Night of the Zombush

Thursday was the first Bush press briefing I actually suffered through in total. Fortunately, he's as loathe to giving them as I am to watching. My first conclusion of the evening was Bush seemed wired for sound as he appeared to hesitate, more than once, waiting for someone to put words in his mouth. CrooksandLiars also thought so.

I'll leave the details of Bush lies/lines for others to expound on and will say physically he looks older, which is par for the presidential job, but Bush also was over pancaked and apparently makeup artists, unable to give him the appearance of real life, settled for sallow dead and thick gray. His half-ass effort, once or twice, to throw in humor was embarrassing, too staged. Whoever is re-animating the mindless and speechless Bush is showing signs of mission fatigue.

Heartland Pollcats

An area poll I caught on TV last night shows the heartland residents are not happy with the economy. Having thrown my dish satellite off the roof in March of 2002 (retaliation against MSM lying) I've been using rabbit ears and pick up 3 regional channels, KFVS in Cape Girardeau, MO comes in the clearest.

Their poll question, put to those living in the armpit of a few red states, southern IL, northwest TN, western AR, KY, and the bootheel of MO, "Do you think the U.S. economy is better or worse than it was one year ago?" shows 73 percent voting the economy is worse.

Some will blame it on leftover effects of Clinton policies (but that's getting harder, even here, after 5 years of Bush), some will blame it on terrorism. But 73 is a number big enough to say a lot of red state folks are looking harder at BushCo.

Empire

Theologian calls for response to 9/11

By Samara Kalk Derby
April 19, 2005

David Ray Griffin asks the tough questions about Sept. 11, contending U.S. officials had some knowledge of what was coming and possibly orchestrated the attacks.

Griffin, whose book, "The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11," came out a year ago, drew an enthusiastic standing ovation from the majority of the 400 or so people who packed his lecture Monday night at Bascom Hall.

A retired Christian theologian, Griffin, 65, taught for more than 30 years at the Claremont School of Theology in California.

His comments Monday night were directed at religious people, who he said need to respond to Sept. 11 - and the American empire that has ensued - based on the moral principles of their religious traditions...

Evidence to support the theory that U.S. officials had at least had some foreknowledge of the attacks comes from David Schippers, the chief prosecutor for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, who reportedly received warnings from FBI agents about the attacks six weeks earlier, Griffin said.

Other government officials, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, would not respond to the warnings, he added.

There was the extraordinarily high volume of "put options" purchased in the three days before the attacks, Griffin said, with investors betting that stock in United and American Airlines - the two airlines used in the attacks - would go down. There were also a suspiciously high number of put options for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which occupied 22 stories of the World Trade Center.

"U.S. intelligence agencies monitor the market, partly to look for signs of impending attacks," Griffin said. "One wonders how information could be much more specific than this."

Griffin then made a case that government officials planned and executed the attacks.

For one, the United States military neglected to send fighter jets to intercept the hijacked planes. Such interceptions usually occur within 10 to 20 minutes after the first signs of trouble and are routine, happening about 100 times a year, Griffin said.

It seems implausible, he said, that the Pentagon was struck by Flight 77, since it is "surely the best defended building on the planet." The U.S. military has the best radar systems in the world and "does not miss anything occurring in North American airspace," he added.

Griffin also made a case that the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings was brought on by thousands of explosives placed throughout each of the buildings. They went straight down, at free-fall speed, as in controlled demolitions, and many people in the buildings reported that they heard or felt explosions, he added.

"High-rise steel-frame buildings have never - before or after 9/11- been caused to collapse by fire," he said.

Sue Adams, 50, introduced herself to Griffin after the talk, calling him heroic. "I think some day we may really know the truth," she said, adding that it will likely be after the Bush administration is gone.

Orion Litzau, a UW freshman studying engineering, agrees that the answers the government put out through the 9/11 Commission were more than a simple deception.

"They were not only partly false but a complete, bold face lie," he said. "David Ray Griffin brings out interesting points about what could be the true story behind the 9/11 attack."

Modern Pimp

It's amazing what passes for Black intelligentsia these days, or African-American scholarly thought as some say it is. These same scholars, purchased by conservative foundations and institutes, eagerly accepted the term African-American rather than the term Black American born in the riots and water hoses of the 1960s. The scholars gladly accepted the new label because they're either dumb enough, Tom enough, or paid enough. Which sounds more forceful Black Power or African-American Power? Try "Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud" to "Say it loud, I'm African-American and I'm proud." Black has strength, African-American sounds like the doublespeak it is. These same Black scholars, or I suppose I should use their preferred term, African-Americans, are founded, funded, and provided careers by rightwing tanks such as the Bradley Foundation, Olin Foundation, Hoover, and Heritage. They're "elitists" accepting conservative money to whine about liberal elitists. These scholars do still use "Black" when associated to teen pregancy, crime, welfare, etc. Black Panthers replaced with African-American Pussies. Money see, money do.

Yesterday Walter Williams latest column in Townhall caught my eye. entitled "The Productive vs. the Unproductive", I couldn't help but scoff. I like that word, scoff, it has all the spit and contempt some deserve. Williams is sometime substitute host for and guest on Rushjunkie Limbaugh radio. His columns appear regularly in Townhall and Jewish World Review. Williams uses the phrase "my colleague" more often than LaTwana gets her hair pressed and wrapped, and drops in the name Thomas Sowell or Milton Friedman, etc., his homeboys. Williams deserves the "slap up side the back of the head" award.

As nearly all high profile "African-American" conservative scholars today, Williams' career began with degrees thanks to affirmative action. A teaching stent in a community college, juvenile delinquent counselor for Los Angeles County Probation Department. Williams, was one of the African-Americans picked up in the 1970s for grooming as future conservative/republicans. His articles address the evil liberals meddling and controlling of campuses, the media, the "free market," the government. He bashes gun laws (which is good as I have several), reparations, "liberal elitists", affirmative action, welfare, minimum wage hikes; whatever is the latest flavor on the republican kill agenda. For a man with a doctorate in Economics he writes like a high school student copying his material from the encyclopedia, dumbing down the big words and repeating himself to pad the lines.

