Back in December of 1985 Cardinal John O’Connor forbade a Catholic funeral mass for Mafia kingpin Paul Castellano:
Finn said a public Mass was banned because of the ”notoriety” of Castellano’s background.
Go here to read the rest. Mario Cuomo’s funeral mass is set for Tuesday:
Now why in the world should a Mafia kingpin have been denied a funeral mass when the Catholic politician who pioneered being in favor of abortion while claiming to be Catholic is granted a funeral mass? Surely the decision can’t be based on body counts since Cuomo would far exceed the puny amount amassed by Castellano. Cuomo regularly attended mass? Well, so did Castellano! Perhaps Cardinal Dolan will take inspiration from Cardinal O’Connor and forbid the mass? Sorry, couldn’t help the joke! Naah, I am certain that Dolan will be there as the canonization funeral mass takes place and also serves as a Democrat party rally. It will be up to the Head of the Church, and I am not talking about the Pope, to assess how Mario the Pious’ ardent advocacy of slaying children in the womb accords with the teachings of His Church.
Ever since the decree Ad Evitenda Scandala, promulgated at the Council of Constance by Martin V in 1418, it has been the practice to refuse Christian burial (except in the case of suicides) only when “some sentence or censure shall have been published or made known by the judge in special and express form, against some certain, specified person, college, university, church, community, or place.”
There is something odd, surely, in refusing Christian burial to those who have lived and died in the peace of the Church, except on evidence that only emerged after their death.
“There is something odd, surely, in refusing Christian burial to those who have lived and died in the peace of the Church, except on evidence that only emerged after their death.”
Which of course is not the case in regard to either Castellano or Cuomo.
“Which of course is not the case in regard to either Castellano or Cuomo.”
Naturally, those who die under “some sentence or censure” promulgated against them have always been refused Christian burial.
I was an I&C technician and instructor at the Indian Point 3 nuclear power plant in NY State when Mario Cuomo shutdown the newly built Shoreham nuclear power plant on Long Island. I worked at Indian Point 3 for 18 years (from 1982 to 2000). Through most of that time the plant was owned by the New York Power Authority whose head is the governor of the state (in 2000 NYPA sold it to Entergy Nuclear). We all feared for our jobs in the late 1980s when Mario created LIPA to buy Shoreham for $1.00 from LILCO in order to decommission a brand new nuclear power plant whose fuel had been irradiated briefly only once during startup testing. Our plant manager at Indian Point 3 was taken from us and assigned to LIPA to oversee the de-commissioning. He has described it as the most depressing event of his career. Now his son Andy has been re-elected as governor and has been working with Riverkeeper – that eco-wako group – to shutdown Indian Point just as his father shutdown Shoreham. Andy has been doing this since he was NY Attorney General. It is therefore without coincident that both men advocate the murder of unborn babies and the sanctification of the filth of homosexual sodomy. It is all about constricting the energy supply, emasculating the military and police, stupidifying the education system, restricting health care access, and denigrating the morals of the populace. But Andy takes his apostasy and heresy to new depths of infamy – both men ostensibly Roman Catholic. Andy, having been married, now lives in adultery with his concubine Sandra Day, and has received Holy Communion from Bishop Hubbard of Albany (the same Bishop who authorized distribution of needles to Albany’s heroin addicts instead of working to get them sober) while in this state of mortal sin contrary to what St. Paul commanded in Romans chapter 11. So I have shed not one tear for Mario or for his family. What that man did to NY and what his son Andy is currently doing is abominable. But the people of NY voted for both of them, and they have gotten what they deserve.
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By the way, the anti-nukes finally got Entergy’s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Brattleboro shutdown – 70% of the state’s clean electricity gone. It was all arranged by collusion between profiteers in the natural gas industry, Hydro Quebec, and liberal progressive Democrat politicians in the Vermont legislature. Rest assured that Andy has Indian Point 2 and 3 that supplies 2000+ MW of safe, clean, low-cost electricity to NYC’s transit system on the chopping block, but the idiot has banned fracking for natural gas in NY State, so there will be NO electrical power when needed. This is what liberal progressive Democrats do. Yes, I despise, loathe, abhor, and detest the whole lot of them. They have robbed well-paying jobs from tens of thousands of people and ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands, not to mention the millions and millions of babies whom they have murdered.
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And the Roman Catholic Church in the United States CELEBRATES men like Mario Cuomo and Ted Kennedy! Can you imagine if this were the Church at Corinth in Greece what letter St. Paul would have written for his third? Can you imagine the scathing they would get?
