From: Russell David Hoffman, deeply concerned citizen
Re: Who's flying the plane? Stop Cassini #210
Date: October 19th, 1999 -- 73 days before Y2K
This issue's subjects:
Why get involved with any cause of social justice? Because it's right? Because it matters what you do? Because every voice counts (or should)? The response to the letter shown below discusses specific reasons why everyone should care about the nuclear issues of today. -- rdh
Hallo Hans,
//snip//
Hans, having lived and worked in many more countries than you, I am realistically aware of the incompetence of the authorities everywhere. I am not a blue-eyed believer in anybody. Nonetheless, I believe in the motivations and sense of self-preservation of fine individuals in advanced societies. Wherever I have been, I have found people you can rely on for dedication and specialist competence far beyond what the average person can achieve, however much information he can get hold of. Take the example of the pilot of the plane you fly in. Are you going to personally check the whole aircraft and all the staff yourself every time you want to fly somewhere? No, you will choose a good carrier, and rely on having a very good chance of arriving safely, because of excellent maintenance, and well-trained, competent and reliable ground and air staff, including pilots, who are not suicidal but all want to get home safely to their families. Of course, stupid mistakes are made, there are crashes, and you always wonder if you will arrive safely. But it is only nutcases who think they have to advise the pilot on what to do, or even to grab the joystick themselves. It is always good to be aware of risks, but there is a sensible limit beyond which it becomes difficult to know when you are getting bad advice from some crazy conspirationist whose way of life is to worry for the sake of worrying. Incidentally, many such people are not that crazy but very clever, because they make a very good living by selling their weird books and shows to naive audiences. ights. (sic)
All the same, just carry on with your initiatives. You seem to enjoy fighting for your various causes. And you may be right in some cases.
Regards xxxxxx
Hi Hans,
At first your friend pretends that he thinks the world is perfect, people are perfect, accidents are unimportant, and life is grand. Then for the second part of the letter, he admits that hey, accidents happen but so what? That's life.
Such an approach to this problem is very self-serving. He answers the first part with the second part and the second part with the first part. "Yeah, it could be a bad accident, but good people are in charge" or "Yeah, they might screw up, but how bad would it be?"
But it's not one or the other. People might screw up, and it can be worse than he could ever imagine. And worst of all, he might have more power than he thinks he does, which he is unwilling to use.
His answers have no sense of scale. He thinks the problems with Y2K-and-nukes aren't much bigger than a plane crash or some other run-of-the-mill catastrophe. He's wrong.
What we have in the nuclear industry is people consistently failing. Failure after failure after failure. They are boxed in by record of their own stupidity, but like your friend, no one cares to read it. It is hard to read. It's hard to understand what's happening. Worst of all it's either boring or terrifying, depending on your point of view as you read the documents. The variety of nuclear accidents over the half-century+ is astounding. And the countries where they have happened? Everywhere. WHO does he think is flying this plane?
Here's who is: People who believe a little radiation won't kill you. Those people form the nuclear mafia, and support the "demon hot atom". That is NOT the prevailing view of science. Certainly not of the best scientists. It's downright lunatic.
I am not trying to advise the airplane pilot. Instead I am suggesting that perhaps the high-speed magnetic levitation bullet train is a better way to travel.
I don't make money from "weird books and shows to naive audiences", although it sounds kind of fun. In fact, my activism costs me money and probably a few contracts too. I will not make a dime off of Y2K. But outside of Y2K/Cassini stuff, my software is used in thousands of hospitals, pump companies, doctors' offices, schools, homes and elsewhere (by the military, for instance), and I'd be happy to send the fellow a CD-ROM. But of course, I'm just the messenger anyway. Would this guy call Dr. John Gofman a "nutcase" after he had seen his resume? Would he call Dr. Kaku one too? Dr. Caldicott? Dr. Sternglass? On what grounds?
His denunciation of those who cry out about the Y2K dangers -- people like Dr. Kaku and Dr. Caldicott -- is unfair.
