TOO STUPID OR TOO EVIL- You Pick
This Mayberry Mafia, aka President Huckelberry Awe Shucks does a really good Act at playing "we didn't know" dumb. If you believe this Act I have a bridge in Brooklyn and a palace in Bagdad I want to sell you.
As we approach the Fifth Anniversary of 9-11 and the first Anniversary of Katrina we should really reflect more deeply on those events than media shine has portrayed-because the media of course has a brilliant habit of being propaganda tools of the Administration.
Here are questions you should be asking yourself to determine whether we have a President/Vice President and Posse that is either too stupid to be in office or too evil. You pick.
Katrina - UNACCEPTABLE INCOMPETENCE OR MALICIOUS PLANNED NEGLIGENCE
1. These are Federal Levies, managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. If the Army Corps of Engineers didn't see a Hurricane coming when weather.com, military satelites and all news stations had it tracked from the time it was floating around off shore for a week, how good is the Army at protecting other installations? Are they all scratching their posteriors wondering "how big will the waves be billybob?" How many years did they have to measure the levies? Too stupid or too evil?
2. Why did they take funding away from the levy maintenance in years preceeding Katrina? Too stupid or too evil?
3. Noah built an Ark before the flood hit. Bush scrubbed for brush on the ranch, went golfing (fishing?). Then while thousands of people and half a city were floating away he helicoptered around for a wave-about. Too stupid or too evil?
4. They turned away first responders, supplies and got in a funding and org chart battle while thousands of people and half a city floated away. Too stupid or too evil?
5. The National Guard wasn't called in immediately during or after the storm to evacuate people in every amphibious military vehicle made, and public buses were not ordered from surrounding states down to retrieve refugee residents of the Dome where people actually died waiting for aid. Too stupid or too evil.
They could write volumes of "incompetency" on Katrina- and they have, notably in a book called DISASTER by a couple of Wall Street Journal journalists including Robert Block. It tracks the disassembling, denials, lies and classic "we didn't know" horse dung.
SEPTEMBER 11
You are going to see a lot of replay of the footage of the Towers collapsing while they trot out Gulianni. Look closely. There were three buildings. Tell me whether you see and hear explosions. Look at the internal pancake implosion of the towers. You can actually hear an explosion after the plane hit the first Tower and was there for minutes. Then ask yourself the following questions and tell me-too stupid or too evil.
1. The 9-11 widows testified at the hearings that they did their own research and one of them turned up a governmental memo in which it was explicitly noted that the scenario of a plane hitting a building had to be anticipated as a terrorist threat. The CIA and NSA knew that by 2000 Al Queda had taken over the Afghanistan national airline Ariana Airlines. (http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1996ariana) In June 1985, Shiite Muslim gunmen seized a TWA passenger jet, forcing it to Beirut. They demanded the release of 700 Arabs held by Israel.A plane did hit one of the Towers in 1992 or 1993 (remember!) and did not bring down any Tower much less all three of them. This time three towers buildings (the Twin Towers and building 7 of the WTC) went down with
two aircraft. Condolezza Rice however states that an airplane hitting the Tower was something no one could foresee. Too stupid or too evil?
2. The FAA, Federal Aviation Authority learned of hijacking and waited (operating under some apparent stand down orders) before alerting the Air Force to scramble jets over Langley and elsewhere. Too stupid or too evil?
3. Once the FAA did alert the Air Force to scramble fighter jets over Langley, they went the wrong direction over the Atlantic instead of toward the Pentagon. Too stupid or too evil?
4. They have never shown actual footage of aircraft penetrating the Pentagon. They have showed a smoking smoltering hole more consistent with a missile attack. Too stupid or too evil?
5. Our intelligence is apparently so crack it detected non-existent WMD in Iraq half a planet away, but we couldn't detect planes off radar heading for the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in time to do anything about it until they actually landed inside them. Whooops! Too stupid or too evil?
What is the pinnacle of Evil? What is the word for that -
Vile? Reprobate? Heinous? Criminal? There isn't a word strong enough to express the magnitude of it-Satanic itself doesn't come close.
One explanation for the fact that we have done next to nothing on the real security of the Homeland on container checks, liquid explosive detection, port and rail security, etc. is because they don't need to do anything to ensure we won't be hit on the homeland because Bush isn't going to plan another 9-11 with Saudi Prince Bandar. He only needed one Pearl Harbor to
invade and attack Iraq-a country that never attacked us. All he needed was to torch about 3,000 people in New York to get the country pissed off enough to send their kids to the sandgraves of God forsaken Iraq.
Too stupid, or too Evil?
In either case- the losing suckers have been the American people.
That is going to change. Count my words. You heard it here first.
ONE GOP CONTENDER GETS IT- see, http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082506B.shtml
..........................and direct from the Church that Condi calls home:...............................................
Presbyterian Church publishes 9/11 "conspiracy" theory
Malaysia SunTuesday 8th August, 2006
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s publishing arm has released a book that says President Bush organized New York's Sept. 11 attacks. The decision by the 160-year-old Westminster John Knox Press, the trade and academic publishing imprint of the Presbyterian Publishing Corp., to attribute the attacks on the World Trade Center brings into the U.S. religious mainstream a conspiracy theory long held by the world's jihadists. In 'Christian Faith and the Truth behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action,' author David Ray Griffin calls the United States the world's 'chief embodiment of demonic power, says he initially scoffed at 9/11 conspiracy theories. But after investigating he concluded that the Twin Towers were brought down by controlled demolition, military personnel were given stand-down orders not to intercept hijacked flights and the 9/11 Commission, ostensibly created to uncover the truth behind the events of 9/11, 'simply ignored evidence' that the administration was involved in the attacks. Griffin further asserts that such events such as that of 9/11 are part of a long history of 'false-flag attacks,' attacks orchestrated by governments against their own people to garner popular support for military action. Griffin is a professor at California's Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University, and a codirector of the Center for Process Studies.
"All it takes for Evil to Prevail is for Good Men to do Nothing"
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Not Your Grandfather's Republican Party
To say that the Republican party is experiencing a split is a bit like saying the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 caused a bit of a stir. There are voices of imminent reason, at least philosophically consistent and cogent, like George Will, Chuch Hagel, McLaughlin and sometimes even Pat Buchanan who think that the neo-con pre-emptive lie us into War mentality has undermined Middle East stability and will cause huge backlash domestically. The jury is not out on that one; it has returned and the country thinks it was a disasterous policy. The verdict will be entered in the record in November. Everyone knows it. The repercussion for letting the neo-con
coup hijack the moderate reasoned elements of the party will be that the Democrats likely take back the House and probably the Senate.
Then there are the diehard party loyalists who are banking on GOP fundraising for future elections and so have lost all intellectually honest perspective and speak with forked tongue. They miscalculate.
John McCain has appeal because he can see error, calls it for what it is but is too easy to excuse it and too ready to tote the party line. Its the line that is the problem. He admitted on Meet the Press today that Rumsfeld has presided over a department bumbling through horrendous strategic and basic military errors in misunderstanding the Iraqi insurgency that have cost us billions and thousands of lives. Unlike Hillary, however, he refused to call for his resignation. He expressly affirms every President's right to appoint whomever he likes for as long as he likes. Here, McCain puts party ahead of country, something that he commended Lieberman for allegedly not doing.
Presidents do not, however, have the right to appoint whomever they like for as long as they like regardless of their record of incompetency because Presidents and their cabinet ultimately must serve the country not just party, and when their actions have substantially damaged the country, it is the People's job in the form of their Congressional representatives to call them to account and demand they be removed. Because the Republicans have lost all responsible self-regulation in this calling to account, the People are insisting loudly that someone does and they will clean House in November.
This is not a new concept. McCain is to be applauded for his bill condemning Torture, and criticism of the prosecution of the war. But he comes short in not demanding accountability from where the buck has to stop.
Hillary is to be applauded loudly for her position, regardless of how late she came to it, that Rumsfeld should resign. "Oh My" indeed. These types of jobs are not your ordinary middle muddle management positions where people for sheer croonyism should be allowed for buddy buddy comraderie sake to keep them for eight years when they screw up that badly and devastatingly hurt that many people in the deceitful process (destroying villages, lives, towns, etc.). They are ultimately employees of the people, not just of the President who needs to be reminded that he himself is but a public servant. How long did they really think people would stand for being bold face lied to their faces?
"We have no Kings in America" as the Michigan judge chided Bush on the warrantless wiretapping. We similarly have no permenant secretaries, cabinet members of heads of departments by fiat, declaration or stubborn intention to excuse the inexcusable. Competency reviews by Congess should be mandatory and regular, and if one fails the review the President owes it to the Nation to flunk him out or allow him to graciously resign.
When someone as devastatingly pathetic, either by intentional malfeasance, deceit, negligence, misjudgment or a combination of all the above, as Rumsfeld's record persistently demonstrates, it is simply long overdue time for him to go.
Now a word on wireless wiretapping. Of course it is wildly blatantly completely flatly unconstitutional. The fact that someone connected with Al Quada may be calling into the country provides NO-ZERO- justification for the fact that my phones or any true American living in America's phones click off the hook on the mere suspicion that I know someone overseas. The President does not have the authority to listen to my private personal or professional conversations unless there is a threshhold basis or reason for suspecting something criminally evidentiary will result. This country has since its foundation established the right to be secure in your person without governmental intrusion. The colonialists and revolutionary soldiers fought hard and gave their lives to throw off the British practice of quartering squatting british soldiers and spies in anyone's home. Bush cannot do it in the name of "national security."
I have a friend who won't talk at all on anything but a landline for fear of all his cell phones being monitored merely because he is a democratic activist attorney who has taken on legal matters against the Administration. This has interrupted needlessly my personal life. I have had emails disappear into the diverted remote server ether compromising potentially my ability to represent clients when I travel overseas. Of course this Bush practice is a horrendous abuse of my right to run my personal and professional life without governmental intrusion. I not only resent it- I think it is a criminal invasion- as if someone E-burglarized me with full governmental duplicity. It is disgusting. E-burglary should be as
criminal as walking into your home and stealing a pile of mail off your desk or walking off with your draft pleadings. The government in legal matters against it should not in the name of national security be allowed to read attorney's emails or listen in on their phone conversations as that fundamentally perverts Justice. If FISA isn't working, then there has to be a legislative solution crafted to meet legitimate national security concerns (as Arlen Specter has insisted), while at the same time safeguaring the basic civil/constitutional rights that make us proudly Americans. Think about it.
coup hijack the moderate reasoned elements of the party will be that the Democrats likely take back the House and probably the Senate.
Then there are the diehard party loyalists who are banking on GOP fundraising for future elections and so have lost all intellectually honest perspective and speak with forked tongue. They miscalculate.
John McCain has appeal because he can see error, calls it for what it is but is too easy to excuse it and too ready to tote the party line. Its the line that is the problem. He admitted on Meet the Press today that Rumsfeld has presided over a department bumbling through horrendous strategic and basic military errors in misunderstanding the Iraqi insurgency that have cost us billions and thousands of lives. Unlike Hillary, however, he refused to call for his resignation. He expressly affirms every President's right to appoint whomever he likes for as long as he likes. Here, McCain puts party ahead of country, something that he commended Lieberman for allegedly not doing.
Presidents do not, however, have the right to appoint whomever they like for as long as they like regardless of their record of incompetency because Presidents and their cabinet ultimately must serve the country not just party, and when their actions have substantially damaged the country, it is the People's job in the form of their Congressional representatives to call them to account and demand they be removed. Because the Republicans have lost all responsible self-regulation in this calling to account, the People are insisting loudly that someone does and they will clean House in November.
This is not a new concept. McCain is to be applauded for his bill condemning Torture, and criticism of the prosecution of the war. But he comes short in not demanding accountability from where the buck has to stop.
Hillary is to be applauded loudly for her position, regardless of how late she came to it, that Rumsfeld should resign. "Oh My" indeed. These types of jobs are not your ordinary middle muddle management positions where people for sheer croonyism should be allowed for buddy buddy comraderie sake to keep them for eight years when they screw up that badly and devastatingly hurt that many people in the deceitful process (destroying villages, lives, towns, etc.). They are ultimately employees of the people, not just of the President who needs to be reminded that he himself is but a public servant. How long did they really think people would stand for being bold face lied to their faces?
"We have no Kings in America" as the Michigan judge chided Bush on the warrantless wiretapping. We similarly have no permenant secretaries, cabinet members of heads of departments by fiat, declaration or stubborn intention to excuse the inexcusable. Competency reviews by Congess should be mandatory and regular, and if one fails the review the President owes it to the Nation to flunk him out or allow him to graciously resign.
When someone as devastatingly pathetic, either by intentional malfeasance, deceit, negligence, misjudgment or a combination of all the above, as Rumsfeld's record persistently demonstrates, it is simply long overdue time for him to go.
Now a word on wireless wiretapping. Of course it is wildly blatantly completely flatly unconstitutional. The fact that someone connected with Al Quada may be calling into the country provides NO-ZERO- justification for the fact that my phones or any true American living in America's phones click off the hook on the mere suspicion that I know someone overseas. The President does not have the authority to listen to my private personal or professional conversations unless there is a threshhold basis or reason for suspecting something criminally evidentiary will result. This country has since its foundation established the right to be secure in your person without governmental intrusion. The colonialists and revolutionary soldiers fought hard and gave their lives to throw off the British practice of quartering squatting british soldiers and spies in anyone's home. Bush cannot do it in the name of "national security."
I have a friend who won't talk at all on anything but a landline for fear of all his cell phones being monitored merely because he is a democratic activist attorney who has taken on legal matters against the Administration. This has interrupted needlessly my personal life. I have had emails disappear into the diverted remote server ether compromising potentially my ability to represent clients when I travel overseas. Of course this Bush practice is a horrendous abuse of my right to run my personal and professional life without governmental intrusion. I not only resent it- I think it is a criminal invasion- as if someone E-burglarized me with full governmental duplicity. It is disgusting. E-burglary should be as
criminal as walking into your home and stealing a pile of mail off your desk or walking off with your draft pleadings. The government in legal matters against it should not in the name of national security be allowed to read attorney's emails or listen in on their phone conversations as that fundamentally perverts Justice. If FISA isn't working, then there has to be a legislative solution crafted to meet legitimate national security concerns (as Arlen Specter has insisted), while at the same time safeguaring the basic civil/constitutional rights that make us proudly Americans. Think about it.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
BOYCOTT COULTER EVERYTHING
Editorial Rant- Bile Barbie reappears -like a bad case of Herpes.
Here is the deal. I don't get to pick the Google Ads up top. They just appear from the twisted mind of some Google marketing madman. Apparently one of them has a hard on for Bile Barbie. She just keeps popping up in the Google Ad section above like a bad case of Herpes. She won't go away-like Aids. She has merchandised herself into a poster, a blog, a doll, books that Random House was stupid enough to pay an advance for which it must now recoup by infecting all google ads like a virus. My favorite one is from the On Line Human whatever rag that still shamelessly runs her column like diarreah "Get Ann Coulter-Free." What a bargain- does she usually charge $200 a trick?
Maybe Google Ads just pick up on words with some software program so that if Coulter's name appears with some statistical regularity it assumes that means people want to hear and see more of her instead of the opposite. Kind of like make War to find Peace logic. In that case they should tell us so we are sure to write "Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush" ten times for every one time we mention that unmentionable, aka -the G.O.Twiggie.
I think any and everything Ann is morally, aesthetically and literarily repugnant and I question the cranial matter of anyone who reads her tripe. I am shocked that anyone lets her speak to impressionable young women. I usually am charitable to DG sorority types at Cornell as one of my best friends at Cornell was one. I even hung out at their House.
But Coulter is just a shameless Murdock Media Harlot who is shaming my Alma Mater, profession, religion,and gender. There isn't a kind thought swimming in the polluted air in her head. I imagine her getting weeds instead of flowers on her birthday, because she thinks they smell better. I think she should figure out now what use she can make with the coal she will get in her stocking for that absurdist vitriol called "Godless" which title she got from her x-rays. For those who missed it, by the way, she announced at that Claire Booth Luce gig to all the stary eyed women that she would NOT over turn Roe v. Wade if she was on the Bench (in your dreams Adams Apple)- I dare you to repeat that to Flynn.
I am the same age as Coulter and we both went to Cornell more or less the same time. We grew up with that Farrah Fawset beach poster everywhere-something that obviously made a great impression on her. She has apparently fantasized herself into being the Farrah Fawset of Young Republicans scantily clad in spagetti straps on the impressionable Young American Republicans (or whatever) webpage. Those poor kids.
She says things that should cause normal people to be encouraged to therapize for their sheer deceitfulness and vitriolic bile that makes me wonder who is perscribing her Zoloft. She needs it readjusted especially after that sad harpie comment.
I have more respect for Angelina Jolie, and my El Salvadoran maid than I do for Miss Ann. At least they can Act and have real children.
Apparently she and her column have been kicked out of USA Today in favor of Jonah Goldberg, an Arizona Newspaper, some Jewish Weekly online journal and others. Only Fox will have her on. And who pays any attention to the Fox Hole?
All traces of her Ads would be kicked out of this site if Google read their customer complaint email and took it seriously. If they ignore me for another week, expect that this Pilgrims, Patriots and Prophets will come to you from another web location and URL where Google Ads and Ann Coulter (Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush) are not invited.
My advice; Boycott any and everything Coulter. Spend the money instead on something more worthwhile like gas for your car or a Guiness.
Better yet, spend it supporting the
Senatorial Campaigns of
Ned Lamont- a true Connecticut Patriot
and all Democratic Senatorial and Congressional Contenders.
And paaaaalease.....don't you dare accuse me of Coulter-envy- I can buy a bottle of Lauriel blonde for under $25. (check the eyebrows people -it isn't real)
Anyone so insecure that they have to merchandise themself into a Republican poster girl for japanese hair straightener and Gap spaghetti straps clearly had a troubled youth.
Here is the deal. I don't get to pick the Google Ads up top. They just appear from the twisted mind of some Google marketing madman. Apparently one of them has a hard on for Bile Barbie. She just keeps popping up in the Google Ad section above like a bad case of Herpes. She won't go away-like Aids. She has merchandised herself into a poster, a blog, a doll, books that Random House was stupid enough to pay an advance for which it must now recoup by infecting all google ads like a virus. My favorite one is from the On Line Human whatever rag that still shamelessly runs her column like diarreah "Get Ann Coulter-Free." What a bargain- does she usually charge $200 a trick?
