RE: Citizen Oversight [Previously Sandia Security Concerns]

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@yahoo.com>]

"God bless the peacemakers, they will catch hell from

both sides."  



--- "Stabin, Michael"

<michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu> wrote:

>  

> I think Bill and Ruth are both right here. It's

> absurd how some truly

> disingenuous groups have been able to play on

> people's fears and

> intentionally spread misinformation (OK, lies in

> many cases) and be a

> disruptive and destructive force in the democratic

> process. But the

> opening was created by the government's behavior at

> many points - being

> unresponsive, covering up obvious problems, abusing

> whistleblowers, and

> so on. There is enough blame to go around. The

> important thing is not to

> let any party intimidate people from telling the

> truth. This is how we

> have won the battles for women's rights, civil

> rights, and even in the

> beginning how we got to be a democracy, where all

> voices could be heard.

> I still believe that in the long run it always

> becomes apparent when

> people are spreading blatant lies (as many of the

> antinuke groups do),

> and those telling the truth win out. An important

> symptom is often shown

> in who is doing the intimidating and who is trying

> to promote dialogue.

>  

> Mike

>  

> 

> Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP

> Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological

> Sciences

> Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

> Vanderbilt University

> 1161 21st Avenue South

> Nashville, TN 37232-2675

> Phone (615) 343-0068

> Fax   (615) 322-3764

> Pager (615) 835-5153

> e-mail     michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu

> internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com

> 

>   

> 

> 	-----Original Message-----

> 	From: William V Lipton

> [mailto:liptonw@DTEENERGY.COM] 

> 	Sent: Friday, August 22, 2003 12:22 PM

> 	To: RuthWeiner@AOL.COM

> 	Cc: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

> 	Subject: Re: Citizen Oversight [Previously Sandia

> Security

> Concerns]

> 	

> 	

> 	Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel! 

> 

> 	Even though you probably do not consider me

> qualified to

> criticize you (I suspect that precious few meet that

> bar.),  I'll give

> it a try. 

> 

> 	Please consider that many antinukes feel at least

> as frustrated

> and angry as you do.  DOE has a history of

> withholding information and

> providing false assurances that they run their

> facilities safely.  The

> pubic is left left holding the bag.  The billions of

> $$ that will be

> required to cleanup DOE sites is a fact.  Although

> the health affects

> from occupational exposures and environmental

> releases are largely

> conjecture, when people lose trust in what DOE says,

> they are easily

> lead to assume the worst. 

> 

> 	When employees who raise safety concerns are

> harrassed; when the

> public is exposed to even low level environmental

> releases because of

> DOE screwups;  when DOE gives the perception of

> being unresponsive to

> concerns; then, DOE has  lost the trust of the

> public. Even if they're

> not qualified to criticize you, they still have to

> pay the bills.  If

> concerned citizens cannot express their frustrations

> through legitimate

> means, such as CAB's, they then resort to disruptive

> means. 

> 

> 	Like it or not, we are all subject to judgment by

> "unqualified"

> persons, and we are all accountable to the public. 

> It's called

> democracy.  The only thing worse is anything else. 

> 

> 	The opinions expressed are strictly mine. 

> 	It's not about dose, it's about trust. 

> 	Curies forever. 

> 

> 	Bill Lipton 

> 	liptonw@dteenergy.com 

> 

> 	RuthWeiner@aol.com wrote: 

> 

> 		I'm not opposed to citizen oversight per se.  Our

> experience here, and the experience of others, is

> that is is easily

> abused and misused, and there seems to be little

> control of the abuse

> and misuse.  We have a case in our community right

> now: one of the more

> vitriolic and dishonest of the local anti-nuke

> groups camps on the

> doorstep of the N. M. Secretary of the Environment

> (they have a

> once-a-month standing appointment with him), tells

> him lies about his

> staff "colluding with DOE" to the point where one

> person has quit and

> another fears for his job, interferes with the

> cleanup at Sandia to

> delay it (I suspect so they can claim delays), and

> is generally

> obnoxious. 

> 

> 		I am sick of "public" meetings at which these

> people

> tell blatant lies and  take pot-shots at DOE,

> Sandia, Los Alamos, etc.

> In the wake of the Hazel O'Leary initiatives, some

> of the local DOE PR

> folks continue to pander to the anti-nukes.  Some

> DOE folks locally are

> like a dog that tries every trick in the book to

> please his master, and

> gets kicked in the ribs just the same. 

> 

> 		I am also disturbed that ignorance is glorified

> and

> knowledge debased by the promotion of the sort of

> citizen oversight I

> have just described.    I want to be reviewed and

> critiqued by someone

> who knows what I am talking about and doesn't need

> it dumbed-down to

> baby-talk.  Even more, I want honest, as distinct

> from deliberately

> dishonest, criticism.   I am thoroughly fed up with

> the Luddite garbage

> and blatant false accusation that so frequently

> passes for "citizen

> oversight." 

> 

> 		Am I angry?  Yes indeed! 

> 

> 		Ruth 

> 		Ruth Weiner, Ph. D. 

> 		ruthweiner@aol.com

> 

> 





=====

-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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