New Orleans The Japanese can’t catch a break. Hundreds of bodies are still washing up on the shore. Towns were the body counts are unknown and frightening because after days of work only one-fourth or one-third of the ground has been covered. But, the big headlines here are not about the week old tragedy but the fear of more to come for Japan – and the rest of us – from the future and the nuclear meltdowns around us. OMG!

It is interesting to see what is learned in different countries from this impending catastrophe.

Germany moves to shut down all of their nuclear plants to make sure they are ready and able to deal with the kinds of problems being seen in Japan. I’ve never heard of an earthquake in Germany, and they are on ready alert.

In the United States where we haven’t licensed a new nuclear plant since 1978, so all of our stuff is 30 years old and counting, but we just merrily dance along even with plants built on seismic fault lines like Diablo Canyon in California, content to read a press release from the Atomic Energy Commission that “they’re on it!” and a statement from President Obama in the White House that essentially says, “What me worry?” And, yet, from the press spin we are all over the Japanese situation, chiding them for their efforts, and in an exercise of unmitigated gall without even the hint of irony, our nuke experts and media mavens are pissing all over the Japanese for not being transparent.

Wow! Why have we not shutdown any plants with similar design structures as the endangered plants in Japan?

Why have we not shutdown any plants with spent rod storage systems like those in Japan?

Given what we have learned from Katrina alone, much less Japan, why are we not making backup power systems redundant and more secure?

And, I don’t know squat about it!

The New York Times ran an article today about the reset of the anti-nuclear movement and of all did so with a picture of politicians and interviews with musicians like Jackson Browne. God love all of them, but those are the come-late folks and the hangers on after the organizers and activists do the real work of movement building (with hearty thanks to all). Let’s hear some love and support for the people who need to fire up the movements, organize, and win us some real protection!