Temple visit to see the supermoon eclipse

Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Associated Press (ap.org) via scitech/mail.com, Sept. 28, 2015

Phases of the Moon, Chandra or Luna, time lapse collage (Elmast Kozloyan/facebook.com)

Earth's shadow obscures the view of the so-called "supermoon" during a full lunar eclipse as steam near oil refineries rises in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. It was the first time since 1982; not visible again until 2033 (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP).

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Ha and Tha, Sun and Moon = Yoga.

LOS ANGELES, California - Stargazers were being treated to a rare astronomical phenomenon when a total lunar eclipse combined with a so-called supermoon.

Those in the United States, Europe, Africa, and western Asia can view the coupling, weather permitting, Sunday night or early Monday. It was the first time the events have made a twin appearance since 1982, and they won't again until 2033.

 

Blood moon over Asia, America (mail.com)

When a full moon makes its closest approach to Earth, it appears slightly bigger and brighter than usual and has a reddish hue. That coincides with a full lunar eclipse where the moon, Earth and sun will be lined up, with Earth's shadow totally obscuring the moon.

 

The event occurred on the U.S. East Coast at 10:11 pm EDT (0211 GMT) and last about an hour. In Europe, the action will unfold before dawn Monday. In Los Angeles, a large crowd filled the lawn of Griffith Observatory [above Hollywood] to watch the celestial show while listening to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" played by 14-year-old pianist Ray Ushikubo.

 

LA's massive Mid-Autumn Festival

"You always want to see the eclipse because they're always very different," said astronomer Edwin Krupp, the director of the hilltop landmark [that has its own wild lions roaming about like P-22]. Krupp said the additional component of the Earth's atmosphere adds "all kinds of twists and turns to the experience."

 

"What we see tonight will be different from the last event: how dark it is, how red it is. It's always interesting to see," he said. More

Biggest myths for the "Supermoon" total lunar eclipse (space.com)

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Guru, why do we have eclipses?

Full moon over Boudhnath Stupa, Kathmandu, Buddhist Nepal (~anup dreamynomad/flickr)

 

Akasha deva, space light being (flickr.com)

Of course, as everyone knows, the reason we have lunar and solar eclipses is, according to Hindu astrology and the ancient Vedas, because the titan Rahu swallows Chandra (Moon) or Surya (Sun) and then lets go. We can see this happening with our own eyes! And seeing is believing. But people think it has something to do with some kind of predictable movement of heavenly bodies and a completely fortuitous size differential between the Earth (Bhumi, Gaia, Tierra) and its satellite such that the Moon (Chandra, Luna) completely eclipsing the Sun (Surya, Sol), and sometimes the Earth completely overshadows the Moon sometimes.

• Supermoon "Blood Moon" lunar eclipse (space.com)
• India's 1st Mars mission celebrates one year on red planet

ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY

Revered Rahu, an asura, in Thailand (wiki)

(Wiki) RAHU the titan (asura) is mentioned explicitly in a pair of Buddhist texts in the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali canon. In the Candima Sutra and the Suriya Sutta, Rahu attacks the Sun deity Surya and the Moon deity Chandra before being compelled to release them because they recite a brief stanza conveying their reverence for the Buddha.
 
The Buddha responds to the recitations by enjoining Rahu to release them, which Rahu does to avoid his head splitting into seven pieces (a common idiom in ancient India).

Yggdrasil tree and nine home worlds: solar sytem

The verses recited by the two celestial bodies or deities and the Buddha have since been incorporated into Buddhist liturgy as protective (paritta) verses recited by monks as protective chants.
 
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Rahu is said to have been subjugated by Padmasambhava, becoming one of the principle protectors of the Dzogchen teachings, particularly the Longchen Nyingthik. Rahu is usually depicted with nine heads and a thousand eyes all over his dark-colored body.

