Why the upcoming elections in November are so damned important

Most Americans are angry with their government. The current crop of low-life, corrupt individuals in Congress has a well deserved approval rating slightly higher than rattlesnakes. The situation in Washington, DC is far beyond what most of us would consider as a small problem. It is a horrendous situation brought on by years of apathy by the voters.

For years now we have gotten into this rut of re-electing people to Congress just because we were afraid that the "other Party" might beat out a newcomer. That produces lazy, corrupt, useless members of Congress like Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell and hundreds of others. This isn't limited to one party. They all become corrupt given enough time on Capital Hill. The average politician gets paid far too much money and has far too many perks to let them think about anything except getting re-elected. They posture and pander to the public with their lies of "how they are doing this or that", for America. In reality they are simply playing to the cameras and ignoring their constituents and pretty much doing whatever they damned well please.

We have long ago ceased to have persons in Congress who want to lead and do the right thing, whether or not it plays well for the cameras and newspapers. Time after time we see them making deals which violate the principle of their party and do a disservice to the nation. They spend our money like a drunken sailor and are never held accountable by the public.

Now you may ask, how they hell did we get in this situation? The answer is simple. It is your damned fault. Yes, you, the American voter, the one who failed to vote that Congressman or Senator out the last time he ran. You, the one who thinks because he/she passed one little bill that you liked but ignored the hundreds of other deals he/she made to screw you over, are responsible. You who failed to keep up on the news in Washington. You who knows more about sports stats on some stupid local team than you do about how Obamacare or the EPA is going to ruin your children's future. So right now at this very moment, please slap yourself. Don't for a minute think you are not responsible. Sure you might have voted for one new candidate last election, but did you talk your friends and family into voting the same way? Do you spend as much time at work discussing the realities of our government as you do babbling on about the latest movie or who won the big game yesterday?

So now the question is how do you fix this situation? It's pretty damned simple. Get involved with politics. You don't have to go campaign or make signs and go to rally's.You can simply spread the word. Embarrass your friends into getting involved by explaining to them why voting isn't a waste of time, it is their duty. Keep track of what is going on in DC. Write to your Congressman/Senator frequently and voice your displeasure. Quit believing for a minute that your vote doesn't count. You may think that it is only one vote, but that is where the danger lies. If 3 million people think that and then don't vote, guess what happens? Yeah, you end up with some dirt-bag, sleazeball, low life, career politician getting re-elected. Then you sit there and bitch about it saying "how could people vote for that guy?".

Now here are the good things that can happen if you get out there and vote:

•  You could help to put a majority of conservatives into the Senate. Why is that important? Because then the House could actually impeach Obama and the Senate could try and convict him. Thereby booting his sorry ass out of our house in Washington DC. (Yeah that is OUR house, not his).
•  We could possibly put the hammer down on the EPA and get folks back to mining coal, thereby creating lots of jobs.
•  We could get the Keystone pipeline approved and create more jobs.
•  We could begin to seriously drill for more offshore oil again. Once oil production is up we can tell the Middle-East nations to go screw themselves. 
• Last but not least we could scare the hell out of career politicians. Maybe we could even encourage folks to not take up politics as a career. Since it is supposed to be a service not a permanent job.

Until we get a majority of folks in Congress who wish to serve the public  rather than dictate to us, we are screwed. So get off your dead ass and go look-up your Congressman's email address. Go to the Library of Congress website and read the laws. Annoy those public servants everyday. Then get your ass over to the polling place in your town and vote. Make sure to bring a car full of fellow voters with you.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled surfing.

Tim

For more good stuff check out my primary website.
Follow Tim on twitter @tl1000rzx2

Radiation from Fukushima Powerplant, Putting the leaks into perspective

There is a lot of talk about the leaks at the Fukishima nuclear power-plant in Japan. Most of the things I have read sound pretty scary. But then again when you start to break down the reporting on these leaks and their effects on the United States there isn't a lot of real clear information on the subject. Typical reports state that "radiation levels have increased by a bazillion percent!" or radiation levels in California measured at 500 mRem. While those kind of headlines sound horrible and terrifying it helps to understand the overall picture of what the numbers mean. After all, an increase of 500% of something sounds worse than an increase of 2% doesn't it? But if one is measured in micro-Rems and the other in Rems then there is a vast difference. So I shall attempt to give a little perspective on this whole mess by giving you a whole boatload of numbers to dwell upon. The bottom line is I don't really know what levels of radiation can cause what and neither do the folks at MIT. Sure, we know what is fatal and all, but what causes damage? But when dealing with radiation in the oceans we can at least get a little perspective on the amount leaked versus the amount it is diluted.

