Re: Urgent Request for Medical Isotope

[jacobus%nihrsb.dnet@dxi.nih.gov]

Al Tschaeche wrote:

>I have known Lash's works for 20 years and he is definitely anti-nuclear
>whether or not he was a former director of the Illinois department of
>nuclear safety.  And, yes, when one looks higher one sees Bill Clinton. 
>Bill is the one who told his secretary of the interior not to do the
>land transfer for Ward Valley.  No good will come to the nuclear
>industry until Clinton and the Democrats are out of that office. 
>Remember that Carter canceled reprocessing!  But enough politics on
>RADSAFE even if it has direct impact on our livlihood.  Sorry Mellisa. 

I really dislike simple solutions to complex problems.

Do you have proof of this anti-nuclear bias from Bill Clinton, et. al.? 
Is he and his administration acting in a vacuum?  

While you may disagree with the present political climate, how much of it
is our own making.  Again, we talk of educating the public.  When the 
public hears about FBI raiding the nuclear facility at Rocky Falls, 
human "guinea pigs", NRC "complicity" of unsafety conditions at nuclear 
power plants in New England, what do you think they should think?  That 
DOE and NRC are acting in the interest of the public?  I think we have to 
recognize that the public is very suspicious of government and what it tells
them.  Faith in government was lost a long time ago.  The findings of the 
Warren Commission are still being questioned. 

Also, I certainly don't see Congress taking any firm "pro-nuclear" actions.
Do you think that elimination of DOE and reductions in research will help?
Dispite all of the retoric, I see a very anti-technology, anti-science bias
in the Republican Congress.  And they represent their constituents.  I do
believe that we get the kind of government that we vote for, good and bad.

It is easy to place blame.  But how do you fix the problem?  And I think the
real problem is (1) lack of trust in leadership and (2)  lack of a vision of
a future based on acquiring knowledge and putting it to work.

John Jacobus
john_jacobus@nih.gov

With the usual disclaimers about what my bosses know about what I think and
say.