-Gus
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Udall is a courageous leader. Something different for a change. But what Los Alamos wants is a another coddling bumble-head to replace Plutonium Pete; someone that does one thing and only one thing when it comes to the Lab -- place it on a pedestal and funnel money to it non stop. [...] Los Alamos ought to get a new script. Its no longer the "jewel" of the DOE complex where only the best-and-brightest are drawn to work on important projects of national importance. We all know now that this is just a bunch of bunk, and Udall has the courage (and integrity) not to promote [...] the Lab as others have. Udall is a breath of fresh air.
But, but... We're the best. AND the brightest. We deserve coddling.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteImagine the Voice of God, deep and echoing:
ReplyDelete"NO, YOU'RE NOT.
NO, YOU DON'T. THY SHALL HAVE 1,800 RIFS UNTO THIS YEAR.
*AND* A PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS."
(Plus, no snow for Pajarito Ski Hill.)
6:54:
ReplyDeleteYou may, or may not be correct in characterizing the author of the comment. I certainly have no knowledge of who the person is.
I therefore am curious as to why you think you do. If it turns out that you have no basis for your claims (or choose not to respond to the request for clarification), I'll just delete your comment as yet another unfounded claim.
-Gus
Gussie,
ReplyDeleteYou should have posted the original comment intact with all of the misspellings and poor grammer. The original comment was written by a sloppy writer for sure, and a seemingly sloppy thinker too.
H. Glossup
H. Glossup:
ReplyDeleteThose interested are certainly encouraged to follow the link to view the original.
-Gus
I don’t know if LANL remains the “Jewel of the DOE Complex” or not. In all honesty, it’s not my, or your, decision to make. Perhaps much of the original post is true. Only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteBut to say that “Udall is a courageous leader”, or “Udall is a breath of fresh air”, is complete and total garbage. He’s playing up to the Santa Fe anti-nuclear base, plain and simple. If the other side offered him more money or votes, he’d turn on his current base in an instant.
Courageous Leader, breath of fresh air? Not hardly. He’s just an ordinary politician.
And, BTW 6:54 PM, While I don't fully agree with you (I don't like Udall for reasons not related to LANL) your post was very well stated and insightful, Thank You!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSuppose you were sick and need a heart by-pass operation to survive. The Udall method to handle this would seem to entail the user of no anesthetics, no life support, and cutting at your heart with a rusty knife. You wouldn't survive.
ReplyDeleteI want to see LANL diversify. However, you can't take the ax to the current budget, supply little in the way of support for project diversification, let NNSA mandated costs at LANL continue to grow uncontrolled, and then hope the patient LANL pulls through.
It's going to take time and real political support to save LANL. IMHO, Udall has no desire to see this thing through. Like others have said, he is simply catering to the anti-nuke crowd that lives down in Santa Fe. In fact, his actions of voting against the NNSA budget and then putting in an amendment to put back some of the funding was a huge political error. His amendment went down to a big defeat, thus solidifying the decision in the House to make drastic cuts at LANL. This was the type of political action of a novice.
Udall doesn't deserve to hold his current position if he hasn't learned how to play the game correctly. His incompetent actions in handling this situation are going to end up costing LANL many high paying jobs and hopefully Udall's job, too.
Apparently I was not clear enough in my recommendations to 6:54pm regarding his comment claiming knowledge of who the author of this post was.
ReplyDeleteAllow me to make up for that oversight:
Anybody who claims knowledge of the identity of another anonymous contributor should be be prepared to show how that knowledge presented itself.
For example: "I was looking over my uncle Earnie's shoulder as he sumbitted an anonymous comment to LANL, The Rest of the Story," would represent a dubious, yet marginally acceptable proof.
Without such evidence anybody claiming to "know" who another anonymous contributor has merely demonstrated his stupidity.
There has been more than sufficient stupidity demonstrated on this blog during its short tenure, so I don't think we will allow more stupidity of this particular flavor to be indulged.
Therefore, all comments purporting to "know" who the original author is have been deleted.
Cheers,
-Gus
Good question, 8:17. The primary answer is "out of deference to Pinky." This is his blog, after all, and he prefers to err on the side of openness rather than censorship.
ReplyDeleteIf it were my blog, I would probably just delete most of the garbage.
