WHY FLY THE NUCLEAR ROCKET?
I recall in 2001, doing a quickie, informal internet count to see who was big, and who was not. When I googled the words "Indian Point" I got about 89,000 hits. When I googled the word "Riverkeeper" I got only about 150 hits.Likewise, googling the monikers "Alex Matthiessen" and "Robert F Kennedy jr" got each only about 80 hits. But that condition was not to last.
You see, throughout late 2001 and all of 2002 we had the big press agent's foodfight, lasting roughly three years, resulting in the hit count I got this morning: Check it out:
Indian Point............461,000
RFK jr......................260,000
Riverkeeper.............202,000
A. Matthiessen..............1,250
Rep. John Hall.................314
Wrestling with the huge attention-grabber Indian Point, has been extremely beneficial for both Kennedy, and Riverkeeper. Although environmental purists might consider their struggle to close Indian Point to have been a failure, that is not exactly true. The old Riverkeeper pre- 2001, with a tiny mailing list, just six volunteers, and a mission many people considered over and done with, only pulled 150 internet hits.
Riverkeeper of 2007, with 23+ workers, 202,000 internet hits, and a specially created office of institutional collections, geared to pulling in the big moneys available from foundations, colleges, and trust funds, is firmly nestled in the pantheon of big charities, along with United Way and the Sierra Club. Congratulations, Riverkeeper! Talk about using nuclear power !! It seems like your organization found out just how to utilize the "nuclear rocket" that the Air Force never got the hang of, to orbit yourselves into a permanent cushy gig, being mildly offended and accepting checks (in between charity balls).
Since the middle aged Riverkeeper no longer depends completely on Indian Point, I've included the next Greenworlder to discover the star power of Indian Point's nuclear rocketry, Representative John Hall, as harbinger of the next generation of press-hungry wannabe's "Mounting The Nuke-Rocket", for the wonderful ride to stardom, and fat retirement. Although he just garners 314 hits currently, I'm sure that if he sticks with Indian Point as his ride, his numbers will balloon. Besides, doesn't he look GREAT in that silver suit?
(Oh, by the way,...Indian Point gets no bonus from the quintupling of their fame, you buy their electricity regardless)
