Author: R J Adams

In the English Lake District of the 1920’s it was usual, from atop a high fell or hillside, to view thin plumes of wood smoke drifting languidly up through the trees. The charcoal burners were busy at their trade, slowly and methodically controlling the burn by cutting and laying turves to form a mound, under which the wood smoldered for days or weeks at a time. It was an English Lakeland industry, though always in keeping with the protection and balance of the countryside.

Until recently, there were twelve members of the Rugendo family. Men with rifles came twice. In total they slaughtered six; perhaps, seven – one infant from the family is still missing. A number of other family members were injured, but will recover.

Who committed these atrocities, and how does it pertain to the charcoal burners of the English Lake District?

The slaughter of the Rugendo family members has no relevance to the English charcoal burners, but everything to do with the product they manufactured. The Rugendo family live in Africa, the Virunga National Park; part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are a family of mountain gorillas. Aproximately three hundred and fifty gorillas live in Virunga; it is said, sixty percent of the world population.

Barely a generation ago, we – Homo sapiens – regarded the gorilla as a huge, vicious, beast ready and willing to tear us limb from limb at any opportunity, due, perhaps in part to early Hollywood movies, but most certainly as a result of mid-20th century African explorers. They brought back lurid tales of these creatures based more on imaginings than scientific study.

Thankfully, we now know the truth about the mountain gorilla and the gentleness, intelligence, and tranquility of these animals is well documented, thanks to Jane Goodall and others like her.

One would think the protection of our nearest genetic relative would be assured. Nothing could be further from the truth. Not content with devastating this planet to fuel our greed – a ravagement inevitably leading to our own eventual destruction – we are encroaching on the habitat of other species with bulldozer-like efficiency. The Virunga National Park is supposed to be protected, yet the rangers have not received their government salaries for years. Instead, they are supported by voluntary contributions, but are hopelessly under-funded, under-manned, and out-gunned, constantly in danger from those who would devour Virunga for the purpose of profit.

Charcoal is a $30 million-a-year industry in the DRC, and Virunga is the fuel that fires the fortunes. It’s a simple philosophy. Virunga exists to serve the mountain gorilla. Rid Virunga of the gorillas, and no-one will object when it is burnt to the ground.

Is anyone doing anything to stop it? Are George Bush, Gordon Brown, Sarkozy, Merckel, or any of our “leaders” doing anything to stop it? Are they even aware it is happening?

No, they are doing nothing. In fact, they are neither aware, nor interested. Scientists predict there is a strong possibility many, if not all, ape species may be exterminated within one human generation.

What does that say about us?

The charcoal burners of the English Lake District are long gone, eradicated by a world only concerned with profit margins and factory efficiency. The few who remain are confined to “model farms” or “visitor centers”, to be ogled by tourists. They are no longer free to roam the English hillsides and fells. They are confined. A preserved relic of a bygone age.

The mountain gorilla of Virunga is also about to be eradicated, cast aside by the same demand for profit. Homo sapiens has become primarily a businessman, but unlike good businessmen we gloat over our profits, and deny our losses. Before long, one of those losses will be our closest relative on this planet.

Can the short-term profit really be worth the long-term loss?

Read more on the plight of the mountain gorillas of Virunga:

HERE

HERE

and at Wildlifedirect.org a charity supporting the work of Virunga’s Rangers. A charity desperately in need of your donations.

Filed under: Imminent extinctions

Mention the name Jose Padilla and most people will immediately think, “Dirty Bomber”. It was, after all, the nickname imposed on him by the media after he was arrested at O’Hare Airport in 2002. Padilla was accused by the US government of plotting to blow up an American city with a radioactive “dirty” bomb. No trial ever ensued and Padilla was locked away from everyone in a naval brig for three and a half years.

What happened to him over that time is cause for conjecture, but an article in the Chicago Sun Times from Dec 5th, 2006 states that a Pentagon video shows him:

“……chained hand and foot, wearing headphones and goggles, and being led out of his cell by guards dressed in camouflage and wearing riot helmets and visors.”

Padilla himself claimed he was:

“…….forced to stand in painful stress positions, given LSD or some other drug as a “truth serum,” subjected to loud noises and noxious odors, and forced to endure sleep deprivation, extreme heat and cold, and harsh lights.”

Three and a half years is a long time to be shut away anywhere, even when the treatment is humane. It seems likely that was not the case. Particularly galling then, that after so long, Padilla was never charged with the crime for which he was arrested.

Jose Padilla was eventually tried for “conspiracy to murder and material support of terrorism”. Today he was found guilty, along with two other defendants who seemed to be the real focus of the trial. Padilla was, to use the words of Slate magazine’s legal analyst, Dahlia Lithwick, “…..grafted on to the notion the other two were sending money…. [to fund terrorism].

This seems to be the crux of the Government’s case, that Padilla and his co-defendants were raising money to fund terrorism and by so doing were conspiring to: [Dahlia Lithwick]: “…. murder and maim folks all over the world including Chechnia, Somalia, Afghanistan…..”

