tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18551161087241118662024-03-13T18:12:03.978-05:00Misplaced In The MidwestOsirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-36352211227475124312012-02-03T14:19:00.001-06:002012-02-03T14:19:20.233-06:00Blog? What Blog???<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Yeah... I know.<br /><br />Haven't been here in awhile. Thought I was gonna be back, then just sort of walked away again.<br /><br />But it's Friday afternoon, I'm bored, and if I recall correctly there were a few of you who are so mentally unstable that you actually used to look forward to daily content here.<br /><br />So I think I'll try to dust this thing off... just for fun, and not on any regular schedule. Gonna stay away from serious shit, unless it's something I think is really important.<br /><br />Here's some cool and nerdy eye-candy to finish out the afternoon with. If you're a "Blade Runner" the first one is your kind of thing...<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/30300114?color=ffffff" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="480"></iframe><br /><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">See ya... at some point... sooner... or later... eventually... probably.</span>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-3593107534090521982011-09-08T16:10:00.001-05:002011-09-08T16:17:06.631-05:00Does Marijuana Make You Stupid?<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elfS70UIZ00/TmkwsQpl7iI/AAAAAAAAA80/9PLLUTH2jgk/s1600/draft_lens10472031module95080831photo_1271104727WhiteWidow_-_white-widow.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 280px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-elfS70UIZ00/TmkwsQpl7iI/AAAAAAAAA80/9PLLUTH2jgk/s320/draft_lens10472031module95080831photo_1271104727WhiteWidow_-_white-widow.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650100744454794786" /></a><br /><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Marijuana is currently regulated by the United States government as a Schedule I drug, placing it in the same category as heroin, MDMA and LSD. This is largely due to the first condition of Schedule I drugs, which is that the substance “has a high potential for abuse.” The language in that clause is deliberately vague. Does abuse equal addiction? Probably not, since marijuana is not addictive like other Schedule I drugs. Rats don’t self-administer the compound in a lab, it’s virtually impossible to fatally overdose on the drug, and the physiological effects of marijuana withdrawal, if they occur, are far milder than those experienced by chronic amphetamine, alcohol, nicotine or opiate users. Put another way, if “abuse” means “addiction” then cigarettes should be Schedule I, not marijuana.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Rather, the case for marijuana “abuse” has always stemmed from its cognitive effects. While cigarettes are like caffeinated smoke — they increase attention and productivity, marijuana is the drug of choice for slackers, hippies and Seth Rogen characters. In popular culture, all it takes is one hit from a bong before people become ridiculously dumb, unable to solve the simplest problems or utter a coherent sentence. Potheads eat a lot and laugh at stupid jokes. The larger worry, of course, is that such damage is enduring and that “smoking dope” permanently impedes learning and memory.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >That, at least, has been the collective stereotype for decades. There’s even been some science to back it up, especially when the marijuana use begins at an early age. But now a different answer is beginning to emerge, thanks to an authoritative new study led by Robert Tait at the Australian National University. The scientists looked at the long-term cognitive effects of marijuana use in nearly 2,000 subjects between the ages of 20 and 24. The subjects were divided (based on self-reports) into several different categories, from total abstainers (n = 420) to “current light users” (n = 71) to “former heavy users” (n = 60). Over the course of eight years, the scientists gave the subjects a battery of standard cognitive tests, most of which focused on working memory, verbal memory and intelligence. One of the important advantages of this study is that the scientists controlled for a number of relevant variables, such as education and gender. In Time, Maia Szalavitz explains why this statistical adjustment is necessary:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The lower education levels of the pot smokers — and their greater likelihood of being male — had made it look like marijuana had significantly affected their intelligence. In fact, men simply tend to do worse than women on tests of verbal intelligence, while women generally underperform on math tests. The relative weighting of the tests made the impact of pot look worse than it was.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Once these population differences were corrected for, the long-term effects of marijuana use disappeared: The scientists found that “there were no significant between group differences.” In other words, the amount of pot consumed had no measurable impact on cognitive performance. The sole exception was performance on a test of short-term verbal memory, in which “current heavy users” performed slightly worse than former users. The researchers conclude that, contrary to earlier findings, the mind altering properties of marijuana are ephemeral and fleeting:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The adverse impacts of cannabis use on cognitive functions either appear to be related to pre-existing factors or are reversible in this community cohort even after potentially extended periods of use. These findings may be useful in motivating individuals to lower cannabis use, even after an extensive history of heavy intake.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >This study builds on previous work by Harvard researchers demonstrating that the learning and memory impairments of heavy marijuana users typically vanish within 28 days of “smoking cessation.” (The slight impairments still existed, however, one week after smoking.) While several days might sound like a long hippocampal hangover, heavy alcohol users typically experience deficits that persist for several months, if not years. In other words, heavy marijuana use appears to be a lot less damaging than alcoholism.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Taken together, these studies demonstrate that popular stereotypes of marijuana users are unfair and untrue. While it’s definitely not a good idea to perform a cognitively demanding task (such as driving!) while stoned, smoking a joint probably also won’t lead to any measurable long-term deficits. The Dude, in other words, wasn’t dumb because he inhaled. He was dumb because he was The Dude. (All those White Russians probably didn’t help, either.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Furthermore, there’s some intriguing evidence that marijuana can actually improve performance on some mental tests. A recent paper by scientists at University College, London looked at a phenomenon called semantic priming. This occurs when the activation of one word allows us to react more quickly to related words. For instance, the word “dog” might lead to decreased reaction times for “cat,” “pet” and “Lassie,” but won’t alter how quickly we react to “chair.”</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Interestingly, the scientists found that marijuana seems to induce a state of hyper-priming, in which the reach of semantic priming extends to distantly related concepts. As a result, we hear “dog” and think of nouns that, in more sober circumstances, would seem rather disconnected, such as “leash” or “hair.” This state of hyper-priming helps explain why cannabis has been so often used as a creative fuel, as it seems to make the brain better at detecting those remote associations that lead to radically new ideas.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Why does marijuana increase access to far reaching intellectual connections? One possibility is that the beneficial effect of the drug is mediated by mood. Marijuana, after all, has long been used to quiet anxious nerves — big pharma is currently exploring targeted versions of THC as a next generation anxiolytic — as only a few puffs seem to dramatically increase feelings of relaxation and euphoria. (The technical term for this, of course, is getting stoned.) Furthermore, recent research has suggested that performance on various tests of remote associations and divergent thinking — a hallmark of creativity — are dramatically enhanced by such positive moods. Look, for instance, at a 2003 study by German researchers that investigated performance on a classic remote associate test (RAT), in which subjects have to find a fourth word that is associated with the three following words:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >cottage Swiss cake</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >This answer is pretty obvious: cheese. But what about this problem?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >dream ball book</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >That was a trick question: There is no shared association. Here’s the remarkable thing about these remote associate problems: People can recognize the possibility of a solution before they’ve solved the problem. The German scientists demonstrated this by asking people to quickly press the spacebar whenever they were presented with a triad that had an answer. If people had no intuitions about creative associations, their guesses should have been roughly random. But that’s not what the scientists found. Instead, subjects were able to efficiently sort “coherent” word problems — those with an actual answer — from incoherent problems, which are a waste of time. Before we find the solution, we can feel its presence.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >And this returns us to marijuana: Putting people in a positive mood roughly doubled their accuracy at the task. All of a sudden, they were twice as good at identifying problems with possible solutions. This suggests that anything that makes us happier, reducing vigilance and anxiety, might also make us more creative. We can detect more remote associations, of course, but we also know which associations are worth pursuing, which is probably even more important. It doesn’t matter if it’s pot, chocolate or a stand-up comic — those substances or experiences that put a smile on our face can also increase the powers of the imagination, at least when solving particular creative problems.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >So here’s the very un-D.A.R.E. takeaway: Heavy marijuana use doesn’t seem to cause any sort of lasting brain damage. All the negative side-effects are relatively temporary. (But those side-effects are real.) Furthermore, the sort of anxiolytic giddiness triggered by THC comes with its own unexpected benefits, which is probably why humans have been self-medicating with cannabis for thousands of years.</span></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-83383755967648737072011-09-06T15:51:00.023-05:002011-09-06T16:55:20.041-05:00The Great Minnesota Get Together<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2tM8vXA2fkY/TmaOleQWvrI/AAAAAAAAA6M/iMx7iiZLuNk/s320/DSCF2223.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649359557010833074" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Who can forget their first visit to the fair — a magical land of sights and sounds and smells beyond the reach of teachers, bosses, worries, and chores? There is nothing quite like that strange, veritable city that rises anew year after year on the outskirts of town to fill youths with wide-eyed wonder and adults with vivid memories of their own childhoods. For many people and many generations, the fair has occupied its own special place on the calendar and in the heart.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />For our trek to what is probably our last Minnesota State Fair, Misplaced & Company decided to utilize the free Park & Ride shuttle service offered to the public.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ikcGPDtd5vg/TmaPLVmJnMI/AAAAAAAAA6c/RDBc-OwY0Bs/s320/DSCF2112.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649360207521356994" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(<i>click to enlarge all photos</i>)<br /><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The American state fair is a conceptual curiosity, a celebration of agriculture that is at once a fantastic departure from the discipline and labor of the farming life. Even at the earliest fairs, agricultural displays and discussions competed for space and attention with horse races, carnivals, and shows. And innovations only widened the gap. The plowing contest became the tractor pull, and the horse race led to auto and motorcycle races and automobile stunt shows. Horse and hog contests blossomed into competitions among every kind of animal and vegetable, with baking and sewing contests right alongside. Like the prizewinning livestock and produce they showcased, state fairs expanded in size and number, becoming a national institution.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9K4HuAouKgw/TmaSNegjd9I/AAAAAAAAA8k/v0VBNaYsl2M/s1600/DSCF2120.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9K4HuAouKgw/TmaSNegjd9I/AAAAAAAAA8k/v0VBNaYsl2M/s320/DSCF2120.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649363542808426450" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Agricultural fairs reach back to biblical times and promise to stretch far into the future. In America it was around the time of the Civil War when many of the country’s best-known and largest state fairs were first held. Before that, fairs were mostly local or county-wide affairs, more serious and less entertaining. But after the Civil War, the thrill shows, contests, and pageants that became such an integral part of our fair experience appeared to enliven the event.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lXTxzpbE9bg/TmaSMhSAsFI/AAAAAAAAA8c/NdN2UsrNVyM/s1600/DSCF2300.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lXTxzpbE9bg/TmaSMhSAsFI/AAAAAAAAA8c/NdN2UsrNVyM/s320/DSCF2300.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649363526372864082" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The farming community began to shrink after World War I — a trend that accelerated after World War II. At the time of the Civil War, the vast majority of Americans supported themselves through agriculture; by 1940, only a quarter of all Americans lived on farms, and by 1980, that number was down to three of every hundred. Rural America was disappearing, and although fairs were thriving, the crowds in attendance were more often city or suburban dwellers who saw livestock about as often as they saw animals in zoos.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4DtsYik4a2Q/TmaR3Dtv05I/AAAAAAAAA8U/2o7CQ7a8bbc/s1600/DSCF0011.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4DtsYik4a2Q/TmaR3Dtv05I/AAAAAAAAA8U/2o7CQ7a8bbc/s320/DSCF0011.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649363157658882962" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />(Tara won the "Mullet Hunter" competition with this fine specimen)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vDSvf59CR5s/TmaR2vYCiDI/AAAAAAAAA8M/u74K5lOdcVY/s1600/DSCF0027.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vDSvf59CR5s/TmaR2vYCiDI/AAAAAAAAA8M/u74K5lOdcVY/s320/DSCF0027.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649363152199125042" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Fairs have changed with the people who have sponsored them, but tradition and innovation remain constant. In the 1860s and 1870s, fairs closed at dusk because gaslights and electricity were still decades in the future. Implements from that time, then considered revolutionary, live on in exhibits of agricultural history. By the 1950s, the Texas fair was installing a monorail, and the Indiana fair was displaying a replica of an atomic pile at an exhibit of nuclear energy. But at both fairs, the venerable Ferris wheel, invented at the turn of the century, was still a centerpiece of the midway. New meets old at the fair, and always takes something fresh from the encounter.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0zwbww7Yvk/TmaR2awewvI/AAAAAAAAA8E/G09g0D_e2RY/s1600/DSCF0026.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0zwbww7Yvk/TmaR2awewvI/AAAAAAAAA8E/G09g0D_e2RY/s320/DSCF0026.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649363146664493810" /></a></span></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ihSgHTAAvtc/TmaRpiEFRgI/AAAAAAAAA78/Qy3Pq6e3i4Q/s1600/DSCF2402.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ihSgHTAAvtc/TmaRpiEFRgI/AAAAAAAAA78/Qy3Pq6e3i4Q/s320/DSCF2402.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649362925287458306" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">A retrospective of state fair snapshots and anecdotes includes a cavalcade of exciting, old, funny, heart-warming, startling, and amazing things. Monkeys dressed in hats danced to minstrel music at the Ohio State Fair in 1853. Monkeys drove miniature hot rods in California in the 1950s (the first aid tent, one year, treated 10 people for monkey bites, along with the usual hundreds of stomachaches and dozens of lost children).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H7WuWQBLPak/TmaRgayJ7zI/AAAAAAAAA70/nt1O7jaQMy8/s1600/DSCF2291m.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 196px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H7WuWQBLPak/TmaRgayJ7zI/AAAAAAAAA70/nt1O7jaQMy8/s320/DSCF2291m.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649362768714395442" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Fairs held butter-making contests. A dairy company presented a butter sculpture of Teddy Roosevelt, posed with his foot on a dead lion; a live lion once rode in a racecar. Elsewhere, a butter sculptor carved a John Deere tractor. Fairs featured tractors when they were newfangled inventions that some farmers figured would never replace horses. Those same tractors appeared at displays of antique farm equipment 100 years later, where they evoked nostalgia for a simpler time.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MaS_r6aF3Is/TmaRVUt-9uI/AAAAAAAAA7s/q2UpTomPdg8/s1600/DSCF2144m.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MaS_r6aF3Is/TmaRVUt-9uI/AAAAAAAAA7s/q2UpTomPdg8/s320/DSCF2144m.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649362578107725538" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Sure, fairs are corny — that’s why folks love them. Where else could you see a replica of the Statue of Liberty made of ears of corn? Or the state’s tallest corn stalk? Or watch contestants vie to slice off the longest apple peel? Or see a Liberty Bell made of apples?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-11_fSyAjgEM/TmaRIfQvThI/AAAAAAAAA7c/MLoX8w0kYxE/s320/DSCF0056.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649362357599555090" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Deep-fried cheese curds... probably one of the greatest thing to ever come out of the Midwest.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wQ0pSRM51w8/TmaRNv_KcfI/AAAAAAAAA7k/_mJoPqikAjE/s320/DSCF0057.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649362447988584946" style="cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px; " /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Crab fritters... more deep-fried atrery-clogging goodness...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">(Food porn courtesy of Tara M. Rowe)<br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qM5hU_dew7Y/TmaQ4xD0fEI/AAAAAAAAA7U/vTKNTfikdTI/s1600/DSCF2169m.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qM5hU_dew7Y/TmaQ4xD0fEI/AAAAAAAAA7U/vTKNTfikdTI/s320/DSCF2169m.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649362087499299906" /></a></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Pretty girls wore new styles during fashion shows. Pretty girls in coochie shows wore not much at all. Pretty cows had their own events, as did fat cattle.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">You could see the eruption of Mount Vesuvius depicted on a huge mural. The Battle of Manila in fireworks shot high into the night sky. A daredevil shot from a cannon. A car (the Torpedobile) shot from a cannon.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Big shots gave speeches. Trick shots entertained the crowds. Suffragettes rubbed elbows with prohibitionists; bootleggers offered shots of illicit liquor. Bamboozlers thrived. Bamboo novelty canes sold like hotcakes.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gsa-tyfyPPI/TmaQxNts4GI/AAAAAAAAA7M/SXNMfm8xFjs/s1600/DSCF2227m.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gsa-tyfyPPI/TmaQxNts4GI/AAAAAAAAA7M/SXNMfm8xFjs/s320/DSCF2227m.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649361957752201314" /></a><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Parched fairgoers swilled draft beer and eyed draft horses. Draftees poured into fairgrounds during four wars, turning barns into barracks. One fairground became a prisoner-of-war camp during the Civil War. At another fairground, a huge family campground has been popular for generations.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">At fairs from Florida to Alaska, farmers and ranchers have shown enough livestock to fill 10,000 Noah’s arks, and gardeners enough jars of fruits and vegetables to build a pyramid for a pharaoh.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">You can see cages of pigeons with names you’ve never heard: Oriental Frills, Modenas, Fantails, Birmingham Rollers, and White Kings.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OCMX09fo6JA/TmaQIq0koFI/AAAAAAAAA68/4H81SCohzSg/s320/DSCF2130m.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 258px; height: 320px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649361261191012434" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">You could have seen Blue Boy (the prizewinning hog in Phil Stong’s novel State Fair) or Old Oscar (the Iowa State Fair’s famous sturgeon, who spent 28 years as an attraction at the fair before dying in his tank on the last day of the fair in 1954). You can still peer up at Big Tex, the giant robot who greets people (in English and Spanish) at the Texas State Fair.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Honest Abe spoke at the Wisconsin State Fair in 1859 (he was paid $150, which included his expenses). A century later, the Kentucky State Fair held Abraham Lincoln look-alike contests.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Racers galore vied for ribbons, trophies, and loot; events featured horses, mules, camels, burros, dogs, boys, people riding on bikes or riding in wheelbarrows. Ostriches raced. At the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, an entrepreneur named E. R. Johnson of Fallbrook, California, did a steady business by serving omelets made from the eggs laid by his flock of 28 ostriches.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6uCWuUaa2kI/TmaQDD-l-rI/AAAAAAAAA60/qWCaRK3Frgs/s320/DSCF2123.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 179px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649361164864715442" /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">For generations, Americans took fairs to heart and expanded them in an unprecedented fashion. Along the way, the state fair became a piece of bedrock Americana, with elements so familiar that they seem quintessentially domestic.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The reason for this popularity is that, throughout their sprawling, tumultuous history, state fairs have always reflected the basic elements of the national character: the strengths and weaknesses, the common sense and faddishness, the unities and discords that have long marked Americans’ unique development as a culture.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /><br /><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JFq2Xpycots/TmaPXrcoSjI/AAAAAAAAA6k/rLeIAM89-_c/s320/DSCF2402.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649360419545434674" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SZ8w0FXtgZQ/TmaOuXciRJI/AAAAAAAAA6U/6Hch9g7pFO8/s320/DSCF2433.JPG" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649359709801694354" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Unfortunately, conservative group’s booth at the Minnesota State Fair the was hit with a “glitter bomb” on Sunday by opponents of a proposed same sex marriage ban in the state.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Four people on the SkyGlider ride threw rainbow glitter on Minnesota for Marriage’s booth as they passed over it, shouting “Equality for all.” The group is an umbrella organization that includes the Minnesota Family Council, the Minnesota Catholic Conference and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FCcuIgl9qUk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Minnesota for Marriage has endorsed a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as solely between one man and one woman.</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-28427855524588226912011-09-02T16:50:00.003-05:002011-09-02T16:55:46.245-05:00Animation Time! Redux<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRHrtNKYXkI/TmFQcKNWk1I/AAAAAAAAA50/SQRGtke3S_o/s1600/DSCF0964.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MRHrtNKYXkI/TmFQcKNWk1I/AAAAAAAAA50/SQRGtke3S_o/s320/DSCF0964.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647883852406231890" /></a>
<br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The management here at Misplaced in the Midwest has decided to save the newsy article for Monday... See ya then, in the meantime, here's some more animation, this one feature the music of Massive Attack.
