Granny Rant
Sunday, May 30, 2004
:::Weapons Of Mass Distraction :::
Hmmm ... sometimes we wonder at the thought process of our leaders.
"Things are not going well in Iraq," Mr. President.
"Oh really, how so? What's the problem now?"
"Uh ... to be blunt, we are getting our asses kicked bigtime. We do not have enough troops on the ground, pockets of resistance are popping up all over the country, we have lost over 800 Americans ..."
"That many? I thought Wolfowitz reported it to be less than that ... surely?"
"Yeah, but he was wrong on the figures. He actually did not know the current count of the dead that day before congress."
"Remind me to speak to Don on that. It is embarrassing to have the Deputy Secretary of Defense not know the number of dead troops on live TV."
"Not to mention that Congress was pissed about the Wolfowitz '$25 Billion blank check' we asked for. Anyway ... you remember the flap on the body armor? Looks like some of the parents of the troops are still having to hunt down and buy the armor on their own. Of course they are bitching over the $1600 price tag, and wondering why they can find the armor and we cannot. Plus, we cannot get enough up-armored Humvees in place. One guy up on the hill proposed we use the left over steel plates from the Striker to up-armor the Humvees, but the brass hadn't moved on it. Mr. Congressman was pissed and demanded action."
"Does that stuff they wear really cost that much?"
"Yep, and weighs a ton too. But most of the soldiers don't mind the weight."
"What else?"
"Oh, there's a bunch more."
"Get on with it then ... just a rundown."
"Ok. Since the pictures came out re our military abusing Iraqis in Abu Ghraib ...."
"Oh, that really make me boil. If I ever find out why that story go loose and went wild ..."
"I know, but it is out there now. Many are agitating for the release of the other pictures ..."
"No! No! No! We are having enough trouble now regaining support for our crusade."
"It has made the Iraqis hate us more violently. The Iraqis are selling thousands of CD copies of the abuse pictures and nobody believes it was just the few. The terrorists who have come in since the invasion are stirring up trouble everywhere. Some people are even claiming the video of the beheading of Nick Berg is a fake, and there are wag the dog rumblings."
"It'll pass, we just have to remain firm, not waiver, never falter. Just go on."
"People are getting different messages from different departments of the administration and there is confusion."
"Confusion?"
"Well, you say, 'stay the course', Bremer says we will leave if the interim Gov Council asks it, Colin is caving on us, one day we think we have a deal with Sadr, next day not, everybody that U.N. lackey picks for the turn over, the Iraqis hate, we are being slammed over Chalabi and Chalabi himself is making fun of us for 'buying into his scam.' Dowd is calling it the Bay Of Goats. The press is turning on us and reporting all kinds of stuff they skipped over during the run up, the French and Germans are salivating for the turn over, rumors abound we are shipping in WMD at night in secret ... we aren't, are we?"
"What? Don't fall for the gossip."
"What about the Sarin?"
"Let me and Dick worry about that. The Brits arrested that one bad guy ... so they're still with us."
"Ok ..."
"Go on, I'm in a hurry ... gotta give a campaign speech."
"This latest terror threat is a fiasco. Even the press is questioning why Tom Ridge is not in step with Ashcroft and Mueller, you know, not saying the same things ... about the threat and all. Could be worse ... no colors this time. My wife suggested a nice paisley or gingham for spring." Coughs nervously. "There are accusations we are again using fear of terror to control the public ... but then there were three terror explosions over the weekend ... so far. The Saudi thing is looking bad. The news line is that oil will now go up instead of down since we have notified 35,000 workers to get out of Saudi Arabia."
"Not funny."
"Neither is this. Just listen to that Cutter guy at Magic City Morning Star."
[..]
With just over five months to go before election day, it must be asked: How far would they go? With blood on their hands and God on their side, what actions would Bush & Co. consider too extreme--when the goal is to extend their control over the financial and military power of the American presidency?
The anti-Bush forces are thick with speculation, from planted WMDs, to rigged paperless balloting, to an elevated threat level "justifying" a declaration of martial law (either before the election itself, or before the January 2005 transfer of power). Some even suggest Mr. Bush might "look the other way" while al Queda launches another attack on American soil, counting on a "rally-round-the-flag" response (and the return to a ninety-percent approval rating).
Let's hope there is a moral line, somewhere, that Mr. Bush and his people will not cross. Otherwise, today's conspiracy theory may turn into November's nightmare.
[..]
