About-Disclaimer-Dedication

Updated February 11 2022 (updated to reflect concerns re viral vector-DNA vaccines, as well.)

This hasn’t been updated in almost 2 years. This blog is educated opinion and is operated by someone who may change their mind at any point in time and even frequently so. Opinion can even change back and forth within a day. Nothing is written in stone. We hope to provide some tools to help you make your own decisions. This blog should not be construed as medical advice, nor any other kind of advice.

A lot has changed for most people in the two years. Like many people, we are still wondering what’s going on and why. The one thing, which hasn’t changed, is our belief that this has been about pharmaceutical companies making money, and that the vaccines should be boycotted for that reason. Patents only last around 20 years, so pharmaceutical companies need replacement diseases and drugs just to stay in business, and more to expand. We oppose the entire concept of mRNA vaccines and viral vector-DNA vaccines, which are potentially dangerous. However, only you can decide what is right for you and your health.

Remember that you do have an immune system to protect you. Excessive fear, and a negative attitude, can weaken your immune system.

We are Covid-19 agnostics. We support middle of the road common sense. Covid-19 or no Covid-19, there are contagious diseases. So, basic hygiene and respect for other people is in order. Even if you don’t believe in diseases at all, you should still respect other people, and not cough on them, etc. At the beginning, we had hoped that people would start practicing basic hygiene again and respect the personal space of other people. In short, we had hoped that people would start to have good manners, again. Because of the way this has been handled, on all sides, it’s backfired. While we oppose most mandates, people should respect other people and their personal space. This includes standing over an arms length away from people, in most situations. People should stay home when they are sick, especially stay away from public meetings/churches. Employers should provide sick leave. People should cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze, and even go cough in another room, if possible. They should properly clean their hands afterwards. They should not stand so close that they risk spitting on other people when they talk. It’s not going to hurt the average person to wear a surgical or cotton mask when going someplace for an hour or two, especially in winter. It’s not about protecting you. It’s mostly to keep you from accidentally spitting on other people. On the other hand, if you are a teacher or student, you are going to probably fall ill from something. If you don’t want to fall ill, then you need to stay home. The common cold can kill fragile people. Don’t go visit anyone, especially the elderly, if you are ill, and certainly don’t hug or kiss them. Intentional spitting in public used to be illegal, because of TB. We would like to see spitting in public made illegal again, and smoking in public, since people aren’t being taught good manners anymore. As for quarantine-lockdowns: if there had been proper planning and people had been able to truly stay home or sleep at work for two or three weeks, then the lockdowns probably would have worked. Anything longer than two weeks to one month was excessive.

What probably won’t change is a belief that people need to have priority to live and work, not only in their own country, but near their home, so that they can help their parents in old age, and so that their children can benefit from grandparents. And, a belief that any special rights and privileges for “minorities” should only be for those whose families were enslaved within the United States, and American Indians. Even the history of American Indians is complicated and policies should ideally be addressed on an individual and Tribal Nation basis.

We also believe that the world is overpopulated, and the question is only who is going to die and how. We favor birth control of whatever form. There are many options, including natural ones traditionally approved by the Roman Catholic Church. Abortion is NOT birth control. Those countries who have refused to control their own populations should NOT be allowed to export their surplus population to other countries, as is currently, and historically, the case. If you, or your country, want bunches of children, then you need to take responsibility for them, and not impose them on other people, and not expect them to have a high standard of living.

We don’t believe in age based discrimination. Older people should be treated with respect. Older people are the bearers of history, culture, and civilization. Children are still learning. Sometimes parents outlive their children, and even grandchildren, by many decades. It seems that the Roman Catholic Church, however flawed, is the only institution standing up against euthanasia.

While we don’t always agree with everything that he says, we agree with the general sense of this statement: “And you…. always ready to welcome immigrants and illegal immigrants: remember that the Lord has ordered to love our neighbor, that is, the one who is closest to us”. (Archbishop Viganò Message for the January 15, 2022 Protests in Rome, Italy)

Updated 9 May 2020

Needless to say, a lot has changed since this blog “About” was last updated, and since it was started almost 8 years ago. This blog started off as three posts about mining in Haiti – hence the title. We spent, or rather wasted, many years trying to drive home the dangers of nuclear, apparently to no avail. Even those who care about nuclear danger haven’t seemed to have read the posts which explain that tritiated water can be filtered, for instance. Many won’t touch the simple numbers we use to explain risk. We worked hard to make it simple. Worse, one anti-nuclear activist harassed us for exposing Bernie’s nuclear hypocrisy, when that person should have been encouraging us to work on topics at hand, such as Holtec. Dear reader, please don’t attack people who are trying to help you in life, just because it’s convenient to do.