<br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/9175212?portrait=0&color=ffffff" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe></span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-77805373897766450942011-09-01T16:26:00.003-05:002011-09-01T16:29:03.326-05:00Animation Time!<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gK3fxdJ8MY8/Tl_4zmo0tiI/AAAAAAAAA5s/EhEwO5M6MtM/s1600/DSCF0014.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gK3fxdJ8MY8/Tl_4zmo0tiI/AAAAAAAAA5s/EhEwO5M6MtM/s320/DSCF0014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647506023174682146" /></a>
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >In the process of finishing up a new short story, but unfortunately, it won't get done today.
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<br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25974772?color=ffffff" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe></span>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-59472452749683264312011-08-31T14:58:00.007-05:002011-08-31T16:56:59.010-05:00Something A Little Less Serious<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uLBwrxahJnA/Tl6uJAC52kI/AAAAAAAAA5k/sy2z-mJJoi0/s1600/FranklinLibrary.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uLBwrxahJnA/Tl6uJAC52kI/AAAAAAAAA5k/sy2z-mJJoi0/s320/FranklinLibrary.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647142452423416386" /></a>
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div>Nope. </span><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">You weren't dreaming. Misplaced In The Midwest is back, and better than ever. After suffering SEVEN MONTHS of the most severe case of Writer's Block I have ever experienced, a recent trip up north to Duluth somehow "reactivated" my "writer's gene". (which I obviously got from my natural father's side...)
<br />
<br />The book I was talking about trying to write? The outline is just about done, and I'm ready to start fleshing it out... A friend who also attended the Tehran American School at the same time my family was in Iran recently published a novel about the exploits of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid">Third Culture Kid</a> called <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/41445">"Sons Of The Great Satan"</a>. It's a good read, and will probably give some of you insight into what makes me tick, and why I think the way I do... my past has been something that only another Third Culture Kid could understand, or relate to.
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<br />I should be heading back up to Duluth in 2 or 3 weeks for the purpose of getting the first three or four chapters finished... it seems that Duluth does for me what Maine does for Stephen King, and I plan to fully exploit whatever it is up there that dislodged whatever it was that was keeping me from writing anything GOOD.
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<br />Since I started off my return with a couple of not-so-happy articles, all I'm giving you today is the announcement that the book is finally underway, and this interesting short film:
<br /><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/9178331?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0"></iframe>
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<br />Regular article tomorrow.
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<br /></span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-56029254692961564292011-08-30T13:50:00.006-05:002011-08-30T13:56:26.338-05:00Ten Reasons To Legalize It<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5eViDX1iR9k/Tl0xJPyTFiI/AAAAAAAAA5c/oBM5HOnUveU/s1600/Space-Kush-Marijuana%2B1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5eViDX1iR9k/Tl0xJPyTFiI/AAAAAAAAA5c/oBM5HOnUveU/s320/Space-Kush-Marijuana%2B1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646723542718551586" /></a><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b><i>Prohibition hasn't stopped the use and domestic production of marijuana... it's time for everyone to face this. This list of reasons is only the tip of the iceberg.</i></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">10. Prohibition has failed to control the use and domestic production of marijuana. The government has tried to use criminal penalties to prevent marijuana use for over 75 years and yet: marijuana is now used by over 25 million people annually, cannabis is currently the largest cash crop in the United States, and marijuana is grown all over the planet. Claims that marijuana prohibition is a successful policy are ludicrous and unsupported by the facts, and the idea that marijuana will soon be eliminated from America and the rest of the world is a ridiculous fantasy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">9. Arrests for marijuana possession disproportionately affect blacks and Hispanics and reinforce the perception that law enforcement is biased and prejudiced against minorities. African-Americans account for approximately 13% of the population of the United States and about 13.5% of annual marijuana users, however, blacks also account for 26% of all marijuana arrests. Recent studies have demonstrated that blacks and Hispanics account for the majority of marijuana possession arrests in New York City, primarily for smoking marijuana in public view. Law enforcement has failed to demonstrate that marijuana laws can be enforced fairly without regard to race; far too often minorities are arrested for marijuana use while white/non-Hispanic Americans face a much lower risk of arrest.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">8. A regulated, legal market in marijuana would reduce marijuana sales and use among teenagers, as well as reduce their exposure to other drugs in the illegal market. The illegality of marijuana makes it more valuable than if it were legal, providing opportunities for teenagers to make easy money selling it to their friends. If the excessive profits for marijuana sales were ended through legalization there would be less incentive for teens to sell it to one another. Teenage use of alcohol and tobacco remain serious public health problems even though those drugs are legal for adults, however, the availability of alcohol and tobacco is not made even more widespread by providing kids with economic incentives to sell either one to their friends and peers.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">7. Legalized marijuana would reduce the flow of money from the American economy to international criminal gangs. Marijuana's illegality makes foreign cultivation and smuggling to the United States extremely profitable, sending billions of dollars overseas in an underground economy while diverting funds from productive economic development.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">6. Marijuana's legalization would simplify the development of hemp as a valuable and diverse agricultural crop in the United States, including its development as a new bio-fuel to reduce carbon emissions. Canada and European countries have managed to support legal hemp cultivation without legalizing marijuana, but in the United States opposition to legal marijuana remains the biggest obstacle to development of industrial hemp as a valuable agricultural commodity. As US energy policy continues to embrace and promote the development of bio-fuels as an alternative to oil dependency and a way to reduce carbon emissions, it is all the more important to develop industrial hemp as a bio-fuel source - especially since use of hemp stalks as a fuel source will not increase demand and prices for food, such as corn. Legalization of marijuana will greatly simplify the regulatory burden on prospective hemp cultivation in the United States.</span></div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjcGER5wws8/Tl0xCut9q-I/AAAAAAAAA5U/YokSwcGu6bk/s1600/medipot-states-20101.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tjcGER5wws8/Tl0xCut9q-I/AAAAAAAAA5U/YokSwcGu6bk/s320/medipot-states-20101.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646723430762785762" /></a>
<br /></div><div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">5. Prohibition is based on lies and disinformation. Justification of marijuana's illegality increasingly requires distortions and selective uses of the scientific record, causing harm to the credibility of teachers, law enforcement officials, and scientists throughout the country. The dangers of marijuana use have been exaggerated for almost a century and the modern scientific record does not support the reefer madness predictions of the past and present. Many claims of marijuana's danger are based on old 20th century prejudices that originated in a time when science was uncertain how marijuana produced its characteristic effects. Since the cannabinoid receptor system was discovered in the late 1980s these hysterical concerns about marijuana's dangerousness have not been confirmed with modern research. Everyone agrees that marijuana, or any other drug use such as alcohol or tobacco use, is not for children. Nonetheless, adults have demonstrated over the last several decades that marijuana can be used moderately without harmful impacts to the individual or society.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">4. Marijuana is not a lethal drug and is safer than alcohol. It is established scientific fact that marijuana is not toxic to humans; marijuana overdoses are nearly impossible, and marijuana is not nearly as addictive as alcohol or tobacco. It is unfair and unjust to treat marijuana users more harshly under the law than the users of alcohol or tobacco.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">3. Marijuana is too expensive for our justice system and should instead be taxed to support beneficial government programs. Law enforcement has more important responsibilities than arresting 750,000 individuals a year for marijuana possession, especially given the additional justice costs of disposing of each of these cases. Marijuana arrests make justice more expensive and less efficient in the United States, wasting jail space, clogging up court systems, and diverting time of police, attorneys, judges, and corrections officials away from violent crime, the sexual abuse of children, and terrorism. Furthermore, taxation of marijuana can provide needed and generous funding of many important criminal justice and social programs.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">2. Marijuana use has positive attributes, such as its medical value and use as a recreational drug with relatively mild side effects. Many people use marijuana because they have made an informed decision that it is good for them, especially Americans suffering from a variety of serious ailments. Marijuana provides relief from pain, nausea, spasticity, and other symptoms for many individuals who have not been treated successfully with conventional medications. Many American adults prefer marijuana to the use of alcohol as a mild and moderate way to relax. Americans use marijuana because they choose to, and one of the reasons for that choice is their personal observation that the drug has a relatively low dependence liability and easy-to-manage side effects. Most marijuana users develop tolerance to many of marijuana's side effects, and those who do not, choose to stop using the drug. Marijuana use is the result of informed consent in which individuals have decided that the benefits of use outweigh the risks, especially since, for most Americans, the greatest risk of using marijuana is the relatively low risk of arrest.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">1. Marijuana users are determined to stand up to the injustice of marijuana probation and accomplish legalization, no matter how long or what it takes to succeed. Despite the threat of arrests and a variety of other punishments and sanctions marijuana users have persisted in their support for legalization for over a generation. They refuse to give up their long quest for justice because they believe in the fundamental values of American society. Prohibition has failed to silence marijuana users despite its best attempts over the last generation. The issue of marijuana's legalization is a persistent issue that, like marijuana, will simply not go away. </span></div></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-82945593420085705772011-08-29T12:54:00.021-05:002011-08-29T14:00:15.445-05:00It Was A Missile... Deal With It.<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vxmm70NY2EU/TlvTtG3XCII/AAAAAAAAA5M/ltWxc624ouo/s1600/article-1328155-0BFD3ED5000005DC-79_634x353.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 178px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Vxmm70NY2EU/TlvTtG3XCII/AAAAAAAAA5M/ltWxc624ouo/s320/article-1328155-0BFD3ED5000005DC-79_634x353.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646339329729431682" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p></p><p></p><p>Although the U.S. Defense Department and North American Aerospace Defense Command have speculated publicly that the unidentified contrail of a projectile soaring into the skies off the California coast – and recorded by a KCBS television crew – came from a jet and posed no security threat to the U.S., several experts are raising provocative and disturbing questions about the government's official response, reports Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.</p><p>
<br /></p><p>Two governmental military experts with extensive experience working with missiles and computer security systems have examined the television video and conclude the mysterious contrail originating some 30 miles off the coast near Los Angeles did not come from a jet – but rather, they say the exhaust and the billowing plume emanated from a single source nozzle of a missile, probably made in China.</p><p></p><p></p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><div>They further suggest the missile was fired from a submerged Chinese nuclear submarine off America's coast, and point out that the timing of the alleged Chinese missile shot coincided with an increasing confrontation between the U.S. and China, and was likely meant to send a message to Washington.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Indeed, the Federal Aviation Administration documents that there were no aircraft flying in the area at that time, the night of Nov. 8.</div><div>"The question that still must be answered is why NORAD's muted response was simply that North America was not threatened, and later our government approved the lame excuse that the picture recorded was simply an aircraft leaving a contrail," said retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jim Cash.</div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p></p></span></span><div>A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and commander of an F-15 squadron and an F-16 wing, Cash was assigned to NORAD as an assistant director of operations at the Cheyenne Mountain complex near Colorado Springs, Colo., and is fully knowledgeable of NORAD procedures.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>"There is absolutely no doubt that what was captured on video off the coast of California was a missile launch, was clearly observed by NORAD, assessed by a four-star general in minutes, and passed to the president immediately," he said.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>The Pentagon Spin Machine, backed by the media reporters who regularly cover the Defense Department, as well as officials of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and the U.S. Northern Command, is now spinning various conspiracy theories, including describing the missile plume videotaped by KCBS news helicopter cameraman Gil Leyvas at around 5:00 pm Pacific Standard Time, during the height of evening rush hour, as the condensation trail from a jet aircraft. Other Pentagon-inspired cover stories are that the missile was actually an amateur rocket or an optical illusion.</div></span></div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c06KeNcWUaQ/TlvTjM5R6sI/AAAAAAAAA5E/gvTVkZLTHoY/s1600/article-1328155-0BFD743B000005DC-394_634x351.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 177px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c06KeNcWUaQ/TlvTjM5R6sI/AAAAAAAAA5E/gvTVkZLTHoY/s320/article-1328155-0BFD743B000005DC-394_634x351.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646339159549405890" /></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: medium; ">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div><div><div><div>Wayne Madsen, a former naval officer who has worked at the NSA, and Naval Data Automation Command, said the inability to pick up what he described as a Chinese Jin-class submarine-launched ballistic missile isn't the first time U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare sensors have failed.</div><div>
<br /></div><div><div>Madsen, who today is an investigative journalist, said the Pentagon is working "overtime with the media and on the Internet to cover up the latest debacle. However, even some reporters who cover the Pentagon full-time are beginning to question the Pentagon's version of events ... over the skies west of Los Angeles."</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Dr. Lyle J. Rapacki of Sentinel Intelligence Services, LLC, said the contrail incident off the Los Angeles coast is "fraught with peril" due to the defense systems and protocols in place that should have detected the alleged submarine.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>"The decision to officially announce that North America was not threatened," he said, "and all the excitement was due to an aircraft leaving a contrail is a decision that reaches beyond the four-star general level and goes directly to a decision made by the commander-in-chief."</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Misplaced In The Midwest's calls and e-mails to the Pentagon and NORAD for comment beyond previous official statements were not returned. (Although I'm sure I'm on some watch list now...)</div></div></div></div></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p-71mS-iCnU/TlvStVVZ4QI/AAAAAAAAA48/gd-HPNid8EA/s1600/MYSTERY%2BCONTRAIL%2B01.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p-71mS-iCnU/TlvStVVZ4QI/AAAAAAAAA48/gd-HPNid8EA/s320/MYSTERY%2BCONTRAIL%2B01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646338234101915906" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>
<br /></b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div style="font-weight: bold; ">Coincidence?</div><div style="font-weight: bold; ">
<br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">On the same date in 2007, a Chinese submarine surprised American military chiefs when it popped up close to the massive U.S.S. Kitty Hawk.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">HotAir reported back in 2007:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk – a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">According to senior Nato officials the incident caused consternation in the U.S. Navy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The Americans had no idea China’s fast-growing submarine fleet had reached such a level of sophistication, or that it posed such a threat.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Experts agree that this was a ballistic missile being fired off of Los Angeles. The Pentagon insists it was a jet aircraft or model rocket.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">There are no records of a plane in the area having taken off from Los Angeles International Airport or from other airports in the region. The Navy and Air Force have said that they were not conducting any missile tests from submarines, ships, or Vandenberg Air Force Base. The Navy has also ruled out an accidental firing from one of its own submarines.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Missile experts, including those from Jane’s in London, say the plume was definitely from a missile, possibly launched from a submarine. Misplaced in the Midwest has learned that the missile was likely a JL-2 ICBM, which has a range of 7,000 miles, and was fired in a northwesterly direction over the Pacific and away from U.S. territory from a Jin class submarine. The Jin class can carry up to twelve such missiles.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">
<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Navy sources have revealed that the missile may have impacted on Chinese territory and that the National Security Agency (NSA) likely posseses intercepts of Chinese telemetry signals during the missile firing and subsequent testing operations.</span></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">
<br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5fCPHR_mGxI?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; "></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; "></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Japanese and other Asian intelligence agencies believe that a Chinese Jin-class SSBN conducted the missile launch as a "show of force" in the skies west of Los Angeles.</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Asian intelligence sources believe the submarine transited from its base on Hainan through South Pacific waters, where U.S. anti-submarine detection capabilities are not as effective as they are in the northern and mid-Pacific, then moved to waters off of Los Angeles. The Pentagon, which has spent billions on ballistic missile defense systems, a pet project of former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, is clearly embarrassed over China's show of strength. </span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Face the facts... China's navy is technologically capable of playing games off our own West Coast... right under our noses, undetected.</span></p></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5DhiJv0MdcA/TlvShXHRu_I/AAAAAAAAA40/2Jfa_T0fwXg/s1600/alg_california_missile.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 242px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5DhiJv0MdcA/TlvShXHRu_I/AAAAAAAAA40/2Jfa_T0fwXg/s320/alg_california_missile.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646338028421102578" /></span></a>