"Aw, he's a nobody anyway. I was afraid it was another damn best seller blasting my performance."
"Is that it!"
"Well, you might want to put in a call to God"
"Why's that?"
"Did I mention we are running out of ammunition?"
"Shit."
::: Nuke Testing To Resume? :::
Holy Crap
Granny is not exactly sure why she believed in the notion that human beings had advanced from the barbaric to the extent we would never again go down this path.
Foolish Granny!
[..]
Local and national military watchdogs say all indications are that President Bush, if re-elected, would begin testing some types of nuclear weapons before the end of the decade at the NTS, located about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas and upwind of Utah. "You put all the pieces of the puzzle together," said Steve Erickson, director of the local Citizens Education Project, "and it leads to the conclusion that yes, we may very well be on the road to a resumption of nuclear testing."
[..]
[..]
Frank von Hippel, who teaches public and international affairs and works on nuclear weapons issues at Princeton, was a White House adviser on national security, concerned with science and technology policy, and was one of those responsible for arranging the present moratorium on nuclear testing. He told the Deseret Morning News on Monday that a Defense Department official told him earlier this year that "based on the way he saw things going inside the administration, that if the Bush administration is re-elected that we would resume testing in 2007 or 2008."
[..]
[..]
It said that after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the government found a need "for more operational testing, contamination and decontamination testing, forensics testing, personal protective equipment (PPE) testing, enclosed environment detection and decontamination testing and counter-terrorism training as they relate to biological or chemical agents.
[..]
[..]
However, defensive research against chemical and biological threats already is carried out on the Army's Dugway Proving Ground, located in the western Utah desert. In 2002, Dugway issued a proposal to substantially increase chemical and biological defenses and counterterrorism training. Erickson said sometimes simulants can cause illness but that would be a minor problem, unless the exposed person was in compromised health. If simulants were used at the NTS, he does not think dangerous concentrations could reach Utah. As far as Erickson is concerned, the larger concern is the test site's future. "What's the public policy decision here?" he asked.
[..]
Damn! Granny sure is naive, huh?
Does anyone actually think, I mean in light of the brilliant prosecution of the war in Iraq, for example, the persons holding the people's purse strings and the hawks at DOD know of which they speak?
I still call for those movies that provided a real representation of what "limited nuclear war" would entail be shown each and every year ... to adults as well as children (watching with adults, of course) over ten.
Threads
The Day After
Perhaps if we can educate the children early enough to the horrors of nuclear destruction, they can put a stop to the madness.
An indication from reporting on CBS just how hysterical we have become after 9-11. Rummy refuses to rule out use of nukes.
By the way, doesn't everyone find it interesting Bush pulled out of the non-proliferation treaty BEFORE 9-11?
God help us all ... save us from Trigger Happy fools.
Even if we consider the thick blanket of fear and stress draped on the shoulders of all Americans after 9-11, this excerpt from the Trigger Happy link makes quite a statement ...
[..]
How should the Pentagon get Osama bin Laden? With a discreetly placed nuke, says Rep. Steven Buyer, the right-wing congressman from northern Indiana. "Don't send special forces in there to sweep," Buyer told an Indianapolis TV station. "We'd be very naive to believe that biotoxins and chemical agents were not in these caves. Put a tactical nuclear device in and close these caves for a thousand years."
[..]
And of course there was this from Sen. Robert Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat, vowed that the United States would "unleash hell upon them."
Ok, so we all wanted to "get some" after 9-11, but for nuclear weapons to rocket to the forefront in the minds of congressmen ...
Again I say ... Holy Crap!
Gran
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
::: Old News - Granny Looks Back In Horror :::
Jesus Christ on a cracker! Will the government ever stop stabbing We The People in the back? Apparently not.
Learn about Operation Cure.All, Codex and the lengths to which the pharmaceutical industry and the government will go to place severe restrictions on what dietary supplements and natural foods we can use.
[..]
Codex began simply enough when the U.N. authorized the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization to develop a universal food code. Their purpose was to 'harmonize' regulations for dietary supplements worldwide and set international safety standards for the purposes of increased trade. Standardize labeling and regulatory requirements between countries to facilitate increased international trade.
Pharmaceutical interests stepped in and began exerting their influence. Instead of focusing on food safety, Codex is using its power to promote worldwide restrictions on vitamins and food supplements, severely limiting their availability and dosages.
Real Goals of Codex.