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Always vote AGAINST the Democrats. And write your Bishop about this corruption.
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BTW, I think NY State is in strong competition with Don’s native Illinois for its level of corruption.
A Mass was said for the repose of Castellano’s soul, which is all any soul and person needs. It was Castellano’s business to bless himself while alive and since he did not, the Catholic Church respected his wish.
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Avoiding scandal to parishioners is necessary as parishioners had already been scandalized enough by Castellano’s lifestyle.
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Mario Cuomo had been a great influence or rather scandal by moving a great number of peopel from the sanctuary into the abortuary.
I suppose many bishops believe it is worse to be accused of playing partisan
politics than it is to give their flock the impression that they couldn’t care
less about what public, notorious and unrepentant sinners get up to. Trouble
is, by dodging their responsibility to the faithful to admonish these public,
notorious and unrepentant sinners, they do give them political cover. In effect,
by shirking their duty, these milquetoast bishops are playing partisan
politics.
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I recall when back in ’96 the great Bishop Fabian Bruskiewicz of Lincoln, Nebraska
released a list of organizations Catholics of his diocese were forbidden to remain
with or join– Planned Parenthood, Catholics for a Free Choice, Freemasons,
Call to Action, etc.. The penalty for joining or remaining with the organizations
listed was excommunication, which could only be lifted by the bishop. It was all
really pretty straightforward, and the Catholics I know were all pretty much of
the opinion that it was a shame that what should be common sense had to be
legislated like that. What was truly embarrassing and cringe-making was the
reaction of most of the other American bishops. Many of +Bruskiewicz’ fellow
bishops released public statements criticizing his decision and declaring it
‘unpastoral’– basically, his brother bishops reacted with a collective eye roll
and a smirk.
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I very much doubt that our Lord went to the trouble to create our hierarchal
Church so that its shepherds could “lead from behind”, mouth the words “who
am I to judge?”, and let their flock form their faith on their own or fall in
with some other shepherd…
Let’s be honest. There are three cardinals who run the USCCB. They are +Dolan of NYC, +O’Malley of Boston and +Wuerl of Washington. All three favor the Democrat Party and its views on social policy. All three favor giving Communion to whoever shows up in line. All three have a say in who gets to become a bishop, archbishop of Cardinal in the USA. +Wuerl’s fingerprints are all over the +Cupich appointment. To Wuerl, Dolan and O’Malley, Canon Law 915 is a “weapon” (Wuerl’s interpretation of it).
They will NEVER speak out against any Democrat who supports abortion. NEVER – unless the Holy Spirit grabs them by the collars and shakes some sense into them.
+Dolan will say nothing about father or son Cuomo’s abortion support. Nothing.
Abortion will end in the United States when we say enough rosaries, throw out abortionist politicians and withhold money for so-called Catholic charities like CCHD.
“I very much doubt that our Lord went to the trouble to create our hierarchal
Church so that its shepherds could “lead from behind”, mouth the words “who
am I to judge?”, and let their flock form their faith on their own or fall in
with some other shepherd…”
Comment of the week Clinton! Take ‘er away Sam!
‘Naturally, those who die under “some sentence or censure” promulgated against them have always been refused Christian burial.’
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Not a bad point MPS. Where is the courage in waiting until they are dead before kicking them in the _____?
I wonder if any bishops could ever be refused Christian burial? Is Weakland still alive?
sorry my comment was really uncharitable.
Is there any idea that Mr Cuomo has made a good confession or any attempt to rectify his actions?
[…] Reasons Every Catholic Should Study Philosophy – Shaun McAfee Crd. Dolan to Celebrate Life of a Murderer – Don. R. McClarey JD Pope Francis: Right to Die Campaigners Peddling a Great Lie – C. […]
Anzlyne wrote, “I wonder if any bishops could ever be refused Christian burial? Is Weakland still alive?”
Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley spring to mind.
100% agreement with DRM on this one. But I think the accolades will far exceed the condemnations.
Each of the men mentioned in the article gave public scandal to their faith while living. At death they were each given a particular judgment by Our Savior. They are each currently reaping their just rewards. However, it is very disheartening for me to see the leaders(supposed) of our Church here in America be so fearful of using Church law to repudiate sinful actions. By this I’m referring to Canon 915. Someone mentioned the Bishop from Lincoln, Nebraska, who did exercise his duties(correctly I believe) and how his fellow Bishops did nothing. Bottom line for all the great comments here is a complete lack of real leadership for our beloved faith in our Church. Check out all the Churches that have closed in America over the last ten years. Does anyone really think a Bishop would make a stand on an issue that this topic discusses? They would have to close another 50 to 75% of their churches. It all boils down to the collection basket. What could ever motivate them to make a tough decision that would devastate their revenue stream? FAITH would be my answer. Must not be much of that floating around, amongst the effeminate folks in our American USCCB. While I haven’t acted as of this writing, I’m actually considering giving to a cloistered order rather than in my parish.
