What nuclear reactor?

Imagine a news story that went in detail about levels of radioactivity suddenly showing up in produce in certain areas of Japan, and also affecting the waters. The story mentions a number of Japanese people hospitalized with severe radiation poisoning. Add a paragraph about radioactive fallout being detected in California.

Now, imagine that this story neglects to even mention the Fukushima reactors or the earthquake and tsunami.

Such a story would be absurd, and would immediately make an editor rush to correct it.

And yet, on Page A-1 of the San Francisco Chronicle you have Pot wars: Private land new frontier in California written by Robert Townsend of California Watch – an investigative reporting organization that claims to provide “bold, new journalism.”

It’s a detailed story about how marijuana grows are showing up on private land in California, complete with booby traps, environmental damage, and retribution when owners try to eradicate.

Good investigation, but not once in the story do they mention the equivalent of the Fukushima reactors (the illegal status of marijuana) or the earthquake and tsunami (supply-side prohibition efforts).

The commenters caught it immediately. Why can’t Robert Townsend, the bold investigative reporting of California Watch, or the San Francisco Chronicle see the nuclear reactor in the room?

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13 Responses to What nuclear reactor?

  1. Steve says:

    > Why can’t Robert Townsend, the bold
    > investigative reporting of California
    > Watch, or the San Francisco Chronicle
    > see the nuclear reactor in the room?

    Maybe because the author “graduated from a police academy in California [in 2008]. The job market in this state is dire and law enforcement jobs are scarce.”

    I can only guess that the law enforcement job market would become even more dire had the author seen what you see.

    I don’t know what California Watch or the San Francisco Chronicle’s excuse might be. Deadlines?

    Was that cynical? Sorry…

  2. DdC says:

    Actually the Japanese government is trying to pretend Fukushima doesn’t exist. Not that Unk Scam doesn’t have their little secrets. Pete you will never find “journalism” concerning the drug war outside of your blog’s comment section. The environmental angle isn’t new. They’ve been blaming grow ups, especially “Vietnamese Gangs” and “Mexican Cartel’s” National Forests campsites, poison chemicals and diesel spills for the generators. Not once did I read about it all being caused by prohibition. They legally use radioactive isotopes, frack natural gas into peoples kitchen sinks and remove entire mountaintops leaving devastation for the citizens. You really think they’re going to attempt a non-bias report? I haven’t heard anything about the radiation victims using Ganja for the symptoms. Or using hemp as they are to clean up Chernobyl. Fascism dude. The sooner we get out of denial, the sooner we can deal with it.

    We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
    — President John F. Kennedy

    Fukushima Reactors Are a “Ticking Time Bomb,” Japanese Govt in Denial
    By Amy Goodman | Democracy Now!
    Scientist Michio Kaku: When we hear “that things are stable, it’s only stable in the sense that you’re dangling from a cliff hanging by your fingernails.”

    Bushit Rumcheney Cocktail:Fascist Nationalism and MKULTRA
    The documents show that two of the key officials involved in the decision to withhold that information were White House aides Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, today the nation’s vice president and secretary of Defense. “These documents show the lengths to which the government was trying to cover up the truth,” said the scientist’s son, Eric Olson, who gave them to the Mercury News. “For 22 years there was a coverup. And then, under the guise of revealing everything, there was a new coverup.”

    Benefits of Marijuana: Acute radiation syndrome

    To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter day Arab hero. Assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an unwinnable urban guerilla war, it could plunge that part of the world into ever greater instability.”
    ~ George H.W.Bush 1998.

    BP and Other Oil Giants Plotted For Iraq Reserves Prior to Invasion

  3. Servetus says:

    Prohibition is like a cat that chases its own tail. Except when a cat does it, it’s cute.

    • DdC says:

      That’s the way I see it. Perpetuating the war, going in circles intentionally, is where the money is. That’s probably cute for the receiving end. The “reasons” worriers give are totally moot and irrelevant. The SF Chronicle is Hearst Communications Inc. Hearst Newspapers aren’t nonbias. Like Fox and Rupert, they sell stories.