Maybe Google Ads just pick up on words with some software program so that if Coulter's name appears with some statistical regularity it assumes that means people want to hear and see more of her instead of the opposite. Kind of like make War to find Peace logic. In that case they should tell us so we are sure to write "Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush" ten times for every one time we mention that unmentionable, aka -the G.O.Twiggie.
I think any and everything Ann is morally, aesthetically and literarily repugnant and I question the cranial matter of anyone who reads her tripe. I am shocked that anyone lets her speak to impressionable young women. I usually am charitable to DG sorority types at Cornell as one of my best friends at Cornell was one. I even hung out at their House.
But Coulter is just a shameless Murdock Media Harlot who is shaming my Alma Mater, profession, religion,and gender. There isn't a kind thought swimming in the polluted air in her head. I imagine her getting weeds instead of flowers on her birthday, because she thinks they smell better. I think she should figure out now what use she can make with the coal she will get in her stocking for that absurdist vitriol called "Godless" which title she got from her x-rays. For those who missed it, by the way, she announced at that Claire Booth Luce gig to all the stary eyed women that she would NOT over turn Roe v. Wade if she was on the Bench (in your dreams Adams Apple)- I dare you to repeat that to Flynn.
I am the same age as Coulter and we both went to Cornell more or less the same time. We grew up with that Farrah Fawset beach poster everywhere-something that obviously made a great impression on her. She has apparently fantasized herself into being the Farrah Fawset of Young Republicans scantily clad in spagetti straps on the impressionable Young American Republicans (or whatever) webpage. Those poor kids.
She says things that should cause normal people to be encouraged to therapize for their sheer deceitfulness and vitriolic bile that makes me wonder who is perscribing her Zoloft. She needs it readjusted especially after that sad harpie comment.
I have more respect for Angelina Jolie, and my El Salvadoran maid than I do for Miss Ann. At least they can Act and have real children.
Apparently she and her column have been kicked out of USA Today in favor of Jonah Goldberg, an Arizona Newspaper, some Jewish Weekly online journal and others. Only Fox will have her on. And who pays any attention to the Fox Hole?
All traces of her Ads would be kicked out of this site if Google read their customer complaint email and took it seriously. If they ignore me for another week, expect that this Pilgrims, Patriots and Prophets will come to you from another web location and URL where Google Ads and Ann Coulter (Impeach Bush Impeach Bush Impeach Bush) are not invited.
My advice; Boycott any and everything Coulter. Spend the money instead on something more worthwhile like gas for your car or a Guiness.
Better yet, spend it supporting the
Senatorial Campaigns of
Ned Lamont- a true Connecticut Patriot
and all Democratic Senatorial and Congressional Contenders.
And paaaaalease.....don't you dare accuse me of Coulter-envy- I can buy a bottle of Lauriel blonde for under $25. (check the eyebrows people -it isn't real)
Anyone so insecure that they have to merchandise themself into a Republican poster girl for japanese hair straightener and Gap spaghetti straps clearly had a troubled youth.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Paul Craig Roberts speaks-Listen Here!
Key Reagan advisor Hon. Paul Roberts:
“Gullible Americans have been duped by the 9/11 Hoax... Wise up -- the world is
laughing at you."
Who is Paul Craig Roberts?
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Ronald Reagan (awarded the Treasury Department’s Meritorious Service Award for "his outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States economic policy.")
Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute.
Former editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal and columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service
Held the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1982 –1993)
Distinguished Fellow at the Cato Institute from 1993 to 1996
Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy
Nationally syndicated columnist for Investor’s Business Daily
Winner of the 1992 Warren Brookes Award for Excellence in Journalism
Ranked “One of the top seven journalists” by the Forbes Media Guide (1993)
Author of, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, and Marx’s Theory of Exchange, Alienation and Crisis
Dr. Roberts was educated at the Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S.), the University of Virginia (Ph.D.), the University of California at Berkeley and Oxford University where he was a member of Merton College.
He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, The Dictionary of International Biography, Outstanding People of the Twentieth Century, and 1000 Leaders of World Influence.
Could anyone in their right mind consider this man a crackpot “conspiracy theorist”?
___________________________________________________________________________
Gullible Americans
By Paul Craig Roberts
Information Clearing House
08/14/06
I was in China when a July Harris Poll reported that 50 percent of Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when Bush invaded that country, and that 64 percent of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had strong links with Al Qaeda.
The Chinese leaders and intellectuals with whom I was meeting were incredulous. How could a majority of the population in an allegedly free country with an allegedly free press be so totally misinformed?
The only answer I could give the Chinese is that Americans would have been the perfect population for Mao and the Gang of Four, because Americans believe anything their government tells them.
Americans never check any facts. Who do you know, for example, who has even read the Report of the 9/11 Commission, much less checked the alleged facts reported in that document. I can answer for you. You don’t know anyone who has read the report or checked the facts.
The two co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission Report, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, have just released a new book, “Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission.” Kean and Hamilton reveal that the commission suppressed the fact that Muslim ire toward the US is due to US support for Israel’s persecution and dispossession of the Palestinians, not to our “freedom and democracy” as Bush propagandistically claims. Kean and Hamilton also reveal that the US military committed perjury and lied about its failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. The commission even debated referring the military’s lies to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Why should we assume that these admissions are the only coverups and lies in the 9/11 Commission Report?
How do you know that 9/11 was a Muslim terrorist plot? How do you know that THREE World Trade Center buildings collapsed because TWO were hit by airliners? You only “know” because the government gave you the explanation of what you saw on TV. (Did you even know that three WTC buildings collapsed?)
I still remember the enlightenment I experienced as a student in Russian Studies when I learned that the Czarist secret police would set off bombs and then blame those whom they wanted to arrest.
When Hitler seized dictatorial power in 1933, he told the Germans that his new powers were made necessary by a communist terrorist attack on the Reichstag. When Hitler started World War II by invading Poland, he told the Germans that Poland had crossed the frontier and attacked Germany.
Governments lie all the time--especially governments staffed by neoconservatives whose intellectual godfather, Leo Strauss, taught them that it is permissible to deceive the public in order to achieve their agenda.
Some readers will write to me to say that they saw a TV documentary or read a magazine article verifying the government’s explanation of 9/11. But, of course, these Americans did not check the facts either--and neither did the people who made the documentary and wrote the magazine article.
Scientists and engineers, such as Clemson University Professor of Engineering Dr. Judy Woods and BYU Professor of Physics Dr. Steven Jones, have raised compelling questions about the official account of the collapse of the three WTC buildings. The basic problem for the government's account is that the buildings are known to have fallen at freefall speed, a fact that is inconsistent with the government's "pancaking" theory in which debris from above collapsed the floors below. If the buildings actually "pancaked," then each floor below would have offered resistance to the floors above, and the elapsed time would have been much longer. These experts have also calculated that the buildings did not have sufficient gravitational energy to accommodate the government's theory of the collapse. It is certainly a known and non-controversial fact among physicists and engineers that the only way buildings can collapse at freefall speed into their own footprints is by engineered demolition. Explosives are used to remove the support of floors below before the debris from above arrives. Otherwise, resistance is encountered and the time required for fall increases. Engineered demolition also explains the symmetrical collapse of the buildings into their own foot prints. As it is otherwise improbable for every point in floors below to weaken uniformly, "pancaking" would result in asymmetrical collapse as some elements of the floor would give sooner than others.
Scientific evidence is a tough thing for the American public to handle, and the government knows it. The government can rely on people dismissing things that they cannot understand as "conspiracy theory." But if you are inclined to try to make up your own mind, you can find Dr. Jones' and Dr. Woods’ papers, which have been formally presented to their peers at scientific meetings, on line at http://www.st911.org/
Experts have also pointed out that the buildings' massive steel skeletons comprised a massive heat sink that wicked away the heat from the limited, short-lived fires, thus preventing a heat buildup. Experts also point out that the short-lived, scattered, low-intensity fires could barely reach half the melting point of steel even if they burned all day instead of merely an hour.
Don't ask me to tell you what happened on 9/11. All I know is that the official account of the buildings' collapse is improbable.
Now we are being told another improbable tale. Muslim terrorists in London and Pakistan were caught plotting to commit mass murder by smuggling bottles of explosive liquids on board airliners in hand luggage. Baby formula, shampoo and water bottles allegedly contained the tools of suicide bombers.
How do we know about this plot? Well, the police learned it from an “Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago.” And how did someone so far away know what British-born people in London were plotting?
Do you really believe that Western and Israeli intelligence services, which were too incompetent to prevent the 9/11 attack, can uncover a London plot by capturing a person on the Afghan border in Pakistan? Why would “an Islamic militant” rat on such a plot even if he knew of it?
More probable explanations of the “plot” are readily available. According to the August 11 Wayne Madsen Report, informed sources in the UK report that “the Tony Blair government, under siege by a Labor Party revolt, cleverly cooked up a new ‘terror’ scare to avert the public’s eyes away from Blair’s increasing political woes. British law enforcement, neocon and intelligence operatives in the US, Israel, and Britain, and Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire cooked up the terrorist plot, liberally borrowing from the failed 1995 ‘Oplan Bjinka’ plot by Pakistan- and Philippines-based terrorist Ramzi Ahmad Yousef to crash 11 trans-Pacific airliners bound from Asia to the US.”
There are other plausible explanations. For example, our puppet in Pakistan decided to arrest some people who were a threat to him. With Bush’s commitment to “building democracy in the Middle East,” our puppet can’t arrest his political enemies without cause, so he lays the blame on a plot.
Any testimony against Muslim plotters by “an Islamic militant” is certain to have been bought and paid for.
Or consider this explanation. Under the Nuremberg standard, Bush and Blair are war criminals. Bush is so worried that he will be held accountable that he has sent his attorney general to consult with the Republican Congress to work out legislation to protect Bush retroactively from his violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Tony Blair is in more danger of finding himself in the dock. Britain is signatory to a treaty that, if justice is done, will place Blair before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
What better justification for the two war criminals’ illegal actions than the need to foil dastardly plots by Muslims recruited in sting operations by Western intelligence services? The more Bush and Blair can convince their publics that terrorist danger abounds, the less likely Bush and Blair are ever to be held accountable for their crimes.
But surely, some readers might object, our great moral leaders wouldn’t do something political like that!
They most certainly would. As Joshua Micah Marshall wrote in the July 7 issue of Time magazine, the suspicion is “quite reasonable” that “the Bush Administration orchestrates its terror alerts and arrests to goose the GOP’s poll numbers.”
Joshua Micah Marshall proves his conclusion by examining the barrage of color-coded terror alerts, none of which were real, and, yes, it all fits with political needs.
And don’t forget the plot unearthed in Miami to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Described by Vice President Cheney as a “very real threat,” the plot turned out to be nothing more than a few harmless whackos recruited by an FBI agent sent out to organize a sting.
There was also the “foiled plot” to blow up the Holland Tunnel and flood downtown New York City with sea water. Thinking New Orleans, the FBI invented this plot without realizing that New York City is above sea level. Of course, most Americans didn’t realize it either.
For six years the Bush regime has been able to count on the ignorant and naive American public to believe whatever tale that is told them. American gullibility has yet to fail the Bush regime.
The government has an endless number of conspiracy theories, but only people who question the government’s conspiracies are derided for “having a conspiracy theory.”
The implication is even worse if we assume that the explosive bottle plot is genuine. It means that America and Britain by their own aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by enabling Israel’s war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, have created such hatred that Muslims, who identify with Bush’s, Blair’s, and Israel’s victims, are plotting retaliation.
But Bush is prepared. He has taught his untutored public that “they hate us for our freedom and democracy.”
Gentle reader, wise up. The entire world is laughing at you.
“Gullible Americans have been duped by the 9/11 Hoax... Wise up -- the world is
laughing at you."
Who is Paul Craig Roberts?
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Ronald Reagan (awarded the Treasury Department’s Meritorious Service Award for "his outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States economic policy.")
Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and Research Fellow at the Independent Institute.
Former editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal and columnist for Business Week and the Scripps Howard News Service
Held the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (1982 –1993)
Distinguished Fellow at the Cato Institute from 1993 to 1996
Olin Fellow at the Institute for Political Economy
Nationally syndicated columnist for Investor’s Business Daily
Winner of the 1992 Warren Brookes Award for Excellence in Journalism
Ranked “One of the top seven journalists” by the Forbes Media Guide (1993)
Author of, The Tyranny of Good Intentions, and Marx’s Theory of Exchange, Alienation and Crisis
Dr. Roberts was educated at the Georgia Institute of Technology (B.S.), the University of Virginia (Ph.D.), the University of California at Berkeley and Oxford University where he was a member of Merton College.
He is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, The Dictionary of International Biography, Outstanding People of the Twentieth Century, and 1000 Leaders of World Influence.
Could anyone in their right mind consider this man a crackpot “conspiracy theorist”?
___________________________________________________________________________
Gullible Americans
By Paul Craig Roberts
Information Clearing House
08/14/06
I was in China when a July Harris Poll reported that 50 percent of Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when Bush invaded that country, and that 64 percent of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein had strong links with Al Qaeda.
The Chinese leaders and intellectuals with whom I was meeting were incredulous. How could a majority of the population in an allegedly free country with an allegedly free press be so totally misinformed?
The only answer I could give the Chinese is that Americans would have been the perfect population for Mao and the Gang of Four, because Americans believe anything their government tells them.
Americans never check any facts. Who do you know, for example, who has even read the Report of the 9/11 Commission, much less checked the alleged facts reported in that document. I can answer for you. You don’t know anyone who has read the report or checked the facts.
The two co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission Report, Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton, have just released a new book, “Without Precedent: The Inside Story of the 9/11 Commission.” Kean and Hamilton reveal that the commission suppressed the fact that Muslim ire toward the US is due to US support for Israel’s persecution and dispossession of the Palestinians, not to our “freedom and democracy” as Bush propagandistically claims. Kean and Hamilton also reveal that the US military committed perjury and lied about its failure to intercept the hijacked airliners. The commission even debated referring the military’s lies to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. Why should we assume that these admissions are the only coverups and lies in the 9/11 Commission Report?
How do you know that 9/11 was a Muslim terrorist plot? How do you know that THREE World Trade Center buildings collapsed because TWO were hit by airliners? You only “know” because the government gave you the explanation of what you saw on TV. (Did you even know that three WTC buildings collapsed?)
I still remember the enlightenment I experienced as a student in Russian Studies when I learned that the Czarist secret police would set off bombs and then blame those whom they wanted to arrest.
When Hitler seized dictatorial power in 1933, he told the Germans that his new powers were made necessary by a communist terrorist attack on the Reichstag. When Hitler started World War II by invading Poland, he told the Germans that Poland had crossed the frontier and attacked Germany.
Governments lie all the time--especially governments staffed by neoconservatives whose intellectual godfather, Leo Strauss, taught them that it is permissible to deceive the public in order to achieve their agenda.
Some readers will write to me to say that they saw a TV documentary or read a magazine article verifying the government’s explanation of 9/11. But, of course, these Americans did not check the facts either--and neither did the people who made the documentary and wrote the magazine article.
Scientists and engineers, such as Clemson University Professor of Engineering Dr. Judy Woods and BYU Professor of Physics Dr. Steven Jones, have raised compelling questions about the official account of the collapse of the three WTC buildings. The basic problem for the government's account is that the buildings are known to have fallen at freefall speed, a fact that is inconsistent with the government's "pancaking" theory in which debris from above collapsed the floors below. If the buildings actually "pancaked," then each floor below would have offered resistance to the floors above, and the elapsed time would have been much longer. These experts have also calculated that the buildings did not have sufficient gravitational energy to accommodate the government's theory of the collapse. It is certainly a known and non-controversial fact among physicists and engineers that the only way buildings can collapse at freefall speed into their own footprints is by engineered demolition. Explosives are used to remove the support of floors below before the debris from above arrives. Otherwise, resistance is encountered and the time required for fall increases. Engineered demolition also explains the symmetrical collapse of the buildings into their own foot prints. As it is otherwise improbable for every point in floors below to weaken uniformly, "pancaking" would result in asymmetrical collapse as some elements of the floor would give sooner than others.
Scientific evidence is a tough thing for the American public to handle, and the government knows it. The government can rely on people dismissing things that they cannot understand as "conspiracy theory." But if you are inclined to try to make up your own mind, you can find Dr. Jones' and Dr. Woods’ papers, which have been formally presented to their peers at scientific meetings, on line at http://www.st911.org/
Experts have also pointed out that the buildings' massive steel skeletons comprised a massive heat sink that wicked away the heat from the limited, short-lived fires, thus preventing a heat buildup. Experts also point out that the short-lived, scattered, low-intensity fires could barely reach half the melting point of steel even if they burned all day instead of merely an hour.
Don't ask me to tell you what happened on 9/11. All I know is that the official account of the buildings' collapse is improbable.
Now we are being told another improbable tale. Muslim terrorists in London and Pakistan were caught plotting to commit mass murder by smuggling bottles of explosive liquids on board airliners in hand luggage. Baby formula, shampoo and water bottles allegedly contained the tools of suicide bombers.
How do we know about this plot? Well, the police learned it from an “Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago.” And how did someone so far away know what British-born people in London were plotting?
Do you really believe that Western and Israeli intelligence services, which were too incompetent to prevent the 9/11 attack, can uncover a London plot by capturing a person on the Afghan border in Pakistan? Why would “an Islamic militant” rat on such a plot even if he knew of it?
More probable explanations of the “plot” are readily available. According to the August 11 Wayne Madsen Report, informed sources in the UK report that “the Tony Blair government, under siege by a Labor Party revolt, cleverly cooked up a new ‘terror’ scare to avert the public’s eyes away from Blair’s increasing political woes. British law enforcement, neocon and intelligence operatives in the US, Israel, and Britain, and Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire cooked up the terrorist plot, liberally borrowing from the failed 1995 ‘Oplan Bjinka’ plot by Pakistan- and Philippines-based terrorist Ramzi Ahmad Yousef to crash 11 trans-Pacific airliners bound from Asia to the US.”
There are other plausible explanations. For example, our puppet in Pakistan decided to arrest some people who were a threat to him. With Bush’s commitment to “building democracy in the Middle East,” our puppet can’t arrest his political enemies without cause, so he lays the blame on a plot.
Any testimony against Muslim plotters by “an Islamic militant” is certain to have been bought and paid for.
Or consider this explanation. Under the Nuremberg standard, Bush and Blair are war criminals. Bush is so worried that he will be held accountable that he has sent his attorney general to consult with the Republican Congress to work out legislation to protect Bush retroactively from his violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Tony Blair is in more danger of finding himself in the dock. Britain is signatory to a treaty that, if justice is done, will place Blair before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
What better justification for the two war criminals’ illegal actions than the need to foil dastardly plots by Muslims recruited in sting operations by Western intelligence services? The more Bush and Blair can convince their publics that terrorist danger abounds, the less likely Bush and Blair are ever to be held accountable for their crimes.