So first we will start with the Pacific Ocean. The radiation from Fukushima that is of primary concern is that which is leaking via water. The airborne radiation has long since dissipated and is no longer a real concern.
Here are the volumes of the Pacific and specifically the North Pacific Ocean. The volume numbers are in millions of cubic kilometers. Source: NOAA Volumes of the Worlds Oceans

Ocean Statistics	Area+ (km2)	% Ocean Area	Volume (km3)	% Ocean Volume	Avg. Depth (m)	Max Depth (m)
Pacific Ocean	161,760,000	44.7	660,000,000	49.4	4080	10,803
North Pacific	77,010,000	21.3	331,000,000	24.8	4298	10,803#

For the purpose of this article we will just use the North Pacific statistics. So we are looking at 331 million cubic kilometers of water. To put that in perspective that works out to 87,440,949,330,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water (or simply put: 8.744094933e+19 gallons). Conversion courtesy of Unitconversion.org.

So when we hear about 225 tons of water being leaked we are looking at roughly 53923.86 gals (at 8.3451 lbs/gal source: engineeringtoolbox.com). That is definitely a problem when considering the ground water supply in the local area. However, when compared with the total volume of the North Pacific Ocean it is close to a drop in the bucket.  So if that amount were to leak into the Pacific every hour for 365 days it would account for 0.0000000000000000000142048940141 of the Ocean's total volume in gallons. We can probably hazard a guess that nowhere near that much has leaked out in total. Of course we don't have the figures, but it is unlikely that they are using almost 54,000 gals/hr to keep the reactor cool and losing every drop of it. So my worst case scenario is probably far above the actual amount of radioactive water that has been released.

Now moving on to all those radiation numbers. They can be very confusing and misleading to say the least. We will start with some of the basic measurements that people are familiar with.

 

1 Rem=1000 mRem (milliRem) 0.001Rem

1 millirem = 1000 uRem (microRem)0.000001Rem

1 sievert = 100 rem

1 becquerel (Bq) = 1 count per second (cps) 

1 curie = 37,000,000,000 becquerel = 37 Gigabecquerels (GBq)

There are some good sites for getting perspective on what is a normal dosage of radiation. These are located at the American Nuclear Society and the EPA site on Radiation Doses in Perspective. According to the American Nuclear Society: "The average dose per person from all sources is about 620 mrems per year. It is not, however, uncommon for any of us to receive less or more than that in a given year (largely due to medical procedures we may undergo). International Standards allow exposure to as much as 5,000 mrems a year for those who work with and around radioactive material."

I checked my annual dose at the American Nuclear Society page and it would appear to be around 332 mRem/year. That is just from background and normal radiation sources. There are dozens of other ways to get radiation.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission states that there are 4 different but interrelated measurements of radiation. These can be remembered by the acronym R-E-A-D which stands for Radiactivity Exposure Absorbed dose and Dose equivalent.

• Radioactivity refers to the amount of ionizing radiation released by a material. Whether it emits alpha or beta particles, gamma rays, x-rays, or neutrons, a quantity of radioactive material is expressed in terms of itsradioactivity (or simply its activity), which represents how many atoms in the material decay in a given time period. The units of measure for radioactivity are the curie (Ci) and becquerel (Bq).
  
• Exposure describes the amount of radiation traveling through the air. Many radiation monitors measure exposure. The units for exposure are the roentgen (R) and coulomb/kilogram (C/kg).
  
• Absorbed dose describes the amount of radiation absorbed by an object or person (that is, the amount of energy that radioactive sources deposit in materials through which they pass). The units for absorbed dose are the radiation absorbed dose (rad) and gray (Gy).
  
• Dose equivalent (or effective dose) combines the amount of radiation absorbed and the medical effects of that type of radiation. For beta and gamma radiation, the dose equivalent is the same as the absorbed dose. By contrast, the dose equivalent is larger than the absorbed dose for alpha and neutron radiation, because these types of radiation are more damaging to the human body. Units for dose equivalent are the roentgen equivalent man (rem) and sievert (Sv), and biological dose equivalents are commonly measured in 1/1000th of a rem (known as a millirem or mrem).

For practical purposes, 1 R (exposure) = 1 rad (absorbed dose) = 1 rem or 1000 mrem (dose equivalent).

Last but not least are the types of radiation. There are numerous types. Below is a short list:

Alpha particles are charged particles, which are emitted from naturally occurring materials (such as uranium, thorium, and radium) and man-made elements (such as plutonium and americium). These alpha emitters are primarily used (in very small amounts) in items such as smoke detectors.

In general, alpha particles have a very limited ability to penetrate other materials. In other words, these particles of ionizing radiation can be blocked by a sheet of paper, skin, or even a few inches of air. Nonetheless, materials that emit alpha particles are potentially dangerous if they are inhaled or swallowed, but external exposure generally does not pose a danger.

Beta particles, which are similiar to electrons, are emitted from naturally occurring materials (such as strontium-90). Such beta emitters are used in medical applications, such as treating eye disease.

In general, beta particles are lighter than alpha particles, and they generally have a greater ability to penetrate other materials. As a result, these particles can travel a few feet in the air, and can penetrate skin. Nonetheless, a thin sheet of metal or plastic or a block of wood can stop beta particles.

-Gamma rays and x-rays consist of high-energy waves that can travel great distances at the speed of light and generally have a great ability to penetrate other materials. For that reason, gamma rays (such as from cobalt-60) are often used in medical applications to treat cancer and sterilize medical instruments. Similarly, x-rays are typically used to provide static images of body parts (such as teeth and bones), and are also used in industry to find defects in welds.

