ThinkFast: February 21, 2006
ThinkFast is a new feature of ThinkProgress. Coffee and donuts not included. (It’s still a work in progress - let us know what you think.)
Investigations into suspected Iraqi death squads are now focusing on a 1,500-member Iraqi highway patrol force with close ties to Shiite militia groups, which U.S. officials suspect of being “deeply involved in illegal detentions, torture and extrajudicial killings.” Also: “We are not going to invest the resources of the American people to build forces run by people who are sectarian.”
Despite the U.S. having spent $1.4 billion on power supply, ordinary Iraqis “will have to wait another five to seven years for a reliable electricity supply that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week across the country.”
Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to arrange a meeting between former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and President Bush. The Rove connection: Abramoff contacted Karl Rove “on at least four occasions to help arrange a meeting, according to an eyewitness to the activities.” When the meeting was finalized, “Rove’s office called to tell Abramoff personally.”
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) appears to be using campaign contributions for personal expenses: 66 trips to Starbucks, 11 meals at Arby’s and ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s.
Problems with the Medicare prescription drug program’s implementation continue, with only 1.4 million people out of 8 million eligible low-income seniors enrolled thus far. The Bush administration has spent $400 million urging people to sign up, and according to some calculations, the program might end up costing $250 for every person who eventually enrolls.
Cingular Wireless: among telecom firms, it singularly bucks the antiunion trend.
The Observer looks at the 37 million Americans (12.7 percent of the population) living in poverty and notes that during President Bush’s administration, an “extra 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line.” But the number below the poverty line may actually be as high as 19.4 percent. The Miami Herald imagines a world where ExxonMobil gives back, by providing heating oil to the low-income.
McMansions wear out their welcome. Communities around the country place limits on square footage.
The U.S. Forest Service is taking heat for its plans to auction off 300,000 acres of scenic Colorado lands. “I don’t think you sell off the family jewels just for convenience,” said Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO). “This is about paying off a debt with priceless assets.”
Carbon monoxide pumped into your steak.
The World Health Organization “is urging countries to brace for a ‘mild to moderate’ [bird flu] pandemic likely to kill 2 million to 7.4 million people.” On Sunday, health officials and farm workers in western India began slaughtering hundreds of thousands of chickens, hoping to stop the spread of the deadly bird flu virus. But bird flu worries didn’t stop former President Bill Clinton from digging into chicken kebabs when in India over the weekend.
Scientists have gained a powerful ally in their criticism of the Bush administration’s policies on intelligent design, global warming, and creationism: the clergy. “The intelligent design movement belittles God,” said Vatican Observatory Director George Coyne, an astrophysicist who is also ordained. More: A coalition of U.S. churches condemns Bush’s war in Iraq.
Space travel for $995 to $5,300. Only one caveat: you have to die first.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Love the new feature. What about this article from Nick Kristof: “President Bush now has a public approval rating that is 33 percentage points lower than President Clinton’s was at the time he was impeached.”
February 21st, 2006 at 9:04 amRaw Story reports on a new article by Jane Mayer in this week’s New Yorker Magazine.
“Memo that warned about detainee abuse, torture was thwarted”
Two years before the Abu Ghraib scandal, the general counsel of the U.S. Navy wrote a memo which tried to halt the “disastrous and unlawful policy of authorizing cruelty toward terror suspects,” according to an article to be published in The New Yorker magazine.
link
February 21st, 2006 at 9:12 amDid you see the new Katrina e-mails? Chertoff needs to go.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:12 amClinton still is a popular person. If he could run for President I would vote for him.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:12 amGreat new feature. Keep up the good work.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:16 amThe Republican Talk Radio “Big Lieâ€
February 21st, 2006 at 9:18 amby Stephen Crockett
Man, everyone, take time to read the Santorum article.
I like the guy even less, now. He lives in a $642,000 house outside of his area, but:
“The Santorums’ niece lives in the tiny two-bedroom home — valued at $106,000 — that the senator claims as his legal and voting residence. As previously reported, the Penn Hills school district said that it paid more than $67,000 for the cyber-schooling of Santorum’s children down in Virginia, until the arrangement was revealed in late 2004.”
Sneaky.
Good thing he’s leading the ethics reform.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:20 amInteresting facts about the Dubai deal.
#1 - The actual owners of the ports will be our local governments. Not DWP. The DWP will just run ports. Sorta like a manager at a 7/11.