This is to bring about international 'harmonization.' While global harmony sounds benign, is that the real purpose of this plan? While the stated goal of Codex is to establish unilateral regulations for dietary supplements in every country, the actual goal is to outlaw health products and information on vitamins and dietary supplements, except those under their direct control. These regulations would supercede United States domestic laws without the American people's voice or vote in the matter.
How Can it be Possible? Americans gasp at the thought. It goes against everything America stands for. Many believe this can't be possible. The truth is, it's not only possible, it's required by the Codex agreement.
In fact, under the terms of the Uruguay Round of GATT, which created the World Trade Organization, the United States agreed to harmonize its domestic laws to the international standards. This includes standards for dietary supplements being developed by the United Nation's Codex Alimentarius Commission's Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Use.
[..]
[..]
What Codex Will Bring.
What can we expect under Codex?
To give you an idea, here are some important points: - Dietary supplements could not be sold for preventive (prophylactic) or therapeutic use. - Potencies would be limited to extremely low dosages. Only the drug companies and the big phytopharmaceutical companies would have the right to produce and sell the higher potency products (at inflated prices). - Prescriptions would be required for anything above the extremely low doses allowed (such as 35 mg. on niacin). - Common foods such as garlic and peppermint would be classified as drugs or a third category (neither food nor drugs) that only big pharmaceutical companies could regulate and sell. Any food with any therapeutic effect can be considered a drug, even benign everyday substances like water. - Codex regulations for dietary supplements would become binding (escape clauses would be eliminated). - All new dietary supplements would be banned unless they go through Codex testing and approval. - Genetically altered food would be sold worldwide without labeling.
[..]
What Can We Do? Step number one is learn as much as possible about this issue. Here is a website where you will find a great deal of information:
John Hammell's International Advocates for Health Freedom.
Read "WHOSE TRADE ORGANIZATION? Corporate Globalization and the Erosion of Democracy" by By Lori Wallach and Michelle Sforza, at the Public Citizens Global Trade Watch.
Unfortunately, there is much, much more.
Gran
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
::: Sarin Gas - The French Don't Believe It :::
"...a shell filled with sarin gas would seem a little too convenient."
Uh oh ... they apparently don't believe the sovereignty thingie either.
"... provisional government will have neither the sovereignty that could convince Iraqis of its legitimacy, nor the security that it could derive from it."
Looks like the Brits are wondering too ...
At least they have more insight into Sarin Nerve Gas.
[..]
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the shell appeared to be of a type of which the Iraqi regime claimed to have destroyed before the 1991 Gulf war. He said it was unlikely that the insurgents who planted it knew it contained sarin.
The explosion happened a "couple of days ago," he said.
The shell was old and a "binary" type, in which two chemical components are mixed before the agent is produced. The shell was originally intended to be fired from a heavy artillery gun.
[..]
[..]
"It was probably just scavenged from one of the 125-plus ammunition storage points that still remain," he said.
[..]
To steal a phrase from SouthKnoxBubba -
Jumping Jesus on a Pogo Stick!!
Gran
Monday, May 17, 2004
::: Discussion On "The Sixties :::
Comment in response to post -
::: A Peak Into The Past Through An Email To A Friend :::
::: The Sixties And The Anniversary Of Brown V. Board :::
WOW! I just read your post and was instantly transported back in time........right down to the granny glasses, the beads, the forever bare feet (no birkenstocks for this former flower child!!) and the frayed jeans that we were always constantly stepping on......The pungent smell of mmmm, I wonder what it could be??!! is in my nose yet again, I can almost feel the candle wax dripping down my arm and the beat goes on. It was as they say, 'the best of times and the worst of times.' My high school ex-boyfriend was off fighting a war that never should have been and I had moved on.....we were worlds apart by then and yet.....maybe we were not so far apart. Did he and his comrades really believe? Or were they as the young men and women today, just doing their duty as soldiers.....I know he came back from there. Was he whole in mind and body? I shall never know. Did he go on with life as though VietNam had never been? Has it had a profound effect on the rest of his life and the lives of countless others. Is he and his comrades in arms speaking out now when their voices can be heard and perhaps heeded?
If you are waiting for the children of today to take to the streets as we did back then I think you have a long wait, most just don't get it and those that do, won't go that route. Why? I don't know, I guess cause they are just too far removed from it all. They have had it all handed to them and the fire isn't in their eyes and the fight isn't in their hearts the way it was in ours........right or wrong. They have had it too good and too comfortable for too long (and we, as parents can only blame ourselves), and while they might rail against the injustice, far too few are willing to put themselves out to join a movement or start a movement. I wonder who our future leaders are.......I worry about who they might be and what their world view is.
