Hysteria now completely disconnected from reality

[RC]

Fukushima fearmongers are stealing our Jetsons future
Hysteria now completely disconnected from reality

By Lewis Page

As the situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear powerplant slowly winds down, the salient facts remain the same as they have been throughout: nobody has suffered or will suffer any radiological health consequences. Economic damage and inconvenience resulting from the quake's effects on nuclear power have been significant, but tiny in comparison to all other human activities – the nuclear power plants in the stricken region have suffered less damage and caused less trouble to local residents than anything else that was there.

Despite this background, the details of which are now largely uncontested, hysteria continues to grip large sections of the news media and the internet.

>snip<
Three workers who suffered noticeable but not dangerous radiation doses from standing ankle-deep in radioactive water – and possible minor burns equivalent to a mild case of sunburn – have been confirmed to have suffered no ill effects. Their "hospitalisation with radiation burns" was widely reported: the fact that they are – as was to be expected – perfectly fine was not.

More radioactive water has been found in a deep trench containing pipework and cabling adjacent to the No 2 reactor. This was measured as being noticeably radioactive four days ago, enough that a person could only be immersed in it for a quarter of an hour before sustaining a radiation dose sufficient to merit withdrawal from operations at the site – though not enough to cause any measurable health consequences.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/31/fukushima_panic_breaks_completely_free_of_facts/

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "nobody has suffered or WILL suffer any radiological health consequences"

Nostradamus?

[Wilms]

2. I think it was NostraDumbAss that made that remark. n/t

-on edit-

Another article from Mr. Lewis...

Fukushima is a triumph for nuke power: Build more reactors now!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/14/fukushiima_analysis/

Now THAT'S hysterical. 'Cept it ain't funny.

[madokie]

10. With a whole big heaping helping of Stupid as all get outs with it :-)

[Urban Prairie]

22. Lewis is completely off his rocker!!

"All reactors' temperature is now under control and the residual heat reactions inside them continue to die away; soon, no further cooling will be required. The three worst affected will cost more to put right than the other ones, having been cooled with the backup-backup seawater system and lost their roofs, but the process of sorting them out will not be a lot more onerous than a normal periodic refuelling."


:wtf:

[louslobbs]

33. Exactly, and all of the oil spilled into the Gulf has evaporated, you can't even tell the disaster

occured......these people are certifiable.
Lou

[freshwest]

35. Is that the British version of the Onion? Seems Mr. Lewis is pranking us with the Jetsons remark...

And his portrayal of The Great Gazoo:

'The Great Gazoo is a tiny, green, floating alien who was exiled to Earth from his home planet Zetox as punishment for having invented a doomsday machine, a weapon of immense destructive power. His invention was a button which would destroy the universe if pressed, though he insists he made it on a whim with no intent of using it. Gazoo was discovered by Fred and Barney when his flying saucer crashed.

Gazoo refers to Fred and Barney as "dum-dums" and constantly causes problems for them. Even when he attempts to help out Fred and Barney, he usually ends up causing even more trouble. The only people who are able to see him are Fred, Barney, and the children, because they believe in him. A running gag is that Fred argues with Gazoo while Wilma believes that he is talking to himself. When their daughter, Pebbles, says "Gazoo," Wilma thinks Pebbles is sneezing.'

I'm not sure who's crazier now. With friends like Mr. Lewis, who needs enemies?

[Wilms]

41. .

:rofl:

[freshwest]

43. Why, thank you, thank you very much. Now leaving the building...

[City Lights]

55. That sentence earned the OP an unrec. nt

[freshwest]

61. Wishful thinking? Corporate mindset? Where's that Calvin and Hobbes pic?

[Sabriel]

3. "As the situation...winds down..."?

It doesn't look winding down-ish to me.

This smells like disinfo to me. Sorry, Mr. Page.

And another nice FUD posting, I see.

[RC]

5. Apparently you didn't read the entire article.

This article exposes the FUD by the anti-nukers as not true.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. You go right on thinking that if it makes you happy.

