This morning in the Wall Street Journal there was a 2 page article in the Review section written by a Richard A. Muller titled, "The Panic Over Fukushima"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772404577589270444059332.html
It made me sick because it was yet another piece of propaganda, from its implicit assertion that the dose of radiation received by people in Fukushima was less than the level of radiation that "people happily live with in Denver," to its absolute erasure of all forms of radiation contamination except for gamma.
The article makes me so upset that I really don't think I can analyze it without getting a very bad migraine.
So, instead, I'm going to include some finds about the author of the article by a couple of regular commentators at Enenews (Aigeezer provided these links).
Richard A. Muller (born January 6, 1944) is an American professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a faculty senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_A._Muller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Berkeley_National_Laboratory
Academic site: http://www.muller.lbl.gov/
Headlines About Muller:
Richard Muller, Koch Brothers Funded Scientist...
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/richard-muller-koch-brothers-funded-scientist-declares-global-warming-real-article-1.969870
Will the Real Richard Muller Please Stand Up
http://hro001.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/will-the-real-richard-muller-please-stand-up/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/08/09/a-fascinating-new-interview-with-prof-richard-muller-quote-on-climategate-what-they-did-was-i-think-shameful-and-it-was-scientific-malpractice/
Majia Here: I think these headlines (and articles) raise questions about Muller's neutrality.
Is the nuclear industry now encouraging him to publicly acknowledge the existence of global warming so that he can be positioned to promote nuclear as an "objective" authority?
He has a new book out. It cannot be searched at amazon. Here is a link and a summary I've pasted from the comment section:
Energy for Future Presidents
http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Future-Presidents-Science-Headlines/dp/0393081613/ref=la_B000AQ4JZ6_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345339942&sr=1-1
[excerpted] The book itself is a review of what scientists know about the energy
problem not only in the United States but worldwide. In Part I of the
book, entitled "Energy Catastrophes", Mr. Mueller discusses two recent
energy disasters using a non-emotional analysis. One of the disasters is
the tsunami in Japan that damaged the nuclear reactor site as well as
homes and factories and human lives.
He feels that the nuclear part of
the disaster has been grossly overstated and he gives his reasons for
that conclusion. Many people around the world wanted to completely
disassociate themselves from nuclear energy after the Fukushima
disaster. However, Muller believes that nuclear energy is still a safe
energy source and it is important that we not give up on it. He also
discusses the Deep water Horizon accident in the gulf, which spurted oil
into the sea for seemingly endless days. He also felt that the damage
was grossly exaggerated and attempted put it in perspective. He felt the
cleanup activities worked well....
Well, doesn't that sound objective.
However, whatever you think of him, his biography provides:
NO CREDENTIALS FOR DISCUSSING THE BIOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF RADIATION
See here for a glowing biography with not a shred of evidence of any experience with, or knowledge about, the biological effects of radiation http://www-bsac.eecs.berkeley.edu/~muller/biography.html
This is yet another example of widespread and very deliberate efforts by authorities in the media and nuclear industry to manufacture expert opinion and interpretation of news events.
I've found many instances of outright Fukushima propaganda by the
journal and other mainstream media, which I've been trying to bring
attention to and debunk:
Glaring Propaganda in the Wall Street Journal (2011)
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/glaring-propaganda-in-wall-street.html
How Does Propaganda Work (2012)
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-does-propaganda-work.html
More Propaganda in the Wall Street Journal (2012)
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/more-propaganda-in-wall-street-journal.html
Wall Street Journal Propaganda (2011)
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/wall-street-journal-propaganda.html
Nuclear Pushes on Despite Fukushima
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/wall-street-journal-nuclear-pushes-on.html
Plant Erupts into a Poison Fruit
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/plant-erupts-into-poison-fruit-dont-be.html
Science Corrupted by Private Funding?
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/science-corrupted-by-private-funding.html
Majia, you are doing a much better job than me at exposing the truth. Dont get sick of jousting, just don't joust at useless sites such as Fluffpost.
ReplyDeleteYour stuff is worldclass and it will make a difference. methinks
My reaction is pretty much the same as Steveo.
ReplyDeleteIt's useless to make ad hominem attacks, even though it is useful to expose corporate and financial links. Your blog is useful and to the point as it is.
What is interesting though from your own post here, is that apparently Muller retracted from his previous stance against the evidence of climate change (global warming) and even apologized, but at the same time, he went to serve another propagandistic platform on the nuclear. This would indicate that there is an apparent change of the order of priorities for corporate industry.
May it be that the nuclear industry now feels iwhich direction the (hotter) wind is blowing...?
Leo
You're doing a great job
ReplyDeleteThank you
D'un Renard
fukushima311watchdogs.org
Great post Majia.
ReplyDeleteYour comments reinforce that all reading on the Fukushima issue must be done with critical thinking and understanding of the sources from which information is being provided. There is no light reading on this topic.
Muller seems to be available to the highest bidder.
ReplyDeleteApparently the warmers bid higher than the deniers for his services,
and of course the nuke industry pays well.
Now, the article itself does sound very impressive and scientfic. If I read the article, and didn't know anything about Fukushima - I would conclude that Japan is in less danger than Denver, and that 194 people will get cancer as a result of Fukushima.
I believe it is wrong to attack the guy's credentials, because I personally think the honesty and intelligence of the individual is much more important than their credentials.
You have to attack misinformation with facts - they hate that, but it's the only way.
James
If you want to get an idea of how Muller is coming to some of these conclusions you can watch literally hundreds of hours of him teaching physics classes on free webcasts of his class provided free by Berkeley... I think you will find that your accusations are likely false and he only seeks to bring clear scientific reasoning to these very hard issues (global warming, nuclear power, clean energy etc.)
ReplyDelete