The Dung and the Feckless

During the second term Clinton scandals the public watched government teevee, avid fans of a high-level soap opera, the Hillary and Monica and Bill triangle. No face to face girl fight in the corridors of the White House, but all the entertainment of sex, adultery, lies, potential wreck and ruin, how it began, how would it end, as the world churns.

Phone sex and a blue dress DNA. Where were you when Clinton wagged his finger with "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Millions who participate in fellatio and cunnilingus could now, by presidential definition, claim innocence because it ain't really having sex Joe Bob. And men could tell their other significant other "the girl is … just … here with the pizza."

We'll remember the oft broadcast Clinton and Lewinsky hug, where all the world could see the adoring radiant face, shining eyes, of a girl ecstatic, in love. Little is drearier than a player caught playing and the silly female who thought the relationship would go beyond tabloids to a little house with picket fence; hilariously disgusting, sympathetically pitiful. Tune in tomorrow for the next cliffhanging episode as Hill, Bill, and Moni search for tomorrow and fill the days of our lives.

No Cleopatra and Mark Antony, no King Edward and Ms. Simpson, no Tracey/ Hepburn. Just a sordid soap starring "White House Hillwilly" Clinton and "Chubby Lolita" Lewinsky, tattling and taping by Linda "Shitty Friend" Tripp. And a cast of thousands to sell it, hate it, blame it, laugh, joke, distance themselves from it, debating heads shouting one another down as the wad-shot heard 'round the world became of utmost earthly importance.

But while the public was occupied by the angle and curve of Clinton's penis, debating what a lie is and when a lie is a lie, and what the meaning of 'is' is - what was really going on? What was going on when blewinsky was going down. What were the ruling elite up to as the masses were regaled with news that the rich and famous eat pizza, lie, crotch dive and spit like the rest of us. Were they planning the events and positioning the leaders who would take us into the 21st century? Directing our sideshow as they prepared the 9th month, 11th day in the 1st century of the new millenium? If so, there's a pattern here.

No major sexual scandals of course, because everyone knows republicans kill and eat their mates after mating. No … republican puppets prefer plumbing diversions with leakers and sneaky peter spygates rather than the liberal jock and jaw peckerdillos. Can anyone image Tricky Nixon or Ron and Nancy having toe curling orgasm? Or even "Pickles" and GW? Of course not. No … republican presidents are sexless. (Blame that on republicans presenting themselves as godly and gods do not hump and bump.)

But the other similarities : the calls for impeachment, the probes and investigations (Ken Starr = Patrick Fitzmas), the same concentration on arguing the question of when 'is' a lie a lie, same pols pandering their part to convince us they're on top of things, look busy, the peons are watching. MSM doing its part; reporting might be, maybe, could be news told by high official anonymous sources, to a panting public with a boner for blood, preferably Bush and Cheney's, for war crimes and misdemeanors, or Middle East blood for some of the thirsty (the same ones who are godly).

What might the ruling elite be planning for the next episode, since they seem to be presenting the same old bread and apparently captivating circus.

MiniWage Pot Philosophy

Ted Kennedy and others are going to fight for the poor, in regard to raising the federal minimum wage. "It's a fairness issue, and everybody gets the concept of fairness," said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, a long-time proponent of a higher minimum wage. ''It's a moral issue. It's a value."

Ten states already have a higher minimum wage and the idea is "the Democrats have a new strategy that may finally get the Republicans off the pot." Dems working to get a minimum wage increase on state ballots hope putting a minimum-wage increase on the ballot does for them what putting on an anti-gay marriage proposition does for Republicans -- it gets out the base. Every state has federally sanctioned "exceptions" to the minimum wage laws, such as workers under 20 years of age, certain types of work, length of time of work, family business work, etc.

Molly Ivins writes : "If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1968, when it was $1.60 an hour, it would be $7.60 an hour today, according to the AFL-CIO. A year-round, full-time worker would have to make $7.74 an hour just to be at the poverty level for a family of three -- $2.59 above the current minimum wage. The gap between middle-class workers and those making the minimum wage is the largest on record."

So Bubba, when you finally get that minimum raise to $6 or $7-sumpin' sumpin' you can thank the moral thinking Democrat pols for lifting you up "just to be at the poverty level" - it's only fair.

Zoology

An example of trivial propaganda, from PrisonPlanet.

Headline : "Pupils Being Given 'Patriotism' Tests in Washington State Schools."