His column yesterday : "The productive people who made this progress possible are often painted as villains. I'm talking about the innovators and the risk-takers, in a word -- entrepreneurs. Today's heroes are often seen as the people who attack entrepreneurs -- among them lawyers, politicians, media people, leftist organizations, college professors and others who often contribute little or nothing to human progress. My colleague, Thomas Sowell, calls the entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors the "doers" and their attackers the "talkers." The attack on the pharmaceutical industry is particularly vicious, led by lawyers looking to make a financial killing like their colleagues who sued the tobacco industry and Microsoft. One target of today's talkers is Merck drug company, the maker of Vioxx, because for some individuals it poses an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. But for other individuals, it is safe and effective for pain relief from arthritis. The operational question for any drug is whether its benefits exceed its costs -- not whether some people are harmed. Moreover, some patients would willingly accept the risk of heart attack and stroke to obtain relief from painful, crippling arthritis. Why should the FDA or the plaintiff's bar prevent them from doing so. If we developed the practice of removing products from the market because some people are harmed by them, we might starve to death. Anaphylaxis is a sudden, severe, potentially fatal reaction that some people have to foods such as milk, wheat, soy, peanuts, fish, shellfish and eggs. Each year, food-induced anaphylaxis sends about 30,000 people to hospital emergency rooms and about 200 of them die. Since many people are harmed by these food items, should they be removed from our supermarket shelves? If not, why not? The next time we hear a talker attacking a doer, we just might ask: What have you done to further human progress? "

Walter, can the pharmablow job be any more obvious? This article is the lamest, dumbest thing I've read this week. Not even comparable to the eloquent logic heard in Willie's Bar & Grill, here in the heartland where locals hold no doctorates but some older folks still say it loud, Black and proud.

Informed Comment by Juan Cole

Mainstream Media and Bloggers

Matthew Haughey says he won't read our blogs if we use the term "mainstream media" (a.k.a. MSM).

A news flash for Matt: We don't care.

We don't care if you read our web logs.

The difference, Matt, is that we are independent actors, not part of a small set of multi-billion dollar corporations. The difference is that we are not under the constraints of making a 15% profit. The difference is that we are a distributed information system, whereas MSM is like a set of stand-alone mainframes. The difference is that we can say what we damn well please.

If we were the mainstream media (perhaps better thought of as corporate media), we would care if you threatened to stop reading us. Because although we might be professional news people, we would have the misfortune to be working for corporations that are mainly be about making money.

We would be ordered to try to avoid saying anything too controversial (and I don't mean "Crossfire" controversial), because we would be calculating what would bring in 15% profits per annum on our operating capital. Would hours and hours of television "reportage" and discussion of Michael Jackson or of Terri Schiavo or Scott Peterson (remember?) bring in viewers and advertising dollars? Then that is what we would be giving the public. Bread and circuses.
....more Juan Cole:

Guerrilla Funk

.wav file Sonic Jihad

What Would You Do....

See you could witness the illuminati bodycount
Don’t be surprised these is devils that I’m talkin’ bout
You think a couple thousand lives mean shit to killers?
Nigga I swear to God we the ones - ain’t no villans

Or any other word they think to demonize a country
Ain’t no terror threat unless approval ratings slumpin’
So I’ma say it for the record we the ones that planned it
Ain’t no other country took a part or had they hand in

Just a way to keep ya scary so you think you need ‘em
Praisin’ Bush while that killer take away ya freedom
How many of us got discovered but ignore the symptoms?
Niggas talkin’ loud but ain’t nobody sayin’ shit’

And with the 4th Amendment gone eyes are on the 1st
That’s why I’m spittin’ cyanide each and every verse
I see the Carlyle group and Harris Bank Accounts
I see ‘em plead the 5th each and every session now

And while Reichstag burns see the public buy it I see the profilin’ see the media’s compliance
War is good for business see the vicious make a savior
Hope you understand the time brother cause it’s major

What would you do if you
knew all of the things we know
Would you stand up for truth
Or would you turn away too?

And then what if you saw
All of the things that’s wrong
Would you stand tall and strong?
Or would you turn and walk away...


Paris

Make My Day, Kid

Jacksonville, FL - State Attorney Harry Shorstein said Wednesday that excessive force may have been used by police officers who used a stun gun on a 13-year-old girl who was being uncooperative after they took her into custody for fighting with her mother. The 65-pound girl was handcuffed in the back of a patrol car Feb. 7 when she was shocked twice with a 50,000-volt Taser, according to a Sheriff's Office report.

Philadelphia - A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school. School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons.

Miami - Police say a 6-year-old Florida boy wasn't hurt when they shocked him with a 50,000-volt taser to keep him from cutting himself with a piece of glass. "We know the child was not harmed other than the little tiny probe pricks you get with the taser.

Seattle Times. Through February of the 2004-2005 school year, 29 students have been handcuffed during the school day. Several dozen more were cuffed at after-hours events. At this rate, the district likely will shackle more kids this year than last, when the practice made national headlines and prompted a lawsuit by the Seattle chapter of the NAACP. Two of the students handcuffed this year were middle-schoolers. The rest are in high school. Last year, security also manacled four elementary students.

Philadelphia - Two 9 year-olds and a 10 year-old, third grade students at Willard Elementary in the School District of Philadelphia, were arrested and taken from school in handcuffs. The 10 year-old was charged with having a weapon on school property, the other two were held but not charged. Joseline Perez, 9, said the canister of Mace fell out of her friend's pocket when they were on the playground. She thought it was perfume, she said, and as she picked it up, it discharged toward the ground.

Tallahassee. It was a typical scuffle between two youngsters - some name-calling, a slap on the face, a punch to the stomach. After it was over, however, Tallahassee police handcuffed the 8-year-old boy who picked the fight and took him to a juvenile facility Monday night, charging him with misdemeanor battery and criminal mischief.

Espanola, NM. "The Legislature never envisioned that the law would be used to lock an 8-year-old in any jail, especially an adult jail," attorney Sheri Raphaelson said. According to a juvenile citation for disorderly conduct, Jerry Trujillo was arrested Thursday and booked into the Espanola jail after he "got out of control and refused to go back to class."

Monticello, FL - The mother of a 7-year-old Florida boy said he's too young to have been arrested, booked, fingerprinted and taken to a juvenile facility. Sheriff's officials in Monticello said they didn't have a choice because a warrant for battery charges had been issued for the child. He's 4-foot-6 and weights 60 pounds. He's accused of hitting a classmate, a teacher and a principal, and scratching a school resource officer.