In his four arms Rahu holds a bow and arrow, often also a lasso and victory banner. He is wrathful in appearance, ablaze with fire, and his lower body has the form of a snake [like a streaming celestial body, possibly a comet formerly visible in the night sky, also an explanation for Quetzalcoatl fame in ancient Mesoamerica]. Rahula is a sa, a class of deities associated with heavenly bodies. Rahu is one of the krodha-asuras. More

• Who is the titan Rāhu in Buddhism? Elsewhere (A.ii.17) Rāhu is spoken of as the chief [celestial body] of those possessing personality (attabhāva). The Commentaries (e.g., AA.ii.474; DA.ii.487f.; MA.ii.790; SA.i.86 contains more details and differs slightly) explain that Rahu [must be a celestial body because it] 4,800 leagues in height, and that the breadth of its "chest" is 1,200 yojanas (a yojan is approximately 7 miles). Its "hands" and "feet" are 200 leagues long, each finger joint measuring 50 leagues, the space between its "eyebrows" also measuring 50 leagues. Its "forehead" is 50 leagues broad, and its "head" 900 leagues in height. Its "face" measures 100 leagues, its "nose" 300, and the depth of its mouth 100. It ("he") is jealous of the gods of the Sun and the Moon and stands in their paths with wide open mouth [which leads to phenomenon we call an eclipse].

Harvest Moon: Mid-Autumn Festival, LA
Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Teri Mei, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

As in the previous two years, the Mid-Autumn or Harvest Moon Festival sees the Hsi Lai courtyard flooded in light, tea and moon cakes served, and mixing with the kind nuns (WQ).

Another "Moon goddess," a Chandra devi.

We traveled east into the San Gabriel Valley and south toward Orange County where the hills rise out of the valley. Before one would get to Anaheim and Disneyland, there is a Buddhist temple that is so big it is hard to believe.

It is impossible to take a single picture of it that gives a sense of the size unless, perhaps, one had a camera drone. It is expansive and, from a helicopter's eye view, shaped like a bodhi tree leaf, a teardrop heart.

There are halls, a museum, a giant cafeteria, meditation rooms, a spacious traditional Chinese courtyard, classrooms, and more. It is a functioning nunnery or abbey and monastery. The abbot is a monk, but the other monastics were females, most of them Taiwanese.

A fraction of Hsi Lai temple (dinewithdonna)

Lotus SoCal volunteers brought us delicious "poor man's tea." Others gave out specially made egg-free moon cakes. A band played upbeat folk music with an Eastern flavor. The moon rose to the southeast of the courtyard, slowly, drenched in blood red gloom. We looked all around using our new Star Trekker Android app (iPhones) -- which allows one to point a smartphone to the sky at any star and get its name, even pointing toward the ground to get the names of stars and constellations on the other side of the planet!

India: Buddhist circuit by train

Aerosol dispersants (chemtrails) had been laid out all over the valley all day long in a ridiculously obvious attempt to either obscure the lunar show, conceal unidentified flying object in the ongoing "war in heaven" visible with a good set of night vision goggles, or geoengineer the weather with a synthetic haze.
 

But enough of it blew away in the direction we were looking. Where two planes sprayed crisscrossing trails, a "V" shaped was formed that everyone started photographing straight overhead putting out hands in the peace sign mudra not realizing why the "V" had magically appeared.

The highlight of the night came when the question was answered, What does the Moon have to do with Buddhism and practice? In Theravada Buddhism, the form most popular in Southeast Asia, the literal Moon is very important in demarcating the observance days (uposatha) for intensive lay practice.
 

Devotees offer candles to the Buddha (WQ).

In Mahayana Buddhism, the Moon seems to be used more metaphorically. The nun at our tea table, as we sat on meditation cushion-blocks in the courtyard, regaled us with example after example of how the Buddha (which buddha is not clear but, from a Theravada perspective, almost certainly not the historical Buddha Gautama) talked about the Moon as a metaphor for our "Buddha nature," our innate potential to realize either an arhat's enlightenment or buddhahood, in Tibetan/Bhutanese/Russian Vajrayana terms, our "basic goodness."

Dalai Lama cancels US visit after pope's.

It remains in spite of how it looks to us from Earth. It is not waning and waxing, shrinking and growing, the way it appears to be. That is just a matter of our perspective. It is always up there in full, even if we cannot see it because it is low in the sky or obscured by clouds or at an angle that we cannot see it all. If, for example, there sticks seen from the side, we would see lines. But those same lines, looked at straight on, would appear as dots. (Try it with chopsticks, holding them at arm's length then turning them to face you).
 