Lead-in paragraph : "Children in Washington State are being given 'Patriotism tests' which are completely unrelated to their studies. The paper gauges whether or not the student shows fealty to the power of the state and whether the student believes in the right to overthrow a corrupt government. A reader from Washington State writes us to highlight a questionnaire paper handed out to her daughter and the rest of her 10th grade class."

The reader's comment : "We live in Washington state. My daughter is in 10th grade and found this to be interesting. She has a GPA of 3.75 and uses her brain. This was given in her English class, and has nothing to do with the materials they were studying. We thought you might be able to use this. They are grooming our kids."

Pic of student opinionaire :

Three of the items are quotes of Lord Acton and Shakespeare. The opinionaire has been used in classrooms across the country for some time. Rosemont High in Minnesota uses a lengthier version in it's 11th grade English class with the novel The Things They Carried, written by Vietnam veteran Tim O'Brien.

Five years ago the parent wouldn't have given this opinionaire a second thought, but with the "left" beating the "dictatorship" drum, every item is a boogeyman. Any tidbit is further proof the nation is being "groomed." Half the country, more or less, claims tyranny when theirs is not the incumbent party. Like captive monkeys picking and eating nits, oblivious they're flinging feces in the same old zoo.

(And, my other nit is, the above school form spelling opinionaire with two 'n's.)

My Vet is Better Than Your Vet

The Fighting Dem phenomenon continues to grow. The Fighting Dem phenomenon spreads. Dem vets entering congressional races across the country to fight the GOP. This is an important pissing contest.

by kos Wed Dec 28, 2005 at 11:10:19 AM PDT : "This country craves leadership, and these guys are providing it unbidden. They are self-organizing, taking the initiative, and taking the fight to the enemy. These guys are rock stars."

Republicans will urge their vets into the arena. D-vet versus R-vet, younger McCains and Kerrys, with cheerleaders and pundits to lead the groupies; encouraged by the media, the public spreads wider for a national love affair with militarization. Number 4 in the 14 characteristics of fascism : Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

They're in it together folks. They are "rock stars."

Get Rich – Get Real

Farrah Gray (born 1984) became, so it is claimed, an entrepreneurial millionaire at the tender age of 14, the ultimate American rags to riches success story, little wonder boy. Gray, with how-to book churner Fran Harris, is author of Reallionaire : Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out. Gray is now a 21 y/o Las Vegas real estate investor and motivational speaker.

The story goes that Farrah began wealth building at age 6 when he sold body lotion door to door. (He combined bottles of his mama's leftover lotions and sold it in his Chicago housing project.) He earned $50 or $9 with this venture, depending which version you read, and took his family out to a lobster dinner; "the big ghetto meal" according to Mr. Gray. It's been a while since I spent time in south Chicago but lobster was never the big ghetto meal – it was r-i-b-s, spare ribs, rib tips, baby back ribs, beef ribs, pork ribs, dry rub, mustard rub, Red Devil rub, grilled, smoked, barbecued.

Some stories begin with the ashy young Gray stating "I sold body lotion for $1.50 from door to door. In our house, we never had a full bottle of lotion. I got out of the shower one day and I was walking around and I found these different bottles of lotion. I mixed them all together and I called it First Impressions. I made $9."

At age 7 or 8 (depending on the story) he began carrying homemade business cards stating "21st Century CEO." Some claim his mama took him to a "how-to seminar" where he met and impressed someone, and some stories claim he had two Big Brother mentors, John W. Callaci and Roi Tauer (depending on the story). I can't find anything on Callaci and Tauer that deals with the rise of Gray's star. At age 8 Gray became co-founder of Urban Neighborhood Enterprise Economic Club (UNEEC) on Chicago's Southside. I've no idea who exactly co-founded with him but UNEEC raised venture capital, at one point $300,000, from fundraising; seed money for one or more of Gray's business ventures. Nor is it clear how Gray "grew up" in the Chicago projects when he was so prosperous before he grew up.

Between age 12 and 16, Gray founded FarrOut Foods, a specialty foods company catering to young people, beginning with a strawberry-maple syrup, a "we're too poor to buy syrup" recipe belonging to his grandmother. (He did not use leftovers in this venture.) "My grandmother used to make all of our syrup from scratch because we couldn’t afford it," he says. (I cook from scratch and find homemade more costly). In my day poor folks used sorghum molasses, syrup was not an option, and strawberries a luxury. FarrOut Foods was sold a year later making Gray a 14 or 15-year-old millionaire. Also during and/or shortly after this time he founded a radio show, pre-paid phone cards, a Las Vegas strip comedy show, a pre-paid MasterCard called goFarr, and various other ventures.

