Bruce Judson - It Could Happen Here

The Gathering Storm

Freedom from Want

Immunity from History?

The Causes of Revolutions

How Unequal Are We?

Why Has Inequality Escalated Dramatically?

The Indicators Are Blinking Red

America in a Time of Vulnerability

Bringing Balance to Our Society

T o the reader: Links to the full text of all of the newspaper and magazine articles excerpted here are posted at the Web site, www.A-E-E.org.

FEARS OVER MISSING NUCLEAR MATERIAL

BBC News, March 7, 2002

International researchers have warned that the world may be awash in unaccounted weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, after completing a latest database of lost and stolen nuclear material.

A NATION CHALLENGED: SENATE HEARINGS; SOME SEE PANIC AS MAIN EFFECT OF DIRTY BOMBS

New York Times, March 7, 2002

Radioactive materials in wide use in the United States could be turned into weapons of terror that would probably kill few people but would spread panic and produce severe economic damage, scientists told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today.

OFFICIAL: ENOUGH MATERIAL MISSING FROM RUSSIA TO BUILD A NUKE

ABC News, February 16, 2005

TESTERS SLIP RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS OVER BORDERS

New York Times, March 28, 2006

THE RISE OF THE SUPER-RICH

New York Times, July 19, 2006

The new figures show that from 2003 to 2004, the latest year for which there is data, the richest Americans pulled far ahead of everyone else. In the space of that one year, real average income for the top 1 percent of householdsthose making more than $315,000 in 2004grew by nearly 17 percent. For the remaining 99 percent, the average gain was less than 3 percent, and that probably makes things look better than they really are, since other data, most notably from the Census Bureau, indicate that the average is bolstered by large gains among the top 20 percent of households. In all, the top 1 percent of households enjoyed 36 percent of all income gains in 2004, on top of an already stunning 30 percent in 2003.

SEIZURES OF DIRTY BOMB MATERIALS RISE

United Press International, October 6, 2006

Such seizures, mostly in Europe, doubled in the past four yearsthere have been more than 300 instances of smugglers caught in such trafficking activities since 2002.

INCOME GAP IS WIDENING, DATA SHOWS

New York Times, March 29, 2007

Income inequality grew significantly in 2005, with the top 1 percent of Americansthose with incomes that year of more than $348,000receiving their largest share of national income since 1928, analysis of newly released tax data shows.

DIRTY BOMB WOULD CAUSE PANIC, COST BILLIONS: STUDY

Toronto Star, July 2, 2007

RADIOACTIVE DEVICES DISAPPEARING AT ALARMING RATE

Canadian Television (CTV.ca), July 4, 2007

Radioactive devicessome of which have the potential to be used in terrorist attackshave gone missing in alarming numbers in Canada over the past five years.

A new database compiled by The Canadian Press shows that the devices, which are used in everything from medical research to measuring oil wells, are becoming a favoured target of thieves.

At least 76 have gone missing in Canada over the past five yearsdisappearing from construction sites, specialized tool boxes, and generally growing legs and walking away.

HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIALS SAY GOVERNMENT UNPREPARED FOR DIRTY BOMB

Congress Daily, November 16, 2007

CONGRESS, ENERGY DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT LOST RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL, TERROR CONCERN

Associated Press, May 5, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP)Federal investigators have documented 1,300 cases of lost, stolen or abandoned radioactive material inside the United States over the past five years and have concluded there is a significant risk that terrorists could cobble enough together for a dirty bomb.

RICHEST AMERICANS SEE THEIR INCOME SHARE GROW

Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2008

GEORGIA CHAOS HALTS NUCLEAR SECURITY EFFORT

US was helping track smugglers; Traffickers could take advantage

Boston Globe, August 19, 2008

WASHINGTONThe chaos in Georgia has forced the United States to halt a high-priority program that was helping the former Soviet republic to identify possible smugglers of nuclear bomb components across its borders, long considered a transit point for terrorists seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction, according to US officials.

ILO: FINANCIAL CRISIS WILL CAUSE INCOME INEQUALITY GAP TO WIDEN

Voice of America, October 16, 2008

IN WMD REPORT, U.S. GETS A C

Group of Ex-Officials Says Terrorism Threat Remains Real Washington Post, September 9, 2008

Seven years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the federal government has made only limited progress toward preventing a catastrophic nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil and combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction abroad, according to a report card to be issued tomorrow by 22 former U.S. officials.

U.S. ARMY BRIGADE DEPLOYS FOR HOMELAND MISSION

NationalTerrorAlert.com, September 30, 2008

For the first time ever, the US military is deploying an active duty regular Army combat unit for full-time use inside the United States to deal with national emergencies, including terrorism, natural disasters and civil unrest.

RATE OF NUCLEAR THEFTS DISTURBINGLY HIGH, MONITORING CHIEF SAYS

New York Times, October 27, 2008

UNITED NATIONSMohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a speech on Monday that the number of reports of nuclear or radioactive material stolen around the world last year was disturbingly high.

Dr. ElBaradei, in his annual report to the General Assembly, said nearly 250 such thefts were reported in the year ending in June.

The possibility of terrorists obtaining nuclear or other radioactive material remains a grave threat, he said. Equally troubling is the fact that much of this material is not subsequently recovered.

REPORT SHOWS STAGNANT UPWARD MOBILITY IN U.S.

Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics Blog, November 12, 2008

Add it to the other depressing economic news: upward mobility has remained stagnant in the past two decades.

THE FORMERLY MIDDLE CLASS

The New York Times, by David Brooks, November 17, 2008

This recession will probably have its own social profile. In particular, its likely to produce a new social group: the formerly middle class. These are people who achieved middle-class status at the tail end of the long boom, and then lost it. To them, the gap between where they are and where they used to be will seem wide and daunting.

These reversals are bound to produce alienation and a political response. If you want to know where the next big social movements will come from, Id say the formerly middle class.

UNREST CAUSED BY BAD ECONOMY MAY REQUIRE MILITARY ACTION, REPORT SAYS

El Paso Times, December 29, 2008

EL PASOA U.S. Army War College report warns an economic crisis in the United States could lead to massive civil unrest and the need to call on the military to restore order.