#2 - DWP runs ports in 10 countries. Yet, there hasn’t been a port-caused terrorist attack in any of those nations.
#3 - When DWP run the ports, the people who will be working the ports will be American citizens.
#4 - The fact is that the left is using racial profiling to villify DWP. The left is using bigotry to try and sink a legitimate deal that will lead to more efficient trade.
Under President Bush, there has been more focus on port security. And i’m sure the chances of sending weapons though a port are very narrow.
The left would prefer a communistic approach where our Government completely controls all the ports.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:22 amThis is good.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:22 amBTW Bush was going to visit an energy facility today where a few dozen of their scientists had been let go for lack of $$. Surprisingly, they have suddenly found enough money to bring back the scientists. Even CNN’s reporter couldn’t resist the sarcasm.
Plus little Ricky was eating liberal ice cream.
Wing nuts won’t be happy about that.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:22 amI like the feature, but the items need to be separated a bit better visually.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:24 amDidn’t we spend billions training the Iraqi police and army? Didn’t we set them up so we could step down?So why are we complaining that they are doing what we taught them to do?This goes into something I posted last night re tortured prisoners.Since the US was instrumental in the training we remain responsible for what it has become.These events would not have occured this way if we had not interfered where we were not welcome.Kind of like Dr.Frankenstein’s monster.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:24 amSantorum is toast.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:27 am#7 bobcat,
You are ten minutes ahead of me on this one. Santorum not only finagles deals for himself and his family, he also claims to have financial support from his retired parents because he and his wife llive from paycheck to paycheck.
Yeah - right.
Personally I prefer the carbon monoxide in my meat. Then again I dont bitch about every little thing in life, but fresh looking meat makes me feel better about eating it.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:27 am#4–but Clinton might have consensual sex with another adult, then fib about it later. Then we’d have to spend like $60 million of taxpayer money to investigate it again. I, for one, wouldn’t want to go back to those dark days of peace & prosperity.
All kidding aside, I have to say that Clinton was the best republican president we ever had. Ross Perot was right about that “giant sucking sound”.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:31 amThanks for all the feedback and the links to additional articles. If you want to comment about an article we didn’t mention please include the link rather than the full text.
The easiest way to do it is the write some text, highlight it and then click the “link” button above. It will then link the highlighted text, like this.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:32 amAlthough I really hate Santorum, I think it’s good that it’s only Starbucks and Arby’s. Other Senators certainly have more expensive and descriminating tastes.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:36 amRe: Abramoff,
February 21st, 2006 at 9:38 amJunior could be personally scalping native american babies and the MSM would fall all over themselves to get the cover-up interview.
Gary:
Interesting facts about the Dubai deal.
#1 - The actual owners of the ports will be our local governments. Not DWP. The DWP will just run ports. Sorta like a manager at a 7/11.
Sure, kinda like managers that have run the day to day operations of the ports and have the abilitiy to turn a blind eye to that buddy of his who just shopliffted that Snickers. And by buddy, I mean jihadist. And by Snickers I mean dirty bomb.
#2 - DWP runs ports in 10 countries. Yet, there hasn’t been a port-caused terrorist attack in any of those nations.
That’s a silly argument. Just like the “haven’t been any more terrorist attacks since 9/11, so that means Bush is doing a good job. If you use that logic, he did a really crappy job in the days leading up to 9/11. Oh, and those other 10 countries, how many of them are the target that the US is?
#3 - When DWP run the ports, the people who will be working the ports will be American citizens.
That’s not necessarily true. Members of DWP will be brought over in managerial positions. They’re the bosses.
#4 - The fact is that the left is using racial profiling to villify DWP. The left is using bigotry to try and sink a legitimate deal that will lead to more efficient trade.
It’s not racial profiling. For the last time, it’s not that we’re afraid of Arabs running the ports. We’re afraid of a country with legitimate ties to terrorism (unlike Iraq had) running the ports. If this was Kuwait running the ports, no big deal. Got it? It’s the country, not the race. How many times do we need to say that?
Under President Bush, there has been more focus on port security. And i’m sure the chances of sending weapons though a port are very narrow.
Really? Huh. Is that why only 7% of incoming cargo is searched? Yup. Heckuva job, there GW.
The left would prefer a communistic approach where our Government completely controls all the ports.
