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Mar 28 2011
On This Day in History March 28
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
Find the past “On This Day in History” here.
March 28 is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 278 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1979, the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island overheats causing a partial meltdown. At 4 a.m. on March 28, 1979, the worst accident in the history of the U.S. nuclear power industry begins when a pressure valve in the Unit-2 reactor at Three Mile Island fails to close. Cooling water, contaminated with radiation, drained from the open valve into adjoining buildings, and the core began to dangerously overheat.
The Three Mile Island nuclear power plant was built in 1974 on a sandbar on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, just 10 miles downstream from the state capitol in Harrisburg. In 1978, a second state-of-the-art reactor began operating on Three Mile Island, which was lauded for generating affordable and reliable energy in a time of energy crises.
Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station
The power plant was owned and operated by General Public Utilities and Metropolitan Edison (Met Ed). It was the most significant accident in the history of the USA commercial nuclear power generating industry, resulting in the release of up to 481 PBq (13 million curies) of radioactive gases, and less than 740 GBq (20 curies) of the particularly dangerous iodine-131.
The accident began at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 1979, with failures in the non-nuclear secondary system, followed by a stuck-open pilot-operated relief valve (PORV) in the primary system, which allowed large amounts of nuclear reactor coolant to escape. The mechanical failures were compounded by the initial failure of plant operators to recognize the situation as a loss-of-coolant accident due to inadequate training and human factors, such as human-computer interaction design oversights relating to ambiguous control room indicators in the power plant’s user interface. In particular, a hidden indicator light led to an operator manually overriding the automatic emergency cooling system of the reactor because the operator mistakenly believed that there was too much coolant water present in the reactor and causing the steam pressure release. The scope and complexity of the accident became clear over the course of five days, as employees of Met Ed, Pennsylvania state officials, and members of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) tried to understand the problem, communicate the situation to the press and local community, decide whether the accident required an emergency evacuation, and ultimately end the crisis. The NRC’s authorization of the release of 40,000 gallons of radioactive waste water directly in the Susquehanna River led to a loss of credibility with the press and community.
In the end, the reactor was brought under control, although full details of the accident were not discovered until much later, following extensive investigations by both a presidential commission and the NRC. The Kemeny Commission Report concluded that “there will either be no case of cancer or the number of cases will be so small that it will never be possible to detect them. The same conclusion applies to the other possible health effects”. Several epidemiological studies in the years since the accident have supported the conclusion that radiation releases from the accident had no perceptible effect on cancer incidence in residents near the plant, though these findings are contested by one team of researchers.
Public reaction to the event was probably influenced by The China Syndrome, a movie which had recently been released and which depicts an accident at a nuclear reactor. Communications from officials during the initial phases of the accident were felt to be confusing. The accident crystallized anti-nuclear safety concerns among activists and the general public, resulted in new regulations for the nuclear industry, and has been cited as a contributor to the decline of new reactor construction that was already underway in the 1970s.
The incident was rated a five on the seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale: Accident With Wider Consequences.
Mar 28 2011
Evening Edition
I’ll be sitting in for ek hornbeck who is Live Blogging the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Championship Games for the next few days. Come live blog with us.
by Marc Burleigh
BIN JAWAD, Libya (AFP) – Libyan rebels’ push westwards towards Tripoli gathered momentum on Sunday amid promises the uprising would not further hamper oil production in the areas under their control.
The rebels’ pursuit of Moamer Kadhafi’s forces saw them wrest back control of key oil town Ras Lanuf and press on as far as Nofilia with Kadhafi’s hometown of Sirte firmly in their sights 100 kilometres (60 miles) further along the road where the next major battle was expected.
Operator of quake-hit nuclear plant says reading that radioactivity was 10 million times more than normal was an error
The operator of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi quake-crippled nuclear complex has said a spike reported in radioactivity at the plant is a mistake.
Jiji Press quoted the Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) as saying on Sunday that the mistake – which indicated radiation levels 10 million times higher than normal – was due to confusion between readings of iodine and cobalt in the water.
The inaccurate reading had forced emergency workers to flee from the complex’s Unit 2 reactor.
“The number is not credible,” said TEPCO’s spokesman, Takashi Kurita. “We are very sorry.”
He said officials were taking another sample to get accurate levels, but did not know when the results would be announced.
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Mar 27 2011
On This Day in History March 27
This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.
Find the past “On This Day in History” here.
March 27 is the 86th day of the year (87th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 279 days remaining until the end of the year.
On this day in 1939, March Madness is born.
The University of Oregon defeats The Ohio State University 46-33 on this day in 1939 to win the first-ever NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Final Four, as the tournament became known, has grown exponentially in size and popularity since 1939. By 2005, college basketball had become the most popular sporting event among gamblers, after the Super Bowl. The majority of that betting takes place at tournament time, when Las Vegas, the internet and office pools around the country see action from sports enthusiasts and once-a-year gamblers alike.
