The Cold War At Home

While there have been substantial reductions in our nuclear arsenal over the last few decades, we still maintain a massive stockpile of nuclear weapons, ranging from the little SADM's up to the monster ICBM's. And even though the threat of world-destroying exchange of hundreds (if not thousands) of missiles between us and Russia is of little concern to any but the most paranoid of tacticians, this arsenal is still considered a key to our defense. (hat tip to my son Steven for bringing this to my attention)

Over the years, millions of everyday Americans have been employed in some shape or fashion in this industry, and a lot of them never donned a uniform. Of these, a surprising number have suffered exposure to radioactive materials or toxic chemicals that have resulted in chronic health problems, cancer and death.

While you and I may not have been aware of this, Congress has for years, and has taken steps to try to help and compensate these folks. But (once again) the Federal bureaucracy of the Executive Branch has proven to be less than useless in this area:

The Americans who built the nation's nuclear weapons are still fighting a cold war.

Tens of thousands of sick nuclear arms workers — or their survivors — from every state in the nation have applied for compensation that Congress established for them in 2000. But most have never seen a dime.

Congress promised these Cold War patriots an efficient, compassionate path to atonement. But a Rocky Mountain News investigation found that the government has derailed aid to workers by keeping reports secret from them, constantly changing rules and delaying cases until sick workers died.

I realize this blog has little to do with North Carolina politics, but I'm hoping Brad and David and the rest of our Reps might read this and start poking with a stick again.

Thousands of nuclear arms workers became sick or died building atomic weapons to defend America. They did top-secret work that exposed them to radiation, chemicals, heavy metals and other poisons. For half a century, the federal government's official policy was to fight any workers who claimed job-related illness, often spending tens of millions in tax dollars annually to do so. The government at times absolutely denied that the workers faced undue danger. It was a flat-out lie.

Okay, that was back then when ignoring or hiding government problems was popular. But what about now?

The compensation program got off to a wasteful start when the Department of Energy ran up a $90 million administrative bill in four years but compensated only 32 people.

Congress thought it had fixed the program when it fired the energy department from the job in 2004 and transferred the entire responsibility to the U.S. Department of Labor, which had explicit instructions to make the compensation "timely, uniform and adequate."

Since then, sick nuclear workers have protested bitterly about the program's failure to meet their needs. In 2006, congressional hearings uncovered White House attempts to cut costs by denying compensation to more workers.

Congress was reassured when labor department officials repeatedly testified that the cost reduction plans had been jettisoned, and that they were compensating many more people than officials originally thought would even apply.

Bureaucratic bumbling or a top-down effort to hinder the program?

Attorney Anne Block, a former claims examiner in the compensation program's Seattle office, said that the program's problems stem from an anti-claimant attitude that trickles down from the highest levels.

Block said she was wrongly fired for being too helpful to claimants and is filing a lawsuit. She told of managers purposely delaying claims, notes attached to sick workers' files labeling them "known troublemaker" and pressure from above to deny claims.

Block said that in September 2007, assistant district director Tracy Johnson called a meeting of claims examiners to push them to make decisions on claims that had been languishing for more than 300 days at the Seattle office, which has the lowest rate of claim approval among the four district offices.

"She said, 'I know 99.9 percent of these are denials. I want five or six recommended decisions to deny out the door for each of you,'" Block said. "How could you accept a claim when you'd just been told by the boss you were supposed to deny them?"

If our president was half as concerned about his fellow Americans as he claims, exspecially those who have worked diligently for our defense, he would have slammed some Cabinet doors by now. Instead, his contribution to this issue is: "Bulld more nukes!"

From a 2006 LA Times article:

The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation’s decrepit nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity.

The plan calls for the most sweeping realignment and modernization of the nation’s massive system of laboratories and factories for nuclear bombs since the end of the Cold War.

The administration is also quickly moving ahead with a new nuclear bomb program known as the “reliable replacement warhead,” which began last year. Originally described as an effort to update existing weapons and make them more reliable, it has been broadened and now includes the potential for new bomb designs. Weapons labs currently are engaged in a design competition.

Fantastic. A design competition, to determine what we will spend billions of dollars on, updating a system that no longer has any relevance in the real world, and will make a mockery of any American efforts at nuclear non-proliferation.

Alright, so we'll have a new Prez come January, and hopefully one with some common sense. That's if Obama is elected, though. Because Mr. Flip-flopper is liable to do anything:

In a May 2008 speech, McCain also endorsed the concept: "A quarter of a century ago, President Ronald Reagan declared, 'our dream is to see the day when nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth.' That is my dream, too."

New nuclear weapons: The Bush administration has put forward proposals to build a new generation of nuclear weapons; however, these plans might be seen as conflicting with U.S. efforts to restrain other states' nuclear ambitions. McCain has supported the proposed new nuclear weapons programs. In four key Senate votes from 2003 to 2005, McCain voted to proceed with the work on such weapons. But in his May 2008 speech, he declared: "I would cancel all further work on the so-called Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, a weapon that does not make strategic or political sense." McCain did not express an opinion on another new nuclear weapons program, the Reliable Replacement Warhead. Obama, only in the Senate for the fourth vote, opposed the new weapons. He has not been categorical in response to the Council for a Livable World's queries about his position on new nuclear weapons, responding that he did not support "a premature decision to produce the [Reliable Replacement Warhead]."

Okay, that was your monthly no-nukes diary. I hope it wasn't as depressing for you as it was for me.