Well, if you are going to use unfounded hyperbole, then I’ll try it out, too. Let’s see if I can get this correct, I’m not as good at overgenralizing things like the right is. Okay, ummm…. ‘The right would prefer a facist approach where everyone is working for pennies at the ports so the company that owns it is raking in hand over fist to increase the gap between the rich and poor. And at that point, who cares about the poor anyway? Right? Cause they’re poor and not worth the same as all the good rich people.’
February 21st, 2006 at 9:39 amGood gig, Judd. Nice way to get the skinny on current events. Maybe some color…as a way of separating out each “bit”…
Gary–the LEFT is fueling this? HA! HA! Bloomberg, Pataki, Ehrlich, Lindsey Graham….lefties? Just keep making up lies as you see fit. It give me the laughs, and laughs are good.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:53 amColor is on the way…
February 21st, 2006 at 9:57 amDude, how was that comment offensive, or against the ‘terms of use’?
February 21st, 2006 at 10:14 amNow they are reclassifying old material — what to think?
February 21st, 2006 at 10:17 amSee the NYT today, article by Scott Shane
http://www.nytimes.com/ 2006/ 02/ 21/ politics/ 21reclassify.html
I think I like this ..
The Ports and Airports Baggage are our Weak Links . Its about a State Own Contract not a private Corp Contract there is a big difference. Bandarbush is just paying back favors that’s all.. heckuva job thar bandarbush.
February 21st, 2006 at 10:28 amNice work TP!
Gives a lot to discuss within the post.
The port security gives us an opening to the security/terrorism issue. We need a cohesive plan to neutralize this issue in November. Propose a plan to increase port, border, and infrastructure security by 20 billion over the next four years. Combine that proposal with the Murtha plan on Iraq and we can neutralize this!
Marie, they are doing cover for all their other secrets that would harm them. They can now say, “we want all National Security secrets to remain just that, secret”.
The National Forest “bake sale” has a lot of resonance out here in the west. Dumb shits have given us an issue that will “sell”.
February 21st, 2006 at 10:42 amre: Comment by Gary Ruppert
February 21st, 2006 at 10:53 amYou must be crazy if you believe all that. Just more bush-speak for giving away any hope of security. What ever he says, you can count on it working out with disaterous consequences. Why not just put out a message to the whole world to ‘bring it on’??? Doing a heck of a job there, GWB.
Let’s not miss the importance of the connection of the Heritage Foundation to the orginzed criminal activities. This is a major development an dneeds to be followed to the end. Heritage Foundation developing clients for Abramoff, WOW. This is the stuff that takes out the criminals.
—————————–
http://www.sfgate.com/ cgi-bin/ article.cgi?f=/ n/ a/ 2006/ 02/ 20/ international/ i210516S41.DTL
“It is true that somebody paid but it was not the (Malaysian) government,” Mahathir said. “I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government.”
Mahathir said the Heritage Foundation believed he could help “influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies.”
February 21st, 2006 at 11:04 amThe U.S. Forest Service is taking heat for its plans to auction off 300,000 acres of scenic Colorado lands
http://landusewatch.com/
February 21st, 2006 at 11:08 amSantorum’s slush fund is actually a milkshake & frappuchino fund. I wonder if his donors know they’re contributing to the obesity of his staffers? :-)
February 21st, 2006 at 11:11 amTwo important tidbits on Abramoff scandal and Senator Sanitary Napkin:
The lead DOJ prosecutor on the Abramoff case has been “promoted” to a federal judgeship…
…timing is veerrrryyy curious…
Sanitary Napkin’s home was financed by a PA bank that has in its charter that they ONLY lend mortgage money to wealthy clientele…which Sanitary is not…
…the bank lent $500,000 to Sanitary for his home….
…and the kickers are…
…apparently the bank’s executives have donated over $24,000 to Sanitary’s campaign…
…Oh and Sanitary is a member of the “banking committee”…
February 21st, 2006 at 11:17 amFunny how when you refute some neo-conservative’s factless talking points, they get real quiet.
Right Gary R?
(Refer to #19 in case you missed it)
Guess the when they us made up rhetorical points, they don’t ever think someone will challenge them. I don’t blame them, the GOP is getting used to no one putting up a fight - inside or outside their party.
February 21st, 2006 at 11:19 amThe left would prefer a communistic approach where our Government completely controls all the ports.
