An American Tragedy

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Emma Lazarus, 1883

This sonnet, which most schoolchildren in the United States of American are aware of, was written as part of an arts and literary works auction raising funds for the building of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. In 1886, when the auction opened, this was the only entry read to the audience. However, it was not until 1903 when a bronze plaque bearing the poem was affixed to a wall on the inner wall of the pedestal.

Sadly, however, the lamp is now extinguished; the golden door and bronze plaque are tarnished, and the words difficult to read.

In this, the “Greatest Country on Earth”, a tragedy unfolded this December that should have shocked and repulsed every citizen of America. In less than 72 hours, this event passed through the news cycle and remains an unacceptable and yet forgotten blemish on our fair land.

A 38 year old mother of two, distraught and without hope, committed murder/suicide, and took herself, daughter and son out of this earthly existence. They were living on $500 a month child support and her meager earnings as a maker of decorative pillows. Her attempts to receive food stamps and welfare had been denied, and she had been reduced to begging food from restaurants in the area as they approached closing hour. Rachelle walked to these restaurants. Previously, she had sold her truck for $400 to buy food for the family. The children showered outside (there being no running water inside) of the ramshackle camp trailer where they lived, for which she was paying $400 per month rent.

On December 5, 2011, Rachelle Grimmer, her 12 year old daughter Ramie and 10 year old son Timothy walked to the Food Stamp Office, where she asked her case be assigned to a new caseworker. They were taken to a small office, where she took about 2 dozen people hostage. A supervisor in the office convinced Rachelle to release all the hostages. At 11:42 P.M, Rachelle fatally shot her two children, and then took her own life.

This happened in the year 2011, in The United States of America, and this is WRONG. How have we become so calloused, so rigid, that America cannot offer aid and assistance to children and adults in severe cases of need? What has happened to our sense of decency and compassion, of caring for those unable to care for themselves? In our rush to dethrone the “welfare queens” and remove the “leeches on society”, can we not look past them and see the children?

I fear our great country has lost its moral compass.

Ask yourself, “Is this what America means to me?” Inquire of your local, state, and Federal Government, “Is this the best you can do?” In the New Year as we approach the election cycle, with its sound-bites and press releases, question the candidates “What are you going to do about poverty? How can you make America better for all Americans, not just the rich and favored few who give large campaign donations?”

Rick Perry

Texas Governor (and Republican Presidential hopeful) Rick Perry has a television commercial currently running in which he proclaims his Christian beliefs. More exactly, he proclaims his homophobic fears of gays; and decries the lack of public prayer in schools.
The good Governor and I share a “growing up” background. Both of us were raised in small towns, both were involved in Methodist churches in our youth. Here is where we split, if you will.

The Christ I learned about was one of compassion, love, forgiveness, kindness. My Jesus believed all people to be created with an ability to look past the outer shell and find the person within, a person who had battled his own devils and triumphed; a person who believed in good in all people. The Jesus I grew up with did not mock those of different persuasions; he opened his cloak to all, and said, come unto me.

I live, by choice, in a state where I am not of the dominate faith. I understand well the ease to dictate prayers, symbols and attitudes when you are in a position of domination. I also understand that this country was founded on a reliance on a Supreme Being; and it is our choice in this country what we call this Supreme Being, and how we choose to worship. I do not believe that the government has the right, privilege, or duty to dictate prayer or worship of any deity, be it in school, business, or government entity.

This discussion is one Governor Perry will not have with me, or with you. Governor Perry is casting down a gauntlet, in effect; saying you either hate someone for their love and beliefs, and side with him; or you are not a Christian; and with that statement, he puts those whose lives are outside his realm of comprehension into a place of sin.

America! My country, has been and will continue to be, a melting pot of the best and the brightest. It is a country, free and wild, founded on multitudes of freedoms. A country where you can walk down the street, openly, without regard or concern as to which section of town you are in; where your religion or your ancestry matters not. America is, at her best, a place where individuals can succeed beyond their wildest dreams; create, innovate, and profit from their dreams; building a better future for themselves and their families, however those families are structured. America, our country, was founded with the belief in representation from all sectors and beliefs, a place where good overcomes evil, and the basic interests of all are well served.