      “If you’re not careful,
      the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed,
      and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
      ~ Malcolm X

      Yellow Journalism
      Why is Marijuana Illegal? DWR

      Harry Anslinger got some additional help from William Randolf Hearst, owner of a huge chain of newspapers. Hearst had lots of reasons to help. First, he hated Mexicans. Second, he had invested heavily in the timber industry to support his newspaper chain and didn’t want to see the development of hemp paper in competition. Third, he had lost 800,000 acres of timberland to Pancho Villa, so he hated Mexicans. Fourth, telling lurid lies about Mexicans (and the devil marijuana weed causing violence) sold newspapers, making him rich.

      Pancho Villa’s Love Life and Offspring

      After just a brief courtship, Pancho Villa married Maria Luz Corral. He convinced the priest that neither one would really have the time for his confession before the marriage. This relationship ended in 1921.

      Juana Torres was also married to Pancho at some point. Juana’s love faded when Pancho Villa put Juana’s mother and sister in prison for stealing his money.

      Ganja: A term of Sanskrit origin for cannabis.
      ~ Lipstick on a Pig…

      Some samples from the San Francisco Examiner

      “Was it marijuana, the new Mexican drug, that nerved the murderous arm of Clara Phillips when she hammered out her victim’s life in Los Angeles?… THREE-FOURTHS OF THE CRIMES of violence in this country today are committed by DOPE SLAVES — that is a matter of cold record.”

      Corporations That Own Our Media
      In the process, the usual democratic expectation for the media — diversity of ownership and ideas — has disappeared as the goal of official policy and, worse, as a daily experience of a generation of American readers and viewers.

      The Corporate Muzzle
      * Trolls of Fascism

      Who supports the Drug War.jpg

      “Another weapon I discovered early was the power of the printed word to sway souls to me. The newspaper was soon my gun, my flag- a thing with a soul that could mirror my own.”
      ~ Adolph Hitler

  4. Sakume says:

    Reporters are always leaving something out in order to make their story attractive to the certain kind of readership they’re after. You know there’s some douchebag out there that read the story and nodded with a smile on their face. Bold new journalism means “We may have left information out or added information without proper cross referenced research to make the story more appealing” journalism.

    • DdC says:

      The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law “respecting an establishment of religion”

      Maybe pass this on to the Dick Armey…

      impeding the free exercise of religion

      Maybe pass this on to the Koran burning preacher terry jones and the westboro babtists, boosh’s faith based rehabilitation’s and the judges ruling against the Rastafarians.

      infringing on the freedom of speech

      Bong Hits 4 Jesus

      infringing on the freedom of the press

      This is the kicker. Gossip, unsubstantiated stories and lies on cable, in airwaves or print. Should not be licensed as “The Press”. Or journalists. They are entertainment and somehow have to be separate from the intent of a Free Press to inform the people with unbiased truth. Gossip, fear mongering, and lies have the same results as yelling fire in crowded theaters or causing stampedes or riots. Endangering the public. I’m not suggesting laws, but patronizing and purchasing their products is counter productive to us all.

      interfering with the right to peaceably assemble

      Joe Bidens lies and bait and switch tricks tacking his RAVE Ax into the paranoia creating the Amber alert. Bans the right to assemble at RAVEs, but the priority behind the Act succeeded in stopping NORML gatherings. Special permits, last minute cancelations by city councils. Police intimidation. Zoning laws springing up preventing peaceful assembly. Both parties segregated protesters into unsafe caged areas out of sight the way the G-20 and Cheney Energy commissions keep out transparancy.

      or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances

      First they ignore you, even if we were the majority asking for a redress. Then they laugh at you, just stoners, ha ha ha. Then they fight you,
      then you… do it again.

      SCAPEGOATING – Blaming social problems on a cultural, racial, or behaviorial group. PREJUDICE – Selling the public on the idea that all members of the targeted group are ‘bad’ people. LIES -‘Facts’, which cannot be verified, and pseudo scientific studies are used as propaganda against the targeted group. History is rewritten. NO PUBLIC DEBATE – “These people have no right to have their viewpoiunt aired.” and ” Anyone who disagrees or questions us must be one of them!” DEHUMANIZATION – Characterizing all members of a targeted group as subhuman and typically capable of monstrous deeds and/or crimes. PROTECT OUR CHILDREN -“They corrupt, seduce and or destroy our children.” CIVIL LIBERTIES SACRIFICED -“We must give up some of our freedoms, liberties, and rights in order to combat this menace to society.” LEGAL DESCRIMINATION – Laws criminalize members of targeted group and they may be denied jobs, the right to own property and/or be restricted as to where they may live or go. INFORMERS – Citizens are urged to ‘turn in’ friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members. SECRET POLICE – Non-uniformed police squads set up to wage war on targeted groups utilizing deception, infiltration, espionage and entrapment. CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY – Property and assets are seized from people who are members of targeted group. Property may be divided between the informer and the state. REMOVAL FROM SOCIETY – Prisons, rehabilitation camps, ‘hospitals’, executions and genocide… (“Kill them All” “Zero Tolerance”)

