Nuclear melt down of the brain...?

Even after the events in Japan from the past few weeks there is still an alarming amount of denial coming from the some of my ultra conservative friends.  They appear to be so far off the scale that they may now in fact be on the far left!  One friend of mine just this past week stated that we have more oil in this country than we know what to do with.  We all know about the strategic reserve and the "let's use yours first" to be the last man standing with an oil reserve.  Now... amazingly the comment was made that nuclear is the next best option above solar, wind, and hydro electric.  "Who wants to look at those ugly panels and wind mills all over the place".  "what happens if one blows over in a storm... some one could get hurt or injured.

Hello?? Ever get exposed to nuclear radiation from a reactor gone bad?  There is "hurt" and then there is "exposed".  They are unbelievably different situations. The possibility of being harmed by a wind turbine seems pretty remote at best.  Now... some argue that they are harmful to migrating birds and so are airplanes that impact migrating birds each year.  In fact the famous landing of the airplane in New York City occurred because the plane has sucked a migrating goose into the engine.   In fact the engineering on the jet engines is designed to be able to handle large migratory birds into the engine (they test the engine using frozen Turkey)and ultimate the real deal... makes for a real mess... but if your a passenger in the air plane its nice to know they have planned for this.

My point is that there is cause and effect for every decision we make in society.  I can only think that it is fear of change that makes people so resistant to new technologies.  That combined with the old saying of "who's ox is being gored...".
If people took the time to understand the befits it could be a different outcome.  I hear criticism from some really intelligent people who are so caught up with in the talking heads in the media that they have defied their own intelligence to line up with their side on the scale.

So... from an bright engineer in California... more nuclear and oil drilling off the coast line is the future.  Solar and wind are too expensive, ugly, and harmful to the birds and people might get hit by a part that might fall off?  What ever happened to the hippies?  I heard they have left California... but I'm not sure where they ended up.  Perhaps they are oil company executives who sold out to the man!  Who the hell is that man anyway?  And why are we still selling out?  ;)