There are no easy answers and yet, if we don't move some to do as we did then, all could be lost and our lives and their lives as we and they have known it could be something their children will only read about in a history book someday....
cyn | Email | Homepage | 05.17.04 - 6:46 am | #
Granny Responds to the Response.
Cyn ...
Thanks for the response and the further reminiscence.
"If you are waiting for the children of today to take to the streets as we did back then I think you have a long wait, most just don't get it and those that do, won't go that route.
Ok ... but I remember the "they have had it too good, too easy," argument was used to criticize US ... the infamous Baby Boomers ... the ones who are lazy and (have to paraphrase here)as I heard one politician say while speaking on CSpan about "what on earth can we do about the hoards ... the huge masses of Boomers set to retire and destroy Social Security." Plus, there is another factor that loomed huge in the equation -- The Draft. We were furious because our families and friends were being destroyed for another senseless war.
I honestly cannot remember who he was, but he was having a debate with Newt Gingrich. This approximates what he said ... "... so lazy ... it is like a pig moving through a python."
Wow ... just did a search and this comment is threaded all through statements about us. It just hit me wrong that day because I kept hearing Senators in $3,000 suits railing about how the government could not support this huge hoard.
Excuse Me ...
Many years ago our payroll taxes were raised in anticipation of the Boomer retirement and that created a surplus ... Where is that money now? And they are encouraging the next generation to invest in Health Ins Accounts ... who will guard that money?
Obviously our elected officials cannot be trusted with any amount of money. Social Security is NOT BROKE or it would not be is it were not for the little party they have each week ... deciding which of the top 1% will get this incoming excess.
Damn, these criminals make me furious.
One more question: How far under the jail would you and I be if we STOLE $Millions$ from a supposed financial TRUST?
Maybe it is not as bad as I thought. Excerpt from: Boomer Wake-Up Call
[..]
When boomers reach any stage of life, the issues that concern them--whether financial, interpersonal, or even hormonal--become the dominant social, political, and marketplace themes of the time. And, as we have repeatedly seen, boomers don't just populate existing lifestages or consumer trends, they transform them. Some examples:
*** Boomers didn't just eat food--they transformed the snack, restaurant, and supermarket industries.
*** Boomers didn't just wear clothes--they transformed the fashion industry.
*** Boomers didn't just buy cars--they transformed the auto industry.
*** They didn't just date--they transformed sex roles and practices.
*** They didn't just go to work--they transformed the workplace.
*** They didn't just get married--they transformed relationships and the institution of the family.
*** They didn't just borrow money--they transformed the debt market.
*** They didn't just go to the doctor--they transformed healthcare.
*** They didn't just use computers--they transformed technology.
*** They didn't just invest in stocks--they transformed the investment marketplace.
Yet the boomers' demographic weight has not always made things easier for them. While the group's large size consistently benefits others who sell them products and services, it is often a distinct disadvantage to individual boomers. Their vast numbers have created fierce competition for everything they've wanted throughout their lives: for school space as children, for team and club memberships as teenagers, for college entrance, and for homes and good careers as young adults. At every stage, they've had to fight their way through the demographic bottleneck that their own numbers have caused. They may have received more attention as a group than any other, but as individuals, the odds of receiving satisfying benefits have always been--and always will be--against them.
[..]
In any event ... Vacation for Granny is over and now it is back to pushing pills.
Gran
::: How Did They die? Boys & Girls :::
:::::::::::: Ours And Theirs ::::::::::::
Click the LINK below for listing ...
List of Coalition Casualties
The Associated Press
Saturday 15 May 2004
(AP) - As of Saturday, May 15, 775 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq last year, according to the Department of Defense. Of those, 565 died as a result of hostile action and 210 died of non-hostile causes.
The British military has reported 58 deaths; Italy, 17; Spain, eight; Bulgaria, six; Ukraine, four; Poland, three; Thailand, two; Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia and the Netherlands have reported one each.
Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 635 U.S. soldiers have died - 454 as a result of hostile action and 181 of non-hostile causes, according to the military's numbers.
There is not much more to say ...
except ...
Thank You For Your Service
Sunday, May 16, 2004
:::: Granny Planned To Blog On Sy Hersh's Article :::
::: "The New Yorker" - Rummy's Pentagon Secret :::
But ... SouthKnoxBubba did such a fantastic job ...
Small excerpt:
[..]
