Song Lyric of the Day (“No Nukes,” Urging an End to “Atomic Poison Power”)

“Just give me the restless power of the wind
Give me the comforting glow of a wood fire
But take all your atomic poison power away.”—“Power,” by John and Johanna Hall, from the No Nukes CD (1980)

For a long time, I felt that “Power,” the anthem of the 1979 all-star "No Nukes" concert at Madison Square Garden, was a song of the moment, with no lasting relevance. Events of the last week have proven how wrong I was.

If a country such as Japan—which has taken extraordinary measures to prepare for an earthquake—can suffer the kinds of horrors we are now seeing associated with nuclear power, how much hope do we have of evading a similar fate in the United States, where industries have become accustomed to chipping away at regulations meant to ensure the public good?

The next time politicians—Republican or, amazingly enough, Democratic—ask us to consider expanding atomic energy in this country, just remember this: They’ll do to the environment what they did to our financial system a few years ago.