Governor Susana Martinez and Secretary of State Diana Duran with the help of the Albuquerque Journal continue their xenophobia rants by trying to scare the bejesus out of people on foreign nationals voting in our elections. That will be a small number but it will be milked to the max in the name of right wing politics. Maybe it would help if they worked hard on getting our own citizens to vote. Less than half do so. At any rate, as the number of hispanics grow in our state as evidenced by the latest census data, these hispanic elected officials should do less work on fear mongering wedge issues and more on real policy.
For example, here is one current policy issue they could work on. Governor Martinez should be asking for tours of the nuclear reactors/facilities at Los Alamos Labs and Sandia Labs and she should ask for assurances that they are safe. I have no reason to think they are not safe, but shouldn't a Governor be on the look out for us on such issues? Has she even asked for a phone briefing on these issues? It is somewhat a timely question. Does the Governor have a science advisor that could be put to work on writing up a report for her? All of this would show real leadership.
Also, have you found it interesting that there have been no statements out of the Labs on the current crisis? Wouldn't you expect to see their experts on CNN and other outlets explaining what is going on? My friend Rodger brought this up and opined that the labs have turned inward and have little regard for being transparent on big issues. He said there used to be large public information staffs that were proactive. Now they are invisible. I would have to agree.
3 comments:
Personally, I feel there is no reason to think the reactors at LANL and/or SNL ARE safe. Under certain circumstances that are as likely to occur as not (a moderate quake which exceeds design limits, human error) are those reactors really safe? And what of the spent fuel rods? Where are they stored and how are they cooled. One of the most dangerous situations existing now in Japan is overheating of spent fuel rods in a cooling pool due to lost circulation of water. The very same type of material some people now want to ship over New Mexico's highways to the WIPP site.
Martinez and Duran found a problem, nevertheless, minor so far. It is illegal to vote if you are not a citizen! As far as Los Alamos and Sandia go for safety, I think it's a bit overkill stemming from what is happening in Japan. If it had not happened, then what - no issue?
Now that Richardson/Curry are gone,LANL and all DOE facilities are on their own. Conflict of interest rules at NMED and Domenici wants no accountability from Martinez re the Labs.
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