I know I’m becoming more predictable with regard to my regular postings about The Line and my frequent excoriating of John Dimdahl. Still, something interesting and unpredictable happened this week (amidst much that was very predictable).
The biggest hoot on the show was in a juxtaposition of Dimdahl’s. First, he raged against all whacko enviros like Al Gore. John’s position is simple: until everyone agrees with him, he’s not going to believe what they say. Really, that is nearly a quote and a very faithful summary of his argument. In Dimdahl’s view, you cannot really care about the environment (a rather huge topic) if you don’t accept nuclear power. So, if you recycle, if you avoid buying crap, if you walk everywhere and are a vegan, you’re still not a sincere environmentalist until you accept nuclear power. Thank you, John, for removing all doubt about what an asshole you are.
But what made me laugh out loud was the transition from this “I’ll trust you when you agree with me” madness to immediately follow up with the Galileo Defense of his view on Mankind’s Murder of the Earth (including global warming). Dimdahl defends the minority view (huzzah) that everything is OK and, because Galileo was right and the majority wrong, that must be true in this case. I, too, tend to feel that if everyone agrees on something, they’re all wrong. And I’m a life-long contrarian. Neither of which have anything to do with the fact that human beings are bent on destroying everything. And the people who profit most handsomely in this destruction deny it is happening.
Now, the most surprising thing in this whole segment was to hear Steve Lawrence pounce on Dimdahl and push hard against his lunacy. Bravo, Steve. It almost makes up for your incessant interruption of every speaker. mjh
Monthly Archives: April 2006
Going Nuclear
Going Nuclear
A Green Makes the Case
By Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace
In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That’s the conviction that inspired Greenpeace’s first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.
Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions — or nearly 10 percent of global emissions — of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely. …
Today, there are 103 nuclear reactors quietly delivering just 20 percent of America’s electricity. Eighty percent of the people living within 10 miles of these plants approve of them (that’s not including the nuclear workers). Although I don’t live near a nuclear plant, I am now squarely in their camp.
And I am not alone among seasoned environmental activists in changing my mind on this subject. British atmospheric scientist James Lovelock, father of the Gaia theory, believes that nuclear energy is the only way to avoid catastrophic climate change. Stewart Brand, founder of the “Whole Earth Catalog,” says the environmental movement must embrace nuclear energy to wean ourselves from fossil fuels. On occasion, such opinions have been met with excommunication from the anti-nuclear priesthood: The late British Bishop Hugh Montefiore, founder and director of Friends of the Earth, was forced to resign from the group’s board after he wrote a pro-nuclear article in a church newsletter.
There are signs of a new willingness to listen, though, even among the staunchest anti-nuclear campaigners. …
The 600-plus coal-fired plants emit nearly 2 billion tons of CO2annually — the equivalent of the exhaust from about 300 million automobiles. In addition, the Clean Air Council reports that coal plants are responsible for 64 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 26 percent of nitrous oxides and 33 percent of mercury emissions. These pollutants are eroding the health of our environment, producing acid rain, smog, respiratory illness and mercury contamination.
Meanwhile, the 103 nuclear plants operating in the United States effectively avoid the release of 700 million tons of CO2emissions annually — the equivalent of the exhaust from more than 100 million automobiles. Imagine if the ratio of coal to nuclear were reversed so that only 20 percent of our electricity was generated from coal and 60 percent from nuclear. This would go a long way toward cleaning the air and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Every responsible environmentalist should support a move in that direction.
pmoore@greenspirit.com
Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, is chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. He and Christine Todd Whitman are co-chairs of a new industry-funded initiative, the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, which supports increased use of nuclear energy.
New Mexico Rail Runner Commuter Train
Reporters climb aboard the new Rail Runner Express for a sneak peek By Erik Siemers, Tribune Reporter
[T]he first three months of operation will be free. After that, passengers will pay a flat $2 fare until Jan. 1, 2007, when a zone-based fare system will be based on the length of a trip….