Y2K is real. ONE SINGLE MELTDOWN would be too many. One accidental nuclear war would ruin the party for everyone. Does your writer actually understand the effects of nuclear weapons? Has he read about the EMP? Does he understand the way nuclear poisons spread into the environment? Does he love his fellow man? Does he understand that we borrow this earth from our children, but they inherit our mistakes? Has he asked his government for the public records for whatever nuclear power plant is closest to him, and has he gone over them carefully, and seen that every release is ignored, every close call is ignored, every violation is forgiven, every crime is forgotten. Has he seen any of this? Has he looked into nuclear power lately? It's a shambles. Suggest he get on the Y2K-nuclear list that Paul Swann runs. It's amazing. Challenge him to subscribe to my newsletter. At least try to get him to read about the effects of nuclear weapons, and see if he knew all that. Ask him who he thinks is in charge?
But whatever you do, don't waste too much time on one person who's head is blocked. He closes with "you may be right in some cases".
Let's say that one nuclear plant melts down: His. Let's say that one nuclear weapon that is shot off accidentally explodes above: His head. Does he think, "well too bad, Poof, I'm gone!"? It's not like that, not for 90% of the victims, maybe 99%. Most deaths are from cancers, leukemias and birth defects, and they occur long after the blast and far away from the blast.
Does he really believe he is powerless to stop this? Why? Is he a slave?
This isn't like when a pilot goofs, crashes a plane, and 400 people die. This is like, when a pilot goofs, crashes the plane into a nuclear power plant, and 400,000 people die the first week. 4,000,000 the first year, etc.
Because what? Because like any one of the 1000 accidents they've had so far that could have gotten worse, some other accident GETS WORSE on Y2K. Perhaps the clean outcome he hopes for will be thwarted by the phones being out, the grid being down, and the staff staying home to protect their families from riots in their area.
All this extra activity, much of which is practically expected in some parts of the world and not impossible anywhere (except maybe riots in San Diego (or, I will presume, in Canada)). But the grid can go down anywhere and so can the phones. Multiple failures are the most difficult to understand, to predict, and to control. There is NO WAY the NRC has a handle on this one -- proof, for God's sake, is the fact that they are not taking a holiday and shutting down as many nukes as possible NOW. (I contend all of them could be shut down without significant hardship ANYWHERE.)
All this why? Why do we need these things? Has this man not heard of tide power? Electricity from tides? It is renewable, reliable, and it comes from the moon! How about wave power? Surely he's heard of solar power? Wind? Geothermal? Hydroelectric? Does he know that there is one commercial nuclear power plant in America which has, for one of its backup generator systems, a hydroelectric power supply?
We CAN and SHOULD demand a clean environment EVERYWHERE on this planet, because an accident anywhere is an accident everywhere, since stuff spreads around. Especially radioactive stuff. The tiniest little bit causes the exact same problem as a sure-lethal dose, and the only difference is the rate at which people die.
Does this person understand what "background radiation" really means? Your skin protects you from most of it, and your hair and clothing. It stays outside you. But plutonium and other radioactive byproducts of radiation accidents get INSIDE you and irradiate nearby cells with 10s of thousands of REM of radiation. Most cells die, but sometimes a cell becomes cancerous. This happens at any dose! The entire nuclear industry was built on the assumption that accidents wouldn't happen, and that if they do the danger would be limited to the area around the accident, but the stuff creeps everywhere on this planet, and nowhere does it do any good at all.
Does he understand dosages, and all that stuff? A tenth of a millionth of a gram of plutonium 238 is a lethal dose. It is believed by some that a thousandth of that would kill a thousandth of the people that get that dose, and so on in a linear fashion. Others disagree, but any fool can see we are in a very unprofitable business spewing nuclear waste into our homes, unless there really is a need. Is there? NO! Not at all! Good science and good technologies have been thrust aside for the nuclear option.
