Korea Torments Teachers

Last Thursday 24 Oct., the government of South Korean President Park Geun-hye declared the Korean Teachers’ & Education Workers’ Union (KTU) illegal.

Korean President Park seeks to force educators toward the ruling 새누리당 Saenuri Party (Saenuri-dang) position on major issues. The Korean government is forcibly taking away a constitutionally guaranteed right to organize.

The government had demanded the union expel any members who are not full-time teachers. That may sound reasonable, but the small number of 'disputed' members are either retired teachers or those laid-off due to government cutbacks, between 9 and 22 people (link). Why can't labor associate freely?

Now the 60,000 member teacher's union is illegal.

We must wonder if President Park can make such decisions herself, or if she first needs ask Washington & U.S. Pres. Obama for permission? South Korea & ally USA remain technically in a state of war with North Korea, and America bases nearly 30,000 troops (link) throughout the South.

Korean right-wing President Park Geun-hye is the daughter of assassinated dictator General Park Chung-hee, close friend & former puppet of the USA.

The Korean Government Employees’ Union has not been officially recognized, and private sector unions are often quashed by industry. But this latest union-busting decision is sure to raise anger internationally against Korea -- already seen as competing unfairly.

The irony is that Korea is highly competitive in most substantive areas, but myopic and regressive with human rights, gender issues & internationalization. These latter areas have little influence on low priced Korean products flooding the world, but negative publicity for Korea hurts its competitive industries and consumer sales of products from Samsung, LG, Lotte, KIA, Hyundai, etc.

Dead by Govt. Shutdown

How many people were sickened, injured or died due to the US government shutdown?

Stories have been told about a supposed aggregate economic cost, but where are the human stories?

The USFDA (Food and Drug Administration) has 1602 investigators, most were furloughed for three weeks - what went on during the gap?

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recalled 30 furloughed staff to deal with a salmonella outbreak among 300+ people who ate Foster Farms tainted chicken.

I'd like to see more news articles about the human cost of government shutdown.

As the shutdown was largely blamed on Republican Party extremists, there would seem ample strategic incentives for reasonable people of almost all persuasions to highlight accidents and abuses that happened during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013 (1-17 October).

The Guardian has offered some coverage - can't other media bring us more of the real stories?

Bambozzled by Richy

On the advice of a friend, just watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM
Wealth Inequality in America

Wealth inequality in itself seems natural and OK. Such extremes are not good. Half a nation lumped perpetually as "have-not" is unsustainable. And what is really bad is that the very richest 1% of people actively work & spend to flummox the rest.

Richy 1% should be spending to protect his stash. But he gets the rest to cover many costs such as security, defense & infrastructure. He spends to avoid taxes. He spends deliberately to confuse the key issues.

The modestly wealthy (with more wealth than 90% of other folk), and the quite wealthy (with more wealth than 96% of other folk), are a long distance from top 1% Richy. They know it, but busily work to protect some comforts. Richy's got the system sewn up.

With Republican-led government shutdown, people are led to be angry and want smaller government. Richy will then cheat you at the gas pump (both lower octane & improper volume - who can check?). You'll buy horse or dog meat labeled as beef (no inspectors, no govt. rules). Since Richy owns the newspapers & media, you believe a story that the poor dumfux over the hill deserve to die - and send your sturdy kids to get damaged or killed in war. Richy equips both sides, at windfall profits. No surprise: Richy Wins.

But Richy needs an endgame, an exit strategy. When 80% or 90% of 'neighbors' recognize they work very hard & live shittier lives from Richy manipulation, Richy could be threatened.

Free the Tea Party!

The US Tea Party movement was never Republican. It was stupid to be coopted by Big Business and megawealth.

Populist movements are little people fighting for themselves. They were corralled through the trickery of fatcat politicos and fools For Sale (such as golly-gee Sarah Palin whore).

Following the flag, these red white & blue Americans were sucked into the wastes of Iraq & Afghanistan, at great cost (our money stolen by Big Business) and huge loss of life.

A new party & grass-roots activism are needed. A real fight for freedom.

Withdraw from overseas colonialism, which deflect the American people's needs. It's dumb to beat-up on clueless dusky foreigners (who are also mostly enslaved as well). Fat & pasty Republican Party parasites are at fault.

Republican & Democrat weasel politicians accepted huge 'donations' to build a loophole-filled tax system for giant corporations (such as Apple -- link), who can legally e-funnel resources away from taxes & local needs. Yo money disappears to megarich scumballs, while you tastefully exercise your purchasing powers at Walmart.

America's Shame

We're Republican Livestock

Understanding Threat

Ask your local nuclear operator the following questions:

1) How much nuclear waste do you store on site?

2) What distance(s) from active reactor to waste storage?

3) How much such storage is necessary for power generation?

4) If you could easily offload your nuclear waste, how many tons would you give up?

Nuclear power plants also are nuclear waste dumps.  Answers to these questions easily show the nuclear industry is critically suboptimal, dirty and highly dangerous. Fukushima was not a sufficient lesson?

Demand "mile minimum" between waste dump & nuclear reactor. Hundreds of miles is better. Investors in the nuclear industry lump their waste dumps beside 'hot' reactors to minimize complaints - fewer sites, less complaint. Their short term convenience & profit-taking breeds disaster.

MILKSOP or LIMPSY?

US nuclear power plants should all be shutdown, say an expert panel of two former Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners, a nuclear engineer, a Cape Cod politician, and Naoto Kan (Japan's Prime Minister at Fukushima Daiichi's Nuclear Disaster).

Meeting in Boston at the Statehouse, the panel criticized Massachusetts combined Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station and Pilgrim Nuclear Waste Stockpile.

There are over 3,000 spent fuel rods at Pilgrim. "Is Pilgrim any different from Fukushima Dai-ichi? The reactor is identical to Dai-ichi's units 2 and 3; in a critical way, it's worse. The Japanese have seven or eight years of spent fuel stored there, we have 35 years of spent fuel sitting in a pool in Pilgrim, and the pool sits on top of a building."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission hasn't properly protected the public.

US nuke licensing is both MILKSOP and LIMPSY:

"milksop"

manipulable

indulgent

lenient

kowtowing

servile

obliging

permissive

"limpsy"

lenient

indulgent

manipulable

permissive

servile

yielding

Vigorous Debate?

Edward Snowden exposed a range of surprising & chilling operations by our overgrown secret police. And the NSA & GCHQ revelations released thus far are just tip of the iceberg. What characterizes subsequent debate?

The UK is somewhat on message in discussing appropriate limits to media debate (link) - "Politics should be about playing the ball, not the man, certainly not the man's family." Commentary included questions about religious faith, persistent foreignness (link), and an immigrant's stake in society.

America's media, in federal shutdown & nine days to government repayment default, continues reviewing Hanna Montana's butt.