The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and EPA, et cetera, had worked out what allowable releases are.

You're feeling the responsibility for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people on your shoulder in a way that I couldn't feel as lieutenant governor.

They're calling their Washington sources at the NRC or in Congress and they're not hesitating to give their opinion, but their opinion, frankly, in those early days was not very well informed.

Nobody could tell us or really had a very good idea, if there were a massive release of radiation, what kind of medical treatment people were going to need and this or that, or, indeed, whether there would be medical personnel around.

It took me 45 minutes to get in all of the suits and putting all the dosimeters on me so that they knew how much radiation I got and the protective boots and everything.

All of the information that we were getting up to that time from the NRC people, from our people who knew something about nuclear power, was that the breach of the core was not a likelihood to happen.

The first one, obviously, was walking into my office at eight o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, and being told there was a telephone call saying that there was an incident at Three Mile Island, and that it had shut down and that beyond that we didn't know.

And I remember walking in there and, I must say, I was quite unnerved the closer I got to it.

By Thursday morning, we'd gotten over the worst of it.

You need a graphic understanding of a situation to make a complete judgment and we didn't have that.

And it was at that point that I realized, in fact, our whole administration realized, that we could not rely on Metropolitan Edison for the kind of information we needed to make decisions.

My time inside there was very short compared to the amount of time it took to take on and take off this suit and to test me for how much radioactivity I have.

None of us knew what this power plant looked like. We had no schematic drawing.

I was scheduled to give my first official press conference that morning anyway, 'cause I was chairman of the Governors Energy Council and I was making a press conference with regard to energy policy.

None of us are nuclear experts, but we know that if there is a melt-down and breach of containment, that's clearly the most odious thing that could happen.

What I had said in the morning was that this is what we know has happened, but there has been no significant off-site release. Only to find out moments later that, in fact, there had been an off-site release. I still haven't gotten over that.

There were schools and hospitals who were ready to take people with undescribed injuries, but not necessarily ready to take people with severe radiation poisoning.

There are allowable limits for radiation going - I mean there's radiation all around us. There's radiation from your television set. There's radiation from your computer. There's radiation actually occurring in the ground.

Another very strong image from the first day was giving my initial press conference in the morning - going down and finding out that everything I had said, the essence of what I had said, was wrong.

The value of government to the people it serves is in direct relationship to the interest citizens themselves display in the affairs of state.

But the issue became, how long do you keep the press waiting so that you can gather more information?

Obviously, I'm not looking in the core of the reactor, but I am looking at what, at that time, was considered the source of the trouble, which was the water and where it was.

And if you're not going to have a clear health threat, you don't want to panic people.

When I started walking and I looked down and I saw on the floor this water, which looked like, you know, water in your basement except it happened to be in the auxiliary building of a nuclear power plant.

And at ten, or whatever time, in the morning we had the press conference, what we knew is there had been an incident at Three Mile Island, that it was shut down, that there was water that had escaped but it was contained.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and EPA, et cetera, had worked out what allowable releases are.

I like making little videos and little records. I've always loved video cameras and four-track cassette recorders, still cameras, anything.

Government is force, pure and simple. There's no way to sugar-coat that. And because government is force, it will attract the worst elements of society - people who want to use government to avoid having to earn their living and to avoid having to persuade others to accept their ideas voluntarily.

I love doing fashion.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, although they're not officially debt of the federal government, they are off-balance-sheet debt.

I know I get a real kick, an emotional charge, out of playing a song I haven't played for 10 years. It just takes you back to that point in your life.

Ego is the enemy.

Tenacity isn't just the most important thing, it's the only thing.

It's a lot more fun to play the bitch than it is to play the perfect girl 'cause everybody has a bad side inside of them.

It's what everyone is after, I mean they want success and when they get it it's an incredible pressure but what you have to do is try to keep the big picture in view.

Occasionally, I'll direct if there's something I feel strongly about. Having done it has whetted my appetite to do it again, but I don't feel an internal pressure to direct. It certainly will make me a better producer, because I'm more empathetic; I really appreciate now what the director is going through every day.

Everything goes in cycles in the music industry.

Life is settled and I'm enjoying it.

Heroes are made in the hour of defeat. Success is therefore well described as a series of glorious defeats.

Maybe I'm naive, but I subscribe to the idea that nobody is actually making strategic decisions about their career. Trying to do that would be like playing three-card monte on Canal Street.

I listened to Pablo Casals, which was a big change for me. Without hearing Casals, I would never have advanced as I did.

Focus is a matter of deciding what things youre not going to do.

I look back upon my times when more people were listening to what I had to say, and I didn't say enough.

I really like Halal food.

The recent past always presents itself as if destroyed by catastrophes.

The argument we always used to use was that keeping records in the catalog was good for people that were coming new to the music, but I think that was talking over a ten year or fifteen year time span.

In fact - statistically, as you know - people have done polls, research, and at least 80 percent or more or working media are liberal Democrats if they are involved with any party and certainly liberal in their philosophy.

Flying is more than a sport and more than a job; flying is pure passion and desire, which fill a lifetime.

I'm hungrier than those other guys out there. Every rebound is a personal challenge.