The train passes into Downtown Bernalillo and then to U.S. 550, the largest of the system’s stations with 225 parking spaces, before stopping and reversing itself.
Time elapsed: 22 minutes.
UNM SUB information
NEW MEXICO RAIL RUNNER EXPRESS COMMUTER RAIL
Last Updated: March 20, 2006 at 2:36 pm
Ashcroft who?
Ashcroft, No Sellout By Al Kamen
Washington State University Vancouver folks were puzzled last week when only 100 people bought advance tickets for former attorney general John D. Ashcroft ‘s speech on national security and civil liberties.
After all, last year’s speaker, newly named Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean , sold out the 1,100 seats before the event. …
[Ashcroft] received a $27,000 speaker’s fee …. And that was substantially less than his usual $60,000. With travel and other costs for receptions and dinners, the tab came to about $36,000.
Dean’s fee, she said, was only $17,000. …
“We did an all-out blitz” to gin up interest among local Republican Party folks and others, Long said. In the end, about 700 showed. Of those, 225 paid the full $10, 400 students were comped and 75 were VIPs. Several rows in the back were roped off to make the room appear smaller.
A couple of dozen protesters were outside and one inside ….
[mjh: More might have attended if he promised not to sing “Let the Eagle Soar.” Names of attendees were added to the Get Out Of Jail Free Database.]
Won’t someone just lie?
The logic below reminds me of a routine feature of federal law. We all believe you are considered innocent until proven guilty, but if you *testify* you are innocent and are later convicted, they add perjury to the conviction. After all, you were lying when you testified your were innocent (even if you were wrongly convicted). Hey, it’s just “an extra tool for law enforcement.” mjh
Groups Oppose Ohio Patriot Act Reported by Eve Mueller
The Ohio Patriot Act will become law on Friday, and with it comes a lawsuit against it.
One part of the act affects everything from new government employees to about 60 licensed professions to businesses with big government contracts.
From this day forward, people will be required to sign the DMA, Declaration of Material Assistance. You can’t be a “member” of, “provide material support” to, or have “hired” a terrorist if you want to do business in this state [Ohio].
All new government employees, like firefighters, have to answer the questions. So do people who want or are renewing 60 different licenses.
They include everyone from pesticide dealers, meat plant owners, pilots, trash collectors and even fireworks wholesalers.
Does the Ohio Office of Homeland Security really expect anyone to check the yes box on any of those terrorist questions? Won’t someone just lie?
They say, “That’s our first thought, but it’s an extra tool for law enforcement, so if later on you hired an employee, did business with the state, determined you have [been] guilty of false application [and were] charged with [an] offense, it’s a felony.
The America Civil Liberties Union of Ohio dislikes the Ohio Patriot Act so much that the group has filed a lawsuit against it.
Ohio Citizen Action doesn’t like it either, saying, We’ve always thought it’s silly to sign something that says, Im not a terrorist. If you are a terrorist, you’re likely to do whatever it is you planned on doing, and you’re also getting into civil liberties issues.
Like it or not, it’s the latest effort to find connections to terrorist groups on the US Department of State list.
The new DMA form must also be completed by companies that get government contracts worth more than $100,000.
WTF and What He Said
ABQjournal: Letters to the Editor
Questioning Terrorism War Near Treason
Those who call for the exit of the president of the United States, whoever he/she is, are the cause of the more than 2,000 deaths of our brave service people in the Middle East. It’s tragic that those who put greed for power ahead of the safety of this democracy keep delaying the victory against terrorism. That’s called treason.
FRANCES DODD
Albuquerque
Bush Should Stand by His Words, Resign
IN PUBLIC statements, the president said anyone who leaks information “will no longer work in his administration.” Now is the perfect opportunity for George Bush to honor his own word and resign.
MICHAEL G. ROSENBERG
Albuquerque
pasque flower
