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2009
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November
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- Comment of the Week, Day Before Thanksgiving Edition
- Happy Thanksgiving, Don't Drink the Water
- Coverups Are Bad, Transparency is Good
- Lab executive team starts Employee Survey results ...
- Comment of the Weak Minded
- Little to Show for $433 MM Infosec InvestmentGAO: ...
- Comment of the Week, Tuesday Edition
- Quote of the Day
- Comment of the Week, Monday Edition
- COW, Honorable Mention
- Comment of the Week
- For the Love of Sex and Money
- Monkey see...
- "If it wasn't for bad luck, wouldn't have no luck ...
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November
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Links
- Alsos Digital Library
- AntiPolygraph.org
- Atomic City Underground
- Bradbury Science Museum
- Buckman Direct Diversion Project
- Cold War Patriots
- Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization
- CSIS PONI Debates the Issues
- Energy Communities Alliance
- FAS Project on Government Secrecy
- FCNL Nuclear Calendar
- Fleck at the Journal
- LANL Daily News Bulletin
- LANS's LANL Home Page
- LLNL: The True Story
- Los Alamos Site Office
- Lucky 13
- National Museum of Nuclear Science and History
- New Mexico Science
- Ongoing Polygraph Discussion
- The Former LTCS
- The Original LTRS
- The Tin Star Saloon (Santa Fe) Music Blog
46 comments:
Que the attacks on "clueless LA Times reporters".
Kind of ironic for a SoCal newspaper to be bagging on perchlorates in Los Alamos. Something about looking first to the beam in your own eye before pointing out the mote in another's...
Ron Curry should go about solving real issues about the environment instead of this. It isn't an issue, yet he continues to make it one. Our state would be better off without him. And yet he continues to speak without facts
I'll take the bait, 8:36.
*snort* The LA times thinks perchlorate is an organic chemical. How can we believe anything those ignorant losers say.
More sensational crap. I guess it sells papers. I was wondering where my Tonka truck went.
A version of this same story ran in today's Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, probably owned by the same company as the LA Times.
Is there something new in it, some trigger for this story? Or is it just more LANL bashing on a slow news day?
This isn't news; it's "olds."
I'll help start up the que....
---
"Isolated on a high plateau, the Los Alamos National Laboratory seemed an ideal place to store a bomb factory's deadly debris. But the heavily fractured mountains haven't contained the waste, some of which has trickled down hundreds of feet to the edge of the Rio Grande, one of the most important water sources in the Southwest." (LA Times)
---
Ohhhh, spooky! It must be the Halloween season.
None of this is breaking news and the levels are far below those that are considered dangerous to humans. Must have been a slow news day over at the LA Times. Nevertheless, I'm sure this will help dredge up more calls to "shut the place down" by the media and Congress.
"Pueblo officials would not reveal the levels of contamination detected by the air monitors. "I can say they were high enough to raise concerns about the future," said Santa Clara Gov. Walter Dasheno."
If this accurate, I find it infuriating. The state, county, and lab all go to extensive lengths to post test results, including real-time monitoring available on the web from dozens of sites.
If this neighboring government official has test results they feel threaten health, how can they possibly justify not being transparent about this as well. Particularly for myself and other Los Alamos residents, that presumably are even closer to the source of these emissions.
Just imagine if another government entity made a similar claim; some community members would be apoplectic.
Interesting that one area where the Lab isn't hammered to a cross on this blog is its environmental stewardship. But boy howdy, fiddle with somebody's benefits and the Mr. Jekylls pop up like zits on prom night.
Who's the hottie in the pic?
Looks photoshopped.
Any of this below sound familiar? It comes from an op-ed by Peggy Noonan (WSJ; Oct 30, 2009). In this piece, she's mostly referring to today's politicians:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We're Governed by Callous Children (WSJ)
Americans feel increasingly disheartened, and our leaders don't even notice.
...I think I know part of the answer. It is that they've never seen things go dark. They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don't have the habit of worry. They talk about their "concerns" — they're big on that word. But they're not really concerned. They think America is the goose that lays the golden egg. Why not? She laid it in their laps. She laid it in grandpa's lap.
They don't feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases—"strongest nation in the world," "indispensable nation," "unipolar power," "highest standard of living"—and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally.
