I have never understood the left and their No Nukes stance. It's the cleanest form of energy there is and it is an essential ingredient in my hope of a (nerd alert) Star Trekesque future.
There is very little "understanding" of most of the left's stances. Hell, almost any stance you can point to, you can point to an exact contradictory one.
Look at the froth that most work up over DDT - the safest insectide (to people) yet produced. The supposed risks to other animals have failed to ever be supported since in the laboratory. Using it merely to spray houses would probably reduce mosquito-borne disease-caused-death by 2 or 3 million a year.
But that would impugn on Saint Rachel's Vision. So, 8 million people have to die. Big whoop, the left is still happy with the 100 M of Communism so far....
I think it's because nuclear energy is more frightening than other kinds. When operating correctly, they're cleaner than any other kind of energy. However, if things go wrong (and given the design of modern plants, many, many things would need to go wrong at once) then the level of destruction could be devastating to a fairly large area.
There is also the problem of handling the highly toxic waste materials. They have nightmares about some right-wing nutjob saving a few bucks and dumping the waste in the local landfill, thus poisoning the environment. Or that the carefully planned and executed waste storage system will break down and lead to waste escaping to magically reappear in downtown Manhattan or San Francisco.
It also seems that the multiple layers of management, government regulations and agencies needed to ensure the safe operation of nuclear plants looks exactly like the shadowy government/corporate interests that conspiracy theorists are always clamoring about. Isn't that what "The China Syndrome" was all about? (I don't actually remember.)
In short, it's fear. Paralyzing, all consuming fear.
I could be wrong, but that's how it looks from where I sit.
One thing you learn in engineering. Most "solutions" have problems all their own.
Everything's a trade-off.
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JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2007/08/my-favorite-bloom-county-strip-ever.html (11 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
I always loved the fact that Breathed seemed to be an equal opportunity offender, especially in his early days! Bill the Cat for President in 08!
Wasn't there another one in that vein where they held up a copy of "The Village Voice" as bait?
Heh.
Ben: yes.
Bill and Opus in '08: "This time why not the worst?"
A classic.
That *was* the good old days.
I read them almost religiously, and stil quip from them - usually to the blank looks of the people around.
Breathed was capable of finding the humor in the situation - much as South Park does today, no matter what it was.
"Wimp or Shrimp, Wimp or Shirmp..." (For Bush/Dukakis in '88 )
I haven't kept up, but the few I've seen since he "returned" were.... Disappointing. "Doonesburyesque" in their left-leaning heavy-handed "message".
Guess I'll have to check the archives and see if this is a one-fer, or if he's over his preaching...
I have never understood the left and their No Nukes stance. It's the cleanest form of energy there is and it is an essential ingredient in my hope of a (nerd alert) Star Trekesque future.
Markadelphia:
There is very little "understanding" of most of the left's stances. Hell, almost any stance you can point to, you can point to an exact contradictory one.
Look at the froth that most work up over DDT - the safest insectide (to people) yet produced. The supposed risks to other animals have failed to ever be supported since in the laboratory. Using it merely to spray houses would probably reduce mosquito-borne disease-caused-death by 2 or 3 million a year.
But that would impugn on Saint Rachel's Vision. So, 8 million people have to die. Big whoop, the left is still happy with the 100 M of Communism so far....
I think it's because nuclear energy is more frightening than other kinds. When operating correctly, they're cleaner than any other kind of energy. However, if things go wrong (and given the design of modern plants, many, many things would need to go wrong at once) then the level of destruction could be devastating to a fairly large area.
There is also the problem of handling the highly toxic waste materials. They have nightmares about some right-wing nutjob saving a few bucks and dumping the waste in the local landfill, thus poisoning the environment. Or that the carefully planned and executed waste storage system will break down and lead to waste escaping to magically reappear in downtown Manhattan or San Francisco.
It also seems that the multiple layers of management, government regulations and agencies needed to ensure the safe operation of nuclear plants looks exactly like the shadowy government/corporate interests that conspiracy theorists are always clamoring about. Isn't that what "The China Syndrome" was all about? (I don't actually remember.)
In short, it's fear. Paralyzing, all consuming fear.
I could be wrong, but that's how it looks from where I sit.
I also used to enjoy Bloom County. Somehow it seemed to always hit the mark. I never did like Opus though.
Yeah, that's probably it. Too bad, because it could really solve many problems.
Mark:
One thing you learn in engineering. Most "solutions" have problems all their own.
Everything's a trade-off.
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>