Attacks on coal-mining and use would trample on hopes, progress, living standards and lives - Are these people crazy? Are they so disconnected from reality that they don’t understand how vital coal is to jobs, living standards, civil rights progress and life itself?

How else can anyone react to a new environmentalist campaign to erect black crosses at coal mines and coal-fired power plants, to symbolize their opposition to this vital energy source? The Black Cross Alliance (BCA) is little more than another sordid campaign against affordable energy, especially hydrocarbons. Its policies are misguided at best, harmful and even lethal at worst.

When we see the Black Crosses, we need to remember the blessings of coal-based electricity: the economic uplift, the enhanced quality of life it provides for millions of working class Americans of every color. When we think of groups like the Black Cross Alliance and their undue influence over energy and economic policy, we need to remember the pain of rising unemployment and poverty in America. We need to remember the needless deaths of millions every year in the mostly black and brown developing world, due to radical environmentalist campaigns against energy and economic development. 
 

The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation today welcomed the announcement of a new treaty to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between the United States and Russia.

While exact details of the new agreement are not yet known, it is reassuring to see that the two countries are moving ahead with nuclear reductions after years of no progress.

However, two major obstacles remain to full cooperation between the two countries on nuclear disarmament. First, the two sides still strongly disagree on the US missile defense plans, which would put missiles and radar installations close to the Russian border. It appears that the two countries have been able to work around the issue in this new treaty, but resolution of this issue is essential to making further progress toward nuclear weapon-free world.

Feeling like an alien who had been left behind by the Mother Ship to observe creatures from another planet, I studied the life-forms bent over their desks. In reality, all of the beings in the room, including myself, were taking tests that would decide whether we were mentally fit to work at a nuclear power plant.

It was the spring of 1992, and I was there from desperation. Having worked in the art department of a printing company for more than nine years, I was out of work due to health problems caused by exposure to certain chemicals, and I really needed a job. Finally, after searching for employment for more than a year, I saw an ad in a local newspaper: “Wanted: Short Order Cook. Good Salary. Temporary.”

Cook? Can do. I called the number given, and learned where the food and beverage company was located.

“Oh, no! Not the Nuke plant!” I moaned. 
 

Whilst we applaud any efforts to ameliorate the effects of catastrophic climate and sea level change, caused by release of industrial greenhouse gases, we cannot support a nuclear industry as a solution. Caboolture is one of the proposed sites to house a Nuclear Power station and this cannot go ahead. The debate on uranium is flawed by a greed for export income. That bias manifests through ignoring a number of practical and moral arguments which we urge the Australian government and in particular John Howard to consider. These are:

1. WASTE DISPOSAL.

- Although the quantity of waste is small, no country at present has satisfactory storage and disposal means.

- The conversion of waste into ceramic materials that cannot be readily leached is not proceeding because it is too expensive.

- The underground disposal method being trialed in Sweden, which is the only acceptable method, still has 35 years to run before safety can be assessed.
 

"I would never join a club that would have me as a member" - Groucho Marx. - The International Nuclear Club has a new member, and as we all know membership has its privileges. The news that North Korea had tested its first nuclear bomb sent more shock waves around the world than the explosion itself.

And naturally, the current club members are pissed off, because North Korea didn't go through the screening process necessary to become a member of the Nuke Club. Neither did India or Pakistan or China, but who's counting.

Ironically, it takes a certain amount of force to become a member of the Nuke Club. All you have to do is test a weapon, either above ground like the United States did in Nevada or underground like North Korea did last week. You also need to strike a tough political pose with your chin in the air and act defiant. You need to play it tough because the Nuke Club is made up of tough guys. Membership is exclusive to those countries willing to bully nonmembers into getting what they want. That's why North Korea wants in. [It’s also known as blackmail.]