First Buddhist Nuns

"Three things cannot remain hidden: the Sun, the Moon, and the Truth," the Buddha taught. But the nun did not mention that. Instead, she repeatedly asked us which we preferred, the Moon or the Sun? "The Moon!" half of us said. Then the abbot got on stage and led us in meditation. We asked the nun in whispers, Which is the right answer? She could not reply because the abbot had already started. But we know and love the Moon because of the sunlight it reflects. If it made its own light then, all right, the Moon!

Salt water discovered on Mars!

Space.com; SCPR.org; AP

These dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks (recurring slope lineae) are flowing downhill on Mars. They are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. The blue color seen upslope of the dark streaks are thought to be unrelated, instead resulting from the presence of the mineral pyroxene (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona via space.com).

 

Mars appears to have flowing streams of salty water, at least in the summer, scientists reported today in a finding that could have major implications for the possibility of life on the red planet.

 

Of course there's salty water on Mars. This photo shows Martian sea or lake.

 

Scientists in 2008 confirmed the existence of frozen water on Mars. But the latest observations from an instrument aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter strongly support the longtime theory that salt water in liquid form flows down certain Martian slopes each summer, according to the researchers.

 

"Mars just got more interesting," NASA said via Twitter before holding a news conference at its Washington headquarters. The space agency called the results "a major science finding." More

Desecrating grave of new genocidal "Saint" Serra

Catholicism.org, 9-28-15; NY Times; Pat Macpherson, Pfc. Sandoval, Wisdom Quarterly

Worship of Santa Muerte (Saint Death) is popular Catholic practice (ladayofthedead.com).

We're here to sodomize, molest children, kowtow men, take women, oh and also to give you these nice free Bibles to study in the name of the Holy Roman Empire (nocaptionneeded.com).

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New lobbyist Joe Boe'ner: I invited my pope.

We would like to give thanks for this report to our friends at Catholicism.org, who describe their online journal as "An online journal edited by the slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Saint Benedict Center, New Hampshire." "Slaves"? Now that's dedication -- to worldwide domination by the pro-military, pro-FOX News Holy Roman Empire's Catholic (universal) Church after centuries of conquest, destruction, and a list of atrocities and crimes against humanity too long to document here.

Protest: "Vandals desecrate Carmel Mission, 'Saint' Junípero Serra’s grave site"

Our church needs to stop raping kids (Southpark)

(New York Times) A Catholic mission in Carmel, California, was vandalized on Sunday, with statues toppled and paint splashed on walls, tombstones, and doors, just days after an 18th-century friar [and genocidal rapist, murderer, child abuser, and pro-military European invader, Catholic missionary, who forced conversions of Native Americans and made the "New World" safe for Spanish and subsequent British imperialism] buried there.

Armed conqueror in the name of God?

Junípero Serra was canonized [a few days ago] by Pope Francis [in a travesty of church procedures to first conduct a thorough vetting of a candidate for sainthood, which includes the confirmation of at least two miracles, a process that was conveniently skipped by papal decree in the case of Serra so that the popular pope on his first visit to the U.S. could wow crowds by canonizing a "local U.S. saint" for U.S. crowds to cheer on] the police and officials at the mission said.

 

Get the h*ll out of God's holy house, you st*pid wh*re and b*tch before I rape you! (Femen)

 

Employees of the Carmel Mission discovered the vandalism inside the basilica’s entrance courtyard and said it appeared to have been done early Sunday morning, the mission said in a statement posted to Facebook. 

• PHOTO: A statue of Junípero Serra was toppled and splattered with paint over the weekend at the Carmel Mission in California, just days after Pope Francis elevated him to a Catholic "saint" (KSBW/nytimes.com).

“Apparently a person or persons broke in, splattered paint, and toppled down the courtyard statue of St. Serra and other historic statues on display,” the statement said. It urged readers to pray that the perpetrators “take responsibility for their actions on this sacred property and that they seek reconciliation.” More 

 

"Saint of Genocide" reads the inscription by pro-Native American demonstrators trying to bring attention to Catholic travesty of calling a war criminal a "saint" (nytimes.com).

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What was California's mission system?

