Monthly Archives: May 2008

Tiny doomsday prophets

Posted on by
Reply

If we listen closely, there’s a small voice in the wilderness, calling out to us, warning of a coming transformation.
 
No, it’s not John the Baptist. It’s America’s honey bee, dying by the millions, prophesying the demise of the country’s fruit and vegetable supplies.

More than a hundred crops rely on bee pollination for survival, yet bees are dying off by the millions — 90% of the feral bee population has died — due to a mysterious condition called Colony Collapse Disorder. No doubt it is due to man’s interference with delicate natural goings-on, and his extreme disrespect for the Earth herself. The health of the planet is being sacrificed on the the altar of corporate ignorance and greed.

A really amazing documentary called Vanishing of the Bees is in the works. Check out the trailer here. Seriously, check it out.

If this war, and those to follow, global warming, environmental toxins, inaccessible health care, the credit collapse, the burning of the Constitution, the destruction of community, apocalyptic Christian Zionism, the lies and deceptions and ugliness and hate and greed of this current administration, and the next, aren’t enough to cause self-examination and a commitment to change, this may very well be the thing that gets our attention.

Albert Einstein said if honey bees become extinct, human society will follow in four years.

Pre-e-e-pare ye the way of desolation and death. . . .

—

No Army expansion into Pinon Canyon

Posted on by
Reply

PCEOC Truck-sized billboard along Interstate 25
PUEBLO, COLORADO- The Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition (PCMiSCRAP) folks are parking semi-trailer billboards along I-25 to make certain the US Army expansion team gets their message. The ranchers have also scheduled their own public meetings to preempt the Army “Public Scoping” PR presentations.

KIM, COLORADO- The Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition will give the public an honest chance to comment on the proposed military expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, on three consecutive nights, just prior to the Army’s scoping hearings which will exclude testimony on the subject.

PCEOC hearing times are:
Tuesday, May 20, in Trinidad
Trinidad State Jr College, Massari Auditorium from 4 to 6p

Wednesday, May 21, in Colorado Springs
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Salon C (Grand Ballroom) from 3 to 6p

Thursday, May 22, in La Junta
Otero Junior College, Mc Bride Hall #137 from 4 to 6p

Army officials announced scoping hearings to discuss bringing additional troops to Fort Carson but said the hearings have nothing to do with the proposed expansion of the PCMS. The communities of Southeastern Colorado know this is not true and that the two issues are undeniably linked.

“The Army knows that a majority of Coloradans, a majority of state lawmakers and a majority of federal lawmakers oppose the expansion,” said PCEOC President Lon Robertson. “By excluding any discussion of PCMS from the scoping hearings, Army officials are attempting to avoid a difficult subject and skirt federal law.”

In 2007, Congress passed and the President signed into law a military appropriations bill which outlawed all funding on the proposed expansion of the PCMS.

“If the Army held a hearing on expanding the site, they’d violate the law so instead, they are pretending that increasing the force at Fort Carson will have no impact,” Robertson said. “In reality, if they get more brigades at Fort Carson, we know they will turn around and demand more acreage on which to train them.

“And the real question is why won’t the Army take no for an answer?” Robertson said. “This has been dragging on too long and even the threat of expansion is having devastating effects on our communities and economy.”

The Army is behaving lawlessly and now it seems they don’t even follow their own guidelines set by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRACC). The additional troops cited in this latest effort completely exceed the numbers stated in the 2005 BRACC report.

The Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, or PCEOC, is a broad-based coalition representing communities across Southern Colorado in their opposition to the proposed military expansion. PCEOC members include business owners, teachers, students, elected officials, ranchers, environmentalists and many others.

The coalition is united in its opposition to any expansion of PCMS. No funding, no expansion.

Go Vegie!

Posted on by
Reply

Vegetarianism is not for everybody, but it would be a great thing if it was the in thing for most of us. Too bad that in America, the vegetables and fruits available to buy are most often pathetic things, costly, and even rotten at times. The factory farm model of production just is not very appetizing, and many turn to fat, artificial colors, and chemicals to try to get some ´taste´in what they eat. Instead, we get health problems that slowly waste many of us away. Here are the Top Ten Reasons to Go Vegetarian During World Vegetarian Week (May 19-25)

We should certainly try to stop killing ourselves and our families though buying and eating so much poor quality meat products. Complete vegetarianism (even partial vegetarianism) is a good target goal for us to strive for.