There's a story Gray began his fortune with a lemonade stand too, but I think this story may have been put out before the spinmasters had the spin straight, or it was confused with the kiddie entrepreneur who suggested a lemonade stand to the Farrah Gray Foundation, a venture capital fund that provides seed money to entrepreneurs under the age of 25.

Somewhere during his early years, press releases say age 6, some press never mention it, but Gray traveled with an older brother, Andre, to Europe and Asia. As the two brothers tell it, Andre acted as guardian and mentor because their mother, Paula Rushiddin, a single parent, was busy trying to make her way in the business world to support her five children. Brother Andre was a successful tradesman at the time, operating Export Now between 1988 and 1989. Some press reports Farrah's dad was in prison, but Andre credits their parents as motivating them to get out of the ghetto. Maybe there is more than one dad, but at any rate, it's not often a 6 y/o child of poverty from the projects gets to tour and chit-chat with Asian and European businessmen.

I'm acquainted with a Black millionaire or two and other affluents, none becoming millionaires at 14 or 15 but successful despite their late starts in the world of business. Their products were not leftover lotions or syrup but in the IT field, restaurants, professors, attorneys, etc. They also had one or more : financial backers, affirmative action, higher education, and/or minority contracting. For those unaware, many white businessmen, after exhausting government money for female relatives in the "woman as minority" affirmative action status, will seek Black front persons for government funds. Talented Blacks of course, but fronts nonetheless. Somewhere behind little Gray's "staggering" phenomenal rags to riches story are men/women who worked the system, most likely using minority youth government grant programs; with the Grays movin' on up to the penthouse in the Las Vegas sky.

Thanks but no thanks Mr. How-to Get Rich With the Inner Self. I'll hold other Blacks up as role models to my grandchildren. Dick Gregory, Matthew Henson, Adam Clayton Powell, Julian Bond, Andrew Young, Malcolm X, MLK, Ruby & Ossie Davis, Mae Jemison, hundreds and hundreds of truly self-made men and women, many who never became millionaires.

I watched an interview of Gray and he is quite the snake-oil salesman, a hustler of smooth talk, pimping how-to language as in : "There is no such thing as luck. There is hard work and determination. The power is really within you. Find your area of excellence and believe in yourself even if no one else will." Sound advice, but the same old positive thinking how-to remix.

Let's be real – Gray was not a pre-pubescent entrepreneur who succeeded by hard work and determination, no matter how often his Las Vegas backers say so. We're served up prepackaged success stories like this ever so often; pabulum for the poor, hope for the little guy, temporary inspiration from prominently marketed peddlers – assuring you luck has nothing to do with it, hard work and faith will lift you from the ghetto, the trailer park, the bottom rung – just yoke those bootstraps around whatever is in you and you can do it, in 9 steps. Marketing anyone can get rich against the odds - it sells, usually to the same no-such-thing-as-luck believers who spend rent money on lottery tickets. Gray is no more than those infomercials promising perfect skin, perfect vacuum cleaners, vitamins that heal, real estate secrets to personal fortunes.

The only real in Gray's reallionaire is it's another real phony how-to. And contrary to Farrah Gray's wisdom that "there is no such thing as luck," success, more often than we want to believe, can be attained by nothing more than hype and happenstance. For example, lucky little business boy George Bush becoming president, twice.

Allies Withdraw !!!

Multinational force dwindling."In the months after the March 2003 invasion, the multinational force numbered about 300,000 soldiers from 38 countries — 250,000 from the U.S. and 50,000 from other countries. The coalition has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave. Now the nearly 160,000-member U.S. force in Iraq is supported by just under 24,000 mostly non-combat personnel from 27 countries. Britain has the second-largest contingent with 8,000 in Iraq and 2,000 elsewhere in the Gulf region."

Lemme see … 50,000 originally of the 300,000, or a little under 17 percent of the Coalition, were allied troops. And after the US reduced its troop level to 160,000, around 24,000 allied troops remain, approximately 15 percent now are allied troops. I'm shocked! I tell you absolutely shocked they didn't say allied support forces plummeted 2 percent!!!