But surely, some readers might object, our great moral leaders wouldn’t do something political like that!
They most certainly would. As Joshua Micah Marshall wrote in the July 7 issue of Time magazine, the suspicion is “quite reasonable” that “the Bush Administration orchestrates its terror alerts and arrests to goose the GOP’s poll numbers.”
Joshua Micah Marshall proves his conclusion by examining the barrage of color-coded terror alerts, none of which were real, and, yes, it all fits with political needs.
And don’t forget the plot unearthed in Miami to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Described by Vice President Cheney as a “very real threat,” the plot turned out to be nothing more than a few harmless whackos recruited by an FBI agent sent out to organize a sting.
There was also the “foiled plot” to blow up the Holland Tunnel and flood downtown New York City with sea water. Thinking New Orleans, the FBI invented this plot without realizing that New York City is above sea level. Of course, most Americans didn’t realize it either.
For six years the Bush regime has been able to count on the ignorant and naive American public to believe whatever tale that is told them. American gullibility has yet to fail the Bush regime.
The government has an endless number of conspiracy theories, but only people who question the government’s conspiracies are derided for “having a conspiracy theory.”
The implication is even worse if we assume that the explosive bottle plot is genuine. It means that America and Britain by their own aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by enabling Israel’s war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon, have created such hatred that Muslims, who identify with Bush’s, Blair’s, and Israel’s victims, are plotting retaliation.
But Bush is prepared. He has taught his untutored public that “they hate us for our freedom and democracy.”
Gentle reader, wise up. The entire world is laughing at you.
I M P E A C H or R E S I G N
The problem with a Bush resignation is that this leaves us with Cheney.
The Impeachment option should cover both of them.
Last night on Scarborough country Joe ran clips of the Bush litany of malapropisms and hosted commentary regarding his ongoing wrestling match with the English language. Joe Scarborough, who is actually a former Congressperson, wondered wistfully, if not painfully whether we have to suffer two more years of this with the precipitous decline in Gravitas the Presidential office has fallen into with our folksy hoksey Pres.
Ken Mehlman couldn't look more facile in trying to recast "stay the course" with announcing a new moniker Sunday that didn't quite rhyme and wasn't quite catchy that sounded something like "adapt and modify" or something equally wishy washy.
The Republicans should be talking about resignation and it looks like they are.
Cheney as a Ford protege understands the need to get a real serious problem out of the way then pardon it into silence. This is a real serious problem. If Bush is in office in November, for sure the Democrats will take the House and John Conyers has already all but promised to those who know robust impeachment hearings.
Then the republicans will whine about how the vote was stolen from them and forget that their biggest donors own the electronic voting companies.
Some muse that the country shouldn't suffer another impeachment debacle.
We shouldn't have to wait for it. If an international commission establishes the probability greater that the Towers fell from human device and artifice extraneous to the alleged hijackers or if there was any governmental duplicity, they both have to go, Cheney and Bush like. Then someone should start taking about disgorgment of
war profits.
The Impeachment option should cover both of them.
Last night on Scarborough country Joe ran clips of the Bush litany of malapropisms and hosted commentary regarding his ongoing wrestling match with the English language. Joe Scarborough, who is actually a former Congressperson, wondered wistfully, if not painfully whether we have to suffer two more years of this with the precipitous decline in Gravitas the Presidential office has fallen into with our folksy hoksey Pres.
Ken Mehlman couldn't look more facile in trying to recast "stay the course" with announcing a new moniker Sunday that didn't quite rhyme and wasn't quite catchy that sounded something like "adapt and modify" or something equally wishy washy.
The Republicans should be talking about resignation and it looks like they are.
Cheney as a Ford protege understands the need to get a real serious problem out of the way then pardon it into silence. This is a real serious problem. If Bush is in office in November, for sure the Democrats will take the House and John Conyers has already all but promised to those who know robust impeachment hearings.
Then the republicans will whine about how the vote was stolen from them and forget that their biggest donors own the electronic voting companies.
Some muse that the country shouldn't suffer another impeachment debacle.
We shouldn't have to wait for it. If an international commission establishes the probability greater that the Towers fell from human device and artifice extraneous to the alleged hijackers or if there was any governmental duplicity, they both have to go, Cheney and Bush like. Then someone should start taking about disgorgment of
war profits.
We do not endorse the above ads
Our favorite webpages are www.clintonfoundation.org
www.americanprogress.org
www.georgesoros.org
We are Democrats (in the event it was not obvious) but Google advertising obviously has a sense of humor.
No one will tell if you actually get a poster or book of the unmentionable above
person whose first name rhymes with Flan so long as you keep it hidden under the bathroom sink.
Flan, by the way is a popular french pastry. The other one is more Tart like.
www.americanprogress.org
www.georgesoros.org
We are Democrats (in the event it was not obvious) but Google advertising obviously has a sense of humor.
No one will tell if you actually get a poster or book of the unmentionable above
person whose first name rhymes with Flan so long as you keep it hidden under the bathroom sink.
Flan, by the way is a popular french pastry. The other one is more Tart like.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Call for an International 9-11 Commission
The Veil Is Lifting and the Stones Cry
Citizens of 87 countries died that fateful September 11, 2001. The World has a serious interest in getting to the truth of it. The UN should appoint an International Investigative Commission to present all the facts on the downing of the World Trade Center.
There are too many disturbing unanswered questions---and they all point to some duplicity or cooperation between the US government and the Saudis.
I just saw the movie about the World Trade Center. If you live in DC it is playing at the Uptown in Cleveland Park. I didn't want to see it at first because I didn't want to relive the events and I didn't feel like being spoon fed republican propaganda. But I am glad I did and I urge everyone to see it. It will make you sick. It will make you cry.
It is based on the eye witness accounts of the two New York Port Authority police protagonists who are rescued from deep inside the rubble who miraculously lived through the events. When you see it you will see why I was left with the following two impressions: 1. Jesus saves some people and 2. The Towers went down in a planned internal demolition by a series of internal explosions.
The movie nicely supplements the very credible academic literature and physics examinations now regarding how impossible it is for mere jet fuel to reach the heat necessary to do the damage required to all the buildings that came down in a pile of rubble in the fashion that they did to the extent that they did in the relative locations in which they did.
The facts that establish that the Towers collapsed in an internal demolition have been well researched and appear corroborated by the eye witness testimony that the movie seeks to tell for those with ears to hear and eyes to see it. These eyewitness accounts were suppressed by inter alia, Guiliani who forbade the NY Fire Department from speaking about it.
There does appear to be a massive governmental cover up larger than missing 18 minutes of Nixonian tape regarding why the security company that President Bush's brother Neil has an interest in which serviced the Towers called a security emergency within days before September 11, 2001.
In 1993 a plane hit a Tower and didn't cause the building to tumble. Planes have hit other buildings and not caused them to disintegrate. These men trapped in the rubble heard successive explosions and saw explosive fireballs. It is more rationally explainable by the thesis of internal demolition than jet fuel igniting fax cartridges.
Every single act of war and aggression waged by the Republicans for the past five years has been justified by the same refrain concerning how the World changed after 9-11.
If the Bush/Cheney neo-con cabal had anything to do with the internal demolitions that have self servingly justified every act of murder in war, then we don't have any choice. We have to impeach them.
There is a growing ground swell of citizens who believe that their government lied to them, not just in fabricating a pretext to assault Iraq, but in the very premise of their aggression against terror.
There is a bible verse that says something like if you deny Me (Christ) the very stones will cry out. The stones, the rocks, the rubble of the World Trade Center are crying out.
The World needs to listen.
There needs to be an International Investigative Commission appointed to get to the bottom of Ground Zero.
Please see one of many letters I receive on the subject below:
To whom it may concern,
I am submitting an opinion piece for Rocky Mountain News, written byBill Douglas, an author who has also been a contributing guest columnistfor The Business Journal, The Kansas City Star, etc. This opinion piece entitled, "Exposing the 9/11 Conspiracy Wingnuts" isa timely piece. I hope you enjoy it and publish it. You can reach Bill Douglas at, to confirm his permission to reprint:findtruth40@hotmail.com Exposing the 9/11 Conspiracy Wingnuts by Bill Douglas, author of "The Amateur Parent - A Book on Life, Death,War & Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe." Bill has been acontributing guest columnist for The Business Journal, The Kansas CityStar, etc. I began researching the mainstream media coverage of the controversyregarding the attacks of 9/11/2001, when reading an article in theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel Newspaper, dated June 29th, 2006. It wastitled, "Sept. 11 claim stirs UW probe -- Instructor says U.S. plannedthe attacks to provoke war." This led to my discovery of some wildconspiracy theorists that endanger our government and mediaestablishments, with quite frankly insane assertions. I'll address thisin full in the final paragraph. Then by using a "google video 9/11" search, I recently viewed a FOX Newsinterview on Hannity and Colmes with an Arab Studies teacher from theUniversity of Wisconsin named Kevin Barrett. I had earlier seen aninterview with another, a professor named James Fetzer, University ofMinnesota Duluth. A few weeks earlier I had seen an interview on MSNBCScarborough country interviewing a Mike Berger representing911Truth.org. Some of these guests referred to an organization called "Scholars for9/11 Truth" with a website www.st911.org, which offered a physicsresearch paper questioning the official explanation of the events of9/11/2001. While visiting this site, I read that they pointed to thetemperatures of the fires in the WTC buildings, and construction of thebuildings, and the speed they fell, as evidence they claimed proved thatwhat we saw on 9/11/2001 when the towers fell had to have been theresult of a controlled demolition. Like the ones we've seen with Las Vegas hotels being broughtdown. Their claim was that the WTC buildings could not have been causedsolely by the aircraft hitting the WTC buildings that day. Then, I contacted the office of a Wisconsin State Legislator, Rep.Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater), and asked to speak to someone in the officewho could speak on this issue. I asked if he was familiar with theScholars for 9/11 Truth website, and he replied they had learned of itthis week. I asked him if he and the Representative could comment on thecharge that the fires on 9/11/2001 in the WTC buildings did not burn hotenough to bring down the buildings, and if he'd read the scholarsorganization's charge that thermate traces had been found on debris fromthe fallen towers (thermate indicating demolition type explosives wereinvolved). The gentleman responded that no, they had not looked at thisinformation, and this would not be something they would look at, furtherindicating that anyone who made such charges was blinded by their hatredof President Bush. Which leads back to the interviews of guests on the three televisionnews programs. The main theme of all three of the guests on theseprograms appeared to be concern of the physical evidence of 9/11/2001,mentioned above and particularly regarding the collapse of three of theWorld Trade Center buildings on that day. The main themes of the interviewers on these programs appeared to betwo-fold: 1) The guests were representing a fringe movement, and most Americans donot dispute the official 9/11 explanation of the 19 hijackers defeatingUS military and intelligence forces on 9/11/2001. 2) The guests and those they speak for, who question the official9/11/2001 account, are of questionable sanity This motivated me to do some research. First I looked at the fringemovement issue that the majority of Americans disagreed with theprograms guests and accept the official explanation, and secondly, thesanity and expertise of people like their guests who question theofficial story of 9/11/2001. First, regarding the fringe issue, asserting that the guests questioningthe events of 9/11 reflected a small minority of American opinion. Ilooked at the only polls I could find on these questions, and theresults were surprising. A CNN viewers poll, which is not scientific,held Wednesday, November 10th, 2005, asked, "Do you believe there is aU.S. government cover-up surrounding 9/11?" 89% replied "Yes," they didbelieve there was a cover-up by the U.S. Government (9,441 votes), whileonly 12% felt there was no cover-up. In a national Zogby poll, of May2006, found that 45%, of the American public felt a new 9/11investigation should be launched because "so many unanswered questionsabout 9/11 remain that Congress or an International Tribunal shouldre-investigate the attacks, including whether any US governmentofficials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success." Anearlier Zogby poll of New York City residents, from August of 2004,found that Half (49.3%) of New Yorkers felt that U.S. governmentofficials "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or aroundSeptember 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act." While 66%of New Yorkers called for a new probe of Unanswered Questions byCongress or New York's Attorney General. Now to the second issue the television media interviewers were mostconcerned with, which was the expertise and sanity of the peopledemanding a new 9/11 investigation, and some even suggesting possibleU.S. government complicity in the attacks of 9/11/2001. Again, a simplegoogle "video 9/11" search, provided a wealth of information. This tooyielded some surprising results. One of the loudest advocates of the most damning charge that "members ofthe U.S. government actually orchestrated the events of 9/11 to fool thenation into unpopular wars", was not a tree-hugging Green Partyactivist, but rather a prominent Republican, in fact a Former ChiefEconomist under George Bush, and professor at Texas A&M, MorganReynolds. http://www.lewrockwell.com/reynolds/reynolds12.html Google research of the growing list of other 9/11 skeptics of theofficial story, some "convinced of U.S. government involvement," whileothers not going that far, but pointing out that"the official story ishighly questionable and demands further investigation," yieldedsurprising results. Including a host of high level Republican administrationofficials, defense experts, intelligence experts, and respectedscholars, as well as well known celebrities who are now adding thespotlight of their names to the issue of 9/11. Among them were: Former Director of Advanced Space Programs Development for the U.S. AirForce, under President Reagan, and combat fighter pilot Col. RobertBowman (Caltech Phd in aeronautics and nuclear engineering).http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6900065571556128674 Former CIA Intelligence Advisor to Reagan and George HW Bush and founderof the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Ray McGovernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Researchers_questioning_the_official_account_of_9/11 Kevin Ryan, former department head at UL (Underwriter Laboratories) thecompany which certified the steel which went into the WTCs upon theirconstruction, and inspected it after the WTC collapses in 2001.http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041112144051451 Former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Senior Research Fellowat the Hoover Institution, Research Fellow at Stanford's IndependentInstitute, and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, Paul CraigRoberts http://www.wanttoknow.info/050908insidejob911#roberts Canadian National Defense Minister, the Honourable Paul Hellyerhttp://www.septembereleventh.o! rg/kc/multimedia/movies/Hellyer.mov Minister for the Environment, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)Michael Meacher http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8274552561914055825 National Minister of Defense (Germany). Also, served as Minister ofTechnology Andreas Von Bulow http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8274552561914055825 Former Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces, and chief of thedepartment for General affairs in the Soviet Union 's ministry ofDefense, General Leonid Ivashov http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&! ;code=NIM20060123&articleId=1788 Former MI6 British Counter Intelligence Officer, David Shaylerhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5403286136814574974 Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Philosophy at theUniversity of Minnesota, former Marine Corps officer, author or editorof more than 20 books, and co-chair of Scholars For 9/11 Truth, JamesFetzer http://www.911podcasts.com/display.php?vid=122 Professor of Physics, Brigham Young University, and co-chair of ScholarsFor 9/11 Truth, Steven Jones http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=964034652002408586 Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Religion & Theology, ClaremontGraduate University, and author or editor ! of some 30 books, including"The New Pearl Harbor" and "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions andDistortions" David Ray Griffin http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6837001821567284154 Professor of mathematics, University of Western Ontario, and founder ofthe Scientific Panel Investigating Nine-Eleven (SPINE), A.K Dewdneyhttp://www.serendipity.li/wot/operation_pearl.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Dewdney Aircraft crash investigation authority, USAF Col. (Ret) George Nelsonhttp://www.physics911.net/georgenelson.htm Former chief Pentagon arms negotiator for the Middle East, USAF Col.(Ret) Don de Grand-Pre http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904degrand.html Actor Charlie Sheen (Platoon, Wall Street, etc.)http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2006/280606juggernautoftruth.htm Actor, Ed Asner http://www.911blimp.net/videos/EdAsner-UnityIsTheKey.mov Actor, Ed Begley, Jr http://video.google.com/videopla! y?docid=-7140359934129245752 So, now that we've examined the two main issues of concern for thetelevision news interviewers, which was the "fringe" aspect of thequestioners, and the "sanity/expertise" issue, it appears thosearguments are very weak arguments, really with no merit at all.Obviously tens of millions of Americans, according to polls, want a newinvestigation into 9/11/2001 and have a strong suspicion of U.S.government involvement at some level. Obviously not all of the nationaldefense, intelligence, aeronautics, physics and engineering expertsquestioning the official story of 9/11 are insane or unqualified tocomment. This begs the question, in the face of such obvious facts, why do ourmedia personalities continue to attempt to throw out accusations thatare patently untrue regarding those who question the official story?When a television news interviewer continues to ask questions and makeassertions that he or she knows to be untrue, this would challenge theexpertise and sanity, not of their guests, but of the television newsinterviewer. The 9/11 truth movement appears to be growing rapidly, and involvingpeople of substantial credentials and expertise. As television and someradio personalities continue to behave in what obviously is an insanebehavior, what do we do? Can we get our national media any psychologicalhelp? If not, it would be wise to relieve them of their positions atleast. I feel increasingly uneasy about millions of young minds beingexposed night after night to comments and opinions by people whoincreasingly appear to be insane, yet in positions of authority. Of course the concern here is larger. If there is any possibility ordoubt about whether the events of 9/11/2001 were participated in bymembers of our own government, then our entire democracy and world peacewould be strengthened by getting to the bottom of the true facts of thispinnacle event of our time. It would be unhealthy to leave a cloud ofdoubt hanging over such assertions. There should be a full fledgednational debate, experts from all sides should be interviewed onnational media to get to the bottom of this once and for all. OurCongress should launch investigations into the physics questions thatare causing so many to doubt the official story. No matter where anyonestands on this issue, this is obviously the only path to nationalhealing and trust. However, this debate on national media cannot occur if the interviewershired by national media continue to behave in an insane irrationalbehavior, like "conspiracy theory wing-nuts." You see, too many of ourmedia spokespersons on television and radio adhere to a wild conspiracytheory. Their theory is that anyone who looks into the facts of theevents of one of the most important issues in history is alone, andinsane, but yet somehow organized in some united conspiratorial effort.Of course, the facts fly in the face of this conspiracy theory, butthese media personalities appear unable to grasp reality even when it ispointed out to them. For media reading this article, time will tell whether you are an insaneconspiracy theorist or not. If you too, are among the insane in ourmedia, the public will likely eventually demand your resignation. As onewho writes sometimes on parental issues, I believe it is unhealthy tohave insane people in charge of the national information highways ourchildren are taught to watch. We need sane media people who look atfacts regarding issues, not ones who launch into insane screeds ofparanoia to avoid reality. Also, you may recall that when I contacted State Representative, StephenNass' office, his aid stated that they were aware of but not interestedin and would not look at the physics facts provided by the websiteScholars for 9/11 Truth, www.st911.org. However, they did want to fire auniversity teacher for presenting facts, many of which were available onthat site. To fire someone for presenting facts, facts that you dispute,yet have no idea what those facts are, and are unwilling to look at themto find out what they are . . . is also insane. Again, as someone whowrites on parenting issues, as a concerned parent as well, Americashould also consider retiring our insane government officials who firepeople for facts they aren't aware of and are unwilling to look at.These politicians apparently assert some wild conspiracy theory thatmillions of Americans are questioning the events of 9/11 because theyare "Bush haters" according to the aid at Nass' office. This kind of delusional paranoia by our elected officials isof particular concern. Such wild eyed conspiratorialists should not beallowed in government. Bill Douglas, author of "The Amateur Parent - A Book on Life, Death, War& Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe" findtruth40@hotmail.comAugust 9, 2006
PS from Jimmy:
I urge everyone to personally examine the mountain of lies told by our government to our citizens about the 9/11 attacks and then form their own opinion. This issue may be the biggest our generation will ever face in our lifetime!
