The letter from Rick Frommer

In a recent letter to the editor, the writer alleges a 1960's conspiracy to stop profitable recycling of nuclear waste. According to the authror, the massive conspiracy stopped civil rights legislation, defeated General Westmoreland in an election, and preserved corruption in the Democratic Party.

I remember the Sixties. So do many other people. It would do well to remember the facts in that decade.

Young President John F. Kennedy proposed civil rights legislation in 1963. The 1964 Civil Rights Act came to a Congressional vote and was signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, just months after Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas. Among the nay votes were Democrats and Republicans with every Southern Republican voting against the new law. Southern Republican refers to the Congressman from the 11 states which constituted the Confederate slave states a hundred years earlier. In the Senate, 69% of Democrats voted for the bill.

Johnson would sign the 1968 Civil Right Act before leaving the White House. Hardly a Democratic conspiracy to stop civil rights legislation.

General Westmoreland didn't retire from the military until 1972. His military service and career were stained by US involvement in Vietnam and his several decisions to suppress military reports. Suppressing information hit a low point in 1968 when the Calley massacre cover-up lasted 13 months. Westmoreland left Vietnam after the horrific losses of the 1968 Tet Offensive. His unsuccessful political campaign was in 1974 not in the Sixties.

No President has been as corrupt as Republican President Richard Nixon who was elected in 1968. Nixon used what is know as the Southern strategy in national politics. The strategy was to appeal to the white Southern racist called "Negrophobe whites" by Nixon's people.

As to profitable recycling of radioactive waste in the 1960's? Not possible. Not possible today. Although Governor Deal and others like the Heritage Foundation have made false reports of successful efforts in the UK and France. The UK and France are actively seeking underground disposal options and not any mythical recycling program.

The UK offers 'bribes' to communities to consider storage of its 260,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste.

France had 1.32 million cubic meters of nuclear waste in 2010, a 13% increase over 2009.

People have been trying to explain how the world works since we first walked upright. Lying about the past isn't new. Lying about nuclear waste is just tool of Republicans.

Jobs for the homeless

Japan, the only country to ever endure nuclear bombings, built a few nuclear reactors. One right on the coast. On a fault line as all of Japan is an earthquake zone.

Tragic events damaged the reactor releasing a lot of radiation. Some radiation has reached the United States through ocean currents and sea life.

As Conservatives are always looking for the good news, let's spin the good news.

Jobs for the homeless!

This has been in the news before but Reuters and Yahoo news have a special report at this link.

Japan is using "people willing to accept minimum wage for one of the most undesirable jobs in the industrialized world: working on the $35 billion, taxpayer-funded effort to clean up radioactive fallout across an area of northern Japan larger than Hong Kong."

What's minimum wages for a glow in the dark job?

Hard to say exactly. "The cost of commuting, extra pay (such as working on holidays, at night, overtime, etc.) and temporary pays (bonus, tips, etc.) must be paid exclusively and cannot be used to calculate towards the minimum wage." The wage is between $8.40 to $10.90.

So, mimimum wage workers get paid for their commute, holidays, night shifts, overtime, and possibly bonuses.

Not bad for glowing in the dark.

Luckily, Japan has national healthcare available. And healthcare costs per capita are less than half of those in the USA.

"Patients are free to select physicians or facilities of their choice and cannot be denied coverage. Hospitals, by law, must be run as non-profit and be managed by physicians. For-profit corporations are not allowed to own or operate hospitals. Clinics must be owned and operated by physicians."

Wow!

We could use some alternatives to fossil fuels. Let's not build any nuclear plants on the San Adreas fault line.

We should immediately change our health care system to lower costs and put doctors back in charge.

That is the earth rattling change we need.