I don't see the grand steadily unraveling MSNBC is spinning, nor the angry clamoring publics it speaks of, but folks will natter far and wide how the Coalition of the Killing is dwindling, falling apart – as if there was ever massive support for Operation Iraqi Liberation. But that's just my 2 (per)cents worth.

Drama Queens Headlines

Secret spying captured some domestic calls. According to Reuters and NYT "The newspaper, citing unidentified officials, said the calls were snagged despite a White House requirement that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil." (Foreign soil is the standard requirement.) From someone who knows I'm told the snagging of American conversations happens all the time and the policy in place is to simply destroy them. If Bush ordered the monitoring of certain peoples conversation he can do so as long as he gets attorney general approval which does not require a warrant, just the approval of the USAG.

My God! - could this be the first time this administration has told the truth about something. "They" are spying on one another and know it. But why the attempt to get the masses in an uproar. It's great mole hill material for the little people to make mountains of, thinking we too could have our phones monitored like important people. Imagine the manpower it would take to spy on all of us. But watch your garbage, since everything about a person can be discovered by digging through his trash.

Police Infiltrate Protests, Videotapes Show. The trustworthy NYT warns the police are infiltrating us. Imagine how 007ish those cops felt. Shame, shame, shame but no surprise surprise surprise Gomer.

Congress to Probe Domestic Spying. And mentioning the "I" word (impeachment). Remember how we were freed from tyranny after the Nixon impeachment and probing, and remember how much things improved after Clinton's impeachment and probing. Yessuh, we need 'peachment and probin' because we are a free country and follow the rule of law and so's the people can trust the government again. We know this is important because - it triggered the resignation of FISA judge (James Robertson) and our congress persons are expressing concern!

Bill Would Allow Arrests For No Reason In Public Place. A law carried on the books everywhere since I can remember; i.e. without ID charged for "loitering/vagrancy" (or hanging on the corner while Black). Citizens Would Also Have To Show ID. As if we haven't been ID'd our entire lives to cash a check, obtain a license, use credit cards, buy a gun, get a loan, receive government funds, take an international flight, or just prove I'm me and this Lexus really is mine officer and I just made a wrong turn into this suburb.

Forgive me, it's not polite to laugh but the whole matter is hoopla - I guess the hooplahaha about government spying and ID'ing will be a new experience for average white folks, unfamiliar with being monitored and having law used on them regularly.

Shit Or Get Off The Pot

I've been waiting for someone, either MSM or alternative, to put forward questions I've been chewing on lately. What would happen if the ruling elite actually followed the "bring them home now" mantra of Murtha and other show-boating anti-war stars?

Let's suppose the US pulls completely out of Iraq. I mean completely; no rapid response forces stationed all over the ME or in nations bordering Iraq, but all the troops home, or at least where they were before March 2003. No lengthy "planned withdrawal" or other stalling for time euphemisms. No "staged drawdown" with years of pointless congressional sermons debating a troop withdrawal resolution. Let's say we adopt a shit or get off the pot provision and bring them home now.

Who steps in to replace the current US coalition? Perhaps not a question for those who believe the world will allow Iraq to settle it's internal problems. But dear I cannot imagine that.

Does anyone believe that Iraq will be permitted to sort out their situation on their own? Does everyone believe that Russia, China, or a consortium won't step in to give economic, military, and "humanitarian assistance" a.k.a. installing their own preferred puppet show?

What sort of contracts would Russia, China or a consortium offer the stay-at-home US, in terms of oil and influence in the region, and at what dollar amount? What's the going price of pacts another puppetmeister might expect the US to pay after we pick up our marbles and go home?

If Joe Blow thinks his daily struggle to survive is fragile now, what would it be if energy dependence is not only on the ME but on his government's new best friends, Russia-China ME/EU Consortium, Inc.? Personally, I have no problem with others stepping in to fill US boots in Iraq. Having began preparation in January 2001, when BushCo strong-armed itself into power, I'm ready to pay the price of peace, but is Joe B.?

Like High School With Nukes

Turkey has tried for several years to gain acceptance into the popular crowd, the European Union (EU). Turkey applied for membership in 1987 and finally began negotiations for admission this past October. Blair is a strong supporter of Turkey joining the EU, while Madam Merkel (Germany) is not for admission, a process which could take 10 years, but she does support a "limited partnership." If Turkey keeps playing nice, the EU will invite them to the prom. If Turkey agrees to more cooperation, the US will give them a class ring. It's all carrots and sticks (or money and location.) An 18 year long international hazing of Turkey.

