HEADLINE: Obama, Republicans still back nukes

[Bluebear]

The Obama administration and senior Republicans offered a fresh show of support for nuclear power Monday even as the crisis involving Japanese reactors deepened.

The frenzied effort to contain overheating reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power station — one of several plants facing problems after Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami — has injected further uncertainty into the nuclear industry’s push to build what would be the first new U.S. reactors in decades...

But senior administration officials said Monday that President Obama remains committed to nuclear power, and that U.S. nuclear plants had been built to withstand the strain of strong storms and earthquakes.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said information is still coming in on the status of the damaged nuclear plants in Japan. But, for now, the administration is committed to keeping nuclear energy in the U.S. portfolio and sees it as a source of the future, even as it vowed to incorporate information from the Japanese woes as needed.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/149485-japan-reactor-crisis-obama-republicans-still-back-nukes

[LynneSin]

1. Just so you know, alot of us DUers still support it too

and you're talking to someone who has lived her entire life no less than 30 miles from a Nuclear Power Plant, including my early childhood living 15 miles from TMI (before and after the incident)

[Bluebear]

3. Well good for you. I don't think you'll make the headlines though :)

[LynneSin]

9. I'm not asking to make headlines

Just asking that DUers stop treating Obama's support of Nuclear Power as some sort of 'siding with the republicans' issue.

I respect that there are those out there against nuclear power but this isn't a 'Dem vs. Repug' issue. I realize what is happening in Japan is devestating but look at the overall history of Nuclear power vs. Coal vs. Gas. Millions more have died because of Gas & Coal combined vs Nuclear power.

I know very well the threat, I lived thru TMI, my school was within the potential 'blast area' and we were packed and ready to go incase things went bad (instead we got a week off from school but had to stay indoors the entire time).

But even still if I had to choose- I'd rather live near a nuclear power plant than a Coal or Oil plant.

[Bluebear]

11. Why the administration feels the need to thumbs-up nukes in the midst of all this is beyond me.

But carry on.

[LynneSin]

19. Why you ignore the fact taht many elected democrats also support nuclear power

that's what is misleading about your headlines

http://pronucleardemocrats.blogspot.com/

scroll down for a list of those who support it - it includes Al Franken.

http://us.arevablog.com/2011/01/20/quote-of-the-day-senator-al-franken-nuclear-has-to-be-part-of-the-solution/

[Bluebear]

34. Jesus on a trailer hitch it's not "MY HEADLINES".

Read the frigging link.

[LynneSin]

36. here you go :D

[Bluebear]

37. Merci.

:rofl:

[ReggieVeggie]

25. Remember Obama's trip to the Gulf last year?

same sorts of motivation

[Hannah Bell]

31. i wonder too. politically stupid, as well as the obvious.

[Ter]

38. When was the last US nuke accident?

I thought so.

[anarch]

39. you mean the last serious one?

or one of the many that never made the news, but that might have turned serious if they'd gone on just a couple minutes longer?


for the record, I'm sort of on the fence on this topic in general, but I really feel like there's got to be a better way.

[Bluebear]

44. When was the last Japanese accident?

Or the last accident in Spain and Zimbabwe? Whatever.

[Cetacea]

45. Take your pick

http://www.lutins.org/nukes.html

[Bluebear]

47. The shit people type without knowing what they're talking about.

"I thought so." :crazy:

[TheWraith]

6. Probably because we remember coal kills more people in a single month...

...than civilian nuclear power ever has in all of history.

Chernobyl: death toll estimated at 4,000 to 8,000, in an unprecedented (and highly preventable) catastrophic accident.

Coal power in the United States: death toll estimated at 40,000 people PER YEAR. From normal, "safe" operations.

The simple reality is that we can not build enough wind power fast enough to avert massive global climate change--we need ALL of the green options available to us, including nuclear power.

[LynneSin]

12. Thank you

:pals:

[texastoast]

21. Good for you

Maybe.

The thing about it is, you don't really know what living through the TMI incident is going to do to your genetic material in generations to come.

Meanwhile, I'm not ever going to say nukes, coal or any other fossil fuel is a proper path. I really don't believe it is the best we can do, even with the population rapidly approaching seven billion.

It's like war for me. Playing in it makes for bad juju for those coming behind us, whether in the form of enemies for our children or a big fat mess of some unknowable nature to clean up, if it can be cleaned up.

[LynneSin]

24. I think there is a hell of alot more we've done wrong to our kids other than Nuclear Power

isolating it out as the baddie is senseless.

Overall we've hurt mother earth in too many ways it's not funny.

But in reality what annoys me about the OP is we treat Nuclear Power as a pro-republican issue. When did Al Franken become a republican? He has made pro-nuclear power comments (scroll below for links). There are many elected democrats who support nuclear power so let's not mislead with a post that tries to lump it with just the republicans.

[texastoast]

27. Agreed

Foolishness is not limited to one side of the aisle on many issues. Neither are open hands for nuclear power lobby money.

:hi:

[Better Believe It]

29. Nothing like a little bi-partisanship with Republicans to get stuff done ....

that Republican leaders want done.

[ReggieVeggie]

2. well, if he was motivated by public safety he wouldn't be so quick

to jump on the nuke bandwagon. SO, I guess his motivations aren't about public safety.

[ClarkUSA]

4. TPM's Josh Marshall, William Saletan, & Yglesias all agree w/President Obama. Here's why ->

"Nuclear: Still Better Than Fossil Fuels":
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/03/nuclear-the-best-of-bad-options.html

[TheWraith]

8. Saying we should avoid nuclear because it's "dangerous," without getting off fossil fuels...

Is like a heroin addict complaining that alcohol will kill you.