"Rumsfeld’s goal was to get a capability in place to take on a high-value target -- a standup group to hit quickly," a former high-level intelligence official told me. "He got all the agencies together -- the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. -- to get pre-approval in place. Just say the code word and go." The operation had across-the-board approval from Rumsfeld and from Condoleezza Rice, the national-security adviser. President Bush was informed of the existence of the program, the former intelligence official said.
[..]
Cambone then made another crucial decision, the former intelligence official told me: not only would he bring the sap’s rules into the prisons; he would bring some of the Army military-intelligence officers working inside the Iraqi prisons under the sap's auspices. "So here are fundamentally good soldiers -- military-intelligence guys -- being told that no rules apply," the former official, who has extensive knowledge of the special-access programs, added. "And, as far as they’re concerned, this is a covert operation, and it’s to be kept within Defense Department channels."
[..]
Thanks Bubba ... Rummy can pack his bags.
Gran
::: A Peak Into The Past Through An Email To A Friend :::
::: The Sixties And The Anniversary Of Brown V. Board :::
I think this GrannyRant Email is self-explanatory.
I was on your site a few minutes ago and read the post to your "lost love."
I found it beautiful and honest. I understand perfectly the desire to talk about what we do (as politically active bloggers) and the response from nearly everyone (hubby, Mom, friends) that results in the thousand yard stare. It is truly frustrating to know there is something so horrible wrong and watch everyone blithely go about their daily business ... seemingly without a care.
What will it take to wake people up? Will it be too late?
I used to be a Sheeple myself and was very happy as such. But a combination
of the shattering events of 9-11, an empty nest, the old hippie inside me, and
most of all .... the TIME to do it, set me on this path of knowing.
Knowing is an unusual thing, and after I set about this journey ... the one to
discover (at first) a welcome home for my fear, sorrow and emotional skittishness,
(and then) a search for answers to what was happening, (and then) a dialog and
debate on issues, I remembered something learned painfully when we were
marching against the Vietnam War, marching for Civil Rights ... there is no
unlearning or unknowing and you take with that knowing all the pain
of that knowledge.
It was a surprise to re-learn those lessons and the anguish of it brought back
the incredible difficulty of that time. But in those moments, love beads round
our necks and ankles, grannie glasses askew, bell-bottoms that were frayed,
fringed and worn to the point we constantly stepped on them with bare feet,
there was also something else ... possibility, optimism, energy, and the
wonderful absence of mortality.
My best friend and I have often said ... just out of wonder .... because someone
is always mentioning the Sixties, ...
"Now what was all that about? Did we accomplish anything?"
The answer is always a resounding YES!
Why? I am not sure. The time was right, perhaps. And I remembered it was not
only about the things we were criticized for ...
"... damn filthy hippies, running around half naked, exposing decent people to their, uh, their ... nasty bodies. The should get a job, do things right, the American way and quit causing all this upheaval. Just look at how they've got the Negroes all stirred up, and burning draft cards and burning the sacred American flag, wearing it on their bodies, ruining our government, protesting, marching, speaking out, clashing with police and national guard. Why? There are already 4 dead at Kent State. What is wrong with them? What did we do wrong?" ...
The fabric of that time was far more rich than my paltry words can describe. It was a time of hope and determination to change things for the better. And we did.
The War in Vietnam was ended ... but only after we lost 50,000 young Americans. The fight was so bitter, our country became divided. We dishonored not only our returning dead veterans, but the wounded and the ones who "seemed ok" on the outside. But they were not ok. We spat on them and called them baby killers and war-mongers. Were they? No ... no more than the brave young men and women who fight for our freedom today.
Some ideas were changed. Civil Rights took another step forward ... and the citizens still infected with the wrong-headedness of white supremacy went to work ... they tried to push the minorities back, but in very subtle ways. They sat on them and refused to allow real progress. Today they do the same. They discuss, legislate maneuver and plot to saddle the "three-fourths persons" with the yoke, by making sure the funding is unequal for the public schools, through the War On Drugs and unfair incarceration of people of color, through a racial psy-ops program of intimidation and rhetoric just barely above the sickening words of the past that discourage black children, make them doubt themselves and destroy their self-esteem.
But ... some crawled over the top of every hurdle, some fought their way out of the poor neighborhoods, used the advantages offered as crumbs ... gobbled those crumbs and soared to the top of many professions.
And We The Hippies became just bums. So we "sold out," picked ourselves up, married, had children and sold insurance or became teachers and took our place in society as best we could.
