05.27.11
Quote Friday
“History is often not what actually happened, but what is recorded as such.”
~Henry L. Stimson, United States Secretary of War
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05.25.11
My Purpose In Life
Yesterday I spent time sorting through my “things.” We all have hobbies in this house, so there tends to be lots of “things” to sort and organize here. And it made me start to think (again) about all the people who have been displaced from their homes with hardly any of their personal possessions. I was just looking up info on the millions of displaced people in Pakistan due to the 2010 flood. And of course I thought of the Japanese who have been displaced due to the tsunami and nuclear disaster. I thought of the hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the Ivory Coast, and now of the hundreds of people affected by the floods in the Mississippi region and thousands in Joplin, Missouri. . . There are so many people now who are out without their usual comforts. I know I thought about it when we had fires here in the Los Angeles county as well and that really spurred me to organize my stuff because if there were a warning to leave the house, I wanted to be able to grab stuff quickly and go. But a lot of my “things” would be left behind. I am reminded of how these things are not that important.
I’m not really sure what I want to say. I guess I’m just wondering again about why things are and why God does things or allows things. Why is it that some people have had to endure so much suffering? I guess we all suffer to some degree, but I have never had a day go by where I have not had sufficient food to eat. I’ve never lived through a war zone. I’ve never been displaced. I’m not rich or anything, but I do live very comfortably. It’s not that I feel guilty or anything because it’s not like I did anything knowingly wrong to live this way. It’s just that it makes me wonder what my purpose in life is. Do I have a purpose? Brian has told me that my purpose is to serve my family. The Bible says that women will be preserved in child bearing. I know not all women have children or can have children, but it does seem to imply taking care of children. As I type this Micah 6:8 comes to mind:
“8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
I think back again to the thousands and even millions of people who have been displaced. Is there anything a Christian gal like me can do for them? I can’t possibly help millions of people, so what do I do with that knowledge? How can I apply Micah 6:8 to that? I’m thinking that it’s my job then is to teach my children to know these things. I need to teach them to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. And hopefully that will spread as they grow and live their lives so that everyone they come in contact with will share those things. And maybe in that way some needy people will be reached. We can’t all be Rambos or Florence Nightingales. But then again, the Bible doesn’t require that of all of us. But it does require all of us to be just, merciful, and humble.
Marlakins
05.24.11
Time-Lapse Map of Nuclear Explosions from1945 to 1998
My youngest son found this time-lapsed video of all the nuclear explosions from 1945 to 1998. It starts out a bit slow in the beginning as the a-bomb comes into development. The first being detonated in New Mexico, the Trinity test followed by Hiroshima (Uranium) and then Nagasaki (Plutonium). A few months later all the other testings follow starting with Able and Baker as part of Operation Crossroads in the Bikini Atoll. It gets crazy with all the subsequent nuclear tests, literally thousands. I believe the first underground test was done in 1951, and in 1963 above ground testing was banned and only underground testing was done. But other countries were not included with that agreement, so I think India, Pakistan, and later North Korea tested their nuclear bombs above ground. The video only covers up to 1998, so North Korea doesn’t show up.
Enjoy watching your tax dollars at work! The video can be viewed here. Gives us a little peak as to why nuclear reactors are so dear to the establishment (nuclear reactors are essential for the development of nuclear bombs because it’s through nuclear reactors that plutonium and tritium, etc. are developed for the making of nuclear bombs. We are a warmongering country after all, so we need this shit). The B Reactor at Hanford, Washington was the site where plutonium was made for the first bomb test (Trinity), and the bomb used on Nagasaki (Fat Man). The site left a lot of radioactive contamination today and has cost billions of dollars to clean up. The clean up is ongoing and runs to the tune of about 2 billion a year from some sources I’ve read.
“20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
~Isaiah 5:20
Marlakins
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05.23.11
The Enola Not-So Gay
I’m currently reading a book called, “>Hiroshima in America, A Half Century of Denial by Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell. I started to read it a while back when I was reading things on nuclear weapons and it’s development, but I got side tracked and never really got into it. This time (more than a year later), I’m making more headway, and I’m finding it very enlightening in several ways. I’m not going to review the book just yet, since I’m not finished with it, but it has been giving me more insight and helping me connect some dots, which makes this a very interesting reading for me. One trivial detail was regarding the Hiroshima exhibit at the Smithsonian back in 1996. Our family had actually visited the Smithsonian during that time and saw the display, but didn’t realize that there was any controversy over the Hiroshima exhibit. According to Lifton and Mitchell, the Smithsonian had scheduled an exhibit marking the 50th year anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which would display the Enola Gay (the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima) surrounded by exhibits that would fully explore the decision to use the bomb and it’s effects. Lifton and Mitchell wrote that, “Soon veterans’ groups were claiming that the planned exhibit was pro-Japanese and dishonored U.S. servicemen. Newspaper editorials charged the Smithsonian with “political correctness,” and columnist George Will accused the curators of being anti-American. Both houses of Congress passed resolutions condemning the exhibit.” Then in January of 1995, the Smithsonian announced that it was pretty much canceling the exhibit. The display would only display the plane, a plaque, and a tape of the flight crew recounting the mission. And indeed by the time my family visited the Smithsonian back in 1996, that’s all that was there. Talk about censorship. It’s alive and well here in the good ‘ole U.S. of A. Here’s a picture from our album.
