Call for USA federal govt to pay for cleanup of abandoned uranium mines
Congressmen press uranium mine cleanups http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/politics/congressmen-press-uranium-mine-cleanups 06 Dec 2012, ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Two members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are pushing for a House vote on legislation that would free up federal funding to clean up abandoned uranium mines. Continue reading
Pope exhorts Catholics to remember true meaning of Christmas, not to just “Buy Buy”
Pope Benedict: Christmas is more than a party http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccatholic/2012/12/pope-benedict-christmas-is-more-than-a-party/ December 9, 2012 By Rebecca Hamilton I had just clicked on “buy” for a couple of Christmas gifts when I saw this reflection by the Holy Father.
In this buy, buy, buy society of ours, we all need reminding that, while Christmas is a time of rejoicing, feasting and fun, what we are celebrating is the coming of the Son of God.
Read the Pope’s thoughts on this below and have a blessed Sunday. Continue reading
U.S. military targets and kills Afghan children deemed to have “hostile intent”
US Military Says Killing Afghan Children Is Fair Game John Glaser, December 04, 2012 In October, the US launched an airstrike in Afghanistan that killed three children – ages 8, 10, and 12 -while they were gathering firewood (or by some accounts, dung to burn as fuel). NATO issued its usual dismissive statement, admitting it may have “accidentally killed three innocent Afghan civilians.”
But now, according to the Military Times, the US military includes children on their list of who they’re allowed to murder with impunity.
…a Marine official here raised questions about whether the children were “innocent.” Before calling for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System mission in mid-October, Marines observed the children digging a hole in a dirt road in Nawa district, the official said, and the Taliban may have recruited the children to carry out the mission.
So digging holes in Afghanistan is now grounds for getting bombed? The children’s relatives and local tribal elders had confirmed at the time that they were not Taliban recruits and were not planting any roadside bombs.
That’s apparently not enough for the US military to simply admit that killing innocent children is wrong. Instead, they invent Orwellian rationales for why these poor children were worthy enemy combatants.
“It kind of opens our aperture,” said Army Lt. Col. Marion “Ced” Carrington, whose unit, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was assisting the Afghan police. “In addition to looking for military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”
There you have it. The US military is now looking for “military-age males” and “children” to kill in Afghanistan.
http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/12/04/us-military-says-killing-afghan-children-is-fair-game/
Thorium nuclear reactors – a greater weapons proliferation risk than previously thought
just 1.6 tonnes of thorium metal would be enough to produce 8kg of uranium-233 which is the minimum amount required for a nuclear weapon.
“Small-scale chemical reprocessing of irradiated thorium can create an isotope of uranium – uranium-233 – that could be used in nuclear weapons. If nothing else, this raises a serious proliferation concern.”
Thorium: Proliferation warnings on nuclear ‘wonder-fuel’ , Phys Org, December 5, 2012 Thorium is being touted as an ideal fuel for a new generation of nuclear power plants, but in a piece in this week’s Nature, researchers suggest it may not be as benign as portrayed.
The element thorium, which many regard as a potential nuclear “wonder-fuel”, could be a greater proliferation threat than previously thought, scientists have warned. Continue reading
“Fugitive emissions” – not measured – greenhouse gases from coal seam gas
the sources, and perhaps also the volumes, of fugitive methane releases may differ from those associated with conventional gas production, and that consequently different approaches to the measurement of fugitive emissions may be required.”
CSG worries hinge on timing of climate change, ABC News 10 Dec 12 by Wendy Carlisle for Background Briefing “……..Fugitive emissions Professor Hultman’s paper was cited by the oil and gas lobby group APPEA in their submission to the Federal Government’s review into the way in which fugitive emissions from coal seam gas are measured.
APPEA has consistently said coal seam gas is 70 per cent cleaner than coal.
But in September the Government released a report which found that the absence of published information about fugitive emissions – greenhouse gases that leak into the atmosphere during the extraction process – was a matter of “public policy concern”. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 