<<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>>
Citizens of 87 countries died that fateful September 11, 2001. The World has a serious interest in getting to the truth of it. The UN should appoint an International Investigative Commission to present all the facts on the downing of the World Trade Center.
There are too many disturbing unanswered questions---and they all point to some duplicity or cooperation between the US government and the Saudis.
I just saw the movie about the World Trade Center. If you live in DC it is playing at the Uptown in Cleveland Park. I didn't want to see it at first because I didn't want to relive the events and I didn't feel like being spoon fed republican propaganda. But I am glad I did and I urge everyone to see it. It will make you sick. It will make you cry.
It is based on the eye witness accounts of the two New York Port Authority police protagonists who are rescued from deep inside the rubble who miraculously lived through the events. When you see it you will see why I was left with the following two impressions: 1. Jesus saves some people and 2. The Towers went down in a planned internal demolition by a series of internal explosions.
The movie nicely supplements the very credible academic literature and physics examinations now regarding how impossible it is for mere jet fuel to reach the heat necessary to do the damage required to all the buildings that came down in a pile of rubble in the fashion that they did to the extent that they did in the relative locations in which they did.
The facts that establish that the Towers collapsed in an internal demolition have been well researched and appear corroborated by the eye witness testimony that the movie seeks to tell for those with ears to hear and eyes to see it. These eyewitness accounts were suppressed by inter alia, Guiliani who forbade the NY Fire Department from speaking about it.
There does appear to be a massive governmental cover up larger than missing 18 minutes of Nixonian tape regarding why the security company that President Bush's brother Neil has an interest in which serviced the Towers called a security emergency within days before September 11, 2001.
In 1993 a plane hit a Tower and didn't cause the building to tumble. Planes have hit other buildings and not caused them to disintegrate. These men trapped in the rubble heard successive explosions and saw explosive fireballs. It is more rationally explainable by the thesis of internal demolition than jet fuel igniting fax cartridges.
Every single act of war and aggression waged by the Republicans for the past five years has been justified by the same refrain concerning how the World changed after 9-11.
If the Bush/Cheney neo-con cabal had anything to do with the internal demolitions that have self servingly justified every act of murder in war, then we don't have any choice. We have to impeach them.
There is a growing ground swell of citizens who believe that their government lied to them, not just in fabricating a pretext to assault Iraq, but in the very premise of their aggression against terror.
There is a bible verse that says something like if you deny Me (Christ) the very stones will cry out. The stones, the rocks, the rubble of the World Trade Center are crying out.
The World needs to listen.
There needs to be an International Investigative Commission appointed to get to the bottom of Ground Zero.
Please see one of many letters I receive on the subject below:
To whom it may concern,
I am submitting an opinion piece for Rocky Mountain News, written byBill Douglas, an author who has also been a contributing guest columnistfor The Business Journal, The Kansas City Star, etc. This opinion piece entitled, "Exposing the 9/11 Conspiracy Wingnuts" isa timely piece. I hope you enjoy it and publish it. You can reach Bill Douglas at, to confirm his permission to reprint:findtruth40@hotmail.com Exposing the 9/11 Conspiracy Wingnuts by Bill Douglas, author of "The Amateur Parent - A Book on Life, Death,War & Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe." Bill has been acontributing guest columnist for The Business Journal, The Kansas CityStar, etc. I began researching the mainstream media coverage of the controversyregarding the attacks of 9/11/2001, when reading an article in theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel Newspaper, dated June 29th, 2006. It wastitled, "Sept. 11 claim stirs UW probe -- Instructor says U.S. plannedthe attacks to provoke war." This led to my discovery of some wildconspiracy theorists that endanger our government and mediaestablishments, with quite frankly insane assertions. I'll address thisin full in the final paragraph. Then by using a "google video 9/11" search, I recently viewed a FOX Newsinterview on Hannity and Colmes with an Arab Studies teacher from theUniversity of Wisconsin named Kevin Barrett. I had earlier seen aninterview with another, a professor named James Fetzer, University ofMinnesota Duluth. A few weeks earlier I had seen an interview on MSNBCScarborough country interviewing a Mike Berger representing911Truth.org. Some of these guests referred to an organization called "Scholars for9/11 Truth" with a website www.st911.org, which offered a physicsresearch paper questioning the official explanation of the events of9/11/2001. While visiting this site, I read that they pointed to thetemperatures of the fires in the WTC buildings, and construction of thebuildings, and the speed they fell, as evidence they claimed proved thatwhat we saw on 9/11/2001 when the towers fell had to have been theresult of a controlled demolition. Like the ones we've seen with Las Vegas hotels being broughtdown. Their claim was that the WTC buildings could not have been causedsolely by the aircraft hitting the WTC buildings that day. Then, I contacted the office of a Wisconsin State Legislator, Rep.Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater), and asked to speak to someone in the officewho could speak on this issue. I asked if he was familiar with theScholars for 9/11 Truth website, and he replied they had learned of itthis week. I asked him if he and the Representative could comment on thecharge that the fires on 9/11/2001 in the WTC buildings did not burn hotenough to bring down the buildings, and if he'd read the scholarsorganization's charge that thermate traces had been found on debris fromthe fallen towers (thermate indicating demolition type explosives wereinvolved). The gentleman responded that no, they had not looked at thisinformation, and this would not be something they would look at, furtherindicating that anyone who made such charges was blinded by their hatredof President Bush. Which leads back to the interviews of guests on the three televisionnews programs. The main theme of all three of the guests on theseprograms appeared to be concern of the physical evidence of 9/11/2001,mentioned above and particularly regarding the collapse of three of theWorld Trade Center buildings on that day. The main themes of the interviewers on these programs appeared to betwo-fold: 1) The guests were representing a fringe movement, and most Americans donot dispute the official 9/11 explanation of the 19 hijackers defeatingUS military and intelligence forces on 9/11/2001. 2) The guests and those they speak for, who question the official9/11/2001 account, are of questionable sanity This motivated me to do some research. First I looked at the fringemovement issue that the majority of Americans disagreed with theprograms guests and accept the official explanation, and secondly, thesanity and expertise of people like their guests who question theofficial story of 9/11/2001. First, regarding the fringe issue, asserting that the guests questioningthe events of 9/11 reflected a small minority of American opinion. Ilooked at the only polls I could find on these questions, and theresults were surprising. A CNN viewers poll, which is not scientific,held Wednesday, November 10th, 2005, asked, "Do you believe there is aU.S. government cover-up surrounding 9/11?" 89% replied "Yes," they didbelieve there was a cover-up by the U.S. Government (9,441 votes), whileonly 12% felt there was no cover-up. In a national Zogby poll, of May2006, found that 45%, of the American public felt a new 9/11investigation should be launched because "so many unanswered questionsabout 9/11 remain that Congress or an International Tribunal shouldre-investigate the attacks, including whether any US governmentofficials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success." Anearlier Zogby poll of New York City residents, from August of 2004,found that Half (49.3%) of New Yorkers felt that U.S. governmentofficials "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or aroundSeptember 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act." While 66%of New Yorkers called for a new probe of Unanswered Questions byCongress or New York's Attorney General. Now to the second issue the television media interviewers were mostconcerned with, which was the expertise and sanity of the peopledemanding a new 9/11 investigation, and some even suggesting possibleU.S. government complicity in the attacks of 9/11/2001. Again, a simplegoogle "video 9/11" search, provided a wealth of information. This tooyielded some surprising results. One of the loudest advocates of the most damning charge that "members ofthe U.S. government actually orchestrated the events of 9/11 to fool thenation into unpopular wars", was not a tree-hugging Green Partyactivist, but rather a prominent Republican, in fact a Former ChiefEconomist under George Bush, and professor at Texas A&M, MorganReynolds. http://www.lewrockwell.com/reynolds/reynolds12.html Google research of the growing list of other 9/11 skeptics of theofficial story, some "convinced of U.S. government involvement," whileothers not going that far, but pointing out that"the official story ishighly questionable and demands further investigation," yieldedsurprising results. Including a host of high level Republican administrationofficials, defense experts, intelligence experts, and respectedscholars, as well as well known celebrities who are now adding thespotlight of their names to the issue of 9/11. Among them were: Former Director of Advanced Space Programs Development for the U.S. AirForce, under President Reagan, and combat fighter pilot Col. RobertBowman (Caltech Phd in aeronautics and nuclear engineering).http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6900065571556128674 Former CIA Intelligence Advisor to Reagan and George HW Bush and founderof the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Ray McGovernhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Researchers_questioning_the_official_account_of_9/11 Kevin Ryan, former department head at UL (Underwriter Laboratories) thecompany which certified the steel which went into the WTCs upon theirconstruction, and inspected it after the WTC collapses in 2001.http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041112144051451 Former assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury Senior Research Fellowat the Hoover Institution, Research Fellow at Stanford's IndependentInstitute, and former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, Paul CraigRoberts http://www.wanttoknow.info/050908insidejob911#roberts Canadian National Defense Minister, the Honourable Paul Hellyerhttp://www.septembereleventh.o! rg/kc/multimedia/movies/Hellyer.mov Minister for the Environment, and Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)Michael Meacher http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8274552561914055825 National Minister of Defense (Germany). Also, served as Minister ofTechnology Andreas Von Bulow http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8274552561914055825 Former Chief of Staff of the Russian armed forces, and chief of thedepartment for General affairs in the Soviet Union 's ministry ofDefense, General Leonid Ivashov http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&! ;code=NIM20060123&articleId=1788 Former MI6 British Counter Intelligence Officer, David Shaylerhttp://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5403286136814574974 Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Philosophy at theUniversity of Minnesota, former Marine Corps officer, author or editorof more than 20 books, and co-chair of Scholars For 9/11 Truth, JamesFetzer http://www.911podcasts.com/display.php?vid=122 Professor of Physics, Brigham Young University, and co-chair of ScholarsFor 9/11 Truth, Steven Jones http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=964034652002408586 Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Religion & Theology, ClaremontGraduate University, and author or editor ! of some 30 books, including"The New Pearl Harbor" and "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions andDistortions" David Ray Griffin http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6837001821567284154 Professor of mathematics, University of Western Ontario, and founder ofthe Scientific Panel Investigating Nine-Eleven (SPINE), A.K Dewdneyhttp://www.serendipity.li/wot/operation_pearl.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._K._Dewdney Aircraft crash investigation authority, USAF Col. (Ret) George Nelsonhttp://www.physics911.net/georgenelson.htm Former chief Pentagon arms negotiator for the Middle East, USAF Col.(Ret) Don de Grand-Pre http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904degrand.html Actor Charlie Sheen (Platoon, Wall Street, etc.)http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2006/280606juggernautoftruth.htm Actor, Ed Asner http://www.911blimp.net/videos/EdAsner-UnityIsTheKey.mov Actor, Ed Begley, Jr http://video.google.com/videopla! y?docid=-7140359934129245752 So, now that we've examined the two main issues of concern for thetelevision news interviewers, which was the "fringe" aspect of thequestioners, and the "sanity/expertise" issue, it appears thosearguments are very weak arguments, really with no merit at all.Obviously tens of millions of Americans, according to polls, want a newinvestigation into 9/11/2001 and have a strong suspicion of U.S.government involvement at some level. Obviously not all of the nationaldefense, intelligence, aeronautics, physics and engineering expertsquestioning the official story of 9/11 are insane or unqualified tocomment. This begs the question, in the face of such obvious facts, why do ourmedia personalities continue to attempt to throw out accusations thatare patently untrue regarding those who question the official story?When a television news interviewer continues to ask questions and makeassertions that he or she knows to be untrue, this would challenge theexpertise and sanity, not of their guests, but of the television newsinterviewer. The 9/11 truth movement appears to be growing rapidly, and involvingpeople of substantial credentials and expertise. As television and someradio personalities continue to behave in what obviously is an insanebehavior, what do we do? Can we get our national media any psychologicalhelp? If not, it would be wise to relieve them of their positions atleast. I feel increasingly uneasy about millions of young minds beingexposed night after night to comments and opinions by people whoincreasingly appear to be insane, yet in positions of authority. Of course the concern here is larger. If there is any possibility ordoubt about whether the events of 9/11/2001 were participated in bymembers of our own government, then our entire democracy and world peacewould be strengthened by getting to the bottom of the true facts of thispinnacle event of our time. It would be unhealthy to leave a cloud ofdoubt hanging over such assertions. There should be a full fledgednational debate, experts from all sides should be interviewed onnational media to get to the bottom of this once and for all. OurCongress should launch investigations into the physics questions thatare causing so many to doubt the official story. No matter where anyonestands on this issue, this is obviously the only path to nationalhealing and trust. However, this debate on national media cannot occur if the interviewershired by national media continue to behave in an insane irrationalbehavior, like "conspiracy theory wing-nuts." You see, too many of ourmedia spokespersons on television and radio adhere to a wild conspiracytheory. Their theory is that anyone who looks into the facts of theevents of one of the most important issues in history is alone, andinsane, but yet somehow organized in some united conspiratorial effort.Of course, the facts fly in the face of this conspiracy theory, butthese media personalities appear unable to grasp reality even when it ispointed out to them. For media reading this article, time will tell whether you are an insaneconspiracy theorist or not. If you too, are among the insane in ourmedia, the public will likely eventually demand your resignation. As onewho writes sometimes on parental issues, I believe it is unhealthy tohave insane people in charge of the national information highways ourchildren are taught to watch. We need sane media people who look atfacts regarding issues, not ones who launch into insane screeds ofparanoia to avoid reality. Also, you may recall that when I contacted State Representative, StephenNass' office, his aid stated that they were aware of but not interestedin and would not look at the physics facts provided by the websiteScholars for 9/11 Truth, www.st911.org. However, they did want to fire auniversity teacher for presenting facts, many of which were available onthat site. To fire someone for presenting facts, facts that you dispute,yet have no idea what those facts are, and are unwilling to look at themto find out what they are . . . is also insane. Again, as someone whowrites on parenting issues, as a concerned parent as well, Americashould also consider retiring our insane government officials who firepeople for facts they aren't aware of and are unwilling to look at.These politicians apparently assert some wild conspiracy theory thatmillions of Americans are questioning the events of 9/11 because theyare "Bush haters" according to the aid at Nass' office. This kind of delusional paranoia by our elected officials isof particular concern. Such wild eyed conspiratorialists should not beallowed in government. Bill Douglas, author of "The Amateur Parent - A Book on Life, Death, War& Peace, and Everything Else in the Universe" findtruth40@hotmail.comAugust 9, 2006
PS from Jimmy:
I urge everyone to personally examine the mountain of lies told by our government to our citizens about the 9/11 attacks and then form their own opinion. This issue may be the biggest our generation will ever face in our lifetime!
<<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>><<~::~>>
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Fool Me Once.......Fool me Twice, Not Gunna Fool Me Agin [sic, really sick]
In the Sunday talking head round up--
Russ Feingold said to Stephanopolous yesterday that Lieberman doesn't "get it." He endorses Lamont in Connecticut. He all but endorsed McCain for 2008 and said McCain could beat him in 2008. That's an odd comment from someone on the Iowa-New Hampshire bisquit circuit. Clearly he doesn't want the job now.
McCain agrees we are playing "whack a mole" in Iraq but does not grasp the depth of the deception and manipulation of the American people and is likely to be duplicitously tarred with all of those neo-cranks whose failed policy has cost billions and tens of thousands of lives. McCain has no plan to bring home the troops anytime soon and can see them there for an eternity.
If Feingold has already admitted he would lose to McCain, all eyes are back on Kerry, Hillary, Dodd and possibly Edwards. The republicans don't get that this is such a collossal disaster of a foreign policy nightmare that the country will turn Democratic for generations. Of all the above Kerry is the only one with real military background. Being married to a Commander in Chief on that score doesn't outrank combat duty in Nam.
Ramsey Clark, the Attorney General under Johnson sees through the fog of war and the double mirrored smoke and glass. Under the light of August Washington sun, on the Mall this week-end he openly called for every good citizen to move for the Impeachment of Bush.
We all know the Cheney neo-con (short for Neanderthal-Conservatives) cabal lied us into Iraq. Did they also set up or provoke the alleged first aggression of Lebanon? Investigative reporter/author Robert Parry thinks so. Israeli PM Olmert made a historic address before the US Congess (possibly the first time any foreign head of state gave a State of their Union address in our Congress) telling the country that they were happy to withdraw from Gaza and other Israeli lands so they could all co-exist in peace with neighboring peoples. But what was really going on? What was being cooked up during that propitious timely visit:
The following article appeared in www.ConsortiumNews.com
Israeli Leaders Fault Bush on War
By Robert ParryAugust 13, 2006
Amid the political and diplomatic fallout from Israel’s faltering invasion of Lebanon, some Israeli officials are privately blaming President George W. Bush for egging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into the ill-conceived military adventure against the Hezbollah militia in south Lebanon.
Bush conveyed his strong personal support for the military offensive during a White House meeting with Olmert on May 23, according to sources familiar with the thinking of senior Israeli leaders.
Olmert, who like Bush lacks direct wartime experience, agreed that a dose of military force against Hezbollah might damage the guerrilla group’s influence in Lebanon and intimidate its allies, Iran and Syria, countries that Bush has identified as the chief obstacles to U.S. interests in the Middle East.
As part of Bush’s determination to create a “new Middle East” – one that is more amenable to U.S. policies and desires – Bush even urged Israel to attack Syria, but the Olmert government refused to go that far, according to Israeli sources.