Turkey (a Muslim nation but secular) does not hold a good record on individual rights, human rights, nor can they be considered in any way a torch bearer for freedom of expression; they arrest writers regularly who write less than good things about the country. Such charges as defaming ''Turkishness and Turkish national institutions," usually for making public remarks about historical events (such as the Turks killing 30k Kurds and up to 1 million Armenians decades ago).

I have a friend who lived several years in Ankara (capital). She has little good to say about the country, but Turkey today is touted as a tourist mecca, one foot in Europe and one in the Middle East. Unrivaled the brochures will tell you, for hospitality. Cuisine to die for, the coastline is a dream, and spectacular mosques and castles. One thing I discovered years ago, however, is that touristing a "developing" nation is definitely not the same as living there. The perceptions (99% of the time) will be completely opposite.

Turkey is wooed by rightwing conservative governments in the US/EU only because of its location (a land bridge between Europe and Iran, Iraq, Syria). They claim Turkey could be the force behind stability in the Middle East (currently the Turks have taken over the international peacekeeping forces in Kabul). Turkey is an excellent locale for more and bigger Anglo bases and operations. The US currently maintains Incirlik Air Base, in southern Turkey, considered a prime staging area since 1955. In 1997 the base hosted Operation Northern Watch, the mission of enforcing the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, and has grown to meet other recent commitments to EU/UK/NATO, etc.

Recently Porter Goss (CIA) and Robert Mueller (FBI) visited Turkey and supposedly warned the Turks "to be ready for a possible U.S. aerial operation against Iran and Syria." That's from a Syrian source but also repeated in the Turkishpress. For all I know both sources could be reporting out of the Pentagon or Hollywood.

But I also noticed this from Hurriyet which claims to be the Turkish newspaper of truth : "Ankara is preparing to host another important guest next week in the wake of the visits of FBI Director Robert Mueller and CIA chief Porter Goss. New Israeli Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz will come to Turkey next Thursday for a one-day visit. Halutz will meet with Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, and is also expected to have talks with Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul."

Lieutenant Dan was appointed the IDF Chief last July, and according to Jinsa "dramatic changes are afoot for IDF." Halutz was the IDF deputy once in hot water over his "perfect execution" remark.

I'm not saying anything is afoot with Goss, Mueller, and Lt. Dan all dropping by to visit Turkey within a couple of weeks of one another, but you never know with these guys and who knows how far Turkey will go to please the world jocks in its quest to be part of the "in" crowd.

Mendacity

Gabriel Kolko is said to be the leading historian of war. A current article of Mr. Kolko's from Antiwar.com is The Empire's Dilemma and the Empire's Demise. Gabe tells us of America's 50 year dilemma. Of America's and Europe's belief that they would control the world. He tells us the "U.S. dilemma … is that its expensive military power is largely useless as an instrument of foreign policy."

Useless? Not if you’re a card carrying member of the empire's elite club. Expensive and expansive military power has always been "foreign policy" for dominating wealthy nations. The military is how nations become rich and expand. Not useless at all for some members. Kolko states the "basic problem the world confronts today is American ambition, an ambition based on the illusion that its great military power allows the U.S. to define political and social trends everywhere it chooses to do so." Hmmm, is this new information, or an epiphany for this writer? For eons "ambition" by nations to use military power to define the world has been the "basic problem."

Kolko's says in this paragraph : "Iraq was not at the top of the Bush administration's agenda when it came to power in 2001. It was committed, however, to a "forward-leaning" foreign policy, to use Rumsfeld's words, and greater military activism. Had Sept. 11 not occurred, it is more likely that it would have confronted China, which has nuclear weapons but which this administration deems a peer competitor in the vast East Asia region. It still may do so, although Iraq has been a total disaster for it – militarily and geopolitically – and has greatly alienated the U.S. public (faster than Vietnam did)."

A lot of bull in that paragraph; giving BushCo a "not guilty" of eyeballing Iraq at all until after 9/11, while reinforcing the hair-frizzing scenario of a nuke-off with China. Nor at this point in time can anyone say (other than psychics) with absolute certainty that Iraq is a total disaster for the US.

