[ RadSafe ] When logic fails . . .

[John Jacobus]

Mark Twain was a humorist, as was Will Rogers.  Many 
the past and current humorist find humor in politics. 
Also hypocrisy.  

--- "ROGERS, Brent" <brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au> wrote:

> Stewart
> 
> Seems Mr Twain didn't hold Senators in high regard. 
> Interesting timing, as
> I was reading a news report about the current Idaho
> Senator "scandal", and
> his guilty plea, the writer quoted Twain with this
> little jewel:
> 
> "Senator: Person who makes laws in Washington when
> not doing time."   Too
> funny.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Brent Rogers
> Leader Commercial Radiation Safety Group
> Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
> Organisation
> PMB 1, Menai NSW 2234
> T +61 2 9717 3251
> F +61 2 9717 9266
> M +61 4 1723 1879 (0417 231 879)
> E brent.rogers at ansto.gov.au 
> www.ansto.gov.au
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stewart farber
> [mailto:radproject at sbcglobal.net] 
> Sent: Saturday, 1 September 2007 4:17 AM
> To: Earley, Jack N
> Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] When logic fails . . .
> 
> Jack,
> Interesting post about how an opportunistic Senator 
> Reid will do ANYTHING 
> to use a serious near-accident in shipping chlorine
> gas through Las Vegas, 
> which had the potential to do real harm to many
> people,  to bolster their 
> fear mongering about anything related to nuclear
> technologies.
> 
> Sen. Reid's actions made me think of Mark Twain and
> one of his wonderful 
> quotes. I tried to find  this particular quote
> [which I could not locate the
> 
> exact quote] in which Twain said rather generally:
> 
> "I knew a man who was despondent and tried to commit
> suicide by shooting a 
> bullet into his brain. After that this person wan't
> fit to do anything but 
> become a US Senator"  [not exact quote, but gives
> the essence of the 
> thought]
> 
> Maybe someone has the quote [or can find it] and
> send it to me. It would be 
> much appreciated.
> 
> Two actual quotes from Twain I found [I prefer the
> second below]:
> ===============
> "There is no distinctly native American criminal
> class save Congress."
> 
> Mark Twain
> 
> ================
> 
> "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run
> by smart people who are 
> putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
> 
> Mark Twain
> 
> ================
> 
> Hope everyone in the US has a good holiday weekend,
> 
> Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
> Farber Technical Services
> 1285 Wood Ave.
> Bridgeport, CT 06604
> [203] 441-8433 [office]
> [203] 522-2817 [cell]
> email: radproject at sbcglobal.net
>           radproject at aol.com
> 
> ===============================
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Earley, Jack N" <Jack_N_Earley at RL.gov>
> To: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 12:40 PM
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] When logic fails . . .
> 
> 
> Sounds like Reid's just ignorant enough to run for
> president.
> 
> Report from LasVegasNow.com:
> 
> Reaction and the fallout from Wednesday's runaway
> railcar containing the
> deadly chemical chlorine has come from just about
> everywhere. From
> changes the city of Las Vegas will make, to how the
> Clark County HAZMAT
> team could respond to a chlorine leak. The railcar
> coasted freely from
> south of Blue Diamond to North Las Vegas.
> 
> The scariest thing for HAZMAT experts who looked at
> this incident is how
> close the railcar came to a lot of people. The track
> took it right
> behind the Mirage, Treasure Island, Fashion Show
> Mall, and Circus
> Circus. The runaway car went as fast as 55 miles-per
> hour past the Clark
> County Government Center and downtown Las Vegas.
> That angered the mayor
> and left HAZMAT fire crews pondering what if.
> 
> The runaway railcar looked harmless enough as it sat
> in North Las Vegas
> Wednesday. Union Pacific workers threw wood boards
> under the tires to
> stop the car. But this sight angered Las Vegas Mayor
> Oscar Goodman. "I
> think it's outrageous," he said. Mayor Goodman says
> the railroad never
> called his office about the incident. He first heard
> about it from new
> reports.
> 
> In response, the mayor never wants to be blindsided
> by a runaway car
> again. He says he will amend a city ordinance so the
> railroad must
> notify authorities before chlorine or any toxic
> chemical will be shipped
> through the city. "Cities need to be notified to be
> prepared to meet
> these kinds of potential dangers with HAZMAT
> facilities," said Goodman.
> 
> The uncontrolled car sped past hundreds of thousands
> of people not only
> downtown, but also on the Las Vegas Strip. A leak or
> crash could have
> been disastrous in that stretch of track. 'What we
> try to do is prepare
> ourselves," said Richard Brenner, Clark County
> HAZMAT Coordinator.
> 
> Clark County HAZMAT crews say they would have been
> ready because of
> specialized training using replicas of the tank
> car's lid, which is
> where most of the leaks happen when transporting
> chlorine. So the Clark
> County crews have valve caps. With any leak near the
> large hotels,
> HAZMAT coordinator Richard Brenner says he would
> have kept people inside
> and had the ventilation system shut off because
> chlorine dissipates in
> the wind. "It's going to try to escape. It's going
> to try to go up in
> the environment. That is what we want it to do. We
> don't want to put
> people out in that environment," said Brenner. Had
> there been a crash or
> leak in the side of the tank, HAZMAT crews have a
> giant bag to throw
> over the car and trap any chlorine gas.
> 
> Senator Harry Reid released the following statement:
> "The incident
> involving a runaway railcar yesterday is just the
> latest example of the
> serious danger that Yucca Mountain poses to Nevada
> and the rest of the
> nation. Railways go directly through the heart of
> Las Vegas and many
> other cities and towns across America. They travel
> past our schools, our
> businesses and our homes. Fortunately, yesterday's
> railcar was stopped
> without incident and without the release of the
> dangerous Coordinator
> chemicals it was carrying. However, this incident
> brought to light the
> very real threat we face if the DOE begins to
> transport nuclear waste to
> 
=== message truncated ===


+++++++++++++++++++
"If you guard your toothbrushes and diamonds with equal zeal, you'll probably lose fewer toothbrushes and more diamonds."
- Former national security advised McGeorge Bundy
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com


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