Category Archives: war

The right to privacy

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…is slowly being eroded, we know, but then there are among us the rebels who won’t go quietly.

Oh, the imagination is running into overdrive with all the fun I could have of this…but I want to keep this blog, um, family friendly. haha.

From Cornell Law:

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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I have a Paralegal Certificate and my professor told me that this means that if a police officer pulls you over, you have the right to refuse to give your name or any information unless you are put under arrest.  And with my experience with this, you don’t even have to be in suspicion of a crime–you just have to be in the area–doing your job–to be treated like you were a criminal.

Academy Award

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You know, there is a Canadian program on my public radio station here in FW that airs a part of a segment where a guy has said he had awards for “favorite food, TV program,” etc., and one of the categories is “best performance of impersonating a politician” (or something to that effect) “won by Dan Quayle three years in a row until Dick Cheney came along…”

I think there should just be a category for “best performance by a politician while trying to appear genuine”.

I think Hillary Clinton would win in a landslide….

No, I’m not going to link to any of the political sites that are praising her “performance” today.  It really sickens me how they have annointed her Saint Hillary that can do no wrong and refuse to look at her and Bill’s records with any degree of unemotional critical assessment.   They would be livid at that same stuff if it were done by a repub.

The fake break in her voice was the top of the performance.  Not a tear in the eyes.  Her eyes were not even red.  My voice doesn’t usually break until the tears begin to fall and the emotions have bubbled to the top.

The anger at the question of what exactly happened? “It doesn’t matter!!” Really?

She didn’t read the memo.   Didn’t read the memo….

I recalled that during the Clintons term in office, I always felt manipulated.  It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually, it came to be a frequent feeling whenever a crisis would occur and once again they escaped accountability.

 

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Beyond Vietnam

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Susie Madrak has a post up on MLK’s birthday celebration.  This is my view, too, on how everybody brings up “I Have a Dream” speech, and then fail to acknowledge his “Beyond Vietnam” speech (which he gave a year to the day before his murder).

He was expanding from the Civil Rights protests towards protesting the condition of the poor and of the terrible consequences of war.  This was more of a threat to the status quo than anything he had done prior.  Indeed, even his friends that had supported him during the Civil Rights era were abandoning him when he started advocating for the poor and protesting against war.  According to those that knew him, he never felt so alone.

He knew that advocating those positions was dangerous.

And he did it anyway….

 

Exploring the link between diet and health

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I wanted to explore the health factors that indicate heavy metal poisoning and the African Americans.

I found this link on BET.  Diabetes can be caused by heavy metal poisoning, and high blood pressure is linked to the adrenals and kidneys which can be severely affected by heavy metal toxicity, therefore, affecting blood pressure. And, of course, heavy metal poisoning is closely associated with autistic symptoms.  I say “symptoms” because I’m not sure that the poisoning causes autism, but it most definitely causes autistic symptoms, as has been my experience.

Here’s another site.  I’ve come across a couple of websites geared towards the African American link to autism, but they are exploring the issue of comparison between whites and blacks being diagnosed later.  I’m trying to get away from that because it’s not helpful.  It is not going towards the issue itself of autism and the possible causes behind it.  It’s upsetting to me because the blanket statement that whites get diagnosed sooner than blacks is not my experience, nor others who also diagnosed themselves.   I, a white person, was not diagnosed by any damn doctor, after years of low thyroid, adrenal issues, chronic fatigue, migraines, and the symptoms of autism of wanting to be left alone, wanting to stay in my house and never leave it, diminishing communication skills, memory loss, hyperfocusing, exaggerated startle response, etc.

When I searched for a link with African Americans and heavy metal poisoning, I again came up empty.

I searched “chronic fatigue and African Americans and found this.  As I read the paragraph:

Psychosocial variables may influence the experience of chronic fatigue, especially in individuals of color. Overarching psychosocial realities such as the endemic nature of ethnic/racial discrimination and the complexity of the acculturation process may bear on the experience of fatigue. This study evaluated whether the acculturation process was related to chronic fatigue and racism among African Americans and Latinos. While associations among the predicted variables were not statistically significant, distinct divisions among levels of acculturation appeared between African Americans and Latinos. Membership in a community of color likely increases the complexity of the experience of chronic fatigue in a manner that requires further investigation.