  5. Malcolm Kyle says:

    Here’s another disingenuous cretin attempting to blame the users for the failures of Prohibition.

    A hamburger here may destroy part of a rain forest in Latin America. A long shower in the morning can endanger wildlife in the Sacramento Delta. The funds for another flat-screen TV could build a well in Africa, saving hundreds of lives, most of them children’s.
    And a decision to experiment with drugs will harm not only oneself, but communities as far away as Mexico’s Copper Canyons.

    http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_17905414

  6. ezrydn says:

    “…As far away as Mexico’s Copper Canyons.”

    Evidently, said writer slept during his Geography class. Mexico’s “Copper Canyon” is almost on it’s northern border.

    Just “how far away” is that supposed to be???

  7. darkcycle says:

    In Amerikkka, propaganda is done primarily by ommission. Our media network news is 30% weather, yet you can go weeks without hearing about global climate change. We went into Iraq to find WMD. We didn’t find them, but we over threw their ruler and installed a corrupt government who would do our bidding….and we’re still there. How often do they reference the WMD’s (unless you’re Dick Cheney who will actually tell you we found them with a straight face)? Obama got us “out” of Iraq, but there are 150,000 armed American occupiers still there….how often does the news robotically report that American troops are no longer there? This is S.O.P. for the corporate controlled media, and as long as the public gobbles up that pablum there’s no reason to change.
    The American people are so dumbed down, and so complacent in the face of epic wrongs, that I am almost to the point of giving up hope. You are going to actually have to deprive this public of food to provoke a reaction. And I don’t want to be anywhere near this stupid beast when it starts to flail, because the targets will be random and based on instilled prejudices, not information. When the shit hits the fan it’ll be “Welcome to the new Somalia”.

    • David Marsh says:

      Propaganda Model;
      1. Selection of topics
      2. Distribution of concerns
      3. Emphasis
      4. Framing of issues
      5. Filtering of issues
      6. Bounding of debate within limits

      dark, watching Manufacturing of Consent will put saltpeter in your cool aid….Don’t drink it, serve it.

      What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…

  8. darkcycle says:

    Thanks, already read it, David it’s a good one. It’s O/T, but this frames it about as well as anything I’ve recently read. Chris Hedges nailed it today:
    http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_corporate_state_wins_again_20110425/

  9. Duncan20903 says:

    The motto of the Know Nothing prohibitionist is:

    “Never let the facts get in the way of disseminating an effective piece of hysterical rhetoric.”

  10. Duncan20903 says:

    .
    .
    I’m simply beside myself with flabbergastion. I have mentioned before that I believe that the war on (some) drugs is going to be the death of the art forms of sarcasm and parody. A few weeks or even months ago when I came up with “the Know Nothing prohibitionists will even argue that we need to keep cannabis illegal or the criminals might get up to real mischief.” I swear on the grave of Jack Herer that I when I wrote that feeling very good about its extremely high S.Q. (sarcasm quotient).” I have never come across an issue and/or cohort of people that are so difficult to use for making fun.

    From the comments on the article in the Chronicle mentioned above:

    tipster
    1:40 PM on April 24, 2011

    Not to mention the fact that drug smuggling takes tens of thousands of people who would shift to other criminal enterprises (protection money from businesses, etc.) that really WOULD cause damage.

    Better to make something illegal that is relatively harmless so that the criminal element focuses on that.

    Goddammit I loved sarcasm and definitely had a very close emotional bonding with parody. These goddamn Know Nothings are just bound and determined to spoil my fun!

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/23/MNO41J376E.DTL#ixzz1KbLMILDN

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