OT: Happy Birthday America - reply to Butch's post

[Guest guest]

Hey CM,

 

> We can dissent, but it's getting more difficult.

 

Interesting. I was not aware of that.

 

> And, that, IMHO, we need to protect fiercely in our country, or the

> terrorists win.

 

Lemme get this right. If we pay attention to being able to dissent when

we want to .. which we can do now anyway .. and which we could do afore

9/11 and afore all the terrorist attacks afore 9/11 .. it will keep the

terrorists from winning the Global War Against Terrorists? OK .. it

seems simple enough to me.

 

Just pulling your laig .. I know that is not what you meant but I got

into the spirit of twisting folks words when I was replying to some of

the other posts .. posts that tried (unsuccessfully) to twist mine.

 

> To think we are the only country that has those virtues is wrong.

 

Not sure where you read someone claiming we were.

 

> Most Western European countries have the same, more so right now, for they

> are not feeling the heavy weight of terrorism.

 

Countries and gummits are two different animals. Those who say Orin

Hatch of Utah on CNN yesterday got an earful of something he should not

have said .. I think he let the cat out of the bag when he got upset and

said they had intel that Chiraq was encouraging Iran and Syria to cause

problems in Iraq. ;-)

 

> Betcha, Butch, that the lines at the German embassies are as long as to the

> American in Turkey.

 

You would lose all the money you bet. I see them both 2-3 times a week.

Have to pass them on the major road from my home. Lemme tell you that

Germany is not so favored buy Turks now .. and France is at the bottom

of the barrel after Chiraq's smart ass comments against Bush when he

said Turkey should be in the EU .. the Turks went ballistics .. and I

was jeering them on. ;-)

 

AND .. those who want to go to Germany are going as Gasterbeiters ..

guest workers .. because you don't have the necessary workforce in

Germany. America accepts no guest workers. They are tourists or quota

or non quota immigrants.

 

> About Dr. Caldicott.

 

I don't know who that is.

 

> 28 years ago , I first read her books. Read it, just after I found out

> I was pregnant and had massive x-rays, for they assumed the pregnancy

> was a tumor who turned out to be Christina.

> I learned from Dr.Caldicott's book about the dangers of low level

> radiation exposure to a fetus.

 

OK.

 

> Soon after wards moved to northern Michigan and what I thought was the

> dome of an observatory, turned out to be one of the oldest nuclear

> boiling water reactors in the US..

 

Bad place to be methinks.

 

> My heart sank, what had I done, expose my baby to more radiation ?

> Move again?

> Got busy, studying the plant and it's records, the rules and regulations

> it was governed by the NRC and before I knew it, I was an intervenor in

> a spent fuel expansion process with the NRC that lasted 12 years. Tell

> you, it took a good chunk out of my life and I learned more about

> nuclear plants, NRC I ever wanted to know.

 

Congratulations. :-)

 

> Was the first one to get an honest emergency planning system for areas

> around nuclear plants in the US. I fought hard for 3 years, just to have

> the sentence " radiation is more dangerous to children and women of

> child bearing age' included in a pamphlet, that is now the standard for

> emergency procedures in the US.

 

You done gud. :-)

 

> Since I live in a very conservative, small town, my actions where not

> supported by the people.

> How dare this foreign newcomer questions the almighty NRC !

 

That .. would happen in any country in the world. My good friends in

Waldmichaelbach im der Odenwald are more concerned about what the locals

think than they are what family members thinks .. and the village has

maybe 450-500 folks in it.

 

> They scrambled in town to find out if I had citizenship ( yes, I did) or

> how otherwise to get rid of me.

 

Seems fair .. I would expect the same treatment if I were a rabble

rouser or activist in a foreign country .. in fact, it would be a

violation of my visa if it were not a quota or non quota visa.

 

> Threatening phone calls where daily routine, our pet's where poisoned,

> warning letters in the mailbox to leave town, axles messed with on our

> cars and paperwork received from the NRC by the foot, but it would

> contain many blank pages. Not blank pages that might have contained

> security information, no, just simple information, that as intervenors

> we where entitled to. But it would make it difficult for us to respond

> in time to pertinent issues. In those days, without faxes, computers

> you could not recover missing pages in days or instantly when a hearing

> would be scheduled within days, where you would need the missing

> information.

 

Americans can be vile creatures .. can't they? At least that is what I

hear from many in Europe.

 

> We where rather openly followed when we had little prayer meetings

> around the plant in a neighborhood park.

> Rumor in town had it that the Nazis send me and the Commies paid me..

> It was not easy for my family to have such an outspoken mother and

> radical. Having no last name protected my kids from some of the vicious

> attacks we adults had to face daily. Hostile check out girls at the

> grocery store who told us that their husband worked as security guards

> at the plant and had gadgets in their shirt pockets to take radiation

> away was common. Teachers who would hint that our kids could do better,

> if we just would abandon our 'meddling' where, too.The plant during the

> heyday of our intervention paid the employees with $2.00 cash to flood

> the town, to show muscle.

> My other 2 fellow intervenors got threatened with job loss, a Physician

> that helped us to get records of death's , birth defects ( spina

> bifida) relating to low radiation, got black balled in this community.

> It was not easy.

 

I am sure it was not an easy time.

 

> Could I have done the same in Germany? Yes. ( Of course after Hitler:)

> Was it worth it? I don't know. The plant is shut down, we made them put

> in millions of Dollars in safety improvement while they where still

> operating.

 

But .. we have no Skinhead problems in America now .. do we? But

there is not a month passing that the Neo-Nazi youths in Germany do not

beat or kill an African or Asian .. or burn the home of a Moslem .. and

I can go on and on and on .. and its another reason why I think you

folks in America might not be getting CNN international.