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Okay, what I’m reading from this is that the psychobabble is stating that chronic fatigue is a psychological problem.  Pfft.  Yep, they’ve been telling women that for decades…didn’t even acknowledge that it was a true physical condition until very recently.  These women were just lazy and hypochrondriacs who needed to get a life, when in reality they were the first to suffer the effects of low thyroid and adrenal fatigue from a toxic environment.

Reading this website, the symptom onset after a traumatic event, either physical or emotional, with the compromised immune system is a red flag for an inflamed gut from Celiac or gluten intolerance.  It’s the final straw that breaks the body. I have issues with the link to the psychological, although stress does affect the immune system, I don’t think it’s the cause of it.  It’s too convenient to blame psychological stress than to explore things such as heavy metal toxicity and/or leaky gut. It’s been proven that gluten intolerance can cause psychological symptoms, and this has been known since before WWII.  Therefore, the psychological stuff comes *after* the leaky gut or whatever physical issue is beleaguering the body, not necessarily the other way around.

As a side note, I found this link.  I had forgotten about the Gulf War syndrome being the first serious acknowledgement that chronic fatigue was an actual physical ailment and not psychological.  And the link between Gulf War syndrome and vaccines should not be ignored.

From the website:

“Despite these agreements between FDA and DoD, and DoD’s official subsequent decision to administer the vaccine voluntarily, many PGW veterans claim that they were not told what vaccine they were being given, or what the risks were, either orally or in writing. Many report that they were told not to tell medical personnel that they had received a vaccination, even if the vaccination caused pain or swelling. No record of the vaccine was available in medical records; as a result, physicians who were concerned about any local or systemic reactions were uninformed about the possible causes. Veterans who claim they were harmed by the vaccine or pyridostigmine frequently have no proof that they were vaccinated or took the pills, or that they had an adverse reaction. Moreover, virtually none of the soldiers received more than two of the botulism vaccinations, even though DoD informed FDA they would administer the three shots necessary for protection…

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So, folks…you should run right out and get that flu vaccine.  Run! NOW!

 

A trail of bullets…

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C.J.Chivers of the New York Times had this up over the weekend–a post on ammunition being supplied to Africa.  I thought I’d post it because of the focus on Africa.  Perhaps it’s just me, but it seems that Africa is becoming a focal point…or perhaps it was always there, but ignored?

Anyway, I thought that it’s striking that a lot is said about Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but not of small arms ammunition and shipping it to other countries.

The question one has to ask is…why?  What do they hope to gain?  Is it for their political benefit or just plain guns profits?

 

PR Watch

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(I’m sooo far behind, I think I’m ahead…)

Trying to play catch up–here are some highlights of issues sent out by Center for Media and Democracy–

I love that he is holding Whole Foods accountable for the food they are saying is organic….but not quite telling all of the possible ingredients (heavy metals and other contaminants)…

The “Don’t ask, don’t tell” I-see-no-evil, I-hear-no-evil is pretty standard.  They aren’t counting on folks like Mario asking questions, either.  The more people ask questions, the harder it is to come up with evasive answers.

Like I’ve said before, know where your food is from–buy locally if at all possible, because the gossip is at least one other national organic food store is selling conventionally grown (using chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides) food is being marketed as organic.

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Addressing the gun violence issue.  Like in my previous post, you can use other weapons for violence instead of guns–it’s the acceptance of violence in our society (and others) that encourages this.  It’s so much easier to throw a rock than to try to reason with someone and to compromise and to recognize one’s own responsibility towards making peace.  A gun is a  quick way to end whatever problem there is…

And the argument that everyone carrying a gun would stop violence…oy vey…

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ALEC member Scott nominated to fill Demint vacancy.

IRS audit for ALEC?  The question becomes “are you a charity if you have a political action committee and go from state to state trying to heavily influence legislation?”

Michigan and ALEC’s right to work law.   This is part of the religious right’s assault on fairness, which I’m finding out in the book Holy Terror.  (I’m slowly getting through it, a better report later.)

 

Genetic tests on Lanza?

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Oh.My.God.

I am just stunned.  Eugenics, anyone??

Nothing in this article about him having amalgams or mercury exposure or diet (if he is gluten intolerant, leading to schizophrenia).