The Venerable Fulton J. Sheen famously said, “Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong.” The problem with Cuomo is he basically is wrong about following bishops who don’t uphold the teachings of the faith. As he said, the polls indicate that 67% of the public want the bishops to mind their own business and 61% of Catholics concur. So Cuomo (like Jack Kennedy who planted this logic during his campaign for president) is following the polls not the teachings of the Pope. He is an apostate by rejecting the authority of the Pope and the Church and should be denied a Catholic Funeral.
He also questioned when life begins. This is another pretend Catholic canard. All Cuomo need do is buy a science book. All he need to do is view a 4D sonogram. All he need do is view a section abortion. All he need do is follow the teachings of the Church.
I also find Cuomo’s complaint about Democrats being criticized for their position on abortion has a significantly higher rate than Republicans. Sad, very sad that he thinks this is a political issue……this is a religious issue where people like Cuomo abandon the teachings of the Church for political purposes.
I wrote my own post on this on Saturday where I discussed Cuomo’s public scandal. Rather than clog your com-box, I offer the link if you’d like to connect to it since everyone here seems to be on the same page. Please feel free to share if you think it’s helpful.
https://exmagnasilentium.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/mario-cuomo-new-york-governor-and-public-heretic/
Dennis Malone: “So Cuomo (like Jack Kennedy who planted this logic during his campaign for president) is following the polls not the teachings of the Pope.”
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Robert Drinan begot the notion that: “I am personally opposed to abortion but I cannot impose my morality on anyone.” It was first presented to the Kennedys and has outlived its inventor.
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It never bothered Drinan that he imposed his immorality on a whole nation and made us pay for it.
Father Drinan was a Jesuit, that about says it all….
Following in the infamous footsteps of Pontius Pilate who was personally opposed to crucifying Our Lord but……. Praying for only one public confession from a liberal Catholic Democrat at the end of life. Oh, the temerity of a self-righteous soul. How pitifully tragic.
Sorry but I must disagree. As a conservative Catholic & a politically conservative Republican, I have always vehemently disagreed w/ “Catholic” politicians who are pro-“choice”. I have written to many of them (including Ted Kennedy after his fatal condition was announced & his son Patrick who embroiled himself in a feud w/ his bishop) and have included booklets In in my correspondence urging them to come back to the teachings of the Church. No one knows the content of their last confession – perhaps Mario Cuomo had a “come to Jesus” moment. I believe in hell for the unrepentant mortal sinner and I believe in the absolution of sin thru an honest and sincere partaking in the sacrament of confession. I will leave the judgement to God.
I do wish the Bishops would withhold Holy Communion from Catholics who advocate for legalized abortion. To me, that would be a “teaching moment” and might instruct a wayward Catholic sinner back to the path of grace.
“No one knows the content of their last confession – perhaps Mario Cuomo had a “come to Jesus” moment.”
I pray that he did, but such a private moment in no way alters the public scandal of his life, and such a public scandal is why the Church has forbidden public funeral masses in the past.
yes Bob- “Following in the infamous footsteps of Pontius Pilate who was personally opposed …” Although it makes me squirm. I seek that coherence, that integrity of truth and struggle with exactly how to hate the sin and love the sinner. Am I in some way giving a pass, even though I am “personally opposed” when I don’t dissociate myself from my loved one in the “lifestyle” and I don’t even bring it up , only rarely, in our daily interactions.
A. Cloney: “I do wish the Bishops would withhold Holy Communion from Catholics who advocate for legalized abortion. To me, that would be a “teaching moment” and might instruct a wayward Catholic sinner back to the path of grace.”
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When King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, the first born son, of adultery, died shortly after his birth, and God removed from King David the favor of building the Temple. God told David that his son, Solomon would build that Temple. And Solomon built the Temple. This is legal precedent that God’s favors are to be removed from the sinful for their past sins, for even King David was contrite and forgiven, and Solomon built the Temple.
of course I am not in the position of authority that Pontius had– or am I? As his mother could my concerted and aggressive fight back bring about a change of his course?
