A View From The Brink ... the beach is backwards

Montanans launch recall of US Senators who support NDAA military detention

 

Ralph Lopez of the Daily Kos reported that on Christmas Day, after the US Senate voted 86 - 14 to pass the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA) which allows for the indefinite military detention of American citizens without charge or trial, Montanans have announced the launch of recall campaigns against Senators Max Baucus and Jonathan Tester, who voted for the bill.

Montana is one of nine states with provisions that say that the right of recall extends to recalling members of its federal congressional delegation, pursuant to Montana Code 2-16-603, on the grounds of physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence, violation of oath of office, official misconduct, or conviction of certain felony offenses.

 

Go here for the full story on the Daily Kos website   --->>>

Medical Journal Article: 14,000 U.S. Deaths Tied to Fukushima Reactor Disaster Fallout

 

Impact Seen As Roughly Comparable to Radiation-Related Deaths After Chernobyl; Infants Are Hardest Hit, With Continuing Research Showing Even Higher Possible Death Count.

 

In the Sacramento Bee newspaper, Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman of the International Journal of Health Services reported that an estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services.  

This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.

Authors Joseph Mangano and Janette Sherman note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. 

The rise in reported deaths after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one.  The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the preceding 14 weeks.

The IJHS article will be published Tuesday and will be available online as of 11 a.m. EST at http://www.radiation.org.

Just six days after the disastrous meltdowns struck four reactors at Fukushima on March 11, scientists detected the plume of toxic fallout had arrived over American shores.  Subsequent measurements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found levels of radiation in air, water, and milk hundreds of times above normal across the U.S.

 

Go here for the full story on the Sacramento Bee website   --->>>

Sunset District Votes for Miyamoto, Local Schools

 

By Thomas K. Pendergast

 

Sunset District voting statistics for the last election are similar to citywide totals, except for the choice of San Francisco county sheriff and a lot of support for Proposition H, the call for local schools which was narrowly defeated.

San Francisco Department of Elections numbers show Paul Miyamoto got 33 percent of the District 4 vote for the office of county sheriff, more than San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who got 29 percent. Chris Cunnie placed third, capturing 27 percent of the district's vote.

In District 7, 38 percent of the ballots were cast for Miyamoto, Cunnie received 32 percent and Mirkarimi got 26 percent.

District 7 also had the distinction of producing the largest voter turnout in the City, with more than 50 percent of registered voters casting ballots. Of San Francisco's total registered voters, more than 42 percent cast ballots.

On the other hand, the Inner Sunset neighborhood (part of District 5) gave Mirkarimi 46 percent of its votes, while Cunnie received 27 percent and Miyamoto got 23 percent.

San Francisco voters gave Mirkarimi the office with 38 percent of their ballots, while Cunnie got 28 percent and Miyamoto got 27 percent.

Jason McDaniel, an assistant professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said there are several factors that account for this, one of which is the name recognition of Mirkarimi, which worked both for and against him.

 

Go here for the full story on the website of the Sunset Beacon newspaper   --->>>

Port operations resume after day of Occupy protests in Oakland

 

Occupy Oakland protesters stop a truck near the APL terminal gate at the Port of Oakland during the 3 a.m. shift on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 in Oakland, Calif. There was no police presence at the port. (Jane Tyska/Staff)

 

The Oakland Tribune newspaper reported that it was business as usual this morning at the Port of Oakland, with trucks moving through terminal entrances that had been blocked by thousands of Occupy protesters the night before.

Late Monday and early this morning, protesters had blocked two APL terminals, preventing workers from entering. By 4 a.m., they had dispersed, allowing the nation's 5th largest port to reopen.

Port officials said this morning that "due to the protests during the last 24 hours, there is a heavy backlog of work to get through." There are seven vessels at dock this morning.

The port shutdown was part of the Occupy movement's planned West Coast port blockade on Monday from Southern California to Anchorage, Alaska, and Vancouver, British Columbia.

 

Go here for the full story on the Oakland Tribune website   --->>>

Man dies from wounds suffered in Hollywood shooting spree

 

December 9, 2011: This image provided by Gregory Bojorquez shows Los Angeles Police officers advancing on a wounded gunman at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles.

 
CNN reported that a man wounded Friday when a gunman opened fire at passing vehicles along a downtown street in Hollywood has died, a spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said Monday.

John Atterberry died shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, according to Simi Singer, the hospital spokeswoman.

The music-industry executive was shot in the jaw at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street.

The gunman, 26-year-old Tyler Brehm, went on the rampage that ended with his being fatally shot by police, Los Angeles police spokeswoman Sgt. Mitzi Fierro has said.

An amateur video captured the scene of Brehm walking down Sunset Boulevard wielding a handgun and firing at vehicles, seemingly at random. Brehm fired a "significant number" of rounds, police said.

He then returned to an intersection, where he was confronted by a plainclothes police detective and an off-duty police officer working on a nearby movie set, officials said.

"At that point the police ordered him to drop his weapon and he pointed his gun at the police and an officer-involved shooting occurred," Fierro said.

Brehm died later at a nearby hospital, according to a police statement.