 

My last trip to Munich .. I was on the Square down by the old Muncheon

Brewery .. waiting for the time change so the characters would come out

of the MONSTROUS clock .. everybody should see that at least once. But

along comes 25-30 Skinheads walking abreast and chasing folks off the

walkway. Folks were wise .. they got off the street. I did too .. and

it bothered me a lot. If I had been armed I would have held my ground

and seen how many would continue to come on after the first 9 fell ..

maybe more than 9 if I could have gotten them lined up just right.

 

> Is it safe now while soot down? No, the worst parts of the plant are

> stored in an above storage container, with enough plutonium to built

> about 32 HIroshima size bombs right there. In a container that looks so

> innocent to all the tourists that flock here and do not know. Because

> the plant has only marginal security now and is being dismantled (

> except for the above storage container, nobody wants that waster in

> their backyard) I shutter to think about what terrorist could do to

> our Great Lakes...Chicago, Detroit, they all have mothballed storage

> close-by....And our homeland security does not cover the plants, the

> NRC does..

 

IF John Kerry gets in .. write him and ask him to take care of that.

If he doesn't .. then he is as bad as the rest of the American

politicians - huh? ;-)

 

> During alert orange our valiant Sheriff sends one retired officer to the

> plant to stand guard....he knows. Is anyone watching from the Lake? NO,

> are their security diameter all those pleasure and fishing powerboats

> have to avoid? NO

 

Right .. we need more funds to hire more folks .. its not a matter of

needing LESS security.

 

> First call after 9/11 I made to the NRC's emergency guy for this area

> in Chicago with the big hope that some of the security and emergency

> procedures had improved since my intervention. No, they had not. Made

> that call again a few weeks ago, no they had not., yes, some things

> where done, but he knows and I know it's marginally at best.

 

About security .. one cannot guarantee security of every facility in the

USA .. so they must look at the most critical ones. Of course, if you

live in an area like this you will see it as being critical .. that is

normal .. and its normal for citizens and representatives to fight for

things in their area of concern. I think its called .. Pork Barrel.

 

> Would I dissent again? You bet, even it it means in a wheelchair, old

> and rather worn out.

 

Nothing wrong with dissent .. nothing illegal and nothing precluding it

if we are willing to suffer the slings and arrows of the few idiots who

are out and about. I don't think I would get far protesting Israel's

moves in some parts of Queens or protesting anything at all in Harlem.

 

> For I truly believe that we only can keep this country as our

> forefathers wanted to, by fighting hard to protect the right of free

> speech, to ask questions and to be involved in the political process.

 

Agree .. but that upsets folks who want to shoot the messenger rather

than disagree with the message. It is hard from some folks to hide

their smallness .. and their false pomposity .. and their dislike for

people who think differently from them. I saw that in some other posts

... not in this one.

 

> For my parents it was too late to speak out against Hitler when they saw

> the writing on the wall, being sucked into a sense of nationalism ,

> blind flag waving and a Dictator that came into power on the sly.

>>From my friends and relatives in Germany I hear that they are still

> loving Americans, but are scared of a totalitarian state developing

> here, fueled by the threat of terrorism. The German State is very much

> involved in the global threat of terrorism, have a large contingent in

> Afghanistan and through independent organizations are doing much work

> in Iraq right now to help the innocents of the war. Huge supplies of

> medical equipment and medication are donated to the hospitals right now,

> while the US machine still lacks in their overworked infrastructure to

> get it there.

 

What the volunteers are doing and what many of the folks on the street

are thinking does NOT reflect the attitudes or the actions of the gummit

of Schroeder .. that is not opinion .. it is history.

 

> I understand this post is long and off track, but like Butch, I had

> to speak my peace.

 

You done gud .. and without being insulting .. which I appreciate. :-)

 

> BTW, we respect each other greatly, often agreeing to disagree. and

> that's what it is all about.

 

True it is .. you are muy buddy .. you know me .. some who do not think

they can know me from a post .. but they are full of bovine excrement.

 

> Yesterday, I waved the flag, had a hot dog, corn and watermelon

 

Hope you had a good one. I watched Greece win the Euro 2004 Football

Championship. Amazing it was that the Turks were all rooting for the

Greeks. Greece and Turkey get along about as good as America and Iran

get along .. but most Turks and most Greek people like each other. The

reason is that except for religion they share most things in common.

 

> and was glad to call this country my home now and with that I will honor

> the pledge to defend this country's Constitution and land, as I promised

> when I became a citizen. To me that does not mean to blindly follow the

> leader out of a sense of nationalistic pride, to not let things slide

> into laws that cut's our freedom to speak out more and more..

> C-M

 

Hear hear .. I agree .. and I am not following anyone due to Nationalist

pride .. I have lived outside the USA too long to be considered as a

Nationalist and I doubt that the term is applicable to Americans in the

first place. I do think I have a better handle on the mindset of those

who wish to do us harm than do many on this list. I have lived with

them and have worked with and against them. And I drink with them now.

I hear the ideas of Iraqis, Iranians, Syrians, Egyptians, Turks and many

others every week .. and I'm not talking about Americanized folks who

live in America and might just tell Americans what they want to hear.

 

Most of my Arabic contacts think we are gonna get out plows cleaned

again and again because we are pansies. They might be right.

 

> " Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders

> of the country who determine the polic, and it's always a simple matter

> to drag the people along whether it's democracy, a fascist dictatorship,

> or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. voice or no voice, the

> people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is

> easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and

> denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country

> to greater danger. "

> Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials.

 

But .. we also must remember that we do have an obligation to support

and defend others .. not just Europeans. We fought for them against

dictators and now we have won against another dictator or three .. and

those brown folks in Afghanistan and Iraq and such deserve it.

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch