For those who think there's no open talk in Japan.

[Bonobo]

It's in Japanese, so most of you won't get it. It's in 4 parts.

It's a very straight talking panel discussion from a Kansai TV channel.

They talk about how information is being hidden, how it is a world problem, how the radiation is more dangerous than we are being told, about the real nature of radiation exposure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfjuJepvSRY&feature=youtu.be&a (PT.1)

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. thanks for the translation

[freshwest]

2. Less corporate censorship there than here. Read a thread said some are saying to nationalize them.

Their companies are nowhere near as corrupt as ours and haven't been as arrogant.

Good for them.

And look at all those young people-- this is their future!

Best wishes.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. Bonobo, I wish you the best.

I hope you're safe. Is it possible for you to leave Japan? Are they evacuating people at all? BOTH of our Governments are hiding the TRUTH. They're protecting the Nuclear Industry that they're in bed with.

[Maru Kitteh]

11. Is Greenpeace in on the conspiracy too?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x770947

[calimary]

4. Shit. My husband the science wonk fears there may be a quarter-million dead.

During the first week of the Japan crisis, everything he was saying to me about the progression of the nuclear disaster on any given day - wound up being a big news headline two days later.

He also fears that the entire island of Honshu will be, in effect, pretty screwed. Certainly the northern part of Japan. He said that northern reach of Japan might be a total loss. Too big a dead zone. With the half-life of plutonium, he said we can all move back in there in - oh, say - maybe 250-THOUSAND years...


:(

[freshwest]

5. A big 'I told you so' loses any satisfaction in this scenario. Poor people. Poor planet.

[calimary]

6. Yeah, I know. I wasn't trying to do that.

This was no "I told you so," friend.

I just found it really scary that everything my husband said was happening or going to happen - actually did happen. I think it reflects a lot more poorly on the media and TEPCO and the Japanese government - hell, even OUR government, that we didn't get the truth from the outset because it was more important to downplay and soft-pedal (or be in denial about) what was happening.

[freshwest]

8. Oh, no, I didn't think you were.

I've been ranting about the magic thinking some have had and attacking others. No matter what news was coming out, they said it wasn't that bad and we're all hysterical wanting to take the world back to the stone age. And equating the dangers of nukes to wind, solar and wave energy sources. There is no comparison.

No way I meant to infer that about you. I'm glad that you told us that your husband could see this coming. Most people, even famous scientists have been ridiculed and shut out of the debates over nuke power because of the industry. Nothing they say equals the danger of the length of time it will take the Earth to cleanse an area of the radiation. Definitely not within our lifetimes, so we have no right to do this to the world.

Thanks for your anecdote. Are we cool?

[calimary]

10. Totally, completely, and undeniably! :)

Funny, even as I'm writing this, my husband is hollering at the TV (CNN) about some Senior Nuclear Plant Operator who's enlarging on the subject and he's yelling at the TV - "YEAH, WHILE it was going on!!!!" And "yeah, you don't just let it go into the ocean, unless you're a CEO, and then you say 'well, let it go into the ocean because then it's free! Otherwise I have to pay extra to process it!"

My wonky guy.

I married an egghead. But then again I was one of those who was hot for Mr. Spock and not so much for Captain Kirk back when the original "Star Trek" series was on. Because Mr. Spock was smart and I found that to be male hotness. Bruce was always VERY helpful to have around when I was still working as a news anchor and had to make sense of something scientifically complicated, whether it was about a particular meteor shower or wind shear or pilot error if there was some plane crash or the real cause of the big local power failure, or in this case, the ins and outs of plutonium leakage and what exposure to that can do to the human body. Always very illuminating, if not also EXTREMELY disquieting. He explained radiation's effects to me at a molecular level - and that's bothered me FOR DAYS. WHY the body starts to fall apart when exposed to serious amounts of radiation. It's basically that the electrons buzzing around the nucleus of every atom in your body are being knocked out and fucked with and the atom-to-atom bonds are being broken and crudely-speaking you just kinda start microscopically coming apart. If I understand it correctly, that is. Anyway, truth sure hurts when it's being explained clearly by someone with a powerful scientifically-oriented intellect. He's the guy who used to take his algebra books to the bathroom with him. Nowadays, it's things like "Astronomy" and "Scientific American." He was an Information and Computer Science major and did all kinds of complicated computer shit and was later known and revered as the "Debug King."

Hey, whaddo I know? I went to art school.

Here's how I fix my computer: "Hey BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE?!"

:P :hi: :D :silly:

[jwirr]

7. And from the sound of it the ocean may have another huge dead

zone. Which also effects food sources for Asian people. If we do not learn from this then it is our own fault. No more nukes.

[freshwest]

9. Will we learn from this at last? Americans are succeeding in going against this, Sanders, etc.