Dry Run at the State Convention

Posted on by
1

Police riot shieldsCOLORADO SPRINGS- Interviewers kept asking me ahead of time if the local Colorado Democratic State Convention was going to be a dry run for groups planning something big at the national convention in August. Their curiosity might have been piqued by the mention of PROTEST COLORADO on Michael Moore’s list of “more fun with dry runs” leading to the DNC. I told them I was aware of no such plans, but it became clear to me today that the news reporters had been on to something. There WAS a dry run in the works, and it was being carried out by law enforcement.

I was arrested at 7:05AM Saturday, through no planning of my own. There was confusion over where the First Amendment applied and where it did not. There was a “FREE SPEECH ZONE” which shared a police-tape demarcated area with a “BOOSTER ZONE” for those whose speech was regulated by the Democratic Party. Which part was which was not universally understood by either the public or many of the police officers. Police commanders alluded to previously agreed perimeters, while we asserted what we understood had been decided. Calling in a supervisor led not to a discussion but to the barking of orders, our mouths agape. The police seized upon the chance to arrest, process and hold us, until our opportunity to be heard had passed. We were mighty confused at the time, but in retrospect the police maneuver was carried out like clockwork.

It seems to be my habit to be blind sided by heavy handed authority. But I hope this does not detract from the principal dynamic at play. I am an ordinary American citizen, with an ordinary citizen’s right to express myself. Even playing within the post-911 limitations placed on our civil liberties, abiding by a “free speech zone,” my right to participate in our democracy is being muted by a false authoritarian concern for public safety.

DELAY AND RELOCATION
Particularly indicative of the police strategy was what they did with Peter and I after our arrest. We were taken across the street to the Quail Lake Loop El Paso County Sheriff substation where we were booked and cited first for obstruction, then for trespass. Forms and fingerprints were completed twice amid pleasant conversation and clarification of the “free speech zone” boundaries. We were informed that we would be free to return to the convention grounds, but that a subsequent breach of the rules would be treated with more severity. Then, instead of releasing us there, or at the nearby Sand Creek police station, an order was received to deliver us to the northern-most police substation in the city 15 miles away. Peter and I were dropped off in the parking lot of the Falcon Substation at Academy Blvd and Briargate, and only then was my cellphone returned with which I could try to arrange a ride. By the time we were able to return to our friends and vehicles at the convention, the 7-10am demonstration was passed.

SET UP?
Several weeks beforehand the CSPD had conducted public meetings for citizens to hear about the convention security measures. I attended none of these meetings, but gained a general understanding from a symposium held by the ACLU attended by a CSPD representative. Another CSPD commander turned up on Tuesday May 12 at the monthly ACLU board meeting to apprise our members again of the city’s plans. It was here we learned that there were two “Free Speech Zones” to be made available to the public. Of particular interest were the now graciously added grassy almond shaped areas adjacent the main steps to the World Arena. From this briefing it was decided to relocate our banners to those parts, as they afforded visibility to all delegates attending the convention, not just those coming from the hotels along Geyser Drive.

On Saturday we discovered that those spots were not being offered to us. And this was the source of the confusion. Despite being reminded that a roomful of ACLU members and lawyers had witnessed what the convention organizers had purportedly offered to be public areas, the police held steadfast that no such close-up access would be given. There would have been no confusion on Saturday if an advance agreement from either side had not been presumed. There would have been less disappointment on our part if an area accorded free speech rights had not been perceived to have been withdrawn.

PROTEST BY FOREKNOWLEDGE OF PERMISSION ONLY
The application of a Free Speech Zone was almost farcical. Police Officers stood at the edge of the World Arena property checking for credentials. Helpers beside them called down the line, warning that no one without credentials would be allowed unto the property. When it came my turn to be asked, I answered that I had none. They were already telling me I could not enter when I was able to get a question in edgewise. I asked: “what about the Free Speech Zone?” They answered: “Oh, you’re here for the Free Speech Zone” and they waved me through. Without a description of where it was, or that it did not extend to the limit of the police tape. An ordinary public would not have known to ask to enter the area, nor about its limits.
Police tape extended toward but did not include areas 8 and 9

FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Of course there would be no problem at all if we hadn’t collectively relinquished the principle of Freedom of Speech. Why has it become so critical to public safety to shield people from each other’s speech? It used to be Sticks and Stones from which we needed police protection.

