November 5, 2009 - Obama Bashers, Glen Beck Believers, Take Note: Stimulus Money Working in Aiken

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, I ventured down to Aiken for a breakfast being hosted to welcome a visit by three DOE higher-ups. . . Dep. Sec. of Energy Daniel Poneman, head of National Nuclear Security Administration Tom D'Agostino and head of DOE's Environmental Management, Inez Triay.  They were there to tour the Savannah River site and discuss how things are going (not too well, if you've been keeping up, but more on that another time).  The highlight of the breakfast was a locally produced film portraying the clean up work at the site.

This year under the Obama stimulus plan, SRS received $1.6 billion taxpayer dollars to accelerate clean up of the site.  The film opens with a concession that radiation is dangerous to human health, and in the past radioactive materials have not been properly handled at SRS, and, therefore, had leaked into the surrounding environment.  This section was followed by a series of interviews with local folks who were able to either keep their jobs at SRS, or were hired to work there as part of this new re-dedication to clean up the toxic mess created by previous generations of workers.  SO - while the extreme right wing bashes Obama and claims the stimulus has been a failure, we are seeing living proof to the contrary.  The very red state that claims Joe Wilson, son of "I-hate-all-things-resembling-socialism" is a major beneficiary of the very programs some claim to hate and assert don't work.

It seems socialist programs are okay when they pertain to the Aiken/Augusta area.  Big corporations are more than happy to take taxpayer dollars when it suits their agenda, and the politicians they pay as their mouthpieces turn a blind eye when their constituents are the benefactors.  Can you say "hypocrites"?  Socialized nuclear programs are okay, but heck no to the public option for health care.  What are these people thinking?  Once again, they are blind to the big picture. . .

Susan