Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Cyclops Critter, Coming Soon To A Town Near You!


Yes, it's real. The photograph and its' subject are genuine: A kitten with one eye, smack-dab in the middle of its' forehead, has been born (and died), and sold to a museum of oddities:

John Adolfi plans to feature the remains of the short-lived kitten, Cy, at the Lost World Museum when it opens later this year. The Phoenix, N.Y., museum will feature such oddities as giant plants and eggs, unique archaeological finds, and remains of deformed animals, he said.

Adolfi believes in creationism - a literal reading of the Bible's story of creation.

He wrote on the museum's Web site that the theory of evolution states that "environmental pressures can lift species from the ape-like creature... to us today. My question is this. Are there really positive mutations?

"All I can see are neutral or negative," said Adolfi, a real-estate agent from Granby, N.Y.

Traci Allen, of Redmond, Ore., said she had sold the cat's remains to Adolfi because she believes "creationism should be an option for people to consider."


The story of this cyclops kitten has been kicking around the internet for a few months amid skepticism as to its' authenticity. The Associated Press resurrected the story last week by reporting the sale of the kitten's corpse to a freak show. Fair enough reason to go back and revisit the story, I guess. But to then use this sad and grisly deformed twist of DNA as a segue to creationism? Mighty big stretch for a news article.

The reporter didn't have to go far to find a more compelling, relevant and timely topic in the news with which to link this story. Seeing where the kitten and its' owner hail from, it's practically immoral and professionally derelict for a news organization not to consider what may have caused the deformity and are more on the way?:


Bush and the Republican-Majority-In-Congress (RMIC) have put 'all things nuclear - MUST GET DONE!' at the top of their 'To Do' list before they face the voters in November and lose control of government.

From a state-of-the-art, massive and extensive new nuclear warhead program (costing $billions and manufacturing thousands of warheads) that is unnecessary and wrong-policy, to brand-spanking-new nuclear power plants all over the U.S. The first nuclear power plants to be built in the U.S. in 30 years. No new nuclear power plants have been planned since the core meltdown at Three Mile Island just south of Harrisburg, Pennsylvanis in 1979 woke Americans up to the risks that even the best managed nuclear power facilities are vulnerable to. The consequences of nuclear mistakes can be catastrophic, but even when there are no mistakes or accidents, nobody has solved the problem of what to do with the radioactive waste that is generated from a nuclear reactor:
"Inherently safe" reactors are a myth. An accident can occur in any nuclear reactor, causing the release of large quantities of deadly fission products into the environment.

Even during normal operation, radioactive materials are regularly discharged into the air and water.

One of the biggest problems facing the nuclear industry is what to do with the radioactive waste generated in a nuclear reactor.

Large quantities of low and intermediate level wastes in liquid or solid form require a disposal route, and the highly radioactive spent fuel rods have to be isolated from the biosphere for hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of years.

The nuclear industry has had almost 50 years to find a solution to the nuclear waste problem and has failed to do so.

Undeterred, Bush and the RMIC have unleashed the world's top public relations campaign and propaganda experts to wage a blitzkrieg campaign ("We debated it, it's decided, next!"), leapfrogging over all opposition.

Republicans have ended the 'study and debate phase' of nuclear vs. wind/solar/wave/biomass/geothermal/renewable-sustainable energy before it ever got started. They have now shifted into action mode, moving 'all things nuclear' onto the fast track. They are rushing to get all of the contracts signed, break ground on nuclear power plants and begin production on a new generation of nuclear weapons before Americans realize what has happened. When it will all be next to impossible to stop, because it will be perceived as "a done deal," "futile, don't bother to try."

Americans will discover that we were excluded from the debate, committed by a very few in power to a course on an unalterable path that can only doom life on earth. We will then have to wait for the catastrophic to occur, to shock us out of our passive acquiescence. The inevitable nuclear accident, or the 'mushroom clouds' of war and terrorist attacks that are certain to happen. Not if, but when, here at home, on U.S. soil. Because we have been unwilling to assume our responsibility as citizens in a democratic republic and turn these people out of power.

We're already being prepared for our imminent 'unpeaceful' use of nuclear power - not as victims, but as aggressors. The Bush-Cheney energy policy ('U.S. Energy Independence By Use of Threats, Intimidation and Nuclear Bombs, to Dominate and Control the World's Resources') calls for our establishing a permanent presence and control over the Middle East. Once again in our 60-year history, the U.S. shall hold the distinction of being the only nation on the planet to have ever used nuclear weapons on others. Within weeks, the rhetoric will escalate as the neocons in Bush's administration try to convince us that Iraq Iran poses an imminent threat to America. Bush plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons.

As Bush raises the stakes to nuclear proportions, when are Americans going to take a stand and say "Enough!"

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