For the first 12 years of the men’s tournament, only eight teams were invited to participate. That number grew steadily until a 65-team tournament format was unveiled in 2001. After a “play-in” game between the 64th and 65th seeds, the tournament breaks into four regions of 16 teams. The winning teams from those regions comprise the Final Four, who meet in that year’s host city to decide the championship.
March Madness is a popular term for season-ending basketball tournaments played in March, especially those conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and various state high school associations. Fans began connecting the term to the NCAA tournament in the early 1980s. Evidence suggests that CBS sportscaster Brent Musburger, who had worked for many years in Chicago before joining CBS, popularized the term during the annual tournament broadcasts. The phrase had not already become associated with the college tournament when an Illinois official wrote in 1939 that “A little March Madness [may] contribute to sanity.” March Madness is also a registered trademark, held jointly by the NCAA and the Illinois High School Association. It was also the title of a book about the Illinois high school tournament written in 1977 by Jim Enright.
H. V. Porter, an official with the Illinois High School Association (and later a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame) was the first person to use March Madness to describe a basketball tournament. Porter published an essay named March Madness in 1939 and in 1942 used the phrase in a poem, “Basketball Ides of March.” Through the years the use of March Madness picked up steam, especially in Illinois, Indiana, and other parts of the Midwest. During this period the term was used almost exclusively in reference to state high school tournaments. In 1977 the IHSA published a book about its tournament titled March Madness.
Only in the 1990s did either the IHSA or NCAA think about trademarking the term, and by that time a small television production company named Intersport, Inc., had beaten them both to the punch. IHSA eventually bought the trademark rights from Intersport and then went after big game, suing GTE Vantage, Inc., an NCAA licensee that used the name March Madness for a computer game based on the college tournament. In a historic ruling, “Illinois High School Association v. GTE Vantage, Inc.” (1996), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit created the concept of a “dual-use trademark,” granting both the IHSA and NCAA the right to trademark the term for their own purposes.
Following the ruling, the NCAA and IHSA joined forces and created the March Madness Athletic Association to coordinate the licensing of the trademark and investigate possible trademark infringement. One such case involved a company that had obtained the Internet domain name marchmadness.com and was using it to post information about the NCAA tournament. After protracted litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in March Madness Athletic Association v. Netfire, Inc. (2003) that March Madness was not a generic term and ordered Netfire to relinquish the domain name. (This domain name is currently being used to redirect into the main NCAA.com web site.)
In recent years, the term “March Madness” has been expanded to include all conference tournaments in college basketball, with the term “The Big Dance” being used more frequently when specifically referring to the NCAA Tournament. March Madness has also has been used generally to describe all basketball tournaments across the country that occur in the month of March – high school and college, male and female.
The coverage and live blogging of all the 2011 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Championship are happening here at The Stars Hollow Gazette.
Mar 27 2011
Punting the Pundits: Sunday Preview Edition
“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.
The Sunday Talking Heads:
This Week with Christiane Amanpour:Sitting in theis Sunday for Ms Amanpour is ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper. His guests will be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will discuss American involvement in Libya. Then the un-indicted war criminal, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, will weigh in on Libya and push his new book.
On the roundtable: ABC News’ George Will, former Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA), national correspondent at The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg, and Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy take on the substance of America’s third war and the potential Republican 2012 Presidential candidates
Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:Mr. Schieffer’s guests are Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hyping Libya.
The Chris Matthews Show: This week’s guests are Katty Kay, BBC Washington Correspondent, Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic Senior Editor, Michael Duffy, TIME Magazine Assistant Managing Editor and Norah O’Donnell, MSNBC Chief Washington Correspondent. They will discuss these questions:
Is President Obama failing to lead?
Could Republican “Red Hots” spoil the party
Meet the Press with David Gregory: Again, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will appear, still defending Obama’s Libya decisions. Also the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) in an exclusive interview.
Our roundtable guests The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward; the BBC’s Ted Koppel; senior fellow for the Center for a New American Security and author, Tom Ricks; and NBC News White House Correspondent, Savannah Guthrie.
State of the Union with Candy Crowley: The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin, supports the mission; and former director of the CIA, Gen. Michael HaydenMr (Ret.) and former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley will weigh in on Libya. Nuclear policy expert, Joe Cirincione will discuss the nuclear reactor disaster in Japan and a discussion about the anemic US economic recovery with two former directors of the Congressional Budget Office.
Below the fold is NYT’s columnist Bob Herbert’s last Op-Ed for the Times. He will be missed but promises he’s not going too far away. Thank you, Mr Herbert.