SURVEILLANCE
The extent of the security measures were leading all to believe that a personage of important political stature would be paying the convention a visit. By five in the morning all the street corners were manned by multiple motorcycle patrolmen. Suited men in dark SUVs were conducting security sweeps into the wooded hillside. Traffic signs on the interstate were warning drivers not to stop or slow along the shoulder. Police vehicles of all stripes were patrolling the parking lots, junior policemen were positioned in pickup trucks hauling coolers full of bottled water. When we arrived at the parking lot, unmarked vehicles converged upon us but exchanged information with each other without having to get out to address us.

Later in the day, Mark and I returned to the Free Speech Zone so that he could videotape my account of what had happened. Another of our party watched as men atop the roof of the Hampton Inn followed us though spotting scopes and pointed what appeared to be parabolic listening devices in our direction. None of which could be considered excessive for security precautions at such an event, although pretty clearly our protests have shown themselves to be of little threat. It would seem the purpose of the exercise Saturday was to get in some practice.

FRI-SAT Demo State Convention Demo

Posted on by
Reply

FRIDAY UPDATE: As usual our Stop Funding the War message was welcomed unanimously. Democratic delegates smiled, cheered and thanked us for “keeping at it.” Their enthusiasm was no doubt bolstered by the overwhelming honks we elicited from the rush hour traffic.

Michael Moore’s people picked up on Mark’s YouTube grab of the KRDO spot, for dry runs leading to the DNC. Join the demonstration FRIDAY 3-6pm at the DoubleTree Hotel and SATURDAY 7-10am in front of the World Arena. Details at PROTESTCOLORADO.ORG

Capitalism is killing all life

Posted on by
1

A book I read 35 years ago was titled ´Let Them Live´and made a big impression on me at the time, though it is now out of print. The book had me asking myself, just what was it that had humankind exterminating life on this planet? I came to the conclusion that it was the modern capitalism that was touted then as now as being an effecient economic system as opposed to others that humans could choose. We haven´t changed the system though, and in the 35 years since I read ´Let Then Live´, humankind has eliminated 1/3 of bio-diversity while efficiently trashing the planet. An Epidemic of Extinctions: Decimation of Life on Earth

Overpopulation alone is not the cause of the biological and ecological destruction of this planet, but the poor economic organization of people is. Articles that merely blame the ecological crisis we all face on overpopulation, just do not go to the heart of the problem and offer little solution with their wrong emphasis on there supposedly just being way too many people around. The planet can support large numbers of humans, but not economically organized by us humans in the destructive world capitalist form of production currently running society for the super rich.

Some “Inflammatory” rhetoric…

Posted on by
Reply

About the Labor Day Fire on Pike’s Peak last year… And the Fascist editor at Westside Pioneer.

You can tell whose pockets the El Paso County Fire Control District are in.

The wealthiest of course.

Y’all remember the fire, right?

Wasn’t a red-hot week later the self-serving rag Westside Pioneer was reporting that it was a homeless person who started the fire.

Somebody was seen leaving the scene, nobody knows who, (I personally have been in a couple of wildfires, and let the Voice of Experience speak, I got the hell as far away from those fires as fast as I possibly could…)

The Fire Marshall or whatever the sell-out bastard’s title is pronounced that the fire MIGHT have been started by a carelessly tossed Cigarette, or MIGHT have been started in a campfire. It was mid morning, 80 degrees Fahrenheit, nobody had no damn campfire going.

And, the clincher of their messed up argument, it was in a “disheveled” homeless campsite.

The editor of the Pioneer, sounds kind of to the Right of Mussolini, arrogantly assumes that it WAS a homeless “Bum” (to use his phrase) who started the fire.

And proceeded to blame the homeless for every ill befalling society today.

    Now, here’s MY theory, and it’s a doozy.

