Uppity Wisconsin

We’re diving deep into “geek world” today with a story that combines economic hardball, the periodic table of the elements, and a barely noticed provision of the Defense Authorization Act that seeks to break a monopoly which today gives China near-absolute control over the materials that make cell phones, electric cars, wind turbines, and pretty much every other tool of modern life possible.

If we successfully break the monopoly, we’ll be able to create millions of new manufacturing jobs in this country—and if we don’t, somebody else owns the 21st Century. Ironically, the global warming we’re trying to fight with new green technologies might be an ally in our efforts to make those very same green technologies happen.

There’s a revolution in industrial processing going on, rare earths are at the center of it all...and in today’s story, the revolution will be televised.

Famed journalist I.F. Stone warned "All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed."

Like in many other aspects of government, the Bush administration has veered to the extreme in its mendacity.

Guantánamo Bay holds only the worst of the worst, the administration repeatedly assured the American public after preventing examination of the evidence holding the accused.

Turns out the administration (as McClatchy news demonstrated in its America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men in mid-June) is the worst of the worst in its commitment to bald-faced lying.

Cheney and others in the GOP, those HI-Larious pranksters, are claiming China is drilling for oil 50 miles off the coast of Florida.

But hey, when you put the words "Iraq" and "9-11" together in the same sentence enough times, you get 70% of the U.S. public to believe the two are connected, so why not roll with that technique?

With apologies to Electric Kool-Aid Acid and Ken Kesey ...

Here's a fabulous new twist on U.S. relations with China, fresh from the U.S. Justice Dept. this week! 

If you ever questioned why the U.S. stopped shining a light on Chinese human rights violations during trade or economic talks, here's an answer, and a terrific reminder of the types of torture being done in your name.

U.S. Soldiers Do Dirty Work for Chinese Interrogators

Get Uppity! Contact people who represent you and tell them what you think about this.  Maybe something will change. 

Update: Freedom can't blog itself.

Well....it looks as though the FDA should do a stint working as a "casual" at the post office before they venture further than their front door.  It appears that it has finally dawned upon the FDA to bring someone fluent in Chinese to China when they inspect manufacturers of components of pharmaceuticals.

And guess what...?  It looks as though some of those components have made it here to Wisconsin.  Article quote:

"To probe the incident, the agency will also inspect a Baxter facility in Cherry Hill, NJ and at a company supplier Scientific Protein Laboratories of Waunakee, Wisconsin." (Article Link)

A Chicago Tribune article probed a little deeper.  Sounds to me like Scientific Protein owns that "China factory" that the FDA "couldn't find".