We are governed at all levels by America's luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they're not optimists—they're unimaginative. They don't have faith, they've just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don't mind it when people become disheartened. They don't even notice.
online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052748703363704574503631430926354.html
If this neighboring government official has test results they feel threaten health, how can they possibly justify not being transparent about this as well. Particularly for myself and other Los Alamos residents, that presumably are even closer to the source of these emissions.
Just imagine if another government entity made a similar claim; some community members would be apoplectic.
11/1/09 2:06 PM
Can you say "soverign entity, not subservient to US government laws"? It is not "another government agency" jerkwad, it is a Native American government, not subject to US law in this regard. I applaud their declaration of independence.
"Can you say "soverign entity, not subservient to US government laws"? It is not "another government agency" jerkwad, it is a Native American government, not subject to US law in this regard. I applaud their declaration of independence.
11/1/09 9:49 PM"
How is that a declaration of independence?
Not all areas of national security in the US are suffering the same steady decline and "bad luck" as the NNSA weapons complex. Some, in fact, are doing extremely well:
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"NSA To Build $1.5 Billion Cybersecurity Data Center"
The massive complex, comprising up to 1.5 million square feet of building space, will provide intelligence and warnings related to cybersecurity threats across government.
InformationWeek, Oct. 29, 2009
www.informationweek.com/
story/showArticle.jhtml?
articleID=221100260
The young man in that photo is running the wrong way! He should be running away from White Rock and Los Alamos, not toward it.
For you rockers.
The lyric is from the song "Born Under a Bad Sign" written by Robert Johnson in the 1930's or 1940's. Johnson was a colleague of Muddy Waters and Leadbelly.
The most popular version of this song is on Cream's album "Wheel of Fire" and is sung by Jack Bruce.
Good song.
"All Lab releases are within federal standards" said LANL public relations spokesperson Kevin Roark. "We are working closely with officials to ensure no offsite contamination adversely impacts surrounding communities."
Translation: We're hiring more family members of local key legislators and awarding more contracts to their business interests. As for the feds, they could care less. As for the workers, they wouldn't dare complain.
12:57 pm: "As for the feds, they could care less."
You mean "couldn't care less." Think about it.
"Ron Curry should go about solving real issues about the environment instead of this. It isn't an issue, yet he continues to make it one. Our state would be better off without him. And yet he continues to speak without facts"
--11/1/09 9:14 AM
And of course you have all the "facts" 9:14AM. Right? Or at least the ones you think the rest of us little people should know. Otherwise how would you know Curry's are wrong? So should we assume you're the authority we all need to be listening to? And the world is flat, right?
We don't care much about environmental belly aching up here on the hill. We only care about our inflated salaries, egos, benefits and retirement prospects. If we screw up the place, we'll just go back to where we came from. Let the Indians conjure up a new dance to deal with it.
Anyone seen the new "Performance Blog" that LANS/Bechtel/LASO just started for lab employees?
http://blog.lanl.gov/perform/
Lots of 'corporate-speak' is on display at this internal web site. You can supposedly leave comments to the posts, but I doubt many employees will even bother. It's also heavily moderated.
This internal blog is part of a LANS/LASO plan to "boost the morale at the lab" and allow "open communications". Yeah, right.
Right, the management is starting their own blog! Saw that too. And not just any blog, it's the Performance Blog. (What the hell is "the Performance Blog" anyway?)
My guess is, they've read the surveys and weren't pleased. Enough people must've pointed to this blog as the source of reliable information about the lab.
Take a second to read the wonderful policy they came up with. Personal attacks are not allowed, sure. That's just misdirection, read on! No venting of frustration or anger allowed. Now, that's interesting. Translation: no complaining, nothing critical of the management will be tolerated. So forget about your real problems, go think some happy thoughts and post about cute puppies and fluffy kittens. The rest of us will read it and it will raise our morale. The management figures we are all dimwitted dopes.
Their logic is amazing: instead of stopping the mismanagement and the abuse of the staff, something that would actually boost morale, get their own, happy blog. If your patient is running a fever of 105, get another thermometer!
"Otherwise how would you know Curry's are wrong? "
How would you know if he is right?
actually, it's quite genius. since most people put down "the lanl blog" on the survey, some pencil pusher may believe they are talking about the blog they created. also, imagine this scenario...
"it appears they like to blog sir"
"well, WE can have a blogging site!"