I'm not panicked, but I'm not real thrilled about extra radiation in the atmosphere either. I'm 64 years old. Those of us our age have probably been exposed to enough radiation by now, what with nuclear bombs, nuclear tests, various and sundry nuclear meltdowns -- not to mention thinning ozone layer, etc. etc. -- that a little more radiation won't be noticable, but I've got to wonder what kind of damage has been done to my genes and those of my kids and grandkids.

I guess humans (and everything else) will just have to evolve or die.

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. Any bets this dickwad would wet his pants if he were dragged to Fukushima

and made to work?

[defendandprotect]

7. Laughable, if it wasn't so sad -- !!

[originalpckelly]

8. "nobody has suffered or will suffer any radiological health consequences"

What about the people working at the plant, you fucking dumb ass?

[Tesha]

50. That would be funny except that many of the plant workers already assume they're dead men.

"Nobody *HAS* suffered" is the typical artful lie.

Tesha

[neverforget]

9. Unrec for sheer stupidity

[freshwest]

12. Unrec for disrespecting DUers.

[neverforget]

13. unrec for the op, not the DUer

sheesh

[freshwest]

16. I was referring to the OP which was a blanket disrespect for anyone who disagrees...

With the nuclear power lobby and its shills, and posted at DU.

We have people that are for or against nuclear power, so we are among the 'hysterical' the OP is disrespecting.

Did that clarify my unrec for you?

I liked the Greatest by Recommend board but I can see why it won't be here much longer. I could have Unrec'd without giving a reason and not have to read your Sheeshing at me.

Have a good evening.

[neverforget]

24. I read it wrong therefore taking it wrong. sorry

thanks for the clarification :hi:

[freshwest]

29. Thanks, I appreciate that. We are cool.

:thumbsup:

[Webster Green]

11. Lewis Page = industry shill.

Fuck that asshole!

Unrec.

[Warren DeMontague]

63. Only whiny, betwetting chicken littles wouldn't want their infants exposed to radioactive water.

They obviously don't know what is really important in this world, i.e. the future of the for-profit nuclear industry.

[freshwest]

71. Those chickenlittles are being selfish or suffer from class envy, that's all.

:sarcasm:

[RC]

14. I guess only bad news about nuclear stuff is welcome on DU

And here I was under the apparent delusion that Liberals were more enlightened in science them them other guy that don't like education. I guess I was wrong.

[freshwest]

18. Liberals believe in dissenting, not being doormats.

[Webster Green]

25. Is Page a scientist? n/t

[girl gone mad]

31. Was there science in the article?

It reads like disinformation to me.

I have a pretty good education, but I am always willing to learn more.

This author seems to believe he has all of the answers. A true scientist would be asking more questions at this point in time. I have about a thousand questions I would want answered before I felt comfortable drawing these types of conclusions. I don't think he has some secret data that the rest of us haven't been given.

[freshwest]

68. Theoretical physicist, Michio Kaku, said in an interview on CNN:

"BURY IT!" Michio Kaku On Japan's Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DkCD5IInMY

Or if anyone prefers FOX, here is that interview:

Michio Kaku: "A Meltdown is Forever"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okHM-Y1-3L0&NR=1

He was a protege of Edward Teller and one of the first writers on string field theory, no lightweight in science or any other way.

Page is a buffoon and anyone that bases their opinion on self-serving nuclear industry propaganda in the face of a mountain of stories is stuck in another realm of space time than most of us.

One more series of interviews, including the words of a whistleblower:

Michio kaku to reality deniers: its already far worse than Chernobyl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ5h1tnEIWM&NR=1

Sorry, but there is no turning back now.

Prepare for pain.

[Wilms]

32. RC, in the article you posted are links to other articles Lewis has written about the disaster.

Take a moment to read them. See what he said was going on and what would happen and compare it to where we're at now.

Do you really want to keep your wagon hitched to this guy AND continue to insult DUers that *cough* are :puke: from this guys certifiably bogus assertions? I really doubt he's shilling for the nuclear industry. They're blushing reading his tripe. They'd have fired him for making them look like fools. And you? I'm embarrassed FOR you.

