Looking At Clouds From Both Sides - NOW!

by pessimist I've looked at clouds from both sides now,

From up and down, and still somehow,

It's cloud illusions I recall,

I really don't know clouds, at all.

- Joni Mitchell

Lately, clouds have been a significant part of King George's daily routine. Just the other day, a mean and evil looking cloud caused the Secret Service to stage a media operation evacuation of Owwer Leedur to one of Unka Dick's Secrit Hidey-holes, which can't have played well in the world. What a hero! What a leader! What bravery?

But there are signs on the horizon that indicate a truely mean and evil looking cloud will once again loom - and that would really mean someone will be having a bad day!

N.Korea May Carry Out Nuclear Test by June

The United States has warned the International Atomic Energy Agency that North Korea has been preparing to carry out an underground nuclear test since March and could go ahead as early as June, Kyodo news agency said on Saturday. The report, which quoted diplomatic sources in Vienna, came a day after the chief U.S. negotiator to stalled talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions said Washington believed North Korea might be trying to harvest material for a nuclear bomb from a shut-down reactor. According to the sources, who said the information was obtained by satellite photos and from within North Korea, Pyongyang was preparing to test a small-scale plutonium device.

The United States had called on China to urge North Korea to halt its preparations, but there were no signs that Beijing had done so, the sources said.

Didn't North Korea tell China to butt out? [I had a link, but time constraints prevent finding it.]

Last week, following a similar report, a senior U.S. administration official said that Washington had seen no evidence that North Korea was preparing for a nuclear weapons test, although it had seen "lots of stuff suggesting interesting activity."

In February, North Korea said it possessed nuclear weapons and was withdrawing from the six-party talks, in which the United States, Japan, Russia, China and the two Koreas have taken part. The last round took place in June 2004, and repeated efforts to restart the talks have failed.

Gee - do you think that taking some kind of action more mature than name-calling would be appropriate? What kind of message is this sending the world community struggling to ease tensions over the Iranian nuclear program and remove Bu$hCo 'justifications' for war?

Bu$hCo has already made their relations and diplomatic efforts more difficult by their bungling of several crises with China. I somehow doubt that this is going to improve just because the countries involved are much smaller and weaker. Maybe Bu$h thinks that nukes are not as dangerous as anyone who knows anything about their previous usage believes.

But if he were a reading man, he would be awaiting the results of a study testing UK troops for uranium exposure from clouds of depleted uranium dust created by DU munitions usage:

Depleted uranium is standard in a number of anti-tank weapons. Amounts in bullets, shells and bombs vary from 300 grams to 7 tonnes in the bunker-busters of the type dropped on Baghdad. The bombs used on the restaurant in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Saddam Hussein are believed to have contained tonnes of depleted uranium which would have contaminated the surrounding area.

Experts have calculated that from all sources between 1,000 and 2,000 tonnes of depleted uranium were used by the coalition in the three-week conflict.

Professor Brian Spratt FRS, chairman of the society's working group on depleted uranium, said: "It is highly unsatisfactory to deploy a large amount of a material that is weakly radioactive and chemically toxic without knowing how much soldiers and civilians have been exposed to it.

"It is only by measuring the levels of DU in the urine of soldiers that we can understand the intakes of DU that occur on the battlefield, which is a requirement for a better assessment of any hazards to health. It is vital that this monitoring takes place and that it takes place within a matter of months."

But King George's coffers are bare, and thus there is no money for such a study of US troops. Maybe Halliburton would fund such a study?

Nah! They are too busy spending their money getting a law changed which would save them millions in damages from asbestos dust cloud exposure claims! So we can't count on support from that sector!

But there is yet another study which should be getting the attention of King George - assuming he was a reader:

Cracks in decaying shell of Chernobyl reactor threaten second disaster

A leading Russian scientist has claimed that the sarcophagus entombing Chernobyl's broken nuclear reactor is dangerously degraded and he warned that its collapse could cause a catastrophe on the same scale as the original accident almost 20 years ago.

"If it collapses, there will be no explosion, as this is not a bomb, but a pillar of dust containing irradiated particles will shoot 1.5 kilometres into the air and will be spread by the wind." Depending on how the wind is blowing, Russia or Belarus would bear the brunt of such a dust cloud. Ukraine, where Chernobyl is located, would also be affected.

They rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done, But clouds got in my way.

The sarcophagus is designed to keep a lid on what is left of the nuclear reactor that exploded with such dire consequences during an unauthorised test in April 1986 and is supposed to stop the mass of unspent nuclear fuel that lies beneath from entering the atmosphere. It is estimated that only between 3 and 15 per cent of that fuel actually escaped during the explosion meaning that most of it is still trapped inside.

The sarcophagus was hastily thrown together after the explosion as a desperate attempt to contain the world's worst nuclear accident. Many of the workers who toiled on it have since died of cancer and the sarcophagus itself began showing signs of serious stress in the early 1990s.

Built to last 50 years,experts were forced to reduce its recommended lifespan to just 20 years meaning a replacement is due in 2006. Sceptics claim that warnings about its deterioration are designed to persuade Western donors to stump up the $1bn bill. A donors' conference takes place in London on 12 May and the Ukrainian government hopes to raise $300m. That task has been complicated, however, by recent revelations that private firms have embezzled some $185m of Chernobyl money, some of which was earmarked for a new shelter.

But now it's just another show,

You leave 'em laughing when you go.

And if you care, don't let them know.

Don't give yourself away.

Or anything else, George - like your mad plans for world domination. What's a few lives lost to the tools of that trade through exposure to radioactive dust clouds?

After all - you're now a veteran of the cloud wars.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now - to all of you wrong-wingers out there who support King George's madness for expanding the nuclear power plant inventory: I suggest that if you think nukes are they way to go to solve America's energy needs, you should read up on the damage suffered by the people surrounding Chernobyl and about the town to hot to remain in long lest you join the ranks of the victims.

Then take a look at your own kids and ask yourself: "Am I willing to risk their lives to clouds for 'cheap' energy and high profits for profiteers?"

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