You weren’t aware that loans to build nuclear power plants were guaranteed by the federal government?
They had to, you see. No one would loan them money to build a plant because of the risk.
So, you might ask, “If the federal government did not guarantee the loans, would there be any nuclear power plants built in the United States from now on?”
No.
You may resent the fact that if you decide to borrow some money to build a factory, a restaurant, a day-care center, etc., the government isn’t going to guarantee a dime of it.
That’s very small minded of you. Isn’t obvious that the nuclear industry though its exemplary safety record, environmental activism and continuing careful and cost free disposal of nuclear waste, has earned these enormous government subsidies? (Whoops, they don’t do any of that, do they? – Oh, well, it’s still obvious that they are deserving and you aren’t.)
Maybe you should get mad?
James Pilant
Federal Loan Guarantees for the Construction of Nuclear Power Plants CBO's analysis examines the main factors that influence the cost to the federal government of providing loan guarantees for the construction of nuclear power plants. It includes illustrative cost estimates using the methodology specified by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, which determines the budgetary cost of the program, and also estimates prepared on a fair-value basis … Read More
For the last twenty years officers in the Air Force who run the launch platforms for nuclear weapons have had an “unusual” training manual. It explains the necessity of nuclear war based on fundamentalist Christian principles.
Strangely enough, I spent years in a fundamentalist Christian Church and we never discussed the morality of vaporizing our enemies. Of course in those teachings, Jesus Christ was militant and not afraid to kill his enemies, so I guess you can extrapolate from that.
The Air Force halted the class last week after 31 missile launch officers reported the religious nature of the briefing to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group which tries to ensure religious freedom among the troops.
“There were several things that they found disgusting,” Mikey Weinstein founder of the foundation said. “The first was the fact that there is actually a slide that makes it clear that they’re trying to teach that, under fundamentalist Christian doctrine, war is a good thing.”
A curious mix of vigilant atheists and devout Christians are celebrating the Air Force’s decision to suspend a Christian-themed course taught to nuclear missile launch officers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. For almost 20 years, military chaplains presented these officers with slides filled with biblical references such as “Revelation 19:11 Jesus Christ is the mighty warrior” and Christian literature, such as St. Augustine’s Just War Theory, in an attempt to dismantle the moral and ethical qualms of annihilating human beings with nuclear weapons. Surprise! Not everyone liked it. Last week, the Air Force suspended the course after 32 missile launch officers reported the religious bent of the briefings to the watchdog group Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Cue a Bill O’Reilly Culture Warrior™ moment? Not so fast. It seems both believers and non-believers are pleasantly amenable to the policy change.
AETC halted the ethics training last week after an article on the training was posted at Truthout.org. Former Air Force Capt. Damon Bosetti — described as a missile officer who took the training in 2006 — said he and others referred to the religious section of the ethics training as the “Jesus loves nukes speech.”
The Air Force says it was unaware of the training despite its twenty year run.
Isn’t this pitiful. We live in a country where the recession has gotten so severe that families are unable to keep their pets.
James Pilant
HOMESTEAD (CBS4) – Near the border of where rural meets desolate you'll see them: Packs of dogs roaming Homestead and Florida City. The animals are clearly on their own. They look starved, thirsty, and many appear injured. And Everglades National Park ranger Mirta Maltez sees them all the time. She calls out to the dogs around an abandoned house as she gives us a tour on her own time. "We took out five yesterday and we have five to go." Maltez … Read More
Exactly. The distribution of income is this country is a great moral and ethical problem. If the money were allocated according to ability and work ethic, that might make some sense but walk around in this country and look at the hard working men and women reduced to penury by law that favor financial “innovation” over hard work and productivity.
James Pilant
The richest 1% of US Americans earn nearly a quarter of the country's income and control an astonishing 40% of its wealth. Inequality in the US is more extreme than it's been in almost a century — and the gap between the super rich and the poor and middle class people has widened drastically over the last 30 years. Meanwhile, in Washington, a bitter partisan debate over how to cut deficit spending and reduce the US' 14.3 trillion dollar debt is u … Read More
This is from the web site – Coffee Party USA – Here’s the lead in –
CALL TO ACTION: If you do not consent to being governed by corporations or billionaires…If you want to be heard by your government..If you’re ready to stand up for America’s democracy and your dignity as citizens…Join us. Let’s build America’s Tahrir Square.