Comment by Gary Ruppert #8
Scary “Gary” Pookbutt…
…traitor…
…curse you…
February 21st, 2006 at 11:19 amInteresting take on the cartoon riots, and seeming ties to how we responded to the DP World issue:
“The result is a combustible mix: hate speech at a time of war. At a time of war at least some will respond to this as an attack, not as free speech. And then the familiar and tragic cycle continues: more war is the response to war.”
http://english.aljazeera.net/ NR/ exeres/ 7258E2EC-9308-46EB-BA3B-C7F7DE5D2734.htm
Saskia Sassen is the Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, and Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Her latest book is Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages (Princeton University Press 2006).
February 21st, 2006 at 11:38 amThe left would prefer a communistic approach where our Government completely controls all the ports.
Comment by Gary Ruppert — February 21, 2006 @ 9:22 am
Umm thats Called National Security Gary
And its when Americans Defend their Own Country.
I can think of nothing less Patriotic than that Gary, and now your saying that those who only want Americans guarding our Ports are Communist?
WOW. Tell me Gary where did you go to School? your logic is quite Skewed and I want to make sure that no member of my family ever attends it.
February 21st, 2006 at 11:57 amSo this is how the rest of the World views America ..
Dr Mahathir said in the United States, the practice to see a leader was to go through a lobbyist, who had to be paid.
I did not touch the money. But, I think somebody paid. That is their practice,” he said. “That is their system. It is not corruption at all. It is very open.”
No according to rove its just business as Usual.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:12 pmI like these round-ups, Judd. Keep up the good work.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:21 pmIf you dont’ have Time Select, here’s the Kristof column
February 21st, 2006 at 12:24 pmHere’s a very interesting article that the mainstream press has barely touched on:
“Given the Bush administration’s rhetoric regarding the Iranian government you wouldn’t think the two have much, if anything, in common. Yet the Bush administration recently went out of its way to support an Iranian initiative to deny access to gay and lesbian organizatins within the United Nations…”
http://orbstandard.com/ News/ Gerard/ Gerard_US_and_Iran_Birds_of_a_Feather.html
February 21st, 2006 at 12:47 pm#
Santorum is toast.
#7 bobcat,
You are ten minutes ahead of me on this one. Santorum not only finagles deals for himself and his family, he also claims to have financial support from his retired parents because he and his wife llive from paycheck to paycheck.
Yeah - right.
Comment by Marie — February 21, 2006 @ 9:27 am
Marie,…. Santourm didn’t “lie” he just didn’t tell the whole truth, his statement should read he and his wife live from lobbyist paycheck to lobbyist paycheck.
February 21st, 2006 at 2:11 pmthe link to the Colorado story is broken. I wanna read! Thanks for the news TP :)
February 21st, 2006 at 2:12 pmDid you hear the one about Israel’s BOMB in the basement—and it’s leadership in damming Iran for trying to have the same thing? I bet it wasn’t built with Israeli citizen tax dollars!
February 21st, 2006 at 2:21 pmI just read the following in the NY Daily News (via BuzzFlash)
Concerning the UAE connections to the White House aides:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ front/ story/ 393375p-333478c.html
Wasn’t John Snow one of those who pooh-poohed concerns about the ports?
February 21st, 2006 at 2:39 pm#25 citizen
I think I agree, the less we are able to read about historical facts from those documents, the easier it is to lie about them (OMG this is more like “1984” every week)– and in addition, they want to remove any history of tactics they wish to re-employ that we might research.
February 21st, 2006 at 2:43 pmI Like it!
February 21st, 2006 at 6:12 pmIf there are 10,700 FEMA trailers sitting unused in Arkansas, and FEMA recommends scrapping them due to nonexistant damage, what is the background on this story? Who purchased these trailers and from whom? If FEMA disposes of them, how will this happen and who will profit from them? Are any of the players involved contributors to either party? Something stinks!
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:13 pmLove the new feature and the color.
Would like to see you make the following point:
Bush is taking our liberty and trashing our Constitution as a FIRST STEP, instead of a last resort. Instead of figuring out how to justify torturing detainees and eavesdrop on the conversations of average Americans, he should be doing the common sense things like protecting our ports.
Bush’s repeated attempts to destroy our Constitutional rights in the name of national security are even more outrageous given his failure to take the simple steps necessary to protect Americans while preserving their liberty.
