Author: Michael Steinberg

by Michael Steinberg / IndyBay.org / Aug 21st, 2010

SUMMARY: Five people were arrested Friday for locking down in an entrance and exit to an Arco/BP gas station at the corner of Fell and Divisadero in San Francisco. The protesters called their action a “bike spill.” They chained themselves to bicycles and laid in the car entrance and exit ways, effectively shutting down the gas station.

Late Monday (July 19) afternoon housing activists took over the long vacant 43-unit Sierra Hotel in San Francisco’s Mission District. The hotel has been empty for years and is in a state of disrepair though structurally sound. The takeover is “a collective act of homefulness” to protest government cuts of social services that will result in more people being out on the streets.

The San Onofre nuclear station is included in a list of commercial nuclear plants that have leaked radioactive tritium, a known cancer causing chemical.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) compiled the list. About one quarter of the nation’s operating nukes, 27 out of 104, have leaked tritium.

Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen, created as a byproduct of nuclear fission. It combines easily with water, and can persist inside us for years if it enters our bodies.

My mother (Midge) had always told us that her grandfather, Cornelius Donahue, had come to this country from Ireland, but exactly where in Ireland was murky. Maybe County Cork, maybe not.

At a certain point, my brother (Lou) and I became interested in obtaining dual US/Irish citizenship for ourselves and for our mother. But in order to do this, first of all we had to document where in Ireland Cornelius came from.

So began my quest, “In Search of Cornelius.”

Jim Carroll’s death on September 11 brought back a lot of memories. His burst into popular consciousness in the early 1980s with The Jim Carroll Band happened when I was living in San Francisco.

Ronald Reagan was just coming to power, and would soon axe my job as a tenant organizer. This job been funded by the federal government though a program created by the Carter administration.

by Michael Steinberg

Where is San Diego’s ‘Secret Room’? The room, that is, where the National Security Agency (NSA) secretly intercepts all our internet activities and analyzes them in “real time” for purposes the federal government refuses to reveal.

The existence of such a room in a San Diego telecommunications company was revealed years ago …

by Michael Steinberg

Though a meltdown at a nuclear plant may be its worst case scenario, the dangers and risks by no means end there. In fact they go on every day.
Radioactive releases into the air and water are routine at nukes. As is the transportation of radioactive wastes offsite by road, rail and water. These activities are the seldom discussed everyday threats to people, other living beings, and the environment as a whole.

This report delves into what goes on at the San Onofre Generating Station in these respects.

Fortunately for us, the San Onofre nukes ended last year with a whimper rather than a bang. Or a meltdown. The same could be said for 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004. Because that’s how long a comatose battery sat there unnoticed and undermaintained. Not just any battery either. One that could’ve been called upon to prevent such a catastrophic event.

But none reporting on this disgrace could bring themselves to use the M Word to describe the potential threat.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) stated, in a December report, that its inspectors “found that the battery used to supply power to the plant safety systems under some accident conditions, was inoperable between 2004 and 2008 because of loose electrical connections caused by inadequate maintenance instructions (Reuters 12-22).”

Uh, what safety systems might that be? And which accident conditions? Would they have anything to do with the M Word?

A recent study found that childhood (ages 0-19) leukemia mortality rates around US nuclear power plants have been significantly higher than the national average.
“The plant with the largest local population is the San Onofre installation in Southern California, located on the border of San Diego and Orange Counties. Results are also presented for this site…and a [statistically] significant increase in leukemia for children aged 0-9 [41% higher than the national rate] and 10-19 [29.5% higher] was observed.”

Opponents of Proposition 98 rallied at Civic Center Park in San Francisco today to urge people to vote against the…

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. May 1- Inside the headquarters of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 at 400 North Point…

Last week’s Olympic Torch visit to San Francisco made a mockery of human and civil rights. When the Olympic Torch…