Iraq has been at the top of the elite agenda for decades; the Anglo world has drooled over Middle East oil for decades. Saddam was set up by Daddy Bush years ago to eventually fall, and Boy Bush installed to accomplish the mission (Mission Accomplished). Perhaps Kolko hasn't heard of PNAC or that access to ME oil has been a "security imperative" from the beginning, or that we needed only a "Pearl Harbor" type event. Perhaps he hasn't noticed that all US funded puppets of color are eventually brought down, and sometimes even white ones as in Hitler's case. There's not a nation on earth not watching for knives in their back when dealing with US or UK.

Kolko is stating with a straight face "more likely that it (US "military activism") would have confronted China." With 400 of the FORTUNE 500 having made direct investments in China it's hard to imagine the multinational coporatocracy wanting a confrontation with China. Not to mention we're outnumbered, and nukes or not, troops are still the preferred method of war for defense contractors, investors, and government without jobs for the masses. A major war or long-term smaller one has multiple benefits to the few, and none for the many.

Perhaps the West is simply securing that access to oil for the business boom they're moving to China. Perhaps, as with WWI and II, they're just setting up the chess board. Afterall, today's spawn is from the same pond that devised WWI and II; the Western elite, European bluebloods, stock exchangers, bankers, weapons and chemical makers. Man is either a planter/gatherer or one of the raiders.

Kolko claims the "world is escaping American control." He doesn't say who the world escapees are, unless he's referring to south of the border, down on the pampas, in the highlands where leftist socialist leaders are straining against their "imperialist" chains. But he's wrong on control being "American." World control has never been an American monopoly – but a collusion with Euro-Western royalty and business.

Writers like Kolko are honest on certain points. Yes, America is destructive, seeking hegemony, yadayada, everyone knows that. But like most he suggests we have "to root out the historic, global illusions that led to its aggression." But offers no definition of what illusions we're to look for, or how the unwashed should root around to get rid of these illusions. That's a hollow way to end an article so the writer appears to know what he's talking about without talking about it. It's not "illusions that lead to aggression." It's greed, and not illusory at all. Leaders don't care if the empire's HQ is in Beijing, Brussels, Zug, or Rio, but it's easier to sell mass murder to the peons disguised as God and country, queen mom or apple pie, good vs. evil, or as defending the "way of life" of good people.

Kolko, like so many today, write what the disgruntled politically minded class wants to hear. This class is always disgruntled, so Kolko lists the usual abstract sins and suspects of the nation state leading the pack.

Kolko says Iraq has been a "total disaster for America." That the US may go bankrupt, is wrecking itself politically and economically. All very well possible. But it's not due to any cabalistic illusion of empire; it's business as usual. Nor is it unique - as long as the serfs fund the crown, the money handlers and investors will shift from one region to the next, to maximize profits. Globalization is not new. It's euphemism for the old control of trade routes which has long been a catalyst for war. Leech out one artery, move to the next.

Writers like Kolko persuade the average political reader to believe he/she has grasped the truth and the solution is there : The US (current empire) has to stop its warring ways and be nice. He reinforces the thinking of "activists," that if they can convince the bully nation to behave "we can all just get along." Each generation fed the same peace diet : If they can stop the tyranny of the current hegemonic leader everything will be okay. Kilko has said the US must be isolated and contrained, as if that has worked in the past. As if we topple tyrants all the time through isolation and constraint.

So keep lighting candles with a song and some day the world will live as one. I'd like to teach the world to sing, and buy the world a Coke and keep it company. Whatever you do, bring this change about through nonviolence because it proves the superiority of the peace seekers and nonviolence has two rewards for those in charge: it doesn't change anything in their world and as you're not a threat they don't have to massacre your asses.

What few writers tell is that the world will go on dying and killing as long as a fraction of mankind feels it deserves the bulk of the planet's wealth. Deserving only because you are convinced this fraction has a right to control and sell you cheap products, contaminated medicines, tainted food, senseless entertainment, education of no value. And all that profitable shoddiness is maintained by conflict/war. War is the dynamic force moving labor and resources from one area to supply markets in another, not in search of reasonable profit, but massive concentrated wealth at the expense of humanity. Keep dying in Iraq and buying made in China.

The "dilemma" is the ruling few are afraid of new ideology. Nowhere and at no time have the masses willingly lived under capitalism, a euphemism for oligarchy. It's done by force, brainwashing, or both. For all the genius mankind credits itself with man can only come up with two economic ideologies – socialism/communism and capitalism. Thousands of years and millions of thinkers and an "either/or" is the best man can dream. The "demise" is only one empire replacing another – and the necrotic "war as foreign policy" never changes.