My thoughts were that of an honest good confession near death. How do we know, and how do we not judge. It makes me sick really that the Church has been lead down this path as it is very confusing. And very hard to raise up children in the “truths” of the faith when the powers that be seem to be exonerated in such fashion. I like the idea of a family Mass. But then again I am sure that Mario felt he was doing the “work” of the Lord and there was collateral damage taken in the deaths of the unborn. You know, survival of the fittest and all. Sort of like the “just war” theory. One can just about rationalize anything now, can we.
[…] relics of a lost time, a more recent example exists: in 1985, Cardinal O’Connor of New York forbade a Catholic Funeral for Mafia Big Boss Paul Castellano. One can’t help but wonder if the good Cardinal, unlike […]
The difference between a true pastor and shepherd, and, well, I don’t think I need to finish that sentence.
The two bishops were/are very different from each other. Would that we had more Churchmen such as O’Connor.
Jeanne Rohl: The unborn are morally and legally innocent virgins, the standard of Justice for the state, our constitutional posterity. The duty of the state (Cuomo) is to deliver Justice and to protect and defend the innocent. The just war theory is based on defending the innocent and to deliver Justice. Cuomo may be judged for his sinfulness as well as for his ignorance to which he clung for his life.
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Now, the left is crying “foul” The Right to Life has scientific DNA and ultrasound to prove the person in the womb exists and existence is the criterion for the objective ordering of human rights. The Right to Life has all the proof and The Right to Choose has nothing. The Right to Choose is crying “unfair”. The Right to Life took our arguments away for us and without a leg to stand on, it is unfair. Ignorance untrampled. Human sacrifice.
What is remarkable is that we should be focused on all the great things Governor Cuomo accomplished for the great state of New York…. The greatest thing about the Roman Catholic church is that there is room at the table for all God’s children and all those who seek God. I personally don’t believe in ending a pregnancy, but I do believe whole heartedly in birth control. I am a christian, a catholic and I’m sure I would be at odds with many who post here.
Even more remarkable is that the social justice teaching of the church is what motivates the liberals and like me, the moderates. The anti abortion folks are motivated to save lives… so are the pro choice people…. they aren’t having the same conversation, but they are motivated by similar principles…..and Satan continues to divide us.. Shame
“The anti abortion folks are motivated to save lives… so are the pro choice people…. they aren’t having the same conversation, but they are motivated by similar principles…..and Satan continues to divide us.. Shame”
This sentence sums up why a million unborn children are sent to their deaths in this country each year with the acquiescence of people like Andy who I am sure views himself as a good Catholic.
What is remarkable is that we should be focused on all the great things Governor Cuomo accomplished for the great state of New York
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So, how long have you been employed in the Democratic State Committee’s press office?
Andy, I can’t believe you wrote that we should focus on all the great things Cuomo did for NY. I will repeat what I have written before. I was an I&C technician and a training instructor at the Indian Point 3 nuclear power plant in NY State when Mario Cuomo shutdown the newly built Shoreham nuclear power plant on Long Island. I had worked at Indian Point 3 for 18 years (from 1982 to 2000). Through most of that time the plant was owned by the New York Power Authority whose head is the governor of the state (in 2000 NYPA sold it to Entergy Nuclear). We all feared for our jobs in the late 1980s when Mario created LIPA to buy Shoreham for $1.00 from LILCO in order to decommission a brand new nuclear power plant whose fuel had been irradiated briefly only once during startup testing. Our plant manager at Indian Point 3 was taken from us and assigned to LIPA to oversee the de-commissioning. He has described it as the most depressing event of his career. Now his son Andy has been re-elected as governor and has been working with Riverkeeper – that eco-wako group – to shutdown Indian Point just as his father shutdown Shoreham. Andy has been doing this since he was NY Attorney General. It is therefore without coincident that both men advocate the murder of unborn babies and the sanctification of the filth of homosexual sodomy. It is all about constricting the energy supply, emasculating the military and police, stupidifying the education system, restricting health care access, and denigrating the morals of the populace. But Andy takes his apostasy and heresy to new depths of infamy – both men ostensibly Roman Catholic. Andy, having been married, now lives in adultery with his concubine Sandra Day, and has received Holy Communion from Bishop Hubbard of Albany (the same Bishop who authorized distribution of needles to Albany’s heroin addicts instead of working to get them sober) while in this state of mortal sin contrary to what St. Paul commanded in Romans chapter 11. So I have shed not one tear for Mario or for his family. What that man did to NY and what his son Andy is currently doing is abominable. But the people of NY voted for both of them, and they have gotten what they deserve. By the way, the anti-nukes finally got Entergy’s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Brattleboro shutdown – 70% of the state’s clean electricity gone. It was all arranged by collusion between profiteers in the natural gas industry, Hydro Quebec, and liberal progressive Democrat politicians in the Vermont legislature. Rest assured that Andy has Indian Point 2 and 3 that supplies 2000+ MW of safe, clean, low-cost electricity to NYC’s transit system on the chopping block, but the idiot has banned fracking for natural gas in NY State, so there will be NO electrical power when needed. This is what liberal progressive Democrats do. Yes, I despise, loathe, abhor, and detest the whole lot of them. They have robbed well-paying jobs from tens of thousands of people and ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands, not to mention the millions and millions of babies whom they have murdered.