However, it is illustrative, in a sense, to allow most of it through in that it clearly demonstrates the character of many of LANL's best and brightest.
I mean, face it: nobody outside of the LANL community much cares about what goes on here, much less being disposed to take the time to write on this blog about what goes on "up on The Hill."
Udall is not a "courageous leader." What is he leading? How can he not understand that LANL management cannot unilaterally change the course of LANL policy or research direction? He is a typical politician, taking advantage of any situation that is too complex for a 30 second sound bite to make cheap political points with his own sound bites. Udall does a grat disservice to his Northern New Mexico constituents. Where is his analysis of the economic impacts of the budget cuts at LANL? Doesn't he owe his constituents that analysis before he votes? Udall is just lazy, and not all that bright, either.
ReplyDelete"Comment of the week", eh?
ReplyDeleteIn the same sense as Hitler was once Time's Man of the Year, I suppose.
8:35:
ReplyDeleteI've noticed how badly Los Alamosans react when opinions are voiced that LANL has outlived its usefulness and needs to change or die. Sadly for you lot, you are in the minority on this one. The sooner you face that reality and no longer feel quite so compelled to shoot the messenger the better off you will be.
That's right 8:51 PM let's shut LANL down. Iran or Pakistan come to blow up a nuclear weapon and then what? We can come to you for assistance? Brilliant, just brilliant ...
ReplyDeleteI'm the author of "What kind of psychopaths are you? Maybe you guys deserve to be shut down."
ReplyDeleteNice way to cherry pick, 8:17.
My comment was in response to some nutcase who was quoting Tom Clancy for foreign policy inspiration, and saying "kill them all, let God sort them out." Why the hell is such a person allowed near nuclear materials?
I stand by my comment.
No, no no no no, 9:01. JB Weld is Bechtel's (a construction company, you know) idea of Cyber security, not Nuclear security. Their ideas on Nuclear security are far more comprehensive.
ReplyDeleteBut, but... We're the best. AND the brightest. We deserve coddling.
ReplyDelete11/25/07 6:42 PM
...Right.....and daycare dangit!
"I stand by my comment.
ReplyDelete11/25/07 9:14 PM"
So you condem 12000 people for the comment of one person who may not even work at LANL. You sir are the pyschopath and I stand by this comment.
"However, it is illustrative, in a sense, to allow most of it through in that it clearly demonstrates the character of many of LANL's best and brightest."
ReplyDeleteGus I really doubt that the blog represents what people are like in LANL. Also there are many people outside of LANL that do care. You have to consider that LANL is the largest scientific laboratory in the United States, what happens at LANL will have far reaching effects on future of science in the United States. Perhaps it is time to start cleaning up the blog.
9:36pm: Really? Might I venture a guess, and assume that it involves large tanker trucks of JB Weld positioned strategically at our border, attached to huge squirt guns aimed into the sky?
ReplyDelete1:20am,
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ. You only have to go as far as Albuquerque, and most people barely even know that LANL changed contractors a year and a half ago. You go back to Washington, and practically nobody has any sense of, or much cares about what is going on at LANL (Dingell and Stupak notwithstanding).
The point being, what you see posted here is largely being written by members of the LANL community. Like it or not.
-Gus
"You go back to Washington, and practically nobody has any sense of, or much cares about what is going on at LANL"
ReplyDeleteTrue, but at the same time do they care about what is going on at any of the national labs?
"The point being, what you see posted here is largely being written by members of the LANL community. Like it or not."
This is also true, however it may not be representative sample. For all you know it could be the same
10 people who are statistical outliers.
I don't pretend to know what the distribution of posters is. I'll leave that as an exercise for somebody with a whole lot more time on his hands than I have.
ReplyDelete-Gus
"...LANL has outlived its usefulness..."
ReplyDeleteOK. I'll bite. Who certifies the stockpile, builds replacement parts, life-tests components and in general retains the scientific basis for the trillion dollar US investment in weapons science?
Dingell?
Sounds like the mission is still kinda important.
ReplyDelete11/26/07 8:19 AM--I don't pretend to know what the distribution of posters is. I'll leave that as an exercise for somebody with a whole lot more time on his hands than I have.
ReplyDeleteOk, so why is it even important know people's identity? Who gives a damn? In a democracy don't people have the right to spew? Geeez! Forget this blog. I'm oughta here!