Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Visit: Hell came and paid Japan and all of us -- all of the human race -- a visit. Maybe nature or fate came down and said nuclear should not be in our vocabulary. Rachel Maddow explained the overview of a nuclear reactor and what is in it, what fuel rods mean, and how it is constructed. She said, and she is right, a nuclear reactor, is NOT a nuclear bomb BUT -- and this is the important thing -- the two are inextricably linked. This is why the world goes berserk at the thought of nuclear weapons in the hands of unstable states OR really ANY state. It is why when J. Robert Oppenheimer and others who created this monster at the Manhattan Project during WWII to be ultimately dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki quoted from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita "Now I have become death destroyer of worlds."

Humans, do well to head this quote and see what our capacity for evil has done. This can never be undone and nuclear war can never be undone either. Mark well what Japan has shown us. It is our modern day example of the danger of things nuclear. This existential threat can and must never happen again!
THIS is my real feeling after the Japan holocaust taken from CREDO.COM

CREDO Action | more than a network. a movement.

President Obama: Reverse your support of risky nuclear power.

No nukes. Not now.

Nuclear Energy: Not Now, Not ever!

Clicking here will add your name to this petition:
President Obama: Reverse your support of risky nuclear power.
Take action now!

First came the earthquake. Then the tsunami. Then multiple explosions at nuclear reactors. Several Japanese nuclear reactors are at risk of melting down with unthinkable release of radiation.

The crisis in Japan is heart wrenching. The latest reports suggest at least 10,000 dead from one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history followed by a devastating tsunami. And that number is likely to rise.

But perhaps the worst is yet to come as multiple nuclear reactors in Japan are redlining and officials frantically release radioactive steam into the atmosphere in hopes of averting a total nuclear meltdown.

Tell President Obama: No more nukes. Not now. Clicking here will automatically sign the petition.

Even now, politicians of both parties are so beholden to the nuclear industry, that they are racing to microphones to say that the U.S. must EXPAND its taxpayer support of building even more nuclear reactors.

President Obama's 2012 budget includes $36 billion in loan guarantees to the nuclear energy industry. With Congressional leaders competing to cut public spending, we face a spectacle where senators in both parties were quick to defend nuclear power in the days following earthquake. Sen. Chuck Schumer, vice chair of the Democratic Senate caucus, has joined with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in refusing to support a moratorium on building new nuclear reactors in seismically active areas in the U.S.1

Nuclear power generation is so financially risky that it requires government intervention to obtain sufficient financing for development. Even nuclear power proponents admit the stakes. According to John Rowe, the CEO of the nation's largest nuclear operator Exelon, said "Except with massive subsidies, there's really nothing one can do to make a whole lot of nuclear plants economic right now."2
Tell President Obama: We need investment in clean, renewable energy, not more nuclear time bombs. Clicking here will automatically sign the petition.
What does it take for Congress and President Obama to get the message? In just the last year, we have suffered massive disasters as a result of declining and risky energy technologies. Coal, oil, and now nuclear power have been the center of soul searching crises in the past 12 months. First came the massive coal mine collapse in West Virginia courtesy of the rapacious Massey Energy. Then came the massive BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico which failed to slow significant advances by the oil companies in drilling offshore of the United States. And now comes a massive nuclear crisis in Japan, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Yet nothing has been done.

It's time to stand up and defend the planet. Tell President Obama: Enough is enough: No new nukes.

Becky Bond, Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

P.S. If you want to help fund relief efforts in Japan through progressive organizations, Doctors Without Borders, a group CREDO members have long supported with their phone bills, is on the ground with medical teams. Find our more here. Another CREDO supported organization, Mercy Corps, is directing donations to its local partner Peace Winds Japan. You can get updates from Peace Winds Japan and find donation information here.

1 "Will nuclear industry feel the fallout from Japan?," Politico, March 13, 2011.
2 ibid.

NOT ANYMORE

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