting when Gertner said how much the government would be forced to pay.

Gertner awarded $26 million to Limone, $29 million to Salvati, $13 million to Tameleo's estate and $28 million to Greco's estate. The wives of Limone and Salvati and the estate of Tameleo's deceased wife each received slightly more than $1 million. The men's 10 children were each awarded $250,000.

"Do I want the money? Yes, I want my children, my grandchildren to have things I didn't have, but nothing can compensate for what they've done," said Salvati, 75.

Salvati and Limone were exonerated in 2001 after FBI memos dating back to the Deegan case surfaced, showing the men were framed by Barboza.

"It took extraordinary efforts to bring out the facts. Judge Wolfe, Lawyer Victor Garo and even reporter Dan Rea [of WBZ-TV]," Gertner said.

"The FBI said 'just trust us' to the state and then vouched for a perjurer."

The lawsuit accused the government of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, conspiracy and negligent supervision of FBI agents. The case was heard by Judge Gertner instead of a jury.

Lawyers for the men did not seek a specific amount in damages, but in court documents they cited other wrongful conviction cases in which $1 million was awarded for every year of imprisonment, which in this case would amount to more than $100 million total.

"The best analogy," Gertner added, "this is not the situation of a passerby of a fire who doesn't report it. The defendant started the fire and allowed it to burn. This fire was to burn for many years."

"It's been a long time coming," said Limone, 73. "What I've been through -- I hope it never happens to anyone else."

Justice Department lawyer Bridget Bailey Lipscomb declined immediate comment on the ruling.

http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_207091704.html

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- - Three Decades of Injustice [and counting] for Leonard Peltier

The case of Leonard Peltier now enters its third decade of human rights and Constitutional Law abuses.

Quick Facts --

* Leonard Peltier is an imprisoned Native American considered by Amnesty International, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, National Congress of American Indians, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Rev. Jesse Jackson, amongst many other leaders, organizations and private citizens, to be a political prisoner who should be immediately released.

* Leonard Peltier was convicted for the deaths of two FBI agents who died during a 1975 shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota—home of the Oglala Lakota. Mr. Peltier has been in prison for over 30 years.

* The Wounded Knee occupation of 1973 marked the beginning of a three-year period of heightened political violence on the Pine Ridge Reservation. The tribal chairman hired vigilantes, self-titled “GOONS,” to rid the reservation of American Indian Movement (AIM) activity and sentiment. More than sixty traditional tribal members were murdered and scores more were assaulted. Evidence indicated GOON responsibility in the majority of crimes, but despite a large FBI presence, nothing was done to stop the violence. The FBI supplied the GOONS with intelligence on AIM members and looked away as the GOONS committed crimes. One former GOON member reported that the FBI supplied him with armor piercing ammunition.

* Leonard Peltier was a talented AIM organizer in the Northwest and was asked by traditional people at Pine Ridge, South Dakota to support and protect them, as they were being targeted for violence. Mr. Peltier and a small group of young AIM members set up camp on a ranch owned by the Jumping Bulls, a traditional Lakota Family.

* On June 26, 1975, two FBI agents in unmarked cars followed a pickup onto the Jumping Bull’s ranch. The families immediately became alarmed and feared an attack. Shots were heard and a shoot-out erupted. More than 150 agents, GOON’S and law enforcement surrounded the ranch.

* When the shoot-out ended the two FBI agents and one Native American lay dead. The agents were injured in the shoot-out and were shot at close range. The Native American, Joseph Stuntz, was shot in the head by a sniper bullet. Mr. Stuntz’s death has never been investigated.

* According to FBI documents, more than forty Native Americans participated in the gunfight, but only AIM members Bob Robideau, Dino Butler and Leonard Peltier were brought to trial.

* Mr. Robideau and Mr. Butler were arrested first and went to trial. A federal jury in Iowa acquitted them on grounds of self-defense, finding that their participation in the shoot-out was justified given the climate of fear that existed. Additionally, they could not be tied to the close range shootings.

* Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada. The United States presented the Canadian court with affidavits signed by Myrtle Poor Bear who said she was Mr. Peltier’s girlfriend and she saw him shoot the agents. In fact, Ms. Poor Bear had never met Mr. Peltier and was not present during the shoot-out. Ms. Poor Bear recanted her statements and said the FBI terrorized her and coerced her into signing the affidavits.

* Mr. Peltier was returned to the U.S. where his case was mysteriously transferred from the judge who tried his co-defendants to a more conservative federal judge in North Dakota. Key witnesses like Myrtle Poor Bear were not allowed to testify and unlike the Robideau and Butler trial in Iowa, evidence regarding violence on Pine Ridge was severely restricted.

