Kind of Fun News Quiz Redux!

Dear Lord,

Well, it's been a slow summer, what with only a few leaks and no actual melt-downs and. I thought I'd use this news cycle to put out once again one of my incredibly popular….

KIND OF FUN NEWS QUIZZES!

Question 1: Which of the following Massachussets towns did not pass a resolution opposing the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's bid to extend its license for 20 years beyond its 2012 expiration date?

• Leverett
  
• Montague
  
• Charlemont
  
• Bhopal

Answer: Bhopal, because it's not in Massachussets.

Question 2: Which of the following news stories thankfully got too little play in recent months:

• The breakup of Nicole Richie's marriage
  
• Christie Brinkley's divorce
  
• Tornado Hits University's Nuclear Reactor
  
• Tornado Almost Hits Bessie-Davis Nuclear Power Plant
  
• Tornado Just Misses Nuclear Power Plant

Answer: "Tornado Just Misses Nuclear Power Plant," because it happened in 2002.

Question 3: Which corporation is the creepiest?

• Union Carbide (Bhopal disaster)
  
• Exxon (Valdez disaster)
  
• Johnson & Johnson (Tylenol tampering)
  
• Firestone (exploding tires resulting in deaths)
  
• Entergy (for Vermont Yankee's ongoing safety and maintenance problems and for the waffling about the decommissioning fund)

Answer: Probably Union Carbide, whose blunder killed thousands on the spot and poisoned the land and water for years to come. It's the kind of situation that could only be surpassed by a catastrophe at a nuclear power plant. Johnson & Johnson, on the other hand, is a clear loser in this category because the company at least expressed concern for its customers and made quick decisions to save lives. And in this category, Entergy isn't even a contender. No one has died—yet—and the environmental destruction Entergy has visited on Vermont isn't really visible. And, anyway, Entergy evidently doesn't own the plant, so why does everyone keep picking on us?

Question 4: At whose name do more people recoil?

• J. Wayne Leonard's, because the company he heads has made an art form of creating corporate shells that protect executives' personal paychecks at the expense of corporate responsibility. Witness the new confusion about whether Entergy or Entergy Nuclear owns (and is financially liable for the blunders and decommissioning funds of) Vermont Yankee. Witness also that Entergy paid J. Wayne Leonard handsomely the very same year that Entergy New Orleans (subtle name change; big difference in terms of corporate shell and liability) qualified for huge federally-funded, post-Katrina bailouts. In fact, according to EntergyPayWatch.org, "Entergy’s Board of Directors awarded the equivalent of nearly 35% of the entire federal bailout for Entergy New Orleans as compensation packages for only five employees over this two-year period."
  
• J. Wayne Leonard's, because the company he heads has given false assurances of the sort that could have fatal consequences to the people of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachussets.

Answer: Right again, Lord.

Oops, Lord. This just in: The Department of Public Service has "declined to let members of a panel created by the Legislature to do a special audit of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant join an inspection of the plant set for Monday." That's from the Reformer. Gotta go.

Amen,

Fake-Rob