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><p style="outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">Sleep tight, America.</p></span></span></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-80502714136744124182011-04-21T16:09:00.003-05:002011-04-21T16:14:15.293-05:00Misplaced's Pre-Easter Groove Session<span class="Apple-style-span" >Easter weekend begins today in my house, so we'll start the weekend vibe a little early...<br /></span><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7ZWQRaY0Tns" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br /><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iRoa_r720SU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-16617503973670353702011-04-11T14:11:00.003-05:002011-04-11T14:24:25.160-05:0012 Signs You Might be a Dog Lover<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6GPs8zRRwT4/TaNS8OyAKcI/AAAAAAAAA3c/bk8sEk_i-_I/s1600/DSCF0108.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6GPs8zRRwT4/TaNS8OyAKcI/AAAAAAAAA3c/bk8sEk_i-_I/s320/DSCF0108.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594406356837738946" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">1. You can’t see out the passenger side of the windshield because there are nose-prints all over the inside.</span></div><div><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">2. You carry dog biscuits in your purse or pocket at all times.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">3. You have baby gates permanently installed at strategic places around the house, but no babies.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">4. You have little songs that you sing to your dog, and she always wags when you sing, even though you can’t carry a tune.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">5. You like people who like your dog. You despise people who don’t.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">6. Your bedroom door has a doggie door.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">7. You put an extra blanket on the bed so your dog can be comfortable.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">8. Your dog owns more clothing and toys than your neighbor’s children.</p><p></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">9. You sign and send birthday/anniversary/Christmas cards from your dog.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">10. You decide you might have kids so the dog will have playmates.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">11. You talk about your dog the way other people talk about their kid.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">12. You tell your relatives you aren’t coming unless the dogs are invited, too.</p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; ">Puppies!</p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F1XEFBHQneo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; "></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p></p></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-87208802102985994482011-04-07T11:49:00.001-05:002011-04-07T11:50:46.251-05:00Quiet Return To Business<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/22049713?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="398" height="224" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br />Misplaced In The Midwest Returns Monday, April 11, 2011.Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-55438344530906603502011-02-16T16:30:00.000-06:002011-02-16T16:31:21.144-06:00Black History Month - The Buffalo Soldiers<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/S3XaRpXdEyI/AAAAAAAAAVk/v7Kb1dYI44M/s1600-h/buffalo-soldiers-large.jpg"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/S3XaRpXdEyI/AAAAAAAAAVk/v7Kb1dYI44M/s320/buffalo-soldiers-large.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437492121816601378" style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 186px; " /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The nickname was given to the "Negro Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought; the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866: 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiment, along with the 24th Infantry and 25th Infantry Regiments.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Although several African-American regiments were raised during the Civil War to fight alongside the Union Army (including the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and the many United States Colored Troops Regiments), the "Buffalo Soldiers" were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">On September 6, 2005, Mark Matthews, who was the oldest living Buffalo Soldier, died at the age of 111. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Sources disagree on how the nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" began. According to the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, the name originated with the Cheyenne warriors in the winter of 1867, the actual Cheyenne translation being "Wild Buffalo." However, writer Walter Hill documented the account of Colonel Benjamin Grierson, who founded the 10th Cavalry regiment, recalling an 1871 campaign against the Comanche tribe. Hill attributed the origin of the name to the Comanche due to Grierson's assertions. Some sources assert that the nickname was given out of respect for the fierce fighting ability of the 10th cavalry. Other sources assert that Native Americans called the black cavalry troops "buffalo soldiers" because of their dark curly hair, which resembled a buffalo's coat. Still other sources point to a combination of both legends. The term Buffalo Soldiers became a generic term for all African-American soldiers. It is now used for U.S. Army units that trace their direct lineage back to the 9th and 10th Cavalry, units whose service earned them an honored place in U.S. history.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">During the American Civil War, the U.S. government formed regiments known as the United States Colored Troops, composed of black soldiers. After the war, Congress reorganized the Army and authorized the formation of two regiments of black cavalry with the designations 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry, and four regiments of black infantry, designated the 38th, 39th, 40th and 41st Infantry Regiments (Colored). The 38th and 41st were reorganized as the 25th Infantry Regiment, with headquarters in Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, Louisiana, in November 1869. The 39th and 40th were reorganized as the 24th Infantry Regiment, with headquarters at Fort Clark, Texas, in April 1869. All of these units were composed of black enlisted men commanded by both white and black officers. These included the first commander of the 10th Cavalry Benjamin Grierson, the first commander of the 9th Cavalry Edward Hatch, Medal of Honor winner Louis H. Carpenter, the unforgettable Nicholas M. Nolan and the first black graduate of West Point Henry O. Flipper.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">From 1866 to the early 1890s, these regiments served at a variety of posts in the Southwestern United States (Apache Wars) and Great Plains regions. They participated in most of the military campaigns in these areas and earned a distinguished record. Thirteen enlisted men and six officers from these four regiments earned the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars. In addition to the military campaigns, the "Buffalo Soldiers" served a variety of roles along the frontier from building roads to escorting the U.S. mail. On 17 April 1875, regimental headquarters for the 9th and 10th Cavalries were transferred to Fort Concho, Texas. Companies actually arrived at Fort Concho in May 1873. At various times from 1873 through 1885, Fort Concho housed 9th Cavalry companies A–F, K, and M, 10th Cavalry companies A, D–G, I, L, and M, 24th Infantry companies D–G, and K, and 25th Infantry companies G and K.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">After the Indian Wars ended in the 1890s, the regiments continued to serve and participated in the Spanish-American War (including the Battle of San Juan Hill), where five more Medals of Honor were earned. They took part in the 1916 Mexican Expedition and in the Philippine-American War.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">A lesser known action was the 9th Cavalry's participation in the fabled Johnson County War, an 1892 land war in Johnson County, Wyoming between small farmers and large, wealthy ranchers. It culminated in a lengthy shootout between local farmers, a band of hired killers, and a sheriff's posse. The 6th Cavalry was ordered in by President Benjamin Harrison to quell the violence and capture the band of hired killers. Soon afterward, however, the 9th Cavalry was specifically called on to replace the 6th. The 6th Cavalry was swaying under the local political and social pressures and was unable to keep the peace in the tense environment.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">The Buffalo Soldiers responded within about two weeks from Nebraska, and moved the men to the rail town of Suggs, Wyoming, creating "Camp Bettens" despite a racist and hostile local population. One soldier was killed and two wounded in gun battles with locals. Nevertheless, the 9th Cavalry remained in Wyoming for nearly a year to quell tensions in the area.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Another little-known contribution of the Buffalo Soldiers involved eight troops of the 9th Cavalry Regiment and one company of the 24th Infantry Regiment who served in California's Sierra Nevada as some of the first national park rangers. In 1899, Buffalo Soldiers from Company H, 24th Infantry Regiment briefly served in Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park and General Grant (Kings Canyon) National Parks.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">U.S. Army regiments had been serving in these national parks since 1891, but until 1899 the soldiers serving were white. Beginning in 1899, and continuing in 1903 and 1904, African-American regiments served during the summer months in the second and third oldest national parks in the United States (Sequoia and Yosemite). Because these soldiers served before the National Park Service was created (1916), they were "park rangers" before the term was coined.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">One particular Buffalo Soldier stands out in history: Captain Charles Young who served with Troop "I", 9th Cavalry Regiment in Sequoia National Park during the summer of 1903. Charles Young was the third African American to graduate from the United States Military Academy. At the time of his death, he was the highest ranking African American in the U.S. military. He made history in Sequoia National Park in 1903 by becoming Acting Military Superintendent of Sequoia and General Grant National Parks. Charles Young was also the first African American superintendent of a national park. During Young's tenure in the park, he named a Giant Sequoia for Booker T. Washington. Recently, another Giant Sequoia in Giant Forest was named in Captain Young's honor. Some of Young's descendants were in attendance at the ceremony.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">In 1903, 9th Cavalrymen in Sequoia built the first trail to the top of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous United States. They also built the first wagon road into Sequoia's Giant Forest, the most famous grove of Giant Sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">In 1904, 9th Cavalrymen in Yosemite built an arboretum on the South Fork of the Merced River in the southern section of Yosemite National Park. This arboretum had pathways and benches, and some plants were identified in both English and Latin. Yosemite's arboretum is considered to be the first museum in the national park system.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">In the Sierra Nevada, the Buffalo Soldiers regularly endured long days in the saddle, slim rations, racism, and separation from family and friends. As military stewards, the African American cavalry and infantry regiments protected the national parks from illegal grazing, poaching, timber thieves, and forest fires. Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson researched and interpreted the history in an attempt to recover and celebrate the contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers of the Sierra Nevada.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">In total, 23 "Buffalo Soldiers" received the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">On March 23, 1907, the United States Military Academy Detachment of Cavalry was changed to a "colored" unit. This had been a long time coming. It had been proposed in 1897 at the "Cavalry and Light Artillery School" at Fort Riley, Kansas that West Point Cadets learn their riding skills from the black non-commissioned officers who were considered the best. The one hundred man detachment from the 9th Cavalry served to teach future officers at West Point riding instruction, mounted drill and tactics until 1947.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">The "Buffalo Soldiers" were often confronted with racial prejudice from other members of the U.S. Army. Civilians in the areas where the soldiers were stationed occasionally reacted to them with violence. Buffalo Soldiers were attacked during racial disturbances in: Rio Grande City, Texas in 1899, Brownsville, Texas in 1906, and Houston, Texas in 1917.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">The Buffalo Soldiers did not participate with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, but experienced non-commissioned officers were provided to other segregated black units for combat service—such as the 317th Engineer Battalion. The American Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division (United States) and the 93rd Infantry Division (United States) were the first Americans to fight in France, albeit detached from the AEF and under French command. Most regiments of the 92nd & all 93rd would continue to fight under French command for the duration of the war.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Early in the 20th century, the Buffalo Soldiers found themselves being used more as laborers and service troops rather than as active combat units. During World War II the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments were disbanded, and the soldiers were moved into service-oriented units, along with the entire 2nd Cavalry Division. One of the infantry regiments, the 24th Infantry Regiment, served in combat in the Pacific theater. Another was the 92nd Infantry Division, AKA the "Buffalo Soldiers Division", which served in combat during the Italian Campaign in the Mediterranean theater. Another was the 93rd Infantry Division—including the 25th Infantry Regiment—which served in the Pacific theater.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">Despite some official resistance and administrative barriers, black airmen were trained and played a part in the air war in Europe, gaining a reputation for skill and bravery (see Tuskegee Airmen). In early 1945, after the Battle of the Bulge, American forces in Europe experienced a shortage of combat troops. The embargo on using black soldiers in combat units was relaxed. The American Military History says:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">"Faced with a shortage of infantry replacements during the enemy's counteroffensive, General Eisenhower offered Negro soldiers in service units an opportunity to volunteer for duty with the infantry. More than 4,500 responded, many taking reductions in grade in order to meet specified requirements. The 6th Army Group formed these men into provisional companies, while the 12th Army Group employed them as an additional platoon in existing rifle companies. The excellent record established by these volunteers, particularly those serving as platoons, presaged major postwar changes in the traditional approach to employing Negro troops."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">In the last decade, the employment of the Buffalo Soldiers by the United States Army in the Indian Wars has led some radical revisionist or a socialist activist viewpoint that called for the "critical reappraisal" of the "Negro regiments." In this minority viewpoint, not shared by most historians, the Buffalo Soldiers were used as mere shock troops or accessories to the alleged forcefully-expansionist and genocidal goals of the capitalist U.S. government at the expense of the Native Americans and other minorities.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</span></span></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-46677388140485444902011-02-08T08:30:00.001-06:002011-02-08T08:34:33.075-06:00Black History Month - Cathay Williams<div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/S3R5nszKH4I/AAAAAAAAAVU/5GVZGD6ZTh8/s1600-h/female_buffalo.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 271px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/S3R5nszKH4I/AAAAAAAAAVU/5GVZGD6ZTh8/s320/female_buffalo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437104373090623362" /></a></div><div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Cathay Williams (September 1844 - 1892) was an American soldier. She is the first African American female to enlist, and the only documented woman to serve in the United States Army posing as a man under the pseudonym, William Cathay.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Williams was born in Independence, Missouri to a free man of color, and a woman in bondage making her legal status also that of a slave. During her adolescence, Williams worked as a house servant on the Johnson plantation on the outskirts of Jefferson City, Missouri. In 1861 Union forces occupied Jefferson City in the early stages of the Civil War. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">At that time, captured slaves were officially designated by the Union as "contraband," and many were forced to serve in military support roles such as cooks, laundresses, or nurses. At age seventeen, Williams was impressed into serving of 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel William Plummer Benton.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For the next few years, Williams travelled with the 8th Indiana, accompanying the soldiers on their marches through Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia. She was present at the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Red River Campaign. At one time she was transferred to Little Rock, where she would have seen uniformed African-American men serving as soldiers, which may have inspired her own interest in military service. Later, Williams was transferred to Washington, D.C., where she served with General Philip Sheridan's command. When the war ended, Williams was working at Jefferson Barracks.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Despite the prohibition against women serving in the military, Williams enlisted in the United States Regular Army on 15 November 1866 at St. Louis, Missouri for a three year engagement, passing herself off as a man. Only two others are known to have been privy to the deception, her cousin and a friend, both of whom were fellow soldiers in her regiment.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Shortly after her enlistment, Williams contracted smallpox, was hospitalized and rejoined her unit, which by then was posted in New Mexico. Throughout her military service, she continued to complain of illnesses and was hospitalised on several other occasions but yet managed to conceal her gender. It was only after she had grown weary with military service feigned illness that her gender was revealed to the post surgeon. She was discharged from the Army by her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke on 14 October 1868.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Williams went to work as a cook at Fort Union, New Mexico, and later moved to Pueblo, Colorado. Williams married, but it ended disastrously when her husband stole her money and a team of horses. Williams had him arrested. She next moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she made her living as a seamstress. She may also have owned a boarding house. It was at this time that Williams' story first became public. A reporter from St. Louis heard rumors of a female African-American who had served in the army, and came to interview her. Her life and military service narrative was published in The St. Louis Daily Times on 2 January 1876.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In late 1889 or early 1890, Williams entered a local hospital where she remained for some time, and in June 1891, applied for a disability pension based on her military service. The nature of her illness and disability are unknown. There was precedent for granting a pension to female soldiers. Deborah Sampson in 1816, and Mary Hayes McCauley (better known as Molly Pitcher) had been granted pensions for disguising themselves as men to serve in the American Revolutionary War. Sampson's cause had been championed by none other than Paul Revere. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">However, Williams had no influential friends to help her.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In September 1891, a doctor employed by the Pension Bureau examined Williams. Despite the fact that she suffered from neuralgia and diabetes, had had all her toes amputated, and could only walk with a crutch, the doctor decided she did not qualify for disability payments. Her application was rejected.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The exact date of Williams' death is unknown, but it is assumed she died shortly after being denied a pension, probably sometime in 1892. Her simple grave marker would have been made of wood and deteriorated long ago. Thus her final resting place is now unknown.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-33298493730414177432011-02-04T14:12:00.004-06:002011-02-04T14:53:59.703-06:00Black History Month - The Harlem Hellfighters<div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/S2i4406cxoI/AAAAAAAAAUM/51Y3UiWc4Rw/s1600-h/S121.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/S2i4406cxoI/AAAAAAAAAUM/51Y3UiWc4Rw/s320/S121.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433796236838487682" /></a></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In honor of Black History Month, Misplaced In The Midwest will share some pieces of American History that none of us ever heard about during our mandatory years of education.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Today's installment is about the 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the Harlem Hellfighters during WWI.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></div><div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><div>The "Harlem Hellfighters" is the popular name for the 369th Infantry Regiment, formerly the 15th New York National Guard Regiment. The unit was also known as The Black Rattlers, in addition to several other nicknames. The 369th Infantry Regiment was known for being the first African American Regiment during WWI.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div><b>History</b></div><div></div><div></div><div>The 369th Infantry Regiment was constituted June 2, 1913 in the New York Army National Guard as the 15th New York Infantry Regiment. It was organized on June 29, 1916 at New York City. It was mustered into Federal service on July 25, 1917 at Camp Whitman, New York. It was drafted into Federal service August 5, 1917. The regiment trained in the New York area, performed guard duty at various locations in New York, and trained more intensely at Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where they experienced significant racism from the local communities, and other units. The 15th Infantry Regiment NYARNG was assigned on December 1, 1917 to the 185th Infantry Brigade.