But your friend will do nothing. He wants to let others fly the plane. He doesn't care to understand any of the details. He makes the incredibly naive assumption that the people whom we have paid trillions of dollars to so they can mine, ship, mill, ship, shape, ship, burn, ship, store, store, store, store, store (etc.) are going to admit they can't do a good job and don't care what happens after they've made their living keeping a slightly-cracked lid on the problem. It isn't going to happen. SAIC, the folks Woody Smith works for (Curator for the Internet at NASA, at least last I checked), build the containers to protect us from spent fuel disasters.
Those containers can be pierced with a 50-caliber bullet (which can pierce most anything). Their contents are not safe, and the system stinks from start to finish. These are the people your friend trusts with my life (and his).
I bet this person has not spent one month of his life exploring the possibility that the nuclear disasters that have happened all over the world happen because the SYSTEM is corrupt. That many of the cancers that happen all over the world have a very real cause -- previous nuclear accidents. Yes, you can factor out smoking and eating meat and a million other things, but that still leaves those caused unnecessarily by nuclear weapons testing, nuclear power accidents, numerous nuclear navy nuclear spills directly into the ocean, and 1000 other mistakes. Much is, of course, "classified". WHY? So that your friend won't read it!
The industry promised the impossible, and has not delivered. It is trying to do the impossible now, and is failing time and again. It was sold to us on a lie (that nuclear weapons would protect us from harm and allow the United States to lead the world into a new democracy) and it is supported now by 1000 new lies each day.
Sincerely,
Russell Hoffman
Peace Activist
(URLs given below)
The following clip is from an article which goes into each topic in depth. It was posted on the Y2K-nuclear forum by Paul Swann:
http://www.wbn.com/y2ktimebomb/Tip/Lord/rmart9942.htm
Long-Term Lessons We Can Learn from Year 2000 -- Part I
By Roleigh Martin
October 18, 1999
Assume Year 2000 turns out badly. I am convinced it will, at least for some countries. For those affected places, I can see the following lessons being well received:
1. There is a need for compilers and development tools in which numeric overflows cannot occur -- at least for core infrastructure facilities.
2. Because of forecasted events, there is a need for more rugged core infrastructures for reasons far worse than Year 2000, such as the advent of LERF, HERF, and EMP weaponry.
3. Year 2000 reveals that for any future fixed-date threat event, the mass media and government will down-play it ahead of time to the detriment of an adequately prepared society.
4. Year 2000 reveals that society cannot shift focus all in one direction without severely impacting the economy. Perhaps the Mormons' focus on everybody's always being prepared for hard times is the only clean solution for future events analogous to Year 2000.
5. Year 2000 reveals that there is a very dangerous assumption behind just-in-time (JIT) production.
After discussing these lessons, I will also consider three notable exclusions.
[ ... clip ... ]
* This article originally appeared in the August 1999 edition of the Cutter IT Journal (Vol. 12, No. 8, pages 23-30) ...
Copyright 1999 by Cutter Information Corp., 37 Broadway,
Suite 1, Arlington, MA 02474-5552, USA.
Web address:
http://www.cutter.com/itjournal
Read Roleigh Martin's bio.
The third point -- about the media downplaying the dangers -- is particularly relevant to the next item in this newsletter, about Richard Greenberg of CBS News' 60 Minutes "unsubscribing" from this newsletter. -- rdh
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 10:24:12 -0500
From: Richard Greenberg
RG1@cbsnews.com
To:
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: Please unsubscribe me!
PLEASE STOP SENDING ME YOUR E-MAIL MESSAGES. THANK YOU.
Sir,
You may recall you and I spoke about Cassini prior to launch. I like to think that our conversation led to 60 minutes interviewing Dr. John W. Gofman, as I recommended you do and which CBS did later do, as I recall. Since the launch and flyby of Cassini there has been clear and unassailable proof that the views of the opposition were correct.
Now we are coming upon a great precipice, where another truth may (or may not) come to pass, namely Y2K and the dangers of an accidental nuclear war, meltdowns, etc. I do not believe CBS is covering the cause properly, and I believe it is my duty to try to inform you of the coming dangers.