Can we do it again? (well, no, I am too tired to do much more than raise my voice with flying fingers) Or will it take the children ... with all their energy and conviction to move this democracy forward.
But I do not hear their raised voices.
We cannot wait much longer. But ... instead of marching in the streets, the children are fighting and dying ... for what? Elitist political ideology and a greed so all encompassing, so systemic, it has become a cancer.
How we can convince people of the imminent threat posed by the sad state of our political system. It is rotten to the core and has no concern for We The People. Politicians with no thought for the ordinary people strut the halls of Congress and make disastrous policy, gut our political structures and make a mockery of our Republic.
We have to get the money out of Washington. No, I do not know how. But if we wait much longer, there will not be an honest man left to steer this country.
::: WOW - Is This The Future? :::
Recommended by Granny ...
Nanotechnology: Molecular Assemblers
The little ... and believe me, little is a relative term when used to describe the building blocks of Molecular Assemblers, clunky-looking blocks do all the work.
Far too complex for Granny to explain, I will allow the author of this article, Bill Spence, to do so.
[..]
Seen from the beginning (in forward time), trucks arrive at a hole in the ground dumping structural materials to the side. A few special trucks appear loaded with solid rectangular cargo Suddenly these featureless cargoes become animated, break into individual cubes and "pour" themselves off the flatbeds to the ground by sliding over and around each other. Now a chunky blob, the mass raises itself from legs made of its own cubes, while cubes at the top slide over the bottom cubes, then down the leading edge to make more legs as back legs withdraw into the mass. The monstrosity "walks" over by two other off loaded blobs. The blobs congeal into a larger mass then heads for a pile
of steel I-Beams.
From inside the creature, stubby arms appear, sliding over the cubes' flat surfaces, heading towards the steel. Great numbers of beams are hoisted from the ground and elevated to the top of the mass as other arms slide down for more. Then, the whole monster morphs and pours down the hole with the beams. From the ground, one by one, beams appear vertically in a symmetrical pattern and other beams are attached crosswise by arms with whining torque wretches.
What is going on? What are these things? They are Fractal Shape Shifting Robots. You are witnessing the birth of an age called "Digital Matter," where units of matter are controlled discreetly, like computers treat bits of information.
[..]
A most fascinating article ... and complete with animation as well. This article is an uplifting look into the future and well worth your time.
Gran, who is shocked and awed.
Friday, May 14, 2004
::: Volunteer Tail Gate Party Is Up :::
Terrific selection this time and I must congratulate MEDB'S Montage for the great job!
One in particular caught my eye: No Quarters, which was on Eugenics. I had seen something on CSpan Book TV re this subject and posted a reply:
Comment:
I did not realize they were still trying to do this stuff.
There is a really good book(award winning and horrifying) on the subject by Edwin Black, War Against The Weak
This link goes to a site where you can read excerpts. It is truly horrible and his other book re IBM And The Holocaust is startling as well.
The people who consider us ordinary fodder units ... OFU's (a Bush Sr., term) and "useless eaters" began trying to weed us out on Long Island at Cold Spring Harbor Labs. More than 60,000 were sterilized and the truth never came to light until decades later.
I saw him on CSpan at a Tenn book festival in Nashville one Sunday ... just caught the end where he called for questions. Nobody raised a hand. Black said, "Don't worry, this subject is so horrible and so shocking, I often get this response. The audience is so stunned, they cannot manage questions."
He continued with his presentation until a few managed to catch their breath and mumble questions. I wondered what the presentation had been and found his website. Black contends this was the basis of the surge in genetics research and the push to identify the human genome. Holy Cats!
Truly Amazing ... Gran
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
::: Granny's Bite-Me Awards :::
Have you ever seen a more obnoxious suck-up than Mike Leavitt, Head of EPA, who is trying to sell Bush as helping the environment. We need to question him re the 94-96 proposed new coal plants.
HorsesAss
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Then there is Sen Larry Craig railing about energy prices ... suggesting it is the dems fault because they will not pass the Energy Bill ... I still do not know what all is included in the bill ... but it must be tacky, and it must involve more than drilling in Alaska.
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I thought Sen Ted Stevens (Alaska) was going to have a stroke this am ... got pissed off at the hearing where Rummy was asking for the $25 Billion for Iraq cause people kept asking about Iraqi abuse and the horrible beheading of Nick Berg. He was red in the face and spitting ... personally, I think he has spent too much time close to HAARP. He brain is microwaved.
