In what may turn out to be my last diary for DKos after watching the ugly takeover by 'Pug trolls and Dem cannibals following last year's elections, I'm going to address a situation most kossacks haven't noticed. This is the resident status of a handful of paid shills who aren't barking and biting for overeager Democratic candidates or promoting the self-destruction of the Democratic Party (though there are plenty of those too). These are shills for the infamous "Nuclear Mafia" in the form of pro-nuclear lobbying groups and PR firms being paid by our tax dollars through new (and increasing) subsidies to convince us that nuclear power generation is The Only Answer to global warming and oil-independence in the 21st century.
Of course, this may cause one or two progressives on this website devoted to Democratic politics, progressive policies and direct political action to wonder, "what the heck are THEY doing here?" As if no one here would notice, or identify them for what they obviously are: shills for the Nuclear Mafia. Follow me below the fold for my take and some backup from credible sources on what's going on...
No, I won't identify the shills' pseuds, as they're bound to turn up in the comments to lob ad homs at me (and anyone they suspect of sympathies with Greenpeace, Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility, EnviroWatch or any other notably left-progressive leaning organization dedicated to environmental responsibility. They make no secret of their disgust for environmentalism and environmentalists. They also make no secret of their belief-in and associations with the nuclear industry, its lobbying fronts and its PR operatives.
Last November the people of this nation made it entirely clear that they are fed up with Business as Usual in DC by turning both the US House and Senate over to Democrats, who had not held legislative majority in a dozen years. The proverbial writing is on the wall, so the Guidos (my shorthand for the Nuclear Mafia) must now move firmly to convince the left that a new resurgence of nuclear energy production in this country is absolutely necessary due to global warming and the uncomfortable fact that we cannot continue to trade American blood for Middle Eastern oil.
Alas, the left has long been known for its disdain of corporate crooks, lobbyist bribes, greed-based short-cutting on health and safety issues, and forced globalization. Heck, we're not even fond of lobbyists writing national energy policies and "energy reviews" favoring their sponsors!
But the simple fact of the matter is, with Democrats now in charge of Congress - and likely the White House as well in January of 2009 - they need us in order to make their nuclear wet dream a reality.
So they're here [cue Poltergeist kid], in numbers. Telling industry lies, spinning like tops, insulting question-askers every time one dares, all in the interests of international nuclearization and the World's Greatest Money Laundering Scheme, devised primarily to exploit all that's left to extort from our planet before they've killed us all off after having used our internal organs to filter the filth through recycling as "inert filler" in agricultural fertilizers. Lead caskets being ever so much cheaper than Yucca Mountain and all.
In addition to links above, I have offered below some good sources of information if anyone is interested now, before they get this show on the road - then it will be too late to stop them. Having suffered a great deal in my life from being targeted by the Guidos, I don't wish to participated in such a hopeful progressive site without having done my best to warn you. Consider yourselves warned.
[NOTE: Whichever of you jerks keeps messing with the tags, grow up.]
Public Citizen: The Case Against Nuclear Power
NAFTA's Nuclear Agenda
Public Affairs: Negative Energy
Resurgence: The Long Wait
GP International: End the Nuclear Age
SpinWatch: UK News
MSNBC: How millions for lobbying, campaigns helped fuel US indutry's 'big plans'
Senate Votes to Increase Corporate Welfare for Nuclear Industry
Facts on the Price-Anderson Act
Nuclear power's French connection
The Rocky Flats Horror Picture Show