Other evidence included an alleged Mujahadeen data form “discovered” by the CIA in 2001, supposedly filled in by Padilla and with his fingerprints all over it, and hours of telephone calls between all three defendants using, according to the CIA, codewords that stood for terrorist activities and used to cover up the true intent of the conversations.

There may be a few Americans unbiased sufficient to question the veracity and honesty of the CIA. Certain papers documenting previous activities that bear out these uncertainties have come to light over the years. Given that Padilla was not the focus of the case for which he gained most notoriety, and was apparently convicted on the backs of two other defendants, it could be theorized that Padilla’s internment for so long in a navy brig allowed the CIA to seek out evidence to support their “dirty bomber” allegations. Unable to find any such evidence because it undoubtedly did not exist, during interrogation of Padilla and when he was in a less than normal state of mind, his interrogators could easily have demanded he fill certain forms, causing his fingerprints to impregnate the documents.

The question must be asked as to how difficult it would be for the CIA to forge a Mujahadeen application form for employment? After all, the CIA supplied them with cash and weapons for years, to fight the Russians in Afghanistan.

The case of Jose Padilla is not over. Sentencing will take place in December. It is to be hoped his defense council will act quickly to arrange an appeal against sentence. Unfortunately, they are up against one of the most powerful forces in the world today; the United States government.

Jose Padilla is a United States citizen. After the way he’s been treated, allowing him to walk away would look bad for a president who strutted his stuff while announcing Padilla’s capture. They’ll go to great lengths to avoid that.

On hearing the outcome of this trial today, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said:

“”Jose Padilla received a fair trial and a just verdict……we commend the jury for its work in this trial and thank it for upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all.”

Impartial justice for all?

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of this drawn-out, judicial farce is that Mister Gordon Johndroe will probably sleep well in his bed tonight.

Filed under: Probable despotism

Lead story of most of the world’s news media today was the appalling carnage in northern Iraq, as al Qaeda – unknown in Iraq prior to the US invasion of 2003 – continued its policy of murder and terror, much like it’s American counterparts further south in Baghdad.

NBC Nightly News did get around to mentioning the attacks on the Iraqi villages of Qataniya and Adnaniya, but only after it had reported at some length on the “crisis” in the US money markets, and held us all in suspense with sneak previews of its “Elvis” feature later in the program. According to NBC’s resident expert, who would probably be more at home advertising Botox than analyzing the nation’s finances, substantial falls on the Dow and Nasdaq resulted from too long a period of low interest rates.

Dammit, the poor have ruined it all for the rich by their demand to own homes, and now the rich have got to take it all back, so the poor can be really poor again and not just pretend to be. It really was a bad show, you breadliners. Do you realize those rich bastards are now having to cut back on their Lear jets because of you? Ms Botox failed to mention how the insatiable greed of the wealthy, and their manipulation of Hedge funds, may just have had something to do with it.

Meanwhile, reports are emerging that the US administration is about to bestow the much sort after “Grand Order of the Noble Terrorist” on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. The rumor is, it’s all come about because Dick Cheney got mad when he found out their secret hand-shake was identical to the one at his own Masonic lodge. It is something of a misnomer, however, given that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard holds eighty seats in Iran’s government and half the parliamentary cabinet ministers are from its ranks. Declaring the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, is no different from denouncing Iran as a terrorist state.

Of course, we all know that poses no problem to the delinquent idiot presently posing as “leader of the free world”. His minions, spread out across America like great dollops of cow dung in an over-grazed field, will no doubt rally to his support, whooping and hurling straw bales in the air at the very thought of another good rumble in the Middle East. After all, there’s been damn-all on the telly since CNN’s “Shock & Awe”, back in 2003.

It was a surprise that five hundred dead Iraqis made it onto the US news at all, given the truly dreadful situation out of China right now. Poor, dear, Mattel, that icon of American toy manufacturing beloved by generations of citizens, has been duped by nasty Chinese business people more concerned with making a fast yen than with the safety of American children. It would seem the Chinese have stopped being inscrutable, and are now just unscrupulous.

No blame can be attached to Mattel for the recall of these eighteen million toys worldwide, or, indeed to its subsidiary, Fisher-Price, who had a similar problem involving a mere million toys, two weeks ago.

After all, when you close your American factories to save on wage costs, and move your operations to a country where it’s possible to get a week’s work for a handful of rice while you rake in the profit margins, you should be able to trust your operatives not to dish you in the dirt, shouldn’t you?

One of the co-owners of the Chinese factory involved in this issue committed suicide when the facts came to light, but compared to another five hundred dead in Iraq today that hardly seems significant.

It’s unlikely Mattel’s Chief Executive, Bob Eckert, will join his Chinese counterpart and do the decent thing by leaping out of his Lear jet without a parachute at thirty thousand feet. Though it is likely, between the unscrupulous Chinese dropping him in the dung, the American poor refusing to pay their mortgages, and more than a few peeved Mattel shareholders baying for his blood, it may not be too long before has no Lear jet to jump out of.

Still, to look on the bright side, it seems unlikely Mattel will have to fund a company expansion into Iraq for quite some while yet. Which is a shame for them, because the Iraqis probably wouldn’t be too worried right now about a little bit of lead paint.

Filed under: Perspectives