There is excitement in the air…we are planning our vacation to coincide with our first anniversary and my father’s 88th Birthday. My son Ben has been gracious enough to offer to drive a very large RV down to Kentucky and Tennessee.
We are hoping that Sarah’s mom will be in Tennessee at that time, and she has a niece that lives there. She may get to see most of her family. That hasn’t quite been worked out yet.
I haven’t seen my parents since the week of September 11, 2001 (I was supposed to fly back to Minnesota on September 11th). Both of my parents are in failing health, but they are still hanging in there.
Sarah is still recovering from her surgery and it is “touch and go” sometimes with the nausea. There were a couple of times in the last two weeks that I thought that I was going to have to take her to the ER because of the violence of her nausea and the duration. The good thing is that we are always there for each other. I don’t think that I have ever experienced that in a marriage. You sometimes get unconditional love from your children and grandchildren and from your dogs. But it is a very rare thing to get unconditional love from a husband or wife. There are usually conditions (even if they are just implied).
Sarah accepts my eccentricities (and I have a lot) and even contributes to those things that I know she “thinks are nuts”. Neither of my earlier wives were that understanding. But, I am sure that most of the misunderstandings were my fault…I’ve been wrong since 1972.
Sarah may not be perfect, but honest to God, she is perfect for me. We are content just to be in each other’s company, to take care of each other, and to just be the best friends. She is my soul mate and it is wonderful to have found her (even if it is this late in my life).
One of my eccentricities is making pickles and hot pepper sauce…she really doesn’t approve because of the amount of sodium, but she tolerates. I am pretty much a DORK sometimes because I make lists…100 Greatest Guitar Players, etc. Sarah is very patient and she listens to the various musicians on Youtube and even critiques them with me sometimes. We are fortunate to both like the same kind of movies (most of the time) and she searches out those little gems that somehow fell by the wayside.
For some people our life might be very boring. For me it is pretty wonderful.
That’s all for now…see you next time!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
How Could This Happen...
Let me state for those casual visitors to Wolf Prints that I am a patriot…I served in the USAF and have voted in every election since I was 21.
That being said…I have been researching what I thought were some Urban Myths concerning government activities and the American populace.
First, there were vague rumors of radiation experimentation on unsuspecting individuals. This actually happened - - numerous human radiation experiments have been performed in the United States. Sponsored by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), they did among other things:
- Injected radioactive substances into babies and pregnant women
- Fed radioactive materials in oatmeal and other cereals to mentally disabled children
- Released radioactive materials over U S cities to simulate the effects of radioactive fallout
- Exposed soldiers and prisoners to high levels of radiation
- Irriated the testicles of prisoners causing severe birth defects
- Illegally exhumed bodies from graveyards to test them for radiation…without the consent of the families of the deceased
When I was growing up there were all these “stories” about why the cancer rate on the lower Eastside of Saint Paul was higher than in the general population. It seems that 3M was providing radioactive materials to the U S government, which, in turn, was released by various means throughout the neighborhood. (We thought there was a lot of skywriting.
On January 15, 1994, President Bill Clinton formed the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments to ensure that this would never happen again.
The second issue which I want to address is what was known as Project Paperclip. General Dwight David Eisenhower gave his personal approval to exploit the work and research of the Nazi death camps. German doctors who were guilty of heinous war crimes were brought to the U S to work for the project. Also known as, Operation Paperclip, the project was developed jointly by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA). President Harry Truman did not formally order the execution of Operation Paperclip until August 1945. His order expressly excluded anyone found to be a member of the Nazi Party. JIOA simply created false employment records and political biographies for these scientists. Over time the U S imported over 1,000 Nazi doctors to work in the areas of mind control and the effects of drugs on the human brain.
Project MKULTRA was the codename for a covert, illegal CIA human research program, run by it’s Office of Scientific Intelligence. MKULTRA used many types of drugs to manipulate mental states and alter brain function. It was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the U S Congress, through the investigations by the Church Committee and a presidential commission known as the Rockafeller Commission. The investigation was severely hampered by the fact that the CIA Director, Richard Helms, ordered all MKULTRA files destroyed in 1973. On the floor of the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy stated: “The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an ‘extensive testing and experimentation’ program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens ‘at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign. The use of LSD was administered to ‘unwitting subjects in social situations.’
Most of the information used here was just recently declassified.
To this day most specific information regarding Project MKULTRA remains highly classified.