9:11, same rules as the Readers' Forum.
7:15 am: And the readers forum is known for hosting informative and direct discussions about things that matter at LANL, right?
It's clever though that they called the new thing "the Performance Blog". Two modern buzzwords in one name!
7:15 am: And the readers forum is known for hosting informative and direct discussions about things that matter at LANL, right?
Actually, 9:42 AM you would be surprised how many critical issues (at least to usual readers forum standards) were discussed lately - tap water contamination, uselessness of the former guards at the big intestine, the "validity" of the constitution on lab-property, or severe restriction of serious computer work and laptop usage through the lab-cyber-police - among the usual stuff about parking at the commuters parking place overnight, crazy bicyclists, oblivious pedestrian and cars on road rage.
Curry is pure as the driven snow (as pure as a political appointee of Richardson's can be) and has no vested interest in lying about the Lab. We on the other hand (public affairs and upper management) have a long undistinguished history of lying about just about anything and everything. So who should the public believe?
I only saw one comment posted on the new LANS "Performance Blog". It was posted under the "puff-piece" article about the great work being done by Rich Marquez for lab safety and... the comment was left by "adminperf", the same person who wrote the Marquez article!!! Pathetic is the word that comes to mind.
It's informative to know that the LLNS management out in California has started a LLNL Sponsored Employee Blog at the exact same time that LANS decided to form one. No coincidence. A couple to things to note. It's pretty obvious that this Blog and the Livermore Blog are a real craw in LLNS, LANS, and NNSA managements shorts. Also, lets give LANS, LLNS, and NNSA management a lot of credit for making their first and really tough decision: Let's make our own Blog. It had to have been a PBI.
Hey 10:36 AM,
9:42 AM here. You are right, I had no idea these topics could be discussed on the Lab sponsored Readers Forum. I stand corrected.
By the way, come to think of it, the tap water is still contaminated, and the drinkable water has been taken away. The former guards at the big intestine were indeed utterly useless, as evidenced by them being replaced by two bumps (and the word HUMP). Yet, the $30 million intestine is still there, epitomizing the idiotic and wasteful "security" that comes down from NNSA. The constitution is still not valid on the lab property. They can search you or call you and make you pee in a cup at any moment, without any probable cause. The computer rules are still draconian and make work impossible, while bringing no security benefit. And they are here to stay.
So, let's ask ourselves: what is the point of this Readers Forum? The point is that the discussion there stays internal to the lab. It is as if staff members write their complaints of a chalk board in a closed room; the managers occasionally come in, look, say, "oh, that's cute", erase, and proceed doing whatever they damn please anyway.
The same discussion is much more potent, if carried out here. LANS and NNSA are seriously scared that their incompetence, waste, corruption, and fraud are being publicized in the open. I wonder if we still would have Nanos as our director, were it not for a certain blog.
the managers occasionally come in, look, say, "oh, that's cute", erase, and proceed doing whatever they damn please anyway.
You're giving them far too much credit. I recently mentioned the park-and-ride issue (i.e. no parking overnight on lab property), which has been frequently discussed on the Reader's Forum, to a deputy AD and his sum total reaction was:
"Huh?"
11/4 9:17 pm: "The former guards at the big intestine were indeed utterly useless, as evidenced by them being replaced by two bumps (and the word HUMP)."
Yeah, but do you have any idea what is under the "humps"?? I thought not. Might temper your (un)enthusiam.
8:07 Yes, I have a very good idea what is under the humps. I remain unimpressed with LANS' ability to respond to threats in a cost effective manner.
I remain unimpressed with LANS' ability to respond to threats in a cost effective manner.
11/5/09 8:15 PM
And why is it bad to respond to threats in a non-cost effective manner? You'd rather not respond to them at all if the cost is too high?? What constitutes "cost effectiveness" in that regard? Dollars vs number of people killed in a threat incident? How many people killed per dollar makes it "cost effectve"? How much Pu stolen per dollar spent? Get real. "Cost effectiveness" has nothing to do with it. It's about effectiveness against the threat, period. Unfortunately very few people know what the threat is that we are required to defend against by DOE/NNSA.
Looks like at least one country in the world is actively working on some innovative warhead designs. Yikes!!!...
Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – Secret report (UK Guardian, 11-06-09)
The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.