February 22nd, 2006 at 1:15 pmWhy not use “late term” abortion instead of “partial birth abortion” in your discussion of the Supreme Court case. You’re letting the right distort the language.
February 22nd, 2006 at 2:06 pmUsing fear to control people is not the mark of leadership, it is the mark of tyranny.
Use of fear to control people is the mark of a tyrant.
It is not likely our forefathers fought and died in the Revolutionary War for the kind of government that has evolved from republican control of the country today. When I think of the fear our ancestors who wrote the Constitution must have experienced at the time they wrote it – then I think of how the current administration is using fear to control the citizens today, I am at a loss for words to express how I feel.
Do ya ‘spose Daddy Bush will call in his little republican munchkins, slap a little lipstick on his most recent pig (selling our ports off to a terrorist country) and send them out to tell the rest of us the pig is fine, we should eat it.
February 22nd, 2006 at 2:19 pmReally like the site!
Wish you would do a little further investigation on the BIG connection between the port contract with the UAE and a pending FREE TRADE AGREEMENT with the UAE. Also two current members of the Administration have major connections with the UAE……Treasury Secretary John Snow who heads the agency that “signed off” on the port deal and David Sanborn former head of DPWorld European and Latin American operations and newly appointed (by Bush) head of the US Maritime Administration. So, someone tell me…. how can Bushie NOT have known about the port deal as he claims he didn’t??????
This whole thing appears to be about nothing but “Free Trade” favoring the giant multinational corporations to whom the Bush family and others are “beholden”. What other good reason could Bushie have for getting his macho shorts in a wad when Congress put off the approval of the sale?? I mean…..calling reporters to a command performance at Air Force One to tell them he will VETO anything the Congress passes to thwart the sale??? When he hasn’t used his veto power yet? ( And the only reason for that is because his goons are so adept at armtwisting.) OOPS! Is he losing his grip?? Yep…in more ways than one………..
February 22nd, 2006 at 2:37 pmImpeachmentis only the start.Perhaps, the Senate should unseat Bush and Cheney for FSI avoidance and oher matters. Clinton got his come uppance from the judge. Clinton wil be judged favorably[ see JOHN HARRIS’S AND JJOE KLEIN’S BOOKS];BUSH IS ANOTHER BUCHANAN.WHO SPEAKS OF HIM?
February 22nd, 2006 at 2:56 pmFaiz,
February 22nd, 2006 at 5:10 pmGlobalization is nothing but a process to magnify corporate power. Allowing Dubai to operate American ports? Just more GOP smash and grag. That’s my take on the whole mess.
Great new feature that’s helpful to other bloggers. Thanks!
February 22nd, 2006 at 6:48 pmI cannot help but consider the possibility that since Republicans are in deep doo-doo for the coming elections ,perhaps the whole inexplicably dumb idea to let ANY foreign country have anything of substance to do with the operation of our ports is but a Rove straw man to allow the Republicans an issue (user friendly for the uneducated masses)in which they can show how independent they are of this failed President. That by God, they will not compromise security for anyone, not even the President ,they are so strong, -every one of them, including Sue “Hell No” Myrick. It gives them a very convenient way to distance themselves from Bush and not look like fickle opportunists. Very clever.
February 22nd, 2006 at 9:12 pmI think a great idea for a story would be the living wage crisis in this country, starting with the fight for a living wage on Georgetown University’s campus!
GEORGETOWN WORKERS PROTEST FOR UNION RIGHTS!
Night-Shift Janitors and Students to Protest at Cleaning Company’s Headquarters in Virginia
On the morning of Friday, Febuary 24, night shift workers from Georgetown’s contracted cleaning service company will demonstrate in front of their employers office building in Virginia. P&R Enterprises has failed to recognize Georgetown worker rights to form a union through card-check neutrality with District 82 of SEIU local 32 BJ. Card-check is the most democratic manner to form a union; it avoids the harsh intimidation involved in the union election process.
Workers want to bring attention to their ongoing camaign and ensure that P&R Enterprises takes notice of their determination. With this end in mind, a large contingent of workers and students will march and chant outside of the office building. P&R Enterprises is already unionized in other buildings in Washington DC. Georgetown workers, like all rank and file union members, only want to exercise their rights as workers and sit at the bargaining table with their employer.