One source said some Israeli officials thought Bush’s attack-Syria idea was “nuts” since much of the world would have seen the bombing campaign as overt aggression.
In an article on July 30, the Jerusalem Post referred to Bush’s interest in a wider war involving Syria. Israeli “defense officials told the Post last week that they were receiving indications from the US that America would be interested in seeing Israel attack Syria,” the newspaper reported.
While balking at an expanded war into Syria, Olmert did agree on the need to show military muscle in Lebanon as a prelude to facing down Iran over its nuclear program, which Olmert has called an “existential” threat to Israel.
With U.S. forces bogged down in Iraq, Bush and his neoconservative advisers saw the inclusion of Israeli forces as crucial for advancing a strategy that would punish Syria for supporting Iraqi insurgents, advance the confrontation with Iran and isolate Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
But the month-long war has failed to achieve its goals of destroying Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon or intimidating Iran and Syria.
Instead, Hezbollah guerrillas fought Israeli troops to a virtual standstill in villages near the border and much of the world saw Israel’s bombing raids across Lebanon – which killed hundreds of civilians – as “disproportionate.”
Now, as the conflict winds down, some Israeli officials are ruing the Olmert-Bush pact on May 23 and fault Bush for pushing Olmert into the conflict.
Building Pressure
Soon after the May 23 meeting in Washington, Israel began to ratchet up pressure on the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories and on Hezbollah and other Islamic militants in Lebanon. As part of this process, Israel staged low-key attacks in both Lebanon and Gaza. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com “A ‘Pretext’ War in Lebanon.”]
The tit-for-tat violence led to the Hamas seizure of an Israeli soldier on June 24 and then to Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza. That, in turn, set the stage for Hezbollah’s attack on an Israeli outpost and the capture of two more Israeli soldiers on July 12.
Hezbollah’s July 12 raid became the trigger that Bush and Olmert had been waiting for. With the earlier attacks unknown or forgotten, Israel and the U.S. skillfully rallied international condemnation of Hezbollah for what was called an unprovoked attack and a “kidnapping” of Israeli soldiers.
Behind the international criticism of Hezbollah, Bush and Olmert justified an intense air campaign against Lebanese targets, killing civilians and destroying much of Lebanon’s commercial infrastructure. Israeli troops also crossed into southern Lebanon with the intent of delivering a devastating military blow against Hezbollah, which retaliated by firing Katyusha rockets into Israel..
However, the Israeli operation was eerily reminiscent of the disastrous U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Like the U.S. assault, Israel relied heavily on “shock and awe” air power and committed an inadequate number of soldiers to the battle.
Israeli newspapers have been filled with complaints from soldiers who say some reservists weren’t issued body armor while other soldiers found their equipment either inferior or inappropriate to the battlefield conditions.
Israeli troops also encountered fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas, who took a page from the Iraqi insurgents by using explosive booby traps and ambushes to inflict heavier than expected casualties on the Israelis.
Channel 2 in Israel disclosed that several top military commanders wrote a letter to Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the chief of staff, criticizing the war planning as chaotic and out of line with the combat training of the soldiers and officers. [Washington Post, Aug. 12, 2006]
One Israeli plan to use llamas to deliver supplies in the rugged terrain of south Lebanon turned into an embarrassment when the animals simply sat down.
Reporter Nahum Barnea, who traveled with an Israeli unit in south Lebanon, compared the battle to “the famous Tom and Jerry cartoons” with the powerful Israeli military playing the role of the cat Tom and the resourceful Hezbollah guerrillas playing the mouse Jerry. “In every conflict between them, Jerry wins,” Barnea wrote.
Olmert Criticized
Back in Israel, some leading newspapers have begun calling for Olmert’s resignation.
“If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day,” the newspaper Haaretz wrote in a front-page analysis. “You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power.
“You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month and then say, ‘Oops, I made a mistake.’” [See Washington Post, Aug. 12, 2006]
For his part, Bush spent July and early August fending off international demands for an immediate cease-fire. Bush wanted to give Olmert as much time as possible to bomb targets across Lebanon and dislodge Hezbollah forces in the south.
But instead of turning the Lebanese population against Hezbollah – as Washington and Tel Aviv had hoped – the devastation rallied public support behind Hezbollah.
As the month-long conflict took on the look of a public-relations disaster for Israel, the Bush administration dropped its resistance to international cease-fire demands and joined with France in crafting a United Nations plan for stopping the fighting.
Quoting “a senior administration official” with Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, the New York Times reported that “it increasingly seemed that Israel would not be able to achieve a military victory, a reality that led the Americans to get behind a cease-fire.” [NYT, Aug. 12, 2006]
But the repercussions from Israel’s failed Lebanon offensive are likely to continue. Olmert must now confront the political damage at home and the chief U.S. adversaries in the Middle East may be emboldened by the outcome, more than chastened.
As in the Iraq War, Bush has revealed again how reliance on tough talk and military might can sometimes undercut – not build up – U.S. influence in the strategically important Middle East.
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'
Russ Feingold said to Stephanopolous yesterday that Lieberman doesn't "get it." He endorses Lamont in Connecticut. He all but endorsed McCain for 2008 and said McCain could beat him in 2008. That's an odd comment from someone on the Iowa-New Hampshire bisquit circuit. Clearly he doesn't want the job now.
McCain agrees we are playing "whack a mole" in Iraq but does not grasp the depth of the deception and manipulation of the American people and is likely to be duplicitously tarred with all of those neo-cranks whose failed policy has cost billions and tens of thousands of lives. McCain has no plan to bring home the troops anytime soon and can see them there for an eternity.
If Feingold has already admitted he would lose to McCain, all eyes are back on Kerry, Hillary, Dodd and possibly Edwards. The republicans don't get that this is such a collossal disaster of a foreign policy nightmare that the country will turn Democratic for generations. Of all the above Kerry is the only one with real military background. Being married to a Commander in Chief on that score doesn't outrank combat duty in Nam.
Ramsey Clark, the Attorney General under Johnson sees through the fog of war and the double mirrored smoke and glass. Under the light of August Washington sun, on the Mall this week-end he openly called for every good citizen to move for the Impeachment of Bush.
We all know the Cheney neo-con (short for Neanderthal-Conservatives) cabal lied us into Iraq. Did they also set up or provoke the alleged first aggression of Lebanon? Investigative reporter/author Robert Parry thinks so. Israeli PM Olmert made a historic address before the US Congess (possibly the first time any foreign head of state gave a State of their Union address in our Congress) telling the country that they were happy to withdraw from Gaza and other Israeli lands so they could all co-exist in peace with neighboring peoples. But what was really going on? What was being cooked up during that propitious timely visit:
The following article appeared in www.ConsortiumNews.com
Israeli Leaders Fault Bush on War
By Robert ParryAugust 13, 2006
Amid the political and diplomatic fallout from Israel’s faltering invasion of Lebanon, some Israeli officials are privately blaming President George W. Bush for egging Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into the ill-conceived military adventure against the Hezbollah militia in south Lebanon.
Bush conveyed his strong personal support for the military offensive during a White House meeting with Olmert on May 23, according to sources familiar with the thinking of senior Israeli leaders.
Olmert, who like Bush lacks direct wartime experience, agreed that a dose of military force against Hezbollah might damage the guerrilla group’s influence in Lebanon and intimidate its allies, Iran and Syria, countries that Bush has identified as the chief obstacles to U.S. interests in the Middle East.
As part of Bush’s determination to create a “new Middle East” – one that is more amenable to U.S. policies and desires – Bush even urged Israel to attack Syria, but the Olmert government refused to go that far, according to Israeli sources.
One source said some Israeli officials thought Bush’s attack-Syria idea was “nuts” since much of the world would have seen the bombing campaign as overt aggression.
In an article on July 30, the Jerusalem Post referred to Bush’s interest in a wider war involving Syria. Israeli “defense officials told the Post last week that they were receiving indications from the US that America would be interested in seeing Israel attack Syria,” the newspaper reported.
While balking at an expanded war into Syria, Olmert did agree on the need to show military muscle in Lebanon as a prelude to facing down Iran over its nuclear program, which Olmert has called an “existential” threat to Israel.
With U.S. forces bogged down in Iraq, Bush and his neoconservative advisers saw the inclusion of Israeli forces as crucial for advancing a strategy that would punish Syria for supporting Iraqi insurgents, advance the confrontation with Iran and isolate Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
But the month-long war has failed to achieve its goals of destroying Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon or intimidating Iran and Syria.
Instead, Hezbollah guerrillas fought Israeli troops to a virtual standstill in villages near the border and much of the world saw Israel’s bombing raids across Lebanon – which killed hundreds of civilians – as “disproportionate.”
Now, as the conflict winds down, some Israeli officials are ruing the Olmert-Bush pact on May 23 and fault Bush for pushing Olmert into the conflict.
Building Pressure
Soon after the May 23 meeting in Washington, Israel began to ratchet up pressure on the Hamas-led government in the Palestinian territories and on Hezbollah and other Islamic militants in Lebanon. As part of this process, Israel staged low-key attacks in both Lebanon and Gaza. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com “A ‘Pretext’ War in Lebanon.”]
The tit-for-tat violence led to the Hamas seizure of an Israeli soldier on June 24 and then to Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza. That, in turn, set the stage for Hezbollah’s attack on an Israeli outpost and the capture of two more Israeli soldiers on July 12.
Hezbollah’s July 12 raid became the trigger that Bush and Olmert had been waiting for. With the earlier attacks unknown or forgotten, Israel and the U.S. skillfully rallied international condemnation of Hezbollah for what was called an unprovoked attack and a “kidnapping” of Israeli soldiers.
Behind the international criticism of Hezbollah, Bush and Olmert justified an intense air campaign against Lebanese targets, killing civilians and destroying much of Lebanon’s commercial infrastructure. Israeli troops also crossed into southern Lebanon with the intent of delivering a devastating military blow against Hezbollah, which retaliated by firing Katyusha rockets into Israel..
However, the Israeli operation was eerily reminiscent of the disastrous U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Like the U.S. assault, Israel relied heavily on “shock and awe” air power and committed an inadequate number of soldiers to the battle.
Israeli newspapers have been filled with complaints from soldiers who say some reservists weren’t issued body armor while other soldiers found their equipment either inferior or inappropriate to the battlefield conditions.
Israeli troops also encountered fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas, who took a page from the Iraqi insurgents by using explosive booby traps and ambushes to inflict heavier than expected casualties on the Israelis.
Channel 2 in Israel disclosed that several top military commanders wrote a letter to Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the chief of staff, criticizing the war planning as chaotic and out of line with the combat training of the soldiers and officers. [Washington Post, Aug. 12, 2006]
One Israeli plan to use llamas to deliver supplies in the rugged terrain of south Lebanon turned into an embarrassment when the animals simply sat down.
Reporter Nahum Barnea, who traveled with an Israeli unit in south Lebanon, compared the battle to “the famous Tom and Jerry cartoons” with the powerful Israeli military playing the role of the cat Tom and the resourceful Hezbollah guerrillas playing the mouse Jerry. “In every conflict between them, Jerry wins,” Barnea wrote.
Olmert Criticized
Back in Israel, some leading newspapers have begun calling for Olmert’s resignation.
“If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day,” the newspaper Haaretz wrote in a front-page analysis. “You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power.
“You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month and then say, ‘Oops, I made a mistake.’” [See Washington Post, Aug. 12, 2006]
For his part, Bush spent July and early August fending off international demands for an immediate cease-fire. Bush wanted to give Olmert as much time as possible to bomb targets across Lebanon and dislodge Hezbollah forces in the south.
But instead of turning the Lebanese population against Hezbollah – as Washington and Tel Aviv had hoped – the devastation rallied public support behind Hezbollah.
As the month-long conflict took on the look of a public-relations disaster for Israel, the Bush administration dropped its resistance to international cease-fire demands and joined with France in crafting a United Nations plan for stopping the fighting.
Quoting “a senior administration official” with Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, the New York Times reported that “it increasingly seemed that Israel would not be able to achieve a military victory, a reality that led the Americans to get behind a cease-fire.” [NYT, Aug. 12, 2006]
But the repercussions from Israel’s failed Lebanon offensive are likely to continue. Olmert must now confront the political damage at home and the chief U.S. adversaries in the Middle East may be emboldened by the outcome, more than chastened.
As in the Iraq War, Bush has revealed again how reliance on tough talk and military might can sometimes undercut – not build up – U.S. influence in the strategically important Middle East.
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. His latest book, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq, can be ordered at secrecyandprivilege.com. It's also available at Amazon.com, as is his 1999 book, Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth.'
Saturday, August 12, 2006
TERROR FOR POLITICAL PROFIT-so what's new.
Aren't you disgusted yet? I am. Aren't you sick of this 'woooooowoooooo everyone hates us and you don't get that everyone hates us and wants to kill us, woooooooowooooooooo, send in the marines!"
If we just recite enough sounding foreign names can we get everyone whipped up in a xenophobic frenzy so we only trust big mouthed long legged blondes?
Beware those self proclaimed public intellectuals who tout their New York Times best-selling status while peddling books for $1.35. Yes, you can now buy “Godless” Ann Coulter’s epistle on Amazon for a buck thirty five. That makes it cheaper than a bag of mixed nuts at the airport or a box of tampax. There’s a rush at Walmart so get yours today.
Beware of people who say things like “All gays are….” “all liberals….” “all abortions…..”. Gays are not all gay or remain gay for the same reason, all people don’t get abortions for the same reasons and all “liberals” don’t all hold views for the same motivation on all issues all the time. Neither apparently are all Catholics on all fours with all alleged Catholic positions all the time.
Neither are self proclaimed public intellectuals smart all the time.
Point in case is Coulter who if she looked like Roseanne Barr would not be on any TV show but Comedy Central and the world would take her about that seriously.
Why anyone takes seriously anyone who thinks she is making a point by posting unconvicted names of British Pakistani young men on her webpage decrying her new straw target –those mythic "liberals" who don’t think terror is worth fighting-is beyond me. I hope those Pakistani youth who are not convicted sue her for Slander and write a book about it. One has already been released as an innocent bystander of the wrong color in the wrong place. Others were detained and arraigned without counsel or even a phone call home. NBC news reports that the Bush administration put pressure on Blair to get these arrests immediately when common sense and the state of evidence didn't support it- none of these characters apparently had even purchased an airline ticket, and many of them don't even have passports.
Coulter apparently has forgotten (if she ever knew because her knowledge of world history ends at Nova Scotia and she thinks anyone who knows anything outside the US "hates America") that Britain once ruled India, Pakistan and Bangladesh such that there are enormous populations of all of them in Britain and they all are entitled to the same due process the rest of the country gets. Not one of them has been convicted of anything. Their arrest has conveniently however coincided nicely with the kick off of Democratic take back the Congress high gear season.
The only thing she has said correctly is her prediction that Republicans will lose many seats this November election. “Lots of them” I think she said. When that happens I will buy her a drink and suggest her next book topic should be “How my vicious loud ignorant mouth tanked it for the Republicans but they all still want me, because I still look hot toting a shotgun in tight jeans and I have more money than Ariana. Na na na na.”
Here is what we do know. Shamelessly the Republicans are expert at Capitalizing on Terror.
Terror pays big. A republican fundraiser letter went out timed ever so conveniently with regard to the terror announcement. Grab your duck tape kiddies, head for the safe room and bring along mommies check book with you:
Click here: ABC News: Democrats Assail GOP Fundraising Effort
WASHINGTON Aug 11, 2006 (AP)— Democrats assailed the Republicans Friday for e-mailing a fundraising appeal mentioning the war on terror hours after British authorities disclosed they had disrupted a plot to blow up aircraft headed to the United States.
"In the middle of a war on terror, we need to remain focused on furthering Republican ideas more than ever before," former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said in a letter that asked for donations to the Republican National Committee.
The RNC blamed a low-level staffer for distributing the fundraising appeal, which the party said had been scheduled for release before news of the plot broke.
"Once the RNC learned of this error we ceased distribution of the e-mail," said Tracey Schmitt, a party spokeswoman.
Democrats didn't accept the explanation.
"The defeat of the London plot is a warning that we should redouble our efforts to defeat terrorism. It shouldn't be used as a political defibrillator by Republicans on electoral life support," said Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats' campaign committee.
Democracy Truth gives Permission to reprint in whole or part.
Submissions for publication may be sent to DemocracyTruth@aol.com
If we just recite enough sounding foreign names can we get everyone whipped up in a xenophobic frenzy so we only trust big mouthed long legged blondes?
Beware those self proclaimed public intellectuals who tout their New York Times best-selling status while peddling books for $1.35. Yes, you can now buy “Godless” Ann Coulter’s epistle on Amazon for a buck thirty five. That makes it cheaper than a bag of mixed nuts at the airport or a box of tampax. There’s a rush at Walmart so get yours today.
Beware of people who say things like “All gays are….” “all liberals….” “all abortions…..”. Gays are not all gay or remain gay for the same reason, all people don’t get abortions for the same reasons and all “liberals” don’t all hold views for the same motivation on all issues all the time. Neither apparently are all Catholics on all fours with all alleged Catholic positions all the time.
Neither are self proclaimed public intellectuals smart all the time.
Point in case is Coulter who if she looked like Roseanne Barr would not be on any TV show but Comedy Central and the world would take her about that seriously.
Why anyone takes seriously anyone who thinks she is making a point by posting unconvicted names of British Pakistani young men on her webpage decrying her new straw target –those mythic "liberals" who don’t think terror is worth fighting-is beyond me. I hope those Pakistani youth who are not convicted sue her for Slander and write a book about it. One has already been released as an innocent bystander of the wrong color in the wrong place. Others were detained and arraigned without counsel or even a phone call home. NBC news reports that the Bush administration put pressure on Blair to get these arrests immediately when common sense and the state of evidence didn't support it- none of these characters apparently had even purchased an airline ticket, and many of them don't even have passports.
Coulter apparently has forgotten (if she ever knew because her knowledge of world history ends at Nova Scotia and she thinks anyone who knows anything outside the US "hates America") that Britain once ruled India, Pakistan and Bangladesh such that there are enormous populations of all of them in Britain and they all are entitled to the same due process the rest of the country gets. Not one of them has been convicted of anything. Their arrest has conveniently however coincided nicely with the kick off of Democratic take back the Congress high gear season.
The only thing she has said correctly is her prediction that Republicans will lose many seats this November election. “Lots of them” I think she said. When that happens I will buy her a drink and suggest her next book topic should be “How my vicious loud ignorant mouth tanked it for the Republicans but they all still want me, because I still look hot toting a shotgun in tight jeans and I have more money than Ariana. Na na na na.”
