DEPARTMENTS
ANTI-WAR
DEATH PENALTY
ELECTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
GLBT ISSUES
HEMP
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
REVIEWS
Columns Harvey WassermanJackson Browne nails nuke power on Colbert September 25, 2008 Singer-songwriter Jackson Browne nailed the nuclear power industry on the Colbert Show. Browne is in New York touring for his new album "Time the Conqueror." He is also suing the John McCain campaign for the illegal use of his "Running on Empty." McCain placed the song as background in an attack ad against Barack Obama. (For a full transcript and video, see this page). Browne is a long-time opponent of atomic energy. In 1978 he joined Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie before 20,000 opponents of New Hampshire's Seabrook Nuclear Power at what was until that time the biggest demonstration against a reactor in U.S. history. A year later he became an organizer of Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) which sold out five nights of concerts in Madison Square Garden. On the final day of the concerts, MUSE staged a rally at Battery Park City that drew 200,000 people, again the biggest crowd to ever attend a US anti-reactor demonstration. Among those also performing were Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Crosby, Stills and Nash and many more. A triple album that emerged from the concerts went platinum, and the Warner Brothers feature film "No Nukes" is still in video circulation. Browne has continued to do benefit concerts for safe energy groups over the years. In the fall of 2007 he helped form NukeFree.org with Bonnie Raitt and Graham Nash. They came together to oppose a proposed Congressional $50 billion loan guarantee package meant to fund new reactor construction. After an October 23 media conference and lobby day in Congress, the bill was withdrawn, marking what may be remembered as a critical landmark turning point in the fight against nuclear power. This fall the nuclear industry came back to Congress with a "blank check" proposal for virtually unlimited loan guarantees to build new reactors. But amidst the collapse of Wall Street's major financial institutions last week, that proposal was also withdrawn. The reactor builders have thus far persuaded public service commissions in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas the force ratepayers to fund new reactor construction with raised electric bills. But the projects may still need federal money, and public opposition is mounting there, as local electric bills have already begun to soar. . After a "discussion" of McCain's use of Browne's "Running on Empty," Colbert raised the reactor issue:
Browne: No. Colbert: What are your problems with nuclear energy, other than the fact that there might be an accident or a meltdown or fallout from a terrorist attack? Other than those three, 'cause I've named them — Browne: Other than that, it can't pay for itself. It needs government subsidies, which basically will result in a sort of socialized corporatism that the American people would pay for and Wall Street would profit from — Colbert: They're getting used to paying for things that Wall Street profits from. Browne: Exactly. Colbert: So I think it might be easier in the future, to sell that idea. Browne: The problem is, they still don't know what to do with all the waste. They act as if, "Oh, we're gonna work that out in the next little while," but it's been 50, 60 years now — Colbert: Why don't we just spread the waste evenly from state to state? Or do you have something against mutants now? Browne: Exactly. Colbert: "Everybody should be accepted, except people with psychic power"? Browne: That's it, that's it. Harvey Wasserman co-founded Musicians United for Safe Energy and NukeFree.org. His SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH is at www.harveywasserman.com, along with HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. He is senior editor of www.freepress.org, where this piece first appeared. Email this article to a friend |
|
"John "Nuke Bailout" Bryson must NOT be Secretary of Energy" "Will Obama-mania lead us to Solartopia? YES WE WILL!" "GM must re-make the mass transit system it murdered" "A Chicago-area electoral victory says "No We Won't" to nuke power" "Because we fought for them my daughters have cast paper ballots" "Jackson Browne nails nuke power on Colbert" "Nuke power liabilities dwarf Bush’s bailout" "A towering (but temporary) Solartopian victory against nuke power" "The Senate's "Drill Drill Drill" bill hides nuke power mega-theft" "McCain's Michigan melt-down madness" "The REAL 1960s terrorists were named Westmoreland, Johnson & Nixon" "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the reactor revival is NOT ready for prime time" "Al Gore inches toward Solartopia" "The next New Yorker cover must be "McBush"" "Bush/McCain's gas price scam is an Enron re-run" "King Fossil loves global warming & removes McCain's mountaintop" "Coming June 3: the twin towers of Internet censorship and atomic reactor terror" "HBO'S "Recount" demands a sequel for 2004...and a prayer for 2008" "Can a civil rights/feminist presidential union put John Edwards on the Supreme Court?" "Can Barack Obama become the Jackie Robinson of the American Presidency?" "Making YOU pay for the next Chernobyls ... in advance!!" "Where's George?" "Will Al Gore help shut the nuke power loophole?" "Did Republicans Give Hillary Her Victory in Ohio?" "Did Turkey Point again take Florida to the radioactive brink?" "How swing state Ohio got nuked" "There’s nothing mainstream about the corporate media" "Will Ohio be left behind by the green energy revolution?" "Anti-nuclear renaissance: a powerful but partial and tentative victory over atomic energy" Read Articles by Year: |
FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE
FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook
SEARCH THE FREEPRESS
1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer