HUMAN RIGHTS 6 AUG 2013

HUMAN RIGHTS. JFK, a few months before his assassination, said that cancers & other degenerative diseases were not acceptable… “it is not a statistical issue…our grandchildren and children are not statistics.” Christ said, what you done to the least of people, you have done to him.
Today I attended a commemoration ceremony of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, ’45 which was also used as an activist meeting to deal with Hanford Nuclear Reservation, which is 250 miles from Portland and considered the most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere. It was at Hanford where the Plutonium was produced for the nukes incl. the one used on Japan. Workers there got sick, the cities around it are health hazards…the govt. has paid people for damaged health while keeping it quiet that they paid anyone, and still pretending that nuclear power plants are safe. Cleaning up the nuclear mess at Hanford is a $130 billion job. Meanwhile the native lands in the area and their traditional fishing grounds are contaminated. Kaila, a member of the Confederated Warm Springs tribe spoke about how radiation is leaking into the environment and water at Hanford and its effect on the fish & people in the area. Hanford’s elevated spent fuel is vulnerable to an earthquake. The nuclear plant we have in this area uses the GE Boiling reactor, the same one used at Fukashima.
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It seems Americans think that the natives were treated badly by the white man, but now we live in more enlightened times. A poll a few years back showed 80% of Amer. Adults believed the U.S.A. does a better job than most countries when it comes to protecting human rights!!! It is not surprising that an out of control govt., which pollutes radiation & then hides it, would even today ignore the rights of natives. As the CIA covertly influences the media, it is no surprise how the mass media protect the govt.
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A good example is the story of the Western Shoshone, who kept their rights to their ancient homeland in the treaties w/ the U.S. In recent times, in violation of their ongoing treaty the U.S. government built a military base on their land, and invited commercial ventures on it also. The Shoshone land is part of who they are, it is a source of life to them. On it is Mt. Tenabo, which is the place of sacred creation for them, as well as being a good source for the tribe of medicinal plants.
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In 2002, the International American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that the U.S. govt.’s use and control of Shoshone land was illegitimate. In response, the govt.’s BLM then stole (seized) 400 Western Shoshone horses. Typically, international bodies have had little ability to make the U.S. honor human right. The govt.’s support of the mining co. Barsick Gold to exploit the Shoshone land also threatens their sacred Mt. Tenabo, seen by the natives as a “living being”. The Shoshone see a relationship between the land and their tribe. The land gives them cultural identity, no less than how Americans love their country and identify with America.
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There are many negative repercussions from ignoring human rights. The native speaker today brought out how the govt. still tramples on the treaty rights of her tribe. I can’t help thinking of Christ’s words: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” MT 25:40. Further, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” GAL 6:2
Be blessed my friends.