Was Yucca Mountain the Real Reason Kucinich Was Silenced by GE?

[kpete]

Was Yucca Mountain the Real Reason Kucinich Was Silenced by GE?
January 16th, 2008
…or because he Vows to Fight for Changes to FCC Law? (see below)
by Eugmc | Cleveland Leader

We’ve all heard about the elephant in the room, but how about a mountain? Yucca Mountain to be more specific. The mountain which you may have seen in your visit to Las Vegas, Nevada, is becoming a big part of the national debate.

Why? Yucca Mountain is most notable as the site of the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository, a U.S. Department of Energy terminal storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste. That has environmental groups worried and the site, which was suppose to open in 1998 to store nuclear waste, and has delayed opening the facility till more tests are done at the site. The site is considered the most studied piece of geology in the world.

So why does this matter? Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the only Presidential contender to have voted against using the proposed site and General Electric, which owns NBC and MSNBC who ran the debate yesterday, didn’t want his take on the whole mess that the United States Government is brewing.

.................

So, was Kucinich not allowed to debate because he was a “fringe candidate” or was GE just afraid that he would dare speak the truth that will bring in major amounts of money for the corporation and, at the same time, risk the health of millions in the biggest growing metro area in the United States for years to come when the facility starts storing nuclear waste?

more at:
http://blog.pdamerica.org/?p=1640

[cali]

1. no.

that's just silly. All three of the candidates last night reject Yucca Mt.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Not according to another DUer

I didn't watch the debate, but a DUer who did has a thread about it just above this one in Discuss and reported this (emphasis mine):

Edwards was confronted with a question about his vote for a 2001 bankruptcy bill, which he now “regrets.” It pointed to a problem that came up a few times last night — Edwards’ Senate career. He voted for the war, for a bad bankruptcy bill, and for Yucca Mountain (twice). It might have led the average viewer to wonder which Edwards is the real one, the moderate senator or the liberal candidate.

I don't know where the other two stand on Yucca Mountain or what their votes were.

[Blarch]

4. Edwards has seen the light

he now rejects Yucca. Said so last night.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. But the poster said that they all rejected Yucca

and this was not always the case. With Dennis, it has been; could this be why he is considered a threat? What has Edwards done to SHOW that he now rejects Yucca Mountain?

[global1]

12. That's My Major Problem With Edwards - He's Seen A Lot Of Lights Lately.......

he regrets too many of the votes he made while he was a seated and acting Senator. Now - because he is running for president and because his earlier judgments weren't right - he is saying he regrets his votes. What scares me - if as president he will make calls that years later he will say he regrets. This is why I can't openly support Edwards.

[wintersoulja]

13. you believe your lying ears?

Fortunately, theyre under no obligation to tell the truth.
Especially in the state of NV, on this topic they can ONLY say one thing.
Didnt we go through this last time?

[Blarch]

2. I started a thread about this.

Edwards, Obama, and Hillary are ALL AGAINST YUCCA.

Will they be prevented from being in the next debate ?

Dennis is a crazy man, lets be honest.

And correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this sentence a outright lie ?

"Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the only Presidential contender to have voted against using the proposed site and General Electric, which owns NBC and MSNBC who ran the debate yesterday, didn’t want his take on the whole mess that the United States Government is brewing."

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. Then how come

Edwards voted for Yucca Mountain twice?

"Dennis is a crazy man." Hmm. Is it "crazy" to demand fair elections, where ballots are counted correctly? Is it "crazy" to go to court when you were invited to a debate and then the invitation was pulled? Is it "crazy" to want to get out of Iraq (which a majority of Americans want), have universal not for profit health care (which 61% of Americans polled said they want), and to get out of NAFTA and WTO?

If this is "crazy" then I'm crazy too, because I want out of the corporate controlled fascist country we have become.

[Blarch]

7. Is it crazy..

to say you were kept from the debate because you are against Yucca, when all three candidates allowed to debate are also against Yucca ?

Of course it is.

[wintersoulja]

14. is it crazy to misrepresent his statements?

His clearest remarks indict GE and their compatriots NBC and Raytheon for their war profiteering interests as the reason the only opponent to this unjust and illegal invasion and occupation has been barred. Why would you try to recast his own words so inaccurately?

My own sense is this had just as much to do with Clinton/Edwards demanding his exclusion from the get go. Now why do you think they want that?

[librechik]

10. Edwards said Yucca is bad and nuke power isn't ready yet during the debate.

[OzarkDem]

20. Edwards pointed out research was "rigged" at first

The research on feasibility and safety for water seepage. The original report done by Dept of Energy and Sandia Laboratories "did not consider all available data, was not calibrated with other site information and did not consider likely significant evaporation"

http://www.lvrj.com/news/12655421.html

The DOE has done another study, but it's also flawed. The dangers of water seepage are much greater than originally reported.

[Zorra]

8. "Dennis is a crazy man, let's be honest".