Here is what we do know. Shamelessly the Republicans are expert at Capitalizing on Terror.
Terror pays big. A republican fundraiser letter went out timed ever so conveniently with regard to the terror announcement. Grab your duck tape kiddies, head for the safe room and bring along mommies check book with you:
Click here: ABC News: Democrats Assail GOP Fundraising Effort
WASHINGTON Aug 11, 2006 (AP)— Democrats assailed the Republicans Friday for e-mailing a fundraising appeal mentioning the war on terror hours after British authorities disclosed they had disrupted a plot to blow up aircraft headed to the United States.
"In the middle of a war on terror, we need to remain focused on furthering Republican ideas more than ever before," former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said in a letter that asked for donations to the Republican National Committee.
The RNC blamed a low-level staffer for distributing the fundraising appeal, which the party said had been scheduled for release before news of the plot broke.
"Once the RNC learned of this error we ceased distribution of the e-mail," said Tracey Schmitt, a party spokeswoman.
Democrats didn't accept the explanation.
"The defeat of the London plot is a warning that we should redouble our efforts to defeat terrorism. It shouldn't be used as a political defibrillator by Republicans on electoral life support," said Phil Singer, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats' campaign committee.
Democracy Truth gives Permission to reprint in whole or part.
Submissions for publication may be sent to DemocracyTruth@aol.com
Friday, August 11, 2006
Rovian Manifesto
Hold On To Your Lip Gloss And Get Ready for 2008
We already know what the first few chapters in the Rove play-book look like; If you don’t get a hold of every Conyers Report ever written. They include detailed summaries of things like calculated ethnic disenfranchisement, purging voter rolls, games with provisional ballots, opti-scanner curiosities, black boxed voting, disinformation campaigns, diebold deviousness, back-door remote wireless hacking, swift-boaties, diverting votes in jumping, hopping, hoola hooping computer screens, etc. Your basic E-Coup.
Lets get ready for some real rough and tumble.
Lets see what the next chapters look like. This is satirical fiction folks- so no one report this to the law and authority people for threatening anything improper (that’s Chapter 20 supra.)
Chapter 10:
Fabricating foiled plots. Whip up Mass hysteria by making ladies throw out their lip gloss causing huge scenes at every major airport during the busiest summer month of vacation season. Get people really ticked off because they can’t get their usual duty free Scotch and have to dump hundreds of dollars of Lancoln over to the TSA staff (who couldn’t afford to buy it). Make sure it has people waiting for hours thinking about how lucky that they are we saved them from a major airline crash.
Make it look like they arrested the culprits somewhere other than the US first lest they accuse us of fabricating the foiled plot. They will all say that Republicans saved the country from terror again and the Democrats are in denial that everyone hates us (forget why everyone hates us and don’t let any press entertain that question.)
Chapter 11:
How do we get rid of that moral authority albatross who won’t get out of our faces-Cindy Sheehan. Start a rumor she had sex with a blogger! Brilliant! That way we besmirch bloggers and Sheehan with one fell rumor. Make her have sex with multiple bloggers! Yeah, That’s the ticket. Then make her have sex with John Kerry! Yeah, they were both in Europe at the same time!
Chapter 12:
Jam the credit reports and steal the identities of anyone likely to oppose us so they are so distracted trying to sort out their personal financial life they don’t have energy or resources and can’t get credit to finance anything serious to take us on, like a campaign, a PAC or a speaking tour. Steal information from every major data base in the country and don’t let Gonzales prosecute anyone or even look.
Chapter 13:
Demonize the dirtbag truth tellers. Start with Wayne Madsen. Make it look like he’s a madman. Have O’Reilly keep calling him Wayne MadMan until it sticks and Ann Coulter starts snortling how she won’t take Wayne Madman’s booty calls. Oh-forget about it-just put a hit out on him, and that Truth-out guy, and don’t forget those lawyers who think it’s actually practicing law commissioning vote counting.
Chapter 14:
Dig up any kind of dirt you can on Dodd and Feingold. Didn’t they have an El Salvadoran housekeeper they didn’t pay social security on or something? Anything? Didn’t they skip out on a restaurant tab when they were 22 or something? Anything? They roomed together on the Hill once, right- in an efficiency. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
No-I remember now, it was that ménage a trios with Michael Moore.
Chapter 15.
Keep calling everyone who protests war “baby killers” because they affirm that the government shouldn’t be in the business of regulating wombs. Click your heels three times and keep telling yourself that the baby-killers are not the ones with the rockets, guns and bombs who decimate children to dust but the ones with the lipgloss the TSA just stole-er, I mean confiscated.
Chapter 16:
Call Lieberman. Who else should we buy off? What if we gave Hillary a Revlon contract-would she leave us alone? How about a Revlon contract and a palace in Bahrain next to Michael. How about a Revlon contract, a palace in Bahrain next to Michael with that reality TV lesbo blonde personal trainer chick living in the basement.
Chapter 17:
Make more flick flocks with “flip flop” written on them and make FEMA deliver them to Louisiana. These must be worn as a precondition to getting extended rent paid for all Katrina evacuees.
Chapter 18:
Have the IRS audit, criminally prosecute and lock up Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, Teresa Heinz, and that chick who played a woman on that TV show Commander in Chief Gina Davis. Who ever heard of such an absurd idea of a woman Commander in Chief. What will they think of next- women Judges, or women soccer players or women pilots? Who will raise the children for God’s sake!
Chapter 19:
Every time the word UN is mentioned on the news have a talking head say “Chirac-attack!” as in “I think I am going to have another Chirac attack!” Keep trashing everything French. Forget that prior to 1803 when Napoleon sold Jefferson the Louisiana Purchase roughly a third of the discovered North Americas continent was French and thus about a quarter of the entire American population from the heartland bible belt can trace some roots to pre-colonial French ancestry (hence cities like DeMoines, Saint Louis, DeBuque, Duquesne, Detroit, and a thousand more) –forget that the great American ham sandwich is a French Croque Monsier, and that quiche, coque au vin, crème brule, cordon bleu, pate, salade Nicoise, Evian water, Dannon yogurt, Camembert, Roquefort, Champaign, Chateau Briand, Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent, Audobon the naturalist birdman, and the best wines in the world all came from France.
Just trash the entire country as cheese-eating drunken cowardly anti-semites. All the morons from Saint Louis, DeBuque and DeMoines will eat it up. Make French the first name of "whore" as in "Hillary dresses like a French Whore" or "Sheehan runs her mouth like a French whore."
Yeah, that’s how we should run a country. What you say? What about innovation, progress, education, global warming, port security, universal health care, biofuels,
Environmental protection, and non proliferation? What does that have to do with winning elections and keeping us flush and greased in the federal fisc? What are you as crazy as Wayne Madman? Why should we run a country when we can run it into the toxic groundwater?
We already know what the first few chapters in the Rove play-book look like; If you don’t get a hold of every Conyers Report ever written. They include detailed summaries of things like calculated ethnic disenfranchisement, purging voter rolls, games with provisional ballots, opti-scanner curiosities, black boxed voting, disinformation campaigns, diebold deviousness, back-door remote wireless hacking, swift-boaties, diverting votes in jumping, hopping, hoola hooping computer screens, etc. Your basic E-Coup.
Lets get ready for some real rough and tumble.
Lets see what the next chapters look like. This is satirical fiction folks- so no one report this to the law and authority people for threatening anything improper (that’s Chapter 20 supra.)
Chapter 10:
Fabricating foiled plots. Whip up Mass hysteria by making ladies throw out their lip gloss causing huge scenes at every major airport during the busiest summer month of vacation season. Get people really ticked off because they can’t get their usual duty free Scotch and have to dump hundreds of dollars of Lancoln over to the TSA staff (who couldn’t afford to buy it). Make sure it has people waiting for hours thinking about how lucky that they are we saved them from a major airline crash.
Make it look like they arrested the culprits somewhere other than the US first lest they accuse us of fabricating the foiled plot. They will all say that Republicans saved the country from terror again and the Democrats are in denial that everyone hates us (forget why everyone hates us and don’t let any press entertain that question.)
Chapter 11:
How do we get rid of that moral authority albatross who won’t get out of our faces-Cindy Sheehan. Start a rumor she had sex with a blogger! Brilliant! That way we besmirch bloggers and Sheehan with one fell rumor. Make her have sex with multiple bloggers! Yeah, That’s the ticket. Then make her have sex with John Kerry! Yeah, they were both in Europe at the same time!
Chapter 12:
Jam the credit reports and steal the identities of anyone likely to oppose us so they are so distracted trying to sort out their personal financial life they don’t have energy or resources and can’t get credit to finance anything serious to take us on, like a campaign, a PAC or a speaking tour. Steal information from every major data base in the country and don’t let Gonzales prosecute anyone or even look.
Chapter 13:
Demonize the dirtbag truth tellers. Start with Wayne Madsen. Make it look like he’s a madman. Have O’Reilly keep calling him Wayne MadMan until it sticks and Ann Coulter starts snortling how she won’t take Wayne Madman’s booty calls. Oh-forget about it-just put a hit out on him, and that Truth-out guy, and don’t forget those lawyers who think it’s actually practicing law commissioning vote counting.
Chapter 14:
Dig up any kind of dirt you can on Dodd and Feingold. Didn’t they have an El Salvadoran housekeeper they didn’t pay social security on or something? Anything? Didn’t they skip out on a restaurant tab when they were 22 or something? Anything? They roomed together on the Hill once, right- in an efficiency. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
No-I remember now, it was that ménage a trios with Michael Moore.
Chapter 15.
Keep calling everyone who protests war “baby killers” because they affirm that the government shouldn’t be in the business of regulating wombs. Click your heels three times and keep telling yourself that the baby-killers are not the ones with the rockets, guns and bombs who decimate children to dust but the ones with the lipgloss the TSA just stole-er, I mean confiscated.
Chapter 16:
Call Lieberman. Who else should we buy off? What if we gave Hillary a Revlon contract-would she leave us alone? How about a Revlon contract and a palace in Bahrain next to Michael. How about a Revlon contract, a palace in Bahrain next to Michael with that reality TV lesbo blonde personal trainer chick living in the basement.
Chapter 17:
Make more flick flocks with “flip flop” written on them and make FEMA deliver them to Louisiana. These must be worn as a precondition to getting extended rent paid for all Katrina evacuees.
Chapter 18:
Have the IRS audit, criminally prosecute and lock up Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan, Teresa Heinz, and that chick who played a woman on that TV show Commander in Chief Gina Davis. Who ever heard of such an absurd idea of a woman Commander in Chief. What will they think of next- women Judges, or women soccer players or women pilots? Who will raise the children for God’s sake!
Chapter 19:
Every time the word UN is mentioned on the news have a talking head say “Chirac-attack!” as in “I think I am going to have another Chirac attack!” Keep trashing everything French. Forget that prior to 1803 when Napoleon sold Jefferson the Louisiana Purchase roughly a third of the discovered North Americas continent was French and thus about a quarter of the entire American population from the heartland bible belt can trace some roots to pre-colonial French ancestry (hence cities like DeMoines, Saint Louis, DeBuque, Duquesne, Detroit, and a thousand more) –forget that the great American ham sandwich is a French Croque Monsier, and that quiche, coque au vin, crème brule, cordon bleu, pate, salade Nicoise, Evian water, Dannon yogurt, Camembert, Roquefort, Champaign, Chateau Briand, Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent, Audobon the naturalist birdman, and the best wines in the world all came from France.
Just trash the entire country as cheese-eating drunken cowardly anti-semites. All the morons from Saint Louis, DeBuque and DeMoines will eat it up. Make French the first name of "whore" as in "Hillary dresses like a French Whore" or "Sheehan runs her mouth like a French whore."
Yeah, that’s how we should run a country. What you say? What about innovation, progress, education, global warming, port security, universal health care, biofuels,
Environmental protection, and non proliferation? What does that have to do with winning elections and keeping us flush and greased in the federal fisc? What are you as crazy as Wayne Madman? Why should we run a country when we can run it into the toxic groundwater?
Monday, July 31, 2006
Playing Womb Politics
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
What does it really mean to be Pro-Life? What does it really mean to promote "Life?"
The inconsistency in people's views on this and the religious fervor surrounding it has interesting reverberations into public policy. But from a practical approach, there is a potential for greater common ground than the debate has shaped to date. Do the Republicans just want to hang on to this as a wedge issue that never dies, or can we really get serious about solving the problem? I choose that great American optomism that says that if we get real with a problem and face it head on, we can defeat it.
The Republicans have had about five years controlling both Houses of Congress and the White House and it is still legal to have an abortion, while incrementally more unavailable, and the statistics on numbers of people having them has not decreased appreciably. That is in spite of some of the nastiest campaign rhetoric and the loudest moral condemnations against anyone who disagreed with republican strategy on this issue ever.
We still have a national scandal in the fact that about three million abortions take place every year in America (over 40 million since Roe v. Wade) according to admitted Democratic statistics.
Three million a year. There are about six million people in the Greater Philadelphia area, including the city proper and surrounding suburbs, and there are just over nine million people in Los Angeles. Every two years, we abort a population the size of greater Philadelphia and every three years a population the size of Los Angeles. One way to destroy cities is to do it like they are doing it in the Middle East. Another way is to never let people be born in the first place. In either case, there is a proliferation of terror and appauling loss of life and limb.
Today at the Center for American Progress Harry Reed, Democratic Minority Senate Leader, who calls himself a "pro-life" Senator from Nevada, and John Podesta, Clinton's former Chief of Staff came just shy of declaring war on abortion- but not on women. It is fact that the numbers of abortions were lower under Clinton that they have been under Bush.
There is common ground between Democrats and Republicans in the war on abortion. Democrats want to focus on making them unnecessary-a goal that should be universal. Reed and Hillary Clinton are proposing a bill called The Prevention First Act which seeks to make abortions unnecessary.
Lest Adriana Huffington starts booing Hillary for floating toward the center, it should be noted that this Prevention First Act is just good common sense, morally, economically and every way for women. The socio-economic dynamics involved in poor women having abortions are here addressed as a huge number of women who get abortions are motivated by a belief in their inability to afford the child (or another child). The bill contemplates such things as allowing insurance or medicaid to provide for prenatal and post-partum care, finances comprehensive health care and abstinence education, particularly teen pregnancy prevention education, makes contraception available and other measures and takes care of families. It rejects intrinsically the idea that making abortions unavailable will reduce the numbers. That is a fallacy that has proven largely wrong in other countries where it is not legal; women resort to self mutilation and destroy themselves and their unborn self aborting when they do not want pregnancies and are driven underground in places where it is illegal. That was certainly the case prior to Roe in this country.
The goal should be for all women to want all their pregnancies. Legislation is never going to completely solve the fact that all women do not want all their pregnancies. Legislation is never going to make men or boys honorable all the time and never have sex with women unless they are sure they want to raise children and help pay for them. Legislation can't make people love each other and want to care for their offspring. But we can make a kinder gentler world more hospitable to Moms and their kids so that Moms feel so much better about wanting to bring a baby into the world that they choose life in spite of their circumstances by dramatically altering the socio-economic environment that women land in when they find themselves pregnant. That's a good start. If you think you can survive having a child you are more likely to risk it. If you are not thriving you can't see past your naval to contemplate bringing someone else in the picture whom you are singularly responsible for.
It is sometimes remarked that abortions don't hurt anyone- unless of course you are the Fetus.
Every Fetus conceived in America should have a shot at their American dream.
When Gabriel, as the story goes in the New Testament, the Angel of the Lord, visited a Jewish virgin teenager Mary he had an announcement to make. Mary- don't be afraid. This is good news. You are going to have a son.
Legislation can tell women, listen- don't be afraid. This is really good news. You are going to have a baby. There is nothing to fear because we are going to help you both survive. Its good news because we as a country value you and your child so much that we are going to take care of you even if the rest of your world has failed you. That can be the promise of America for every pregnant woman. The promise of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness for everyone, including Fetuses. I would rather give women hope than condemn them. People respond better to love than restraint and condemnation.
There are no easy answers. But we all can and should agree- its high time we stopped playing womb politics and started playing with more children.
What does it really mean to be Pro-Life? What does it really mean to promote "Life?"
The inconsistency in people's views on this and the religious fervor surrounding it has interesting reverberations into public policy. But from a practical approach, there is a potential for greater common ground than the debate has shaped to date. Do the Republicans just want to hang on to this as a wedge issue that never dies, or can we really get serious about solving the problem? I choose that great American optomism that says that if we get real with a problem and face it head on, we can defeat it.
The Republicans have had about five years controlling both Houses of Congress and the White House and it is still legal to have an abortion, while incrementally more unavailable, and the statistics on numbers of people having them has not decreased appreciably. That is in spite of some of the nastiest campaign rhetoric and the loudest moral condemnations against anyone who disagreed with republican strategy on this issue ever.
We still have a national scandal in the fact that about three million abortions take place every year in America (over 40 million since Roe v. Wade) according to admitted Democratic statistics.
Three million a year. There are about six million people in the Greater Philadelphia area, including the city proper and surrounding suburbs, and there are just over nine million people in Los Angeles. Every two years, we abort a population the size of greater Philadelphia and every three years a population the size of Los Angeles. One way to destroy cities is to do it like they are doing it in the Middle East. Another way is to never let people be born in the first place. In either case, there is a proliferation of terror and appauling loss of life and limb.
Today at the Center for American Progress Harry Reed, Democratic Minority Senate Leader, who calls himself a "pro-life" Senator from Nevada, and John Podesta, Clinton's former Chief of Staff came just shy of declaring war on abortion- but not on women. It is fact that the numbers of abortions were lower under Clinton that they have been under Bush.
There is common ground between Democrats and Republicans in the war on abortion. Democrats want to focus on making them unnecessary-a goal that should be universal. Reed and Hillary Clinton are proposing a bill called The Prevention First Act which seeks to make abortions unnecessary.
Lest Adriana Huffington starts booing Hillary for floating toward the center, it should be noted that this Prevention First Act is just good common sense, morally, economically and every way for women. The socio-economic dynamics involved in poor women having abortions are here addressed as a huge number of women who get abortions are motivated by a belief in their inability to afford the child (or another child). The bill contemplates such things as allowing insurance or medicaid to provide for prenatal and post-partum care, finances comprehensive health care and abstinence education, particularly teen pregnancy prevention education, makes contraception available and other measures and takes care of families. It rejects intrinsically the idea that making abortions unavailable will reduce the numbers. That is a fallacy that has proven largely wrong in other countries where it is not legal; women resort to self mutilation and destroy themselves and their unborn self aborting when they do not want pregnancies and are driven underground in places where it is illegal. That was certainly the case prior to Roe in this country.