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>It was commanded by Col. William Hayward, a member of the Union League Club of New York, which sponsored the 369th in the tradition of the 20th U.S. Colored Infantry, which the club had also sponsored in the Civil War.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>The 15th Infantry Regiment shipped out from the New York Port of Embarkation on December 27, 1917, and joined its brigade upon arrival in France, but the unit was relegated to labor service duties instead of combat training. The 185th Infantry Brigade was assigned on January 5, 1918 to the 93rd Division [Provisional].</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>The 15th Infantry Regiment, NYARNG was reorganized and redesignated March 1, 1918 as the 369th Infantry Regiment, but the unit continued labor service duties while it waited the decision as to what to do with the unit.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>It was finally decided on April 8, 1918 to assign the unit to the French Army for duration of the United States participation in the war. The men were issued French helmets and brown leather belts and pouches, although they continued to wear their U.S. uniforms. The 369th Infantry Regiment was relieved May 8, 1918 from assignment to the 185th Infantry Brigade, and went into the trenches as part of the French 16th Division and served continuously to July 3.</div><div><br /></div><div>The regiment returned to combat in the Second Battle of the Marne. Later the 369th was reassigned to Gen. Lebouc’s 161st Division in order to participate in the Allied counterattack.</div><div><br /></div><div>On August 19, the regiment went off the line for rest and training of replacements. </div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>On September 25, 1918 the French 4th Army went on the offensive in conjunction with the American drive in the Meuse-Argonne. The 369th turned in a good account of itself in heavy fighting, sustaining severe losses. They captured the important village of Séchault. At one point the 369th advanced faster than French troops on their right and left flanks. There was danger of being cut off. By the time the regiment pulled back for reorganization, it had advanced fourteen kilometers through severe German resistance.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>In mid-October the regiment was moved to a quiet sector in the Vosges Mountains. It was there on November 11, the day of the Armistice. Six days later the 369th made its last advance and on November 26, reached the banks of the Rhine River, the first Allied unit to get there.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>The regiment was relieved on December 12, 1918 from assignment to the French 161st Division, and returned to the New York Port of Embarkation. It was demobilized on February 28, 1919 at Camp Upton at Yaphank, New York, and returned to the New York Army National Guard.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>During its service the regiment suffered 1500 casualties and took part in the following campaigns:</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>Champagne–Marne</div><div>Meuse–Argonne</div><div>Champagne 1918</div><div>Alsace 1918</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>One Medal of Honor and many Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded to members of the regiment. The most celebrated man in the 369th was Pvt. Henry Lincoln Johnson, a former Albany, New York, rail station porter, who earned the nickname "Black Death" for his actions in combat in France. In May 1918 Johnson and Pvt. Needham Roberts fought off a 24-man German patrol, though both were severely wounded. After they expended their ammunition, Roberts used his rifle as a club and Johnson battled with a bolo knife. Johnson was the first American to receive the Croix de Guerre. By the end of the war, 171 members of the 369th were awarded the Legion of Honor.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>Photographs show that the 369th carried the New York Regimental flag overseas. The French government awarded the regiment the Croix de Guerre with silver star for the taking of Séchault. It was pinned to the colors by General Lebouc at a ceremony in Germany, December 13, 1918.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>One of the first units in the United States armed forces to have Black officers in addition to its all-black enlisted corps, the 369th compiled an astounding war record, earning several unit citations along with many individual decorations for valor from the French government.</div><div><br /></div><div>The 369th Infantry Regiment was the first New York unit to return to the United States, and was the first unit to march up Fifth Avenue from the Washington Square Park Arch to their Armory in Harlem, and their unit was placed on the permanent list with other veteran units.</div><div></div><div></div><div>In re-capping the story of the 369th Arthur W. Little, who had been a battalion commander, wrote in the regimental history From Harlem to the Rhine that it was official that the outfit was 191 days under fire, never lost a foot of ground or had a man taken prisoner, though on two occasions men were captured but they were recovered. Only once did it fail to take its objective and that was due largely to bungling by French artillery support. There were 1500 casualties.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>During the war the 369th's regimental band (under the direction of James Reese Europe) became famous throughout Europe, being the first to introduce the until-then unknown music called jazz to British, French and other audiences, and starting a worldwide demand for it.</div><div></div><div></div><div>The filker Michael Longcor is the composer and recorder of the song "The Ballad of Esau's Sons" (lyrics by poet Martha Keller), which describes the 369th's exploits during World War I without explicitly naming the unit.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div><b>Notable Soldiers</b></div><div></div><div></div><div>Sgt. Henry Johnson, winner of the Croix de Guerre.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Spotswood Poles, referred to as "the black Ty Cobb" for his prowess in the professional Negro baseball leagues in the early 1900s.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Colonel Hamilton Fish III, Regimental Commander of the 369th Regiment, New York Congressman, author, and Founder of the Order of Lafayette.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Rafael Hernández Marín, considered to the greatest composer of Puerto Rican music.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Lieutenant James Reese Europe, an early ragtime and jazz bandleader and composer, who served as regimental bandmaster.</div><div></div><div></div><div>Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, tap dancer and actor.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div><div>Dubbing themselves “Men of Bronze,” the soldiers of the 369th were lucky in many ways compared to other African Americans in 1918 France. They enjoyed a continuity of leadership, commanded throughout the war by one of their original organizers and proponents, Colonel William Hayward. Unlike many white officers serving in the black regiments, Colonel Hayward respected his troops, dedicated himself to their well-being, and leveraged his political connections to secure support from New Yorkers. Whereas African American valor usually went unrecognized, well over one hundred members of the regiment received American and/or French medals, including the first two Americans – Corporal Henry Johnson and Private Needham Roberts – to be awarded the coveted French Croix de Guerre.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>Spending over six months in combat, perhaps the longest of any American unit in the war, the 369th suffered approximately fifteen hundred casualties but received only nine hundred replacements. Unit histories claimed they were the first unit to cross the Rhine; they performed well at Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood, earning the epithet “Hell Fighters” from their enemies. Nevertheless, the poor replacement system coupled with no respite from the line took its toll, leaving the unit exhausted by the armistice in November. Although the 369th could boast of a fine combat record and a regimental Croix de Guerre, the unit was plagued by acute discipline problems resulting from disproportionate casualties among the unit’s longest-serving members and related failures to assimilate new soldiers. After considerable effort by Colonel Hayward, the 369th was welcomed home with a parade in February 1919 and reabsorbed into the National Guard.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div>In World War II, the formation was organized as the 369th Antiaircraft Artillery Regiment (no relation to the also all-black 369th Infantry in the 93rd Infantry Division), and served in Hawaii and at various locations along the West Coast. The unit survives today as the 369th Support Battalion of the New York Army National Guard.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div></div><div></div><div></div></span></span></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-31207801335179578252011-01-27T13:26:00.000-06:002011-01-27T13:26:22.723-06:00Debtris US<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/K7Pahd2X-eE?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /><br />Pretty sad when it's put in perspective like this. What do we do about it?Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-2400491914103096312011-01-26T15:55:00.001-06:002011-01-26T15:58:23.854-06:00Chris Matthews Attacks Tea Party Leader Over Bachmann<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oSrbgFlA7js?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iNk54IYr1Ss" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XpQGQjUndfg" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-51915460848574807972011-01-24T13:41:00.009-06:002011-01-24T14:03:39.588-06:00Regarding The Minneapolis Dog Park Debacle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3XmPgt2II/AAAAAAAAA18/kKZSD6TxVOQ/s1600/DSCF0004.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3XmPgt2II/AAAAAAAAA18/kKZSD6TxVOQ/s320/DSCF0004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565841766498556034" /></a><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3XmPgt2II/AAAAAAAAA18/kKZSD6TxVOQ/s1600/DSCF0004.JPG"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" >Quite a few of you have been following the comedy of errors that is the current Minneapolis Dog Park debate. Generally, I don't really talk about it here, but I'm making another exception today to bring you the complete text of a piece written by a neighbor, and fellow dog lover.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>Of Dogs and Men: Race, Symbolism, and an Ill-Fated Dog Park in South Minneapolis</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >by Jennifer DeJonghe</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><div>When I first saw the fliers around my neighborhood for a proposed dog park in my local park, I immediately and unquestioningly signed up as a supporter. I had just recently adopted a rescue dog and had been feeling guilty about the extra driving I was doing to take him to dog parks.</div><div><br /></div><div>I have long been a heavy user of this local park, which had been named for the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. I walk with my two children to the playground and the pool multiple times a week in the summer and visit less frequently in the winter for sledding. My family has barbecues there and we attend events such as the annual park festival. Certain parts of the park are busy during the summer, but is fairly large and has plenty of underused space. The proposed dog park was to occupy a small fenced area along the freeway, behind some tennis domes. Perfect, I thought. Better yet, there seemed to be a lot of local support for the proposal, including by city officials who seemed happy to have their faces attached to it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I heard the first rumblings of trouble on my way to a public information meeting advertised by the Park Board at the park last summer. My kids were coming with me to play at the park during the meeting and some of their African American friends from the neighborhood joined us, all taking turns riding in and pulling a wagon along the way. “My grandma says that they are taking out the playground equipment and giving the whole park to dogs instead”, said one young boy. I was surprised, but thought the public information meeting would help clear up any misinformation that might be floating around.</div><div><br /></div><div>But instead of gaining information when I walked into the meeting, I was given a red sticker and asked to use it to place a vote on a board – for or against a dog park. City officials were suddenly either nowhere to be found, or were acting curt and trying not make waves. There was no information presented other than some drawings on poster boards. I was able to gather from the whisperings in the room that some African American elders had begun to voice opposition to the dog park, a position which had taken supporters and city officials by surprise.</div></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3XNvErNNI/AAAAAAAAA10/CfbaBKCAAiM/s1600/DSCF0004.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3XNvErNNI/AAAAAAAAA10/CfbaBKCAAiM/s320/DSCF0004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565841345474147538" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3XNvErNNI/AAAAAAAAA10/CfbaBKCAAiM/s1600/DSCF0004.JPG"></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >From that point on, I saw my neighborhood go through a public struggle over race and symbolism like I’ve not personally seen before in my part of Minneapolis, a city that like many in the US prefers to not discuss race and to think of racial conflict as a relic of the past. The media portrayed the issue as “White vs. African American” and the story was covered widely. Public meetings were punctuated with shouting and tears, and public officials would not take a stand either way – instead advocating for more and more moderated discussions. Sub committees and task forces on race and healing were formed faster than I could keep up with, yet publicly the drama continued to escalate.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >On one side was mostly elder members of the African American community, some of whom did not live in the neighborhood but still held strong ties to the park. They argued that a dog park would disrespect the memory of Martin Luther King Jr, particularly since dogs were used as weapons against civil rights activists in the 1960s. They also spoke of historical discrimination inMinneapolis and of inequities still not addressed. MLK park is clearly an important destination and symbol for many African Americans in Minneapolis, a remembered place of refuge in a segregated city, and naming the park after Martin Luther King Jr. had been an important victory back in the 1960s. Furthermore, they lamented the fact that the city had allowed the park and a memorial sculpture contained within it to fall into disrepair.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >On the other side were the dog owners (mostly White) who said that they are already walking their dogs through the park anyway and that they only want a very small fenced in area to do it in instead. They argued that it would be a great community building place and a positive addition to an unused area of the park. Other nearby parks had been ruled out as potential dog park locations in the past, and MLK park was centrally located and in a more demographically diverse part of the city. Most of the rest of the dog parks in the city are located in affluent communities in Minneapolis and this would serve a broader cross section of people.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >As someone who writes and reads a lot about racism and nature, I found myself surprisingly unable to make a decision. I wondered if my own initial support of the dog park was selfish, and illustrative of the fact that no matter how much Tim Wise I read, I will instinctively wield my class and race privilege when faced with an issue that affects me personally. But I also believe very strongly that urban parks should be about broad usage by the immediate populace, not about preserving or memorializing. And yet.. I took very seriously arguments that such a park could bring pain to some of my neighbors. There is no denying that historical injustices leave enduring scars, and by no means can I or should I hope to understand the struggle of anyone else.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3W_qFQsTI/AAAAAAAAA1s/4Ts55YgeZhE/s1600/DSCF0003.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3W_qFQsTI/AAAAAAAAA1s/4Ts55YgeZhE/s320/DSCF0003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565841103616258354" /></a>'<br /><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >From that point on, I saw my neighborhood go through a public struggle over race and symbolism like I’ve not personally seen before in my part of Minneapolis, a city that like many in the US prefers to not discuss race and to think of racial conflict as a relic of the past. The media portrayed the issue as “White vs. African American” and the story was covered widely. Public meetings were punctuated with shouting and tears, and public officials would not take a stand either way – instead advocating for more and more moderated discussions. Sub committees and task forces on race and healing were formed faster than I could keep up with, yet publicly the drama continued to escalate.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >On one side was mostly elder members of the African American community, some of whom did not live in the neighborhood but still held strong ties to the park. They argued that a dog park would disrespect the memory of Martin Luther King Jr, particularly since dogs were used as weapons against civil rights activists in the 1960s. They also spoke of historical discrimination inMinneapolis and of inequities still not addressed. MLK park is clearly an important destination and symbol for many African Americans in Minneapolis, a remembered place of refuge in a segregated city, and naming the park after Martin Luther King Jr. had been an important victory back in the 1960s. Furthermore, they lamented the fact that the city had allowed the park and a memorial sculpture contained within it to fall into disrepair.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >On the other side were the dog owners (mostly White) who said that they are already walking their dogs through the park anyway and that they only want a very small fenced in area to do it in instead. They argued that it would be a great community building place and a positive addition to an unused area of the park. Other nearby parks had been ruled out as potential dog park locations in the past, and MLK park was centrally located and in a more demographically diverse part of the city. Most of the rest of the dog parks in the city are located in affluent communities in Minneapolis and this would serve a broader cross section of people.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >As someone who writes and reads a lot about racism and nature, I found myself surprisingly unable to make a decision. I wondered if my own initial support of the dog park was selfish, and illustrative of the fact that no matter how much Tim Wise I read, I will instinctively wield my class and race privilege when faced with an issue that affects me personally. But I also believe very strongly that urban parks should be about broad usage by the immediate populace, not about preserving or memorializing. And yet.. I took very seriously arguments that such a park could bring pain to some of my neighbors. There is no denying that historical injustices leave enduring scars, and by no means can I or should I hope to understand the struggle of anyone else.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3WUV9I0cI/AAAAAAAAA1U/h-88vF_Fy1U/s1600/DSCF0029.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TT3WUV9I0cI/AAAAAAAAA1U/h-88vF_Fy1U/s320/DSCF0029.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5565840359479103938" /></a><br /><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >As of late January, it appears that the Park Board has finally decided to officially take a stand against a dog park at Martin Luther King park, something that is almost a relief to even many who supported the park. By the time the snow has melted this spring, some of the hurt feelings between neighbors will probably be healed. But I will not easily forget the behavior of the elected officials and the way they scrambled and dithered over the issue as soon as the topic of race came up. And I hope that the hard work the dog park supporters put into developing the plan is acknowledged, and that an alternate dog park site is selected. And I hope that the hurt feelings of the opponents of the park is also acknowledged, and that the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr can be better honored in our city. And I hope that for a while people remember that our history is filled with pain and conflict, and that until we discuss and acknowledge our past it will erupt in unexpected places in our present</span>.</div><div><br /></div><div>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >A well-written and well-informed piece Jennifer. Thank you for letting me share it with my regular readers. More thought and insight from Jennifer can be found here on her blog:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><a href="http://raceandplace.wordpress.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Race and Place - exploring the intersection of humans and nature</span></a></div><div><div><br /></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-17684202385512400732011-01-13T16:02:00.004-06:002011-01-13T16:03:50.012-06:00Stop The Madness... Please?<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/18758543?color=ff9933" width="450" height="450" frameborder="0"></iframe>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-157821655946234342011-01-11T16:43:00.004-06:002011-01-11T18:14:38.122-06:00De-stress Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSzgAPM7cKI/AAAAAAAAA1E/fgvyB8BW7fg/s1600/winter%2Bskyline.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSzgAPM7cKI/AAAAAAAAA1E/fgvyB8BW7fg/s320/winter%2Bskyline.