This is my last column for The New York Times after an exhilarating, nearly 18-year run. I’m off to write a book and expand my efforts on behalf of working people, the poor and others who are struggling in our society. My thanks to all the readers who have been so kind to me over the years. I can be reached going forward at [email protected].
Mar 27 2011
Obama To Appoint a Bush Guantanamo Psychologist?
While this may not be the most important commission in the Obama administration but the significance of appointing one of the former military psychologists who had questionable involvement in the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, leaves one wonder, just what is Barack Obama thinking. Concerned about “psychological well-being” of the American military family with high PTSD rates, an increase in suicides and abuse cases as they struggle to survive multiple deployment and financial strains, Obama’s response was the typical politician’s, create a commission, “Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family.” and have the First Lady involved. Of all the qualified psychologists, both inside and outside the government and military, who does Obama choose? Col. (ret.) Larry C. James, PhD., who was in the Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo in 2003, at the height of the abuses at that camp, and then served in the same position at Abu Ghraib during 2004. In e-mails circulated by James, he states that he has been selected to serve on the commission and will be meeting at the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials.
Mar 27 2011
Obama To Appoint a Bush Guantanamo Psychologist?
While this may not be the most important commission in the Obama administration but the significance of appointing one of the former military psychologists who had questionable involvement in the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, leaves one wonder, just what is Barack Obama thinking. Concerned about “psychological well-being” of the American military family with high PTSD rates, an increase in suicides and abuse cases as they struggle to survive multiple deployment and financial strains, Obama’s response was the typical politician’s, create a commission, “Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of The Military Family.” and have the First Lady involved. Of all the qualified psychologists, both inside and outside the government and military, who does Obama choose? Col. (ret.) Larry C. James, PhD., who was in the Chief Psychologist at Guantanamo in 2003, at the height of the abuses at that camp, and then served in the same position at Abu Ghraib during 2004. In e-mails circulated by James, he states that he has been selected to serve on the commission and will be meeting at the White House with Michelle Obama and other White House officials.
Here’s a little background into the controversy that surrounds James. From Glenn Greenwald in his article at Salon:
For his work at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Dr. James was the subject of two formal ethics complaints in the two states where he is licensed to practice: Louisiana and Ohio. Those complaints (pdf) — 50 pages long and full of detailed and well-documented allegations — were filed by the International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program, on behalf of veterans, mental health professionals and others. The complaints detailed how James “was the senior psychologist of the Guantánamo BSCT, a small but influential group of mental health professionals whose job it was to advise on and participate in the interrogations, and to help create an environment designed to break down prisoners.” Specifically:
During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice. . . .
Writing in 2009, Law Professor Bill Quigley and Deborah Popowski, a Fellow at the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, described James’ role in this particularly notorious incident:
In 2003, Louisiana psychologist and retired Col. Larry James watched behind a one-way mirror in a US prison camp while an interrogator and three prison guards wrestled a screaming, near-naked man on the floor.
The prisoner had been forced into pink women’s panties, lipstick and a wig; the men then pinned the prisoner to the floor in an effort “to outfit him with the matching pink nightgown.” As he recounts in his memoir, “Fixing Hell,” Dr. James initially chose not to respond. He “opened [his] thermos, poured a cup of coffee, and watched the episode play out, hoping it would take a better turn and not wanting to interfere without good reason …”
Although he claims to eventually find “good reason” to intervene, the Army colonel never reported the incident or even so much as reprimanded men who had engaged in activities that constituted war crimes.
James treated numerous detainees who were abused, degraded, and tortured, yet never took any steps to stop or even report these incidents.
Dr. Stephen Reisner who filed one of the complaints, spoke out at Democracy Now! during an interview in July of 2010:
Major John Leso and Colonel Larry James, were in charge of the Behavioral Science Consultation Teams, the advisers on interrogations and on the enhanced techniques at Guantánamo.
snip
And Larry James was the chief BSCT starting in January 2003. And when you read the standard operating procedures for mental health, for how to-behavior protocols for detainees during the time that Larry James was the chief psychologist, you find institutionalized abuse and torture-isolation for thirty days at a time with absolutely no contact, prohibition of the International Committee of the Red Cross to see these detainees, no access even to religious articles, to the Qur’an, unless they cooperate with interrogations, not to mention frequent interrogation.
A writer, earlofhuntingdon, in his entry at MyFDL, comments that Obama’s choice is “Orwellian” and “another example of Mr. Obama doubling down on CheneyBush’s GWOT”, in light of the latest revelations about the newest Miranda Memo from Obama’s DOJ.
The other problem, as earlofhuntingdon points out, is how James justifies his actions or lack thereof:
According to complaints filed with his licensing authorities in Louisiana and Ohio (both of which determined they could not act on them), this is what happened at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib during Dr. James’ tenure:
During his tenure at the prison, boys and men were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted. The evidence indicates that abuse of this kind was systemic, that BSCT health professionals played an integral role in its planning and practice. . . .
