Nothing But Politics

[CoalTrain]

Nuclear power Plants in Outer Space? I heard Bruce Gagon on the Radio today. If what he says is true the Bushies have been supporting a Pentagon push to have full blown Nuclear power plants inside space ships as the fuel source. Also according to Bruce Gagon there is a bill in congress currently that would make all profits in Outer space %100 tax free. Those Bushies are busy beavers. The article below does not have every thing he spoke about today and clicking around the website I could not find a lot of what he said today. I got the impression that this is a new and more aggressive push on a old theme. So perhaps he has not posted the latest devepolements even though he has been on the radio talking about them.

Evidently the Pentagon wants military bases on the moon as well. China has plans for a moon shot. Not sure where the Russians are in all of this.

http://www.space4peace.org/



NASA Hires Public Relations Firm to Help Blunt Opposition to Nuclear Rocket

December 12 2003

From: Bruce Gagnon
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011

Fearing another public relations defeat like they got during the 1997 Cassini campaign, NASA has hired a public relations outfit to gather information from potential critics of their latest space nuclear project. Project Prometheus, the nuclear rocket, is now being developed under the Bush Nuclear Systems Initiative that will spend $3 billion during the next five years to expand the launching of nuclear power into space.

I actually began organizing the Cancel Cassini Campaign in 1994 by writing articles, speaking to groups around the world, and expanding the numbers of interested contacts. By the time the 1997 launch came around and the media began paying attention to the issue, there was a tremendous grassroots movement in place to oppose the plutonium launch. Even the TV program 60 Minutes covered the issue with a story just a week before the lift-off.

This time NASA wants to be prepared. While Project Prometheus is just now in the development stage, NASA has retained The Keystone Center, based in Colorado, to gather information about potential critics so they can effectively combat any expected opposition.

The Keystone Center called the Global Network office this fall and wanted to send one of their representatives to our office in Maine to "interview" me about our concerns. It was clear from the conversation that the real intention of the visit was to find out what strategies we intended to employ to block the launch of the nuclear rocket. I didn't want to have any part in helping NASA -- they have lots of money and easy access to the corporate dominated media. Neither was I about to help The Keystone Center, which is being paid quite well with taxpayer dollars, I'm sure. I told them I was not interested in being "interviewed" and left it at that.

Just today in the mail, I received a letter from The Keystone Center once again asking me to submit to an interview. In the letter they say that they'd like to "converse with you about NASA's Project Prometheus Nuclear Systems Program......We are undertaking a round of meetings and structured interviews with some 25 people, many of whom are long-standing skeptics or critics of NASA. Our sole focus is to understand what public involvement strategies, above and beyond the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), might be appropriate for NASA as they begin to develop Project Prometheus."

So basically The Keystone Center is being paid big bucks by NASA to find out what "critics" are saying and/or planning around Project Prometheus so they can then advise NASA on the best way to sell the project to the public and blunt the critics. And they have the audacity to ask me to help them!

I know we should take this as a supreme compliment. NASA is worried about the work of the Global Network. They fear the public response to Bush's plan to dramatically expand the launching of nuclear power into space. And so they should! But to ask us to help them create a plan to circumvent our very opposition is the height of arrogance.

What made it fun though was that a reporter from the New York Times also called today. The Times is doing a story on Project Prometheus and wanted to know if we were going to organize to oppose it. I told him that we were already organizing and he wanted to know why he had not seen anything in the media. I told him the reason was because the corporate media usually isn't very interested in what we have to say. He then said that he doubted that NASA was very worried about our opposition and I said, "Hey let me read you this letter I just got from The Keystone Center." After hearing the content the reporter asked me to fax him the letter, which I gladly did.

The New York Times called because Bush is expected very soon to make a big announcement about going back to the moon and Mars. The nuclear rocket will be a key component of this plan. At a time when we are facing massive budget deficits Bush is going to promote his "big idea" to spend $50 - $150 billion on this moon base mission.

It just goes to show that our work is being watched by the government and the corporate media. They know what we are doing, and as much as they like to make us think they ignore us, they don't. They watch all of us like a hawk because they are worried to death that the public might catch onto what we have to say. If anything should tell us to keeping doing what we are doing, this is it.

So put this one into your mental file cabinet -- NASA's Project Prometheus, the nuclear rocket. Keep it close to your heart because it is going to be another hot issue down the road. How do I know that? Well, The Keystone Center told me so.



CT