Thursday morning, twenty members of Congress who lead our nation on labor issues sent President DeGoia a letter urging him to “ask P&R Enterprises and all contractors at Georgetown University to respect the choice [to form a union] and recognize the employees’ union through a card-check process.â€
The P&R janitors who clean many buildings on campus want to unionize through a card-check process (also known as majority-sign up), which is the most fair and democratic process to organize unions. The card-check process is being promoted in Congress by over 200 Congress members sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act. Among these supporters are the twenty congressmen and women supporting the efforts of the janitors to organize at Georgetown, including Eleanor Holmes-Norton (who represents the District of Columbia in the House), former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, George Miller (senior Democrat on the Education and Workforce Committee), and all three chairs of the Labor and Working Families Caucus. A similar letter is currently in the works in the Senate building. In these letter, the members of Congress hope to show DeGioia that Georgetown’s commitment to social justice necessitates that we allow campus workers organize by the card-check process.
February 22nd, 2006 at 11:43 pmGeorgetown University is blocking the janitors’ ability to form a union. In the February 3rd issue of the Hoya (“Wage Protest Meets DPS Resistance” 2/3/06 issue of the Hoya, see http://www.thehoya.com/news/020306/news2.cfm) university spokesperson Erik Smulson clearly stated that the university is refusing to allow janitors to organize through a card-check process. This demonstrates the university’s misunderstanding of the concept of a card-check process: it is a simple and democratic process to avoid the bureaucratic National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process, which usually takes at least 6-8 weeks, in which time employers regularly intimidate and fire pro-union workers (see http://araw.org/ resources/ facts/ cardvsnlrb.cfm). In the same Hoya article, Smulson stated that campus workers should be forced through this NLRB election process. Today, members of Congress are emphasizing to DeGioia that the NLRB election process “simply fails to protect the rights of millions of Americans to make decisions about workplace representation without intimidation or fear of reprisal.â€
The Georgetown Living Wage Coalition demands the implementation of the card-check process. When more than 50% of workers in a unit sign cards authorizing representation by a particular union, the contractor and university agree to recognize this union, rather than forcing workers through the complicated and undemocratic National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process. An overwhelming majority of P&R janitors at Georgetown have signed union cards. This has been the case for almost an entire year. It is time for Georgetown to take action and stop blocking workers’ right to unionize.
Supporting Congressional members also expressed concern in Georgetown’s possible violation of an internationally recognized human right, “the right to organize, to collectively bargain…is the same right by which we measure the democratic nature of other countries.â€
WHAT: Members of congress have signed a letter addressed to President John DeGoia supporting the Living Wage Coalitions’ demand that the P&R Enterprises workers at Georgetown be allowed to form a union through the card-check process.
WHO: Signatories include; Stephen F. Lynch, Linda Sanchez, Michael H. Michaud, George Miller, Major Owens, Raul M. Grijalva, John Conyers, Jose Serrano, Robert A. Brady, Donald Payne, Robert Wexler, Lane Evans, Jan Schakowsky, Dennis Kucinich, Hilda Solis, Sherrod Brown, Joe Baca, Robert Andrews, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Stephanie Herseth
WHY: After almost four years of struggling with Georgetown administrators over the issue of the living wage, and working closely with campus wage-earning employees, the Living Wage Coalition had no choice but to take the drastic action of a hunger strike in spring 2005. After nine days on strike Georgetown University agreed to the “Just Employment Policyâ€. Now, almost a year later, those promises have not been met: Georgetown workers are not receiving the wage and benefits promised to them, and the university has done nothing to ensure workers’ right to organize a union through the card check process (as the contracted janitors have been trying to form a union for almost a year now).
From: JerseyShoreNuclearWatch@yahoogroups.com [mailto:JerseyShoreNuclearWatch@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Edith
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2006 3:26 AM
To: JerseyShoreNuclearWatch@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [JerseyShoreNuclearWatch] fEB 12 APP Near Miss Prompts Prompts Safety Wake-up Call
APP.COM - The Jersey Shore’s Biggest and Best News Source
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Near-miss prompts safety wake-up call
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/12/06
BY KIRK MOORE
STAFF WRITER
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s focus on a culture of safety at U.S. nuclear plants was inspired by an unnerving close call just 30 miles outside a city of 300,000, when a nuclear reactor vessel came within a fraction of an inch of bursting.
This didn’t happen in 1979, when a Three Mile Island reactor suffered a partial meltdown.
