Couple of things
- These arguments don't really serve much good, do they? That is, they're not really telling us anything we don't already know. Of course, we should evaluate this decision from all angles and of course we should get the community involved. But, from what I can gather, we are already doing that. There was a forum sponsored by an anti-NABF group just a few nights ago, and it was one in which community citizens - including experts in the field - gave compelling arguments on why it should be located in Athens-Clarke County. So kudos to our local officials for offering some sanity on this issue because this is nothing more than sensational hyperbole designed to scare people off ... largely because they don't like President Bush.
- Furthermore, citing the British company, Merial, as your shining example of 'what can go wrong' is terribly off-base. Not only is that an extreme and once-in-a-lifetime case, it's also comparing a private pharmaceutical company with a federal agency, the latter which will be under layers of additional security and subject to extensive public oversight.
- Ben Harbin goes shameless for Augusta and, apparently, never read the actual Tripp Umbrach Report which implicitly called for an expansion in Augusta. Speaking of scare tactics, all folks like Harbin are doing are spread false information designed to stir up his constituents.
- Well, I'm about done defending Jim Marshall. I mean, you might as well have a Republican in that seat if he's going to continually vote against the majority of Democratic legislation.
- Furthermore, citing the British company, Merial, as your shining example of 'what can go wrong' is terribly off-base. Not only is that an extreme and once-in-a-lifetime case, it's also comparing a private pharmaceutical company with a federal agency, the latter which will be under layers of additional security and subject to extensive public oversight.
- Ben Harbin goes shameless for Augusta and, apparently, never read the actual Tripp Umbrach Report which implicitly called for an expansion in Augusta. Speaking of scare tactics, all folks like Harbin are doing are spread false information designed to stir up his constituents.
- Well, I'm about done defending Jim Marshall. I mean, you might as well have a Republican in that seat if he's going to continually vote against the majority of Democratic legislation.
posted by Jmac at 7:22 AM
10 Comments:
JMac -
Although I agree with your take on the NBAF proposal and also support it being located here in Athens. I do take great exception with your following statement about the federal government versus the private sector when it comes to security and plant responsibility:
"... it's also comparing a private pharmaceutical company with a federal agency, the latter which will be under layers of additional security and subject to extensive public oversight."
Whenever the Department of Homeland Security is involved you can throw public oversight right out the window. That agency loves to operate under the disguise of secrecy and will continue to do so thanks to the broad powers granted to it by President Bush.
I personally don't trust much that the Department of Homeland Security claims - it is not a conspiracy paranoia or anything like you typically hear, rather my take is : how can you trust something when you only hear one side of the story after it has been reviewed and edited before public consumption? Which is how DOHS operates.
Jared and I were talking about the NBAF thing last night, and, basically, we're both still mildly freaked out by it. Call it a NIMBY attitude if you want to. I admit that's what it is. I'm just not sure the benefits outweigh the potential costs.
I can respect that paveplanet, and far be it from me to suggest that we shouldn't work to get all the appropriate information.
However, two points ...
- While I'm obviously no fan of the Bush administration, I just don't buy into this notion that DHS is working to develop weaponized diseases at these centers (namely because this is too much of a population center ... if they wanted something to be secret, they'd keep it at Plum Island or put it in the New Mexico desert)
- There is a motley crew of folks backing this thing, ranging from progressive local leaders like Heidi Davison and Kelly Girtz to conservative state leaders like Sonny Perdue. If our local delegation, which is rather liberal and very proactive in issues such as these, feels this is a safe and appropriate project, then why should we take the word of a charlatan like Hammond over them?
Listen, I'm not saying doing raise questions or cast a skeptical eye. Doing those things are the responsibility of an engaged citizenry, which we are here in Athens-Clarke County, but it needs be done through accurate and appropriate channels. DHS may be secretive in some things, but Hammond, likewise, is misguided in some things.
Dang it.
This ...
Listen, I'm not saying doing raise questions or cast a skeptical eye.
... should read ...
