David Talbot, the Dulles brothers, Peter Dale Scott, Public Order, Latigo Wind Farm, Global Arms Trade and a poem by Logan Files

At play on The Devil’s Chessboard

POST WWII HISTORY … Ever since high school, I’ve been a history junkie. It was George Orwell in his prophetic novel 1984 that had the book’s tyrannical regime chanting in lockstep, “Who controls the past controls the future.” Hard not to see the truth of that thought. Visit some of our nation’s largest reservations to squelch any doubts … Many of us contest the idea of American exceptionalism, but having been conceived in war and born in peace, I share a narrow slice of American historical perspective than only a handful of us can claim. We have lived our lives amid an isolated peace while watching our dispersed troops mired in foreign wars, trainings, and police actions … Still, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the times of those years after World War II when I first grew up – listening to mom’s kitchen radio speak of Stalin’s death at 5 and seeing at 7 my first TV image, which happened to be the atomic bomb blast at the Bikini Island test site …. But it’s taken David Talbot’s The Devil’s Chessboard (HarperCollins, 2015) to clarify the murk of the recent past with its intentional mud-making and trap-door narratives. I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the cabal of elite interests that ran what historian Peter Dale Scott took to calling our “deep politics.” I may not have understood exactly who had the Kennedys killed, but I knew it wasn’t the “official” line. I knew that the Gulf of Tonkin falsification at the start of the Vietnam War, like the Weapons of Mass Destruction falsification at the start of the Iraq War, were far too convenient excuses not to have been at least “helped along” if not entirely fabricated … Still, it took Talbot’s book to really understand the insidious dark gloves of the Dulles Brothers in America after the Second World War -- Nixon’s rise to power, McCarthyism, the creation of the CIA, the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran and Arbenz in Guatemala, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. The list goes on & on … No two men have done more harm to the world and America’s role in it, at the behest of the 1%, than John Foster and Allan Dulles. This is history’s indictment. Be vigilant. Read this book. Know what to expect in our future … Highly recommended.

PUBLIC ORDER … Disorderly conduct at public meetings disrupt the public process. Those who run meetings have to balance the responsibility to meet an agenda of public items to be discussed and decided upon, with the people’s right to be heard and give witness. And those who attend meetings to listen or give comment have to act civilly and follow the rules of the Board, such as not speaking without being recognized by the Chair and addressing questions to the Board and not other audience members … San Miguel County, like other public entities, has its own rules of responsible conduct at public meetings. The Chair always has the right to gavel quiet any disturbance for the good of the order. And the need for quiet during deliberations is even more acute when the Board has someone participating by phone … Everyone realizes that sometimes very controversial issues are discussed in public meetings (or public hearings, which are much more formal and have quasi-judicial rules applied). Emotions can run high. The need for order is essential … All our citizens and outside observers are always welcome to come join us for public meetings. At every meeting of the San Miguel County Board of Commissioners, we try to reserve a 15-min. space near the end of the public agenda for public discussion. There’s no limit on topics – things discussed earlier in the day or something completely different -- although there is a time limit on discussion. But if the issue is important enough, the Board could decide to agendize the matter at a later date … In San Miguel County you should expect to be treated fairly and equally in public meetings, and reciprocally we would ask our citizens to be respectful of the County’s orderly process.

ODDITEMS … Been over to see the giant turbines in Monticello? The Latigo Wind Farm is visible from Dove Creek and contains 27 massive towers. With an estimated price tag of $125 million, the project is “the largest private investment in San Juan County (UT) history,” according to the Dove Creek Press … As America appears to be closing its “open arms” policy to immigrants, the U.S. continues to lead the world in the global arms trade. According to The Week, America (#1) and Russia (#2) account for 58% of the international arms trade, with China moving up to a weak third with 5% of the market (pushing out former third place Germany.

THE TALKING GOURD

Up To Bat

Selected first up to bat,

Held in tight hands, shaking with fear.

Swing!

Strike one!

Firmly pounded on the plate.

Swing!

Strike two!

Pounded on the plate,

Slung over a shaking shoulder,

The pitcher’s hand recoiled,

In the air, perfect pitch.

Crack!

Advancing through the air,

Over the fence…

Homerun!

Tossed to the ground.

Bubbling excitement inside a strong metal body,

Disrespectfully shoved in a bat bag,

Harshly thrown in the car,

Carelessly tossed in a shed.

Three dents new.

-Logan Files

Montrose