Posts by humbled

I can dream politics and if l like, talk about my dreams no one throws me in a gulag. I am tired of saying that l am not making s “thing” of the US = Stalin’s Russia.And we can vote freely. But big money corrupts the process . l can flap my gums forever in complaint and it effects no change no matter what l dream. But you better not. name a name or a problem that threatens a person’s or organization’s money by exposing deep corruption in government.

A few years ago the U.K. had an Arkansas man, Kelly Duda, testify at an inquiry over the tainted blood scandal that killed or infected hundreds of your citizens. The same as happened in Canada and in Japan. Hemophiliacs had various diseases notably HIV and Hep C among others. The young film maker has inadvertently come across a widespread practice in Arkansas prisons of letting prisoners “bleed” got a small cash payment while unnamed persons in the state made off with the big money. The prisoners drew blood from one another with no attempt to screen for disease. Thus the horror.

Mr. Duda traced the money trail to the door of power had things happen to him in filming that made him stop his investigation. The film is not distributed now . It is called “Factor 8: the Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal” you will find interviews with Duda. But he was scared off and YouTube doesn’t have any links to the documentary.

Neither is it easy to find the book written of the one serious attempt at prison reform in this State. 1968 was when the reformer, Tom Murton literally dug up the murdered remains of murdered inmates, he was told he must leave the state or be thrown in prison himself for grave robbing. He learned his life was threatened as well. He had 72 hours to clear out.

You can believe me or not, but the Arkansas prison system is a going business in this state as much because of the corruption that has never been rooted out from over 50 years ago and beyond. I have personal knowledge/experience of the extortion that reaches out from the prison organizations with complicit correctional officers. I am literally too terrified to say more in this forum because my own identity and those of family members are too exposed.

I am not the only one this happened to. You absolutely don’t know who to trust , who or how to complain.

Big Money. If you are poor you pay and you shut up. But you can complain about the government . You can vote. But don’t rock the boat . Not really.

I hope to rattle cages by coming at the problem with “ A Child’s History of Arkansas Prisons” hoping that even if there is only contempt for the vulnerable communities of addicts, ex-cons and their struggling families, maybe folks will care about the pathological impact of the incarceration rate on Arkansas children—And start to wonder why things only get worse in spite of the empty political rhetoric l have charted over the years— talk about moral posers.

well this is a thoroughly hijacked thread. And l suddenly feel really exposed.

goodnight

143

Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

facts we don't want to know.

the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

which humans?.

humbled

Not an extreme position, l am trying to understand your extreme reaction. I am certainly not a poser in pretending a view that l don’t genuinely feel and very actively work for. Broke as l am l journeyed to New Hampshire before the presidential primaries ,hiking from Dublin, NH to the state capital in an organized effort to get those first citizens in the presidential race to ask THE QUESTION: What are you going to duty in the corruption influence of big money in presidential elections? I have worked here . I live near a homeless center and in a trailer court with people who have felony convictions. Three of my brothers served in the military. My best friend from high school .l weigh these issues. I value their lives. I try to do what l can.

I care about this country. The gravest problem a good man, woman or nation can have is to become above reproach. Fortunately that isn’t a problem for me. And l will try to be sure it is never a problem for you either, cofty.

143

Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

facts we don't want to know.

the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

which humans?.

humbled

I had completely agreed with THAT^^^^.

TD indeed said it well.

If l said- and l did say- there are echoes of these things in this country ‘s covert and sometimes overt actions it is a cause for concern and criticism. You think letting a world power on automatic pilot is a fine thing? Do you truly believe “my country, right or wrong”? Loyalty in some measure—sometimes loyal opposition.

We have a training camp in Fort Benning, Georgia. It used to be called School of the Americas until it received so much bad press for its graduates becoming dictators and violent subversive militarist in South America. Now it is renamed WHINSEC ( can’t recall the full name. Even having such knowing the many, many human rights abusers and murderers that have learned their trade at this institute from it does not mean l equate this country to Stalinist Russia. I have not done that at all. But we have to take care to push back against these things.

Ratchet your rhetoric down a notch or two, cofty. You are way too caustic.

143

Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

facts we don't want to know.

the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

which humans?.

humbled

Perhaps we can read the same books on Stalinism? Or you are more familiar than that?

Usually you are precise in your definitions, cofty. But it doesn’t follow that one who makes a valid criticism of government is guilty of moral posturing. If you disagree with a particular piece of information l have put out, say so. This is a lazy rejoinder from you.

143

Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

facts we don't want to know.

the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

which humans?.

humbled

Well said, TD.