No…we can’t have scientists looking at stuff like that, because that’s too simple an answer and the ways to fix it make us uncomfortable.   It means we have to give up some things that pollute our environment and we have to make more of an effort to understand the diet and immune system and how they affect our brains.

I mean, really, “science” has taught us that amalgams are safe, right??

…and “science” has brought us pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms.

So, yeah, scientists with biases and prejudices should *absolutely* assign a value to a gene and making sweeping generalizations with those biases. /snark

More here. Be sure to note the Americans funding this garbage.

Laws?

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I’ve had to take a break from it–the combination of the effects of the migraine and the children being shot was getting to me.

I kept seeing the faces of the children I used to teach.  I always looked forward to the days that I got to teach the 1st grade–they were so eager to learn and had so much to learn that every day was an adventure to them.  I had to stop listening to the news for a day to balance.

My son and I were talking about it-and the laws that have already been in place did not stop what happened.  The guns were legally owned.  Even though guns were not allowed in school and the school was secure as it could be, the tragedy still happened.

I’m not trying to dash all hope that there are solutions.  Laws only go so far.

It’s so much easier in a culture that does not value peace to take the easy way out.

 

Bigger questions…

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I was just stunned last night when the news reported that Nancy Lanza was taking her troubled son to shooting ranges and teaching him how to shoot a gun.  What on Earth was she thinking?! Some links here and here.

It’s just beyond comprehension how she is portrayed as being so fearful of her son, and then teaching him not only to shoot, but to have guns in the home–it makes absolutely no sense.

One of the stories says she was “responsible” and this meant she would keep the guns locked up.  But if she’s out showing off the guns to her landscaper, and anyone that comes to the home, then I have my doubts on whether the guns are kept locked up.  She was obsessed with them.

Story after story states that she was this great mother and doted on her son and was advocating for him…but it just doesn’t go with the other details coming out–keeping in mind that the Connecticut State Police stated they had “good evidence” they recovered at the home.

I’m wondering about Nancy’s mental state, as well.

Adam Lanza was reported to have Asperger’s, which is a form of autism.  He was painfully shy.  He was intelligent, but could not connect with people and with him burning himself, he was crying out for someone to help him.

All of the above symptoms can be connected to mercury/heavy metal poisoning, which some believe (me being one of them) is linked to autism.

A good general article here on the symptoms.

An article here linking heavy metals with autism, ADD, Asperger’s, etc. (I don’t recommend the products or cleanses this site is pushing).

A quote from the above:

The relationship of the heavy metals and children with autistic symptoms is being researched from every angle thought of. One team of investigators reported damage to the intestinal mucosal layer , in the form of increased permeability, in over 40% of autistic children tested. This gastrointestinal dysfunction would allow greater amount of toxins to penetrate the gut barrier into systemic circulation, and thus increase the toxin burden in children unable to properly process this onslaught of toxin agents.

This is known among those of us with “leaky gut”–the question is which comes first–the heavy metal poisoning that damages the gut, or the damaged gut (from undigested gluten) allowing more heavy metals to poison us?

Rage is one thing that is linked to heavy metal poisoning, so it is not unreasonable to think that Adam could have been toxic.  What I want to know is this:  Did his mother have amalgams? Did Adam?  Was there any known exposure to heavy metals (a redundant question on my part, because it’s not IF you’ve been exposed, it’s when and how much)?

Robert Kennedy speaks about the increase in autism with increased vaccination here.

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(A side note here: Santa just arrived here in the Library. There’s a group of little ones here for story hour–squealing with delight.  Nice.  Trying hard not to get emotional with the mixed feelings….)

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A good article here on toxins in Stratford, Connecticut.  Another here on toxins in the fish in CN rivers. And since the damage to DNA happens slowly, from generation to generation, it’s quite possible that Nancy was mildly toxic, and Adam was more so…

A side story here on a nuclear reactor in Connecticut also being shut down because the water in Long Island sound was too hot to cool it.  If you recall, this also happened here in the midwest. (Nuclear radiation damages the thyroid, among other things, which can also lead to mental issues.)

Government reported toxic releases in Connecticut.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t mention mercury releases, but this does.

Finally, this from HuffPost on heavy metal poisoning.

The questions to what happened in Connecticut will continue, and hopefully, this time, we will get the right answers.  It’s a complex problem, but not impossible to solve–it just takes more than lather, rinse, repeat…