Listen, I'm not saying don't raise questions or cast a skeptical eye.
The Pirbright facility was also a vaccine manufacturing facility built in the 1950s --it was old and it had gallons of stuff sitting around because it was making vaccines. NBAF's safety protocols will be much higher --modern bio-labs are built completely differently today than 60 yrs ago-- and won't have gallons of stuff sitting around because it is NOT a manufacturing facility. Moreover, to make it into one after the building has been constructed would require demolishing it and rebuilding, as the layout of a bio-tech lab and a vaccine manufacturing facility are completely different. In other words, it's physically not possible --from an architectural and design point of view-- to do a bait and switch by saying it won't manufacture vaccine before hand, then build it, and then start manufacturing. It simply can't be done in the same building.
the newest round of weirdness coming from the opponents of NBAF seems to be focused on whether there will be armed guards. They're throwing out this number of "50 armed guards" as some kind of reason not to have the facility.
On the basis of that logic, we shouldn't be having any UGA football games - there are at least 50 armed guards there too, right? ;-)
Also, this would suggest that the anti-NBAF folks would feel safer w/ no guards! I don't get it --if NBAF says there'll be guards, they're hammered; if they say there won't be guards, they're hammered. Sorry, but you can't have it both ways folks. The "there'll be guards" is simply not a valid argument, since the alternative is certainly not desireable. If you're worried about terrorism --as the anti-NBAF folks seem to be-- then you want guards, no?
I've visited a lot of manufacturing sites in my day and I don't think I've ever seen one without an armed guard. Most all places like this have armed security - even a spark plug plant that I visited.
Kroger has at least one armed guard at all times and I'm thinking that on a scale of safety ratios, if Kroger needs one then NBAF should probably have about 100. Besides, those may be crappy jobs but they are jobs with pay checks and benefits and such.
Just got an empassioned email from a friend telling me that UGA should not be trusted to run this lab safely. *sigh* Whether or not I would trust UGA is irrelevant since this isn't their lab to run.
It's sad to me that so many of my friends are divided on this issue with such sharp disagreements.
I'm not a cheerleader for NBAF. I'm OK with it but I'm not going to march in streets about it either way.
I'm still waiting to hear just one compelling and relevant (repeat, RELEVANT) argument against it.
The saddest part is that so many people are trusting in the words of somebody that they do not know, had never heard of, and doesn't live here to try and claim that so many people that they have known for years and who do live here are somehow lying to them.
I looked at the Sunshine Project as closely as I could and from what I can see, it's just 2 guys and a really crappy website. Wonder how much they get paid for their "speaking engagements"? Reminds me of one "Dr." Ken Hovind who made millions on his speaking and books (until he went to jail for fraud and income tax evasion).
Some of these folks are just too smart to be fooled so easily - I can't figure it out for the life of me.
Al
Property owners have every right to secure their own facilities, products, etc., with whatever privately-funded security they think is appropriate. That this would cause community people to worry about the plant coming into Athens is just silly. Over and out.
Not that this is analogous to any proposed facility in Athens, but is a community properly cautious about what "property owners" do if we have, say, neighborhoods associated with specific gang infiltration being overrun with high-powered rifles and shotguns? Or, even, a Hatfields and McCoys scenario?
It seems to me that people can be rightfully concerned with any influx of weapons into a region. Generally speaking, some conservatives understandably think that weaponry stabilizes conflicts so long as both sides can amass these weapons. Some progressives understandably differ, thinking that the more weapons amassed, the more likely for there to be bloodshed.
Whether privately paid or publicly funded, bringing into any community the potential to end life, as it has been known, abruptly is cause for that community to be concerned. These can be weapons, pollution, cars, hunger, indigence, ideas, language.
I don't see why this larger aspect of an organic sense of the community is not so apparent, particularly when it shows up regardless of the political or social standing of the person concerned with the change in the community. 'Armed guards' is just another variation on a vector of change, the same as 'illegal alien', 'rock music', or 'Baptist'.
There isn't anything silly about that.
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