Do you have any idea what an incredibly silly statement that is?

[sakabatou]

17. ...

[librechik]

9. The Top 3 were all asked about Ycca MTn during the debate

All of them voiced severe disapproval of the plan.

Did that help GE? Did they not know ALL DEMS would oppose Yucca, not just Dennis?

[karynnj]

11. No - Kuchinich was not the only one against Yucca mountain

Neither Obama or Clinton were ever for it - I assume that it was not voted on when either were in Congress(?). Edwards is now against it and was speaking of "forged documents". I have no idea what he is referring to because I have not followed that, but if they were going to exclude people against it, someone saying they won approval by fraud. (Edwards in 2004, in the ge, then said he agreed with Kerry, who had been against it - so this is not a new shift.)

[Blue Congress]

15. It wasn't just Yucca

They didn't want people to hear him with just the top tier, they might change their mind and vote for their own self interest.

He might talk about removing the insurance companies from health 'care'

They didn't want him to talk about the permanent bases and the privatization of Iraqi oil.

They didn't want him to talk about the patriot act, and the fact that Bush should be impeached for his illegal acts.

And because they cut him out- they had a pleasant 'debate' where they all agreed to stick with the status quo.


http://peacecandidates.com/

[warren pease]

16. Probably a small subset of the reason...

From another post (most of the ownership info is well-known; just listing it here for context):

NBC, CNBC and MSNBC, along with a couple of dozen local TV affiliates, are owned by General Electric, one of the world's largest armaments manufacturers in 2006 and among the six largest media conglomerates in the US. In addition to "bringing good things to light," GE makes and maintains engines for the F-16 Fighter jet, Abrams tank, Apache helicopter, U2 bomber, Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), A-10 aircraft and numerous other military equipment, including planes, helicopters, tanks and more. It seems safe to say that GE has a significant financial stake in the US maintaining a state of war.

Is it reasonable to expect any of the NBC networks to report critically on the status and duration of the Iraq occupation? Or is it predictable that NBC's occupation coverage will tell us that the "surge" is working, that US troop deaths are down, that the Iraqi puppet regime is gaining traction and, if we can hang on for another decade, things should turn out hunky-dory.

Well, it's certain that extending the US presence in Iraq by a decade will have a very positive impact on GE's profit and loss statements. It's probably going to be somewhat less beneficial for the people who actually have to fight this insane proxy war on behalf of GE's bottom line.

So, shockingly, GE objects to the presence of a candidate who detests war, advocates for a Department of Peace, whose campaign slogan is Strength through Peace, who wants to slash the pentagon budget, who wants to spend money on human and physical infrastructure needs rather than blowing it on weaponry and who's against the further use of nuclear power in this country.

If I were with GE, I'd have done the same damn thing.


wp

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

18. No. Takes All Sorts Of Tinfoil To Put That One Forth.

Fact of the matter is, he simply wasn't included because he is not a real candidate anymore and we are reaching the stages where only the real candidates are of interest to most. NBC was just recognizing that we are at the next step of the race, and wanted real contenders only. Now that might be hard for him to accept, since it would force him to recognize that for the 2nd straight election process he couldn't get more than 2% of people to support him, but that's life nonetheless.

[warren pease]

21. But MSNBC/GE is not in the censorship business, except that it is...

What the hell business is it of theirs to dictate to the American people who's viable, who's electable and who's going to get to participate in one of these shameless sound-bite battles.

And just as important, who's going to be consigned to media oblivion because some rat bastard mega-corporate war profiteering holding company doesn't want to provide a forum for a man who advocates peace, which is anathema to GE's business model and bottom line.

If he was simply an inconvenience because he would take time away from the corporate-approved "viable" candidates, do you really think they (MSNBC/GE) would have pursued this issue all the way to the top Nevada supreme court, filing motions all day and evening in hopes of getting a favorable ruling at the last minute? Hell no. They would have made a perfunctory attempt and, when it was rejected, they'd have just said OK, on with the show, no bid deal.

Nope, this was a case of activist censorship on the part of corporate America exercising its power to influence a favorable outcome. And since that's not part of GE's job description, the FCC should come down hard on them for overstepping their regulatory constraints and breaching the contract that initially invited Kucinich to participate. Of course, that assumes a non-Bushean FCC, which will have to wait awhile.

wp

[MadHound]

19. No, it wasn't just about Yucca Mt.

It was also about the economy, health care, the war, and the myriad number of other things that DK is correct about, while the others fall far short. Corporate America has chosen their candidate, and simply can't have somebody with such a stellar record actually influencing how people vote.

I noticed last night, with Kucinich out of the picture, the top tier candidates were in virtual agreement with each other on virtually all the issues. Sadly, their stances were less than stellar, and far surpassed by Dennis.

DK is a threat to Corporate America and the political machine. He will not be allowed his chance to run the show. Frankly if he got the nomination I suspect that he would die quickly and under mysterious circumstances, much like others who've rocked the boat.