Ghosted by Catholic church

Californian's mission system was a systematic "concentration camp"-style method of partitioning Native American land. The "missions" were used to abduct women and children -- often including the sexual abuse of the children -- until men surrendered and submitted to conquest by the Holy Roman church. Touted as if the system were bringing the Bible to ignorant "half humans," the forts were in fact franchise-like outlets for the takeover of people and the occupation and eventual imperial conquest of new lands by the violent Spain empire and its Conquistadors.

Don't be a hypocrite, future-St. Frances. Stop the rape of children by your priests, bishops, cardinals, co-conspirators. Do more than give lip service to women of the church! (AP)

Dalai Lama cancels U.S. visit: medical rest

CBSnews.com/news; Seth Auberon, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly

VIDEO: The Dalai Lama turns 80 in 2015

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota - The Dalai Lama canceled his U.S. appearances for the month of October after doctors at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic advised him to rest, his office said Friday.

The 80-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester this week for what was described as a routine check-up.

• TAC: Visit "postponed until further notice"

"The doctors have advised His Holiness to rest for the next several weeks," his office said in a statement on its website Friday. "We deeply regret the inconvenience caused by this decision and apologize to all the people who have worked so hard in organizing the visit as well as to the public."

 

The statement gave no more details about the Dalai Lama's condition and representatives did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional comment.

The University of Colorado and the Tibetan Association of Colorado had announced earlier Friday that the Office of Tibet in Washington, D.C., informed them a planned visit would be canceled. The Dalai Lama had been scheduled to appear at the university October 20-21.

Besides the trip to the school in Boulder, Colorado, the Dalai Lama's schedule had listed appearances in Salt Lake City and Philadelphia next month.

Mayo Clinic, where the Dalai Lama has made regular visits in past years [and why not if he is a former CIA operative], on Thursday confirmed his most recent visit for evaluation but released no details, as is routine. Mayo spokeswoman Ginger Plumbo said Friday she had no further information to release and would not confirm whether he had left the clinic.

"Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible," says the 14th Dalai Lama.

 

A secretary to the Dalai Lama, Chime Rigzin, told AP on Thursday that the Dalai Lama had been to the clinic and had had no health complaints. Rigzin told AP test results were fine and the Dalai Lama would soon be returning to [his Himalayan home in exile in] Dharamsala, India.

The Dalai Lama had been scheduled to make two appearances at the University of Colorado on Oct. 20 and 21. The first was an event open only to students, faculty, and staff, and the second appearance was a public teaching and talk on training the mind and compassion.

University of Colorado event planners were notified by the Office of Tibet about the cancellation Friday morning, university spokesman Ryan Huff said. The visit had been in the works for nearly two years.

"We're certainly saddened by this news, but we also hope the Dalai Lama's health improves very quickly and someday he may be able to come to campus," said Huff, who acknowledged that it would take a long time to plan another visit.

The Dalai Lama also was scheduled to receive an award from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Oct. 26. The center's president and CEO, Jeffrey Rosen, said officials are working with the Dalai Lama's office to see if a representative can accept the award in his absence.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Dalai Lama as he recovers his strength," Rosen said.

Lobsang Tsering, president of the Utah Tibetan Association, said the Salt Lake City visit from Oct. 17-19 included an invitation to a world relations conference, a public talk at the University of Utah and a dedication of the new Tibetan Association Community Center.

Tsering said when he learned of the cancellation, "my heart dropped." But he said that for Tibetan people, "the most important thing is the well-being of His Holiness. And we all know he needed a rest." More

2015 Dalai Lama visit postponed

Tibetan Association of Colorado and CU-Boulder will co-host October visit by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

• For more event info: DalaiLamaColorado.com

The Tibetan Association of Colorado (TAC) and the University of Colorado Boulder are delighted to co-host a campus visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Oct. 20 and 21, 2015.
 

