Washington, July 3 — The Energy Department's plan for cutting billions of dollars and several years off the bomb-waste cleanup at three government nuclear reservations is illegal, a federal judge has ruled, because it would leave some of the wastes in shallow burial despite Congress's prescription that they can be safely disposed of only in a deep "geologic" repository.

David Remer of  Political News & Analysis comments:

Now we see how this administration intends to make up for its and Congress' wild spending spree. This story reflects the true nature of this adminstration's position on the environment. It will even attempt to violate the laws of the people, passed by the people's Congress to rid itself of the inconvenience of toxic wastes. Had their plan gone ahead, it would have been only a matter of a few years for the radioactive materials to have begun showing up in animals and humans. Just enough time for this administration to have maximized its term limit.

Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Energy Department, said, "If this decision stands, it could lead to a tremendous burden on the taxpayers with respect to cost of cleanup, and jeopardize our ability to clean up our sites sooner."

Now this is rich! They were going to poison Americans quietly and do so in the name of protecting Americans from additional taxes. Seems like someone ought to have thought of that before granting huge tax breaks to the wealthiest of Americans who can most afford to pay them. And where are their priorities?

Keep tax cuts and kill and disease Americans for untold generations? Perhaps it was just a matter of taking care of the tax cuts now, and let some other administration eight or twelve years down the road deal with the deaths and disease and cleanup costs, then. Where is the compassion in that? I don't even see 'conservative' in this kind of thinking. It will cost far more to clean it up later than it will to clean it up now. This is selling out the American public for political expedience. This is intolerable!

Mr. Wald also states in the article:

There are 117 underground tanks at Hanford, storing about 53 million gallons of wastes that come from the production of nuclear bombs, but some of the liquids have already leaked into the soil and joined underground water that flows toward the Columbia River.

In order to clean it up, it is estimated another site in addition to the Yucca Mountain site will need to be built to accomodate all the bomb making wastes and the energy producing wastes. The article states this will cost a large number of billions of dollars. So, why again, did the administration give the wealthiest billions of dollars in tax cuts?

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" --Benjamin Franklin--

The founding fathers had no love for government, not even our own. They assumed that power corrupts and that government is inherently a powerful force. Their lack of faith in politicians and government in general is to be found everywhere in the Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as many of their well documented quotes as Ben Franklin’s above.

"Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." -- George Washington

This is precisely why they protected individual rights against government in the Bill of Rights and constructed the checks and balances between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. The founding fathers knew there would be abuses of power by officials in power. This is why they lay such great oversight responsibility in the congress, since, congress was supposed to be the champion of the people’s causes.

The founding fathers could not then foresee the Congress placing political party power protection ahead of the people’s causes as has occurred far too often today. There were no political parties at the time of the Continental Congress. Had they foreseen it, they certainly would have devised a protection against political parties’ abusive influence in government as well.

For the founding fathers patriotism was not toward government, but, toward the union of people under the banner of freedom from oppressive government, and justice for abuses of governmental power.

"Never trust a government that doesn’t trust its own citizens with guns.".

"When government fears the people there is liberty. When the people fear the government there is tyranny.".-- Thomas Jefferson --

Those today who claim to be patriots while deriding any who challenge the actions and motives of political leaders are foolish. They should take note of Ben Franklin’s lesson:

"It is the fist responsibility of every citizen to question authority."

It was to the people of the colonies who were willing to sacrifice their property and lives for freedom from tyranny and for self-determination that their patriotism was directed. Today, as then, our patriotism should be directed toward our Constitution and Bill of Rights, and to our brave soldiers who are willing to make the sacrifice to defend our rights to freedom and self-determination.

BUT, we are foolish to direct our patriotism toward leaders in government who would put our young troops in harm’s way. We are foolish to fail in vigilance while politicians make loud promises then stealthily and secretly reverse those promises with their actions.

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." --James Madison--

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Our allegiance is to what the flag stands for. Our flag stands for one nation guided by just laws which preserve and protect the liberty for all. Our Flag stands for administering justice to those who abridge those liberties for personal gain or profit. And that includes our politicians, who place the protection of their power above the interests of the public at large as England's King George did.

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." --Thomas Jefferson--

Patriotism! Our founding fathers knew what it meant. I hope millions of Americans will not let hot dogs and fire works and beer interfere with their rediscovery of what American Patriotism was originally all about.

David Remer, - Political News & Analysis 

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