Despite their ability to penetrate other materials, in general, neither gamma rays nor x-rays have the ability to make anything radioactive. Several feet of concrete or a few inches of dense material (such as lead) are able to block these types of radiation.

That is about all I could dig up in one morning of Googling and playing with my calculator. I am neither saying that all those articles folks read about Fukushima are crap or that we should all be moving to the middle of the country. That is up to you folks to figure out by reading those articles and then breaking down the information that they are actually giving you.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled surfing.

Tim

For more good stuff visit my primary website.

Follow Tim on twitter @tl1000rzx2

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 isn’t all that sinister

There are a lot of rumors floating about on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2012 which was signed by President Obama in December of 2011. Most of what folks are posting about on social media sites is just pure craziness. The bill is neither secret nor subversive nor part of some conspiracy to take away your rights. It doesn't allow the government to throw you into jail with no charges being filed. It does not allow for indefinite detention of American citizens, with no contact with families for any reason the government deems appropriate. The law is quite clear and for the most part relates to people related to terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces.

I will be giving more details as I go along here but wish to explain a few things first. As much as I despise our current President, this law wasn't written by him. It was passed by Congress like all laws are. It is NOT an executive order. It is part of the standard Military Appropriations bill passed each year by Congress. The section is question is the presumably evil Sec 1021. Below I have a quote of the most pertinent sections of the law.

SEC. 1021. <<NOTE: 10 USC 801 note.>> AFFIRMATION OF AUTHORITY OF
THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES TO
DETAIN COVERED PERSONS PURSUANT TO THE
AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE.

(a) In General.–Congress affirms that the authority of the
President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the
Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40; 50 U.S.C.
1541 note) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United
States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending
disposition under the law of war.
(b) Covered Persons.–A covered person under this section is any
person as follows:
(1) A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided
the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or
harbored those responsible for those attacks.
(2) A person who was a part of or substantially supported
al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in
hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners,
including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has
directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

(c) Disposition Under Law of War.–The disposition of a person under
the law of war as described in subsection (a) may include the following:
(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the
end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use
of Military Force.
(2) Trial under chapter 47A of title 10, United States Code
(as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (title XVIII
of Public Law 111-84)).
(3) Transfer for trial by an alternative court or competent
tribunal having lawful jurisdiction.
(4) Transfer to the custody or control of the person’s
country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other
foreign entity.

(d) Construction.–Nothing in this section is intended to limit or
expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization
for Use of Military Force.
(e) Authorities.–Nothing in this section shall be construed to
affect existing law or authorities relating to the detention of United
States citizens, lawful resident aliens of the United States, or any
other persons who are captured or arrested in the United States.
(f) Requirement for Briefings of Congress.–The Secretary of Defense
shall regularly brief Congress regarding the application of the
authority described in this section, including the organizations,
entities, and individuals considered to be “covered persons” for
purposes of subsection (b)(2).

The above is the entire section directly from the Government Printing Office. Should you need to verify it for yourself, feel free to read the entire bill here. You can simply do a search for “1021″ once on the page (it will be the 9th 1021 found, at least by Chrome).

As you can see from what I have posted above there is no language in that bill that allows the feds to detain you for “any reason they wish”. It also states explicitly that “Nothing in this section is intended to limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force”. It other words it really didn’t change much of anything.

Also of note is Sec 1022, which some folks might also chose to find "sinister. The pertinent portions are quoted below:

(b) Applicability to United States Citizens and Lawful Resident
Aliens.–
(1) United states citizens.–The requirement to detain a
person in military custody under this section does not extend to 
citizens of the United States.
(2) Lawful resident aliens.–The requirement to detain a
person in military custody under this section does not extend to
a lawful resident alien of the United States on the basis of
conduct taking place within the United States, except to the
extent permitted by the Constitution of the United States.

Section 1022 makes it pretty damned clear that this law doesn’t extend to U.S. citizens. If that doesn’t seem believable, read it again slowly. The language is quite clear and to the point.

There is nothing that angers me more than seeing people being misled by rumors of government conspiracies and wasting their time going on and on over such drivel. Anytime you see a law quoted that is supposedly going to make us all lose our rights I strongly suggest you look it up. You can find each and every law by searching the Thomas site (Library of Congress). While I don’t mind writing these articles, I sure wish I wasn’t the only one out there doing some fact checking.

So in closing, I hope we can all help to change the way our government does business. However, for our own good, let’s stick to fighting real problems like gun control, the disaster known as Obamacare, government waste, corruption and all the other things that can really use our attention. Let’s make sure we all vote. Let’s discuss politics with our friends and make sure they vote. Let’s continue to piss off the liberals each and everyday. But for the sake of my blood pressure, can we take off the tin-foil hats and stick to reality? That would make me happy. I hate to see resources wasted on drivel. Thanks.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled surfing.

Tim

For more good stuff visit my primary website.

Follow Tim on twitter @tl1000rzx2

Additional info on this subject can be found here on the Daily Caller website.