A schedule of events at CU-Boulder is still being finalized. The schedule and ticket information will be announced as they are finalized. Events will include an address by His Holiness to students, a teaching on the Eight Verses of Training the mind, and a public talk by His holiness. In addition, a multi-day Festival of Tibet featuring a Tibetan market, food, and performances of music and dance will be held for everyone’s added enjoyment. More

Lotus SoCal: English-speaking temple group

Chinese Mahayana Buddhist Calendar

Lotus SoCal is a group of Westerners and English speakers interested in Mahayana Buddhism at Hsi Lai Temple. Recent events included a discussion group on "Applying Buddhist Teachings to Our Daily Lives" (Sunday, 9/27 from 1:00-2:30 pm) in the Assembly Hall. Topic: How would Buddhists view the Kentucky clerk who wouldn't grant marriage licenses to gay couples? Starts with 15 minutes of meditation followed by discussion. Free. Everyone welcome. Note: Please send in your discussion topics. We will select them on a first come, first served basis.

There was a more exciting event "Eight Precepts Retreat" this past weekend 9/26-9/27. Activities culminated that night with the Lotus SoCal "Mid-Autumn Festival" also known as the Harvest Moon Festival. Now in its third year, it is titled "Evening Under the Moon" to view the blood moon tetrad, supermoon, and lunar eclipse.

There is also a new Thursday Group: Meditation, Study, and Discussion, which starts Thursday, October 1, 2015 from 7:30-9:00 pm in the Assembly Hall. It will meet the first and third Thursday of each month. It is lead by Ven. Zhi Xing. It starts with 30-40 minutes of meditation followed by reading and discussion of Ven. Master Hsing Yun's book Hear Me Out: A Message From a Humble Monk. To sign up, contact Terry at: turk11@att.net. Free.

• English Hsi Lai Temple website: hsilai.org/en/index.php
• Calendar at Hsi Lai Temple: hsilai.org/en/eAbt/eAbtCal.php
• Save Karma the Dog petition before it's too late!
• Not interested in saving animals? How about humans? On TakeTwoShow.org today, a Vietnamese -American activist seeks to help Syrian refugees get to safety.
  
• Vietnamese American Oral History Project at UC Irvine (Facebook/VAOHP)  Duc Nguyen (Duke Win) Vietnamese Americans stand up for a new cause: saving Syrian refugees (scpr.org) 
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Harvest Festival: Super Blood Lunar Eclipse

Wisdom Quarterly; Going West (Hsi Lai) Temple, Fo Guang Shan, Los Angeles

It's a super moon, a tetrad, a harvest moon, a blood moon, a lunar eclipse...and the end of the world (as we know it). Tonight will change everything. At least at the Going West Temple, Hsi Lai, the largest temple complex in the Western hemisphere.

Hsi Lai Temple (Facebook), Lotus SoCal, and YAD-LA present "An Evening Under the Moon."

Buddhist nuns will be preparing jasmine tea and serving free moon cakes in the magnificent courtyard of a traditional Chinese (Taiwanese) Buddhist temple. Free, family friendly, open to the public, all are welcome.

• Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, 7:30-9:00 pm
• Courtyard @ Hsi Lai Temple
• 3456 Glenmark Drive
• Hacienda Heights (on a hill dividing LA/OC), CA 91745

Entrance gate looking north from Hsi Lai temple across the San Gabriel Valley toward the Angeles National Forest ten miles away under a rare cloudy L.A. County sky (dinewithdonna).

 

Thanks to all for making "An Evening Under the Moon" a tremendous success! The event is at capacity and cannot accept any more registrations. Therefore, the RSVP page is closed. (But attendees may still show up). Look out for autumn 2016's Under the Moon. Peace and compassion to all!

 
For those coming, join the temple for a reflective evening under the moonlight where we will learn how Buddhism relates to the Chinese Moon Festival. Participate in small discussion groups with a temple nun while enjoying tasty moon cakes and tea. The program also includes: meditation, live music, and a candlelight ceremony.

Event FAQ:

Crowd at Mon Festival (Wisdom Quarterly)

1. Where and when? - #HsiLaiTemple courtyard @ 7:30 pm.
2. What's the address? - 3456 Glenmark Dr, Hacienda Heights 91745.
3. How much is it? - It's FREE!
4. Is registration required? - Sort of, please RVSP.
5. What language is the event? - English and Mandarin.

6. What's temple etiquette? - No meat products, smoking, alcohol, and please dress appropriately (no  shorts, tank tops, torn or otherwise provocative articles of dress please).

There really is a rabbit in the Moon -- as anyone can see. Now the People's Republic of China has landed a lunar rover as well to make it literal (makiepencollector).