Aaron was little at the time, and very grumpy. I had to take a picture of him to remember how horrible he was that day! He’s in the top picture bent over backwards and crying. . . I’ve shown him this picture and told him that’s pretty much what he did all day long! LOL He claims no memory of it! LOL That little paper with the “150 Smithsonian” on is was actually a napkin from one of their restaurants that I saved. I like to do that kind of thing for our photo albums.
And here’s a closer picture with Brian (when he still had hair, hee hee) in front of the Enola Gay. They actually only had the front end of the plane, otherwise I would have taken a wider shot.
It’s a bit mind boggling to me that we can accuse governments of other countries of censorship, when we do the same here. And it’s doubly mind boggling to me that just presenting the “facts” would be labeled as “anti-American,” as if Americans can do no wrong. But Lifton and Mitchell’s book appears to be explaining it pretty well–anything that makes Americans look bad, regardless of the truth, translates to some Americans as being anti-American. What a shame. But that’s human nature and not limited to just Americans. I was just watching a video on YouTube called, “Japan’s Dirty Secret”. It’s a short documentary/interview regarding Japan’s Unit 731 in Harbin, China back in the 30’s and WWII. They did horrible, horrible things there that Japan still has not acknowledged or apologized to the China, and thus one of their contentions much like the Turks denying the Armenian genocide. Even with official documentation and admissions by the purpetrators themselves, there are those who refuse to believe it and think that “Japan has never done anything wrong.” I’m sure there are people like that in every country. I mean, I’ve seen footage of people who loved Stalin, Mao, and Hitler. . . American’s have not escaped that sort of brainwashing, and I think it’s primarily those who are so proud to be American (or any other nationality) that they can’t see the forest for the trees.
Just last night as I was reading Hiroshima in America I came across mention of John Hersey’s book, “>Hiroshima. I had actually read Hersey’s book years ago, and didn’t know that it was such a controversial book at the time of it’s publication in 1946. Maybe I’ll check it out again and re-read it in light of this new information. It’s a good read, and evidently part of the big controversy around the dropping of the bomb. Truman and the military were concerned that American’s would disapprove of the dropping of the bomb, so they made sure they gave us the “official narrative” that is was necessary. More on that when I finish reading Hiroshima in America.
Marlakins
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05.22.11
Judgment Day?
Well, it’s May 22, 2011, and we’re still here. Surprise, surprise, the world didn’t end. . . In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this link.
Not that I believed it, but it’s just one of those things where I would rather wait before commenting. When I heard that some guy was claiming Judgment Day on May 21, 2011, I didn’t believe it because the Bible tells us that no one will know the day or the hour, Matthew 24:35-36.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
Now having said that, apparently, this guy wasn’t claiming that the world was going to end on May21, but that it was going to be the beginning of Judgment. That’s actually a big difference from the end of the world as the media is presenting it. But even so, so far, I can’t see any “judgment” yet. I’m guessing he was referring to the “bowls of wrath” mentioned in Revelation 16. And it doesn’t look like that’s happened, yet, either. As far as I know, the first bowl involves sores on those who have taken the mark of the Beast. Uh, first there has to be a Beast and people will have taken the mark. I don’t think that’s happened yet. You know, “no one can buy or sell unless they taken the mark of the beast”. So the beast hasn’t presented himself, yet, and thus people haven’t taken his mark because he’s not yet made known for us to take the mark, then the conditions for the first Judgment isn’t ready. I wonder why those people who follow that guy would even believe him. I’m guessing they don’t really read their Bibles, or if so, they don’t really understand what they read. I’m not claiming that I know everything in the Bible, but that one seems pretty clear.
As a Christian, I do believe that Christ will come again, and we are to be ready at any time, anyway. But since the Bible tells us that no one will know the time or the day, then as soon as someone puts a date on it, I figure that’s not the day, ha!