WTF, man? :shrug:

[Ignis]

64. "them them other guy that don't like education"

I guess that other guy's not the only one, eh? :dunce:

[Rex]

74. So all of DU is liberal now?

What brought that on? Does that mean you think the moderates here have even less education? Please elaborate on your comment or not. If you find any GOOD factual news about the reactors, please let us know.

[roamer65]

15. Let's re-visit this topic 20 years from now.

We'll look at the cancer rates in Fukushima prefecture and talk.

I expect cancer rates will be significantly higher.

[grahamhgreen]

17. What size nuke disaster will convince you to ban them? Loss of a city, state, country, or continent?

[in_cog_ni_to]

23. I love that question you keep asking and never get an answer for.

Why won't they answer it? :shrug:

[grahamhgreen]

38. Apparently poisoning the entire planet with radioctivity would not get them to stop shilling for it!

[freshwest]

47. But after we all glow in the dark, we won't have an energy problem.

That's the beauty of the plan.

:sarcasm:

[freshwest]

73. IDK. Why won't media confront the issue of acceptable losses? Cat got their tongue?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

19. There's no such thing as death

because everybody reading this is alive.

[freshwest]

21. ...

[grahamhgreen]

39. Best answer yet.

[freshwest]

44. Don't make me quote Bill Hicks.

[kentauros]

59. No, please do!

I love Bill Hicks! :D

[Ignis]

65. Let the man speak for himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmzcroUmdU

[freshwest]

67. Thanks for putting it up, I was busy! Agree 100%. Yes, I'm nuts.

Words to live by, for me at least, hope you enjoy them:

The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it's real because that's how powerful our minds are.

And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly coloured, and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question - is this real, or is this just a ride?

And other people have remembered, and they come back to us. They say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride.' And we...kill those people. Ha ha ha.

'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride. SHUT HIM UP! Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and family. This just has to be real.'

It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that?

And let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter because: it's just a ride.

And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings, and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourselves off.

The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one.

Here's what you can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride.

Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defence each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, for ever, in peace.


Bill Hicks

[Ignis]

69. Ahh, it's like a breath of sanity, isn't it?

RIP, Bill. He was gone far too soon...but then, at least he didn't have to see Bush's idiot son elected president.

[freshwest]

75. Yes, we need all fresh air (sanity) we can get now. Shrub's lucky Bill wasn't there to BBQ him!

[MilesColtrane]

20. When somebody appears to be so sure of something as this guy is,....

my bullshit detector starts screeching.

He also penned an item in the Register about how melting icebergs absorb CO2. (Hey don't worry, this global climate change thing is self correcting!)

[Webster Green]

27. All of his articles have an anti-science agenda.

Yet, he is linked to by pro-nukers as an objective scientific source.

[spanone]

26. tell that to the workers in the reactors.....

:thumbsdown:

[Art_from_Ark]

28. What a load of happy horse manure

"The nuclear power plants in the stricken region have suffered less damage and caused less trouble to local residents than anything else that was there."

Perhaps the author hasn't seen pictures of 3 reactor buildings with their tops blown off? Or heard that at least 4 and probably all 6 reactors will never be operable again? Or perhaps he hasn't heard of the near total evacuation of up to a quarter-million people living within a 20km/12-mile radius of the complex? Or evacuation advisories for a 30km/18-mile radius (50 miles in the case of State Department advisories)? Or Fukushima and Ibaraki farm products that were rendered unsalable due to excessive radiation levels? And the fact that 3 weeks later, this problem still does not appear to be anywhere near being resolved, and those local residents have no idea when, or even if, they will be able to return safely to their homes?

[freshwest]

30. He probably wasn't paid to know that. One of the great causes of willful ignorance or lying. Money.

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. URGENT: Radioactivity 10,000 times the limit found from groundwater: TEPCO

A Tokyo Electric official said the radiation level is ''extremely high.''

as of today.

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82382.html

[Art_from_Ark]

40. Is that really 10,000 times?

Or will they say later it was "only" 100 times?
At this stage, I would like independent verification of Tepco's figures.