* An FBI agent who had previously testified that the agents followed a pickup truck onto the scene, a vehicle that could not be tied to Mr. Peltier, changed his account, stating that the agents had followed a red and white van onto the scene, a vehicle that Mr. Peltier drove on occasion.

* Three Native American teenaged witnesses testified against Mr. Peltier, all admitting later that the FBI terrorized them and forced them to testify. Still, not one witness identified Mr. Peltier as the shooter.

* The U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case stated that they had given the defense all the FBI documents. To the contrary, more than 18,000 had been withheld in their entirety.

* An FBI ballistics expert testified that a casing found near the agents’ bodies matched the gun tied to Mr. Peltier. However, a ballistic test proving that the casing did not come from the gun tied to Mr. Peltier was intentionally concealed.

* The jury, unaware of the aforementioned facts, sentenced Mr. Peltier to two consecutive life terms.

* Following the discovery of new evidence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Mr. Peltier demanded a new trial. The Eighth Circuit ruled, “There is a possibility that the jury would have acquitted Leonard Peltier had the records and data improperly withheld from the defense been available to him in order to better exploit and reinforce the inconsistencies casting strong doubts upon the government’s case.” Yet, the court denied Mr. Peltier a new trial.

* During oral arguments, the U.S. Prosecutor conceded that the government does not know who shot the agents, stating that Mr. Peltier is equally guilty whether he shot the agents at point blank range, or participated in the shoot-out from a distance. Mr. Peltier’s co-defendants participated in the shoot-out from a distance, but were acquitted.

* Judge Heaney, who authored the decision denying a new trial, has since voiced firm support for Mr. Peltier’s release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to convict Mr. Peltier, the FBI was equally responsible for the shoot-out, and that Mr. Peltier’s release would promote healing with Native Americans.

* Leonard Peltier has served over 30 years in prison and is long overdue for parole. He has received several human rights awards or his good deeds from behind bars including annual gift drives for the children of Pine Ridge, fundraisers for battered women’s shelters and donations of his paintings to Native American recovery programs. Nevertheless, the parole commission will not release him unless he admits to a crime he did not commit.

* Over 6,000 FBI documents concerning Mr. Peltier’s case remain undisclosed.

* Mr. Peltier suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and a heart condition—a direct result of over 30 years of injustice!

Source: http://www.leonardpeltier.net/qfacts.htm
For more on his case, see:
The Case of Leonard Peltier

For FN resources, see: Free Leonard Peltier!

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- - The State Is Trying Again To Kill Zolo Agona Azania

Once Again: The State Is Trying To Kill Political Prisoner Zolo Agona Azania
Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Zolo Agona Azania is a Black revolutionary who has spent twenty six years - most of his adult life - in prison, and much of it on death row. His death sentence has been overturned not once, but twice, and yet a recent legal decision gives the State a green light to seek it a third time, and this despite the fact that many key witnesses have died and evidence that could help the defense has been "lost" over the past decades.

In 1981, at the age of 21, Zolo Agona Azania was convicted of murdering a police officer during a bank robbery gone bad. Unlike his two co-defendants, Zolo was arrested unarmed, walking down the street miles from the scene of the robbery, and has always maintained his total innocence of any involvement in the crime.

Yet it was Zolo who was singled out as the triggerman who killed a police officer “execution style,” and who received a death sentence… while the two men who were caught in the getaway car with weapons received prison sentences.

What explains this discrepancy is the fact that Zolo was the only one of the accused who was a political activist, who had his picture in the paper as a model for rehabilitation, and who had an African-sounding name and look. While the men who were caught red handed had close family members on the police force. (For more on Zolo's case, and the various violations of his legal rights which led to the death penalty being overturned twice already, see this posting i wrote about his case last year.)

Here is the press release from the No Death Penalty for Zolo Committee:

For article, and May 15, 2007 press release, see
http://sketchythoughts.blogspot.com/2007/07/once-again-state-is-trying-to-kill.html

No Death Penalty for Zolo!

More information about Zolo’s case can be obtained at
www.Zoloazania.org - e-mail: Mdeutsch45 [at] aol.com

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Media reports on Zolo Azania

The following links to articles are from various Indiana newspapers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Zolo Azania or his supporters. However, you may find them to be helpful in providing some background to his case, even though many of the articles below were written from the perspective of the corporate media.