That the camp was all torn up and littered up, that sounds like what happens when Socially Retarded Animated Sphincter Rich-Bitches teach their kids that “bums” are less than human, and that it’s ok to break into their camps (Not while they’re in camp, of course, no no, COWARDS don’t like to risk being confronted by the PEOPLE they’re assaulting)

They steal anything that might be worth money and then break or tear apart everything else. …

    … and in many cases, They Light The Place On Fire…

Occasionally, if there’s a chance that somebody in the camp would defend himself, and they might get more than their Piggy Pride hurt… they’ll call the cops, who are so bootlicking subservient that they’ll take care of the problem, “of course you’re right sir, the poor are causing all the problems of the world and no, sir, you should be insulated from seeing the suffering of your fellow humans, and we’ll take care of the “Bum”, sir”.

Now, I don’t have proof that some out-of-control Rich Bitch Punk Cowards, such as those who infest the multi-million dollar houses on Stolen Land along Gold Camp and Bear Creek roads, are the ones who actually started the fire.

Then again, my evidence is more substantial than theirs, AND, the aforementioned PIGS refuse to even consider such a possibility.

In their PIGGY minds, it has to be the fault of “Bums”, no questions need be asked.

Now, here’s a neat little Teach The Punks A Lesson thought:

Get a cheap tent, right, a cheap sleeping bag, some clothes books and such…
Set it up in an area Known To Be Infested with the “camp raider heroes”

Boil up a mess of poison ivy. Cook it just like collard greens (only without the hamhocks) and pour the “tea” all over the tent and clothes, let it dry, (or not, it wouldn’t make any difference, they would just assume it was soaked in a rainstorm, happens often enough.)

And then let their ChickenShit nature take its course…

Nicaraguan transport strike Made in USA

Posted on by
2

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA- We crossed into Nicaragua from Costa Rica last week, unprepared for a national transportation strike that had just begun. The cause of this strike is simply that gas prices are going up rapidly, and gas is currently 50-70 cents a gallon more expensive here than in the US. Who is to blame for this according to the Nicaraguan US-lackey press? Is it Shell Oil, the US government, or the multi-national energy cartels? Why NO. They blame Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega at home for the price discrepancy! That is the misinformation that comes about from corporate monopoly control of the media, which is certainly the case in Nicaragua.

Burma refusing USAID military advisors

Posted on by
Reply

“Myanmar military seize aid shipment.” As opposed to …? Who’s supposed to seize it then? We distribute aid using soldiers. Can’t they?

Not that the western media shouldn’t want to stack the deck against the Burmese junta, but isn’t Burma’s forced labor, brutality and repressive military rule reason enough to foment our disapproval? I say the headlines have been looking more and more like US calls for Darfur intervention. Cyclone casualty figures went from 800 to thousands to 20,000 and now 100k. Without NGOs being able to get in and say exactly. The numbers escalate like a bidder eager to overcome the seller’s reluctance. What figure will launch an outcry suitable to relax Myanmar’s borders?

Does Myanmar want to retain its sovereign privacy so much as prevent western influence from arming potential rebels in the countryside?

Myanmar’s leaders are refusing to permit entrance to US aid workers, so we’re told. While that sounds synonymous to saying they don’t want Americans distributing the aid, it really means quite precisely they don’t want USAID personnel. For some odd reason, our media report “US aid” and USAID as synonymous, even though USAID stands for U.S. Agency for International Development, not “aid.” USAID is a branch of the US government, widely accused of being linked to the CIA. Venezuelan opposition groups were funded by USAID. The same has been going on in Cuba.

Where the Peace Corps was avowedly not affiliated with the US State Department, it was famously used by the CIA. The US government agency USAID, which deploys military crews, is the emergency philanthropic arm of the world trade lending system. It’s full of capitalist partisans, and hooked up, in intelligence parlance.

Liberal scholars make palatable same lie

Posted on by
Reply

Do you remember this ignoble sequence of events in the lead-up to the US invasion of Iraq? America demanded Iraq cease their nuclear research projects, they did. We insisted they fess up about all their weapons programs, so they released a tower of documents, 75% of which we redacted before passing it on to the UN. We subjected Iraq to weapons inspectors, and called for Saddam to produce and dismantle his long range missiles. When the embargo-depleted, oft-bombarded nation complied, the way was clear for our troops to move in.

If a cowboy did that in a western, which color hat would he be wearing? Throw down your gun so I can shoot you.