A government that falls short of its moral principles is one thing. A government that has absolutely none is something else entirely.

What troubles me is that what l see plainly in Stalin’s psychotic system has echoes in my own country. I will gladly allow for human moral failures—any number of them really. But when evidence accrues of the state benefitting from a pattern of criminal behavior it inevitably infects the workings of government—and those who complain are in trouble — if not prison.

Edit: It is hard to speak ill of a country l love- l know a lot of great stories of it. But it’s true that there are great stories in so many countries but we don’t really listen to them. I love people —that’s why I hate to see these things happening that run contrary to the ideals and values the US is supposed to stand for. These failures are serious and creating bigger problems for a growing number of people —here and abroad.

143

Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

facts we don't want to know.

the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

which humans?.

humbled

Thanks for that link, Ruby. And to Bungi Bill—all true. The Americans sat at the knee of England in learning law, order and domination.

I see where some balk at the measuring moral equivalence in regimes and their methods and intentions. But as time goes on the disregard for the poor in the US mirrors the devaluation and vilification that will justify military actions and indeed most nations do this. But it is often done to wrongly dismiss valid claims of abuse by the US.

ln the state l live in, Arkansas, there is a growing problem that one can see easily if you trace the unbroken chain of human abuse that is rooted in the history of the convict lease system. This system became state gulags. Its human rights abuses are the stuff of nightmares.. and film. Ever see Robert Redford in Brubaker? I don’t want to hijack the thread by going any further into this here except to say last month l twice presented some aspects of the effects of our Arkansas “gulag” in “ A Child’s History of Arkansas Prisons “ using giant marionettes.

failing to face facts is a huge problem in my state and it has hit me personally.

143

Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

facts we don't want to know.

the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .

which humans?.

humbled

Torture was taught by CIA; Declassified manual details the methods used in Honduras; Agency denials refuted
By Gary Cohn, Ginger Thompson, and mark Matthews, The Baltimore Sun, Monday 27 January 1997, Final Edition
WASHINGTON -- A newly declassified CIA training manual details torture methods used against suspected subversives in Central America during the 1980s, refuting claims by the agency that no such methods were taught there.
"Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual -- 1983" was released Friday in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Sun on May 26, 1994.
The CIA also declassified a Vietnam-era training manual called "KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation -- July 1963," which also taught torture and is believed by intelligence sources to have been a basis for the 1983 manual.
......The Sun's 1994 request for the manuals was made in connection with the newspaper's investigation of kidnapping, torture and murder committed by a CIA-trained Honduran military unit during the 1980s. The CIA turned over the documents -- with passages deleted -- only after The Sun threatened to sue the agency to obtain the documents.
Human rights abuses by the Honduran unit known as Battalion 316 were most intense in the early 1980s at the height of the Reagan administration's war against communism in Central America. They were documented by The Sun in a four-part series published from June 11 to 18, 1995.
....In The Sun's series, Jose Barrera, a former member of Battalion 316 who said he was taught interrogation methods by U.S. instructors in 1983, recalled using the technique:
"The first thing we would say is that we know your mother, your younger brother. And better you cooperate, because if you don't, we're going to bring them in and rape them and torture them and kill them," Barrera said.
...."These manuals confirm a truth we in Honduras have known for a long time: that the United States was involved in encouraging the abuses of the Honduran military," said Judge Roy Medina. "They were trying to stop communism. But the methods they used are not acceptable in civilized societies."

46

Knorr on 1914: "I don't know." - Mouthy Alert!

by compound complex in

dear mouthy and other denounced ones,.

you may find this double standard $%^@#@*&!

"in 1975, knorr made a remarkable and candid statement to the governing body, which confirmed his growing disillusionment until his death two years later: ["]'"there are some things i know --- i know that jehovah is god, that christ jesus is his son, that he gave his life as a ransom for us, that there is a resurrection.

humbled

Right— pure and simple—they can change their teachings as they please but they kick us out if we even think they have misspoke.

Hey, CoCo, l hear Errol Flynn aged suddenly with all that wild high life. Watch out!

37

Grace Gough ( RIP ) left the JW cult in her 70s and went on to help 1000s to escape the cult

by Not_Culty in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj7ilnoxvu4.

she helped me.

sent me my first copy of crisis of conscience (free) grace has been featured on many talk shows, including sally jesse raphael, raising awareness of support for cult abuse survivors.

humbled

She was lovely. She often said as she got close to her end that she couldn’t find her “bucket”( as in wanting to “kick it”)

l miss her now. She was Mouthy but kind and true always.