Protecting Life, Liberty & Health
How effective has the U.S. government been at protecting public health? Americans are getting sicker with each passing year, even prior to the current public health crisis.There are many causal factors contributing to this phenomenon, some of which are controlled by each individual, like obesity and drug use. But how many Americans have experienced a decline in health due to the actions of others for whom they have no control?
The public has been subjected to damage to their health through lax or no regulation of industry, as the result of government neglect, and through deliberate government actions. Doctors with a conscience have been silenced. This history calls into question medical ethics and the place of science and industry as arbiters of policy. At the core of survival and fundamental to our natural rights of life, liberty health and property is access to basics like clean air, pure healthy food and clean non-toxic water. What is our government report card on these fronts?
Clean Water
In 2016, I watched live feed coverage of the Standing Rock Sioux protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline DAPL, on social media. The protest went on for months with much of it blacked out of the mainstream press. The number of water protectors swelled from a handful, to hundreds, to thousands of activists. What started with the Sioux became multi-tribal and then included non-native supporters. The brutality of law enforcement was shocking. People had eyes shot out with rubber bullets, a woman lost her arm and then I watched in horror as water cannons knocked walls of water into unarmed defenseless people in sub-zero temperatures.
There was no doubt to me then, that this country hasn’t changed near as much as people liked to believe after the election of the first African American president. The visuals of police dogs and water cannons attacking Standing Rock protestors harkened back to the Birmingham campaign of the Civil Rights Movement. The only change was that now there was an African American president in the White House. Instead of responding to the violence by speaking to the nation about Civil Rights, as Kennedy had done, Obama’s silence throughout most of the DAPL protest was deafening.
The water protectors at Standing Rock had an important message and lesson to teach us. But like most of the wisdom Native Americans have imparted over the centuries, the dominant American culture disregarded and discarded it. We do so at our peril. The painful truth about water will become more apparent in the coming days. Our water supply has been contaminated by industry, unintentionally degraded due to neglect, deliberately poisoned and privatized to the tune of millions of dollars. Water is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
he actions of the industry jeopardizes water quality through toxic releases, oil spills as well as, through fracking. Entire communities have water they can light on fire due to the release of methane through fracking.
And that’s not the only detrimental effect of fracking to public water supplies. This practice depletes groundwater supplies. The EPA report, Draft Plan to Study Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing, from November of 2011, reported that 35,000 wells are fractured each year which they estimate requires between 70 and 140 billion gallons of water. But depletion of water supplies is not only the result of fracking. Privatization of water supplies is also an issue. I was a resident of Sacramento, California when in 2009 Mayor Kevin Johnson, a Democrat, allowed Nestle to privatize the water supply of Sacramento Valley. The CEO of Nestlé has openly stated that access to drinking water is not a human right. Efforts to pass laws making rainwater collection illegal have been quite successful as well. This is happening simultaneously when systems to collect rainwater have become more practical and sophisticated.
And what about fluoride? Do the benefits of fluoride outweigh the cost? Fluoride is in the water supply of U.S. citizens but not throughout the Western world or in every industrialized nation. Why? Some studies say it’s harmful, especially to developing brains. More industrialized countries do not fluoridate their public water supplies, than do. For a snapshot look at this issue see this video.
Every household in America needs and deserves clean water to drink. Rest assured this is a bipartisan issue in every regard. Both political parties are to blame and every citizen should be concerned.
In a disgusting stunt of neoliberalism, then President Barack Obama, mocked the suffering of Flint residents when he visited and prematurely pronounced the water suitable for drinking, despite the fact that dangerous levels of lead were still in the water.
Clean Air
Most Americans are aware that industries pollute our air every day. They also know that emissions from vehicles exacerbates this problem degrading our air quality. We know that factory farms contribute to this problem as well. You don’t have to believe in climate change to know these things are true. This destruction of the commons affects us all. But few Americans are aware that the most detrimental thing being done to our air, indeed to all biological systems, is currently being sold to us as the way to save our environment. In addition to being harmful, this practice being touted as a solution, isn’t new. Governments throughout the world have been geoengineering for many decades without our knowledge or consent. It all started with weather control in the post WWII era.
With the onset of the Cold War, weather control was viewed as a potential weapon. On November 13, 1946, the first man-made snowstorm was produced by scientist Vincent J. Schaefer and pilot Curtis Talbot, both employees of G.E. Research Laboratory working with Dr. Irving Langmuir. In December of 1950 Dr. Irving Langmuir said, “The government should seize on the phenomena of weather control as it did atomic energy.” Here is a video from the beginning of this technology made available from the Museum of Innovation and Science.
In August of 1953, the United States formed the President’s Advisory Committee on Weather Control. Weather was weaponized during the Vietnam War.
Here is a video of President Lyndon B. Johnson from a speech he gave at his Texas alma mater in 1963, exclaiming the most telling quote about government intentions with regards to this technology.
“He who controls the weather will control the world.” — LBJ
Indeed it was under Lyndon B. Johnson that weather manipulation would be used in combat in Vietnam under Project Popeye. This was a secret five-year-old cloud seeding operation. The objectives included; to lengthen the monsoon season in Vietnam in order to destabilize the enemy. Playing God with weather-altering warfare changed history.
Both LBJ and Nixon distracted, denied, and outright lied to Congress about the existence of these programs. Enterprising reporters published damning stories about rain being used as a weapon. The Pentagon papers revealed the details. The federal government would declassify its Popeye documents and international laws aimed at preventing similar projects would be on the books. The public would then forget it happened.
Another government project involving geoengineering is Project Storm fury. The justification for this experimentation with hurricanes was to try and diminish the effects of hurricanes, a noble goal if it was possible, This government video discusses these efforts.
According to government patents, clouds are not only seeded with silver iodide. They also spray aluminum, barium and strontium. The health effects are detrimental. This video discusses health effects.
“We have precipitation tests, snow tests, every human test subject we test, hair blood or urine, has off the chart levels of aluminum, barium & strontium, metals named in climate engineering patents, in their system. The nano particulates build up in our system. They go in & don’t come out. All of us are getting sicker by the day, we’re firing on less neurons by the day, we’re thinking less cognitively. 1 of 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer’s. By 2025 every other child will have autism.” — Dane Wigington
This is a public hearing from Shasta County Board of Supervisors in California. It contains compelling testimony from pilots, scientists, doctors & environmentalists.
“Anybody who is in a position to know first hand this is going on and speaks out about it, they can expect unimaginable repercussions. If they’re a government scientist, they have no 1st Amendment protection, and, in the case of NOAA and NWS employees, federal gag orders.” Dane Wigington
Geo-engineering projects continue today, from governments and private companies. It is still a weapon of war. Now our government is pretending this technology is new and is a solution to our climate crisis. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, it is the most detrimental thing now being done to the environment. See this new documentary called The Dimming. Numerous expert whistleblowers appear in it.
In 1996 the USAF put out a 52 page report called, Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025. It is here if you wish to view it.
Healthy food?A better question; is it really food?
One of the most important factors impacting our health is access to quality food. George H.W. Bush handed over control of our food supply to Monsanto. Watch as he tours the Monsanto facility and reassures them that regulations will be rolled back to enable them to proceed with their work. His Vice President, Dan Quayle would see to the deregulation process.
The argument for GMOs is that these crops produce higher yields. That claim is soundly refuted by many scientists not paid by Monsanto who have studied this issue. The government position is Pro-Monsanto and their cronies have infiltrated government agencies.
Under the first Bush, and as directed by his Vice President Dan Quayle a practice of “self-regulation” was adopted leaving sole responsibility for reporting adverse effects to the FDA in the hands of Monsanto. The proliferation of GMOs has ushered in an era of unhealthy, toxic food, and destroyed human health. It has also destroyed farmers who were resistant to planting GMO crops, as they saw themselves being pushed out of the business. Some of these folks have been farming for generations
If you would like more information on how to protect yourself and your family from GMOs see the Institute for Responsible Technology website. Also view this documentary for more details.
Litigation has been unsuccessful in stopping the use of GMOs. The appointment of industry insiders on the court has been advantageous to agrochemical giants. George H.W. Bush helped to ensure this result when he appointed Clarence Thomas, a former attorney for Monsanto to the Supreme Court. Justice Thomas has never recused himself from any case concerning Monsanto.
While many American farmers are being forced to grow GMOs, farmers in European Countries have more freedom to choose. Many countries are choosing not to grow them. When will the American public demand the same?
As the future of family farming is being destroyed more concentrated control of farmland is occurring in America as Bill Gates buys up huge chunks of farm land making him the top farmland owner in America.
Saudi Arabia has purchased tens of thousands of acres of farmland in the West and Southwest. The crops they grow will be shipped to the Middle East.
Why is public health history important?
What all of these incidents in public health illustrate is that profits and other agendas favorable to corporations come before people. This has been seriously detrimental to the lives of citizens to this day.
To be very blunt and very clear about my point here; this history informs us that our government can and has harmed innocent citizens without their knowledge or consent. If you don’t know this history it can be difficult to imagine the truth of that statement.
In the United States of America our For-Profit health care, (I prefer the term “death care”), combined with the destruction of the integrity of common necessities like clean air, pure food and clean water have resulted in a very sick population. The health of children is especially at risk. In their addiction to corporate cash, conservatives have conspired with Neoliberals to allow the take over of regulatory bodies and academia, by corporate interests. This cooption has resulted in toxic air, food and water. The Duopoly uses identity politics to obfuscate from their shared goals of perpetual war and business dominance. Neither party places priority on the best interests of the People.
It took hundreds of thousands of Americans following orders, to help inflict the harms you’ve just read about. This is unacceptable behavior in light of what became known as the Nuremberg Defense, which was discredited by the judges at the Nuremberg trials, among whom were Americans. The “Nuremberg Defense,” is the excuse used by the Nazi’s on trial. They tried to exonerate themselves of wrongdoing by claiming they were just “following orders.” Additionally, as a result of Nazi atrocities the Nuremberg Code was created. According to this code citizens cannot be subjected to live experimentation without being informed of the health consequences. And there are other important guidelines to ensure no harm is done through medical experimentation. Among them the Declaration of Helsinki, as well as, article six of UNESCO.
The history of public health in America calls into question Locke’s social contract which saw the only legitimate government as one that protected our natural rights. Clearly our government has a poor record of protecting life, liberty, health and property. What would the founders think of the developments you’ve just learned?
“Democracy is not about trust; it is about distrust. It is about accountability, exposure, open debate, critical challenge, and popular input and feedback from the citizenry. It is about responsible government. We have to get our fellow Americans to trust their leaders less and themselves more, trust their own questions and suspicions, and their own desire to know what is going on.” — Michael Parenti
In the present political climate, speaking out against establishment narratives is seen as ‘unpatriotic.’ That is entirely opposite to the ideals of the founding generation. They knew how tyrannical governments could become. They were at the White House with torches and pitchforks every time the government did something they didn’t agree with. It takes a true patriot to dissent against bad, or criminal, government actions.
Disagree?
Should we go back to only property holding white males voting?
Should we go back to the days of slavery, or Jim Crow?
Should we go back to child labor?
Without dissent from patriots, those things would still exist.
Should we continue to trust the same criminal government and media that has lied us into every war for decades?
At what point do the people stop convicting one another of thought crimes and begin to question the criminal officials in our midst, while holding power to account?
Our country is not equal to our government, it is We the People, our land and the Constitution. As we face a future of forced vaccinations and vaccine passports I see Democrats and Neoliberals leading Progressives and intellectuals off the cliff and into a pit of totalitarian control. There is no left, left in the U. S. We have two right wing authoritarian parties. They use identity politics to the extreme to keep up appearances that political parties are real. The reality is that people of every race, gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity can be purchased for a price. Obama and Hillary come to mind.
Decades of Gatekeeping by leading intellectuals has enabled the destruction of what was once a thriving liberal class. It is now bereft of morality. Democrats, intellectuals and academicians are no longer legitimate as agents for the public good, as keepers of knowledge and as proponents of civil liberties.
I am reminded of this quote from Mark Twain. I leave you with it to contemplate.
“There are two kinds of patriotism — monarchical patriotism and republican patriotism. In the one case the government and the king may rightfully furnish you their notions of patriotism; in the other, neither the government nor the entire nation is privileged to dictate to any individual what the form of his patriotism shall be. The gospel of the monarchical patriotism is: “The King can do no wrong.” We have adopted it with all its servility, with an unimportant change in the wording: “Our country, right or wrong!” We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had: — the individual’s right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.” — Mark Twain
Read Part one of this series here.
Read Part two here.
Note to the reader: Many of the links provided in this series will likely disappear. That has been an ongoing and troublesome phenomenon as censorship in the West has increased over the past decade. As an educator I have been confronted with disappeared knowledge every single semester. Julian Assange warned in his 2010 speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum that history was being erased. The world must heed his warnings and free this truth teller, before it’s too late for us all.