It happened in 2002, when the cap of the reactor at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Oak Harbor, Ohio, was nearly rusted through before it was discovered during an inspection.
Government inspectors later concluded that the near disaster was exacerbated by a corporate culture that put profits ahead of safety inspections. Even though the cap showed signs of possible weakness, managers opted not to shut down the reactor early to inspect it.
The incident served as a cautionary tale for all nuclear plant operators, and a wake-up call for regulators to be more vigilant about safety.
The safety culture at Davis-Besse was found to have a built-in disincentive: An engineer who found a problem would then have to fix it, according to a federal report.
The cap’s rusted-out cavity — nearly big enough to stuff a football inside — could have caused a catastrophic loss-of-coolant accident, one of the most serious disasters possible for a nuclear plant. It likely would have led to a core meltdown and radioactive releases in the Oak Harbor area, located east of Toledo.
The chance of a meltdown came precariously close, according to the NRC. The odds were 1 in 167, or about the same as winning a boxed Pick Three lottery bet.
Source of corrosion
The corrosion was traced to cooling water nozzles that enter the vessel head; water leaking from tiny cracks left residue, including borate solution used to help control the nuclear reaction.
Boric acid had eaten through more than 6 inches of carbon steel — down to a 3/8-inch stainless steel lining that was the only barrier between the cavity and reactor pressures up to 2,500 pounds per square inch, according to NRC documents.
There were no gauges or alarms to warn plant operators that the steel was dangerously thin. But it had been known in the nuclear industry for years that pressurized water reactors of similar design could be prone to vessel head damage. Oyster Creek is a boiling water reactor, a different design that is not prone to cap corrosion.
Davis-Besse owners FirstEnergy Corp. and its operators didn’t understand how bad such corrosion could be. Some plant workers believed that the heat of normal operating temperatures inside the vessel meant that only dry acid crystals would accumulate harmlessly — not the highly corrosive acid solution, according to a July 2005 report by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Previous inspection reports and traces of rust-colored escaped borate solution offered warning signs in 2000, but plant management reckoned it was safe to continue running the plant up to its scheduled February 2002 refueling outage.
When the reactor was shut down and inspectors checked the vessel head, they found between 20 and 30 square inches of metal had been eaten away.
NRC bans 4 officials
Last year, the NRC fined FirstEnergy $5.4 million. This year, the NRC also banned four senior Davis-Besse plant officials from involvement in any licensed nuclear activity for five years — essentially throwing them out of the industry. The company this year agreed to pay $28 million for restitution, penalties and public service projects to defer U.S. Justice Department prosecution.
The NRC blamed the plant’s manager of design engineering, its compliance supervisor, the technical services director and senior engineer for providing incomplete and inaccurate information to the NRC. Those punishments followed an earlier five-year suspension levied against a plant engineer for providing inaccurate information about efforts to remove the boric acid deposits.
The Davis-Besse incident was a warning flag for what can happen when managers try to maximize profitability and minimize downtime. The DOE report points out that, “Budget and schedule pressures must not override safety considerations to prevent unsound program decisions.”
“At Davis-Besse, corporate incentive programs were aligned toward short-term production,” the DOE report stated. “In combination with other incentives, such as rewards for meeting or exceeding outage goals, emergent work and repairs that did not affect generation were often deferred.”
That report considered lessons to be learned from catastrophic failure — the loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003 — and the potential disaster at Davis-Besse. Among its findings, the report warned of the risks in cost-cutting and staff reductions.
Previous operating budget cuts at Davis-Besse had reduced the plant’s engineering staff by 40 percent, and the report noted that, “System engineers were consolidated — giving them more systems to monitor than they could effectively handle. All plant problems were not reported because typically the one reporting the problem was tasked with its resolution.”
Another lesson was the need to listen to employee concerns and “differing professional opinions” on safety issues, the DOE found.
A threefold increase
In a July 2003 report, a panel of experts organized through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a report, “The Future of Nuclear Energy,” which looked at economic pressures and other challenges to the civilian nuclear industry.
In the report, the MIT group projected a threefold increase in nuclear electricity generation worldwide by 2050 — a worthy goal, in the panel’s view, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while supplying power for social and economic advances in the developing nations.
“This was not an anti-nuclear organization. They were reaching for a future for nuclear power,” said Paul Gunter of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a nuclear power watchdog group.
