Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Nuclear Nemesis
Stephen Lendman notes that the Japanese government, like its counterpart in the United States, is more interested in containing the fallout from exposure of the inevitable dangers of nuclear power than they are in containing the radioactive releases. As these toxic emissions blow across the Pacific to Hawaii, Alaska and California, US nuclear energy corporations like General Electric will have no problem convincing major media that a coverup is preferable to revealing the unavoidable threat from nuclear power.
But convincing their cronies is not the same as fooling us. For that, they need craven opportunists in Congress and the White House, who are apparently in no short supply.
Even as radioactive waste accumulates, leaks, and is recycled into weaponry worldwide, politicians and pundits promote nuclear power as safe and cost effective. The reality is that all nuclear plants are hazardous waste sites waiting to explode or meltdown, and the real reason they are popular with politicians and Wall Street is that the publicly-insured industry is another looters' paradise. As with the most recent banking scandal, bribes, kickbacks and fraud abound in the nuclear corridors of power.
Forty years ago, when we stopped a nuclear boondoggle in Washington state, one of the many scandals uncovered was the revelation that contractors had faked inspection reports, falsely claiming all required steel reinforcement for the concrete structures was installed. That -- like current claims that nuclear energy is clean -- turned out to be a lie.
Given that nuclear waste remains lethal for all time, the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much faith should we put in politicians and those who bankroll them to look out for our health and safety? For those who aren't cortex impaired, it doesn't take much imagination to answer that question.
March 19 update
As explosions and meltdown continues, the radiation levels threaten twenty million people in the Tokyo area.
But convincing their cronies is not the same as fooling us. For that, they need craven opportunists in Congress and the White House, who are apparently in no short supply.
Even as radioactive waste accumulates, leaks, and is recycled into weaponry worldwide, politicians and pundits promote nuclear power as safe and cost effective. The reality is that all nuclear plants are hazardous waste sites waiting to explode or meltdown, and the real reason they are popular with politicians and Wall Street is that the publicly-insured industry is another looters' paradise. As with the most recent banking scandal, bribes, kickbacks and fraud abound in the nuclear corridors of power.
Forty years ago, when we stopped a nuclear boondoggle in Washington state, one of the many scandals uncovered was the revelation that contractors had faked inspection reports, falsely claiming all required steel reinforcement for the concrete structures was installed. That -- like current claims that nuclear energy is clean -- turned out to be a lie.
Given that nuclear waste remains lethal for all time, the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much faith should we put in politicians and those who bankroll them to look out for our health and safety? For those who aren't cortex impaired, it doesn't take much imagination to answer that question.
March 19 update
As explosions and meltdown continues, the radiation levels threaten twenty million people in the Tokyo area.