Middle East scholar Steven Zunes recounted this episode in his presentation at CC on Thursday. Iraq’s early subjugation would certainly be influencing Iran’s current nuclear strategy. North Korea presented the alternate scenario. Their nuclear program moved forward undeterred, they tested long distance rockets, and they didn’t get invaded. Iran is governed by a repressive regime, but even Iran’s dissidents advocate rushing their nation’s nuclear efforts forward.

Stephen Zunes spoke about the ongoing war and The Mess Bush Leaves Behind, reminding the students of his originally dire predictions before the war started. He made the same point in his CC appearance the year before. In 2003 Zune had predicted failure in Iraq. Much as he would like to have been proven wrong, he says, we have failure. Still unchanged was the narrative that the US adventure in Iraq has been an unmitigated fiasco. The outcome is tragic, the irreversible destruction and loss of life, lamentable. But otherwise Zunes’ liberal theme is pernicious falsehood.

Bush’s history-making sure does look like a mess, but Neocon pocketbooks can only be described as messy in being flush with cash. When will analysts reframe the fiasco for what it still is, a continual mugging of the American taxpayer. Oil profits are up, the weapons industry has windfalls to rival cyclones, and private militia forces are outgrowing the democratic mechanisms to hold multinationals in check. Having a preeminent scholar characterize the GWOT developments as mistakes is to mislead Americans with criminal negligence.

Embed cheesecake

Posted on by
Reply

embed-cheesecake.jpgIf you have a sense that embedded reporters may be reluctant accomplices to the war machine, here’s a jolt of indecorous complicity. Attractive blond reporter in sea of Green Zone testosterone lends her “me on tank” snapshot extra cheesecake by palming the big gun. One of several photos accompanying her article, this is the shot used to identify her UK newspaper column. Curiously, her column is not entitled media whore.

Mothers Day Moms Against War Day

Posted on by
Reply

“Arise then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

“Say firmly: ‘We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience. We women of one country will be too tender to those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own, it says “Disarm! Disarm!” The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.’

“As men have forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after his time the sacred impress not of Caesar, but of God.

“In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”

USA acronyms want Pinon Canyon again

Posted on by
Reply

May 8 PSA from the DECAM/NEPA coordinator at the FCPAO:
(Release 08-056)
 
FORT CARSON, COLO.– Part of GTA effort: USA issues NOI to prepare an EIS for bringing IBCT and CAB to USAFC and the PCMS, against the NAA. PUBLIC SCOPING MEETINGS (to hear NAA!) are May 20 in TAD, May 21 in COS (6:30PM Crowne Plaza Hotel) and May 22 in LHX.

Glossary:
PSA -Public Service Announcement
DECAM –Directorate of Environmental Compliance and Management
NEPA –National Environmental Policy Act
FCPAO -Fort Carson Public Affairs Office
GTA –“Grow the Army”
USA -United States Army
NOI -Notice of Intent
EIS -Environmental Impact Statement
IBCT -Infantry Brigade Combat Team (3,900 soldiers)
CAB -Combat Aviation Brigade (2,800 soldiers)
USAFC –United States Army Fort Carson
PCMS –Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site
NAA -No Action Alternative

TAD -Trinidad, Colorado
COS -Colorado Springs
LHX -La Junta (Airport codes)

Wikipedia explains this GWOT acronym:

AWR — (Alpha Whiskey Romeo) Allah’s Waiting Room. When engaged, insurgents have a tendency to flee to the same building (the AWR), at which point the troops radio in an air strike.

Blackwater Thugs: Fallujah “heroes”?

Posted on by
1

There’s a War-drum-beating propaganda special coming on this evening on one of the cable history channels… The teaser says “When four Blackwater private security contractors were brutally murdered and their bodies hung up for everybody to see” BULLSHIT…

They went into Fallujah to pick a fight, knowing that neither the Iraqi government nor the United States Government would prosecute them for their CRIMES, …but the Sunni Militia DID, under THEIR laws.

Our newly moderated Troll said the Private Contractors were “doing security work (at Pete Field) so American Troops could be freed up to fight for your rights in Iraq”…

Except Air Force SP’s aren’t exactly a combat unit. Of course, sending cops over there to enforce Imperial Martial Law is really really fighting FOR freedom.