California's Chernobyl: nuclear fallout over LA!

Joel Grover and Matthew Glasser (NBCLosAngeles.com); Seth Auberon, Wisdom Quarterly

Homer's "The Scream" is real.

Atomic fallout, nuclear disaster over Los Angeles, California! A toxic cover-up has thousands asking why they're sick with cancer and other ailments. The NBC4 I-Team finally exposes the truth about a major government LIE! Joel Grover reports for the NBC4 News at 11:00 pm with breaking news released on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 (published at nbclosangeles.com Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015).

LA's Nuclear Secret: Part 1

Tucked away in the hills above the San Fernando and Simi valleys was a 2,800-acre laboratory with a mission that was a mystery to the thousands of people who lived in its shadow.
 

The story

(NBC LA) The U.S. government secretly allowed radiation from a damaged reactor to be released into air over Los Angeles' San Fernando and Simi valleys in the wake of a major nuclear meltdown in Southern California more than 50 years ago -- fallout that nearby residents contend continues to cause serious health consequences [higher cancer rates] and, in some cases, death.

• LA's Nuclear Secret: Timelines, Documents, FAQ

What's nuclear radiation ever done to anyone? Mutant flowers growing next to the Fukushima-Daiichi atomic plant disaster in coastal Japan, which followed earthquake and tsunami (san_kaido/twitter).

 

Those are the findings of a yearlong NBC4 I-Team investigation into "Area Four," which is part of the once-secret Santa Susana Field Lab. Founded in 1947 to test experimental nuclear reactors and rocket systems, the research facility was built in the hills above the two valleys. In 1959, Area Four was the site of one of the worst nuclear accidents in U.S. history. But the federal government still hasn't told the public that radiation was released into the atmosphere as a result of the partial nuclear meltdown.

 

Now, whistleblowers interviewed on camera by NBC4 have recounted how during and after that accident they were ordered to release dangerous radioactive gases into the air above Los Angeles and Ventura counties, often under cover of night, and how their bosses swore them to secrecy.

 

In addition, the I-Team reviewed over 15,000 pages of studies and government documents, and interviewed other insiders, uncovering that for years starting in 1959, workers at Area Four were routinely instructed to release radioactive materials into the air above neighboring communities, through the exhaust stacks of nuclear reactors, open doors, and by burning radioactive waste.

 

How It Began

 

On July 13, 1959, the day of the meltdown, John Pace was working as a reactor operator for Atomics International at Area Four's largest reactor, under the watch of the U.S. government's Atomic Energy Commission.

 

"Nobody knows the truth of what actually happened," Pace told the I-Team.

 

In fact, Pace said, the meltdown was verging on a major radioactive explosion.

 

"The radiation in that building got so high, it went clear off the scale," he said.

 

To prevent a potentially devastating explosion, one that in hindsight the 76-year-old Pace believes would have been "just like Chernobyl," he and other workers were instructed to open the exhaust stacks and release massive amounts of radiation into the sky.

 

"This was very dangerous radioactive material," he said. "It went straight out into the atmosphere and went straight to Simi Valley, to Chatsworth, to Canoga Park."

 

Pace and his co-workers frantically tried to repair the damaged reactor. Instead, he said they realized, their efforts were only generating more radioactive gas. So for weeks, often in the dark of night, Pace and other workers were ordered to open the large door in the reactor building and vent the radiation into the air.

 

"It was getting out towards the public," he said. "The public would be bombarded by it."

 

Pace said he and his co-workers knew they were venting dangerous radiation over populated areas, but they were following orders.

 

"They felt terrible that it had to be done," he said. "They had to let it out over their own families."

Area Four workers "were sworn to secrecy that they would not tell anyone what they had done," Pace explained.

He remembered his boss getting right in his face and saying, "You will not say a word. Not one word."

That was more than five decades ago, but radioactive contamination didn't just vanish. It remains in the soil and water of Area Four and in some areas off-site, according to state and federal records obtained by the I-Team. And, evidence suggests that the fallout could be linked to illnesses, including cancer, among residents living nearby.