(Emphasis mine.) Dr. James claims he was sent to Abu Ghraib to fix it. But this is how he describes his role, from his book, Fixing Hell, An Army Psychologist Confronts Abu Ghraib:
“It was clear to me that I was no longer a doctor but rather a combatant with the sole purpose of helping the Army kill or capture the enemy.”
(last emphasis mine)
That statement is stunning. He also never intervened, stopped or reported any of this, yet, James had an obligation to do so by the oath that he took as an officer in the United States Military. While clinical psychologists take no oath to DO No Harm, as physicians and psychiatrists and apparently the American Psychological Association refuses to prohibit its members from participating in interrogations, James did, however, take an oath as an officer in the US military to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
James, by his own words, lacks conscience and regard not only for the laws of the United States and the oath that he took as an officer but no regard or respect for his fellow human beings.
This is an update from Greenwald, with a response in an e-mail to him from the First Lady’s Communications Director:
Several members of the White House staff are convening a meeting with multiple mental health professionals on Tuesday to discuss issues pertaining to the wellness of military families. SAMHSA and the American Psychological Association have both been asked to attend. We understand that Dr. James is involved with these groups and may have been indirectly invited to attend this meeting.
She claims, however, that he now will not be at that meeting, and further states that “Dr. James has not been appointed to serve in any capacity with the White House.”
Perhaps, somebody realized that James’ involvement with the White House, even on what is basically an insignificant commission, would not be an “image” they wish to project, although I believe that it is far too late to repair that damage.
Mar 26 2011
Evening Edition
I’ll be sitting in for ek hornbeck who is Live Blogging the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Championship Games and possibly the Australian Gran Prix for the next few days. Come live blog with us.
By Angus MacSwan
(Reuters) – Libyan rebels backed by allied air strikes retook the strategic town of Ajdabiyah on Saturday after an all-night battle that suggests the tide is turning against Muammar Gaddafi’s forces in the east.
Western warplanes bombed the outskirts of Misrata further west to stop Gaddafi forces shelling the city, a rebel spokesman said. One inhabitant said 115 people had died in Misrata in a week and snipers were still shooting people from rooftops.
By Yoko Kubota
(Reuters) – Japanese engineers struggled on Sunday to pump radioactive water from a crippled nuclear power station after radiation levels soared in seawater near the plant more than two weeks after it was battered by a huge earthquake and a tsunami.
Tests on Friday showed iodine 131 levels in seawater 30 km (19 miles) from the coastal nuclear complex had spiked 1,250 times higher than normal, but it was not considered a threat to marine life or food safety, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said.
Mar 26 2011
Health and Fitness News
Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.
Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.
You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.
If you avoid eggs because you think they’re bad for you, you should reconsider. It was never clear that dietary cholesterol had a significant impact on heart health; saturated fat in the diet is thought to be a bigger culprit (how big is also a matter of dispute these days). The government’s new dietary guidelines acknowledge as much, advising that eating an egg every day will not affect blood cholesterol or cardiovascular health.
Mar 26 2011
Punting the Pundits
“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”
Rep. John Conyers: Marking the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire
Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of New York City and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the history of the United States.
This occasion has particular resonance in the present political landscape. Across this country, working men and women are under assault by the conservative agenda. We have all heard the reports from the states — in Wisconsin, Ohio, and my home state of Michigan, the labor movement is under siege.
Joe Ciricione: Hiroshima to Fukushima: The Illusion of Control
On March 11, there were 443 nuclear reactors operating around the world. On March 12, that number shrunk by four.
An earthquake, a tsunami and a record of poor safety management converged to create one of the worst nuclear accidents in history. The crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant is still unfolding and, after some progress earlier this week, has again taken a grim turn with signs that at least one of the reactors may have been breached. Even under the best of circumstances, it is likely that four of the six Fukushima Daiichi reactors are a total loss. Japanese officials are considering what some believe inevitable–entombing the reactors in mounds of sand and concrete, as was done at Chernobyl. If so, the four sarcophagi on the Japanese shoreline will become stark reminders of the limits of human control.
Leonard Pitts Jr.: Gay marriage is a matter of rights
We are gathered here today to look a gift horse in the mouth.
It seems a majority of the American people now favor allowing gay men and lesbians to wed. That majority, according to a Washington Post/ABC News survey released last week, is slender, just 51 percent. But even at that, it represents a significant increase from just five years ago, when only 36 percent of Americans approved.
Other polling organizations have reported similar trends, and for those who believe gay men and lesbians ought to be free to solemnize and formalize their relationships, that is very good news. It means they are – we are – winning the argument. That is cause for celebration.
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