Governor Perry is certainly entitled to his opinions, and I do not take his right to voice those opinions away from him. It is my opinion, however, that a person with so narrow a view on life does not deserve the nomination of the Republican Party, or accession into the high office he craves.

ARZM..do you know what it means?

An article in the Salt Lake Tribune (Sunday December 12, 2010) is of great interest, not only to people in Utah, but also those in South Dakota, Wyoming, and Texas; with a much broader ripple effect to the United States security and that of it’s allies. A Canadian company, Uranium One, holds title to 10,000 acres of uranium claims in those states; and in Utah that includes a town (Ticaboo), the Shootaring Canyon mine and uranium mill. While the mill is not in operation at this time, the exploration for uranium has been ongoing, and the mill is kept in a state of readiness until the price of U3O8 increases to approximately $7.50 per pound, (as of December 14, 2010 $6.80 and rising) at which time it becomes economically feasible to re-start the mill, which employees a “crushing and leaching’ method of extraction, where the raw material is mined in conventional fashion and then leached on the surface, as described below.

In Wyoming, their projects include the Willow Creek, Moore Ranch, JAB and Antelope projects. These projects ship “Loaded Resin” to Willow Creek for drying into U3O8 which is Triuranium octoxide, the base material, known commonly as “yellowcake”, for much of the world’s nuclear power plants. It can be converted to use a nuclear material for non-peaceful purposes. Uranium One’s projects and processing mills in Wyoming are in operation at this time. The properties in Texas and South Dakota are not in operation at this time, however, like their sister projects in Wyoming, these will be developed as “wells” into which a leaching solution is pumped, then the leach material and the Triuranium octoxide are pumped to the surface and processed into loaded resin and shipped for drying. This leaching process, known as ISL or in situ leaching, is a relatively “benign” process as far as current studies report. Unlike less developed nations (Kazakhstan) which use an acid as the leach material, the projects in the United States are limited to an alkaline leach, usually a mix of sodium bicarbonate and carbon dioxide. United States protocols demand test wells driven on the perimeter of the sites to monitor ground water affects from the ISL processes. If we make the presumption that the processes are as safe as U.S. government studies say they are, where is the concern?

The first concern is water supply to the mines and wells. In the western United States, water is a valuable commodity, and using it in leaching processes makes it unsuitable for consumption until properly treated, adding costs to the project. The second environmental concern is of the disposal of the overburden, or waste materials produced by conventional shaft mining, as well as “well mining”. The overburden material is radioactive, and a byproduct of the material is Radon Gas. The effects of “small amounts” of Radon Gas dispersed into the atmosphere are not currently known. In situ leaching does affect ground water, and according to Uranium One, the leaching material is maintained to a neutral value, much the value of common vinegar. Ground water monitoring “insures” the PH value of the leaching material.

So, again, what is the concern? Uranium One has been sold to a Russian mining company, Atomredmetzolo (ARZM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom, the Russian nuclear agency (similar in form to our NRC). Although four members of Congress petitioned the U.S. Treasury Department to disallow the sale of Uranium One’s assets to ARZM, Treasury has approved Uranium One’s planned sale to ARZM, as have the NRC and the Utah division of Radiation Control. The Utah DRC approval was based on “written documentation that there would be no changes in the operations.” This email –yes email- documentation said, and I quote, “ decisions with regard to the day-to-day operations of the Shootaring Mill will be made by the management of Uranium One Exploration U.S.A. Inc., in coordination with Scott Schierman as the Corporate Radiation Safety Officer for the Shootaring Canyon Mill…”

The problem is with the ultimate parent “company”, which is the Russian nuclear agency, Rosatom, which has been accused, and never cleared, of selling nuclear material (yellowcake) to Iran for its’ nuclear program.

So, we have put one of our national resources, uranium, up for sale to the Russian government, who can use the product for whatever it likes, including selling yellowcake to nations that are working not in the best interests of the United Sates. In the process, we are diverting a scarce national resource, water, into the manufacture of products that could, conceivably, be used against us in warfare.

There is something wrong with this picture!