The goal should be for all women to want all their pregnancies. Legislation is never going to completely solve the fact that all women do not want all their pregnancies. Legislation is never going to make men or boys honorable all the time and never have sex with women unless they are sure they want to raise children and help pay for them. Legislation can't make people love each other and want to care for their offspring. But we can make a kinder gentler world more hospitable to Moms and their kids so that Moms feel so much better about wanting to bring a baby into the world that they choose life in spite of their circumstances by dramatically altering the socio-economic environment that women land in when they find themselves pregnant. That's a good start. If you think you can survive having a child you are more likely to risk it. If you are not thriving you can't see past your naval to contemplate bringing someone else in the picture whom you are singularly responsible for.
It is sometimes remarked that abortions don't hurt anyone- unless of course you are the Fetus.
Every Fetus conceived in America should have a shot at their American dream.
When Gabriel, as the story goes in the New Testament, the Angel of the Lord, visited a Jewish virgin teenager Mary he had an announcement to make. Mary- don't be afraid. This is good news. You are going to have a son.
Legislation can tell women, listen- don't be afraid. This is really good news. You are going to have a baby. There is nothing to fear because we are going to help you both survive. Its good news because we as a country value you and your child so much that we are going to take care of you even if the rest of your world has failed you. That can be the promise of America for every pregnant woman. The promise of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness for everyone, including Fetuses. I would rather give women hope than condemn them. People respond better to love than restraint and condemnation.
There are no easy answers. But we all can and should agree- its high time we stopped playing womb politics and started playing with more children.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
PRINCE OF PEACE PRAY FOR US
BETTER LIVING THROUGH DENIAL
“Follow Peace With All Men, And Holiness, without which no man shall see God.”
Hebrews 12:14. (New Testament Christian Bible.)
Rice has the intellectual subtlety of a Katyusha rocket in understanding the dynamics of Middle Eastern conflict and peace. Ann Coulter, the “Anti-Shipman” was on Fox this week snorting that those doves and the Democrats are as uncomfortable talking scripture as they are in Foreign Policy. She apparently fancies herself more a moral authority than that famous dove, Pope Benedict who has been calling for a cease-fire for weeks. The Republicans are just clueless.
Claire Shipman, on the other hand, understands the power of Imagery in Diplomacy. On the heels of Abu Graib, Guantanamo, “thousands of strategic errors” in Iraq, a completely delusionally deceptively premised invasion, last night we had Rice schmoozing with the Israeli diplomatic corp camping for photos for her autobiography while a building in Lebanon was bombed killing 34 innocent civilians airing all over Al Jazeera. No wonder she was disinvited from Beirut (but she called him first...sure.)
Tom Friedman, a Jewish American journalist and a noted expert in the region and who just returned from Damascus urges that we all stop now. Seriously. Everyone has made their point -the Israelis can bomb to bits anything they like, Hezbollah can crawl from the floorboards and spit back and the US can send collossally inept ineffectual insulting faux diplomats to see if they can find their head up their tails. It can not go anywhere but uglier, more murderous, and potentially more globally catastrophic.
Denial is not a River in Egypt. The Cheney/Bush hawk view that the way you defeat terror is with more over the top violence and shock and awe in your face terror back is clearly wrong. Its self-defeating. Its counterproductive. Its anti-Biblical from a New Testament perspective, its demonstrably not working. Its just baffling that they stick to this strategy. The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Clearly we are not going to get any different result transporting the philosophy to this conflict.
It went barely with notice that this week we are sending more troops to Iraq because we are not "winning" there, the insurgents are stronger and more pissed off, 100 Iraqis a day die just inflaming the Arab street while Iran sees what is going on next door and will be damned if they are going to let it encroach on them.
Bush and company have a remarkable ability to deny that there is any natural and obvious repercussion to anything they do, while the rest of the world looks on agast and stunned. They can't connect the dots if a coloring book was put in front of them. They believe what they want to believe- forget the facts and reality the rest of the world lives in.
OBVIOUSLY, the Iraq war has inflamed opposition against Israel and against us everywhere. OBVIOUSLY, our destabilization of Iraq has played into Iranian hands (as the double agent Chalabai plotted all along apparently) strengthening Shiite credibility in the Arab world. OBVIOUSLY ignoring the discontented Syrian element moves to push them into the anti-US camp. Obviously the more bombing of Lebanon goes on, the more it mobilizes moderate and fanatic elements of the Arab street to do everything they can, build every ally they can against us.
OBVIOUSLY, by openly repudiating a cease fire until something “lasting” or “enduring” can be established-assumes that this can ever be established- and is just code for green light for Israel to bomb out Lebanon to their hearts content inviting more Katysha rocket assaults and even longer range missiles on Israel and will serve to invest more and more Hezbollah’s sponsoring countries to engage in the fight and mobilize moderates into the militant camp until we are truly in a nuclear world war without end.
How everyone else in the world can see this while Rice camps for photos and Bush mindwashes Blair and embarrases all of Britain by recruiting it to our goals, is just mind- boggling. It's nothing short of insane.
The nutcase who attacked a Synagogue responding to the Jihad call in Seattle is only the beginning if we continue "staying the course."
The people at the rudder of US Ship Fear here need to propagate violence to mobilize fear to perpetuate war to politically legitimate their illegitimate ignorant selves in power. That is their agenda. It will continue until the day we get rid of them off the public payroll along with their surrogates in Congress. We need to get these people off the public payroll because they do not speak for us, they endanger us. They boldly endanger us. It's high time we all woke up.
Hezbollah is not just a terrorist organization. It is the tip of the Shiite Crescent that loops back to Iran. But, it is not just a state sponsored or proxy terrorist organization that is backed by Syria and Iran. It is effectively an adjunct of the Lebanese military operating openly with the blessings of the Lebanese government and people. The thought that the people would turn on Hezbollah if the destruction was more severe was ill-conceived –like virtually all this Administration’s anti-terror strategy.
Hezbollah is not attacking Lebanon, Israel is -so OBVIOUSLY the Lebanese people blame their attackers, not the entity they perceive is protecting their borders and fighting back.
On Meet-The-Press today the Lebanese Ambassador told Russert that he “respected” Nasrallah, the cleric leader of Hezbollah who openly calls for the destruction/elimination of Israel. He prevaricated a bit noting that it cannot be done militarily alluding to the fact that they think that they can do it politically (if you listened close enough you see that this speaker for Lebanon is of the camp that believes Israel can be eliminated). What is happening now is that the Arab world by storming the UN and playing victim is attempting to mobilize world opinion in their favor charging the Israelis with excessive force and
responses while at the same time the Lebanese know that Hezbollah are using Lebanese civilians as human shields and cover for Hezbollah attacks.
The Lebanese government could insist and demand that the civilians get out of the way of Hezbollah and issue evacuation orders but they are not doing that. They could send the Lebanese Army to retrieve reluctant refugees who claim they have no money or transport just as we could have removed trapped people during the Katrina flooding. The fact that the Lebanese government is not only not chastising Hezbollah or issuing any critical statements, but hiding behind the “we don’t want to provoke civil war” demonstrates that Hezbollah is working with the blessing of the Lebanese government.
Therefore, we now have essentially two countries at war with each other-not just Israel fighting terrorism. Therefore, Israel is going to consider it within their self-defensive right to attack anywhere in Lebanon they believe threats originate. It will not stop so long as each uses the other’s aggression as excuse to perpetuate more aggression against the other. It will downward spiral into a much wider conflict that directly threatens the US.
Dick Cheney’s comple lack of any critical analysis is explainable by the fact that his serious heart ailment and medication has clearly hardered all arteries into his brain depriving it of the oxygen that it needs to function responsibly. Bush and Condi’s delusional myopia can’t be explained by anything other than that double lethal combination of ignorance and arrogance.
Therefore, it is now necessary for the national security of the country for high level former US diplomats, generals, cabinet officials, sitting or former Congress people and experts in the region to organize themselves into a Peace Envoy to visit the region, listen to the Syrians, go to the UN and meet with the representatives there, issue stern recommendations and do what this Administration in its blind misdirected ideological ambition is incapable of doing.
World Peace in this region of the world will not be achieved by letting Rice at it and her visits are a waste of taxpayer money, because she represents an element that believes Peace is only achieved by disarmament through war and bloodshed. It has always been and continues to be a moronic illogical irresponsible predicate for any Foreign Policy.
BREAKING NEWS.......................
CNN is now at 5:15 pm Sunday reporting that the Israelis will stand down for 48 hours to allow civilians to leave Southern Lebanon but reserve the right to reinitiate attack if rockets fly into Israel. We shall see.
“Follow Peace With All Men, And Holiness, without which no man shall see God.”
Hebrews 12:14. (New Testament Christian Bible.)
Rice has the intellectual subtlety of a Katyusha rocket in understanding the dynamics of Middle Eastern conflict and peace. Ann Coulter, the “Anti-Shipman” was on Fox this week snorting that those doves and the Democrats are as uncomfortable talking scripture as they are in Foreign Policy. She apparently fancies herself more a moral authority than that famous dove, Pope Benedict who has been calling for a cease-fire for weeks. The Republicans are just clueless.
Claire Shipman, on the other hand, understands the power of Imagery in Diplomacy. On the heels of Abu Graib, Guantanamo, “thousands of strategic errors” in Iraq, a completely delusionally deceptively premised invasion, last night we had Rice schmoozing with the Israeli diplomatic corp camping for photos for her autobiography while a building in Lebanon was bombed killing 34 innocent civilians airing all over Al Jazeera. No wonder she was disinvited from Beirut (but she called him first...sure.)
Tom Friedman, a Jewish American journalist and a noted expert in the region and who just returned from Damascus urges that we all stop now. Seriously. Everyone has made their point -the Israelis can bomb to bits anything they like, Hezbollah can crawl from the floorboards and spit back and the US can send collossally inept ineffectual insulting faux diplomats to see if they can find their head up their tails. It can not go anywhere but uglier, more murderous, and potentially more globally catastrophic.
Denial is not a River in Egypt. The Cheney/Bush hawk view that the way you defeat terror is with more over the top violence and shock and awe in your face terror back is clearly wrong. Its self-defeating. Its counterproductive. Its anti-Biblical from a New Testament perspective, its demonstrably not working. Its just baffling that they stick to this strategy. The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Clearly we are not going to get any different result transporting the philosophy to this conflict.
It went barely with notice that this week we are sending more troops to Iraq because we are not "winning" there, the insurgents are stronger and more pissed off, 100 Iraqis a day die just inflaming the Arab street while Iran sees what is going on next door and will be damned if they are going to let it encroach on them.
Bush and company have a remarkable ability to deny that there is any natural and obvious repercussion to anything they do, while the rest of the world looks on agast and stunned. They can't connect the dots if a coloring book was put in front of them. They believe what they want to believe- forget the facts and reality the rest of the world lives in.
OBVIOUSLY, the Iraq war has inflamed opposition against Israel and against us everywhere. OBVIOUSLY, our destabilization of Iraq has played into Iranian hands (as the double agent Chalabai plotted all along apparently) strengthening Shiite credibility in the Arab world. OBVIOUSLY ignoring the discontented Syrian element moves to push them into the anti-US camp. Obviously the more bombing of Lebanon goes on, the more it mobilizes moderate and fanatic elements of the Arab street to do everything they can, build every ally they can against us.
OBVIOUSLY, by openly repudiating a cease fire until something “lasting” or “enduring” can be established-assumes that this can ever be established- and is just code for green light for Israel to bomb out Lebanon to their hearts content inviting more Katysha rocket assaults and even longer range missiles on Israel and will serve to invest more and more Hezbollah’s sponsoring countries to engage in the fight and mobilize moderates into the militant camp until we are truly in a nuclear world war without end.
How everyone else in the world can see this while Rice camps for photos and Bush mindwashes Blair and embarrases all of Britain by recruiting it to our goals, is just mind- boggling. It's nothing short of insane.
The nutcase who attacked a Synagogue responding to the Jihad call in Seattle is only the beginning if we continue "staying the course."
The people at the rudder of US Ship Fear here need to propagate violence to mobilize fear to perpetuate war to politically legitimate their illegitimate ignorant selves in power. That is their agenda. It will continue until the day we get rid of them off the public payroll along with their surrogates in Congress. We need to get these people off the public payroll because they do not speak for us, they endanger us. They boldly endanger us. It's high time we all woke up.
Hezbollah is not just a terrorist organization. It is the tip of the Shiite Crescent that loops back to Iran. But, it is not just a state sponsored or proxy terrorist organization that is backed by Syria and Iran. It is effectively an adjunct of the Lebanese military operating openly with the blessings of the Lebanese government and people. The thought that the people would turn on Hezbollah if the destruction was more severe was ill-conceived –like virtually all this Administration’s anti-terror strategy.
Hezbollah is not attacking Lebanon, Israel is -so OBVIOUSLY the Lebanese people blame their attackers, not the entity they perceive is protecting their borders and fighting back.
On Meet-The-Press today the Lebanese Ambassador told Russert that he “respected” Nasrallah, the cleric leader of Hezbollah who openly calls for the destruction/elimination of Israel. He prevaricated a bit noting that it cannot be done militarily alluding to the fact that they think that they can do it politically (if you listened close enough you see that this speaker for Lebanon is of the camp that believes Israel can be eliminated). What is happening now is that the Arab world by storming the UN and playing victim is attempting to mobilize world opinion in their favor charging the Israelis with excessive force and
responses while at the same time the Lebanese know that Hezbollah are using Lebanese civilians as human shields and cover for Hezbollah attacks.
The Lebanese government could insist and demand that the civilians get out of the way of Hezbollah and issue evacuation orders but they are not doing that. They could send the Lebanese Army to retrieve reluctant refugees who claim they have no money or transport just as we could have removed trapped people during the Katrina flooding. The fact that the Lebanese government is not only not chastising Hezbollah or issuing any critical statements, but hiding behind the “we don’t want to provoke civil war” demonstrates that Hezbollah is working with the blessing of the Lebanese government.
Therefore, we now have essentially two countries at war with each other-not just Israel fighting terrorism. Therefore, Israel is going to consider it within their self-defensive right to attack anywhere in Lebanon they believe threats originate. It will not stop so long as each uses the other’s aggression as excuse to perpetuate more aggression against the other. It will downward spiral into a much wider conflict that directly threatens the US.
Dick Cheney’s comple lack of any critical analysis is explainable by the fact that his serious heart ailment and medication has clearly hardered all arteries into his brain depriving it of the oxygen that it needs to function responsibly. Bush and Condi’s delusional myopia can’t be explained by anything other than that double lethal combination of ignorance and arrogance.
Therefore, it is now necessary for the national security of the country for high level former US diplomats, generals, cabinet officials, sitting or former Congress people and experts in the region to organize themselves into a Peace Envoy to visit the region, listen to the Syrians, go to the UN and meet with the representatives there, issue stern recommendations and do what this Administration in its blind misdirected ideological ambition is incapable of doing.
World Peace in this region of the world will not be achieved by letting Rice at it and her visits are a waste of taxpayer money, because she represents an element that believes Peace is only achieved by disarmament through war and bloodshed. It has always been and continues to be a moronic illogical irresponsible predicate for any Foreign Policy.
BREAKING NEWS.......................
CNN is now at 5:15 pm Sunday reporting that the Israelis will stand down for 48 hours to allow civilians to leave Southern Lebanon but reserve the right to reinitiate attack if rockets fly into Israel. We shall see.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Energy dependence and the Persian Gulf- Addicted to Oil; When the Pusher Hates You
Holy Help Us. What Else Needs To Happen?
Grab a Starbucks pomegranate Frappacino with whip, sit back in an overstuffed chair and calmly think about where we are now.
Blood-drain in an endless war in Iraq killing about a hundred Iraqis who did nothing to us before we invaded them every day. Over 2,500 of us dead in Iraq. Half a million new refugees from Lebanon that a month ago slept in their own beds, washed their own dishes in their own kitchens, and picked herbs from their own gardens. At least five countries bringing in Naval and other ships to get their nationals out in a panic as missiles fly over their heads.
Two-thousand or so missiles lobbed into Israel killing lots of people full of ball-bearing for maximal destruction, destroying buildings and infastructure and terrorizing an entire country. Israeli retaliatory incursions/invasions and bombing into Southern Lebanon. UN observers killed. Violence rages everywhere in Iraq and a quarter of Beirut is a pile of concrete dust.
And in Rome today? No consensus but don't call it a failure. Condi cannot figure out how to make a Cease-Fire worthwhile still resisting one in spite of universal world opinion arguing that any such cease-fire would just return us to the "status quo ante" or revisit "spasms of violence." "Smasms" are apparently not better than wholescale ongoing slaughter. If she says "Status Quo Ante" or "spasms" again I think I will puke because there is nothing very Status Quo Ante about the state of Crisis we are currently experiencing or that will ever result now and she is Queen Spastic whose policies have fomented this hideous violence.
Are these the "birth pangs" of Condi's delusional baby delivery in some sort of pathetic transference that could keep psychologists busy scratching their heads for years, or just what it looks like: a big fat total mess, just a failed ridiculously conceived Foreign Policy based on deceptions, a pathetic demonstration of short-sighted ineptitude and complete lack of understanding of the underpinnings of World Affairs and the ingredients of Peace. I just take things at face value and call them like I see them. People tried to tell them. They thought they knew better. Clearly, they didn't.
Now they wonder if John Bolton should actually be permanently confirmed by the Senate as our UN Ambassador? Are they kidding?. I trust this guy like I trust Jack the Ripper- and so does the rest of the UN. Colonel Mustard on crack makes Bagdad Bob look like Oprah. Do these people get cable?
First we have an unconditional confirmation that the regime that we forced in to power in Iraq, into which we poured billions, billions of dollars is basically still essentially Arab, anti-Semitic, more anti-semetic, Israel-hating, and not on board with US Foreign Policy objectives at all concerning our friend Israel while it is under relentless assault. Malicki faced a Congressional boycott of his speech by, inter alia, Schumer who would not dignify the speech with his presence. We are not getting any solid open statements from anyone in Iraq to encourage the disarmament of Hezbollah-and that is the No. 1 terrorist organization in the world now with more power than a paramilitary organization because it is a direct hostile State proxy. And that is clearly what we, and the Israelis were looking for -surely some condemnation-from what Bush surely hoped would function more like a puppet proxy for all our billions.
