[ RadSafe ] Provocation

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

Hi, Franz.

I don't know if I would qualify as a "US-Hardliner": I volunteered to enter the military when it was neither required of me nor popular, and spent over 20 years on active and reserve status in what I believe is as close to the Founding Father's vision of "citizen soldiers (or sailor, in my case) as conditions allow.  I believe that in our history there have been moments of crux when leaders of monumental courage and vision have come forward to lead us to paths that much of the world has come to recognize are worth following.  I believe that our ideals are worthy of respect and effort to achieve.  I believe that time and again the US has risen to be more than merely the sum of its parts.

I also recognize that we are a collection of people, and that even the best person is not the best that they can be all the time.  I acknowledge that even in those moments that we are our most unified and focused on noble and selfless action there are individuals, often in positions of power, who will think mostly of how they can use it to their own advantage.  I recognize that we have collectively in the past acted in ways that by our current standards would be illegal, unethical, immoral, and rude, and I expect that years from now at least some of our current behavior will also not be up to snuff.  

As for our current President; it is far, far too early to judge how successful he will be in leading us.  

The wars that he is leading us in were not of his making, and the way out of them that gives the best results (or the least bad results) is not simple or obvious.  I would rather have thoughtful indecision than thoughtless decisiveness, as the first is easier to change in the face of better information.

I don't think the Nobel Prize was appropriate, but I also don't think it was sought.  I think it is something of an embarrassment, but it is something that would be impossible to turn down (the same critics who say he doesn't deserve it would be saying he thinks he's too good for it and is being falsely humble if he had turned it down).  I agree that it is best viewed as the "Not being G. W. Bush" Prize, and that if someone has a problem with it, they should talk to the selection committee.

I completely agree that something needs to be done about world weapons traffic.  I do not think it serves the best interest of the United States to have the world awash in guns and explosives.  However, the problem needs to be handled at an international level, as unilateral action would just move the supplier without decreasing the supply.  I don't know what will happen, but I do know that any country that is not involved in the arms trade will have no credibility in trying to decrease it.  

I am not all that concerned about CO2 emissions.  I would note, however, that very few things being burnt and releasing CO2 release ONLY CO2 (and water).  There are usually other things that would be keen not to release.  

Nuclear power in the US is an interesting topic, and moving us towards being able to build reactors again is going to require finesse.  I think a lot of progress has been made by the government keeping quiet, and letting people within the  environmental community make the pro argument.  I think that naming Chu as the Secretary of Energy is the most positive pro-nuclear move that any president has made in 40 years.  

So, we as a country have feet of clay, but we have taken big steps, usually in a fairly good direction.  Time will tell if that continues to be true.  I believe that our still rather new president is a fair reflection of that national character, and with him also, time will tell. 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 1:56 PM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Provocation

RADSAFErs, especially the US-Hardliners, 

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA

RADSAFErs,

I post this message deliberately as a provocation. I got tired about all
those messages on climate change on RADSAFE and separately all those
messages in the international press about the US-presidents presumed
announcements in Copenhagen. 

Even more I get fed up by the fact that the same person, who is the
president of the state that enhances worldwide armament and is the worldwide
largest exporter of weapons, wages war in two countries without any UN
justification - and gets awarded with the Peace Nobel Prize!!! What do you
want to hear else? 

Furthermore what are the merits of the same president to curb CO2 emissions?
Has he ever done anything to promote nuclear energy - I mean not by words,
but by doings? 

I ask you for serious answers!

Franz


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