 

Go here for the full story on the CNN website   --->>>

Task Force looks to redraw Richmond District voter lines

 

by Thomas K. Pendergast

 

On Nov. 15, the task force assigned to redraw San Francisco's neighborhood district lines heard from citizens about putting the Seacliff neighborhood and Lake Street back into the Richmond District, or District 1.

With the advent of district elections more than a decade ago, the City was carved up into 11 supervisor districts, each having about the same number of residents. In the Richmond, the north side of Lake Street and the Seacliff neighborhood were both placed into the adjoining District 2 (Marina District and Pacific Heights).

In the last decade, San Francisco's total population rose 3.7 percent, from 776,733 to 805,235. The South of Market area got most of the new residents, however, all districts must by law be within one percent of their mean average, plus or minus, so district lines are likely to be redrawn to account for the new city residents.

A Redistricting Task Force has been comprised, which is now holding a series of public forums to gather input from citizens and other interested groups concerning the redrawing of supervisorial district lines. The task force must have the district lines redrawn by April 15, 2012.

 

Go here for the full story on the website of the Richmond Review newspaper --->>>

S.F. police raid and clear out Occupy camp, arrest 70

 

San Francisco Police officers surround the Occupy San Francisco encampment at Justin Herman Plaza to clear the camp on December 7, 2011. Photo: Kimihiro Hoshino / AFP/Getty Images

On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Mayor Ed Lee and the SFPD apparently took a page from the playbook of the Japanese Imperial Navy and pulled a surprise attack on the Occupy San Francisco encampment at Justin Herman Plaza.

 

Will Kane of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that police raided the Occupy SF camp early today, arresting 70 campers and protesters at Justin Herman Plaza and clearing out the 2-month-old encampment.

Officers, sheriff's deputies, firefighters and public works crews converged on the camp at the foot of Market Street at about 1:30 a.m. and gave protesters five minutes to clear out, said Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman.

Most did, but 30 Occupiers did not, and another 40 were arrested when they blocked Market Street in protest, Esparza said.

The 70 were arrested on suspicion of illegal lodging and camping in a public park, Esparza said.

Two were arrested on suspicion of felony assault on a police officer after they threw a metal chair at him, hitting him in his face shield and causing minor injuries that did not require hospitalization, Esparza said.

Kristopher Sullivan, 31, a camper, said most of the Occupiers hadn't had time to retrieve their belongings, and police and protesters clashed for a bit. He pledged to reoccupy the camp.

Mayor Ed Lee said the campers had had plenty of time to clean up and move somewhere else had they chosen to do so.

"Communication ... deteriorated to a point where it was clear no progress could be made," Lee said in a statement. "In order to maintain public health, public safety and return the plaza for everyone's use, city agencies peacefully and orderly ended the encampment at Justin Herman Plaza."

Police Chief Greg Suhr said talks with the camp residents had broken down, forcing police to move in. He said a new crew of campers had taken over the plaza, and that the people with whom officials had been working with were no longer there.

"We weren't getting our e-mails returned," Suhr said.

The chief added, "Most of the people in this neighborhood are part of the 99 percent, and they needed some relief. So this part of the 99 percent removed that part of the 99 percent to give the other part of the 99 percent some relief."

 

Go here for the full story on SFGate.com   --->>>

The recession's toll on Seattle

 

Drew DeSilver of the Seattle Times reported that for most of residents of Washington state the economy has never been this bad. Since the mortgage bubble popped more jobs have been lost, faster, and recovery has been more slow, than at any time since the Second World War. That includes iconic slumps such as the Boeing Bust, the early-'80s double-dip and the dot-com crash barely a decade ago.

DeSilver provides charts and graphs that show this and he states the recession has fallen hardest on people in the lower-middle and working classes -- folks who were just getting by or maybe starting to make some headway when the bottom fell out. Statistics can't capture the pervasive sense of economic dislocation the slump has engendered. But they can at least help us understand what's happening and to whom.

 

Go here for the report in the Seattle Times   --->>>

Police log from SFPD Taraval Station: October, 2011

 

Police log excerpts from the SFPD’s Taraval station in the Sunset District of San Francisco.

Here’s some choice items culled from police log reports of the San Francisco Police Department’s Taraval station in the Sunset District, for the month of October, 2011

Please note that heading in bold type are commentary from the reporter and not part of the original police log item.

 

Hooray for neighbors and strangers who get involved!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011 – Attempted Rape

10:02 p.m., at the intersection of Delong and Crystal streets.

Officers responded to a report of a possible rape and saw two men matching the description. They detained the men while other officers interviewed the victim. The victim said that she had just gotten off the Daly City BART, when a man approached her and started talking to her. She ignored the man and walked away. At Delong/Crystal, suspect one grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. Suspect two then started ripping off her clothes. The suspects spoke to her in Spanish to be quiet. The suspects stopped when someone from a neighboring house came out and yelled at them. Then the suspects ran away. The officers conducted a “cold show” with the victim and the two men that were detained. She was unable to identify them as the persons being involved. A record check revealed that one of the men had a $20,000 warrant for vandalism. He was arrested. The other man was released.

 

Go here for the full story on the Examiner.com website   --->>>