I have not closely followed the events of the recent earthquake disaster in Japan. How is the United States assisting Japan in their efforts to stabilize their nuclear power facilities?
Recent press release from the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/03/13/ongoing-response-earthquakes-and-tsunami-japan 1. $100,000 is nothing compared to the money spent on the Cash for Clunkers program ($3,000,000,000), not to mention the TARP bailouts (over $100,000,000,000). This is a matter of life and death, and if the U.S. Government is going to take my money, I'd rather see it spent on disaster relief instead of getting my neighbor a new god damned car or a discount on their mortgage! 2. Tokyo? DC?! 3. Oh, it won't affect America? Well okay then. I guess I shouldn't give a shit anymore.
Well... really, what can we do at this point? Not like we can wave a magic wand and stop the nuclear reactions dead in their tracks after all Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Pretty much anything we could do, Japan could also do.
Japan has not requested any monetary donations that I've read about as yet but has asked for humanitarian aid and search and rescue help which the USA has sent in many teams from many states as well as Federal people as well. So far Japan is trying to handle as much as they can on their own because they are a very proud nation of people that care about each other like a family. If they need money they will ask but I really do not think they want any now or in the future. All any nation can do is help in the ways Japan asks for it because they know what they need and when they need it.
They gave them Glen Beck and his M&M's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac7Xff3vh4Q Now Japan knows that because it's in the pressure cooker, the M&M's can burn forever and nothing bad can happen.
Uncertainty about the risks posed by the stricken plant caused nations coming to Japan's aid to pull back and reassess deployment of rescue personnel, relief supplies and transportation services. The U.S. aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, which steamed to the rescue over the weekend, pulled back from Japan's northeastern shore Tuesday after detecting elevated radiation levels in the atmosphere. poor bastards they are pretty much on their own
I think the ship(s) moved back away from the shore, but they are still helping with relief and rescue.. With the wind blowing out onto the ocean at one point, it would have been insane to expose them when they could pull back a bit and reduce the risk.. And I remember reading somewhere that some personnel on the ship had received larger doses of radiation than normal - hence the pulling back to a safer distance.
Does anybody know what we could do for them? Japan is a wealthy country with plenty of smart, industrious people, equipment, and other resources. China is right next door and they have vowed to help because the Japanese came racing over when they had a big earthquake a few years ago. They've even halted their anti-Japan rhetoric over the failure to make restitution for war crimes in WWII. But last I heard, even the Chinese hadn't come up with anything they could do for them. As I mentioned yesterday in another related thread, the U.S.A. has the world's largest firefighting airplane, a 747 that carries 95,000 liters of water. Both it and the largest Russian model, which holds about half that much, were in Israel a few months ago extinguishing a monstrous forest fire near Mt. Carmel. But a jetliner cannot hover and drop all that water on one building! What would you do?
what is USA doing? In part, urging the Japanese to carry on suicide missions at the plants. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/16/japan-nuclear-crisis-us-officials_n_836772.html which leads to a moral/ethical question: http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=106968
Wait. . . so the USA is urging people to commit suicide? Or is the US (along with most of the world, Japan included) urging Japanese citizens--in particular those charged with such things--to do whatever it takes to prevent a nuclear melt down? ~String
The thing is, those 180 people are doing it without being urged and with little help from the outside. So when the rest of the world expects and urges Japan, or in particular, those "charged with such things" to get it under control in circumstances that make it virtually impossible, they are condemning those "charged with such things" to putting their lives at extraordinary risks. Something doctors recognise and are very concerned about: But it is a price we pay, isn't it? This is what they signed up for and they are trying to see it through. And those people are the heroes to come out of this disaster. They are willingly placing themselves in a stupidly dangerous situation to do whatever it takes to prevent a nuclear meltdown and the only reason this has not become a complete disaster is because of those workers.
The Japanese are consummate stoics and self-sacrificial. I applaud their brave sacrifices. My already high opinion of the Japanese people has gone to new heights based upon what I've seen of them and how they calmly deal with tragedy. My nation has much to learn from them, as do most, I think. ~String