That's the reality, whether Kolko and ilk know it and tell it or not. Writers such as this are like salve to a sore. Spread a little traditional dissenting bombast around and the wound feels better for a while; apply on every generation or whenever it hurts.

Rothschild Spy Bone

Rumsfeld Spies on Quakers and Grannies. Cute headline for demonizing the Pentagon and Rumsfeld (both so deserving). From the Progressive by Matthew Rothschild. Read on.

"Not to trouble you or anything, but the next time you’re going to a protest, the eyes of the government may be upon you.

And I’m not just talking about local police filming your activity.

I’m not talking about the FBI under cover in your midst.

I’m talking about the Pentagon, too, getting into the act.

According to an MSNBC story on December 13, Rumsfeld’s Pentagon is tracking some of the most innocuous and lawful protests."

Yep, MSM MSNBC tells us we're being spied on! and Mr. Rothschild runs with it, but before getting the knickers in a knot - think about it.

Mr. R's article seems to imply that spying on a November 2004 Quaker meeting in Lake Worth, FL was one of DoD's dastardly deeds but the .pdf file linked to doesn't explicitly state if the "spies" were standing outside the Quaker Meeting House watching or simply had this group on the roster - likely because of the group's previous summer long discussion with authorities to gain access to the local high school to counter recruitment efforts.

The Quaker group spoken of was written up in June of 2004 at CommonDreams in regard to a pilot program where Lake Worth High students would "see peace recruiters in the cafeteria, career fairs, assemblies, classrooms and JROTC classes -- all the places on campus they now see uniformed military representatives."

The most honest, and perhaps saddest, statement in Rothschild's article is "the most innocuous and lawful protests." The size and correctness of current "protests" are indeed very painless, safe, and law-abiding.

What the Pentagon/DoD is doing is not new, nor any different than what's been done under any other Secretary Of Defense. It's standard operating procedure (SOP) to keep tabs on protests or "anti-" events against, near, on, next to, or around military installations, recruitment stations or centers, bases, etc. There are certain protocols that have to be in place in case an event becomes less than innocuous. More akin to preparation for all possibilities, extra MPs, keeping personnel aware, etc. The silly piece of .pdf file doesn't tell me anything. If you are going to share, be on, or near turf with the DoD expect to be listed, or "watched", as they do keep tabs on the competition and protect their territory.

If Rothschild or MSNBC wants to throw a bone of contention, have a little meat on it please.

Senate Rejects Patriot Act

Reading headlines and TV ticker tape today one would think the wise and honorable senate completely rejected the Patriot Act. We won, we won. But the fat lady hasn't sang and the debate will continue.

Most of the Patriot Act — which expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers — was made permanent when Congress overwhelmingly passed it after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Making the rest of it permanent was a priority for both the Bush administration and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill before Congress adjourns for the year.

The majority of the Patriot Act remains in force. Does the government really need all those "provisions" in the Act made permanent?

Uncle Sam and Pat Act can still seize financial assets, deport immigrants, authorize wiretaps and share intelligence information in order to prevent future terrorist attacks. Still authorized to engage in surveillance of anyone whom it has probable cause to believe is a foreign power or spy - whether or not the person is suspected of any crime.

Psssssssssssssssssssst …… For all who feel safe from intrusive government, please email my little friend dying of theyareblowingsmokeulosis at frauds4all@senate.fog ASAP regarding holiday gifts of genuine ladies Rolex watches, at bargain prices, and for the men, Viagra and Cialis, no prescription needed, $1.50 per pill. Overnight delivery anywhere in the world, satisfaction guaranteed, confidential. First 1,000,000 customers with orders of $500 or more will receive timeshares in a Louisiana levee/condo project.

Keeping the Plame Alive

Christopher Deliso over at Antiwar.com continues the Plame outing saga with two articles, November 21 and November 24. (Please click here for a little theme music to read by.)

In the 11/21 article Deliso repeats the overused phrase "Plame was an NOC (non-official cover) agent, meaning that she had "little or no protection from the U.S. government if she got caught." Real spy stuff, get it?

