Friday, Oct. 11, 2002 | 1:59 a.m.
Dog bite me once. Shame on dog. Dog bite me twice. Shame on me.
President George W. Bush was sold by the Republican Party as the man who would be fair and only use approved science in determining Yucca Mountain's suitability for holding the nuke waste produced by energy corporations. That was in 2000, when then Gov. Bush of Texas was trying to become, like his father, an occupant of the White House. It worked and Nevada's four electoral votes were the margin that allowed him, despite getting fewer votes cast nationally, to become president and push nuke waste down the throats of Nevadans.
So why bring it up now? Because possible candidates are already jockeying to run for the presidency in 2004. Among the Democrats is a very charming, bright and highly respected senator from North Carolina. Many political writers have identified him as a man who is talented and knows how to campaign. John Edwards calls himself the "people's senator" and says he is an independent voice for North Carolina.
Edwards may sound like he is an ideal person to occupy the White House. There's no doubt that he represents his state with great skill in Washington. Yes, he loves North Carolina but, no matter what he may tell us in his campaign for the White House, he doesn't give a damn about Nevada. He proved that when he supported Bush by voting to send us nuke waste.
We already have too many people running around the Silver State saying they voted for Bush and support his GOP appointees, but they are against putting nuke waste in Yucca Mountain. I'm not buying into that nonsense and lack of reasoning. There can be no rational excuses given by Nevada Democrats for supporting Edwards or any other Democrat who voted in support of dumping in Yucca Mountain.
Please don't tell me that if it had been a close vote Edwards would have voted against dumping on us. He followed the lead of large energy corporations and a president who, along with his campaign staff, just flat out lied to Nevadans in 2000.
Our president has already bitten us and there is no good reason I can think of that would justify a Democrat like Edwards heading up a ticket to oppose his re-election. The senator has also had his bite out of our posteriors and he shouldn't be allowed a second mouthful. Of course, there are several highly qualified members of Congress who did vote to protect Nevada and could be on the ticket in 2004.
There is also one member of Congress who has received contributions from me for several campaigns. Our relationship had little to do with politics but because of common experiences in life and mutual friends. At least he's not thinking about running for president, but I am sure about not sending money for his next campaign. Yes, he also voted with the majority sending deadly nuke waste into the lives of my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Shame on him.
You may believe I'm suffering from Irish amnesia, which allows a person to forget everything but his enemies. You may be correct, but treating my family and fellow Nevadans to centuries of deadly waste isn't something any of us will be able to forget. Nor should we forget the people who determined that it be foisted on us.
Dog bite me once. Shame on dog. Dog bite me twice. Shame on me.
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