Thanking God for His patience so that more can come to know Him,
Marlakins
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05.18.11
Acres of Skin
For anyone interested in medical ethics and it’s history, I recommend Acres of Skin by Allen M. Hornblum.
Acres of Skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison
Originally I was gathering information on radiation when I stumbled across an interview with Allen Hornblum. He was discussing why he wrote the book and detailed some information on medical experiments performed on prisoners. While he admits that there were experiments done at several different prisons, Hornblum focused primarily on the Holmesburg Prison in Pennsylvania wherein prisoner experimentation spanned over the early 1950s to the mid 1970s. These experiments involved many substances from soaps, lotions, shampoos, etc. for pharmaceutical companies to bacterial and viral experiments for the U.S. military, to mind control drugs for the CIA, and radiation experiments for NASA.
Personally I find it fascinating that humans can be so cruel and heartless towards one another. Seemingly “normal” people have perpetrated horrific things upon their fellow human beings. Things we ordinarily would think was “unthinkable” to do to humans have been, and continue to be, inflicted upon people as if they were merely animals or objects. I find the duplicity a bit scary and a warning to be careful that I (or my family) not fall into that trap of condoning unethical practices. References were made to the Nazi and the Nuremberg trials where some of the “defense” arguments some of the Nazi medical doctors presented were that “they were not doing anything that the American doctors were not doing themselves.” The experiments done on U.S. prisoners and the mentally handicapped are examples of what the Nazi medical doctors were referring to. One only need look into the published, peer reviewed medical journals to verify their claims. The obvious duplicity was that we as American’s were pointing the finger at the Nazi doctors as being barbaric and inhumane sentencing them to imprisonment or death, while we were doing the same thing, but thought there was nothing wrong with it. It reminds me of reading early U.S. history about how slaves were considered only 3/5’s of a person and that even their children were born into condoned perpetual slavery. That used to be thought of as proper, and even part of our accepted law. As a Christian I believe we are to love one another, and there is no distinction between color or social status. Yet, we see time and time again people abusing one another, both religious and non-religious alike. I find it interesting how we “justify” questionable actions if “we” are performing them, while we can simultaneously “condemn” the very same action if “other” people are doing them.
Acres of Skin helped me to reflect upon my personal feelings regarding the “ends justifies the means” mentality. I am conflicted because I know that I live my life using the very substances or technologies that I have found came from dubious means. At the moment I try to limit that use as much as I can, but I certainly am nowhere near eliminating all those derived “benefits.” Even some of the literature I’ve read to figure out ways to treat myself have come from very questionable experiments. Where do we draw the line?
Overall, I give Acres of Skin two thumbs up. Hornblum discusses many more examples of prison experiments, including quotes from interviewees (mostly former inmates who were involved with or knew about the experiments) and various people who would talk to him about the Holmesburg experiments. Hornblum also discusses the moral implications and the outcomes of various experiments, including the subsequent banning of prisoner experimentation and the closing of the prison as well as other aspects of Dr. Albert Kligman’s, the primary doctor who organized and operated the prison experiments, medical research and experimentation operation. I found the book well-written, informative, and easy to read.
Marlakins
05.11.11
Trying Not to Be Depressed
Last night it rained. Before March 11, 2011, I used to love it when it rained because all my plants would get watered, and I just loved the overall feeling that everything around me was washed. The plants always seemed to look so much happier, too. The March 11 nuclear disaster in Japan at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant changed all that. Now I’m torn when it rains because if there’s any radioactive material in the skies above us, then it’s when it rains that it comes down. I don’t want radioactive material raining down on us no matter how “safe” the government tells us it is. My son was out that night at his Aikido class, and I was worried that he might be walking in the rain. Normal rain would be just fine, but not radioactive rain. Sure it may not even have any radioactive particles, but now we can never know for sure. It was bad enough that we have chemical pollution, but at least plants have the ability to cleanse some of those pollutants and we have ways to detox those types of things. But radioactive particles are different. Plants can not break them down to stable, safe isotopes. Depending upon which isotope it is, it can continue to emit harmful radiation for years and years to come. It really puts a damper for me to even eat the stuff we’ve grown in our backyard.
With the advent of the Fukushima disaster, so much of the things I’ve been reading about our future has been depressing. So what to do? Basically we just have to go on living and just try to adopt as healthful a lifestyle as possible (course trying to get me to exercise more is a challenge in itself!) From the things I’ve been reading and watching, living a long healthful life seems bleak with all the toxins and dangerous substances being released into our environment. One of the interviews I watched was with a man named Dr. Alexey Yablokov. He recently published a book called Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment. In it, he discusses the damages to humans, animals, and the environment that he believes is connected to the radioactive material spewed out from Chernobyl back in 1986. Apparently, he worked for the Russian government at the time, but when during a meeting in 2005 he heard comments that only about 9,000 people died as a result of Chernobyl, he got so mad and decided to publish a book about the things he knew and studied about the effects of Chernobyl. Basically, instead of 9,000 deaths due to Chernobyl, he estimates around 1 million deaths. His interview can be viewed here.