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This is what the Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew chapter 22 about people like Mario and Andy:
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11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Andy I can’t believe you don’t recognize that abortion is killing a person.
…and “greatest thing about the Roman Catholic church is that there is room at the table for -all God’s children and all those who seek God- ..” Sometimes we are a little cavalier with counting ourselves in the intimacy of God’s family.
IMO too many people give themselves a cozy place as a son or daughter of God when daily actually rejecting the authority and love of God as Father.
John 8:44,”You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
1 JOhn 3:10 “The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.*
Romans 8:14 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Andy: “The anti abortion folks are motivated to save lives… so are the pro choice people…. they aren’t having the same conversation, but they are motivated by similar principles…..and Satan continues to divide us.. Shame”
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Abortion to save the life of the mother is, in fact, Thomas Aquinas’ just war theory. To save the life of the mother, the mother’s death must be imminent, right here, right now. The mother’s death may not be a prognosis, nor an absolute without her death presenting itself imminently. Without the danger of the mother’s death presenting itself, abortion is homicide, the intentional murder of an innocent sovereign human being without his being given due process of law.
Paul. It breaks my heart to align myself against nuclear power in that unless common people learn to control that power and respect that power, it may not be in their best interest. (and this from folks who do not know what to do with the power of regeneration, of producing our constitutional posterity. Saint Paul said that if you do not know what to do with it, cut it off. and Paul, I know you know where that may be annotated).
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I also remember that it was discovered that the Indian Point nuclear plant was built on an earthquake fault. That the rock was already split and fissured and that it was only a matter of time. and Yes, I am a fussbudget and we may never get to Mars, but the immediate concern was that of sparing the population at hand. So many escape routes were put forth. However, in a true emergency, those escape routes will be clogged with empty gas tanked cars and trucks as when Sandy clogged the N.J. Turnpike, and Floyd clogged every westward escape route in South Carolina.
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I am for nuclear power to propel us to Mars, Yay. even if we come back all green and funny looking from radiation in outer space. And I am for nuclear power going forward with the information we have at hand, here and now. But I do not trust a race of people who embrace the destruction of their own posterity without reason.
Mary, all nuke plants including Indian Point have to be designed for worst case earthquake per 10 CFR 50 Apoendix S located here:
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http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part050/part050-apps.html
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There is a Regulatory Guide for Seismic Design Classification – RG-1.29. It is located here:
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http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/reg-guides/power-reactors/rg/01-029/01-029.pdf
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The provisions for such design must be detailed in the plant’s Final Safety Analysis Report.
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When an earthquake happens, I would feel safest in being at a nuclear power plant, including Indian Point, because I have seen the steel rebar as thick as a man’s arm, concrete 6 feet thick, piping held by huge hangers and snubbers, etc. Mary, with all due respect you have no idea of the robustness of the design.
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BTW, it wasn’t the Tohoku earthquake that damaged the Fukushima reactors. It was the tsunami that flooded the intakes of the emergency diesel generators which caused loss of power and thus loss of cooling. The lesson is simple: don’t put your darn diesels on the shoreline. Bad engineering has bad consequences. One other thing – that can’t happen at Indian Point on the Hudson River because the diesels are located well above river flood level.
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When I find NRC Inspection Reports on Indian Point seismic, I will post them. Be more concerned about an earthquake cracking the Kensico Dam and flooding the millions in downstream White Plains.
Thank you again, Paul. I did believe that Fukushima was caused by the earthquake. Wasn’t Indian Head built before earthquake design was introduced and before the fissure was ever found? Yes, and I remember the Johnstown flood. and I am a worrywart. God bless and keep you, Paul. You are making of me a convert to nuclear energy.