And I believe it is your duty to listen. Certainly, in a free country, one would think I have the right to try to inform the media about the dangers we face.
Rather than "unsubscribe" I would have expected you -- and CBS news generally -- to recognize a media moment and contact me for an interview. But that didn't happen. I cannot unsubscribe you -- to do so would be a crime against humanity, for you are a big and powerful voice, and you could help raise awareness of the truth about what we all face in 74 days -- in fact, for you to do nothing is a crime, which is about all I've seen from the major media so far.
In short, I am sorry to say that your request must be denied in the hopes that you will read one or two of the issues, or any of the links given below (nearly all the URLs given below link to things I wrote AFTER you and I spoke in 1997).
What I write IS news, and whether CBS has enough sense to cover it -- or even allow it to come into their sphere of consciousness -- is another matter.
Sincerely,
Russell Hoffman
Founder and Editor
STOP CASSINI newsletter
Now in its 209th issue, which CBS has ignored
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 14:07:48 -0500
From: Richard Greenberg
RG1@cbsnews.com
To:
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
Subject: Re: Please unsubscribe me! -Reply
Please unsubscribe me!
To: Richard Greenberg, Producer, 60 Minutes, CBS News
From: Russell Hoffman, Founder and Editor, STOP CASSINI newsletter
Re: Your 2nd "unsubscribe" letter (of October 18th, 1999)
Dear Sir,
Are you trying to set a legal precedent here? I think you're about 200 years too late but anyway, I'm ready if you are. The Houston Chronicle's Space Views, which has published numerous one-sided trash articles about Cassini, tried to "unsubscribe" also. I showed them many errors in their articles, challenged them to show me the reporter who understands all the issues, refused their request, and I still send the newsletter to them. Who knows if they have the good sense to read it now that MCO occurred?
There are now just 73 days left before Y2K. What will you personally do? What have you done for your family? Why do you think Murphy's Law will not apply on that day when many, many things are bound to go wrong -- but what will be the worst things? Think what you could do, in your position as Producer of 60 Minutes! Look at the people your shows could influence!
Is that the problem, then? You don't want to alarm the masses? Have you come too close to the truth, and you are afraid I might actually be right about something, even one little thing, which might prove the line you've been handed by those powerful people in Washington is a lie? We don't need nuclear aircraft carriers, we don't need nuclear power plants, we don't need nuclear weapons, we don't need nuclear rockets, and we don't need the lies that support these SERIOUS TACTICAL ERRORS in the defense of this nation.
Nowhere is Sun Tzu or anywhere else does it say "use a weapon which is expensive to use, kills randomly around the world after it is used or leaks, cannot be used except as a weapon of genocide, and will destroy your civilization with lies".
This is not classic warfare teachings at all, is it? An unusable weapon? A bankrupt society? The destruction of democratic principals? A poison that causes cancer, leukemia, and birth defects all around the world for many generations? What part of "crazy" don't you understand, Mr. Greenberg?
What are you going to do about it? Unsubscribe?
The world does not need nuclear power, Mr. Greenberg. It does not need satellites in outer space bringing the world a controlled version of the news. There are bandwidth problems to be solved, but most of those solutions require putting in the fiber-optic cable people like me have been crying out for for 20 years -- in other words, these are minor problems. The Internet is where the truth is (along with everything else). I am one person, and I have been sending you my newsletters because I believed that I could make a difference, if I could influence the next, and the next, and the next person. Or just one person. Or make contact with one media outlet, which controls but does not understand its awesome power or the terrifying times we live in, let alone, the horrific pace life is lived at now, in "Internet time". But this great toy won't work if we take away the First Amendment principles we each live by as we design the system. Do you know who I am? Can you disprove my theories?
