Duluth activist & cohorts shut down high-security nuke plant

Joel Kilgour Aug 03, 2012 14 Comments

Today on the Reuters newswire:

The U.S. government’s only facility for handling, processing and storing weapons-grade uranium has been temporarily shut after anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, breached security fences, government officials said on Thursday.

Duluthian Greg Boertje-Obed (R) was among them. Turns out our nukes aren’t so secure after all. Also turns out the same Obama who won a Nobel Peace Prize for advocating nuclear disarmament has been upping U.S. spending on nuclear weapons. Read more about the Transform Now Plowshares here.

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14 Comments

Dorkus

about 12 years ago 

While the breach is significant, I find the comment about Obama spending more money on Nukes rather short-sighted.

There is this thing called inflation, and the numbers provided are not adjusted for it. Not to mention the increased cost for raw materials.

Even if we took the last year of the cold war, 1991, and adjusted the $35 Billion for inflation it would come out to ~$55 Billion not adjusting for the increase cost for raw materials. But even that is a flawed calculation, as the peak of our spending on nukes in the cold war was far more than $35 Billion. That number is just an average.

Just because they cost more now, does not mean we are making more of them.

hbh1

about 12 years ago 

You know what? I'm thinking that maybe we don't need any nuclear weaponry. Zero. Nada.

Dorkus

about 12 years ago 

I don't disagree with that hbh1. A world free of nuclear weaponry is a dream that we likely all share.

I just disagree with people using bad math to try to make a political point.

scotts

about 12 years ago 

What you all are saying is so very true.  We should work to not have a world with nuclear weapons.

However, these actions do nothing but satisfy the itch of professional activists who long to clog the justice system in the name of "religious witness."  

This action will likely have the opposite effect, as even more taxpayer money will go into security audits, tightened security at Oak Ridge, longer sentences, and perhaps even stronger sentences for federal trespass at nuclear facilities.  All costing taxpayer money, and all being used as an example for even Obama to tighten the security reigns of his regime.

Oh, but I forget, Obed and Walli are Catholic Worker lifers who refuse to pay their fair share of tax, and have lived the privileged life of "voluntary poverty" on the community's dime that they think is going to services for the homeless.  Nice to live in houses for years that you've never had to pay for.

Ramos

about 12 years ago 

Armed with wire cutters, they got right up to the wall of an "ultra-secure" nuclear facility. It's better than a glitter-bombing. I salute them.

rev

about 12 years ago 

"Turns out our nukes aren't so secure after all." 

Did I miss something? I must be reading a different article- did they sneak a nuke away to the New Jerusalemites of Turicato? From what I read, these folks got past the fences to spray some human blood (communion wine?) onto a building. Pretty embarrassing, to be sure. 

Good thing they have their Bibles and religious literature with them- too bad they'll need better arguments than "The Bible tells me so" if they ever want to move past the religious grandstanding.

That said, it's absurd that Obama got a Nobel Peace Price.

@scotts
Funny when someone refers to the Obama administration as the Obama "regime" you really can't tell if they're far-right, far-left, or just plain nuts (Alex Jones).

hbh1

about 12 years ago 

Really? "Privileged life"? Have you ever visited a Catholic Worker home? They live a life of service, and your bitterness is ridiculous. Also, please tell us how the "community dime" is supporting them. Citation?

in.dog.neato

about 12 years ago 

oh, damn.

in.dog.neato

about 12 years ago 

Enrico Fermi's research went into making the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1938.

rev

about 12 years ago 

'd say Fermi deserved it. Nobel Prize for Physics is not the same as the Peace Prize. Let me know when Obama makes some breakthroughs in fundamental physics.

in.dog.neato

about 12 years ago 

Yeah, I realize it's an argument in semantics but hey, if a bunch of conspiracy theorist whackjobs can spin any little detail into some sort of neoliberalcommietakeover bullshit, why can't I, right?

DaVe

about 12 years ago 

Obed and Walli are Catholic Worker lifers who refuse to pay their fair share of tax, and have lived the privileged life of "voluntary poverty" on the community's dime that they think is going to services for the homeless.


@scotts -- Are you saying not paying war taxes is not paying their "fair share"? As opposed to, say, Mitt Romney's off-shore millions? And why the quotation marks around "voluntary poverty"? And any part of donations to Catholic Worker houses that wind up feeding and housing staff is going to services for the homeless. Who do you think is serving them? These people! It is unbelievable that people can bitch about helping the neediest among us, and taking action against one of the greatest scourges of the modern era -- nuclear weapons.

scotts

about 12 years ago 

I was a volunteer at one of their houses in 2008-2009.  I've seen firsthand a lot of negligence - how interns were mistreated and how little accountability went on inside those houses.  In 2011 I heard that their men's house was closed and I heard that their families house was housing one person.  Live in volunteers stayed in the houses while most likely donations from their network of friends were still being asked for, while they had few if any guests.

They housed homeless men in a house that was falling apart, that was most likely unsafe for their guests, with at one point only 2 live-in members (one who was constantly traveling everywhere).

I highly doubt that much has changed.

hbh1

about 12 years ago 

Your personal experience explains your bitterness, but I do hope you understand that problems with any organization of 30 plus years come and go. And it doesn't change the reality that the people who volunteer to be a Catholic Worker have a two-pronged service agenda: they work to help the homeless, and towards peace in our world. To take umbrage at the fact that people donate to make that possible seems rather petty. To call their lives "privileged" really goes too far. It's like the banal response to demonstrators: "Get a Job!" which only points to the sad fact that so many of us prioritize (often unwillingly) our income-getting over our world-fixing. That's bitterness, and it's not helpful.

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