St. Petersburg, FL - A 5-year-old girl was arrested, cuffed and put in back of a police cruiser after an outburst at school where she threw books and boxes, kicked a teacher in the shins, smashed a candy dish, hit an assistant principal in the stomach and drew on the walls.

Haiti. Nevertheless, at midnight, all the people in So Anne’s house, including her 5-year-old great grandson, Shashou, were forced to the ground and handcuffed by U.S. Marines armed with heavy artillery - a 5-year-old Haitian child, handcuffed by the world's most powerful soldiers at midnight in his own grandmother's home! The children’s pet dogs were shot to death for barking at the Marines.

Fuggedaboutit

New Pope a Strong Critic of Modern War. So says the headline. Enough to make me cough on my coffee. "Ratzinger offered a deep insight that included but went beyond the issue of war on Iraq: "There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a 'just war'." (Maybe he prefers older methods of war, catapults, tar, brave hearts carrying the Supreme Primate shields into battle.)

Of the early century Popes my favorites are:
John VIII, who in 882 was poisoned and clubbed to death, whose only claim to fame was the first pope to be murdered. And Stephen VII (896-897), who had the previous Pope (Formosus 891-896) dug up, dressed in pontifical garb and put on trial. After being found guilty, the body was drug through the streets and dumped in the Tiber river. Stephen himself was later imprisoned and strangled. (These were conservative popes.) Dante (Italian poet b.1265) called the Vatican a "sewer of corruption." The church had a 1200 year history of adultery, bribery, debauchery, drunkenness, fornication, incest, murder, perversion, rape, seduction, simony, sodomy, treachery. (Dante wasn't really homophobic but that's another post.)

Innocent III (1198-1216). Managed to kill more than all his predecessors and founded the Inquisition, which for over 500 hundred years was used by popes to maintain their power against those who disagreed with the Church. A tribunal of severe questioning. Either with us or against us.
Pope Julius II (1503-1513). Had a passion for war bordering on frenzy. His pontificate was a perpetual war, and Europe knew no peace during the period of his life. Julius, high-tailed it out of Italy to avoid assassination attempts ordered by Pope Alexander VI (Lucrezia's daddy), and lived in exile for ten years until Pope Alex died. Pope Julius was known as "the warrior pope" il papa terribile. Another "art lover" he was a patron of Raphael and a close friend of Michelangelo, he commissioned Mick to paint the ceiling.
Urban VIII (1623-1644). Practiced extreme nepotism, but did commute Galileo's life sentence to one of exile in Florence.

The pope-sters of the 17th century saw themselves as innocent.
Innocent X (1644-1655). Supported the Venetians in their war against the Turks and saw the Thirty Years War end with the victory of the Protestant states.
Innocent XI (1676-1689). He supported John III (Poland's king) against the Turks. An alliance, the Holy League of the Empire that included Poland, Venice and Russia together attacked the Turks. By 1686 the alliance won Hungary and crossed the Danube and occupied Serbia in 1688.
Innocent XII (1691-1700). Spent huge sums to fight Islam.

In the 18th century popes are more merciful (clement) and blessed (benedict).
Clement XI (1700 – 1721) made the first laws against removing artwork from Rome.
Innocent XIII (1721-1724) suppressed the Jesuits as not complying with their missionary orders. (Even today Jesuits are accused of murdering presidents, causing wars, and toppling governments.)
Benedict XIII (1724-1730) believed more in spiritual ministry than political diddling.
Clement XII (1730-1740) punished those who had wrongly enriched themselves and distributed their possessions to the poor. He had the Trevi Fountain built.
Benedict XIV (1740-1758) restored the Colosseum.
Clement XIV(1769-1774) prohibited the practice of castration of singers or "castrati." Oouch, mercy mercy (women were banned from singing in the church and operas).

The 20th century sees pious popes.
Pius X (1903-1914) an extreme conservative, condemned democracy and Modernism and all innovations aimed at changing the social status quo.
Benedict XV (1914-1922). Condemned WWI but took no sides. Condemned Modernism as had Pius X.
Pius XI (1922-1939). He kept his distance from Communism, Fascism and Nazism. He set up the Vatican Radio.
Pius XII (1939-1958). Organized a program of humanitarian aide in favor of Jews and opponents of totalitarian regimes (except those in Latin America). After WWII he fought against Marxism. He ordered excavations under St. Peter's tomb and found St. Peter.
John XXIII (1958-1963). He visited the ill and the incarcerated without observing any rules or formalities. He developed the Church's ideas on social policy. His death was mourned by all and everyone still refers to him as "the good pope".
Paul VI (1963-1978). He was very interested in the problems of the peace and social justice. He increased the number of non-Italian cardinals in the Sacred College ordering part of them should come from Third World countries. He financed the construction of the famous Nervi Hall for papal audiences.
Pope John Paul 1 & 2. We know their legacies. Number 1 died abruptly in office, assassinated some believe. And number 2 accomplished little social policy change and no end to wars in his 25+ years of rule.

I guess I can count on the new Pope to issue statements of interest on social policy, erect a fountain or excavate a saint, leave singers with their testicles, and not dig up his predecessor and dump him in the river.

It's the Same Old Shit, Stupid

About 8 years ago it was estimated, according to Giandomenico Picco (another "peace" and executive consultant), that Western oil companies had pumped $50 billion into oil and gas exploration in the Caspian Sea region. American oil companies invested in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, countries who were producing oil in the Caspian Sea area at the time. The 5 nations bordering the Caspian Sea are Azerbaijan, Kasakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia, and Iran. Obviously this should piss Russia off but the Russian response has been so unmeasureable it's irritating (unless Putin nationalizing Yukos was a warning). Around this same time, according to Mr. Picco 48 non-American oil companies from 29 countries were signing contracts with Iraq. Presumably betting the sanctions would end . But not one American oil company signed a contract. Why? Were there PNACky rumors in the world of oil that it would soon be unnecessary to deal with Saddam?