And of course, sending mercenaries over there to back up those cops, who only truly want to imprison, torture or kill ONLY those naughty Iraqi people who object to the Invasion Liberation of their country… and fail to greet their liberators with flowers… and fail to bow before the Natural Superior Culture of the Empire Liberation Forces… and fail to lick their goddamned jackboots…

Shock and Awe Success in Lebanon…

Posted on by
Reply

Oh, yeah, Shock and Awe has been an unqualified success… as a recruitment tool for Hizbollah.

…and their opponents in al Qa’eda too. For those who don’t know the differences, (McCain, Bush, etc)

George W has them thar Hizbollah fellers pissing their robes for fear, yep yep yep….

…just like Ronald Reagan had them running for cover… or running toward the goodies Reagan was handing out to them, like weapons and cash and such.

But it wasn’t negotiating with Terrorists mind you, just paying them in exchange for some hostages and a promise not to take any more hostages.

Maybe Ollie North will be out of the country for a few months, much much longer if a Hizbollah sniper misses the real target and hits his goofy ass instead.

Maybe McCain and Chuck Norris err… the Rambo Sisters will go to Lebanon to prove they have everything under control, and they can walk down any street in Beirut safely (so long as they’re under heavy guard)…

Indonesians suspicious of Namru-2 Lab

Posted on by
Reply

Bird Flu germ warfare the killer whale of chemical weapon ordnanceHave you heard of NAMRU-2? It’s a US military laboratory set off limits on an Indonesian college campus in Jakarta. The lab’s stated purpose is to study tropical diseases coming from the region. But Indonesians have become suspicious about the application of what the US is learning, and why the lab workers need diplomatic immunity.

The secretive lab has yet to share information with Indonesian researchers. There has been no instance when the Navy Medical Research Unit 2 has assisted with Indonesia’s health system. Then there’s the specter of the lab being administrated under the authority of our Department of Defense. Indonesians point to the certainty that this also means the US intelligence community.

Might it be fair to wonder what Namru-2 is working on and for who?

As Indonesians are raising questions about the foreign lab’s legitimacy, their political representatives have succeeded in stalling negotiations for a new lease. Would “curious” describe the current sticking point: Americans are insisting on diplomatic immunity for the lab staff?

Goodbye War Drum Major George

Posted on by
13

major-george-hutton-ppjpc-infiltrator-snoop.jpgThe vote is in, we send George Hutton packing. But not without a good eulogy.
 
Colonel George, as we liked to chide him, was known to the local peace community as a regular attendee, who usually near the end of a meeting stood up to tell us all we were wrong, and misguided, and a disgrace, we were giving aid and comfort to the enemy, etc, then he’d sit down. After long he didn’t need to say anything because his scorn, if ever soft spoken, hung over every discussion.

I recommended uninviting Mr. Hutton from the PPJPC (the planning sessions of all things!) and returning his membership fee for the benefit of un-muddling our energies, but well intended pious Netties lobbied to keep the door open, hoping someday he’d see the light. They didn’t see how their faith in George’s salvation was meanwhile sabotaging our otherwise elevated team spirit.

At a protest, I saw George, participating with us in his uniform, step toward the TV cameras and volunteer for an interview. Then, instead of speaking for us, he spoke against our pacifist message and characterized us as throwback hippie loons.

On another occasion, I saw George reduce a very gentle-hearted peace activist to tears with his spite toward anyone who would so insult the boys in uniform. Many of us tried to engage George, thinking his persistence at our events betrayed a guilty conscience about what he did in Vietnam, but George never did blink from his icy disapproving stare.

When online discussion on the PPJPC website commenced in earnest, George eventually stumbled across it and began spamming the comments with his passive aggressive vitriol. This resulted in indignant exchanges and led the goodness-gracious Nellies of the organization to ponder whether we needed such an uncivil thing as a blog forum at all. Sooner than have the disagreement-averse older crew scuttle the project I advocated banning George Hutton from the blog and we did.

But George petitioned and bent every ear, and now the PPJPC staff has overruled the board and so the pernicious troll returned. For some odd reason however, Major Hutton took the decision to mean he was sanctioned to comment on Not My Tribe too. At first I thought it best to draw his fire here, sooner than at the nascent J&P site. To his credit, despite his boorish admonitions about our “neg vibes,” George prompted wonderfully heated rebuttals. Until we became simply bothered.

