2011

TO THE MEMORY OF CHERNOBYL, Part ONE

By 2011

Instead of honoring its victims at this time Chernobyl is referenced to minimize the impact of Fukuchima.
Supposedly only 35 people died. The World Health Organization and the IAEA, whose mission is to promote nuclear power, claim that “there is no scientific evidence of increases in overall cancer incidence or mortality rates or in rates of non-malignant disorders that could be related to radiation exposure from Chernobyl.”
That the reality on the ground is very different comes to life in a book, Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

IT WAS AND IS POSSIBLE TO STOP NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

By 2011

Kay Drey and S. David Freeman
Kay Drey speaks on Routine Releases by nuclear reactors. They emit dangerous gases and fission products during their day to day operations. David Freeman states that no nuclear power plants should be built since they are dangerous, cost prohibitive, and can easily be replaced with renewable energy. He also says that we need a police state to live with them. He closed down 8 nuclear reactors during his tenure as Chief Executive at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and one more when he was General Manager of the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

PLUTONIUM FUEL FOR NUCLEAR REACTORS?

By 2011

The disaster at Fukushima makes it apparent how little is known about the operation of a nuclear power plant. For example the so-called “spent” fuel in the cooling pools on the rooftops is many times more dangerous than the fresh, non irradiated fuel. The biggest danger from the Fukuchima nuclear accident comes from unit 3 that was stocked in September 2010 with MOX, a new mixed oxide reactor fuel that contains plutonium – not as a fission byproduct – but from the outset inside the fuel rods. MOX fuel is many times more lethal than uranium fuel.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

IMPACT OF RADIATION FROM NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS – Dr. Helen Caldicott

By 2011

As world attention is focussed on the severely damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan it become apparent how little is known about the radioactive substances being released and their impacts on life.
Helen Caldicott says that 200 new elements are made inside a nuclear reactor, all intensely radioactive, some lasting seconds, some 17 million years. Many of them are carcinogenic, some are mutagenic. In this speech she explains how radiation induces cancers and mutations, and describes the effects of the four most significant isotopes present in nuclear power plants: radioactive iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90, and plutonium-239.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)

Michael Parenti: The Functions of Fascism (REAL HISTORY THREE/FIVE)

By 2011

Parenti says that fascism is a new order and consciousness that served
the same old power structure and promised to solve the ills of the many
while protecting the interests of the few. He answers in detail who
financed the fascist parties and what services the fascists rendered in
return.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Michael Parenti: The Spanish American War and the Rise of US Imperialism (REAL HISTORY TWO/FIVE)

By 2011

Why did the US give verbal support to the Cuban liberation movements against Spain while selling weapons to Spain to fight the poplar movement? The Spanish American War was an important turning point in the transition of the US to an imperial power and many of the forces at work are eerily contemporary.

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Michael Parenti: The Myth of the Founding Fathers (REAL HISTORY – ONE/FIVE)

By 2011

As the US government claims to spread democracy around the world and is ghost writing constitutions for other countries, the spotlight falls back on this country. Is the current US system a democracy? Has it ever been one? In The Myth of the Founding Fathers Parenti takes us back to the early days of the republic. Who were the founding fathers, what were their goals in writing the US constitution? Who did they exclude and who did they favor? How many of them actually wanted to create a monarchy? And who, in the end, ratified the constitution after it was written?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:01 — 19.9MB)

Bernie Sanders: International Trade, Trade Deficit and Job Losses

By 2011

Sanders: We have not dealt with our disastrous trade policies which have encouraged large corporations to send jobs abroad. Just under Bush we went from 17 million manufacturing jobs to 12 million in 8 years. How do we survive as a strong industrial power? Today there are fewer manufacturing jobs than in April 1941.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)

Bernie Sanders: We Must Break up the Largest Banks

By 2011

While taxpayers bailed out Wall Street banks because they were too big to fail, 3 out of 4 financial institutions that were bailed out are now larger than before. Wells Fargo is 43% bigger, JP Morgan Chase 51% bigger, and Bank of America is 138% bigger. If we are serious about preventing a future collapse worse than the current one we have to break these banks up, says Sanders.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:02 — 19.9MB)

Bernie Sanders: Secret Funding by the Federal Reserve

By 2011

Sanders reports on the “jaw dropping” $3.3 trillion in emergency loans and more than $9 trillion in over 21,000 short-term loans and other financial arrangements the Federal Reserve handed out without input or supervision, dwarfing the $700 billion Treasury Department bank bailout during the Wall Street meltdown.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)