Washington during the '90s wanted a pipeline from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey's Ceyhan seaport with a pipeline under the Caspian connecting Turkmenistan with Azerbaijan. Russia did not as they would lose their dominance and control of the Caspian oil. Russia wanted the pipeline from Azerbaijan to a Russian seaport in the Black Sea.

Amoco, Mobile, and other companies (like Frontera) at the time were betting on the UN and US not lifting sanctions on Iraq and sent their money into the Caspian oil region. Transportation cost for Caspian oil is 4 times higher than oil from the Persian Gulf and getting it to end users much harder. The oil also is not as good a quality having a higher sulfur content. The biggest market for Caspian oil was to be economies of Southeast Asia, which fell on economic hard times in the '90s, but still economists predicted the region to bounce back with continued growth, barring any SARS, tsunamis, etc.

All that investment sitting in the Caspian region. If sanctions were lifted on Iraq the Caspian Sea oil wouldn't be able to compete with Iraq's higher quality and cheaper oil in the Persian Gulf. In 1998 Azerbaijan, Kasakhstan, and Turkmenistan's were producing 608,000 bpd to Iraq's 2 million bpd. Sanctions were going to be lifted, the international community was coming to that. A lot of American oilmen invested in the Caspian pipeline route wouldn't want to see Iraq oil flowing too quickly. In 2000 the reality was the Caspian pipeline was feasible only if oil prices rose. Some experts estimated crude would have to double (this was when it was approximately $22 a barrel). (Enter SCOTUS appointed resident and bin Laden.)

Surprise surprise. Coalition of the Killing, Willing, & Drilling aka Operation Infinite Justice aka Operation Enduring Freedom aka Operation Iraqi Freedom aka the Global War on Terror Forever. The Caspian Baku-Ceyhan route today is nearing completion, last I read it was to begin operation this year, 2005. But shouldn't the pump price be reasonable now or soon? Is that laughter I hear?

By now oil from Iraq should be competing with oil from the Caspian Sea, but it's not. Someone holding up Iraq oil production? Oh, yes, the "insurgents", the disgruntled ragtag leftovers from Saddam, those Jihadists aligned with OBL, those foreign troublemakers, those – who is it this quarter?

In short time the pertinent countries in the ME are under our thumb, our gun, or in our pocket. Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan. We have Iraq and Afghanistan (or at least their oil and opium). Saudi and UAE of course. We have Turkey. Lebanon. Syria appears to have backed down. Georgia and Ukraine have pro-West leaders (after contested elections). Iran is the only obstacle. Iran has always been the only country in the region that economically and logistically made sense for transporting Caspian crude. After the easy and successful selling of Operation Iraq, Operation Iran will be another cakewalk, right?

Many believe the 2 wars in the ME were to get bin Laden dead or alive, fight the war on terror – smoke 'em out, liberate Iraq, remove the dictator Saddam, bring democracy and peace to the region. Many will laud how great our conquest will be for the economies and standard of living for the people of these countries (we can point to Mexico, Central and South America as our success stories). But I'll say it's greed and power, as usual. The ruling elite no longer publicly behead, draw & quarter, or disembowel one another over trade routes and crowns but it may feel that painful to a few of them, and deadly for the rest of us.

Overweight Is Healthy

So says the NYT (same Times that told us there were WMD and Bush won the last 2 elections) so it must be true. Hallelujah, Americans now have medical approval to be overweight (yet poorly nourished) and burying years of their life under heft, and secure knowing that the fat epidemic has been checked by reality, it was all a blip of "national near-hysteria." What a relief huh? Damn, the study only addressed the "risk of death" and not the "disability or disease" that excess baggage carries.

"They mentioned a paper, also being published today in the journal, in which researchers including Dr. Edward W. Gregg and Dr. David F. Williamson, both of the C.D.C., report that high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels are less prevalent now than they were 30 or 40 years ago, largely because of breakthroughs in medication."

There you go, medication. Eat all you want and when you have HBP, diabetes, etc. - medicate. Those love handles and rashy thighs, diabetes, reduced lung capacity, high BP, and sleep apnea, all have treatment: pills, miconazole cream, Advair Diskus, CPAP and BiPAP. All those sucking, slathering, puffing, popping, squirting, injecting breakthroughs will help you outlive your skinny friends. Why drop dead on a bareboat catamaran when you can go peacefully wheezing on the sofa with a bag of Doritos?

Jews Welcome New Pope

Registration required.

As it turns out, Jewish observers of the Vatican say, world Jewry can breathe easy knowing that German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen as the 265th pope.

“As far as Jewish people are concerned, Cardinal Ratzinger is a friend,” said Gary Krupp, president and founder of the Pave the Way Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit organization that promotes religious understanding. “He is going to be as effective, if not more, than John Paul II” in furthering Catholic-Jewish relations. “He’s not going to backtrack. I think he’s going to be advancing these causes even further.”

“He is the architect of the policy that John Paul II fulfilled with regard to relations with the Jews. He is the architect of the ideological policy to recognize, to have full relations with Israel,” Singer said. “He was the ideologist behind the last pope — the theologist and the ideologist.”

As a teen, Ratzinger reportedly was a member of the Hitler Youth. At the time, boys his age — Ratzinger was 6 years old when Hitler came to power — were pressured, though not required, to join the group. (Does this seem to allude to Ratz being 6 y/o when he was pressured? He was 14 when he joined Hitler Jugend in 1941, I hope the other boys didn't beat him for his reluctance.)

Ratzinger served in the German army during World War II, but deserted after a short period. His policeman father reportedly engaged in anti-Nazi activity. ("reportedly" an Austrian cop going against Hitler, bet there weren't a lot of those.)

“For the Jewish community, it is extraordinary that the pope has personally experienced the evils of Nazism and the horrors of racism and prejudice,” said David Elcott, U.S. director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. ("Extraordinary"? Hey guys, we have Black Americans who know all about the evils and horrors of racism and prejudice, but just couldn't get the sympathy.)

Still, German Jews expressed some concern over Ratzinger’s election.

“A few people who know him say he is not bad. He has good relations with some Jewish persons,” Nathan Kalmanowicz, head of religious affairs for the Central Council of Jews in Germany and a member of the Munich Jewish community, told JTA. “But the vast majority is afraid of what will happen. He is opposed to reform and not as familiar with Jewish issues” as the last pope, “and as far as we know he is not interested in promoting them — issues like the Holocaust.”