The 2002 discovery of corrosion at Davis-Besse “raises questions about whether nuclear reactor safety goals are compatible with the transition to competitive energy markets,” the MIT experts wrote.
Although critics argued that competitive pressures would compel plant owners to avoid safety inspection-related shutdowns, plant owners argued they had an economic interest in safety, as well as constant NRC oversight.
In an understatement, the MIT group noted that “nuclear plant accident costs are not financially attractive for plant owners.”
E-mail E-mail article Printer Print article Subscription Subscribe Newsletters Get e-mail alerts
Related Articles
• Oyster Creek manager lost job after positive test for cocaine
February 12, 2006
• Property values far exceed insurance fund limit
February 12, 2006
• “Degraded” list means greater NRC oversight
February 12, 2006
• Human error hurts plant’s safety record
February 12, 2006
• RELICENSING OYSTER CREEK: IS IT WORTH IT?
February 12, 2006
Related news from the Web
Latest headlines by topic:
• Nuclear Energy
• Department of Energy
• FirstEnergy
• Energy
• Lottery
Powered by Topix.net
Advertisement
Partners: Jobs: CareerBuilder.com • Cars: Cars.com • Apartments: Apartments.com • Shopping: ShopLocal.com
Site design by Asbury Park Press / Contact us
USA Today • USA Weekend • Gannett Co. Inc. • Gannett Foundation
JERSEY SHORE NUCLEAR WATCH
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:25 amP.O. Box 3085
Toms River, NJ 08756-3085
732-240-5107 http://www.jerseyshorenuclearwatch.org
gbur1@comcast.net
We definitely need to get rid of the corrupt republicans in the next and future elections. But, the voting machine problem has to be addressed and a paper trail has to be there. Or they will continue to fix the votes. That is a very important problem, and if not fixed we can’t win.
February 23rd, 2006 at 3:45 pmChertoff is not the person to say that Security is and will be thorough at the ports in question. President Bush needs to go back to 101 “Lessons to run a successful democracy” and also retake 10l “Lessons for being a successful Commander-in-Chief. These apparently he didn’t take at National Guard Training, or perhaps these were the ones he missed while in Ala. working on a political campaign. There are 26,000 shipping containers that arrive in the US and security inspects one out of twenty. The rest are the responsibility of the company that runs and owns the ports…..what a wonderful gift of Bin Laden,and not a shot fired. Shirley
February 23rd, 2006 at 8:51 pmResponse to Gary Ruperts comments. Interesting info on the DWP. I was wondering about a couple of those issues, especially who the workers would be. I just want to know how it is communist for a country to control it’s own ports. You continually blame the “left” for questioning this deal, but I have seen plenty of questions from the right, and rightly so…
February 24th, 2006 at 11:46 amThe New York Times reports, in its business section, that the federal government will give billions to industry to offset the cost of industry-provided prescription drug plans. The idea seems to be to make it unnecessary for industry to suspend its drug plans and so add to the cost of the federal drug program.
Can this really be happening?
February 24th, 2006 at 12:32 pmHere’s a very interesting blog which points out that Rumsfeld owes us all a refund for wasting $1.1 billion. I want mine!
http://www.orbstandard.com/GGerard/
February 24th, 2006 at 1:13 pmAslong as we allow the attitude of Profit is the only object we will be violating why our for fathers left Europe to Elimate Kings, Lords, Dictators and Serfs. Get with it United States Americans. Take back our Country.
February 27th, 2006 at 7:12 pmWhy the cntract to Kellogg, Brown and Root for $385 million to build temporary detention centers in the US ?
February 27th, 2006 at 8:43 pmJack
I think God approves of you.
March 15th, 2008 at 8:10 pmLesbian Sex Free Lesbian Porn Blonde Lesbians
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 18th, 2008 at 10:24 pmdesign engineering india
%GREETINGS%…Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts comin..holy %DAY% . Sania Mirza
March 19th, 2008 at 1:19 amCash Advance Loans
Same day cash advances help Internet customers by definately making easy the sudden and easy.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:28 amJim Crow Laws Employment Law Us Supreme Court
I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 pmTed Williams
Did you get this off MSN?
March 24th, 2008 at 12:07 amwhere do i go to get a background check in toledo
I’m with the earlier poster, this seems like a good idea.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:11 amAngie
March 28th, 2008 at 9:13 am