Arline Mathews lived with her family in Chatsworth, downwind of Area Four during some of the radiation releases. Her middle son, Bobby, was a champion runner on the Chatsworth High School track team for three years, running to the Santa Susana Field Lab and back to school every day. Bobby died of glioblastoma, a rare brain cancer often linked to radiation exposure. Mathews said there is no known family history of cancer and she blames the radiation from Area Four for her son's illness.

 

"He was exposed to the chemical hazardous waste and radioactivity up there," Mathews said. "There's no getting over the loss of son."

 

The Government Cover-up

Six weeks after the meltdown, the Atomic Energy Commission issued a press release saying that there had been a minor "fuel element failure" at Area Four's largest reactor in July. But they said there had been "no release of radioactive materials" to the environment.

 

"What they had written in that report is not even close to what actually happened," Pace said. "To see our government talk that way and lie about those things that happened, it was very disappointing."

 

In 1979, NBC4 first broke the story that there was a partial meltdown at Area Four's largest reactor, called the Sodium Reactor Experiment. But at the time, the U.S. government was still saying no radiation was released into the air over LA.

 

But during its current yearlong investigation, the I-Team found a NASA report that confirmed "the 1959 meltdown... led to a release of radioactive contaminants."

 

For years, NASA used part of the site for rocket testing and research.

 

More Radioactive Releases

After filing a Freedom of Information request, the I-Team obtained more than 200 pages of government interviews with former Santa Susana workers. One of those workers, Dan Parks, was a health physicist at Area Four in the 1960s.

 

In the early 60s, Parks said, he often witnessed workers releasing radiation into the sky through the exhaust stacks of at least three of Area Four's ten nuclear reactors.

 

"They would vent it to the atmosphere," he said. "The release was done with the flick of a switch."

 

Radioactive Waste Up in Smoke

 

Parks said he often witnessed workers releasing radioactive smoke into the air when they disposed of barrels of radioactive waste from Area Four's 10 nuclear reactors.

 

"We were all workers," he said. "Just taking orders."

 

Workers would often take those barrels of waste to a pond called "the burn pits" and proceed to shoot the barrels with a high-powered rifle causing an explosion. The radioactive smoke would drift into the air over nearby suburbs and toward a summer camp for children.

 

"It was a volatile explosion, beyond belief," Parks said.

 

Whatever direction the wind was blowing, the radioactive smoke would travel that way.

 

"If the wind was blowing to the Valley, it would blow it in the Valley," he said.

 

Ralph Powell, who worked as a security officer at Area Four in the mid-60s, recalled being blanketed by that radioactive smoke.

 

"I saw clouds of smoke that was engulfing my friends, that are dying now," Powell said.

 

Powell believes it wasn't just his friends who suffered the consequences. He fears he may have exposed his own family to radiation, tracking it home on his clothes and car.

 

While Powell was working at Area Four, his son Michael was diagnosed with leukemia -- a cancer linked to radiation exposure -- and died at age 11.

 

"I suspect it caused the death of my son," he said. "I've never gotten that out of my mind."
 
Toxic Chemical Contamination

In addition to the radiation, dozens of toxic chemicals, including TCE and Perchlorate, were also released into the air and dumped on the soil and into ground and surface water from thousands of rocket tests conducted at the Santa Susana Field lab from the 1950s to 80s. The tests were conducted by NASA, and by Rocketdyne, a government aerospace contractor.

 

According to a federally funded study obtained by the I-Team, "emissions associated with rocket engine testing" could have been inhaled by residents of "West Hills, Bell Canyon, Dayton Canyon, Simi Valley, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Woodland Hills, and Hidden Hills."

 

Contamination Moves into Neighborhoods

NBC News Anchor Colleen Williams standing in front of Santa Susana range (NBC)

 

Radiation released at Area Four continues to contaminate the soil and water of the Santa Susana Field Lab.

 

In 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency completed a $40 million soil test of the site and found 423 hot spots -- places contaminated with high levels of man-made radiation.

 

Other studies and government documents obtained by the I-Team show that radiation has moved off-site, and has been found in the ground and water in suburbs to the south, northeast and northwest of the Field Lab.

 

"Radiation doesn't know any boundaries," said Dr. Robert Dodge, a national board member of the Nobel Prize-winning nonprofit Physicians For Social Responsibility, which studies the health effects of radiation.