(Promotion, the politics of religion, where anything is possible. Didn't we spin history for the murdering, incestous, corruption of Lucrezia and her simony daddy Pope Alexander VI…promoting her as a pious art lover who helped banish the Dark Ages? Do we not spin pedophile priests and herpetic rabbis as anomalies rather than the rule? Jews and Catholics need not be afraid, we're in the era of blame the Arabs/Muslims anyway.)

Peanuts

Rich Nations Don't Give A Damn, according to Jimmah Carter who recently stated at a human rights conference in Georgia : "…increasing financial assistance was critical to battling malaria, AIDS and other common diseases that disproportionately affect the poorest parts of the world…Unfortunately, in the rich countries like ours, we really don't give a damn."

I appreciate that Carter's comments made the rightwingers clench their butts and yell liberal lunatic. But while Jimmy speaks the truth, he could add that not only does the US not care about disease killing off people, we also don't give a damn about how many Palestinians the IDF guns down (about time for another sympathy-for-Sharon suicide bomber isn't it?), nor do we give a damn how many Afghani and Iraqi we kill with liberation. Nor do we give a damn how many are still dying in Central America since they've opted for the US brand of coerced "democracy."

Jimmy, why don't you wait until you have one foot in the grave and no influence to admit the US doesn't really give a damn about "battling malaria, AIDS and other common(ers) diseases…" ?

On the Payroll

As I said on 4/7/05 (below), it's SOP:

_ Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman: Son Matthew received about $34,000 and daughter Rebecca about $36,000 for working on the senator's 2004 presidential campaign.

_ Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash.: Nephew Todd Reichert was paid $3,000 last year, plus several hundred dollars for mileage, for serving as driver.

_ California Democratic Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark: Wife Deborah earns $2,400 a month for serving as campaign consultant.

_ Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.: Wife Arlene Willis serves as congressional chief of staff at a salary of nearly $111,000.

_ Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.: Wife Laurie Stupak earned about $36,000 annually the past two years as the finance director for her husband's campaign.

_ Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio: Wife Elizabeth was paid about $1,730 a month during his 2004 campaign. She has worked as a campaign consultant for him since the 2001 election cycle.

_ Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif.: Cousin Ken Costa made about $45,000 for serving as a co-campaign manager last year.

_ Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah: Three college-age children worked on his campaign last year. Emily was paid $5,425, Jane $9,508 and Laura $17,766.

_ Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn.: Sister-in-law Sharon Davis has been his campaign treasurer since 1994,and daughter Libby Davis was his campaign coordinator in the last half of 2004. Libby Davis was paid about $2,334 a month; Sharon Davis was paid about $1,000 a month for bookkeeping last year.

_ Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, employs his wife, Kathy, as his campaign manager. She was paid $21,791 over four months, including a $7,500 bonus last November.

_ New York Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop: Daughter Molly was paid $46,995 as his 2004 campaign's finance director.

_ California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Wife Rhonda Carmony makes $40,000 a year as his campaign manager.

Joe Heartland & The Gap

The average Joe Heartland isn't worried about economic announcements of the gap between rich and poor; it's fuzzy math with stats and worth only a nod, a shrug. For Joe a "widening gap" is a concept which may or may not be true, depending on which channel he's on, and why listen to eggheads blather about something that's not going to change anytime soon. Regardless the gap's statistical size, it has always been too wide, and Americans, conditioned with little variation on capitalist ideology by either political party, support the system of the haves (who have most of it), the have nots, and the have nothings. Joe has faith it's the best system available. Capitalism at its finest.

In the heartland, life is simple. If you're poor, you must be lazy or not very bright. If you have legal troubles, you must be guilty. If you're uneducated that's your choice. Nothing wrong with believing you're the captain of your ship (there's Joe upcreek without a paddle, thinking his ship will come in, some day). As long as there's cable/dish, Wal-Mart Wally, and Mickey D, life is okay. The "rich/poor gap" talking points don't mean much to Joe and his survival quest. Joe Heartland has resigned himself to life (although he often won't admit resignation as that's a sign of weakness). He points to the fact that he's not starving, he can read and write (sometimes), he has "got things" and his president doesn't torture, gas him, or feed him kicking and flailing through a plastics grinder. He reasons he's lucky he wasn't born in Cuba or Iraq or Russia.

Don't try to alarm Joe Heartland with articles from sites such as UFE or with charts and graphs . That kind of stuff is for bookworms. He may not be in the 10 percenters who hold 90 percent of the stock market wealth, but he might have a 401 or IRA worth a little (unless swindled before he can get it). Capital gains and taxes don't mean a whole lot since Joe has few if any assets to dispose of anyway. Joe agrees that the "death tax" is an unfair tax on the rich, although he'll never have to worry about it and doesn't completely understand it, his instincts for fairness will say people shouldn’t be taxed twice just because they're rich. That's a "common sense fact" he'll tell you. (Joe Heartland daydreams of some day being rich and would want whatever tax breaks the rich want today.)

The rich/poor gap in America has always been wide and visible to varying degrees, at least in the areas I've seen. In TN, MS, KY, AR, LA, MO, KS, IL, NE, Appalacia, reservations, inner cities, across the plains and prairies. The gap fluctuates, how much depends on where and what statistics you use. You didn't really think a fair amount of the top-heavy money was going to trickle down did you? Even Joe Heartland knows better. Wealth firmly concentrated at the top, always has been. Joe has faith he could move to a higher bracket, some day, if he wins the lottery, invents a pet rock, plays well at sports, or fate gives his life a story that makes Hollywood notice. He knows only a few can be "affluent." Who would do all the dirty work? Who would flip burgers and wipe butts and stock the shelves and stand on the factory line? Who would pick the fruit, havest the sugarcane, fight the wars, or risk life and limb in jobs nobody wants?

The last great "boom" bypassed most folks here in the heartland, and that's okay by them, because if they're suffering, it must be an innate character trait (or affirmative action cost them that job or college spot, not really but the excuse is there). The "heartland" Joe believes in all the petrified myths of America. Plain folks are happier. Plain (another word for poor) folks don't have all the worries and concerns that rich people do. As miserable as he might be, Joe H. doesn't have to fret about losing his money (he doesn't have any), his kids will never be held for ransom, he doesn't need a bodyguard, he won't have to pay millions in taxes, etc., therefore he must be happier than the gentry. He's grateful to live in the land of opportunity where he could get rich, some day. The ladder of opportunity Americans tried to hoist in the last century hasn't helped many to upward mobility. All the touted prosperity of the Reagan and/or Clinton eras (whichever toilet you drink from) didn't narrow the gap for Joe Heartland.