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5561065934581100706" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Tired of politics, and arrogant politicians who think that the entire populace are ignorant drones,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: medium; "> tired of hard-headed Midwesterners of all races who are inflexible and don't know when they're being played, and SICK and tired of a certain Minneapolis City Council member. (There will be a series of articles showing the dark side of that particular individual soon, including a <i>most intriguing</i> e-mail exchange.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: medium; ">But all that takes a backseat today. I declare today, January 11, 2011 (1/11/11... I just noticed that and the day's almost over) Mindless Eye Candy Day, subtitled Cool Shit Misplaced Found On The Internet. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: medium; ">Enjoy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/12185106?color=ff9933" width="400" height="320" frameborder="0"></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/12185106">Der Traum vom Fliegen - Dream to Fly</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user2052022">Sascha Geddert</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/2592452?color=ff9933" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/14803194?byline=0&color=ff9933" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16369165?color=ff9933" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"></iframe></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >At some point, I'll dust off some fiction I was working on last Summer before my unscheduled "hiatus". Baby steps for now. Giant leaps by Springtime.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-10761041759301256102011-01-10T13:36:00.007-06:002011-01-10T14:03:10.935-06:00Let's Get This Straight<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSthQneh0oI/AAAAAAAAA08/FEx1kxx7uaI/s1600/sarahpac.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSthQneh0oI/AAAAAAAAA08/FEx1kxx7uaI/s320/sarahpac.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560645103021838978" /></a><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSthQneh0oI/AAAAAAAAA08/FEx1kxx7uaI/s1600/sarahpac.jpg"></a><span class="Apple-style-span">I was going to rant a bit about this past weekend's shootings in Tuscon, but then a friend forwarded a link to a blog written by Melissa McEwan on her blog <i>Shakesville</i>. (link below)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I'm going to shelve my article, and reprint hers instead to bring it to a wider audience.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; ">[Trigger warning for violent rhetoric of many different stripes.]<br /><br />Both sides are, in fact, <b>not</b> "just as bad," when it comes to institutionally sanctioned violent and eliminationist rhetoric.<br /><br />An anonymous commenter at Daily Kos and the last Republican vice presidential nominee are not equivalent, no matter how many ridiculously irresponsible members of the media would have us believe otherwise.<br /><br />There is, demonstrably, no leftist equivalent to Sarah Palin, former veep candidate and presumed future presidential candidate, who uses gun imagery (rifle sights) and language ("Don't Retreat, RELOAD") to exhort her followers to action.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a group which was created from the mailing list of the old white supremacist White Citizens Councils and has been noted as becoming increasingly "radical and racist" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which classifies the CCC as a hate group—and is nonetheless considered an acceptable association by prominent members of the Republican Party, including a <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2006/08/see-heres-thing.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">a former senator</a> and <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2005/11/futures-so-white-hes-gotta-wear-shades.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">the last Republican presidential nominee</a>.</span><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSthFP0l1XI/AAAAAAAAA00/JdxF2S_pa0E/s1600/sarahpac.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 197px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSthFP0l1XI/AAAAAAAAA00/JdxF2S_pa0E/s320/sarahpac.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560644907693364594" /></a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSthFP0l1XI/AAAAAAAAA00/JdxF2S_pa0E/s1600/sarahpac.jpeg"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; ">There is no leftist equivalent to Glenn Beck, host of a long-running nationally syndicated radio show, former host of a show on CNN and current host of a show on Fox, best-selling author, DC rally organizer, and longtime user of eliminationist rhetoric, including <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/11/glenn-beck-asshole.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">equating</a> universal healthcare to rape, <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/10/quote-of-day_22.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">joking</a> about victims of forest fires being America-hating liberals, <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2006/06/glenn-beck-compares-gore-to-hitler.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">comparing</a> Al Gore to Hitler,<a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2006/01/random-thought.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">condoning</a> the murder of Michael Moore, <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/11/today-in-not-news.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">accusing</a> Holocaust survivor George Soros of being a Nazi collaborator, <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/08/glenn-beck-jokes-about-poisoning-nancy.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">joking</a> about poisoning Nancy Pelosi, <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/04/glenn-beck-is-totally-unhinged.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">equating</a> immigration reform with burning US citizens alive, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201012140023" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">publicly endorsing</a> violent revolution, and winkingly <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/08/glenn-beck-in-deathbed-confession.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">telling</a> his viewers not to get violent, all of which amounts to a speck on the tip of a very big iceberg.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to Ann Coulter, best-selling author and syndicated columnist, who has been a panelist on Fox's <i>Hannity</i> 28 times and was on <i>Hannity & Colmes</i> an additional 18 times, who has been a guest multiple times on <i>The O'Reilly Factor</i>, <i>Geraldo at Large</i>, <i>Larry King Live</i>, <i>Huckabee</i>,<i>Your World with Neil Cavuto</i>, <i>Hardball</i>, and other cable news shows, has made appearances on <i>The Tonight Show</i>, <i>The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson</i>, <i>The Daily Show</i>, and <i>Real Time with Bill Maher</i>, and has <b>co-hosted</b> <i>The View</i>, and has also said that a baseball bat is "the most effective way" to talk to liberals, as well as: "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too." And: "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building." And: "In [Clinton's] recurring nightmare of a presidency, we have a national debate about whether he 'did it,' even though all sentient people know he did. Otherwise there would be debates only about whether to impeach or assassinate."<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to Bill O'Reilly, Fox News television show host, nationally syndicated radio show host, and best-selling author, who has appeared on <i>The Tonight Show</i> eleven times, <i>The Late Show with David Letterman</i> six times, <i>The Daily Show</i> six times, <i>Live with Regis and Kelly</i> five times, <i>The View</i> four times, <i>Good Morning America</i> three times, and <i>Real Time with Bill Maher</i> twice, among other national shows, and has <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/03/oreilly-is-shameless-stain.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">lied about and stalked</a> his critics, <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2006/10/i-hate-bill-oreilly-part-9386172-in.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">said</a> that progressive bloggers should be dealt with "with a hand grenade," <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2005/12/what-lurks-below.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">said</a> Air America hosts were traitors and should be "put in chains," <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2005/11/what-hell-is-wrong-with-oreilly.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">as well as</a>: "And if Al Qaeda comes [to San Francisco] and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."<br /><br /><span id="fullpost">There is no leftist equivalent to Rush "I tell people don't kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus—living fossils—so we will never forget what these people stood for" Limbaugh, nationally syndicated radio show host and invitee to the Bush White House.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to Pat "Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path" Buchanan, a regular MSNBC contributor and syndicated columnist.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to Michelle "<i>In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror</i>" Malkin, a regular Fox panelist, best-selling author, and prominent conservative blogger.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to Pat "The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians" Robertson, host of <i>The 700 Club</i>, who was a guest on Fox's <i>Hannity & Colmes</i> five times.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to Michael "Howard Dean should be arrested and hung for treason or put in a hole until the end of the Iraq war" Reagan, or Michael "Smallpox in a blanket, which the U.S. Army gave to the Cherokee Indians on their long march to the West, was nothing compared to what I'd like to see done to these people" Savage, both nationally syndicated radio show hosts.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to the Minutemen and other radical and eliminationist-spewing anti-immigration groups, some of whom have been subcontracted to work the border by the US government.<br /><br />There is no leftist equivalent to radical and eliminationist-spewing anti-choice groups, who openly target doctors and call for their assassinations—and had a success just last year in the murder of Dr. George Tiller—and whose leaders get featured in <a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/07/wtf-wapo.html" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">whitewashing profiles</a> in the <i>Washington Post</i>.<br /><br />Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.</span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TStgb3s0_8I/AAAAAAAAA0s/knDb6bSdNMw/s1600/sp%2Brole-model.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 288px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TStgb3s0_8I/AAAAAAAAA0s/knDb6bSdNMw/s320/sp%2Brole-model.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560644196843716546" /></a><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">This is not an argument there is no hatred, no inappropriate and even violent rhetoric, among US leftists. There is.<br /><br />This is evidence that, although violent rhetoric exists among US leftists, it is not <b>remotely</b> on the same scale, and, more importantly, not an institutionally endorsed tactic, as it is among US rightwingers.<br /><br />This is a fact. It is not debatable.<br /><br />And there is observably precious little integrity among conservatives in addressing this fact, in the wake of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.<br /><br />Palin takes the absolute cake for <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/Shakestweetz/status/24146476011626496" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">audaciously asserting</a> that her rifle sight imagery was really "a surveyor's symbol," and not even having the decency to sheepishly acquiesce that, even if that were true (and not evident bullshit), it's understandable how a reasonable person could look at her "surveyor's symbol" alongside the word "target" and get the wrong, ahem, idea. No, it's all just a wall of total denial in the Palin camp, when she's not whining about being a victim herself of people who have the temerity to actually hold her accountable for her carelessly casual violent rhetoric. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. And then it's deny and play the martyr.<br /><br />But it's not like Palin's ideological allies are covering themselves in glory, either. There's no call for accountability, no call for reflection, not among conservatives. Just the usual game of deflection and projection, as they desperately try to find a way to make this liberals' fault.<br /><br />Bill Kristol <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/136929-conservative-likens-palin-criticism-to-mccarthyism" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">took to the airwaves</a> this morning to call criticism of Palin "a disgrace" and accuse liberals of "McCarthyism." Commentators on Fox News, meanwhile, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/EricBoehlert/status/24480911361839104" style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; ">blame President Obama</a> for not changing the tone in Washington, like he promised. Which would be hilarious, were that redirection of blame not a key part of conservatives' strategy to dodge responsibility for the eliminationist rhetoric that certainly contributed to the tragic events of this weekend.<br /><br />When, a few months ago, there was a spate of widely-publicized suicides of bullied teens, we had, briefly, a national conversation about the dangers of bullying. But in the wake of an ideologically-motivated assassination attempt of a sitting member of Congress, we aren't having a national conversation about the dangers of violent rhetoric—because the conversation about bullying children was started by adults, and there are seemingly no responsible grown-ups to be found among conservatives anymore.<br /><br />Faced with the overwhelming evidence of the violent rhetoric absolutely permeating the discourse emanating from their side of the aisle, conservatives adopt the approach of a petulant child—deny, obfuscate, and lash out defensively.<br /><br />And engage in the most breathtaking disingenuous hypocrisy: Conservatives, who vociferously argue against the language and legislation of social justice, on the basis that it all "normalizes" marginalized people and their lives and cultures (it does!), are suddenly nothing but blinking, wide-eyed naïveté when it comes to their own violent rhetoric.<br /><br />They have a great grasp of cultural anthropology when they want to complain about progressive ideas, inclusion, diversity, and equality. But when it comes to being accountable for their own ideas, their anthropological prowess magically disappears.<br /><br />Only progressives "infect" the culture, but conservative hate speech exists in a void.<br /><br />That's what we're meant to believe, anyway. But we know it is not true. This culture, this habit, of eliminationist rhetoric is <b>not</b> happening in a vacuum. It's happening in a culture of widely-available guns (thanks to conservative policies), of underfunded and unavailable medical care, especially mental health care (thanks to conservative policies), of a widespread belief that government is the enemy of the people (thanks to conservative rhetoric), and of millions of increasingly desperate people (thanks to an economy totally fucked by conservative governance).<br /><br />The shooting in Tucson was not an anomaly. It was an inevitability.<br /><br />And as long as we continue to play this foolish game of "both sides are just as bad," and rely on trusty old ablism to dismiss Jared Lee Loughner as a crackpot—dutifully ignoring that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators; carefully pretending that the existence of people with mental illness who <b>are</b> potentially dangerous somehow absolves us of responsibility for violent rhetoric, as opposed to serving to underline precisely why it's irresponsible—it will be inevitable again.<br /><br />Let's get this straight: This shit doesn't happen in a void. It happens in a culture rife with violent political rhetoric, and it's time for conservatives to pull up their goddamn bootstraps and get to work doing the hard business of self-reflection.<br /><br />This is one problem the invisible hand of the market can't fix for them—unless, perhaps, it's holding a mirror.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; ">Wise words from a fellow blogger. Check out more from Melissa at: </span><a href="http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/">http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><br /></span></span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-39364866232972391422011-01-04T12:32:00.019-06:002011-01-11T15:05:59.178-06:00Politics Goes to the Dogs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSNoZYf6-qI/AAAAAAAAA0c/vKKex5mkKn8/s1600/DSCF0009.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSNoZYf6-qI/AAAAAAAAA0c/vKKex5mkKn8/s320/DSCF0009.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558401150387681954" /></a><br /><div><div>"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." </div><div><br /></div><div>-Martin Luther King, Jr.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I can no longer remain silent about something that matters to me, and the lost sheep who have chosen to oppose something that matters to me.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I'm talking about the proposed off-leash area in Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Minneapolis.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">As many of my readers know, I have been a core team member of the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Kingfield</span> Dog Park Task Force since 2009. I have refrained from speaking here about negotiating the politics, and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">labyrinth</span> process involved with the proposed addition of a desired amenity to an existing, unused area of a neighborhood park.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Since the beginning of the process, the Task Force has taken pride in the true grassroots and community-oriented nature of it's charged initiative. One of the reasons for the progress made thus far has been the inclusion of as many neighbors, businesses, and corresponding neighborhood and business associations of the neighborhoods surrounding MLK Park. This includes not just the Kingfield and Bryant neighborhoods which border the park, but also the Tangletown, Central, and Regina neighborhoods. The Task Force also kept the community informed of the progress of it's study by sending representatives to not only Park Board meetings, but also scheduled meetings of the above mentioned neighborhood and business associations.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">When the Park Board was informed that there was overwhelming support from the surrounding community for the promised Park District 6 off-leash area to be located in MLK Park, it immediately began the public notification process, which it has adhered to and complied with in an admirable fashion.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The process has not been without some controversy. In 2010, a small group of individuals who are occasional users of MLK Park were given incorrect information about the promised District Six off-leash area, and the intentions of the <i>established and recognized</i> Task Force charged with exploring the issue. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Basically, these casual users of MLK Park felt slighted, because they were given incorrect information by park staff members who were not involved with the Task Force in any capacity, and felt that they had been "left out" of the decision making process.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">When the Task Force became aware of the potentially racially-charged nature of the misunderstanding, a meeting to discuss the issue was immediately held, and a local politician was present. At this meeting, the Task Force indicated that they wished to sit down with the opposing parties, clarify the intentions of the Task Force, and share all information and research gathered to date with the intention of clearing up all misunderstandings about the proposed project. It was strongly suggested by the politician that <i>they</i> should facilitate any discussion between the Task Force and the opposition. Even though the Task Force indicated that since there were minority members in their ranks who were better suited for such a discussion, the politician insisted that they would "handle it", and under no uncertain terms should an African-American member of the Task Force attempt to contact the opposition. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The Task Force reluctantly agreed to these terms, placed their trust in the politician to speak on their behalf and waited for the discussion to begin.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">It never did. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The process continued on.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">On December 15, 2010, the Park Board adopted a Resolution Authorizing the Formation and Charge of an Appointed Sixth Park District Off-Leash Recreation Area Citizen Advisory Committee:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><span class="Apple-style-span">WHEREAS, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) is the steward of the Minneapolis Parks; and</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">WHEREAS, the Board successfully provides off-leash recreation areas in five of the six </span>park districts; and</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">WHEREAS, off-leash recreation areas provide social opportunities for dog owners, have a positive impact on pets and help build strong communities;</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">WHEREAS, there is a demonstrated need for an off-leash recreation area in the Sixth Park District, especially in Community Service Area 10;</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">WHEREAS, the Board desires a citizen advisory committee to provide recommendations for an off-leash recreation area in the Sixth Park District with special focus on </span>Community Service Area 10; and</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Commissioners of the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board as follows:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Direct staff to convene a Sixth Park District Off-Leash Recreation Area citizen advisory committee (CAC) with the following charge and composition:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">CAC Charges:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">1. Recommend a location for an enclosed off-leash recreation area within Community Service Area (CSA) 10 of the Sixth Park District specifically focusing on areas along Stevens Avenue South between E 40th and 42nd treets and areas along Kings Highway/Dupont Avenue South between W 38th and 40th Streets. The CAC will present recommendations and methodology of recommendations at the March 16, 2011 Planning Committee of the Board.