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Sen James Inhoff
Who is outraged at all the outrage at the Iraqi prisoner abuse and pictures, and cited outrages perpetrated on us such as all of our dead troops, the 4 burned contractors and 9-11.
Heads-up! Most of us who are outraged by the abuse of prisoners are outraged because we do not desire to sink to the level of our tormentors and the level of the terrorists. I was somehow thinking we were supposed to hold ourselves to a higher standard than Al Qaeda, but I could be mistaken.
Is that what we should do, Sen. Inhoff, be more like them?
Outrageous
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Super BITE-ME Award
What's the problem? According to Rush Limbaugh's train of logic, these people are just blowing off some steam and having a good time by cutting this man's head off.
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And ... A Bite-Me-Not Award Goes to:
Sen Lindsey Graham (SC) for his comment (paraphrase
"It is alright to apologize. It does not make you smaller, it makes you larger.
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
:::: Kidnapping / Hijacking Of Indian Workers ::::
::: By Halliburton / KBR ~ Kitchen Duty In Iraq :::
Four citizens of India have made claims they were ordered to board a bus at the Kuwait airport by a U.S. army soldier.
[..]
The four are from the village of Velichakala, some 150 kilometres south of Cochin, the commercial capital of southern Kerala state. They said a recruitment agency had signed them up in August 2003 as kitchen assistants for a catering company in Kuwait.
[..]
The abductees were informed by their captors ...
[..]
"There were some 20 Indians in the bus. Once we knew that we were inside Iraq, we protested," Faisal said. "But the Americans told us that they had paid a Kuwait agency $1,000 (U.S.) for each man and therefore it was a must that we work for them."
[..]
After being held for months ...
[..]
Faisal said 16 Indians got together and escaped from the camp on the night of April 15 by paying $20 US to an Iraqi truck driver, who took them to Baghdad. He said the Indian Embassy there helped them to fly back to Amman, Jordan, and then to Mumbai, India.
[..]
And ... this story gets worse ...
[..]
Interviews with those at the heart of the complaints indicate the main problems were with the contractor employing them -- on behalf of a unit of U.S. firm Halliburton -- and Iraq's harsh wartime environment and desert climate.
[..]
Holy Hoedown, its Cheney's old firm. Well, shock and awe my southern soul. They were kept for nine months, working 18 hours per day, and threatened with beatings, but I think it was the "shooting at dogs" that got to me the most.
[..]
At one camp, Q-West, several hours from Baghdad, a soldier fired at a stray dog while walking over to negotiate with workers who had gone on strike to demand unpaid overtime.
"We went back to work. When they shot at the dog, I felt I might also be shot at like a dog and killed," Shajahan said.
Several times, he added, supervising soldiers tried to hit him, accusing him of not working properly.
But far worse were the recruitment agent and their employer, subcontracted to supply labor for Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton. KBR is under scrutiny from military auditors over the cost of feeding troops in Iraq.
Halliburton, run by Vice President Dick Cheney until he joined the race for the White House in 2000, is the military's top contractor in Iraq, providing services ranging from laundry to oilfield repair.
"We were not knowing we were going to Iraq," said Fasil, explaining the agent told them he had found jobs for them in Kuwait and promising 18,000 rupees a month ($400) -- more than three times what they were earning at home.
So they sold off family jewelry and land and borrowed from neighbors to raise the agent's fee of 80,000 rupees each.
[..]
I urge Americans to rethink the wisdom of the people in charge of their country ... it is bad enough to manipulate evidence of WMD and use the fear of terror due to 9-11 and then do war on the cheap without the proper number of troops, armor, armored vehicles, water, personnel to staff the prisons, try to hide in secrecy the abuse of Iraqi detainees ... but to kidnap people off the tarmac ... well, Mr. President and Henchmen, that is truly a new low. I am beginning to agree with the new chorus of voices out there ... "these people do not know what they are doing."
Gran, who should not be surprised by any insipid notion, idea or practice of the Bush Boys.
Monday, May 10, 2004
::: Blowing The Lid Off Iraqi Abuse :::
As the steam builds and the lid covering the truth about Americans
abusing Iraqi prisoners, the world takes notice and our reputation
circles the toilet.
Everyone ... at least most thinking people ... understands the damage done by the release of the horrifying photos from Abu Ghraib. The photos and stories broadcast to the world will haunt this nation for the foreseeable future. It will require many multiples of years for photos of naked prisoners in piles to fade from global memory.
