By PETER MOLENAAR
Truth is a Delicate Matter
The term “Cliocide” refers to the destruction of history. In Greek mythology, Clio, a daughter of Zeus, was the proclaimer and celebrator of history, great deeds and accomplishments. Clio is the “muse of history.”
Did every neighbor see the June 28th airing of the PBS documentary “The People vs Agent Orange?” Hey, an estimated 13 million gallons of this cocktail (laced with dioxin) was dumped on Vietnam during my formative years. Survivors often gave birth to babies with severe birth defects, before succumbing to their own cancers. Sadly, David Dix, a former editor of the Alley and a veteran of the Vietnam War, was exposed to Agent Orange. Cancer was the cause of death. Is it wrong to recall such things?
Note: the lethal dioxin element was included as a result of cost cutting the production process. So now, we say: PEOPLE and NATURE BEFORE PROFITS. Right?
Time goes on”¦
Then it was George W. Bush who declared that the Iraqi people would soon be “ready to take the training wheels off.” Never mind the ancient civilization which developed writing and mathematics (duh). Indeed, thousands of priceless artifacts were destroyed by the war, or otherwise looted and sold at auction. Thus far, the Biden administration has managed to return only a small fraction, and Lord knows, Saddam Hussein was no friend of Osama bin Laden!
Are there young adults among us who have forgotten Osama? Osama mixed well with the mujahideen””the Taliban types who, at the time, were armed by the U.S. to overthrow Afghanistan”™s socialist government (and to lure the Soviets to “invade”). Nonetheless, this neighborhood proudly elects Ilhan Omar to raise a hand against all forms of oppression and hypocrisy.
Note: more recently, another al-Qaeda has focused its terror on China”™s Xinjiang province.
Moreover, former President Donald Trump, loves Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota. Evidently, Trump wants to dumb things down yet another notch in the name of “patriotism” (his manipulation of undereducated white-folks is well documented). Meanwhile, Gov. Noem is endeavoring to diminish references to Native Americans in her state”™s curriculum, while bleeding hearts express concern that too much truth will impose divisions among our children!
Yes, admittedly: truth is a delicate matter. However, ignorance is the feed which sustains our haunting white supremacy. Going forward, therefore, teachers of every grade must hone their skills in order to rededicate their purpose.
The dioxin issue is worse than anyone knows. People who consume US seafood are ingesting dioxin with every bite. That is because one of the first actions carried out under the 1970 EPA under Nixon was to plan and implement a massive ocean dumping program to dispose toxic chlorinated chemicals like dioxin, DDT and PCBs.
We know about dioxin contamination remaining from Agent Orange use in Vietnam. But does anyone wonder where the waste dioxin went from the MANUFACTURING process. I have researched this, documented in my Report to Congress which is posted on my LinkedIn page. In summary, Agent Orange was manufactured by Shell Chemical Company at Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Colorado between 1953 and 1975. According to my research, the waste from that operation was dumped in the Gulf of Mexico about 60 miles off the Mississippi Delta, on top of the most valuable oil reservoir in the Gulf, as if to stake a mineral claim. Shell Offshore is now drilling amongst about 1.5 million barrels of waste containing dioxin. Please check out my report, or email me for a copy.