Folks here believe in the newer myths too, i.e. jobs are outsourced because Americans are lazy and/or unqualified, and corporate bosses who look for cheap labor are just doing their job. Yessirree, in this part of the country folks believe the American dream hasn't gone sour. If you're not successful, its because you just don't try hard enough. Joe H. has heard the "rich get richer, the poor get poorer" for so many generations that it’s a heartwarming, familiar little bite on the ass. A platitude that feels as comfortable as chucking empty beer cans into the bed of the pickup truck on a summer Saturday night. Wise men and deities have told him from day one that neither wealth or greatness will make him happy, but trust in God and country and he'll be rewarded, some day. The pastor tells him, the media tells him, school told him, politicians tell him, radio windbags tell him, the wealthy tell him that simply being American makes him rich even without any tangible wealth. He's proud.

Heartland folks feel it's patriotism to pay, with their blood and money, for the maintenance of capitalism because their definition of the system has blurred with other down-home terminology: democracy, freedom, apple pie, support our troops, everybody in the world wants to live in America. If pain, ignorance, and government betrayal are part of life, that's a fair deal because he's been told it's the best system (the only alternative being commie socialist dictatorships). If you point out the connection between constant inflation, higher local taxes and fees, fewer and shoddier services in relation to taxes, or that his tax refund is spent catching up on debt, or paying on the increasing cost of necessities, or point to any sociopolitical ills, Joe H. justifies it as the cost of freedom.

Joe isn't lazy in that he won't toil at physical labor. No, Joe Heartland is lazy in the sense that he'd rather work at sustaining his subjective yoke than to find the strength it would take to confront a system which has no use for him other than as an expendable, exploitable commodity, and he senses that's all he's worth, but "freedom ain't cheap you know."


(Thanks to PBU16 .)

Political Grind

SEOUL (Yonhap) - A former South Korean intelligence agency chief who disappeared in 1979 was killed at a chicken farm in the suburbs of Paris by a team of South Korean agents, a weekly news magazine here reported Monday. Sisa Journal quoted a former agent who allegedly led the team at the time as saying that his team abducted Kim Hyung-wook, who was then chief of the Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), at a restaurant near a casino in downtown Paris on Oct. 7, 1979.

"We were waiting at the entrance of the restaurant at a time when Kim was supposed to meet a South Korean actress and succeeded in kidnapping him by disguising ourselves as a guide sent by the actress,'' the man, identified only by his family name Lee, told the magazine.

We then anesthetized him inside a Cadillac and pushed his body into a grinder at a chicken farm located 4 kilometers northwest of Paris at about 11 p.m., to feed chickens."

Lee said he killed Kim in a team with an agent called Kwak, who was sent to Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and trained to be a special assassin.

Bolton's Nomination

This week's PBU15 idea.

The White House nomination of Bolton to the UN makes sense to me. In Bolton's infamous 1994 speech at the World Federalist Association he stated "there is no such thing as the United Nations" and also "If the UN secretary building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference." He's absolutely correct.

The UN charter :
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,
in the equal rights of men and women,
justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law,
and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
and for these ends:
to practice tolerance and live together in peace,
to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security,
to ensure that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest,
to employ international machinery for the economic and social advancement of all peoples.

Since it's inception in 1945, where and when has the UN "saved" people from the "scourge of war," or ensured social progress and standards of life? In Iraq? Afghanistan, Nicaragua? Panama? Kosovo? Columbia? Grenada? Vietnam? The Congo? Sudan? Angola? El Salvador? Gulf War? Cambodia? Bosnia? Barundi? E. Timor? Where has the UN established justice and dignity? How many millions have died in the 60 years since the UN began its lofty functions to save us from war?

The UN is neither friend nor foe nor ally. It began as a feel good club for the masses scared spitless from two world wars, a click of international representatives to look serious and busy about peace, while the world continued to war wherever and whenever it felt like doing so. Bolton charaterizes the UN. Bolton, like the UN, is a front.

Other fronts like Bolton are Michael Chertoff, William Kristol, William Buckley, Paul Weyrich, Paul Wolfowitiz, William Bennett, and Elliott Abrams John Negroponte, Richard N. Perle, Otto Reich, Condoleezza Rice, James G. Roche, George Schultz, Robert B. Zoellick. A letter from The Center for Security Policy with high praise and support of Bolton, signed by 85 "leading security practitioners" include the above and William P. Clark, John F. Lehman, Caspar W. Weinberger, Dr. Dov S. Zakheim, Michael A. Ledeen, R. James Woolsey, William L. Ball III, Newt Gingrich, C. Boyden Gray and many, many others.

Bolton is further proof that the US government (and world counterparts) is run by criminal professionals, who hold no loyalty nor concern for anything other than their own supreme ideology of rule by a world elite. A group of extreme players, knights and bishops, who have never restrained themselves. They lie, but often blurt the truth because they feel they have a divine right to their backassward thinking. I figure, lets hurry and get this over with. Lets give these guys the rope to hang themselves because they are not going to go away until they manage another major depopulation. I want my generation and my children's generation to face the liars who have ruled for centuries with stones, clubs, sorcery, or bombs and bibles. I want to see the unavoidable fury, death, and chaos that's coming, and I want to see the dust settle and gone, for my grandchildren.

The names above, study them, and their records (and those that came before them). They are not people of peace, never have been, never will be. They are not concerned with the standard of life for you and me, nor will they, or their world bodies/NGOs employ truth, as that's what is needed for a world of justice, equality, and peace. They are professional game pieces for those few who profit most from a world of fear, inequity, and war. Bolton, like many others, is a pawn with a title.

TSA

Remember when Transportation Security Administration was born in 2002? How important it was in keeping our travel safe, our security? The months of arguing over whether to have private contractor screeners or federal employee screeners.