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">2. Assess community interest in piloting programming for residents and their dogs in Southwest/South Central Minneapolis. Assess community support for</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">piloting alterative methods of providing off-leash areas in the Southwest/South Central Minneapolis. If community support is garnered to pilot alternative methods, assist with pilot implementation and evaluation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The proposed CAC would be composed of 23 individuals appointed by entities or persons with some vested interest in the community: </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">CAC Composition:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Appointing entity or person</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Board President (appoints chairperson)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Other At-Large Commissioners</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Commissioner District Six</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Commissioner District Five</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Commissioner District Four</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Ward 8 Minneapolis Council Member</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Ward 10 Minneapolis Council Member</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Ward 11 Minneapolis Council Member</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Ward 13 Minneapolis Council Member</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Kingfield Neighborhood Association</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">E. Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood Association</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Lyndale Neighborhood Association</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Tangletown Neighborhood Association</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">East Calhoun Community Organization</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Calhoun Area Residents Action Group</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Lynnhurst Neighborhood Association</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Field Regina Northrop Neighborhood Group</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Bryant Neighborhood Organization</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Mayor of City of Minneapolis</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Kingfield Dogpark Task Force</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Dog Grounds</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Sabathani Community Ce<img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Italic" border="0" class="gl_italic" />nter Board Chairperson</span></div></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">An incredibly fair and diverse cross section of the surrounding community, right? The opposition (born from the AARP group at the Sabathani Community Center) even has been given the right to appoint a representative to the CAC, <i>even though the Sabathani Community Center is not located in, and many members of the opposition do not reside in or near Park District Six</i>. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">You'd think that this would be seen as shining example of inclusion, cooperation, and willingness to compromise and find common ground, right?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Wrong.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Late yesterday afternoon, I got two phone messages. One from a Park Board Commissioner, the other from a fellow Task Force Core Team member. They were both telling me that the formation of the CAC was now <i>off</i> the agenda of the January 5, 2011 Park Board meeting. When I asked why that was, it was explained to me that a letter had been received by the Park Board from a group calling themselves "Citizens In Action For Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park -- CIA FOR MLK". The text of the letter follows. For the purposes of clarification and truth, I will interject in italics where necessary:</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">December 29, 2010</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Dear Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioners:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">CIA for MLK represents a large, city-wide community of citizens who have a strong interest in the character of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park (MLK). It appears, to us that the process for choosing a site for an off-leash dog park in the sixth park district has trampled the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) usual methods of informing the public, soliciting public comment and keeping stakeholders informed. Further, it appears to us that the proposed site for a dog park at MLK Park ignores the MPRB’s own guidelines for appropriate locations that discourage sites close to areas where there is active recreation or places where children usually play. We are writing this to offer an alternative process for locating an off-leash dog recreation area in the Sixth Park District at the MPRB meeting January 5.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The Process Trampled Usual Methods of Community Participation</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Timeline</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• 2001 – Off Leash Recreation Area Site Study Committee identifies and ranks 19 potential sites but makes no recommendation.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• January 2002 – MPRB receives final report of the off-leash dog exercise area feasibility study.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• 2009 – Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) establishes a Dog Park Taskforce.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>This is almost correct. In 2009, a group of residents from the Kingfield, Bryant, and Tangletown neighborhoods formed a task Force to look into the feasibility of finally establishing the promised Park District Six Off-Leash Area. After it was determined that there was significant demand for such an amenity, the project was adopted by the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, and the existing Task Force was permitted to continue it's work.</i><i> </i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• May 5, 2010 – Kingfield Dog Park Committee presents a proposal for an off-leash dog park at MLK to the MPRB during open time at its regular meeting.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>This was a public meeting. The agenda was public information as it is for all public meetings of the Park Board. This implies that the Task Force should have been required to seek out any potential opposition before that meeting. This is simply ridiculous, and is not a precursor to the process for obvious reasons.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• July 22, 2010 – MPRB holds an “open house” meeting at MLK on this proposal</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>This meeting met all criteria for public notification, and was well attended. The letter writer implies that they were not notified of this meeting... yet other members of the opposition were in attendance. There was also specific notification on City Council Ward Eight's website: </i><a href="http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ward8/docs/8thWardNewsletterJuly2010.pdf">http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ward8/docs/8thWardNewsletterJuly2010.pdf</a></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>African-American Newspaper Insight News reported the upcoming July 22, 2010 meeting on July 12, 2010:</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><a href="http://insightnews.com/community/6225-dog-park-proposal-meeting">http://insightnews.com/community/6225-dog-park-proposal-meeting</a></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Sept. 2, 2010 – MPRB holds another meeting on the dog park at MLK.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>And again, this meeting met all criteria for public notification. Once again, there is also mention of the meeting on the Ward Eight website... in August no less, well in advance of the meeting:</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><a href="http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ward8/docs/8thWardNationalNightOut2010Newsletter.pdf">http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/ward8/docs/8thWardNationalNightOut2010Newsletter.pdf</a></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• December 1, 2010 – Regular MPRB meeting where the dog park proposal was discussed.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>Another public meeting that met all criteria for public notification.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• December 15, 2010 - MPRB Planning Committee approves a resolution to create a Community Advisory Committee (CAC).</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>Yet ANOTHER public meeting that met all criteria for public notification, including the meeting agenda being made public on advance.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• January 5, 2011 – MSPB full meeting that will take action on the resolution</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; ">.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>Tomorrow's meeting that the Park Board has already buckled on. The CAC is now off the agenda because of this letter. </i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Concerned Citizens’ Participation Was Systematically Left Out</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Nine years elapsed between the feasibility study and the current activity.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>The current activity picked up where the previous activity left off, including re-evaluating each original potential site.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• None of the elders who were involved in renaming Nicollet Field to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park were notified of any Kingfield planning or Dog Park Task Force meetings.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>It is difficult to expect a group of neighbors to seek out an opposition group that they are not even aware of the existence of. </i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• No community members or parents of children that use MLK Park were notified about the proposal presented to the May 5th MPRB meeting.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>This is simply not true. Community members and parents of children who use MLK park have been involved in the process since the beginning. Members of the Task Force are residents of the neighborhood that border MLK Park, and have children of the two-legged as well as the four-legged variety.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Community members received no formal notification of the July 22 meeting.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>As shown above, the July 22, 2010 meeting met all criteria for public notification. It was well-attended, which indicates that the Community was indeed formally notified. Members of the opposition were present at this meeting as well... Who exactly was it that missed the memo that so many others got?</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• In early August, Elizabeth Glidden arranged for a meeting with the Sabathani AARP chapter and Park Board Chair, John Erwin.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>The Kingfield Dog Park Task Force was not notified of this meeting between Councilmember Glidden, and Park Board President Erwin. Is the writer's intention to inform the Task Force of the injustice committed by the opposition when the Dog Park Task Force was not permitted representation at what amounts to a secret meeting between the opposition to a proposed public project, and two elected officials who could potentially influence the outcome? </i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• At the September 2 meeting members of the community provided contact information to be informed of next steps and to help plan ways to honor Dr. King’s legacy.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Most of the community members who provided contact information were not informed about the December 1 MPRB meeting. Mr. Mays called MPRB to get information but got no response. He then called Elizabeth Glidden and was told it wasn’t necessary to attend because the dog park was not on the agenda. When Mr. Mays watched the meeting on cable, he saw that the dog park was discussed, that members of the dog park coalition were there and heard Mr. Bourn comment that, “Apparently there is no more opposition to the dog park because nobody showed up.”</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>This isn't entirely accurate. It is true that the proposed off-leash area was not on the meeting agenda, however, since Park Board meetings are public, and time is generally made available for the public to speak at these meetings, I get the impression that the problem the letter writer has is that supporters of the proposed off-leash area are taking it upon themselves to show up at Park Board meetings and speak in support of the proposed project. Does the letter writer expect to be informed each time a random member of the general public chooses to show their support of something they may oppose? Yes, Task Force members are present at each public meeting, and speak in support of the proposed project at every opportunity. That's part of the process. It seems we're being faulted for following the rules. </i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Although it was dated December 10, most people on the contact list did not receive notice of the December 15th Planning Committee meeting until December 13th or 14th. By that time, it was too late to offer an alternative to the proposed resolution.The composition of the CAC proposed in the December 15 resolution guarantees a skewed result.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>The heavy snowstorm of the previous weekend delayed the mail for the entire city, not just the letter writer. This is a moot point however, as I was at the December 15, 2010 meeting, and spoke to the other stakeholders in the lobby of the Park Board building after the conclusion of the Planning Committee Meeting.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>As for the proposed CAC producing a "skewed result" please refer to where I talked about the CAC above... It is set to be composed of residents of the community surrounding MLK Park. Could it be that your claim of potential "skewed results" are indicative of the fact that you have become aware that the community at large disagrees with your issue?</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">MPRB meeting notice for January 5th stated, “The Board does not ordinarily take comment on agenda items, so it is not anticipated that the Board will take public comment on this item”.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">From our perspective, it seems like we were shut out of the whole process. The last notice culminates a series of events where we were not notified of meetings and now we apparently are denied opportunity to comment on a Community Advisory process that shuts out our voice as well.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Other Off-leash Sites in Low Recreation and Child Play Areas We are puzzled why the MPRB would even consider an off-leash site in a place like MLK. The six off- leash sites are in areas that are away from housing, playgrounds and other recreational areas. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>Seriously? The letter writer is implying that the existing off-leash areas, and therefore the very parks they are in are located in areas away from housing, playgrounds and recreational areas... the above statement is inaccurate at best.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>...wait a minute... isn't a park itself a recreational area? The letter writer is also suggesting that we locate the off-leash area... which is a recreational area... AWAY from recreational areas? By this logic, the letter writer is also suggesting that there is no housing near any parks with existing off-leash areas, and that said park must also be devoid of playground equipment, basketball and tennis courts, baseball and softball diamonds, and anything else that could be construed as a "recreational" area.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; ">Proposal for an Alternative Community Advisory Process</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Charge the CAC with proposing a site within the sixth Park District.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>What the letter writer is proposing here has already been done. In fact, the letter writer is the one who has put a stop to the very process that the Park Board has created to include his group of stakeholders.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">• Set 2 meetings one week apart and notify the community according to park board rules plus </span><span class="Apple-style-span">a public notice in the newspapers and notice to all those on the contact list. Anyone who is </span><span class="Apple-style-span">interested can attend.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>This is exactly what a CAC is supposed to avoid. The letter writer seems to think that inviting the general public to attend a meeting a 23 members of the general public will serve what purpose exactly?</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Meeting 1 – Park Board staff review the Sixth District Feasibility Study providing the rankings of 19 sites and the criteria for ranking. Park Board staff also review the Kingfield study and rationale for the proposed Kingfield site. Park Board staff makes both documents available to the public electronically and in hard copy. Each group can choose one person to present their case to the community. After presentations, the assembled group can break out into small groups. Discussion groups will be facilitated by Park Board staff. </span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>Most of this was done in 2001/2002; then again in 2009 and 2010.</i> <i>The letter writer not only wants to waste time and resources doing work that has already been done three times, but they are actually suggesting that the entire process return to square one simply because they did not take an active interest until after the process had already begun.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The purpose of these small groups is to clarify any questions and/or information.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>No. That is the charge of the proposed CAC. It is part of an already tested and proven process. The letter writer's suggestion is akin to a group of blind men trying to describe an elephant. There must be no more time or resources wasted on work that has already been completed to the satisfaction of the process.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">• Meeting 2 – Break the assembled group into small groups by random assignment. Park Board commissioners will facilitate each group discussion. The groups will discuss the merits of each position and rank potential sixth district sites according to the criteria set by the sixth district feasibility study. Small groups report back to the larger group and rankings are aggregated by Park Board staff. The result of the combined rankings is made known and the whole group has a chance to comment. The rankings and the commentary are transmitted to the MPRB for final</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">action.</span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>The letter writer suggests that we further complicate the process by trying to schedule a meeting of 23 people, broken up into "small groups", and a Park Board Commissioner "facilitating" each group discussion...</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i><br /></i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><i>I can't even begin to imagine what a logistical nightmare scheduling such a meeting would be. Unfortunately, the other stakeholders are somewhat misguided in their purpose due largely to a lack of their receiving correct information. The letter writer indicates that there are misunderstandings as to how the process works.</i></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We support the need for an off-leash dog recreation area in the sixth district. All we ask is that the MPRB recognize the special significance of MLK Park. We think that if MPRB were consistent, using its own criteria, a site other than the MLK Park would be easily apparent.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">We look forward to hearing from you about our proposed alternative before January 5th.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Thank you for your attention.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Sincerely,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Charles Mays</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Representing Citizens In Action for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park – CIA FOR MLK</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">In a nutshell, the other stakeholders have become aware that there is overwhelming support for the project in the community. This displeases them, so they're now trying to alter the process to favor the outcome that they desire... which is contrary to what the community has indicated it would like.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div>To the Park Board Commissioners who read this... and we know you all will:</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div>"Cowardice asks the question 'Is it safe?', expediency asks the question 'Is it politic?', vanity asks the question 'Is it popular?'. But conscience asks the question 'Is it right?' and there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right."</div><div><br /></div><div>- Martin Luther King, Jr</div><div><br /></div><div>Mull over that Commissioners. I'll see you at tomorrow's meeting.