We are now 73 days before Y2K, and at the cusp of the debate about the next generation of RTGs as well, and you have now decided you specifically don't want to hear from me, and wish to tell me this. After all, you can just ignore me or have your computer filter things that come from me straight to the trash. Did you "unsubscribe" because you wish me to know that you plan to do that, but have not done it yet? If it's a personal thing, I want YOU to know that I will be happy to answer any question about the minutest detail of anything I have written, if you care to ask. You, who can, with the flick of a mouse, decide what millions of minds will think about. You can protect THE SYSTEM from me, hide me, ignore me, refuse me, and step on me, but you cannot stop the truth from creeping in somewhere!
If you think I am wrong in the things I say, I beg of you to show me where!
If you think I have tried to alarm the public, show me why I do not have a legitimate right to try to do so! The system of corruption, the lies, the hiding, the falsities -- what do you think I am, citizen Greenberg? Less than you? Not important enough? I may be the lowest rung on the ladder of democracy -- I don't doubt it -- but I have a voice, and you are the media. News makes it to YOUR DESK. It is your duty to serve the public. I have sent these newsletters to you personally, I am here to answer any questions. If you read them, you are being informed, and hopefully entertained as well. But we have produced numerous unique items, available nowhere else. Our statements have been proven right time and time again. We ring a bell of truth. If you've got a problem with that, you don't deserve one of the precious slots on the airwaves which we the public have allotted to you. I am exercising my right of free speech, my right to petition my government, to attempt to warn the people, and my right to accuse my attackers -- all of them. Your unwillingness to report DAILY on the Y2K-nuclear issues is a crime against humanity. Your unwillingness to devote all your vast talent pool towards presenting the proper solutions to this dilemma to your vast audience is an unanswerable sin.
What do you think about tide-based energy solutions? Do you still think they are not workable? They are: They could replace every nuclear energy "solution". But what do you think? Do you think that small fact alone isn't enough to make us completely change human thinking? Did you look at all 60+ pumps in my online pumps tutorial before deciding? Some of them are so new, the main people investigating them are the U. S. Military and NASA! These technologies could provide clean energy solutions. Have you done a show all the brilliant inventions that have come into existence in the past decade, which if properly adapted throughout industry, could double or triple productivity? There are simple solutions that solve THE BIG QUESTION -- who needs nukes? No one!
Instead we have the nuclear Mafia, a police state, and the silent media, who all work hand in hand. I won't ask you how you sleep, or how many lives you THINK you are responsible for, but I would like to ask you if you read my article on The Effects of Nuclear Weapons? (URL given below.) If you have read it, how could you possibly think you are right at this moment doing enough to prevent a nuclear holocaust come Y2K or any day? You, who are so powerful, Mr. Greenberg? I won't ask you how you sleep, because I'm sure I could never comprehend the answer. It would, in fact, keep me up nights.
After World War II someone wrote, "Never Again". There have been many holocausts since then, probably killing more than a hundred million people, and condemning vastly more to poverty and despair. Y2K could be vastly bigger. ANY nuclear war, ever, would probably be vastly bigger. But nearly all atrocities have one thing in common: In nearly every case, the silence of the media permitted the silencing of the lambs.
Sincerely,
Russell D. Hoffman
Founder and Editor
STOP CASSINI newsletter now in its 209th issue
Readers are encouraged etc. etc. -- rdh
NASA needs to be told in no uncertain terms they have lied too often to the public and we want a SEA CHANGE away from their nuclear policies!
To learn about the absurd excuses NASA used to launch Cassini and its 72.3 pounds of plutonium in 1997, ask them for the 1995 Environmental Impact Statement for the Cassini mission, and all subsequent documentation. At the same time, be sure to ask them for ANY and ALL documentation available on future uses of plutonium in space, including MILITARY, CIVILIAN, or "OTHER" (just in case they make a new category somehow!). To get this information, contact:
Cassini Public Information
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109
(818) 354-5011 or
(818) 354-6478
Here's NASA's "comments" email address:
comments@www.hq.nasa.gov
Daniel Goldin is the head of NASA. Here's his email address:
daniel.goldin@hq.nasa.gov
or
dgoldin@mail.hq.nasa.gov
Here's the NASA URL to find additional addresses to submit written questions to:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/facts/HTML/FS-002-HQ.html
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT NASA IS DOING TO YOUR HEALTH.
