A Day in the Life of...

When I was growing up, America had a space program and we were going to the Moon. Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon in 1969 when I was seven years old. We were the wealthiest country in the world and we could do almost anything we could conceive of. We always sent in emergency supplies and aid when disasters struck. Our officials seemed knowledgeable and informed. So, I was surprised and disheartened when I learned that Americans were leaving Tokyo out of fear and that our government was making things worse by fear mongering about the nuclear incident at Fukushima.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko received a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics, but went to work for Congress and the Senate after receiving his doctorate. He used to be Senator Harry Reid's science policy advisor. Reid was instrumental in closing the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository after $13.5 billion dollars had been spent on building it. So, now nuclear waste is stored on site at each nuclear facility. So, we have an NRC Chairman who has actually made the nuclear industry less safe prior to becoming chairman. Then he states publicly that the water in one of the Fukushima spent fuel pools had drained away leaving the fuel rods completely exposed. Not only did he have bad intelligence, but he was spreading fear. So much for informed government.

Then there is the meme being promoted not to donate to charities to help Japan. One who has spread this meme is Felix Salmon. They don't require our money or our aid it seems. But then, we get this news that people are starving in the devastated areas. There's not enough emergency rations coming in.

Usually we send aid in directly through the our military. The U.S. Navy would be a good choice because it has the most expertise in using nuclear reactors and the dangers inherent with using that technology. But it doesn't appear that our navy will helping the Japanese at Fukushima directly. We seem to be delivering food supplies and other aid, but are being hampered by poor weather.

Now we have twits buying iodide pills on the West Coast. They are paying $140 for a $6 bottle of pills. This is sheer insanity and beyond all rationality. Are people that ignorant and scared? They have the Internet as a resource if they can't trust the media for information.

It's okay to have nuclear weapons which can kill millions, but not okay to have nuclear power which could wean us from foreign oil and be used to destroy said weapons as fuel. It's okay to fight and defend our oil suppliers in the Middle East rather than be energy independent. What is the true cost of a barrel of oil when the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan are factored in? How much American blood is spilled to keep our oil companies and Arab dictators happy? What happened to our charity to our own people and others? We are the country who created the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany and Japan. We created Social Security and Medicare to help our elderly and poor. Does any of this make sense? What happened to my country which professes to be Christian? Who stole it? I want it back.

Labels: insanity at all levels