Dr. Yablokov has a pretty thick accent and can be a bit hard to understand, so here’s another video interview with the contributing editor of his book, who is a easier to understand.
I was watching some of Helen Caldicott’s presentations on Chernobyl and Fukushima, but she really got me depressed (might add some of her videos later because she did have some pretty interesting things to say, and I did learn some things. . . ) But the one thing I got out of Dr. Yablokov’s interview is that from their comparisons of populations living in the “clean” zones vs “hot” zones, there was about a 4% increase in deaths in the contaminated zones. Four percent might sound small, but in relation to billions of people, then that would translate to millions of deaths. There are likely lots of others still living with negative health effects, but they are still alive. I believe Yablokov mention million in increase of morbidity. So that made me think that somehow some people seem to manage much better than others. What could be the factors involved? Well, I have heard that the radiation that spewed out from Chernobyl affected areas in patches like a leopard skin, and also eating habits of animals affects how high a radioactive burden they carry. This is something I want to look into more, but in the meantime, I’ve decided that my family will not be having dairy products for now since radiation has been detected in milk products here, and since radioactive particles can be floating around, I’ve told my kids that I no longer want them eating outdoors. They have to eat inside. It’s not fool-proof, of course, but it’s small precautions that just make me feel better. I’ve also started the boys on more mineral supplementation to make sure that their mineral stores are up to snuff. And I think I’m gonna try to think of ways to manage the dust control in my house. I live on a fairly busy street, and the dust build up is amazing. I think Russell Blaylock also recommended some supplements to help shore up our health against radiation. I’ll have to look back into that, too.
I know that I may sound paranoid. And I know that we all must die some time. But I really don’t want to die a painful, debilitating death. The Fukushima disaster did prompt me to do more reading and what I found is that there is a lot more pollution in our environment than I realized. It makes sense now why my heavy metals test I took over 10 years ago (when I was first diagnosed with aplastic anemia) showed my uranium level off the chart. And why my middle son’s heavy metals test about 5 years ago showed he had a high arsenic level. Our environment is highly polluted even before Fukushima spun out of control. There are reasons for our health problems. I can see now why obtaining optimal health in this day and age is an uphill battle. But I do believe that God created this world to sustain life, so there must be natural things that God has given us to help us heal and protect ourselves. Why else would there be such things that strengthen our cells like proper minerals, vitamins, and fats? Or why would there be natural chelating agents like clays and various foods, herbs, and minerals? I think God knew that our lives would be put in danger like this, and so He has given us hope that He has given us help. We need to search it out and reach out and use it. Now if only the pyschos running our government (and the other countries governments) would finally come to their senses and realize that they are destroying our world with all their greed and warmongering, maybe we will have a chance to live with peace of mind. But then again, maybe that’s why Jesus has to come back because it’s only He who can truly set things right again. Maybe we’ve already gone too far.
Marlakins
05.09.11
Random Comments
Hope everyone had a good Mother’s Day yesterday! We had a nice one, although I ended up with a headache shortly afterward. . . But at least I can say that my headache is gone today and, overall, yesterday was nice. We had a simple lunch at La Petite Greek. The boys gave me a card and Matty gave me one of his ceramic creations. . .
This has now replaced my favorite “cat bowl.”
Here’s the bottom with Matty’s initials
Here’s a little bud vase he made, which Brian filled with some passion flowers he picked from our backyard.
Regarding any other blog worthy posts, there has been so much going on that I honestly am left “almost” speechless. Heheheh, right, when am I ever completely speechless? Actually I think it’s more information overload with a touch of wanting to read and watch all I can get my hands on, which is leaving me little time to blog (plus still juggling my time between my family and my mom). I’m still trying to follow the Fukushima nuclear disaster, following along with the Bin Laden news, trying to follow along with the upcoming presidential run, trying to followup with the gulf oil news, and then reading books again and trying to get back into my crafts like knitting, crocheting, cross stitch, spinning, etc. I just finished reading a book today on medical experiments, which I’ll try to give my comments on another time, and I’ve started to read another book regarding how the dropping of the atomic bomb has affected America. So until then, that’s all for now. Hope everyone is doing well.
Marlakins
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05.06.11
Quote Friday
“The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.”
~Proverbs 18:23
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