TSA has been awarding contracts since its birth. A few million here, a few million there. Last month GE, L-3 Communications, and Siemens awarded contracts. GE $36 million, $28 million to L-3, both to maintain "explosive detection systems." Boeing completed its contract with TSA, for which the company received $1.38 billion "to deploy explosive detection systems and explosive trace detection systems." Just this month Siemens won $46.9 million to x-ray us at the airport. In February CSC took a $16 million contract to support the TSA's Office of Transportation "Vetting and Credentialing." They will provide "adjudication professionals." Lockheed Martin previously awarded the contract to be TSA's "specialized security training contractor." Also BearingPoint, Northrop Grumman Corp., Maximus Inc., and EDS Corp. of Plano, TX, and a long list of other winners.

As of today, the gravy train may be slowing down. WaPo writes that "The Transportation Security Administration, once the flagship agency in the nation's $20 billion effort to protect air travelers, is now targeted for sharp cuts in its high-profile mission."

Bush henchmen say they do not expect the demise of the TSA and await info on its future after Michael Chertoff completes his review. Can all the pillaging and plundering under the guise of TSA be about done? (If you believe WaPo you'll believe that much of the money "goes toward salaries for more than 45,000 security screeners," gave me my first chuckle this a.m.)

Sammy the Burglar

Or so he's called in rightwing forums, where they expound that Sandy Berger, former WH advisor to that immoral Clinton, has gotten a slap on the wrist for stuffing classified documents in his underwear. Supposedly, filching the Richard Clarke memo, which has been reported to identify "glaring" problems with border security. I've also read the documents were related to airports. But said to be embarrassing information on the failings of the Clinton administration regarding terrorism.

Sandy B. aroused suspicion in the National Archives building because….he took "lots of bathroom breaks." Archive monitors told the FBI that Berger was seen stuffing his socks with handwritten notes about top secret files, files that were going to the 9/11 panel. A former National Security adviser, lurking underground among the nation's hidden history, stuffing top secrets in his underwear, and peeing too much.

Samuel R. Berger, founder and Chairman of Stonebridge, International (described as a Washington based global strategy firm). The same Samuel Berger who in May 2001 was named a senior advisor to Lehman Brothers, described as serving the financial needs of corporations, governments and municipalities, institutional clients, and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Founded in 1850 by German immigrant brothers Henry, Emanuel and Mayer Lehman.

Lehman Brothers made news regarding their involvement in underwriting billions of student loans (which now cannot be included in bankruptcy). Lehman's headache was due to their involvement in the growing private prison industry, negotiating billions in deals with Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut Corrections, and Cornell. It seems some student activists were upset that Lehman Brothers were underwriting loans to low income and students of color, while at the same time busy incarcerating them. I read somewhere that Lehman believed there would be an increase in need for prisons after 9/11 but fortunately for us there wasn't a massive incarceration of citizen terrorists. Or maybe they planned on bringing back debtors prison for those defaulted student loans. Lehman was also fined 5 million a couple of years ago by a California court for backing fraudulent activities of companies involved in predatory lending. Lehman, that sounds familiar.

Oh yea, John F. Lehman, 9/11 commissioner and founder of J.F. Lehman Company. Lehman is a neocon and militarist, and dependable supporter of the Bush administration. A signer of PNAC letters, one letter to Bush nine days after the 9/11 attacks outlining the agenda for TWOT (the war on terrorism) and the letter from April 2003 that sketched out a post-Iraq invasion plan for the Middle East with Israel at its center.

My questions are: Who was pilfering for what? Was it Sandy Berger the former White House advisor or Samuel R. Berger the neocon businessman? Is there any difference? Was it political embarrassment or neocon businesses in those 9/11 related documents? Is there any difference?

The Binez of Politics

So Tom Delay paid his wife and daughter $500,000.00. Mrs. Tom Delay because she "provides big picture, long-term strategic guidance and helps with personnel decisions," and offspring Dani "is a skilled and experienced professional event planner."

Is the general population so gullible they don't think this is standard operation procedure for anyone who gets their hands on any money who wants to keep the money at home or as close to home as possible? Not just with campaigns, but in any business. As a self-employed person I occasionally pay family members generously. It's one of many business write offs, especially around April. And the money just goes round and round and round….. in a little family circle. I know folks who have several family members on the payroll for "consulting work" who may not actually pay what they report they pay family consultants, but it works well at tax time.

It's not violation of rules, it's the name of the game. Delay should have buried the expense information with the WWW Group or XXX Associates, who pay YYY Management to hire the Delay women through ZZZ Partners, Inc. All those WXYZs business records are harder to snoop through.

It's pathetic watching the pots attacking the kettles as if any of them are clean. The Dems can't or won't touch George Weasel Bush, won't touch the questions of honest elections, the truth of 9/11, or WMD, so they spit at one another, dime a dozen politicians commissioning multi-million dollar cover-ups, cowards hoping they're not next on the political powers shit-list.

Coverage

Billmon has a great TV GUIDE for coverage on beating a dead Pope. Pope-Cam, Papacy Line, Whore of Babylon, etc.

More Minutes

New Mexico looking to bring the Minuteman Project to their area, according to Albuquerque City Councilman David Pfeffer . Chris Simcox of Civil Homeland Defense , gives the SOP.

Maybe all federal/state duties can eventually be performed by "all volunteer" SOP, paid for by donations. An orderly anarchy.

Eggshells

What's with Canada's strict “hate crimes” or “hate speech” these days? If you read at all you know of Ernst Zundel , who has been "arraigned in Germany on charges of inciting racial hatred and defaming the memory of the dead." Most recent David Ahenakew, is facing a "criminal charge that he was willfully promoting hate against an identifiable group when he told a Saskatoon Star Phoenix reporter on Dec. 13, 2002, that the Jews were a "disease" and Hitler was trying to "clean up the world" when he "fried" six million of the "guys" during the Second World War." Well, at least he's not denying the 6 million.

My question with the uproar regarding these guys, who both may be no more than assholes with opinions, is where do we draw the line? I've heard similar and worse attitudes, by and about other ethnic groups, said by folks in living rooms and boardrooms. Why are these two particular men criminals for voicing a prejudice held by millions? Is it a warning to not question or think or go into tirades about a particular ethnicity? "Defaming the memory of the dead?" Don't get me started on Reagan, the Pope, or other dead heroes.