The final issue is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. This was a clinical study that was conducted by the U S Public Health Service between 1932 and 1972 where 399 impoverished Blacks (mostly sharecroppers) with syphilis were recruited. The 40-year old study was controversial for several reasons related to ethical standards. This was primarily because researchers failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940’s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease. By 1947 penicillin had become the standard treatment for syphilis. Choices might have included treating all syphilitic subjects and closing the study, or splitting off a control group for testing with penicillin.
Instead, the Tuskegee scientists continued the study, withholding penicillin and information about it from the patients. In addition, scientist prevented participants from accessing other syphilis treatment programs. The study continued, under various supervisors, until 1972, when a leak to the press resulted in it’s termination. Victims included the numerous men who died of syphilis, wives who contracted the disease, and children born with congenital syphilis. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is “arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U S history.”
On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized in a White House ceremony saying: “What is done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can top turning out heads away. We can look you in the eye and say on behalf of the American people, what the united States government did was shameful, and I am sorry…To the African American citizens. I am sorry that your federal government orchestrated a study so clearly racist.” The ceremony was attended by five of the eight survivors.
…and who the hell knows what happened on “W”s and Halburton Dick’s watch..
That’s all for now…I promise something more cheerful next time!
That being said…I have been researching what I thought were some Urban Myths concerning government activities and the American populace.
First, there were vague rumors of radiation experimentation on unsuspecting individuals. This actually happened - - numerous human radiation experiments have been performed in the United States. Sponsored by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), they did among other things:
- Injected radioactive substances into babies and pregnant women
- Fed radioactive materials in oatmeal and other cereals to mentally disabled children
- Released radioactive materials over U S cities to simulate the effects of radioactive fallout
- Exposed soldiers and prisoners to high levels of radiation
- Irriated the testicles of prisoners causing severe birth defects
- Illegally exhumed bodies from graveyards to test them for radiation…without the consent of the families of the deceased
When I was growing up there were all these “stories” about why the cancer rate on the lower Eastside of Saint Paul was higher than in the general population. It seems that 3M was providing radioactive materials to the U S government, which, in turn, was released by various means throughout the neighborhood. (We thought there was a lot of skywriting.
On January 15, 1994, President Bill Clinton formed the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments to ensure that this would never happen again.
The second issue which I want to address is what was known as Project Paperclip. General Dwight David Eisenhower gave his personal approval to exploit the work and research of the Nazi death camps. German doctors who were guilty of heinous war crimes were brought to the U S to work for the project. Also known as, Operation Paperclip, the project was developed jointly by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA). President Harry Truman did not formally order the execution of Operation Paperclip until August 1945. His order expressly excluded anyone found to be a member of the Nazi Party. JIOA simply created false employment records and political biographies for these scientists. Over time the U S imported over 1,000 Nazi doctors to work in the areas of mind control and the effects of drugs on the human brain.
Project MKULTRA was the codename for a covert, illegal CIA human research program, run by it’s Office of Scientific Intelligence. MKULTRA used many types of drugs to manipulate mental states and alter brain function. It was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the U S Congress, through the investigations by the Church Committee and a presidential commission known as the Rockafeller Commission. The investigation was severely hampered by the fact that the CIA Director, Richard Helms, ordered all MKULTRA files destroyed in 1973. On the floor of the Senate, Senator Ted Kennedy stated: “The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an ‘extensive testing and experimentation’ program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens ‘at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign. The use of LSD was administered to ‘unwitting subjects in social situations.’
Most of the information used here was just recently declassified.
To this day most specific information regarding Project MKULTRA remains highly classified.
The final issue is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. This was a clinical study that was conducted by the U S Public Health Service between 1932 and 1972 where 399 impoverished Blacks (mostly sharecroppers) with syphilis were recruited. The 40-year old study was controversial for several reasons related to ethical standards. This was primarily because researchers failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940’s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease. By 1947 penicillin had become the standard treatment for syphilis. Choices might have included treating all syphilitic subjects and closing the study, or splitting off a control group for testing with penicillin.
Instead, the Tuskegee scientists continued the study, withholding penicillin and information about it from the patients. In addition, scientist prevented participants from accessing other syphilis treatment programs. The study continued, under various supervisors, until 1972, when a leak to the press resulted in it’s termination. Victims included the numerous men who died of syphilis, wives who contracted the disease, and children born with congenital syphilis. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is “arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U S history.”
On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized in a White House ceremony saying: “What is done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can top turning out heads away. We can look you in the eye and say on behalf of the American people, what the united States government did was shameful, and I am sorry…To the African American citizens. I am sorry that your federal government orchestrated a study so clearly racist.” The ceremony was attended by five of the eight survivors.
…and who the hell knows what happened on “W”s and Halburton Dick’s watch..
That’s all for now…I promise something more cheerful next time!
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