JOHN LAFORGE – There is no safe level of exposure to ionizing radiation, only legally “allowable†doses. Types of ionizing radiation include gamma rays, beta and alpha particles, and X-rays emitted by radioactive elements — like the iodine-131, cesium-137, strontium-90 and even plutonium-239 — that have been spewed into the air and the sea in huge quantities by the triple reactor meltdowns that began in Japan last year, and that are dispersed to the air, water and to dump sites in smaller amounts by the everyday operation of nuclear power and medicine.
The State of the Anti-War Movement
DAVID SWANSON – A magazine asked me this morning for my thoughts on Iraq and the peace movement. What did this war produce?
Albania’s Nightmare: Human Trafficking
ALLISON INSCORE – Young women and children face the greatest risk of abduction in Albania, and are used for organ harvesting, forced labor or prostitution. In most cases, as in this case, the victims are killed.
Do Nuclear Weapons Really Deter Aggression?
LAWRENCE WITTNER – It’s often said that nuclear weapons have protected nations from military attack. But is there any solid evidence to bolster this contention? Without such evidence, the argument that nuclear weapons prevented something that never occurred is simply a counter-factual abstraction that cannot be proved.
Take Action to Scuttle Latest Trade Scam
MELINDA ST. LOUIS – Together, we have cracked open the crypt hiding Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “free trade†negotiations, but TPP talks continue in extreme secrecy. While some members of Congress have begun to take notice, we need to sound a much louder alarm.
Justice Stevens: Citizens United Ruling Will Fall Apart
SAHIL KAPUR – Two and a half years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling that invited a flood of corporate money in U.S. elections, the justice who led the barnstorming dissent says he’s increasingly convinced the decision won’t stand the test of time.