Saturday. Beautiful. Sunny, windy, not too warm. Just perfect. Just might get the ol’ hindquarters in gear and do something. I have some computer work to address but it is such a lovely day, it seems a waste to spend too much time indoors.

I don’t always feel that way. I am generally disinclined to basking/sweating in hot summer days and our house remains cool even when it is hot out. So being inside is not so bad then. Preferable, I think. But lately it also seems prudent. Seems Japan’s Fukushima has been spewing huge amounts of Iodine 131 onto our heads since March.

According to my sources (The Georgia Straight and a few other not-quite-mainstream publications around the world) the radiation levels in Sidney, Vancouver Island (as recorded at the airport) spiked at twice the highest allowable rate. This 2 times thing makes them hundreds of times higher than normal but only 2 times higher than allowable. And this has been going on for while. Encouraging, don’t you think?

Radioactive iodine is at 7.5 MILLION times legal limit in water around Fukushima — Cesium-137 at 1.1 MILLION times limit

One of the strongest influences in our area is the Japanese Current, a Pacific ocean ‘flow’ that comes to us by way of Japan.

Regina Saskatchewan, they tell us, has taken the biggest hit. That’s because of wind currents and such. Probably the jet stream. Toronto is third worst hit.

Given that Canada is huge and that Toronto and Regina and Sidney are miniscule relatively speaking, that means that Canada as a land mass has been liberally doused in fallout. And that means that it will eventually congregate probably in streams and lakes. Who knows? Poisoning the planet on this scale is not often done and never properly measured. Maybe the Tar Sands project will look good by comparison.

Still, doesn’t sound good to me. Some other articles (ENENEWS):

* Member of Parliament: Health Canada “negligent” on Fukushima radiation threats
* Vancouver Paper: Health Canada detected massive amounts of radioactive material from Fukushima — Iodine-131 spiked above maximum allowed limit at 4 of 5 sites
* Radioactive fish found in Connecticut River — State officials trying to determine source of Strontium-90
* “I am shaking with anger” says head of University of Tokyo’s Radioisotope Center before testimony about internal radiation (VIDEO)

What I find equally as distressing is that the mainstream media have not and are not reporting it. Of course, that could mean that the fringe media are sensationalizing or even lying (gasp!) but given the track record of our BIG media these past decades, lying on their part is at least five times more likely.

I guess Harper et al believe we are on a need-to-know basis and no one thinks we – the little people – need to know?

Maybe they are right. Ignorance would have been more blissful.

It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood, Mr. Rogers, but you might want to wear your lead-lined trenchcoat anyway. And a Fedora by Reynolds wrap might not be a bad idea either.