If people who haven't worked in nuclear power shouldn't criticize that industry, should people who haven't mined coal criticize coal?
Would you have us ignore the fact that nuclear power consumes two non-renewable resources, namely fuel and waste storage capacity?
Are you including Three Mile Island in nuclear power's safety record?
We don't need more nukes; we need to learn more frugal habits, we need to conserve, and we to need invest in energy storage technology and renewable, decentralized and locally appropriate energy sources.
<blockquote>"With $6B and growing in federal outlays to climate alarmist groups, a donation of $260K from fossil fuel industries seems minute."</blockquote>
Only if you ignore the fact that this "donation" is merely a tiny fraction of what the fossil fuel industries have spent over years and decades to reassure the public that everything is just fine. It bears the same relation to the industry's total propaganda effort as a single thermometer reading bears to decades of global climate tracking.
Never underestimate the opportunity in reassurance!
Sounds like the GOP platform, also reminds one of the Zionist method of prevarication and procrastination to avoid having to upset the current, highly profitable, status quo.
Re- Debate by Mutternich and several Anonymous posters that perhaps
some Blackwater mercenaries, "are just trying to support their families in a
lousy economy when they have no better-paying skills."
Reasonable people will differ about the ethics of working
as a mercenary in those circumstances. Moreover, some may be
motivated not only by economic necessity, but also by disinformation.
Don't forget the Feb. 2006 Zogby poll of U.S. military (not Blackwater) troops
in Iraq, in which 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly
"to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks;"
77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was:
"to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq."
Some of these naive troops may have signed with Blackwater/Xe,
after their U.S. govt. tour of duty.
I think the important focus should remain on Blackwater/Xe
as a corporate entity, and the type of POWER RELATIONS
used by that entity to succeed economically.
In particular, note the asymmetric POWER RELATIONSHIP between
Blackwater/Xe and its mercenary employees. This is exemplified
in the lawsuit by families of 4 Blackwater mercenaries, who were
improperly equipped, sent into hostile action, killed, and then
had their bodies dragged through the streets of Fallujah.
Maybe these 4 were vicious slimeball sadists; maybe they were
well-meaning chumps, used as "tools of capitalist exploitation".
But the employment contract these mercenaries signed with Blackwater/Xe
was heavily slanted in favor of Blackwater. Hence -- pursuant to the terms
of that contract -- U.S. courts dismissed the lawsuit, and ordered it into
secret arbitration by a panel tilted heavily in favor of Blackwater.
See more details in 5/23/07 Democracy Now article,
"Pivotal Family Lawsuit Against Blackwater USA Blocked from Court—
and Moved to Panel with Company Ties".
Global warming is a reality. Air pollution including tons of Mercury dumped into the air by coal plants is a reality. Coal mining accidents and black lung are a reality.
Nuclear power is safe. Look up the statistics on the industry. Read past the endless hype given by rabid anti-nuke people. Look at the actual statistics. Compare the safety record to any other industries statistics for safety. I think you'll be impressed.
I've worked at nukes. I don't now. I receive no compensation of any kind from them, yet I still think they are a good idea. How many of the anti nuke people have actually worked at nukes? Consider the source of information when reading about nukes. People are criticized for being supported by nuclear organizations. These organizations are those who have the facts. The Sierra Club does not operate nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power plants have been operating in this country since the 1950s. Think of how much pollution has been avoided by their use. Think of how much pollution can be avoided if we had more nukes. Jeepers, the solution to Global Warming is at hand and the US is not taking advantage of this solution.
Politics and environmental PR cannot change reality. The reality is that nukes are needed and more should be built.
(I hope the use of the word Jeepers was not politically incorrect.)
Sounds like the GOP platform, also reminds one of the Zionist method of prevarication and procrastination to avoid having to upset the current, highly profitable, status quo.
Re- Debate by Mutternich and several Anonymous posters that perhaps
some Blackwater mercenaries, "are just trying to support their families in a
lousy economy when they have no better-paying skills."
Reasonable people will differ about the ethics of working
as a mercenary in those circumstances. Moreover, some may be
motivated not only by economic necessity, but also by disinformation.
Don't forget the Feb. 2006 Zogby poll of U.S. military (not Blackwater) troops
in Iraq, in which 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly
"to retaliate for Saddam's role in the 9-11 attacks;"
77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was:
"to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq."
Some of these naive troops may have signed with Blackwater/Xe,
after their U.S. govt. tour of duty.
I think the important focus should remain on Blackwater/Xe
as a corporate entity, and the type of POWER RELATIONS
used by that entity to succeed economically.
In particular, note the asymmetric POWER RELATIONSHIP between
Blackwater/Xe and its mercenary employees. This is exemplified
in the lawsuit by families of 4 Blackwater mercenaries, who were
improperly equipped, sent into hostile action, killed, and then
had their bodies dragged through the streets of Fallujah.
Maybe these 4 were vicious slimeball sadists; maybe they were
well-meaning chumps, used as "tools of capitalist exploitation".
But the employment contract these mercenaries signed with Blackwater/Xe
was heavily slanted in favor of Blackwater. Hence -- pursuant to the terms
of that contract -- U.S. courts dismissed the lawsuit, and ordered it into
secret arbitration by a panel tilted heavily in favor of Blackwater.
See more details in 5/23/07 Democracy Now article,
"Pivotal Family Lawsuit Against Blackwater USA Blocked from Court—
and Moved to Panel with Company Ties".
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