</div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Tomorrow morning I talk to the local media... Let the games begin!!! </span></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; "><br /></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><div><br /></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-50056154585395844362011-01-03T15:46:00.008-06:002011-01-03T16:23:54.811-06:00Post-Holiday Reload<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSJESpFzUpI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Pf8g4lJ0rQI/s1600/148952.I%252Bhave%252Breturned%2521%2BMerry%252BXmas%2521%25211%2521.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TSJESpFzUpI/AAAAAAAAA0M/Pf8g4lJ0rQI/s320/148952.I%252Bhave%252Breturned%2521%2BMerry%252BXmas%2521%25211%2521.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558079977187136146" /></a><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Yeah... I'm back. Trying a new look for the blog... it's subject to change.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">It's been a longer layoff than I expected, but I feel recharged and newly motivated.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">After my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Festivus</span> celebration this year, I asked myself, "Why should I limit myself to airing my <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">grievances</span> only once a year? I have a blog, I can bitch and rant and complain all I want!"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">That being said, I'll just start here...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">To all of you who either flip-flopped your wishy-washy ideals and switched your vote from bluish to reddish this past election because Obama and the lukewarm Dems failed to solve all world problems in 700 days, or because you got yourself so emotionally riled up/mentally watered down by the sexy caveman grunts of the Tea Party that you actually bought the BS line about being "mad as hell" about nothing even remotely coherent.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Here is your grand message: You are hereby wonderfully, thoroughly screwed.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Oh darling, it's so very true. The fun-filled news is, despite all the bluster and rhetoric, thinly veiled racism and rampant Islamophobia on display, the new army of jittery, anti-everything GOP bobbleheads that you just voted into office doesn't care a single iota about you, or your haphazard values, or what you sometimes occasionally stand for. And what's more, deep down, you secretly know it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Are you slightly offended? Are you scowling and mistrustful of the notion? I'm delighted to hear it. Also, It doesn't really matter.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">You don't have to believe me. Just wait until nothing at all is done to service the Tea Party non-agenda, because it's ridiculous and impossible to service. Just wait until you note how there is no actual shrinking of government, no restoring some bogus sepia-toned idealism that never existed, no saving of your job. There is, of course, but one GOP agenda: furthering their personal stranglehold on all things powermad and avaricious.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">That's not to say they won't try to tackle some issues. Boehner & Co care very much about nailing down enormous tax cuts for wealthy people, preventing education reform, gridlocking Congress at every turn, denying the fact that seven billion rapacious humans have an effect on climate change, and blocking as much newly available health care for 30 million Americans as possible. And so on.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">But truly, the issues themselves don't matter. For what Boehner & Co value most is not so much making any sort of significant change in American culture, but rather, in keeping the anger, the dread, the paranoia alive.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">In other words, they care most about keeping you in the lower, plebian castes all riled and blind as long as possible. This way, power lies. This way we find war and military expenditure and all manner of misprision, torture, environmental rape, WMD and homophobia, you name it. Just ask Karl Rove. Hey, it's a platform. It worked for Dubya. Well, sort of.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Perhaps you secretly agree with this assessment, understanding that the Repubs are indeed mostly shmucks, but at least they're shmucks fighting in your corner. Maybe you think the Dems are no better, and it's all a matter of lesser-of-two-evils, a needful balancing of power, that the nation's new rightward tilt serves Obama right for -- what was it again? "Overreaching"? For daring to accomplish in two short years more than any president in six decades? Right.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">One thing's certain: the populace remains angry and scared about, well, what we've always been angry and scared about: jobs, a massive deficit, war and terrorism, taxes and drugs, gangs and goons, evil bumps in the night.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">But these days, one source of anger trumps all others. We are perhaps most furious about our dysfunctional political system, one that cherishes acrimony over cohesion, backstabbing over unity, bickering over a calm and respectful, unified vision. (Which is a little strange, considering how much Pelosi and the Dems accomplished in two years. It might have been acerbic, but the output was actually sort of stunning. But never mind that now).</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Are both parties to blame for this hateful, acerbic tone? Are they equally responsible for the ongoing divisiveness? Sure. To some degree. Then again, no. Not really. Not by a long shot.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Let's be perfectly clear: The modern Republican party has one masterful, godlike skill unmatched by any other org in this century: Its leaders are geniuses at deceit, at leading throngs of blind believers into rabbit holes of war and fear and factual inaccuracy, often using an aggressively dumbed-down form of Christianity as a trump card. Sexual dread, mistrust of youth, of women, of gays, foreigners, of the ever-changing cultural landscape? It's in the DNA. And the Tea Party chugged it like Budweiser-flavored heroin.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">And the Dems? </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Please. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The Dems wish they could be that masterful. Progressives are just terribly weak in fearmongering. There is something about the liberal spirit that values independent thought and self-determination, that defies screaming eye-glazed megachurch groupthink dread. This makes it tough to hold power for very long. It's so much easier to rally around sameness, conformity, institution, fear of the Other. Right, Karl?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Proof? Look no further than the GOP's leaders and mouthpieces: Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, O'Reilly and Fox News and even newly minted Senate demigod Mitch McConnell, et al. There are almost no liberal equivalents to these professional liars, warmongers, kingmakers and overlords. In the category of media and message manipulation, the libs have proven disastrous.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I take it back. Not all red-leaning voters this election are hereby screwed. If you're tremendously wealthy and/or run a very large corporation, you're feeling damn good right about now. Wall Street is giddy like Charlie Sheen in a Bangkok brothel, eager for more deregulation, bigger bonuses, less oversight. The CEOs of every oil company in the world are positively orgasmic knowing that their GOP breathren will now asphyxiate all attempts at new environmental legislation and regulation. And so on.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">But if you are a lower to middle-class Republican, Tea Partier or flip-flopping indie voter, you are now in the most delightfully ironic position of all - you think you just voted yourself more voice, when in fact you voted for far less. You think yourself a lion; you're actually the meat.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">You actually voted yourself into an even lower position on the food chain. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Congratulations.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span">Misplaced will return tomorrow</span>.</span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-22678015444545460312010-09-28T15:54:00.005-05:002010-09-28T17:22:02.043-05:009/11/01 - What Really Happened? - Part 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm6_sNpZI/AAAAAAAAAzM/yq7uzW8ff9c/s1600/world_trade_center.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm6_sNpZI/AAAAAAAAAzM/yq7uzW8ff9c/s320/world_trade_center.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522089256824972690" /></a><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm6_sNpZI/AAAAAAAAAzM/yq7uzW8ff9c/s1600/world_trade_center.jpg"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We're going to spend the rest of this week on this difficult topic. I would imagine that I will lose some readers, and lumped into the tinfoil-hat-wearing lunatic fringe by others.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's okay.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I expect that I will get the majority of you to think about what you've been told, and begin asking some pointed questions yourself, or at the very least wonder if things are always what they seem. I have been granted access to photographs that have never been published elsewhere, and later in the week I'll also be sharing video that you haven't seen before as well. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Without further fanfare, let's just get right into it.</span></span></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm6VtcgMI/AAAAAAAAAzE/wo3FN_yfyUM/s1600/911_NYC_1.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm6VtcgMI/AAAAAAAAAzE/wo3FN_yfyUM/s320/911_NYC_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522089245555851458" /></span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm6VtcgMI/AAAAAAAAAzE/wo3FN_yfyUM/s1600/911_NYC_1.jpg"></a></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We all know the official story of September 11th: four jetliners were hijacked by groups of four and five Arabic men armed with box cutters, who proceeded to fly three of the four jets into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Subsequently the World Trade Center Towers, weakened by the impacts and fires, collapsed into piles of rubble. The FBI had compiled a list of hijackers within three days, and it was so obvious that Osama bin Laden had masterminded the operation from caves in Afghanistan, that there was no need to seriously investigate the crime or produce evidence. The "retaliatory" attack on the Taliban would soon commence.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Is this story true? Its central assumptions have never been tested by an official government body whose members lack obvious conflicts of interest. There are numerous red flags in the official story, which requires a long series of highly improbable coincidences. Questioning that story is an act of responsible citizenship.</span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm5yqjk-I/AAAAAAAAAy8/XhZqeQbhDvM/s1600/desktopvenue.com_1711_1440x900.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm5yqjk-I/AAAAAAAAAy8/XhZqeQbhDvM/s320/desktopvenue.com_1711_1440x900.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522089236148491234" /></span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm5yqjk-I/AAAAAAAAAy8/XhZqeQbhDvM/s1600/desktopvenue.com_1711_1440x900.jpg"></a></span></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The September 11th Targets, and Their Defense</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The targets of the September 11th attacks aside from the four jetliners, were some of the most famous and unique buildings in the world:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The World Trade Center Towers</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Pentagon</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">These were only the focal points of the attack. The real target of the attack appears to have been something much broader and far-reaching than mere buildings, and even the thousands of innocent victims in the buildings and airplanes. Whatever the motives of the perpetrators of the attack, lower Manhattan, a section of the Pentagon, and four jetliners were the immediate physical targets.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The World Trade Center was a collection of seven buildings in lower Manhattan, including the famous Twin Towers, which were once the world's tallest buildings. By the end of September 11th, 2001, all seven buildings were either leveled or severely damaged and gutted, including Building 7, which was on a separate block.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Pentagon is the administrative heart of the U.S. military establishment and the largest office building in the world. On September 11th, one of 10 sections was damaged in the attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The cities and military installations in the United States are normally defended from airborne attack of any type by NORAD, which monitors all air traffic in North America in real time, and rapidly dispatches interceptors whenever there is a flight emergency. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon would normally be two of the best defended buildings in the world.</span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm57d-NlI/AAAAAAAAAy0/AdO2mAzfhpU/s1600/desktopvenue.com_1482_1440x900.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm57d-NlI/AAAAAAAAAy0/AdO2mAzfhpU/s320/desktopvenue.com_1482_1440x900.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522089238511629906" /></span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm57d-NlI/AAAAAAAAAy0/AdO2mAzfhpU/s1600/desktopvenue.com_1482_1440x900.jpg"></a></span></span><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Actions Reveal Widespread Advance Knowledge of the Attack</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Several events immediately preceding the September 11th attacks suggests many people other than Islamic extremists anticipated the attack. These include the following:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Extremely large purchases of put options on stocks of American Airlines, United Airlines, and other companines hurt by the attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A surge in financial transactions on computers in the World Trade Center on the morning of 9/11/01.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Financial transactions in the days before the attack suggest that certain individuals used foreknowledge of the attack to reap huge profits. 1 The evidence of insider trading includes:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Huge surges in purchases of put options on stocks of the two airlines used in the attack -- United Airlines and American Airlines.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Surges in purchases of put options on stocks of reinsurance companies expected to pay out billions to cover losses from the attack -- Munich Re and the AXA Group.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Surges in purchases of put options on stocks of financial services companies hurt by the attack -- Merrill Lynch & Co., and Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Huge surge in purchases of call options of stock of a weapons manufacturer expected to gain from the attack -- Raytheon.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Huge surges in purchases of 5-Year US Treasury Notes.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In each case, the anomalous purchases translated into large profits as soon as the stock market opened a week after the attack: put options were used on stocks that would be hurt by the attack, and call options were used on stocks that would benefit.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Put and call options are contracts that allow their holders to sell and buy assets, respectively, at specified prices by a certain date. Put options allow their holders to profit from declines in stock values because they allow stocks to be bought at market price and sold for the higher option price.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Computer systems in the World Trade Center processed an unusual volume of credit card transactions in the minutes before the planes crashed into the towers on 9/11/01. The computer systems were destroyed in the subsequent collapses of the towers. Although details of the surge remain unknown, reports speculate that the transactions may have amounted to more than $100 million in value, with both the volume and sizes of transactions surging.</span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm5fx_s4I/AAAAAAAAAys/L22jEKCX-Mk/s1600/SmolderingWTC.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKJm5fx_s4I/AAAAAAAAAys/L22jEKCX-Mk/s320/SmolderingWTC.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522089231079420802" /></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In December of 2001, press reports noted that Convar Systeme Deutschland GmbH was working on recovering data from some hard drives extracted from the destroyed computer systems. Unlike conventional data recovery efforts, the German company used laser scanning to read drive surfaces in order to create virtual disks. These virtual disks were then read to recover data. As of December 20th, 2001, Convar had completed processing 39 out of 81 drives, and expected to receive 20 more drives in January. These reports do not indicate how many drives were believed lost or destroyed in the collapses. Companies paid Convar between $20,000 and $30,000 per drive for the work.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Avoidance of the airlines and New York City on September 11th by a number of important people, some admitting to having been warned of an attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Much has been reported about how warnings of attacks by Muslim extremists in the year leading up to 9/11/01 were ignored. So far no official has been fired or otherwise punished for his or her failure to act on such information.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What is more informative than who failed to act on a tip, is who acted on a tip. A number of people apparently knew to stay clear of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Government Officials and Business Leaders</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There is evidence that a group of Pentagon officials was warned to avoid the attack targets. Newsweek reported:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Three weeks ago there was another warning that a terrorist strike might be imminent - On September 10, Newsweek has learned, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly cancelled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A number of business leaders who would normally have been in the World Trade Center, were instead at a meeting hosted by Warren Buffett on September 11th at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. That group included Anne Tatlock, CEO of Fiduciary Trust Inc., a company that occupied five floors on or above the 90th floor of the South Tower. This is the same Air Force Base that George W. Bush would fly to later that day. It has an underground command center.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown admitted to having received a warning from what he described as his airport security late Monday evening, just hours before the attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Salman Rushdie, who is under the continuous protection of Scotland Yard, was prevented from flying on September 11th, 2001.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On 9/11/01, Jim Pierce, cousin of President Bush, was scheduled to attend a conference on the 105th floor of the South Tower, where his company's New York offices were based. But the conference was moved across the street to the Millennium Hotel, because, the story goes, the group was too large.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Another group of people that received warnings in advance of the attack were employees of Odigo, the instant messaging service. Two employees received e-mail messages two hours before the first World Trade Center assault, predicting the attack. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">According to reporter Christopher Bollyn, Zim American Israeli Shipping Co. broke a lease in order to vacate the World Trade Center just days before the attack. Bollyn's source claims that Zim's lease extended through the end of the year and that the termination cost $50,000.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The company heading a consortium that had just obtained a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center was supposedly spared by a last-minute cancellation. According to the New York Times, Silverstein Properties had planned to meet on 9/11/01 on the 88th floor of one of the towers to "discuss what to do in the event of a terrorist attack," but cancelled the meeting Monday night "because one participant could not attend."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Suspicious Security Lapses in the Twin Towers Preceding the Attacks</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">An article in New York Newsday documented the removal of bomb-sniffing dogs just five days before the attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The World Trade Center was destroyed just days after a heightened security alert was lifted at the landmark 110-story towers, security personnel said yesterday.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Daria Coard, 37, a guard at Tower One, said the security detail had been working 12-hour shifts for the past two weeks because of numerous phone threats. But on Thursday, bomb-sniffing dogs were abruptly removed.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Today was the first day there was not the extra security," Coard said. "We were protecting below. We had the ground covered. We didn't figure they would do it with planes. There is no way anyone could have stopped that."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Security guard Hermina Jones said officials had recently taken steps to secure the towers against aerial attacks by installing bulletproof windows and fireproof doors in the 22nd-floor computer command center.