The Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-partisan group, wanted to bring attention to the threat of nuclear weapons. They bought an ad at the Minneapolis airport and put up a nice little poster shown at the right. (sorry for the low res...best I have found).Well, someone complained and it has been removed for being anti-McCain and "too scary". NEWS FLASH: NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE SCARY! Of course, it also states the Northwest Airlines (official airline of the Republican convention) has the right to reject ads in its concourse! Yep, corporate censorship at its best.
Now I know there are those out there thinking the UCS is taking a cheap shot at McCain...except the SAME AD is up in the Denver airport addressed to Obama...oh, and it has stayed up.
Now the really strange thing is that the UCS pretty much likes McCain's stance on nuclear weapons. From the story: "Negin (spokesman for UCS) disputed that the ad is anti-McCain, noting that the Denver version names Obama. He also said both candidates largely agree with the group's position."
So in this wacky world, we have an ad that AGREES with McCain's position being censored for being anti-McCain? WTF?
The one consolation I take is that the UCS is plastering the ad all over town so hopefully, Northwest's corporate censorship will prove impotent and ineffectual.
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3 comments:
If the scientists were serious about eliminating the use of nuclear weapons, they should be loudly decrying the invasion of Georgia by the Russian "Federation". If anything could easily escalate into a nuclear exchange, it's Russian aggression in that region.
I grew up with the Bomb. I remember the school drill where you crouched under your desk in case of nuclear attack. I remember the Cuban Missle Crisis. That scared the hell out of the grownups. I think living with the threat that long, I've become "accustomed" to it.
My personal worst case scenario/fear for the present day: terrorists + nuke. The possibilities are endless, and given the right (wrong) set of circumstances, Armageddon could be triggered.
A scarey attitude? Okay, I'm a odds person. What are the odds? I think Chicago is far enough away, and I hope Milwaukee is if some terrorist got ahold of a briefcase nuke. Those are really the only two worries near us.
When a place is picked it is going to be an easy to get to target, and a large population center. Think along the coasts. I don't want to see an attack on my country, but I'm not too worried that attack will be on my person. We're just too big for those odds to scare me.
The aftermath is what could be unpleasantly interesting.
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