Who owns the media and intentionally promoted a Black face on "welfare queen" and "drug dealer?" Who promoted the liberal's face on society's decay, for all the sin, abortion, crime, teen sex, drugs, AIDS, plagues, job loss, war, evil doers, and the WTC attack, etc. Have you ever lurked in conservative chat rooms? Not neonazi sites but any general forum? Some of the most inciting remarks by average Americans can be read, "promoting hate against an identifiable group"; Blacks, Hispanics, gays. The same conservatives who scream the disease of "tolerance" ruined the country are the first to demand their own bigotry be tolerated.

Why are we not arresting members of hate groups, or any of the 500 hate organizations (according to SPLC) across the United States? Is it because their targets are predominantly Sponge Bob cartoonicide, nonwhites and gays? Who has the power to criminalize a thought against one group and not another? From Roosevelt's nation of walk softly and carry a big stick we've become the loudest biggest stick, and walk on eggshells when it comes to the you-know-who group.

Give Them 15 Minutes

The MinuteMan Project. It seems to me there’s a segment of American white males who have a penchant for vigilantism. There’s the history of lynching and bounty scalping, extreme sport for men who claimed to be saving folks from Negras and Injuns. The modern version of homeland frontiersmen, Minutemen, now saving the nation from certain death by hordes of alien invaders. Same low forehead set thinking, new age terminolgy. According to the project’s organizers, James Gilchrist and Chris Simcox, the minutemen are a peaceful bunch. Their official poster claims the MM are only “a blocking force against entry into the U.S. by illegal aliens, drug dealers and potential terrorists” and “to protect our country from an invasion by people from all over the world across our southern border…” (Pay no mind to those rebel flags or that all MM participants are white skinned.)

One would have to believe that billion$ in drugs are smuggled across in the pockets or bolsa of Jose and Juanita. And that terrorists from around the world (all Arab or Muslim of course) are running along the ridge with Juanita and Jose. I guess terrorists and drug lords never think of using the Canadian border.

Socially and politically the ruling class may be testing how far the minutemen serfs will go and how far the thinking men and women of society (15 percent on a good day) will let them go. Rather than admit his government is unwilling to thwart illegal immigration, the Minutemen serf, with a wink from politicians such as Tom Tancredo, can entertain their thug pathology and call it “neighborhood watch”, or defense of the homeland. Or “sending a message”, that’s a big meme these days. The oppression, poverty, wars, and corruption that drive people from their own country and across the border is approved by the US ruling elite; we’ve taught the governments south everything modern we know about genocide, slavery, low level war, civil strife, and abuse of power.

It’s been said that Simcox suffers from paranoid delusions. Has claimed a “Mexican conspiracy” to take over LA. and began taking his wife and teen son to the shooting range in preparation for a race war. The MM website states their project “is a reminder to Americans that our nation was founded as a nation governed by the "rule of law", not by the whims of mobs of ILLEGAL aliens who endlessly stream across U.S. borders. Accordingly, the men and women volunteering for this mission are those who are willing to sacrifice their time, and the comforts of a cozy home, to muster for something much more important than acquiring more "toys" to play with while their nation is devoured and plundered by the menace of tens of millions of invading illegal aliens. Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious "melting pot."

Tsk tsk, such an endless stream of inflammatory crapping. It’s guaranteed the minutemen, and like-minded, will never realize the US is already ruled by the whims of a mob, and we pay homage, perks, and salaries to them. They will never acknowledge the trillions plundered and devoured by the good ole’ boys. Is the goose step toward border control to keep “them” out or “us” in?
PBU14

The Gods Must Be Crazy

While the Pope is revered and adored, a saint in the minds of many who claim the pontiff a fierce defender of freedom in eastern Europe, particularly Poland in the 80’s, lets not forget he turned a blind eye to the repression and slaughter going on at the same time in Latin America. The top political dog of the Catholic religion wagged his finger at liberation theology as US backed Latin dictators murdered nuns and priests. He condemned clergy in Central America for siding with the people. A letter from the Vatican appealed for leniency on behalf of dictator and mass murderer Pinochet, an old friend of Pope John Paul’s. The pope asked for leniency for Pinochet on humanitarian grounds, for the sake of “reconciliation.” There’s that word again. A pontificating way to tell millions of victims in Latin America to “get over it.”

Morphology Project

Christoph Schönborn. Will this be the next Pope? Chris is a prominent Austrian said to be a contender for the big hat and robes. The man says the right things:

“In the draft of the Catechism, the so-called Projet revise, which was sent to all the bishops for their assessment, the original text ran as follows: “Israel is not a nation, but the priestly people of God.” There was a storm of protest about this sentence, especially from Israel! It was a total misunderstanding! The sentence was misinterpreted as a statement by the Catholic Church about the present-day state of Israel. It was thought we were denying that Israel is a nation, a state among the states. In reality, this is a clear, positive affirmation about the election of Israel. It is not just one people among many, one nation among many, but God’s own Chosen People. Israel is not a people existing in its own right that God sought out among the other peoples and then blessed with special privileges. No, God himself is Israel’s Creator (cf. Is 43:15). It is he who made it his people. It has its existence through his choice.

What does this mean for the Church? It opens up the need for a change of outlook, in fact, a change of heart. The indelible impression left by the Shoah, the Holocaust, teaches the same lesson. It makes us realize that the deadly hatred of Israel is also, deep down, aimed at the Church, in fact at the God of Israel himself, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “

It’s part of the Church’s “reconciliation” with Jews. Schönborn is well-liked by Austria’s Catholic youth. A couple of years ago, he participated in the Austrian National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism, along with 80,000 Austrian students with Simon Wiesenthal, former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky, President Thomas Klestil, other socially connected Austrians. The estimated cost of the project and event on Heldenplatz was a mere $500,000. The Austrian National Bank, the City of Vienna and OMV, the largest petroleum company in Austria, each contributed $100,000.

Austria began purging pedophile priests back in 1998 when the current Pope chased Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer into a few months of exile in Dresden, after allegations of molesting young boys in an all Catholic boys boarding school. Groer died in 2003 in Vienna at the ripe old age of 85, never charged with anything. Somehow, all this Catholic/Jewish “reconciliation” and purging of pervert priests is connected I’m sure.