Media reports on Zolo Azania

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Letter from Zolo Agona Azania, Wednesday, July 4, 2007

[EXCERPT]

Dear Sisters and Brothers, Supporters and caring people everywhere:

Greetings from Indiana’s death row,
I hope these few words fin you in the very best of health and high sprits.

I receive substantial amounts of mail and it’s both difficult and all consuming each day, which causes slow responses to your individual correspondences. Plus, I repeat or duplicate myself a lot especially when I describe my predicament or update people about my case. So I thought that it would be favorable to write a form letter at this time. I try in earnest to maximize my activity to get the most done to accomplish positive, constructive goals for others and myself each ticking hour.

I prioritize my nightly and daily activities depending upon what’s most important at any given moment. Obtaining adequate sleep to rejuvenate is part and parcel of that necessary activity. I like to read, write, do artwork, and calisthenics. I like to play basketball and eat healthy. I am a practicing vegetarian. I still eat some fish, but I don no drink milk or eat crustaceans, but I never shirk working on my case.

I read the scholarly book, “Law Against the people, edited by Robert Lefcourt. It mirrors by bad experiences with court appointed lawyers.

As you are aware of, on May 10th, 2007, the Indiana Supreme Court granted the State prosecutor’s interlocutory Appeal and overturned the trial judge’s order dismissing the death penalty count! As it stands now, I’ll probably be going to another jury trial. They ruled that the State can continue to seek the death penalty. My defense team and I will be back to where we’d left off before the trial court judge dismissed the death penalty count against me on fast and speedy trial violation. We were in the process of forcing the Allen County jury managers to show how they allegedly fixed the flawed jury pool selection system, as they claim they’ve done. The State, with their superior resources, was given a third chance to exterminate me!

The court’s ruling is linked to the oppressive State’s attack on members of pro-democracy movements in the USA. The court’s reactionary posture is against the attitudes of those who dare qu4estion their unchecked power. My struggle is linked with the resisters to the war on Iraq, fascism, and ecological destruction.

I want the world to know what has happened to me! For too long, prison struggle and prisoner related issues have been relegated to the back burner within the larger context of the movement for social and politico-economic change in this country. To those who are sitting on the fence, it is your human right as a social human being to be involved in the political process. The judiciary is the third branch of representation government. Get involved and make it your business to find out what they’re doing.

Two hand-guns, a .38 and .44 were planted by police and presented to the all white jury as incriminating evidence, which misled and influenced the decision making body to which it was addressed. Prosecutors claimed the .44 was the murder weapon. Donald McDuffie Sr., a well known loan-shark, testified he sold me a .44 pistol. The .38 was traced back to the Gary Police department by BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) Agents. A State witness name James Charles McGrew recanted his testimony. He said that the police had threatened his life and forced him to lie on me.

My case does not involve DNA testing, I am a target of State sanctioned repression and vindictive prosecution. The police cover up was in making sure to keep its skullduggery concealed so that the department’s interest in this matter will be fully protected. I have, from day one, presented on all levels of State procedure both the operative facts and the legal principles that control each claim of error to the State judiciary.

I shall never embark on a defeatist course, I will never allow myself to be demoralized and divided from the humanity of the people. The wanton abuse of police power is not a mere thing of legend. It’s a fact of life in these United States, and elsewhere. Prosecutors personify themselves as the gatekeepers of justice on behalf of the State. Hence, when it is time for re-election they are like eager beavers in the forest, overzealous and jaded towards misuse of their powers no matter whose rights are trampled.

The injustice, malfeasance and cover-up in my case in not unique. There are many historical examples of official wrong doing: Standard Oil refinery monopoly of the 1880’s, the sinking of the US battleship Maine in Havana harbor in 1898; US marines invasion and occupation of Haiti in 1915; the NY stock market crash in 1929; the US secret war against Japan over China in the 1930’s, which led to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941; Senator McCarthy communist witch hunts of the 1950’s; the expose’ of the corporate military-industrial complex by US President Eisenhower in 1961; the cold – blooded murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in 1969; the assassination of George L. Jackson in 1971; Watergate burglary in 1972; the pretext for the war on Iraq beginning in 1991; the destruction of the World Trade Center Building 7, which collapsed on September 11, 2001, without being hit by an airplane—take your pick. The political scandal list is long.

Thank you for being you. Take good care. Solidarity brings strength.

Zolo Agona Azania
D.O.C. # 4969
Indiana State Prison
P.O. Box 41
Michigan City, IN 46361-0041

For more from FN's resource page, see: A Nation Behind Bars: the buried talents of a population.



