May. 27, 2005 - 21:30 MDT

MAY THE FARCE BE

The serial goes on about the plight of the patriotic workers of our country. Specifically those survivors of Rocky Flats. There is an article in the Rocky Mountain News of today by Anne Imsee of that paper. In part:

Feds play coy on Flats compensation plan

Officials refuse to go on record about aide for sickened workers

"The head of a program to compensate nuclear weapons workers sickened on the job held a press conference Thursday -- but refused to speak on the record."

"Shelby Hallmark, director of the division of the Department of Labor that has taken over a troubled section of the compensation program from the Department of Energy would speak only if his name was not used."

"The same rule applied to Labor's solicitor, Howard Radzely, who also was on the conference call about the program, which has left thousands of sick Rocky Flats workers waiting years for help."

"Labor Secretary Elaine Chao did speak on the record, but referred questions about specifics of the program to Hallmark and Radzley."

"Federal officials often speak anonymously, even when addressing the programs they run. The Rocky Mountain News and another news outlet asked Hallmark and Radzely to go on the record, but Labor spokesman Stephanie Cathcart refused to allow it."

"Labor now runs both parts of the program that pays up to $250,000 in compensation to workers at Rocky Flats and other nuclear weapons plants who were sickened and sometimes died as a result of exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals on the job. So far, $1 billion has been paid out."

"Nationwide, 47,000 sick workers have applied to the original Labor program and 30,000 to the Department of Energy program."

"Congress shifted DOE's part to Labor last year after the Energy Department spend $95 million on paperwork while only compensating only 31 workers. DOE had no federal funding for paying workers and instead sent them to workers compensation programs."

"Since Labor has taken over the DOE's part of the program, it has paid 430 claims. More that $3.8 million has been paid on 31 cases at Rocky Flats. Another 56 approvals are pending, hout of 2,044 applications from flats workers, Cathcart said."

"Chao used the press conference to announce the publication of regulations for the former Energy program, on the last day before she would have missed a congressional deadline. "But the rules were still not on the agency's Web site by the endo of the work day."

"Riochard Miller of t he watchdog group Government Accountability Project said the Labor Department was still negotiating the rules with budget officials at day's end."

"MIller said the draft rules could bar hundreds, if not thousands of workers from collecting under the second part of the program."

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Our dearly beloved government agencies of obfuscation who are so picky about compensating people who suffer because of the press of contractors and the government to produce atomics sooner than rapidly, the workers were lied to by someone. I know one man who machined beryllium who was told there was no danger in handling it or its shavings, powder etc. Yet I remember reading in a machinists handbook published quite some time before World War Two that it was harmful to the human body.

Lets see, a total of 77,000 claims with a total of 461 claims paid. Neither Labor or DOE seemed to move with the speed demanded of the workers when the "COLD WAR" appeared to threaten. Of course it is economical to drag our economical feet as the victims die off. Fewer to pay you know.

It says in the article that DOE had no federal funding for the claims, yet it spent $95 million on paper work, compensating ony 31 workers --- now where in the heck did that funding come from ? Social Security maybe ?

Darth Vader and the Star Warps is seemingly in our federal system. Reminds me of something I read about Russia when their system was going to pot, a worker explained the system to an outsider, "Simple, we pretend to work as they pretend to pay us." So perhaps our federal departments are pretending to work as our administration pretends to fund programs such as compensation to sick nuclear workers. The irony of it all, I pray that not with you MAY THE FARCE BE . . . . . . . . . . .

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