 

Dodge, who has reviewed numerous government and academic studies about the contamination at Santa Susana, said he believes the contamination has spread far beyond the facility's borders.

 

"If the wind is blowing and carrying radiation from Santa Susana, it doesn't stop because there's a fence," he said.

 

One of the places radiation has been found, in a 1995 study overseen by the U.S. EPA, was the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley. The Institute is a nationally-known center of Jewish learning, and the home to Camp Alonim, a beloved summer sleepaway camp that has hosted some 30,000 children.

 

In December 1995, The Brandeis-Bardin Institute filed a federal lawsuit against the present and past owners of the Santa Susana Field Lab, alleging that toxic chemicals and radiation from the field lab "have subsequently seeped into and come to be located in the soil and groundwater" of Brandeis "is injurious to the environment" and "will cause great and irreparable injury."

 

Brandeis settled the lawsuit in a confidential agreement in 1997.

 

A spokesman for the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, Rabbi Jay Strear, told NBC4 that the groundwater and soil is "tested routinely," and the results have shown the "the site is safe."

 

The I-Team asked Brandeis-Bardin to provide NBC4 with those test results showing the site is safe and free of hazardous substances. The Institute refused, and in an email said "we are not in a position to devote the required staff time to respond to your more detailed inquiries, nor do we see the necessity for doing so."

 

A government scientist who has studied the contamination at Santa Susana told the I-Team he thinks there's a continued threat of radiation and toxic chemicals flowing from the field lab to places like Brandeis-Bardin, via groundwater and airborne dust.

 

Clusters of Cancer

Cancer is a Bitch says Gail Konop Baker

Researchers inside and out of government have contended that the radiation and toxic chemicals from Santa Susana might have caused many cancer cases.

 

"The radiation that was released in 1959 and thereafter from Santa Susana is still a danger today," Dr. Dodge said. "There is absolutely a link between radiation and cancer."

 

The I-Team tracked down dozens of people diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses who grew up in the shadow of Santa Susana -- in Canoga Park, West Hills, Chatsworth, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley. Many of them believe their cancers were caused by radiation and chemicals from the field lab.

Kathryn Seltzer Carlson, 56, and her sisters, Judy and Jennifer, all grew up in Canoga Park around the time of the nuclear meltdown and for years after, and all have battled cancer.

 

"I played in the water, I swam in the water, I drank the water" that ran off the Santa Susana Field Lab, said Carlson, who finished treatment for ovarian cancer earlier this year and is now undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma. "I've had, I don't know how many cancers."

 

Bonnie Klea, a former Santa Susana employee who has lived in West Hills since the 60s, also battled bladder cancer, which is frequently linked to radiation exposure.

 

"Every single house on my street had cancer," Klea said.

 

A 2007 Centers for Disease Control study found that people living within two miles of the Santa Susana site had a 60 percent higher rate of some cancers.

 

"There's some provocative evidence," said Dr. Hal Morgenstern, an epidemiologist who oversaw the study. "It's like circumstantial evidence, suggesting there's a link" between the contamination from Santa Susana and the higher cancer rates.

 

Silence From the Government

For more than two months, the I-Team asked to speak with someone from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the federal agency that's responsible for all nuclear testing, to ask:

• Why were workers ordered to release dangerous radiation over Los Angeles?
• Why the DOE has never publicly admitted this happened?
• What does it plan to do to help get the site cleaned up?

The DOE emailed the I-Team, "We will not have anyone available for this segment."

 

So the I-Team showed up at a public meeting this month about Santa Susana and asked the DOE's project manager for the site, Jon Jones, to speak with us. He walked away and wouldn't speak.

 

Will the Contamination Ever Be Cleaned Up?

Community residents, many stricken with cancer and other radiation-related illnesses, have been fighting for years to get the government and the private owners of the Santa Susana Field Lab to clean up the contamination that remains on the site.

 

But efforts in the state legislature and state agencies that oversee toxic sites have, so far, stalled.

 

But residents, with the support of some lawmakers, continue to fight for a full cleanup.

 

"People are continuing to breathe that (radiation) in and to die," Chatsworth resident Arline Mathews said.

 

"See that this is done immediately, before more lives are lost. More