He seems an innocuous enough character -- square-jawed like G.I. Joe, donning a miner's helmet and protective glasses.

But to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Yucca Mountain Johnny is just another symbol of the federal government's insistence on shoving nuclear waste down the throats of Nevadans.

On Wednesday, Rep. Berkley fought a gallant battle in an effort to erase Johnny, a cartoon miner who serves as the mascot for the youth pages on the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Web site. She offered an amendment to an energy appropriations bill that would have cut off funding for portions of the Web site, thus killing Yucca Mountain Johnny.

"This character was created with taxpayer money to convince elementary school children that nuclear waste is a good thing," she said.

Alas, the amendment was soundly defeated, 271-147. Johnny lives on.

Rep. Berkley took a bit of ribbing for her crusade, with a DOE spokesman calling it "pure silliness."

But perhaps Rep. Berkley was on to something: There's a fine line between government "awareness" campaigns and outright propaganda. And when it's all paid for by taxpayers -- many of whom may oppose the message at issue -- strict oversight is even more important to ensure that such "educational" efforts don't deteriorate into advocacy.

In addition, far too many government "informational" campaigns are the result of public agencies with way too much money on their hands. You don't have to be an opponent of Yucca Mountain to argue that spending taxpayer funds to create a cartoon character to teach children about safety at the nuclear repository is a dubious use of funds.

Let's hope Yucca Mountain Johnny is eventually sealed up in a mine shaft, where he belongs.