People have been making grandiose predictions since the 1970s about how solar power would take over all our needs within a decade or so. It hasn't happened, and the numbers say it is never GOING to happen. The only option is to build as much clean power as we can, including nuclear, right now, in order to prevent the further deterioration of our planet. You want to then gradually phase out the nuclear plants in favor of wind? Fine, go for it. But insisting on eliminating fossil fuels without nuclear power is like telling an Olympic runner to do a five mile marathon over broken glass, then taking away their shoes.

[ClarkUSA]

18. Great analogies. I agree with you 100%. It's easy to complain ad nauseum, though, isn't it?

[Kennah]

28. End Price-Anderson, and move Big Oil subsidies to NREL

[Tx4obama]

5. I won't believe it until I hear President Obama say it himself. n/t

[LynneSin]

10. If he has said it I would support him on this issue too

This is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue. Many democrats, including DUers support nuclear energy.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. It would be a headline if Obama didn't agree with the Republicans.

[readmoreoften]

40. +1

[whatchamacallit]

42. No kidding...

:shrug: :banghead:

[Modern_Matthew]

14. The potential for leaving huge sections of the planet uninhabitable for years. CLEAN ENERGY, INDEED.

eom

[DFab420]

23. Talking about mountaintop removal?

Or Fracking?

[DFab420]

15. HEADLINE: Nuclear energy and production still safer the fossil fuels.

See Fracking

http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/whats-fracking

Mountain Top Removal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountaintop_removal_mining

Coal Burning
" In 2 out of 3 melt-downs there would be no deaths, in 1 out of 5 there would be over 1000 deaths, and in 1 out of 100,000 there would be 50,000 deaths. The average for all meltdowns would be 400 deaths. Since air pollution from coal burning is estimated to be causing 10,000 deaths per year, there would have to be 25 melt-downs each year for nuclear power to be as dangerous as coal burning."

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/np-risk.htm

From Dr. Bernard L. Cohen

[villager]

16. Enjoy your trip to Japan. Leaving tomorrow, I gather?

n/t

[LynneSin]

20. We're talking about Nuclear Power here in the United States

and I have no problem living near any of the plants here in this country.

[villager]

32. Yes, well -- you enjoy those "guarantees" of those corporate spokes-folk you trust so deeply

n/t

[DFab420]

22. Nah I'll stay here where we have

103 nuclear power plants. IN which 3 people have been outright killed from accidents in the US . -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents

Water that erupts in flames, per the fracking.

Mountaintops that disappear due to giant explosions.

"People dying prematurely from problems associated with exposure to fine particle pollution, or soot, lost an average of 14 years.
Power plant pollution is responsible for 38,200 nonfatal heart attacks and 554,000 asthma attacks each year.
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida had the highest overall mortality rates each year, and West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee — states with a large number of coal-fired plants — had the highest per capita mortality risk."

-- more http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5174391/

SOooo... maybe I will go to Japan....*snark*. But in all seriousness I feel for the Japanese people who have lost so much in this terrible tragedy and hope all who realize that while I am pointing out the dangers of Fossil Fuels I am in no way discrediting or meaning to make light of the crisis that is currently facing the country and people of Japan.

[LynneSin]

26. great post

:D

[villager]

17. mutated radioactive dupe...

n/t

[Bluebear]

35. It happens.

It happens.

;)

[Hannah Bell]

30. wtf??????

[Zorra]

33. Some people believe that the earth is flat despite lots of evidence that it isn't.

It's the same with nuclear power plants. Even if one-quarter of the people in Japan get cancer from radiation, and 1/4 of the people in Japan die in the next fews weeks from radiation exposure, they'll still support nuclear energy. They'll say the cancer was caused by something else, or they simply won't care because it didn't affect them.

Some people still think Bu*h was a great leader. A lot of people still think the wars in Vietnam and Iraq were a good idea.

Some people are so totally brainwashed by corporate media that they still believe Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11.

Some people have a problem learning from experience, or else they lack empathy for the victims of the destructive forces they support. "Hey, it wasn't my baby that got leukemia from that nuclear power plant, so who cares?" Or, "It wasn't my husband that was killed in Iraq. "As long as it makes my life more convenient, it's fine, as long as it doesn't hurt me personally."

Or maybe they simply believe they can do the same thing over and over and will get a different result?

Fox News, the AM hate choir, and the nuclear industry are powerful propagandists. They create the opinions of conservatives and many "centrists".

It is very frustrating and one of the reasons that positive, constructive change occurs so slowly.

[readmoreoften]

41. And brilliant timing too. The guy's a natural politician!

:eyes:

[jillan]

43. Must be those lobbyists & their campaign contributions. Oh Wait! Obama doesn't meet with lobbyists.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/50081.html


Lobbyists say Obama aides shunt them to the Jackson Place Complex. | AP Photo, John Shinkle/POLITICO

[Imagevision]

46. Obama will have to switch to republican party in order to have a chance in 2012 of being re-elected

[villager]

48. "Switch?" You mean in *name*....

Since, of course, in policy...

[MadHound]

49. Well, given that Exelon gave Obama over three hundred thousand to his Senate and WH bids,

I don't find this reaction the least surprising on his part. Got to protect and further the interests of his corporate masters.

[Major Hogwash]

50. That's peanuts, man. That's 0.0004 of the $750 million Obama raised in 2008.

Not like those monkeys weren't greasing the wheels of both Obama and McCain's campaigns at the same time.

[MadHound]

51. Which would explain the "bipartisan support" that the nuclear industry receives,

Oh, and that's just one corporation that donated to Obama, that doesn't count the other corporations, PACS or other such interest groups.