If you are interested in nuclear and nuclear risk, there is a lot in here, in the archives, if you look. A lot of work was put in with the idea that if people understood better that the bad guys would be stopped.

We have thought about changing the title of this blog “to die now or die later” blog. As many people are unable or unwilling to understand the basics of contagious disease, and the importance of social distancing and wearing masks, it should come as no surprise that they aren’t interested in the environment, either. If people can’t understand (or don’t care) that Covid-19 can kill within weeks, then it shouldn’t be surprising that they can’t understand (or don’t care) that nuclear can kill within decades.

Anyway, especially since we could all die of Covid-19 or anything else at any time, this blog is officially a whatever we feel like posting (or not) blog. This has actually been the case for some time. The posts of this blog are as we understand things at the time that they are posted. We rarely go back to update. Our opinions and the world around are constantly changing and evolving. We lean heavily on things like VOA news and US government documents because they are in the public domain. We check and sometimes edit VOA news, when we use it. This is a blog. It is (educated) opinion and general information. It is free to you. It is important to do your own research and draw your own conclusions-form your own opinions.

Life is short and then you die. The future is unknown. The attacks that have been heaped upon this blogger by Berniecrats – despite time-consuming efforts at being diplomatic – have served as a reminder that this is the only life we have. It’s a reminder of the two front educational war that needs to be fought against true-believers on the extreme left (Berniecrats) and the extreme right (Trumpsters). However, their brains appear too hardened to get through. The frightening thing is that the closed minded true-believer Berniecrats that harassed us are in their 70s and should have grown up by now, but they apparently haven’t. Remember that life is short and precious. And, it’s never too late to change your mind about anything, while you are alive. And, please don’t attack your friends and allies just because they are there, around you. Save your attacks for your enemies.

This blog is rededicated to my earthly father (long in heaven) – philosopher, theologian, ethicist,and social scientist.

Updated 29 Oct.; 1 Nov. 2015

If you are reading this blog, it is because of the hard work of people who promoted this blog early on, and those who continue to promote it, along with hard work on our end.

At the time this page was last updated, we were spending 80 hours plus per week on the blog – every waking hour and many hours when we should have been asleep. Much of this has yet to be posted, however, for lack of time. More recently time invested has probably been less. But, suffice it to say that almost every waking moment possible minus any washing, cooking, exercise has been spent on this blog. We will probably soon start reducing time spent. We do not intend to be in this anti-nuclear business for 30 years. There’s no time for that. Shutting down nuclear must be now, or it’s going to be too late. Almost more urgent is the related need to take the radioactive waste situation seriously.

We are no longer apologetic for no longer taking comments. There is just no time. Do or die. We remain apologetic for any errors, however. While this blog tries to be a common sense every man and woman type of blog, it is indeed maintained by a Ph.D., who grew up in academia, and has spent too much time there. It is backed up by a top-notch technical adviser who has multiple graduate degrees from prestigious institutions. However, because all is urgent, this blog does not strive to be an academic blog, but rather may be considered a research journal. There is rarely time for corrections. There is no time for feedback. Most people don’t have the necessary sense of urgency. As such, the posts reflect the facts as they are understood at that time. We continue to reserve the right to mock bad people for entertainment purposes. Most of the rest still holds.

June 30, 2014
Our apologies for any errors in the blog, but we are understaffed and we no longer accept comments. We are too far behind. We wish that we could take comments for corrections, but this is not possible. Most errors will be simply because we have so little time. So, by commenting-correcting one error, you may create another more serious one. Furthermore, if you read the entire blog or think for 4 months, you may find we are right. Of greatest concern to us are tiny mistakes we may make. For these we apologize. For many big topics, we have been thinking about them for around half a century, are highly educated, and inherited knowledge from highly educated parents. In short, if it is a factual correction, we wish we could take it, but we can’t. If it’s an opinion, we recommend you open your own blog. We spend over 80 hours per week to put forth our opinions and not those of other people, along with the facts as we understand them.