One of the latest, a terrified naked prisoner flanked by attack dogs opens a well of sadness too deep to ponder in the midst of continued revelations. Most agree the most haunting is the scarecrow image of a prisoner hooded and draped, with wires attached, hands, feet and God knows what else, bearing captions revealing the threat of electrocution.
Now further damage will pile to a heap in the scramble to justify, deny, explain, finger-point, and cover the disgusting, unjustifiable behavior of our fighting men and women.
How did we come to this ... ?
Is this the high moral ground?
Is this compassionate conservativism?
Has it always been this way, or is this a new level of LOW for
America?
President Bush, his Cabinet, the Senate and the Congress need to know this ... Americans see you for what you are ... Americans are beginning to awaken to the horror of what this country has come to symbolize. We know our elected officials care nothing for the common man, care only for the interests of corporations, the "free market," self-enrichment, the continued destruction of our planet for profit and policies based on the continued hope that Americans remain busy, confused, and clearly hypnotized by the blind consumerism represented by Wallmart and defined by the desire for THINGS instead of the quality of life and the the opportunity to pass a clean, safe and stable world to our children.
[..]
When the picture of a tortured Iraqi replaces the Statue of Liberty as the symbol of America in the eyes of the world, Osama bin Laden doesn't really need to offer a reward to his murderers in Iraq or elsewhere.
[..]
Granny, who wishes to hide in shame ... but knows better than to follow the example of our leaders.
Monday, May 03, 2004
::: Vets get Substandard Care At V.A. Hospitals :::
::: PLUS - Sidetracked - Shocking Prisoner Abuse:::
Disturbing Revelations About Quality of Care at Some U.S. Veteran's Hospitals
This article details another form of torture ... the failure to remain steadfast on the
promise of any semblance of CARE. Vets asking for first visit normally must
wait from 7 months to 2 years.
From blatant abuse to outright neglect to the point of causing death, the above
link details how the Vets Hospital System gets a F on their Report Card.
[..]
With 130,000 young American men and women putting their lives at risk in Iraq today, these conditions are particularly relevant. While current soldiers are treated in military hospitals, when they leave the service and need treatment, many will seek care at Veterans Affairs (as the Veterans Administration is now known) hospitals.
"Once you come back to be a veteran, it's like a black hole, you know nothing," former Army Sgt. Vannessa Turner told ABCNEWS.
Turner was stricken with a mysterious illness while on duty in Iraq this past year. She retired from the military on medical grounds, and when she reported to a VA hospital for treatment, doctors scheduled her for an appointment six months later.
[..]
More Horrors
Vets who had to beg for water and food, men told to pee on towels, horrific
bedsores, filthy bathrooms with what appeared to be human excrement, dirty
linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies, examining tables with
dried blood and medications still on them, open bio-hazard waste cans spilling
over, equipment, used to sterilize surgical instruments, listed on internal hospital
docs as - BROKEN, use of uncertified residents as doctors, neglected wounds to
the point of amputation, allowing patients IVs to run out, dressings not changed,
patients families report staff "standing around idle" but non-responsive and if
families persisted, there was retaliationn. One patient's wound was treated with
maggots to eat away the infection (a practice that has been revived as legit in
recent times) but then the maggots were allowed to crawl in bed with the patient.
The families were afraid to speak out after instances of revenge on the part of the
staff. This situation is as unspeakable as the instances of torture detailed
in the Iraqi Torture Stories below. Indeed, I cannot decide which is more heinous!
**********************************************************
NOTE from Granny
It was my intention to express my outrage over the quality of care reported by an
ABCNEWS hidden-camera investigation ~~ a heartbreaking tale to be sure. BUT
in light of the recent revelations of hideous acts of torture and humiliation by
U.S. and British troops in Iraq, my will to report waivers a bit.
So ... I have combined the two posts ... please
accept my apology if the post is confusing.
GRAN
Americans as Evildoers
The revelations coming out in the past few days sicken and disgust Americans I have
spoken to and claims put forward by our military and the U. S. Government carry the
repeated message of an administration concerned only with reelection rather than
human rights.
CBSNEWS 60 Minutes II
BBC - Torture In Iraq - Photos Spark Outrage
Bush Says "Sorry"
Iraqi inmate: "Treated like dogs"
Rummy Called On Carpet - To Appear Before Congress
Sordid Picture Emerges
More Evidence Of Abuse - 1000 Photos At Wash. Post
Laborers From India Held In Camp
When We Are The Evildoers
Gran
