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http://www.kickstarter.com/pro…

RDTN.org: Radiation Detection Hardware Network in Japan

RDTN.org is a website whose purpose is to provide an aggregate feed of nuclear radiation data from governmental, non-governmental and citizen-scientist sources. That data will be made available to everyone, including scientists and nuclear experts who can provide context for lay people. In the weeks following launch, it has become evident that there is a need for additional radiation reporting from the ground in Japan. This Kickstarter project will help us purchase up to 600 Geiger Counter devices that will be deployed to Japan. (The project minimum will fund 100 devices).

hat tip boingbong

They’ve raised $13,104 of their $33,000 goal from 128 backers and have 14 days left to fund their project.

Continue reading Citizens’ Radiation Monitoring Networks
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Exciting news coming out of the Green-Rainbow Party, generating serious momentum towards local initiatives. Check out this note from GRP Co-Chairs Jill Stein and John Andrews:

Wow. There was electricity in the air from the start.  And by the end of the day, we knew for certain that something new and exciting had appeared on the scene.

Thirty-five activists met Saturday at the Green-Rainbow Party’s “Initiatives Summit” in Worcester to plan a new future for Massachusetts and beyond.  One by one they rose to tell of their experiences, their hopes, and their vision.  They were tired of the betrayals of a government in which politicians routinely sold out to special interests and big money.  Tired of seeing our men and women – and civilians in far off lands – maimed and killed in wars for oil while arms merchants grew rich. They were tired seeing their neighborhoods ravaged by unemployment and foreclosures while a well-placed few grew ever richer through financial manipulation. And they were tired of seeing their democratic rights eroded by insider deals cut by the Democratic and Republican Parties.  

(continued after the jump)

Continue reading Green-Rainbow Initiative Summit launches four exciting initiatives!
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Nearly 35 years ago, the Clamshell Alliance organized to oppose the Seabrook NH nuclear power plant.  In the wake of Fukushima, these old(er) campaigners are ready to start campaigning again.

Clamshell Alliance:

A Call To Action From Fukushima

Ø Fukushima: Chernobyl in the Pacific Ocean 25 years later.

Ø Nuclear corporation Entergy is poised to violate the will of the people of Vermont and operate the Vermont Yankee reactor (same make, model and age as Fukushima) past the 3/2012 contractual closure date.

Ø Federal NRC granted the VY reactor a 20-year extension just days after the meltdowns in Japan began.

Ø We must begin now to prepare for mass nonviolent action.

Continue reading Clamshell Alliance Call to Action
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Even amidst a two-day ceasefire that that began the 11th, the specter of a renewed, vigorous assault by Israeli forces similar to 2009’s Operation Cast Lead looms darkly over the war-torn Gaza strip.  It’s the terrifying possibility that has haunted the rubble-strewn thin strip of land bordering the Mediterranean Sea and came screeching into full bore last week as the IDF tore into Gaza killing nineteen Palestinians and injuring seventy others.  In addition to the deadly land, naval, and air attacks the IDF shut down the roads entering Gaza for a week, once again blockading medical supplies and aid from entering and causing drastic shortages of nearly 150 different kinds of medicines.  

Even during the cease-fire Israeli officials have unabashedly shown their support for an escalation of the violence and bombing of the Gaza strip, with National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau publicly declaring that the IDF “needed to finish off the job in Operation Cast Lead” rather than agreeing to Hamas’ appeal for a cease-fire.  Unfortunately it seems unlikely that Gaza can withstand another military action like Operation Cast Lead, the IDF’s brutal campaign that left over 1,500 dead and 6,000 injured, and the merciless blockade that accompanied it.  

Continue reading Asbestos Cannot Be The Building Block Of Gaza’s Future
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A larger version of this chart, where you can read the numbers more easily is at

https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/energy/energy_archive/energy_flow_2009/LLNL_US_Energy_Flow_2009.png

Estimated US energy use in 2009 was 94.6 quadrillion btu’s.  54.64 quads were “rejected energy,” wasted energy.  39.97 quads actually provided energy services, did work.  We lost about 57.75% of the energy we produced to get the use of 42.25% of what we, mostly, burned.  At least, those are the percentages I get with my calculator.

Continue reading 2009 Energy Use in the USA
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“You can’t spoil a system that is spoiled to the core.”

–Ralph Nader

As the Los Angeles Times reports, key Democrats are beginning to embrace the no-holds-barred arena of corporate influence on political elections, in which disclosures of funding are not required by law.

Democrats putting together new independent political organizations for the 2012 campaign are embracing a model that will allow them to conceal their donors – the very tactic for which they criticized Republicans in 2010.

Majority PAC, a new group aimed at electing Democrats to the Senate, and American Bridge 21st Century, which will serve as a research hub, are being organized as so-called super political action committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money from contributors whose donations are reported to the Federal Election Commission. But both are also affiliated with nonprofit 501(c)(4) social welfare groups that can raise money from undisclosed donors and give money directly to super PACs.

The same dual structure is being considered by Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, two former White House aides who are likely to launch their own independent expenditure effort in support of President Obama’s reelection, according to people familiar with the plans.

As a spokesman for Obama, Burton repeatedly hammered Republican groups for their lack of transparency in 2010. He declined to comment.

Continue reading Join the fight – drop the duopoly!
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Change the media, change the world? Really? Is it that simple? Well, I went to the National Conference for Media Reform this past weekend to find out.

Kudos to Free Press, based in the Pioneer Valley, for putting on such a great event — their fifth national conference (starting in 2003). The major theme banged home during the weekend was that no matter what your issue focus is, you’ve got to make media your second issue. Whether we’re talking about media policy or media making, it is imperative to transform the way we communicate to each other and to larger and larger audiences of concerned citizens. From message to medium, from media justice to media literacy, this conference brought together a few thousand people who are remaking the media from the bottom up.

Continue reading Whatever your issue, media is #2
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