On Indian Point all agreed that there have been serious violations and safety concerns. The agencies charged with supervising our nuclear plants are dominated by industry insiders and have the efficiency of heck-of-a-job Brownie's FEMA. So, the 20 million people within 50 miles of this plant still face a grave threat. I suppose that the nuclear plants are here to stay as the President's vision of the future (in addition to a Rapturist view) reveals.
On healthcare, the most pointed remarks against the failed system and the few who make multi-million dollar bonuses for keeping the rest of us holding the screw came from the WCA's director C. Mooney. The responses from those in-the-know were targeted at blaming the "wrong-doers" but not much in terms of fixing a healthcare system that costs so much and leaves so many Americans unprotected. There were some ideas for yet a few more patches in a worn & small-sized quilt that leaves too many of us exposed. No one wants to talk about a single-payer, universal health care system. We spend 17% of GNP on healthcare, more than any other country. Canada and Switzerland come in second place as the big spenders with 12% and with universal coverage. I wonder how many more Americans are at risk from an inadequate health care system than they are from the deadliest terrorists...Speaking of terrorists, all are for a secure border, whatever it takes. Never mind that the terrorists didn't need to climb a fence, dig a tunnel, cross a desert, to get in here and do their work on 9-11. We couldn't wisely use our laws and tools at our disposal to prevent the attacks, so instead of being smarter we built a bigger bureaucracy, named it in Orwellian fashion, The Dept. of Homeland Security, and passed draconian laws to make us less free. Immigration poses a threat to our way of life, our economy, our culture, they tell us. Most of the arguments today aren't new at all. They've been re-circulating every so often since the 1800s! A bad law doesn't address reality, and if we get a bad law today it'll stay on the books for a very long time. Maybe DeLay's disgraceful departure from the House will open the door for some fresh air this November.
Like millions of Americans who break the law by buying prescription drugs from Canada, the undocumented immigrants skirt a bad immigration law that's even worse in its application & enforcement. In the din of the forks & knives hitting the china, there was agreement in the room against giving amnesty "to those who broke the law." Though, I think I heard some murmur from the waiting staff, and then I thought that those remarks should have been delivered after all the food and drinks had been served. Having a full stomach, I wanted to ask those upper class people why they've already given amnesty to themselves and to all American businesses that have benefited from this hard-working and underpaid labor pool....
Anyway, I can say that there were many well-intentioned people present and it was nice meeting some of them. I hope I'm invited to the next WCA's Congressional luncheon, because I don't often get to have such a scrumptious food for lunch. And, you know, working in the academia makes one very hungry.
3 comments:
socializing with the elite, heh?
An nuclear industry insider said that those plants will never be closed on the cost factor Of course, it depends how you measure this cost, but I the safety issue is what might shut them down.
Like you said, there are many millions of people within close proximity to Indian Point, and I can tell you (as I'm one of them) that most of them have no idea what to do in case of an emergency.
OK, not everybody has the same understanding of what "serious" is. And, I don't have confidence in the agencies supervising IP.... I'm not a betting person, I don't believe "God will provide", and I'm suspicious of insiders who have so much to gain by NOT doing their job.
I'm not necessary against nuclear energy, but because of the cost--yes, there's a cost AND emmissions--we have to be prudent and leave politics out of it. Unfortunately, people from both sides of the issue have not been enganging in an honest discussion in my estimate.
As for the violations, the recent town meeting in Peekskil, NY, revealed some. Radioactive water from the plant leaking is serious enough for me, as the mis-statements by IP as to amounts, locations, etc.
The "no-emiissions" language is another example of mudding the issue. Maybe the emmissions don't get into the air, but there's a problem for disposing nuclear waste that has a half-life of thousands of years, in containers that don't last that long, transporting accross the country to bury in someone else's backyard, etc,etc.
Obviously we have a problem with our increasing energy needs, while we're not having an honest national discussion about it.
Yes, there are people on both sides of the issue who have gained & and will continue to do so by the status quo. Battling IP maybe a "cottage industry" for some, but those in charge of IP and the RNC aren't exactly "neutral parties" either.
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