As reported in issue #12 and mentioned again last issue, it is true that NASA has promised to consider our 36-point "Commentary" (and other STOP CASSINI news). Sounds like good news and I thank all who have congratulated me on this news!
Thanks, Russell Hoffman, Webmaster, STOP CASSINI
P.S. Those of you who have received all prior newsletters know that I have never used the "priority" button before, but I think you'll agree that the May 27th deadline makes it entirely appropriate here. Please post this newsletter!
**** STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER Volume #14 ****
Today's subjects:
Why NASA is happy now.
What you can do to make them less happy.
Why you should do it.
****** VOLUME #14 May 21st, 1997 ******
By Russell D. Hoffman
Copyright (c) Russell D. Hoffman
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WHAT NASA AGREED TO DO:
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Last month NASA sent me two documents in one package, via certified mail, return receipt requested. One document was called the "NUCLEAR SAFETY ANALYSES FOR CASSINI MISSION ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT PROCESS". The other was called the "DRAFT SUPPLEMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE CASSINI MISSION".
I titled my response I.Q. TEST FOR SPACE CADETS. Here is the URL of that 36-point discussion of these documents: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/dsei9704.htm
NASA, in a letter from Mr. Earle K. Huckins III, who is Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science wrote the following which I quoted in newsletter #12, but the importance of the real ramifications of it (explained below) cannot be overstated and so I am requoting it in full a second time...
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A LETTER FROM EARLE K HUCKINS III (NASA)
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From: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546-0001
Replay to Attn of: S
Mr. Russell D. Hoffman
[Carlsbad, CA]
Dear Mr. Hoffman:
Thank you for your letter and printed version of your web site dated April 26, 1997, to NASA administrator Daniel S. Goldin concerning the Cassini mission to Saturn. Your materials were forwarded to me for a response.
We appreciate your concern in taking the time to read and comment on all our informational material. However, I would like to emphasize that the information contained and referenced in our Environmental Impact Statements, fact sheets, and web site are the best available, factual information relating to risks associated with the Cassini mission. Your 36 points commenting on the Cassini Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement will be addressed in the Cassini Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and made available to the public.
Additionally, before launching NASA spacecraft with RTGs, thorough and detailed safety tests and analyses of the consequences of potential accidents are conducted. The nuclear safety analyses for a mission undergo independent evaluations by nationally or internationally recognized experts. Knowledgable representatives from other Federal agencies who have special expertise in nuclear materials also evaluate these analyses. These evaluations are presented to and considered by the NASA Administrator prior to a decision to launch.
Sincerely,
(Signed)
Earle K. Huckins III
Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Science
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WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN?
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My immediate reaction was that what they were actually doing, was to avoid my newer, main question these days, which relates (as many of the newsletter readers must already know) to the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) and NASA's contention that they are NOT designed specifically to incinerate on re-entry, and my contention that they are. (Of course, NASA holds the relevant data, and various attempts to get that data have proved unsuccessful so far.)
BUT what they are in fact doing is FAR MORE SINISTER than "merely" avoiding that issue. What they are doing is craftier. Meaner. Deadlier.
Of course, you would have to know what I said in the 36-point commentary to realize how little NASA has really given us. It is NOT a victory at all! But, you DO NOT need to go and read it now to know what to do... Let me explain...
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BUT RUSSELL, YOU SAID YOURSELF ONLY A FEW DAYS AGO...
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Yeah, yeah, but I was WRONG. It's not about ANY of that stuff! What's going on is this:
What NASA *SHOULD* be doing is THROWING OUT their entire Environmental Impact Statement Process and doing it again correctly. Instead they are going to "answer" my charges thereby "proving" that they are "responsive to the needs and concerns of the community".
DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD OF IT!!!!
What NASA should be doing has nothing to do with me! I am NOT a scientist and I am NOT a Doctor. I am merely a concerned citizen, as I have stated many times. I am a gadfly at best, and a muckraker (and worse) at worst.
DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!!
What NASA *should* be doing is going to Dr. Sternglass, Dr. Gofman, Dr. Gould, Dr. Caldicott and so on, and asking THEM what the proper thing to do is! But not asking them to actually "provide projections specifically for Cassini". That is not their jobs. These Doctors and others like them have already DONE their job. LOW LEVEL RADIATION KILLS. There are 100,000 nuclear "Cassinis" here on Earth. (Nuclear missiles, nuclear power plant fuel, nuclear waste, nuclear ships, etc.) NASA has NOT said they will apply proper scientific analysis to the Cassini mission. Thus, we have ALL been hoodwinked!
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Don't let this happen!
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NASA needs to hear from you! What can I, whom they have so graciously offered to listen to, possibly do now but ask for help? Contact NASA NOW and tell them you will NOT be satisfied unless they follow proper scientific procedures, and that it has NOTHING TO DO with my condemnation of the convoluted logic in their "DSEIS". (Please don't tell them not to continue with a reply to my comments, but don't let them stop there either!)
NASA will answer, probably point by point and hopefully paragraph by paragraph, a sharp condemnation of their procedures, and they will in so doing avoid the main issue entirely, which is that their procedures are wrong.
And we will let them get away, one more time, with murdering truth. With crucifying justice. With killing the facts. And with crimes against humanity.
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PLEASE POST THIS MESSAGE ANYWHERE YOU CARE TO OR
DARE TO OR ANYWHERE YOU THINK IT'S FAIR TO!
Do not post inappropriately, of course...
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REMEMBER WE HAVE UNTIL MAY 27TH, 1997 AT 4:30PM E.D.T. TO ANSWER THE DRAFT SIES!
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Thanks for reading,
Sincerely
Russell D. Hoffman
STOP CASSINI webmaster.
URL of an interview I did with Dr. Sternglass recently:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/ster9704.htm
URL where Dr. Gofman's research is being presented on the web:
http://www.ratical.com/radiation/
URL of the STOP CASSINI table of contents page:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm
CANCEL CASSINI
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Thanks again for reading,
Sincerely,
Russell D. Hoffman
STOP CASSINI webmaster.
Next issue (#15)
Previous issue (#13)
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