The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.
The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.
Documentation referring to experiments testing a two-point detonation design are part of the evidence of nuclear weaponisation gathered by the IAEA and presented to Iran for its response.
The dossier, titled "Possible Military Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear Program", is drawn in part from reports submitted to it by western intelligence agencies.
...Descriptions of "two-point implosion" warheads designs have occasionally appeared in the public domain (there are extensive descriptions on Wikipedia) and they were first developed by US scientists in the 1950s, but it remains an offence for American officials or even non-governmental nuclear experts with security clearance to discuss them.
www.guardian.co.uk/
world/2009/nov/05/
iran-tested-nuclear-warhead-design
I know whats under the humps...AssFault! Oh great big metal detectors to detect he great big pieces of metal going over them all day...TARD.
"And why is it bad to respond to threats in a non-cost effective manner? You'd rather not respond to them at all if the cost is too high??"
So your OK with spending the entire GDP of the US protecting TA55 from a single gunman?
And you are OK with eliminating all R&D that might cause a fire, to remove that threat?
Just checking.
And why is it bad to respond to threats in a non-cost effective manner? You'd rather not respond to them at all if the cost is too high?? What constitutes "cost effectiveness" in that regard? Dollars vs number of people killed in a threat incident? How many people killed per dollar makes it "cost effectve"? How much Pu stolen per dollar spent? Get real. "Cost effectiveness" has nothing to do with it. It's about effectiveness against the threat, period. Unfortunately very few people know what the threat is that we are required to defend against by DOE/NNSA.
10:01 - Forgive me, I didn't know you had the "trust us, the bogey man is coming and we are here to stop him" defense up your sleeve. I guess the American taxpayer should just keep writing you big fat checks and putting up with traffic intestines.
7:14 am: " Forgive me, I didn't know you had the "trust us, the bogey man is coming and we are here to stop him" defense up your sleeve."
Nope - just the specific threat description that DOE/NNSA REQUIRES LANL to defend against (as in no choice about spending the money). Complain to your congressman. If you think Mikey or anybody else wants this expenditure that cuts into their profits, you're insane,
Nope - just the specific threat description that DOE/NNSA REQUIRES LANL to defend against (as in no choice about spending the money). Complain to your congressman. If you think Mikey or anybody else wants this expenditure that cuts into their profits, you're insane,
11/6/09 8:29 PM
I agree, most of the crazy "innovations" that pointlessly waste taxpayer money at LANL can be traced back to the NNSA/DOE pensil pushers. But are you implying that the intestine, castrated computers -- and numerous other gratuitous examples of waste -- are paid out of the management fee??
With all due respect, it's not how it works. The DOE bureaucrats come and say, "Today, your assignment is to waste $30 million of taxpayer money on this looney project we came up with. You management fee will depend entirely on your compliance with our orders. In short, the quicker you waste this money we are telling you to waste, the bigger your reward is going to be." LANS is quick to oblige. For them, their reward fee is the only goal, and the ends justify the means.
"If you think Mikey or anybody else wants this expenditure that cuts into their profits, you're insane,"
Oh baloney. Congress just keeps poneying up the increased funds for this nonsense. It ain't coming out of LANS fee.
There is no integrity in the system. Not at the top. Not in the middle and not even at the bottom. It is a sham.
In "D'Agostino-land", everything is going really well with the NNSA complex. The story below is further evidence...
----------
** NNSA admin is 'very happy' with MOX **
Thursday, November 05, 2009
By Mike Gellatly, Aiken Standard, S.C.
Nov. 5--The National Nuclear Safety Administration is "very happy" with the progress being made at the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility despite the facility again being cited and not having a customer for the multi-billion dollar product.
Thomas P. D'Agostino, NNSA administrator, was in Aiken on Wednesday to tour the facility and the other missions at Savannah River Site one day after a recent inspection report cited four specific faults with the MOX project's construction.
"These are incredibly minor issues ... very minor. They do not affect the integrity of construction at all," D'Agostino said. "There is strong support (for the project); in fact, the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) was strongly supportive."...
Tom D'Agostino is a fool. It is a shame that Dr. Chu decided to re-appoint this man as the chief administrator for NNSA.
Dr. Chu must really hate the large NNSA component of the DOE complex. He's going to be no "savior" for the declining nuclear weapon labs.
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