Update 2 (14 Feb. 2014): For some time now we have shifted focus, but we have not updated this, since only rarely do people read this (even though it is theoretically the first thing which all should read). Our connection to mining is mostly indirect now. If the nuclear industry keeps on and if Fukushima is not properly addressed, none of the rest will matter anyway. If the phytoplankton die from radiation dumped into the Pacific, then there will not be enough oxygen for us to breathe. No nuclear industry means no uranium mining and no waste. We feel that the impunity of Duvalier going free in Haiti, is related to Japan’s war criminals (e.g. PM Abe’s grandfather) going free. It teaches leaders that they can do as they please with no penalty for wrong. We think this last is related to the Fukushima disaster. Almost no one else is speaking out about Duvalier so occasionally we must. Hence, this blog is really Haiti and Mining and Awareness now, with most of the weight on Awareness or digging (mining) for awareness. We do continue to do some general mining and energy news. We never intended to deal with petroleum anyway, though contemporary petroleum looks more like mining than traditional did. We actually did the post on oil by request. Our combined educational and family backgrounds include almost everything. In fact our deepest roots are in theology, philosophy and social ethics. But, it’s an old, old school of philosophy, which is no longer taught. This blog did not come about through boredom, but rather outrage at the thought of cutting poor Haiti’s precious trees for strip mining. We are currently outraged about Fukushima and about the attempts to undo all learning about the dangers of radiation. We remain unable to explain this insanity. Unlike some people, we have many other more fun and exciting things to do, but we do this because we feel a calling and duty and hope to help in some way. We aspire to be no longer needed and to retire this blog soon. It was only supposed to be three posts – one on each Haiti mining company, and have ended December 2012. If Fukushima is not properly addressed soon and if the nuclear industry is not stopped we may change to a “death and dying”-theology blog. Much of the rest below still holds.

Update (ca Oct. 26, 2013):  Because of what we perceive as hopeless corruption by the Martelly-Lamothe administration in Haiti and because our readership appears more generally concerned about mining, we are focusing more generally on mining and petroleum for the time being.  We have been  focusing on Judge Jean Serge Joseph’s death because we think it important.  We may or may not add Haiti news in the near future.  We no longer put as many links as we would like because more and more web sites do not allow links.  But, with the information that we provide you can still do your own research, as recommended below.  To better cover more general mining topics we have changed our name from Haiti Mining Awareness to Mining Awareness.  This blog might best be described as a research diary.  Most of the rest below still holds:

Our primary goal is to assemble together information about Mining and Mining Companies in Haiti, and to a lesser extent Petroleum Companies.  We may address additional topics as time allows.

We base our posts on what we feel is a reasonable interpretation of the sometimes contradictory information publicly available, in English and French, on Internet, and occasionally elsewhere.  More rarely we use information in other languages.  Thus, we cannot be held responsible for any omission, misunderstanding or misinterpretation due either to non-existence of information or to information being withheld from the Internet public by Haiti’s Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME), other segments of the Haitian Government, or mining and petroleum companies.  Nor, are we responsible for omissions, misunderstandings, or misinterpretation due to misrepresentation of facts by the Government of Haiti, BME or the mining and petroleum companies, or any other parties.

Although we try to make the information up to date we can make no guarantees in the matter nor that it remain so.

As explained above, the posts are based on reasonable interpretation, of sometimes contradictory, and often sparce information, made available on Internet and analysed to the best of our ability, given time constraints.

In fact, we make no guarantees at all, as regards the accuracy of the materials, outside that we have done the best we could to assure accuracy.  We also reserve the right to express our opinions and to amuse ourselves with this blog, as we see fit.  We encourage the reader to do his or her own research and provide internet links to help in this endeavor.  We hope that the reader concludes, with us, that Haiti [and the world] desperately needs trees and agriculture and not mines.

This blog is in loving memory of those Haitians who have been killed since 1991, whether inside or outside of Haiti, due to their attempts to speak the truth about Haiti, and their quest for democracy and justice in Haiti.  We dedicate this blog to them; to William Wallace; to the original Highlanders, chased from their homes; and to the People of the Black Hills/Victims of Wounded Knee.

We are 100 % voluntary, and, unlike the Mining Companies and Haitian elites, have no vested interests.