Tony has stated the case plainly enough. Paid or not, George’s mission was to defend American Imperialism, re-justify Vietnam, and disrupt any antiwar talk. And frankly, he was doing quite well. Look at me, I’ve been lured into writing him a God-damned send-off!

George, this is not about Freedom of Speech. No one is entitled to disrupt the speech of others for the sake of his own. What you are doing is simply interference jamming. That’s not protected expression. You’re not interested in discussion, only keeping your opponent covered. Go find your own soapbox. Send us a link. If you make it interesting, we might check in on you.

No eulogy would be complete without a tribute. Here I excerpt George Hutton in his own nutshell:

Just so you know I had a TS, NATO, CRYPTO, ATOMIC, NSA-SI clearance. So know a bit. Was in the ASA too.

I was in the Army & Texas Guard.

I was in the Rangers (airborn) too. 3 full tours too. From 1964 – 66 & 70-71.

As for the trip to Cambodia, I was there. It failed due to comminist within the South Viet-nam military.

I went to OCS after 20 years as an enlistedman. Was E1 to E7 & O2 & finished as O4 with my military service. Skipped 2LT as I was #2 in my class. Was a NCO most of my service so I know about &*&%$# Officers too.

I did 2/3 of my time “in the field” traing Turkish & Greek military folk to advisor in Viet nam. So, do try to understand me, been there – done that.

What pearls of wisdom did Mr. Hutton offer NMT? How about this chestnut about the Greek isle of Lesbos (Lesbos is the origin of the word “lesbian,” having been home to the ancient poet Sappho who wrote about love between women.) But in George’s account:

Having been stationed in Turkey & going to Greece & islands the rumer is these folks did not like males very much. Ran the island & used the males then killed them keeping girl babies to keep the island going. Just bit of history.

Bye George.

FDA rapists on the loose, again

Posted on by
4

Bachelorette nutrition One of my favorite jump starts to the day is a breakfast of cottage cheese, fresh fruit and almonds. It’s is a simple meal, easy to prepare, and represents a near-perfect combination of protein, carbohydrate and healthy fat. It’s the almonds that provide the magic. In addition to a low glycemic index, which curtails a heavy duty insulin response, almond intake protects proteins from oxidative damage while delivering vitamin E and other antioxidants, magnesium, calcium, folic acid, protein, fiber and living enzymes.

Thank goodness that the USA has a near lock on almond production. 70% of the world’s almonds come from California. I can only thank goodness that raw almonds are readily available in our bountiful land, even at most corporate grocery stores.

Oh, but wait. The FDA recently decided that all California almonds must be either irradiated or chemically pasteurized prior to sale. Not so for almonds exported to other countries. No. This particular punishment is reserved especially for the American people.

What this means is that our pristine, nutritious and beautiful almonds are subjected to gross degradation by FDA rapists. Irradiation exposes food products to extremely high levels of radiation that kill bacteria, parasites and fungi. Never mind that animal studies have shown that irradiation may promote chromosomal damage and cancer. And never mind that toxic radiation demolishes the nutritional value of food.

Chemical pasteurization is even more dangerous. The technique used is called propylene oxide fumigation, which makes use of a chemical compound that the EPA has classified as a probable human carcinogen. Here’s another interesting note: Propylene oxide was once used in racing fuel, but in 1993 the National Hot Rod Association banned its use because of cancer concerns. Yet this poison is used to pasteurize almonds and other foods – EPA and FDA approved. Oh yeah, baaaaby, just gimme the purple stamp!

One comforting tidbit, we needn’t worry our purty heads over this because it’s all being done without our knowledge or approval. Ya’ll know that ignorance is bliss. The FDA — that trusty public servant — has allowed almond growers to pretend that it’s business as usual. California almond growers may still label their almonds “natural” and “raw” even though they’ve been corrupted by irradiation and chemical pasteurization.

The FDA is tired of being held accountable by the vocal few. They are more than willing and able to fly under the radar. And, obviously, California almond growers are happy to fly with them. One of them should stand tall and expose the FDA for the abusive piece of shit that it is. If they’d take that leap of faith, I’d buy their almonds — though they be unfit for consumption — until the poor drugged fallen cows come home!