"And, while the front company by which she was ostensibly employed as an energy consultant, Brewster Jennings & Associates, may indeed have been little more than a "telephone and post office box" in Boston, Plame and her colleagues were using this ruse as a means of getting important information and undertaking delicate missions abroad."

He continues : "Novak's revelation of July 2003 thus did not just affect Plame. It affected all of us." Damn! Endangered all of us maybe ?

The usual anonymous source verifies that Plame's job was "top secret", taking her far and wide in the world on spy missions and such. Really wow.

And ""[P]lame and other employees of Brewster & Jennings, the CIA's fake energy consulting firm, used to visit the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA, located in Vienna] frequently. They used to attend the meetings and undertake deliberate operations to get 'targeted names' on their side.

"Plame and other 'energy consultants' used to continue with follow-up meetings for those persons whom they had contacted in Vienna, in Istanbul. … Plame met with foreign dignitaries who are in charge of nuclear weapons in their countries and scientists in Turkey, where she has visited several times as an 'energy consultant.'"

Independently of this, former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds told me recently that "Plame's undercover job involved the organizations [the FBI had been investigating], the ATC (American-Turkish Council) and the ATA (American-Turkish Association)."

Further, she adds, "the Brewster Jennings network was very active in Turkey and with the Turkish community in the U.S. during the late 1990s, 2000, and 2001 … in places like Chicago, Boston, and Paterson, N.J." These disclosures make it clear that nuclear trafficking was one of the widespread illegal activities enjoyed by government officials, foreign agents, rogue businessmen, and terrorists under surveillance prior to and during Ms. Edmonds' time at the FBI."

My problem with the above : Plame/Brewster Jennings having little more than a "telephone and P.O. box" doesn't work guys. These foreign dignitaries, officials, businessmen have at least sufficient funds and US contacts to peek in on that Boston office building of Brewster Jennings. Plame wasn't dealing in back alleys, but with high level foreign government figures. You think they won't run a background check on a US company they may do rogue business with?

And isn't it odd how Sibel, former FBI, knows so much about Plame's CIA job? Who said the two agencies don't work together. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.

I Am the Witness

That's the title of the website that crossed my radar a couple of months ago. The American patriot behind the site, who traces his roots back to the Mayflower, is Daryl Bradford Smith, living in France with the intention to return to America, but is now "worried about the future of America." From his central location in France he produces radio interviews for Genesis Communications Network under the program title of The French Connection. (It's been my observation those who pride themselves in the Mayflower connection consider themselves very white and right; they landed on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock didn't land on them….)

What Smith peddles is nothing new if you've kept up with the Zionists, Rothschild, ADL evil cabal theories. On his home page he says to "Drive the UFO people out of the movement to take back the nation!" because "They are mixing UFOs, crop circles, Remote Viewing, and other drivel to discredit the hard evidence of Zionist crimes." However, on his history of the House of Rothschild under "sources" he cites David Icke. Icke is the character who knows all about ET, reptilians, hybrid bloodlines and the shape-shifters among us, who arrived presumably by UFOs.

Eric Hufschmid is in the pep club cheering Smith. Hufschmid feels anyone not agreeing with him, with Smith, and others pushing the same theories, are part of the "9-11 Bowel Movement." A polite way of saying non-believers are full of it? Lew Rockwell is also on Hufschmid's shit list … he says "most of the articles on the Internet, including those at Lew Rockwell, are coming from authors who are either incompetent, stupid, or part of the criminal network that is trying to deceive us." So you see, with the bigger "left" sites – most authors on the internet are incompetent and stupid. Hard to exchange ideas with guys who feel that righteous certainty.

What bothers me about Smith and Hufschmid and the like is their near instant success as truth tellers and their stance of having no doubts that only they, and fellow believers, have the truth. I agree with some of their "truth" but I'm skeptical of even my own theories at times and have grown tired of the "Jews did it" prefaced with not all Jews are bad just the Zionist ones. Blackmail and money can move both ways, unless one believes Jews hold all the incriminating polaroids. Fingering the particulars without attacking the system that breeds them seems to be normal for both Right and pseudo-Left, both may be ass-deep in a Bowel Movement selling their own brand of toilet paper.

Smith names as pedophiles: Barney Frank, William Cohen, Scott Ritter. He rants in one program of this "high level sickness" in our country. Sex with young children and how the perpetrators get away with it, as if it's new and surprising. Claims of snuff films using children. Here's a clue that such is not new: Slaveholders raped slave children. