GOP rep who skipped pope’s speech: "Pope should focus less on climate change, more on fighting religious extremism, abortion and other issues".

GOP rep who skipped pope’s speech: "Pope should focus less on climate change, more on fighting religious extremism, abortion and other issues". (TheHill).

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) said he has no regrets about skipping Pope Francis’s speech Thursday, even though the pontiff spoke little about climate change.

Gosar announced last week that he would boycott the speech over his expectation that Francis would focus heavily on climate change and press Congress to take action, something that Gosar disagrees with strongly.

But Gosar, a Roman Catholic, said skipping the speech got across his point, which is that Francis shouldn’t be putting so much of his energy into climate change, and should focus more on fighting religious extremism, abortion and other issues. “I think I made my point, and I think the point needed to be made,” Gosar said hours after Francis gave his speech, adding that he at no point wished he were in the House chamber.

The Arizona Republican and former dentist watched the speech instead from his office in the Cannon House Office Building, just across the street from the Capitol where Francis spoke.

Gosar complained that the speech “lacked a lot of details,” though he agreed with Francis’s emphasis on the importance of families.

“He was very specific about climate change, a lot more dynamic on that regard than in right to life,” Gosar said. “He made one sentence and then transitioned it right into trying to advocate against the death penalty.”

On Friday, Gosar wrote that Francis could speak against violent Islam or persecution of Christians.

“But when the Pope chooses to act and talk like a leftist politician, then he can expect to be treated like one,” he said.

“Climate change is subjective. And when you have a pope putting out an encyclical and then challenging Catholics, that ‘if you disagree with me you’re wrong,’ I have problems with that. Especially a man of science, and I’m a man of science, and we can debate that all day.” Hmmmm......At least one man with guts and integrety in the whole crowd.

Michigan protests plan to store millions of gallons of nuclear waste next to the Great Lakes.

Michigan protests plan to store millions of gallons of nuclear waste next to the Great Lakes.(RT).

Under a plan crafted by energy supplier Ontario Power Generation (OPG), the company would construct a “deep geologic repository” (DGR), which would feature waste storage sites more than 2,200 feet underground to store nearly 53 million gallons of both low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste. 

The location of the proposed site, however – in Kincardine, Ontario, just three-quarters of a mile away from Lake Huron – has drawn criticism from numerous groups who fear potential contamination.

The fact that Lake Huron is connected to all the other Great Lakes via waterways has also drawn concern, since the five bodies of water make up the largest collection of freshwater lakes on the Earth and provide drinking supplies to tens of millions of Americans and Canadians.

According to the Detroit News, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have continued criticizing the plan, and are now proposing legislation that calls on the federal government to get involved. In addition to requesting that President Obama stake out a position on the issue, state Senate and House members are asking Secretary of State John Kerry to officially ask the International Joint Commission – established to mediate disputes over the Great Lakes – to rule on the matter.

The legislation would also “stop the importation of radioactive waste into Michigan from Canada.”
“Building a nuclear waste dump less than a mile from one of the largest freshwater sources in the world is a reckless act that should be universally opposed," Michigan Rep. Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway Township) said in a statement Monday, as quoted by the Huffington Post.

While lawmakers continue to get involved in the situation – Michigan’s Senators in Washington have also urged the State Department to bring the IJC into the debate – environmental groups have come out against the plan.
“Burying nuclear waste a quarter-mile from the Great Lakes is a shockingly bad idea — it poses a serious threat to people, fish, wildlife, and the lakes themselves,” said Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center, in a statement to the Detroit News.

Notably, the proposed plan has garnered the support of the most Kincardine residents and other neighboring communities, many of whom have jobs within the nuclear industry.

For its part, OPG has maintained that its facility would be a safe place to store radioactive material such as rags, mop heads, paper towels, clothing, and more. According to the Associated Press, the low-level material the company plans to bury beneath the earth would decay in 300 years, while the intermediate-level material – described as “resins, filters, and used reactor components” – would take more than 100,000 years to decay.

Despite the company’s confidence, however, one former OPG scientist recently looked at the plan and came away unconvinced, saying the radioactivity of the materials that would be buried has been “seriously underestimated.” Dr. Frank Greening wrote to the Canadian panel charged with reviewing the proposal, arguing the material is sometimes 100 times more radioactive than estimated. In some cases, the material is 600 times more radioactive.

"My first feeling was, look, you messed up the most basic first step in establishing the safety of this facility, namely, how much radioactive waste they're going to be putting in the ground, you admit you got that wrong, but now you're telling me that everything else is okay," Greening told Michigan Radio, according to Huffington Post. "You can't just fluff off this error as one error. It raises too many questions about all your other numbers. And I'm sorry, I now have lost faith in what you're doing."

Asked about Greening’s findings, OPG spokesman Neal Kelly told the Toronto Star the facility would still be safe even if the evidence bears out.

“Some of his points are valid, and were already under review within OPG for future revisions to the waste inventory,” he said, adding the DGR’s design is “very, very conservative...The safety case would still be strong, even if these factors were to bear out.”

Rules of Engagement Changed: IDF May Not Shoot Back in Gaza.

Rules of Engagement Changed: IDF May Not Shoot Back in Gaza.(JP).By: Yori Yanover.One week after the conclusion of operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, the security reality alongside the Gaza Strip border is being reshaped, the IDF has been instructed to show restraint, farmers on both sides are permitted to stretch their tilled lands all the way to the border fence, and should a Hamas or Islamic Jihad cell aim a rocket launcher at Israel, Israeli soldiers would not be allowed to shoot at it before going through channels, Maariv reports this morning.
The rules of engagement have been altered radically. In the recent past, IDF soldiers were instructed to shoot at once at any Gaza resident who approached the fence. Now there is no such thing as firing at will, even if the person approaching engages in sabotaging the security fence. The IDF must treat them now as suspects to be arrested, as is the protocol in Judea and Samaria, and shooting at those suspect is limited to the legs and not beyond.
The rules of engagement have also been changed regarding terrorist cells in the process of launching a rocket. In the past, the IAF would be alerted and a plane would be sent directly to attack the target. Now the attack may take place only should the terrorist cell actually initiate the process of launching.
Last Wednesday, according to Maariv, two hours after the ceasefire had gone into effect, IDF commanders in the field identified a cell which was setting up a rocket launcher and requested the approval of GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Tal Russo to shot at it, but Russo would not give his approval.Read the full story here.