3) Accidents Dim Hopes for Green Nuclear Option

- - The language of disaster that is stalking Japan
- - Lies and Leaks: The Earthquake That Screamed "No Nukes!"
- - Converting Waste Heat Into Power

Accidents Dim Hopes for Green Nuclear Option
By Brad Knickerbocker
The Christian Science Monitor
Thursday 19 July 2007

The recent earthquake in Japan and accidents at two German power plants raise questions on the safety of nuclear energy as a cleaner alternative.

As concern about global warming has swelled in recent years, so has renewed interest in nuclear energy. The main reason: Nuclear plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases tied to climate change, at least not directly.

New reactor designs make plants safer than those operating in the days of the accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island decades ago, advocates say. And there's no group of OPEC countries in unstable parts of the world controlling the main raw material – uranium.

But that was before an earthquake in Japan this week rattled the Kashiwazaki nuclear power plant. The plant's operator "said it had found more than 50 problems at the plant caused by Monday's earthquake," The New York Times reported, adding:

"While most of the problems were minor, the largest included 100 drums of radioactive waste that had fallen over, causing the lids on some of the drums to open, the company said.... The company said that the earthquake also caused a small fire at the plant, the world's largest by amount of electricity produced, and the leakage of 317 gallons of water containing trace levels of radioactive materials into the nearby Sea of Japan."

Meanwhile, accidents at two German nuclear reactors last month prompted German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel to call for the early shutdown of all older reactors there, reports Bloomberg News.

Concern about the safety of Germany's 17 reactors has grown after a fire at Vattenfall's Kruemmel site June 28 and a network fault at its Brunsbuettel plant on the same day. Der Spiegel online adds:

"It took the fire department hours to extinguish the blaze. Even worse, the plant operator's claim that a fire in the transformer had no effect on the reactor itself proved to be a lie.

In short, the incident made clear that nuclear energy is by no means the modern, well-organized, high-tech sector portrayed until recently by politicians and industry advocates. Indeed, the frequency of problems occurring at Germany's aging reactors is on the rise. Just as old cars succumb to rust, nuclear power plants built in the 1970s and '80s are undergoing a natural aging process.

On Wednesday, the chief executive of Vattenfall Europe AG stepped down. Klaus Rauscher was the second manager to depart this week amid mounting criticism for the utility's handling of a fire at a nuclear plant in northern Germany, reports the AP.

"When it comes to security at nuclear power plants, I can only say, that when it comes to the information policy, this really has not been acceptable and therefore my sympathy for the industry is limited," Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Merkel, a physicist by training, normally favors nuclear power, but the June 28 fire at the Kruemmel plant, near Hamburg, has put the industry in a bad light.

Still, nuclear power has won some powerful allies in the environmental community, writes E Magazine editor Jim Motavalli on the website AlterNet.

He quotes Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, as saying, "We should all keep an open mind about nuclear power." Jared Diamond, best-selling author of "Collapse," adds, "To deal with our energy problems we need everything available to us, including nuclear power," which, he says, should be "done carefully, like they do in France, where there have been no accidents."

Stewart Brand, who founded The Whole Earth Catalog and Whole Earth Review, concludes, "The only technology ready to fill the gap and stop the carbon dioxide loading of the atmosphere is nuclear power."

Environmentalists continue to push for more benign sources – wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar, as well as greater conservation – to power the world.

But The Washington Post reports that "Most of the technologies that could reduce greenhouse gases are not only expensive but would need to be embraced on a global scale...." The article continues:

"Many projections for 2030 include as many as 1 million wind turbines worldwide; enough solar panels to cover half of New Jersey, massive reforestation; a major retooling of the global auto industry; as many as 400 power plants fitted with pricey equipment to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground; and, most controversial, perhaps 350 new nuclear plants around the world."

That kind of nuclear expansion in the US seems unlikely. The country hasn't licensed a new plant in more than 30 years, and the devilish political and scientific subject of radioactive waste disposal has yet to be fully addressed.

But that hasn't stopped other countries from pushing ahead. Russia "hopes to export as many as 60 nuclear power plants in the next two decades," The Christian Science Monitor reported this week, including what would be "the first-ever floating atomic power station" at sea.

But noting an estimate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah reports that "at least 1,000 new nuclear plants would be needed worldwide in the next 50 years to make a dent in global warming."

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- - The language of disaster that is stalking Japan
Genpatsu-shinsa

From The Times
July 21, 2007
Genpatsu-shinsai: the language of disaster that is stalking Japan
Leo Lewis in Tokyo

Japan’s turbulent history of war and natural catastrophe has already given the world a terrifying vocabulary of death: tsunami, kamikaze, Hiroshima.