All the years of rhetorical blah blah blah about imposing by force Democracy that will !poof! create friendly countries who want to assist the US in their Foreign Policy objectives because now they are-hallelujiah-FREE!- has proved to be as much bunk as most thinking people knew from the outset. Some people when they are free are freely happy to support freely people lobbing rockets into Israel or to knock off our soldiers. So much for the Bush Doctrine. Malicki condemned narrowly terrorism but defines it as anyone violently against his vision or Iraqi security. He stated that Iraqis are our "Allies on the War on Terror." He didn't condemn Hezbollah. With friends like that, Holy help us.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, appearing in a panel forum on Energy Policy and Security that the Center For American Progress sponsored today answered a blunt question: Should we diplomatically engage the Syrians? Absolutely, she affirmed, and she has. She tried to meet any and everyone who had any influence on a conflict or potential conflict and the Syrians have always had clear influence in the region, then and now. Diplomatically addressing or engaging even hostile entities is a way to "deliver tough messages." It's Diplomacy and Mediation 101 to understand that by meeting with people to deliver tough messages you are not adopting, affirming or condoning their agenda and that all "interests or stakeholders" in any given conflict must be addressed or confronted. We need to get Syria more in the Egyptian friendly corner than aligning themselves totally with Iran. Nothing is served by snubbing them.
When I look at the level of wisdom and competence that Clinton appointed, next to what is steering our rudder today I want to cry- or run for office.
Rice met with the Lebanese, and instead of getting them on board to disarm Hezbollah, she succeeded in apparently causing them to start defending the Southern border by joining Hezbollah against Israel. See, I really think that Ms. Rice, who admits she grew up in the back of a Southern Church in a poverty stricken state, didn't have paper delivery and didn't watch any news or read a newspaper until she went to College. She has absolutely no historic context to anything she steps into. That's what it looks like. Someone ask her how many days the Six Day War took and who won?
Here is what her resume should look like now:
1. Started a Civil War in Iraq, worked for an Administrative team that killed 2,500 Americans and between 50,000-100,000 Iraqis (we don't know for sure how many because we bomb the hospitals who disagree with our modest counts.).
2. Initiated Lebanese to engage Israel again in War aligning them with powerful terrorist group Hezbollah and did nothing productive to stop 2,000 rockets from being launched at Israel while they menacingly threaten more rockets going deeper into Israel.
3. Assisted in the displacement of about a half million people.
4. Refused to talk to people I didn't know how to handle like anyone in Syria.
5. Refused to "shuttle" because couldn't figure out who to talk to and where to go.
And how much did this cost the US?
Congressman Robert Wexler, in speaking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN from Israel, said we need to implement the provisions in the The Syrian Accountability Act that are already available to us. He agrees apparently with Schumer that the head of the Iraqis should not have been ever given the privilege of addressing a joint session of Congress after his comments and lack of support in disarming Hezbollah. You can hardly call yourself an "Ally on the War on Terror" when you take no public position on the group lobbing rockets into Israel as you speak.
The Center for American Progress is a think tank which has on its board what looks like a Shadow Cabinet, Chaired by a unique brilliant renaissance policy man, John Podesta, former Clinton Chief of Staff, who understands like few people do how events are connected and cause and effect in international relations. He is a true humble visionary. The Center for American Progress puts together task forces on substantive issues to craft policies and is composed of former Senators, Congresspeople, and Cabinet officials among other noted experts.
Today Madeleine Albright was joined by Carol Browner, who for 8 years was the head of the EPA under Clinton, Gayle Smith and Podesta, all members of the National Security Task Force on Energy that drafted the policy on "Energy Security In the 21st Century."
You can get a copy online at http://www.americanprogress.org/ It's quite brilliant. Get it.
Also on the Task Force was Tim Wirth, Samuel Berger, Tom Daschle, John Deutch, Congressman Tom Downey. Gayle Smith (who Mediated a Peace Agreement between Eritrea and Somalia during Clinton's Administration and is a noted expert on African security issues) moderated, and numerous other dignitaries and notables were on the task force.
Its deep and detailed and contains practical suggestions for what can be done to make us not dependent on Foreign Oil and develop industries that support technologies for biofuels- imagine it. We are essentially funding both sides of this war with our dependence on Foreign Oil from dangerous places run by people who hate us and our allies. It has to stop. The good news- it really can with the political will and vision of people like Podesta, Albright, Browner and Smith.
Bush announced that we were "Addicted to Oil." You don't say. You heard of the "Amen" corner? He chairs the "DUH" corner here (in Simpsonville it's the "DUOH" corner.) Podesta noted understatedly that Bush must be the last man in America to notice. Bush announcing we are addicted to Oil (while Cheney in his Energy Task Force sells the country and its national security to his oil buddies-do we know yet who was on that task force?) is a bit like making a national State of the Union announcement that "Traffic at Rush Hour on Wisconsin Avenue is Bumper to Bumper."
Podesta thinks that in less than fifty years, by the middle of the Century, 2050, we can be off this dependancy to Foreign Oil completely with developed technologies that would convert biofuels, switchgrass, corn and other organic matter into real fuel. Instead of "High Fructose Corn Syrup" in every soda and drink including things that used to be healthy for you like ice tea, if we could convert corn into fuel, wouldn't that be wonderful? I would rather put it in my car than make it 22 percent of the sugar content of a drink I don't want corn fructose in. (And don't get me started on that and the connection to epidemic juvenile diabetis in this country.)
It would be good for the environment too and assist the Global Warming impending slide to disaster. It would be good for poorer countries who can grow this stuff even in drought climates for possible export. Brazil has apparently converted its sugar cane into fuel and almost its entire national fleet is either hybrid or sugar cane derived fuel powered. Browner noted that we are not going to drill our way out of this mess and merely moving the drilling to off-shore in the US is not any viable solution. The solution is innovation into technologies that convert our home grown energy sources and supplies into biofuels and (organic) cellular ethanols- things that don't require we sell our national soul to people who don't like us and our Allies.
This got me thinking- I was born 46 years ago. I was born the year John F. Kennedy was elected President. Here is what did not exist when I was born: Microwave ovens, cell phones (or any phone that wasn't plugged in the wall with a clunky rotary dial), home videos, CDs, DVDs (or any of their players), personal computers (IBM punchcard computers existed in an entire room--no PCs, no MACs) broadband, internet, personal videocams, cameras or video on or in portable phones, digital cameras, portable printers, personal GPS systems, that thing in the car that tells you where you are going or if you are lost, disposable diapers, and lots of things I have not noticed.
So if we had an Administration that was not just "Unilateral" in its wierd myopia but "Unidimensional" (to quote Podesta) in its obsessive focus on Iraq, which for 300 billion dollars is the worst rip off to bankrupt the country we have ever blindly tolerated, think what we could innovate. Instead, we are ignoring the dramatic effect that converting off Petroleum will have everywhere, including the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Latin America and elsewhere. Believe.
The unfortunate link and effect between Foreign Energy Interdependence and Foreign Policy is something that has been remarked upon by every President since Nixon and is taught in every responsible graduate school worth its tuition. Yet, Ms. Rice declared her surprise- oh my- that her job would be tainted by this connection.
Do we really have to live through two more years of this nightmare? Our leadership is so obviously incompetent that I think my old pet Labrador Winston would do a better job at keeping international peace. At least he engenders fond feelings.
Solutions?
I am told griping isn't productive. So here are a few ideas that the American public might be a little more impressed by:
1. Dump Bolton- no question. Like today.
2. Get together a BIPARTISAN task force on Peace and Diplomacy and draw on people like Gayle Smith and Albright who know how to run a Foreign Policy or Mediate a dispute without people killing hundreds of each other off and displacing half a million people;
3. As Feinstein suggested, send a high level Emissary to do what Condi, aka "Flat-on-her-Ass" Rice clearly is incapable of doing. Let it be Bush's Dad and Mom. I don't care- anyone he will listen to other than his own stubborn ego.
4. Get a cease-fire. That means on both sides. Can I get a "DUH" from the "DUH" corner?
Grab a Starbucks pomegranate Frappacino with whip, sit back in an overstuffed chair and calmly think about where we are now.
Blood-drain in an endless war in Iraq killing about a hundred Iraqis who did nothing to us before we invaded them every day. Over 2,500 of us dead in Iraq. Half a million new refugees from Lebanon that a month ago slept in their own beds, washed their own dishes in their own kitchens, and picked herbs from their own gardens. At least five countries bringing in Naval and other ships to get their nationals out in a panic as missiles fly over their heads.
Two-thousand or so missiles lobbed into Israel killing lots of people full of ball-bearing for maximal destruction, destroying buildings and infastructure and terrorizing an entire country. Israeli retaliatory incursions/invasions and bombing into Southern Lebanon. UN observers killed. Violence rages everywhere in Iraq and a quarter of Beirut is a pile of concrete dust.
And in Rome today? No consensus but don't call it a failure. Condi cannot figure out how to make a Cease-Fire worthwhile still resisting one in spite of universal world opinion arguing that any such cease-fire would just return us to the "status quo ante" or revisit "spasms of violence." "Smasms" are apparently not better than wholescale ongoing slaughter. If she says "Status Quo Ante" or "spasms" again I think I will puke because there is nothing very Status Quo Ante about the state of Crisis we are currently experiencing or that will ever result now and she is Queen Spastic whose policies have fomented this hideous violence.
Are these the "birth pangs" of Condi's delusional baby delivery in some sort of pathetic transference that could keep psychologists busy scratching their heads for years, or just what it looks like: a big fat total mess, just a failed ridiculously conceived Foreign Policy based on deceptions, a pathetic demonstration of short-sighted ineptitude and complete lack of understanding of the underpinnings of World Affairs and the ingredients of Peace. I just take things at face value and call them like I see them. People tried to tell them. They thought they knew better. Clearly, they didn't.
Now they wonder if John Bolton should actually be permanently confirmed by the Senate as our UN Ambassador? Are they kidding?. I trust this guy like I trust Jack the Ripper- and so does the rest of the UN. Colonel Mustard on crack makes Bagdad Bob look like Oprah. Do these people get cable?
First we have an unconditional confirmation that the regime that we forced in to power in Iraq, into which we poured billions, billions of dollars is basically still essentially Arab, anti-Semitic, more anti-semetic, Israel-hating, and not on board with US Foreign Policy objectives at all concerning our friend Israel while it is under relentless assault. Malicki faced a Congressional boycott of his speech by, inter alia, Schumer who would not dignify the speech with his presence. We are not getting any solid open statements from anyone in Iraq to encourage the disarmament of Hezbollah-and that is the No. 1 terrorist organization in the world now with more power than a paramilitary organization because it is a direct hostile State proxy. And that is clearly what we, and the Israelis were looking for -surely some condemnation-from what Bush surely hoped would function more like a puppet proxy for all our billions.
All the years of rhetorical blah blah blah about imposing by force Democracy that will !poof! create friendly countries who want to assist the US in their Foreign Policy objectives because now they are-hallelujiah-FREE!- has proved to be as much bunk as most thinking people knew from the outset. Some people when they are free are freely happy to support freely people lobbing rockets into Israel or to knock off our soldiers. So much for the Bush Doctrine. Malicki condemned narrowly terrorism but defines it as anyone violently against his vision or Iraqi security. He stated that Iraqis are our "Allies on the War on Terror." He didn't condemn Hezbollah. With friends like that, Holy help us.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, appearing in a panel forum on Energy Policy and Security that the Center For American Progress sponsored today answered a blunt question: Should we diplomatically engage the Syrians? Absolutely, she affirmed, and she has. She tried to meet any and everyone who had any influence on a conflict or potential conflict and the Syrians have always had clear influence in the region, then and now. Diplomatically addressing or engaging even hostile entities is a way to "deliver tough messages." It's Diplomacy and Mediation 101 to understand that by meeting with people to deliver tough messages you are not adopting, affirming or condoning their agenda and that all "interests or stakeholders" in any given conflict must be addressed or confronted. We need to get Syria more in the Egyptian friendly corner than aligning themselves totally with Iran. Nothing is served by snubbing them.
When I look at the level of wisdom and competence that Clinton appointed, next to what is steering our rudder today I want to cry- or run for office.
Rice met with the Lebanese, and instead of getting them on board to disarm Hezbollah, she succeeded in apparently causing them to start defending the Southern border by joining Hezbollah against Israel. See, I really think that Ms. Rice, who admits she grew up in the back of a Southern Church in a poverty stricken state, didn't have paper delivery and didn't watch any news or read a newspaper until she went to College. She has absolutely no historic context to anything she steps into. That's what it looks like. Someone ask her how many days the Six Day War took and who won?
Here is what her resume should look like now:
1. Started a Civil War in Iraq, worked for an Administrative team that killed 2,500 Americans and between 50,000-100,000 Iraqis (we don't know for sure how many because we bomb the hospitals who disagree with our modest counts.).
2. Initiated Lebanese to engage Israel again in War aligning them with powerful terrorist group Hezbollah and did nothing productive to stop 2,000 rockets from being launched at Israel while they menacingly threaten more rockets going deeper into Israel.
3. Assisted in the displacement of about a half million people.
4. Refused to talk to people I didn't know how to handle like anyone in Syria.
5. Refused to "shuttle" because couldn't figure out who to talk to and where to go.
And how much did this cost the US?
Congressman Robert Wexler, in speaking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN from Israel, said we need to implement the provisions in the The Syrian Accountability Act that are already available to us. He agrees apparently with Schumer that the head of the Iraqis should not have been ever given the privilege of addressing a joint session of Congress after his comments and lack of support in disarming Hezbollah. You can hardly call yourself an "Ally on the War on Terror" when you take no public position on the group lobbing rockets into Israel as you speak.
The Center for American Progress is a think tank which has on its board what looks like a Shadow Cabinet, Chaired by a unique brilliant renaissance policy man, John Podesta, former Clinton Chief of Staff, who understands like few people do how events are connected and cause and effect in international relations. He is a true humble visionary. The Center for American Progress puts together task forces on substantive issues to craft policies and is composed of former Senators, Congresspeople, and Cabinet officials among other noted experts.
Today Madeleine Albright was joined by Carol Browner, who for 8 years was the head of the EPA under Clinton, Gayle Smith and Podesta, all members of the National Security Task Force on Energy that drafted the policy on "Energy Security In the 21st Century."
You can get a copy online at http://www.americanprogress.org/ It's quite brilliant. Get it.
Also on the Task Force was Tim Wirth, Samuel Berger, Tom Daschle, John Deutch, Congressman Tom Downey. Gayle Smith (who Mediated a Peace Agreement between Eritrea and Somalia during Clinton's Administration and is a noted expert on African security issues) moderated, and numerous other dignitaries and notables were on the task force.
Its deep and detailed and contains practical suggestions for what can be done to make us not dependent on Foreign Oil and develop industries that support technologies for biofuels- imagine it. We are essentially funding both sides of this war with our dependence on Foreign Oil from dangerous places run by people who hate us and our allies. It has to stop. The good news- it really can with the political will and vision of people like Podesta, Albright, Browner and Smith.
Bush announced that we were "Addicted to Oil." You don't say. You heard of the "Amen" corner? He chairs the "DUH" corner here (in Simpsonville it's the "DUOH" corner.) Podesta noted understatedly that Bush must be the last man in America to notice. Bush announcing we are addicted to Oil (while Cheney in his Energy Task Force sells the country and its national security to his oil buddies-do we know yet who was on that task force?) is a bit like making a national State of the Union announcement that "Traffic at Rush Hour on Wisconsin Avenue is Bumper to Bumper."
Podesta thinks that in less than fifty years, by the middle of the Century, 2050, we can be off this dependancy to Foreign Oil completely with developed technologies that would convert biofuels, switchgrass, corn and other organic matter into real fuel. Instead of "High Fructose Corn Syrup" in every soda and drink including things that used to be healthy for you like ice tea, if we could convert corn into fuel, wouldn't that be wonderful? I would rather put it in my car than make it 22 percent of the sugar content of a drink I don't want corn fructose in. (And don't get me started on that and the connection to epidemic juvenile diabetis in this country.)
It would be good for the environment too and assist the Global Warming impending slide to disaster. It would be good for poorer countries who can grow this stuff even in drought climates for possible export. Brazil has apparently converted its sugar cane into fuel and almost its entire national fleet is either hybrid or sugar cane derived fuel powered. Browner noted that we are not going to drill our way out of this mess and merely moving the drilling to off-shore in the US is not any viable solution. The solution is innovation into technologies that convert our home grown energy sources and supplies into biofuels and (organic) cellular ethanols- things that don't require we sell our national soul to people who don't like us and our Allies.
This got me thinking- I was born 46 years ago. I was born the year John F. Kennedy was elected President. Here is what did not exist when I was born: Microwave ovens, cell phones (or any phone that wasn't plugged in the wall with a clunky rotary dial), home videos, CDs, DVDs (or any of their players), personal computers (IBM punchcard computers existed in an entire room--no PCs, no MACs) broadband, internet, personal videocams, cameras or video on or in portable phones, digital cameras, portable printers, personal GPS systems, that thing in the car that tells you where you are going or if you are lost, disposable diapers, and lots of things I have not noticed.
So if we had an Administration that was not just "Unilateral" in its wierd myopia but "Unidimensional" (to quote Podesta) in its obsessive focus on Iraq, which for 300 billion dollars is the worst rip off to bankrupt the country we have ever blindly tolerated, think what we could innovate. Instead, we are ignoring the dramatic effect that converting off Petroleum will have everywhere, including the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, Latin America and elsewhere. Believe.
The unfortunate link and effect between Foreign Energy Interdependence and Foreign Policy is something that has been remarked upon by every President since Nixon and is taught in every responsible graduate school worth its tuition. Yet, Ms. Rice declared her surprise- oh my- that her job would be tainted by this connection.
Do we really have to live through two more years of this nightmare? Our leadership is so obviously incompetent that I think my old pet Labrador Winston would do a better job at keeping international peace. At least he engenders fond feelings.
Solutions?
I am told griping isn't productive. So here are a few ideas that the American public might be a little more impressed by:
1. Dump Bolton- no question. Like today.
2. Get together a BIPARTISAN task force on Peace and Diplomacy and draw on people like Gayle Smith and Albright who know how to run a Foreign Policy or Mediate a dispute without people killing hundreds of each other off and displacing half a million people;
3. As Feinstein suggested, send a high level Emissary to do what Condi, aka "Flat-on-her-Ass" Rice clearly is incapable of doing. Let it be Bush's Dad and Mom. I don't care- anyone he will listen to other than his own stubborn ego.
4. Get a cease-fire. That means on both sides. Can I get a "DUH" from the "DUH" corner?
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