IT'S ELECTION TIME

Carter's proposed solution of the energy crisis is that he is a nice guy and wants to be president; but he did make some relatively unequivocal statements against nuclear power (he is utterly unconcerned about safety of non-nuclear power), and many media were quick to play him up as a "nuclear engineer" or 'nuclear physicist." Business Week writes about his "nuclear background," and one of Science;s societally relevant altar boys sings the praises of his "nuclear expertise."

In fact, Carter is a nuclear expert like Idi Amin is a prima ballerina. He never served on any nuclear submarine, least of all on the Sea Wolf, which was launched some 21 months after Carter had returned to growing peanuts; and the nearest he ever came to nuclear engineering in a one-year Navy training program was a one-semester course on reactor engineering, now 23 years out of date. [For more, send SASE to Council on Energy Independence, Box J. Chicago, IL 60690.]

The League of Conservation Voters, beleaguering voters to conserve its own lifestyle, boasts of having spent some $50,000 up to July for financing opponents of 12 selected candidates; this "nonpartisan" organization gives highly persuasive and detailed reasons why they should be opposed (e.g., D.L. Ray: "Former AEC head," or A. Hinshaw: "Nuclear proponent; Bircher") and equally convincing reasons for the financed candidates ("nuclear critic," "dam fighter"). The list of 12 is preceded by a tirade against the biggest villain of them all, Mike McCormack (D-Wash.), one of the few scientists in Congress, and one who has had the courage to stand up for nuclear power and refuse to sacrifice human lives for political ends, when it would have been so much easier to take the popular, profitable and publicity-garnering line that so many of his cynical colleagues have taken.

The LCV also issues annual charts of how members of Congress vote on energy and environmental issues. If the accompanying drivel is ignored and the charts correctly interpreted, they are quite useful, for this well-heeled pressure group seems to have hired competent researchers.