February 11, 2014

America's forgotten nuclear tale. Following up on last week's blog entry about the fast fading story of Japan's Fukushima disaster comes this week's story America's forgotten nuclear problems at the Hanford nuclear complex in Washington state. Hanford and Oak Ridge (TN) were America's first two facilities to produce fissionable material. The long term cleanup at Hanford has been dogged throughout with problems, largely unreported to the public.

     The linked story also compliments the ongoing controversy about Edward Snowden. As the story from High Country News notes,

[...the story of whistleblowers has] been true throughout our nation's history – from the Revolutionary War sailors who, in 1777, told Congress that the Navy's top commander was torturing British prisoners, and then were arrested for complaining, up to today's National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who is hiding out in Russia to avoid charges of treason, even as The New York Times praises him for doing "a great service" to this country.

http://www.hcn.org/issues/46.2/the-hanford-whistleblowers

     The story notes, “A funny thing about whistleblowers: They are seldom the naturally rebellious types you might imagine. Rather, they tend to be conservative people dedicated to proper procedures, even if that sometimes lands them in absurd Alice in Wonderland situations and destroys their careers.” So, like the many on-site pollutants, the story of the continually botched clean up efforts continues to slowly leak out.

Presidential Elections. The title of the editorial in the February 20^th issue of   the Nation magazine reads, “Why now is the time to reform how we elect the President” and the first sentences state what for me are unarguable truths:

American presidential election campaigns are absurd. Absurdly expensive. Absurdly long. Absurdly structured. And absurdly narrow in the range of ideas and options offered to a nation with an absurdly low level of voter participation.

     Technology and the Supreme Court's 2010 decision, Citizens United, have fundamentally changed the entire presidential election process and rendered the procedures of the past suspect. We are far, far from the now seemingly benign process Theodore White described in his landmark book, The Making of the President, 1960. The article continues, again with more than a few grains of truth, “Why worry about 2016 now, when there are so many other pressing issues? Because the power brokers who profit from our system’s many imperfections are busy locking down the next election.”

Sochi Olympics. The costs.  There have ben the usual stories about the opening foibles associated with the first days in Sochi and its now too warm temperatures. However, these opening sentences from a New York Times story fairly explain the longer term problems associated with Sochi and any future Olympics. “[The costs at Sochi].... are estimated to be the most expensive yet. While host cities hope the games will bring in a profit, they have more often than not created long-term economic burdens.” One must wonder why any city would want to take on the long term debt associated with planning, building, and hosting either the summer or winter games. Unless, of course, the “powers that be” in a city/country are only interested in the short-term financial gains to be made while the games are being held, not caring that the host city is left in the lurch.

     The events.  Take your pick of events on the extreme end.......and on the other end has to be curling, beloved in Canada, that more leisurely paced country to our north. The match I happened across featured the US and Norway. The Norwegians were sporting very spiffy short sleeved T-shirts and brightly colored plaid pants (ca. 1970), what we in Denver and Breckenridge would call their Daylight Doughnut pants!

     Accompanied by much commentary about how exciting and improved curling has become. More athletic, more muscular. Really??? Anyway, if the extremes get to be too, you can kick back and watch those dashing, daring broomers take to the sheet, sliding and steering those polished rocks (huge pucks with handles) toward the house.

CO snowfall. My wife's cousin and her family have arrived from Sweden for a ski vacation. The two young daughters faithfully performed their Swedish “snow dance,” very successfully we might add! Awesome skiing powder, yes, but just as importantly, the snowpack in our river basins is much improved, with four now over 100%. March, historically our snowiest winter month, is yet to come. We wish the Californians well with more "pineapple express" winds to bring them much needed rain, winds then strong enough to bleed over the Sierras to the Rockies.

Stay warm and do not become too frightened by the Olympic extremes. Thank you for reading.