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Security for the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 was provided by Stratesec, a company in which George W. Bush's brother Marvin was a past principal, and which was backed by a Kuwaiti-American investment firm.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Controlling Interests</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The World Trade Center complex came under the control of a private owner for the first time only in mid-2001, having been built and managed by the Port Authority as a public resource. The complex was leased to a partnership of Silverstein Properties and Westfield America. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The new controllers acquired a handsome insurance policy for the complex including a clause that would prove extremely valuable: in the event of a terrorist attack, the partnership could collect the insured value of the property, and be released from their obligations under the 99-year lease.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ownership Change</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Author Don Paul investigated this and related issues for his 2002 book, which contains the following passage detailing financial aspects and ownership changes of the complex preceding the attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On April 26 of 2001 the Board of Commissioners for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey awarded Silverstein Properties and mall-owner Westfield America a 99-year-lease on the following assets: The Twin Towers, World Trade Center Buildings 4 and 5, two 9-story office buildings, and 400,000 square feet of retail space.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The partners' winning bid was $3.2 billion for holdings estimated to be worth more than $8 billion. JP Morgan Chase, a prestigious investment-bank that's the flagship firm of its kind for Rockefeller family interests, advised the Port Authority, another body long influenced by banker and builder David Rockefeller, his age then 85, in the negotiations.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The lead partner and spokesperson for the winning bidders, Larry Silverstein, age 70, already controlled more than 8 million square feet of New York City real estate. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Insurance Payouts</span></span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don Paul also documented the money flows surrounding the loss of Building 7.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In February of 2002 Silverstein Properties won $861 million from Industrial Risk Insurers to rebuild on the site of WTC 7. Silverstein Properties' estimated investment in WTC 7 was $386 million. So: This building's collapse resulted in a profit of about $500 million.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The insurance money flows involved in the destruction of the original six World Trade Center buildings were far greater. Silverstein Properties, the majority owner of WTC 7, also had the majority interest in the original World Trade Center complex. Silverstein hired Willis Group Holdings Ltd. to obtain enough coverage for the complex. Willis undertook "frenetic" negotiations to acquire insurance from 25 carriers. The agreements were only temporary contracts when control of the WTC changed hands on July 24.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">After the attack, Silverstein Properties commenced litigation against its insurers, claiming it was entitled to twice the insurance policies' value because, according to a spokesman for Mr. Silverstein, "the two hijacked airliners that struck the 110-story twin towers Sept. 11 were separate 'occurrences' for insurance purposes, entitling him to collect twice on $3.6 billion of policies." This was reported in the Bloomberg News less than one month after the attack.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The ensuing legal battle between the leaseholders and insurers of the World Trade Center was not about how the 9/11/01 attack on the WTC could be considered two attacks, when the WTC was only destroyed once. Rather it seemed to revolve around whether the beneficiaries thought it was one or two "occurrences." The proceedings before U.S. District Judge John S. Martin involved a number of battles over the insurers' discovery rights regarding conversations about this issue between insurance beneficiaries and their lawyers.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">To put these events in perspective, imagine that a person leases an expensive house, and immediately takes out an insurance policy covering the entire value of the house and specifically covering bomb attacks. Six weeks later two bombs go off in the house, separated by an hour. The house burns down, and the lessor immediately sues the insurance company to pay him twice the value of the house, and ultimately wins. The lessor also gets the city to dispose of the wreckage, excavate the site, and help him build a new house on the site.</span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I'm just getting started... We'll be back with more tomorrow.</span></span></div><div><br /></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-65843087786784651202010-09-27T16:09:00.007-05:002010-09-27T20:26:42.801-05:00Dog Soldier Report - Truth Part 3<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJUFkJikI/AAAAAAAAAyk/RFiJ299cUNo/s1600/afg001.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJUFkJikI/AAAAAAAAAyk/RFiJ299cUNo/s320/afg001.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521704858828769858" /></a><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJUFkJikI/AAAAAAAAAyk/RFiJ299cUNo/s1600/afg001.jpg"></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Today Misplaced In The Midwest brings you the final installment of the latest Dog Soldier Report. The text is his, but the photographs are mine.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It wasn't an easy decision to include the photo above, but I believe it's my duty to put a human face on this war. There is a human cost after all.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Hard Swallow - Fascist Fact or Fiction? Afghanistan, The Reality Behind The Myth - </span></span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Conclusion</span></span></b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></b></div><div><b><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Afghanistan has an extremely strategic location. It borders several countries in Brzezinski's "Eurasian Balkans" that he's so concerned about. It's a fantastic asset to any power who wishes to keep the Middle East in "check". Afghanistan is the perfect location to build bases for military aspirations in the region. For example, Iran. Which in case you haven't been paying attention, is next on the Globalist agenda. Iran now finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Wedged between Iraq and Afghanistan. </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Iran is now bordered by U.S. military bases on two sides of the country. As if that doesn't paint a grim enough skyline for the Iranians to look at, U.S. Military and covert ops presence in Afghanistan is used to influence and coerce unstable military factions in the region to do some of their dirty work for them. Control over Afghanistan (and a HUGE U.S. black ops budget) is being used to create militants to threaten stability in Iran. One million of the </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Baluchi</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> people live in Afghanistan. Currently the US funds </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Baluchi</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">separatists</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> to wreak havoc in Iran. Haven't heard about that on the nightly news reports(propaganda) have you? Now mix that with the fact that the country is now full of U.S. military bases. Training and supplies at the finger tips or your rivals enemies, improving their effectiveness at undermining stability in strategic boarder areas. Whittling away at the infrastructure and spreading out troops, preventing any build ups or fortification by creating the need for constant movement. Kinda hard to beat that when you want to create a loosely defended border that's easily over run isn't it?</span></span></span></div></b></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJULU6r_I/AAAAAAAAAyc/jIq1qzmJ2BU/s1600/afg1.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 205px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJULU6r_I/AAAAAAAAAyc/jIq1qzmJ2BU/s320/afg1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521704860375494642" /></span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJULU6r_I/AAAAAAAAAyc/jIq1qzmJ2BU/s1600/afg1.jpg"></a></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Oh wait, I forgot, they also get to deny everything in the process and report what ever they want to the folks back home. Folks who are so busy flying the flag and believing what they're told(because we're the good guys right?) they've become blind to the facts. They don't, "Hate us because our freedom" as our former president hammered into our collective </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">consciousness</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. They hate us because their land is drenched in the blood of their children. They hate us because they are surrounded by murdered countrymen. They hate because their only "crime" is being in the way of the </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">aspirations</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> of the globalists who secretly guide this </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">callous</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> war machine lubricating it's gears with the blood of innocents. Their blood.</span></span></div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Afghanistan is also vital in terms of oil distribution. </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Unocal</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and other outside interest oil companies tried to build a pipeline through the nation, but the Taliban refused to allow this. At the time of the invasion it was well known fact that China was in approved negotiations with the country. There would have been a pipeline from the oil fields of the Middle East directly into the heart of China by the end of 2003. Something the U.S., Israel and it's allies could not have(In case you weren't aware, China is the new "U.S.S.R"). According to foreign intelligence sources quoted in the U.K. Sun Times last year, the possibility of the deal being signed and the rumor that it was very very close to it, was what moved Afghanistan to the top of the cue. The invasion was originally planned after the intended ousting of C.I.A. operative/ President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. Iraq was to bear the initial brunt of the wave of blind patriotism after 9/11, 2001. That's right kids, something the foreign press put out that we where never privy to. If the deal which was non military in nature, would have been inked, the new governing body in the view of international law would be bound to the agreements made. Not to say that there isn't a pipeline in this new Afghanistan, there is a pipeline. A pipeline that goes no where near China or any of it's allies. </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Unocal</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> , as I stated earlier, was the main candidate for a pipeline deal through the nation. </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Unocal</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> ended up with the deal after we "adjusted the political climate of the region". Afghanistan president, Hamid </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karzai</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, by the way is reported to have worked for </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Unocal</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, according to the French press. After all, if one of the main reasons your unjustly invading a country is to control the oil, who better for president than an oil executive?</span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTlv0tMI/AAAAAAAAAyU/BJ_QVg0tQTo/s1600/afg4.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTlv0tMI/AAAAAAAAAyU/BJ_QVg0tQTo/s320/afg4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521704850287801538" /></span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTlv0tMI/AAAAAAAAAyU/BJ_QVg0tQTo/s1600/afg4.jpg"></a></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Afghanistan itself is rich in natural resources. In 2002, the US Geological Survey published a list of more than 1000 deposits, mines, and occurrences in Afghanistan to confirm the country's wealth of mineral and hydrocarbon resources. Among the minerals found in abundance are gold, copper, iron, mercury, lead, and rare metals such as cesium, lithium, niobium, and tantalum. Tantalum, which is also known as </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">coltan</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, is a rare element essential in the manufacture of cell phones, computers, and digital cameras. Lithium is necessary for high-tech batteries, specialty glasses and ceramics, and for some high-performance metal alloys. Niobium is used in steel alloys. In short, TRILLIONS of dollars of untapped wealth for those in positions to align the deals and over see who gets the opportunities. As part of its economic liberalization and privatization strategy, </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">USAID</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> is directing the sale of every Afghan state enterprise in resource extraction( as well as transportation, communications and manufacturing). In one example of the ongoing rape of the countries resources by outside interests, in October 2006, the British Agencies Afghanistan Group announced privatization of the </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jawzjan</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> gas field, </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karkar</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-e </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Dodkash</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> coal mine in </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Baghlan</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a fluoride mine in </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Uruzagan</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a gold mine in </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Herat</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a precious stones mine in </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nuristan</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, and cement factories in </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ghori</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Parwan</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, uranium, gold, silver, chromite, talc, </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">barites</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt, precious and semiprecious stone mines. All to a British company with no previous ties to the country. There's a group of retired British officers sitting on their own private island somewhere right now laughing their ass's off. And they're not alone.</span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTdQhylI/AAAAAAAAAyM/MfPqjifNTXw/s1600/afg6.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTdQhylI/AAAAAAAAAyM/MfPqjifNTXw/s320/afg6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521704848009054802" /></span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTdQhylI/AAAAAAAAAyM/MfPqjifNTXw/s1600/afg6.jpg"></a></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Getting back to our buddy Bin Laden for a moment. Who was for the record a C.I.A. agent, put into power much like Saddam Hussein by George Bush Sr. back when he was C.I.A. director(historical documented fact). Why was the vice president in meetings with his brother the morning of 9/11? Why did his families construction companies get all the big contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq? Including much of the construction of the U.S. Embassy compound in Iraq that is almost one and a half times the size of Vatican City? No shit, I'm serious. The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River is the largest of its kind in the world, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water. A billion dollars of reported tax dollars for that compound alone, TRILLIONS through out Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of which filtered into the pockets of the family of the man our government told us was responsible for us being there in the first place. Not to mention if this guy actually was out to get Americans wouldn't it be just a little silly(and really dangerous) to hire his people to build structures for Americans and their allies? Why wouldn't they just put bombs in the walls and blow everybody to hell 4 months later. They tell us he's responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and use it to change the constitution and implement wars on foreign soil, then they pay his family to rebuild everything we blew up and gives us a nice cozy(billion dollar) place to lay our head while we occupy someone </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">else's</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> land?</span></span></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTIC72SI/AAAAAAAAAyE/AVIhNawi5Cc/s1600/afg7.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TKEJTIC72SI/AAAAAAAAAyE/AVIhNawi5Cc/s320/afg7.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521704842314897698" /></span></span></a></div></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Pardon my language but that's really fucked up.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But wait! It doesn't end there! Not by a long shot!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You think the trillions in government contracts and the billions and trillions to be made raping the natural resources are where the big money's at? Guess again.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Afghanistan's main source of possible wealth is in the drug trade. The nation produces 95% of the world's Opium, most of which is used to produce heroin. All of which is distributed through out the world, initially by the C.I.A. and the the United States military. Believe it. It's true. It's a fact. It's as real as the U.S. soldiers standing guard over the poppy fields and production facilities. It's as real as the pictures of shrink wrapped </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">pallets of</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> money our troops have taken as they load the planes with the illicit currencies. All evidence suggests the US is supporting the Heroin trade, and plays a huge role in the trade itself. Before the American invasion, the US funded the Taliban(yes we used to fund every one we later call enemy) to destroy all the Opium, which of course would make the prices skyrocket. The Taliban successfully eliminated the Opium, but after the US invasion, the production skyrocketed again. For some reason the Taliban can do what a massive NATO military presence can't. This seems highly unlikely. Hamid </span></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Karzai's</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> brother is a top drug dealer, who is on the payroll of the CIA, as confirmed by the New York Times. Russia currently has millions of heroin addicts, and the average life expectancy once someone begins to use the drug is only 7 years. Opium has the advantage of besides making you money, hurting whoever you give the drug to. It is a weapon that doesn't cost you money, but instead makes you rich.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">And let's not forget, it's an awesome way to keep your own people under your thumb and profit at the same time. The poor wont rise up if they are to damn high to stand up, let alone know what they need to stand up for. The C.I.A. was called out on the importation and distribution of Cocaine and Heroin years ago. The entire dirty business was started by Bush Sr. when he was director of the C.I.A. He instituted the policy of selling drugs to your children to pay for black ops and other "shadow government" activities. In case I didn't make that clear enough for you; GEORGE BUSH SR. IS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR STARTING THE ACADEMIC OF HEROIN AND COCAINE USE IN THE UNITED STATES.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's a fact.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But I digress.....it's so easy to do when everything ties together at some point or another. Bottom line. As far as the Heroin trade goes.......we don't just work the business, we are the business.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So that's it. That's my spew. That's what they don't want you to know but at the same time are to arrogant to completely cover up.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now I just have two questions for you;</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1) Still think we invaded Afghanistan because some guy in cave gave a bunch of other guys a couple dozen box cutters and a good speech?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2) What the fuck happened to our country while we where watching T.V.?</span></span></div></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1855116108724111866.post-12349953673070078442010-09-23T16:51:00.003-05:002010-09-23T16:58:06.208-05:00Grrrr... Technology FAIL<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TJvMD5gJo8I/AAAAAAAAAx8/lrMgj3XwXi4/s1600/Technical+Difficulties.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_f8pXcUqZgA8/TJvMD5gJo8I/AAAAAAAAAx8/lrMgj3XwXi4/s320/Technical+Difficulties.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5520230135620019138" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That's what I get for trusting technology. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Due to the giant Facebook fuck up, I don't have access to the content that was planned for today...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We'll try again tomorrow. In the meantime, relive these moments in time:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8OQWz7xlINA?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8OQWz7xlINA?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></span></span></div>Osirishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03228289561211404783noreply@blogger.com0