[tahrir]

53. Tepco has said they will re-check it's data - however, don't drink the tap water, yet

Fukushima plant groundwater likely contaminated despite data error

TOKYO, April 1, Kyodo

Groundwater at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is highly likely to be contaminated with radioactive materials, even though its operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. is reviewing its analysis released late Thursday due to erroneous calculations, the government's nuclear safety agency said Friday.

more...
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/82524.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

56. This makes the 2nd time they have "reviewed"their figures.

Which makes me, like Art, very suspicious of their reports.
Erring on the side of caution with TEPCO has not proven to be wise, tho.
Anyone looking at the newly released high resolution pics can easily see that one of the reactors was pretty much destroyed inside, including the spent fuel pool.

[tahrir]

57. Erring on the side of caution is always wise, especially with TEPCO reports

hopefully with the gov takeover of the facilities, there will be more info, and more resources devoted to this disaster.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. This Page guy wrote on Mar. 25th :

"Initial food sampling from the region around indicates that no significant quantities of hazardous radioisotopes have escaped from the plant."

While on the same date the Washington Post reported:

"- Fears over Japan's food and water supply escalated Wednesday after authorities announced that they had discovered radioactive material above the legal limit in 11 types of vegetables and radioactive substances in water produced at a Tokyo purifying station.


Sharing one of my rarely used...unrec.

[tiny elvis]

36. generalissimo francisco franco is no longer dead

[freshwest]

45. But still smells bad.

[tiny elvis]

48. : )

[Wilms]

42. I think the moderators might move this thread...

...to the FAIL! Forum.

[freshwest]

46. Do we have a funny forum? Sorry, relatively new here.

[Wilms]

52. The Lounge is probably the closest thing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=105

Of course, some brilliantly funny comments happen at any time all over DU.

Welcome...

:hi:

[freshwest]

60. Thank you, I try to do my part. Thanks again for the pic, too. I'll check the Lounge out, too.

[Warren DeMontague]

49. If all that shit is so harmless, why even bother to have containment?

Really, it sounds awfully unnecessary if you can blast tons of highly radioactive waste into the environment and it'll be a fucking walk in the park for everyone.

[lunatica]

51. Well alrighty then!

:sarcasm:

[marions ghost]

54. Reality 4 U

As Hirose Takashi notes:

"All of the information media are at fault here I think. They are saying stupid things like, why, we are exposed to radiation all the time in our daily life, we get radiation from outer space. But that’s one millisievert per year. A year has 365 days, a day has 24 hours; multiply 365 by 24, you get 8760. Multiply the 400 millisieverts by that, you get 3,500,000 the normal dose. You call that safe? And what media have reported this? None. They compare it to a CT scan, which is over in an instant; that has nothing to do with it. The reason radioactivity can be measured is that radioactive material is escaping. What is dangerous is when that material enters your body and irradiates it from inside. These industry-mouthpiece scholars come on TV and what to they say? They say as you move away the radiation is reduced in inverse ratio to the square of the distance. I want to say the reverse. Internal irradiation happens when radioactive material is ingested into the body. What happens? Say there is a nuclear particle one meter away from you. You breathe it in, it sticks inside your body; the distance between you and it is now at the micron level. One meter is 1000 millimeters, one micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. That’s a thousand times a thousand: a thousand squared. That’s the real meaning of “inverse ratio of the square of the distance.” Radiation exposure is increased by a factor of a trillion. Inhaling even the tiniest particle, that’s the danger."

[freshwest]

70. Inhale it, swallow it and all estimations of safety from afar vanish.

The hard skulls of faith-based pro-nukers will protect them.

[Better Believe It]

58. Lewis wrote that the Fukushima sustained "only minor damage". Here's a photo of the minor damage

[freshwest]

72. He can't see that from his house, though...

:rofl:

[FiveGoodMen]

62. Hmmmm....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x285277

Fukushima update: Recovery efforts stalled, as hotspot concerns grow

[closeupready]

66. Unrecced for posting bullshit.

nt