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:: ReVolting! ::
Monday, March 22, 2004
What's in your friendly neighborhood nuclear plant? It just might be RED RADIATION!
Few Americans realize that uranium once intended to destroy their civilization is now helping to keep it very much alive by powering televisions, microwaving dinners and chilling beer.
Uranium extracted from Russian nuclear warheads helps supply about 10 percent of U.S. electricity, according to USEC Inc. (USU.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , which has charge of the "Megatons to Megawatts" project that has helped Russia reap profits from previously loss-making nuclear disarmament.
The Bethesda, Maryland-based company purchases uranium taken from dismantled Russian nuclear warheads under a 1993 U.S.-Russian nonproliferation agreement. What's wrong with good ol' fashioned AMERICAN uranium? Why give those godless secularists jobs that could benefit John or Jane Q. Public? Power companies: look for the "Enriched to reactor-grade in the USA" tag when shopping at your local depot!
You know, Rocky predicted this, um hmm, yessir he did. Right at the end of Rocky IV, after his glorious defeat of Ivan Drago, when he spouted off what amounts to nothing less than a MANIFESTO FOR EXPORTING THE AMERICAN WORKER:
I came here tonight and I didn't know what to expect. I seen a lot of people hating me and I didn't know what to feel about that so I guess I didn't like you much then neither. During this fight I've seen a lot of changing. The way yous felt about me and the way I felt about you. In here there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than 20 million. What I'm trying to say is if I can change, and you can change, then we all can change!
Indeed - we've all seen the powerful change wreaked by globalization and laissez-faire capitalism. This implicit endorsement of Adam Smith's invisible hand leaves very little room for a struggling uranium miner laid off because the Russians have U-235 coming out of their red sickle-holes!
Dang... where was I going with this? Aside from the Rocky quote, it's not even that funny. I did come across some highly awesome attempts to tie-in Rocky IV with geopolitics while I was trying to find a transcription of that speech though. Enjoy this choice quote from the first (and please note that the Lake Placid winter Olympics actually occurred in 1980):
There are many great qualities about this movie. It entertains, it uplifts, it instructs, and it is enjoyed my different generations and by people that are not sports fans. The movie perpetuated the pride we felt after the U.S. victory over the U.S.S.R. in a hockey match during the 1984 Lake Placid Winter Olympics. It gave us pride in America when times were frightening and gave us hope that we could resolve our differences peaceably. To me it brought back the old idea of settling things with your fists and not your guns.
Posted by morland @ 07:24 PM
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