We are calling for is a peaceful and decisive demonstration to restore democracy in America.We want to see a million Americans turn up for a march in Washington with satellite rallies in every town and city.
As many acknowledge, we are on the cusp of losing our democracy. As everyday Americans, we just don’t feel heard by our government or mainstream media. Representation has broken down.
The upward shift in wealth, the outsourcing of jobs, rampant financial speculation: all these are great moral and ethical issues before the American People. I cannot help but see that our institutions seem to have no concern for the great mass of Americans.
I want you to consider joining the March on Washington being organized on the web site. It’s not enough to be angry. It’s time to do something.
This essay has an important observation. Ethics is more than discussing obeying the rules or even the laws. Ethics is a philosophy by which we guide our actions. When we discuss the subject only in terms of rule breaking we bring to mind the picture of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike. We are only plugging holes and not dealing with the wider issue of the behavior should be.
James Pilant
Everybody talks about ethics but it seems nobody cares about it. The “ethics” talk is all about rules: bribery, conflict of interest, financial disclosure laws, nepotism, and the rest of the litany of rules of conduct that you can be fired or prosecuted for breaking. If you subscribe to a Google alert for “ethics” you learned today that a key aide to the governor of Illinois was fined $500 and forced to resign for sending a campaign email on his … Read More
It has been some years, more than I care to remember, since I went to college. I thought I was in heaven, and I’ve never forgotten how it felt those first few days when I discovered that my professors actually thought I was bright.
Here we have a student embarking on a new career path. One day soon, college may become a simple matter of computer assisted tests and internet presentations with the personal removed, no more lecture, no more exchange of ideas between teacher and student, and no more of the power and enthusiasm of teaching at its best. But we are not there yet and so his experience will be similar to mine, a path of self discovery with the pleasure of being taught.
I wish him well and suggest his essay as an example of a thinking human being, in short, a rare individual.
James Pilant
Well, my last day of employment at Coors of Western Arkansas was on Friday. I began that job a year ago when I was still under the false impression that I wanted to work my way up in the work force. I thought: "I might like it better than the restaurant business." I was dead wrong. Despite the fact that I was a salesman, 80% of my day was stocking shelves. Which I found to be less than intellectually stimulating. So now it is Monday and I'm abou … Read More
The debt ceiling agreement clobbers grad students. It makes it harder to get loans for those working toward advanced degrees. We in this country need to encourage education not just at the bachelor level but at all levels. We don’t just live to make money but to extend our civilization. It’s important to continue this process.
Let’s cut grad students a break and maintain their ability to stay in school.
James Pilant
Based on the timing on this post, I think you can infer it's the debt ceiling bill that passed the House earlier. But let's go a bit in depth, and discuss something which I don't believe was discussed on the Floor of the House. I'm not going to delve into the numbers of the debt ceiling, for you all can read that on whichever source you choose. What many of your outside sources will not tell you is the name of the bill itself. It is entitled, "To … Read More
This is a letter from Samuel Adams to Richard Henry Lee. These were two giants of the American Revolution. I am fond of American history and believe that we have much to learn from the ideas and actions of the founders (although I firmly believe it can be overdone).
This is an interesting letter. It has some observations I find compelling. Please have a look.
James Pilant
American Correspondence In 1781, while the war was still uncertain, Samuel Adams writes to his good friend and fellow patriot encouraging him to help inattentive citizens return to the first principles of liberty. It would be indeed alarming, if the United States should ever entrust the Ship in which our all is at Stake, with inexperiencd or unprincipled Pilots. Our Cause is surely too interesting to Mankind, to be put under the Dir … Read More
I think that the No Child Left Behind law had severely damaged character education, critical thinking and issue awareness among the young. An ability to take multiple choice tests, true false, or completion tests is not a useful employment skill. Yet that has become almost our sole measurement of educational achievement.
But the inaction of the middle class, whatever it’s cause, is critical to the success of the rich in shifting the tax burden.
James Pilant
The rich won the class war by depriving the middle and lower classes of education: history, civics, political education, and training in how to think critically. As a result, their mouthpieces can spout nonsense and the relatively uneducated voters now swallow it clean. The antidote, until we get a real education system back again, is for those of use whose eyes are open to educate those around us who cannot see what is going on. We need to devel … Read More
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