More US terrorist attacks visited on Iraqi children, ambulances & Buddhist statues

Posted on by
1

After their successful terrorist attack on a Somali residential neighborhood last week, the US has once again turned to terrorist attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, where the ancient Buddhist statues partially destroyed by the Taliban were in turn pummeled again by the evil empire of the Pentagon. In Iraq, CNN reports 3 boys killed in Iraq airstrike, companion says. In other US terrorist strikes, the US destroyed ambulances and part of an Iraqi hospital.

A push polling pop-up from PollingPoint

Posted on by
7

I just found this pop-up beneath my browser window. It purports to ask which candidate I favor. Do you sense which one PollingPoint favors?
 
pollingpoint-pop-up-choice-mccain-clinton-obama.jpg

Let’s work our way from the outside in.

Barack Obama is pictured in the light of a harsh flash, as if snapped at night. It probably resembles photographs you might have of friends or coworkers at a party or on the town. Though we’re looking at him at eye level, he’s looking down at someone. He appears to be laughing. His glassy eyes match the suggestion that he is also sweaty.

The picture of Hillary Clinton is taken from even closer, and it captures her reaction in a personal exchange. Clinton’s unguarded expression is incongruous by being not so flattering. Her lined face betrays concern, if also worry. The intimate proximity, our slight height advantage, and the soft home/office lighting, subvert the deference we would otherwise grant Clinton’s celebrity as former First Lady and potential presidential nominee.

Both Obama and Hillary are facing center left. Ready to receive them is Poppa McCain, facing squarely right.

John McCain is shown in a glow of stage lights. We are at his feet looking up, and from a regal distance. In fact he is holding us off with an upraised hand as he smiles confidently watching the Democratic rivals.

Eavesdropping on a tree in the forest

Posted on by
1

Moon over clock tower Neufreistadt SLNEUFREISTADT, SL- Wandering a little in Neufreistad last night I came upon a chain hanging from a clock tower. Pulling it would ring a bell far above. It was night in Second Life, the moon and I were alone in the NFS sim, mine the only avatar even in the surrounding sims. The obvious question arose, if I were to ring this bell with no one around, would anyone hear it?

Do I know enough to say? A sim owner or manager, that is to say the person who owns that virtual estate or the person given authority to run it, can monitor SL activity without being online. They have a bird’s eye view, or so I understand, an extrasensory perception relating to the realm for which they are responsible. Ordinary users can see and hear what’s in our vicinity, and can sharpen our sight depending on how lifelike we want our faculties. (actually we can eavesdrop too, with virtual bugs to spy on virtual happenings.) Sim admins have meta power.

Above them, Linden Labs, the real world laboratory which houses Second Life, oversees the mechanics of their virtual creation. Their view is that of lab technician over the maze, watching the mouse try to find the cheese, omnipresent and unobserved if only because of their irrelevance to the reality below.

I cannot say whether any are listening, but I do know that they could. Such is the unexplored, but not indefinite world of virtual reality. You may not have been there before, but someone has, and certainly someone tends to it and has an interest in checking in. And that’s not even to consider the NSA.

Is there a real world anymore where you can act on a thought unobserved? With Google Earth, as an example of surreptitious satellites, could a tree fall, anymore, unheard? Can you travel in your car, sit in your room, whisper out of earshot of your cellphone, and feel you have privacy?

In cyberspace, surveillance is inescapable. But in the virtual dimension, whose landscape is it that’s being watched? Does the virtual world exist on your computer screen as much as it lies your head? From which are the spooks reporting?

Kent State remembers the 4th of May

Posted on by
24

Alan Canfora waves the anarchist flag before he was shot in the wristDid you think lone hooligans waving the Anarchist flag under the noses of police was a new thing?
 
On May 4, 1970, after several days of student protests at Kent State University, the Ohio National guard opened fire on the students, killing four and wounding nine others. Sparking a wave of campus revolts proclaiming “They can’t kill us all.” The Kent State students weren’t protesting the Vietnam War, but the just begun US invasion into Cambodia. Is this going to sound familiar? MAY 4 is commemorated every year.