More Complaints About Yucca Mountain

AstroAce writes "I saw this article about the Yucca Mountain Nuclear waste dump, and was doubly intrigued. Not only did I do lab tech work on a YM grant as an undergrad, but my science advisor said the best thing I could do for science would be to become a Congressman, and get hold of the purse strings (remember SSC, the Super-conducting Super Collider?) I think geeks would be the best representatives of other citizens, making detailed, objective analysis of the issues, arriving at rational conclusions and actions. However, they don't seem to be gregarious enough to be politicians. Are there examples of both?"

Comments

Re:Politics

[kabocox]

Time for me to spout out my over simplistic solutions to these political problems.

Abortion lets make it illegal. To make all the women that would like abortions happy though well will have a federal school somewhere where each of these aborted kids will be sent to and raised by the federal government to conform to the federal governments views. Hey the individual mother didn't want the kid. She should have no legal rights what so ever over the child or children.
If it was over econmic reasons, the state could raise the kids until the time the mother could support a child, if ever. I'd want a condition in there that any female not raped that has a child aborted should be sterlized. If the mother chooses not to be sterlized, then she should be force to pay the bill to the state for raising her kids. There should be some additional rules in there for rape victims as well.
Morally individuals don't have the right to terminate life. Only at a government level can lives be legally terminated. (Think soldiers killing enemy solders, police killing criminals, or anti-terrorist units killing terrorists.) The only time I might have the right to kill another human is in self defense. Even then there would be a jury trial.
Socal Security that is fun. I'd tie the "retirement age" to the life expectancy age of the individual at the time of the individual's birth.
Actually, I read somewhere where the whole concept of retirement age was to only cover those that should be statisticly dead from old age but where not. Think current retirement age should be somewhere around 80 or 85. I know that would truely suck. I don't want to retire at 80. I'd much rather retire at 55, but honestly alot of folks can be productive citizens into their 60's and 70's. We as a people haven't gotten there yet.

You'd love my ideas to encourage businesses to work individuals less and for individuals to work more. I'd have have double, triple and quad over time. It would not matter if you worked at muliple places of business the hours would add up. :) Grins Evilly. Hours up to 20 are regular work hours. Between 20 and 35 would be double pay hours. Between 35 and 50 would be triple time pay. Everything over 50 hours a week would be quad time pay. This would have the effect of making businesses want to hire more individuals to work less. It would cut employee work hours, but the more hours worked the higher the pay. There will be alot of places that couldn't just hire extra individuals. I know that would never be passed. Those that controll business would kill it. I can dream though.

Re:about Yucca Mountain

[squiggleslash]

I think the most obvious solution to be honest is to spread it over fields and use it as fertilizer. This would not only get rid of it, but also increase the mutation rate of crops, which in turn would mean we'd end up with wild new strains of corn, wheat, barley, canola, etc, improving choice and, through the use of selection, allowing us to create hardier and more healthy foods.

But nooooooooooooooo the environazis at Greenpeace and the Sierra Club and the WWF and Cato institute would have you think it's "Unsafe" and "Suicidal" and "Good God Man, what's gotten into you?! Are you INSANE?!", but I don't see them coming up with alternatives.

I just don't understand some people myself.