But the country now stands on the brink of unleashing its most chilling phrase yet: genpatsu-shinsai – the combination of an earthquake and nuclear meltdown capable of destroying millions of lives and bringing a nation to its knees.

The phrase, derived from the Japanese words for “nuclear power” and “quake disaster”, is the creation of Katsuhiko Ishibashi, Japan’s leading seismologist and one of the Government’s top advisers on nuclear-quake safety. He said that the world may never know how close it came to its first genpatsu-shinsai this week. Luck, as much an anything else, helped to avert it.

A 6.8 magnitude quake, which shook Niigata on Monday and left thousands of homes uninhabitable, was three times more powerful than the designers of the nearest nuclear power plant – Kashiwazaki-Kariwa – had prepared for, or even imagined.

The unfolding crisis at Kashiwazaki has renewed calls for the immediate closure of the five atomic reactors at Hamaoka – an old plant in Shizuoka built directly above a geologically active fault about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Tokyo. Despite claims by its operators, Chubu Electric, that the plant meets government standards, seismologists said yesterday that it was “almost impossible” to ensure the safety of a nuclear plant in that location. The Hamaoka plant, said Mitsuhei Murata, a former diplomat and professor at Tokai Gakuen University, presents Japan with its biggest risk of genpatsu-shinsai.

A quake there, he said, could smash the reactor and send a radioactive cloud over Tokyo within eight hours: “We would be looking at 24 million victims and the end for Japan.”

The seismology community agrees that the Tokai region, which includes Tokyo and Hamaoka, is due for a massive quake. The Tokyo metropolitan government has drawn up disaster plans that assume an 87 per cent probability of a magnitude 8.0 quake within 30 years. But power companies have been allowed to prepare for much smaller quakes when building nuclear plants. If the epicentre of Monday’s quake had been 10 km further to the southwest, the seismology research team at Kobe University calculates that the reactor could have split and unleashed a “terrible, terrible disaster”.

As it is, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has admitted to a worrying series of problems since the quake, including the stunning revelation that the Kashiwazaki plant was constructed on top of an active fault – despite Tepco’s firm denials in court that this was the case. Vital reactor data on the minutes immediately after the quake have already been lost by Tepco. Numerous leaks of radiation have been detected.

The Times learned yesterday that one of the exhaust ducts continued to pump radioactive particles into the air for nearly three days after the reactors were shut down. Professor Ishibashi has fought the Government unsuccessfully for urgent reviews of quake-proofing standards throughout Japan’s nuclear industry. A member of the Government’s own panel on nuclear safety, he criticised the Government and the Japanese public yesterday for their failure to recognise how close the country was to genpat-su-shinsai. Since 1969 seismology advisers to the Government have given warning of the danger of building atomic plants, but were officially ignored. “It’s not that people carefully consider my arguments and then decide against higher standards of safety. They just don’t give the possibility of disaster a moment’s thought,” Professor Ishibashi told The Times.

“Before World War II there were many Japanese who were against the idea of a war with America but they ended up just marching blindly towards it. I think Japan today is much like it was before the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.”

Citizens’ groups, a handful of corporate leaders and former government officials are fighting for a review of Japan’s nuclear reliance. Mounting evidence of radiation leaks, unprepar-edness and deception over the dangers of the plant’s location mean that the problems at Kashiwazaki will reopen a court showdown over the plant at Hamaoka.

The Government has underplayed the risk of disaster. For this, Professor Ishibashi and others blame the “nuclear village” – corporate interests, politicians with links to the industry and academics who owe their salaries to power companies. All 55 of Japan’s nuclear reactors pose a genpatsu-shinsai risk, Professor Ishibashi said.

© Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd.
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2112763.ece

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- - Lies and Leaks: The Earthquake That Screamed "No Nukes!"
by Harvey Wasserman, July 20, 2007
The massive earthquake that shook Japan this week nearly killed millions in a nuclear apocalypse.

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- - Converting Waste Heat Into Power

ReGen Power Systems is pioneering the development of a 1-megawatt low temperature Stirling power system to convert excess process heat and steam energy at industrial plants into electricity. The system will be powered by a novel Stirling engine designed to operate at the moderate and lower temperatures found in process heating at paper mills, steel mills, chemicals and petroleum refining facilities, glass ovens, cement plants and similar locations. In addition to high efficiency, the ReGen systems will produce additional power with no new fuel combustion. Not only will Industries save money, but also they can produce electricity with no new pollution emissions, enabling companies to contribute in a positive way to the environment. For more information, see: A Stirling solution for on-site electrical power generation.


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