NASA should never have been allowed to launch monstrosities like Cassini and Galileo (which recently suffered a nine-hour "lost in space" anomoly (NASA calls it "safe mode" which is the opposite of what it really is) just before it did a flyby of Io), but the next breed -- such as Europa Orbiter and Pluto-Kuiper Express are not much better and the policy is being set for greatly increased rates of missions! The danger continues! To complain to NASA about their future nuclear space probes, here are two addresses you can use:
For Europa Orbiter:
Europa Orbiter comments"
osseuropa@hq.nasa.gov
For Pluto-Kuiper Express:
"Pluto-Kuiper Express comments"
osspluto@hq.nasa.gov
Be sure to "cc" the president and VP and your senators and congresspeople, too.
President Bill Clinton
White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20500
Phone -- (202) 456-1111
Fax -- (202) 456-2461
e-mail -- president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Albert Gore
White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,
N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20500
Phone -- (202) 456-1414
Fax -- (202) 456-2461
e-mail -- vicepresident@whitehouse.gov
Secretary William Cohen
1000 Defense
The Pentagon
Washington D.C. 20301
Phone -- (703) 695-6352
Secretary Bill Richardson
Department of Energy (DoE)
1000 Independence Avenue SW
Washington D.C. 20585
Phone -- (202) 586-6210
fax -- (202) 586-4403
Always include your full name and postal address in all correspondence to any Government official of any country, because otherwise they will throw it out unread, or hand it directly to their police force to try to identify the author. (Thus, nothing good will come of it.) Also, ALWAYS include a personal message of some sort, indicating YOUR OWN VIEWS, even if you include a lot of material written by other people (me, for instance).
Thanks for reading! Welcome new subscribers!
Home page of our STOP CASSINI movement:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm
(Accept NO imitations!)
To subscribe, simply email the editor at
rhoffman@animatedsoftware.com
and state:
SUBSCRIBE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER
Please include a personal message of any
length and subject matter. Thank you!
To unsubscribe email me and say
UNSUBSCRIBE STOP CASSINI NEWSLETTER
Published by Russell D. Hoffman electronically.
Written in U.S.A.
This newsletter is free and is not distributed for profit.
Please distribute these newsletters EVERYWHERE!
"There can be no democracy without truth, no justice without mercy, and no nuclear dispersals without ill consequences."
**************************************************************
Many of the issues presented by Russell Hoffman in this letter are based on conversations with Dr. John W. Gofman (who isolated the first working quantities of plutonium), the late Dr. Karl Z. Morgan (who was known as the "father of health physics"), Dr. Ernest Sternglass (who has done statistical studies about LLR), Dr. Jay Gould (ditto), Dr. Horst Poehler, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Dr. Ross Wilcock and dozens of activists, as well as many others on both sides of the nuclear debates, including ex military nuke expert Jack Shannon (responsible for the design of the D2G Navy reactor, the most widely used reactor in the U. S. navy), award-winning investigative reporter Karl Grossman, ecologist and human rights advocate Pamela Blockey-O'Brien, etc. Also, I've read a few dozen books on the various subjects. And scads of government documents purporting to explain how something so dangerous can be safe. Professionally, my pump training software is used throughout the pump industry and even in some nuclear power plants around the world to train their staff about mechanical pumps. Any errors herein are regrettably my own, but I believe it would take an extremely unlikely preponderance of errors to invalidate my basic position on these issues.
*************************************************************
Russell D. Hoffman, Carlsbad, California, Peace Activist, Environmentalist, High Tech Guru:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/whoisrdh.htm
Hoffman's Y2K Preparedness Information:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/y2k/index.htm
Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
************************************************************
** THE ANIMATED SOFTWARE COMPANY
** Russell D. Hoffman, Owner and Chief Programmer
** Carlsbad CA
** Visit the world's most eclectic web site:
** http://www.animatedsoftware.com
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