Michael “Savage” Weiner is getting more and more dangerous with his tyrades based on emotion, not facts. I would not feel any sense of loss if he vanished from the radio airwaves.
This week he called “for the head of whatever moron sent our boys on the USS Ronald Reagan into the radioative plume of the power plants at Fukushima”.
First, the USS Ronald Reagan was not “sent” to Japan. It was already in the area having taken part in exercises with Korea and on its qualification deployment.
The USS Ronald Reagan left San Diego on February 2nd was sent closer to the shore of Northern Japan to assist in the earthquake disaster relief effort. Although it is a nuclear carrier, it carries about 3 million gallons of aviation fuel for its jets. The primary purpose it was there was operate as a refueling platform for helicopters doing rescue operations. Jet fuel is used in turbine powered helicopters, which includes most seriously useful helicopters.
As a bonus, since it is nuclear powered, it carries military experts and sophisticated equipment and decontamination gear useful for nuclear safety related operations.
The USS Ronald Reagan is being maintained off the coast of Japan, well outside the danger zone. Savage was probably reacting to the Fox News reports that the USS Ronald Reagan had been exposed to the radioative plume. [have I mentioned lately that I dislike Fox News?]
The reality is 17 people who had been operating in 3 helicopters were detected to have been exposed to radiation when they landed back at the carrier. They were quickly decontaminated. Their total exposure of the person with the highest dose was equal to one month’s background radiation. Details One month of background radiation would be about 100 microSieverts (µSv = 1/1,000,000 of a Sievert). A CAT scan is around 6,900 µSv. All they had to do was take a shower.
Here is the response from the captain of the USS Ronald Reagan to the media hysteria
Friends and Family of USS Ronald Reagan:
I want to take this opportunity to personally assure you that first and foremost all personnel aboard the USS Ronald Reagan are safe and healthy.
During our mission to assist our close allies of Japan, we were operating near the radioactive plume from Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant. As you may have already heard, radioactivity was detected on 17 personnel from our ship, however, we promptly took the proper precautions and the radioactivity was easily removed by using soap and water. The levels that were detected were very low levels. To put this into perspective, the maximum radiation dose received was equalt to the amount of natural background radiation one would receive in one month from sources such as rocks, soil and the sun.
Ronald Reagan has since repositioned away from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant.
As a nuclear-powered aircraft carrrier, we have extensive technical expertise onboard to properly monitor such types of risks, and if necessary, rapidly resolve the situation.
We have taken all the necessary precautions to ensure that everyone is safe. We have closely monitored spaces, evaluated everyone who has flown or worked on the flight deck and cleaned the aircraft.
I have not seen any levels of radiation or contamination that would cause me to have any significant concerns at all.
As we continue to assist Japan in this terrible catastrophe, our Sailor’s–and your loves ones’– safety will remain at the top of my priority list.
Capt. Thom Burke
It is impossible for me to understand how it serves the country to call the officers serving in the U.S. Military “Morons”, treating the people in the U.S. military as if they are fragile chilren and scaring their relatives for no reason.
The USS Reagan has changed its operations so they are not operating inside an area likely to have radiation, but as time goes by, that’s pretty much impossible. The U.S. State Department behaving like cowards and scaring Japan’s population is doing significant damage to our future strategic relationship with Japan.
When he chooses to be sane, to be civil, and not to be self aggrandizing (especially by disparaging conservative competition), Savage can be informative and entertaining. I’ll make some allowances for the periodic explosions of passion, too. But I simply can’t listen to him for long before I just have to move on. Anyway, let the market decide.
I enjoy listening to him like I used to enjoy listening to my Cousin Rick who is borderline crazy – sheerly for the entertinment value.
He can be informative when he isn’t twisting facts to his story line.
But when IS HE sane, or civil, and especially NOT self aggrandizing?
Hmmm … never.
And is his name really Weiner? So he is a Weiner.
I knew it. No wonder he wants to be called Dr. Savage.
Yes. When you hear Mark Levin talk about the “Weiner Nation”, that’s what he is talking about.
I’m sure Levin has a number of issues with Savage, but the one I’ve heard him say a couple times is that he doesn’t like that Savage changed his name to hide the fact that he’s Jewish.
If you look up Michael Weiner, you’ll see that’s the name his herbal cure books were published under. He created the formula for Rock Star Energy Drink, the company his son and wife run (She’s the CFO).
Thanks Art- it’s refreshing to see common sense and facts displayed here. The idea that seamen on one of the world’s most advanced NUCLEAR aircraft carriers would be disturbed by a little extremely low level surface contamination is ludicrous.
And Fox News has really disappointed me with their hysterical Japan coverage, especially Shepherd Smith. He got his big break on the Katrina story, and from the moment he started his Japan coverage it appeared that he was trying to sensationalize the Japanese nuclear problems into another Katrina story. As the nightly broadcasts passed it was clear that he was becoming more and more frantic because none of the locals were panicking the way that he thought they should be.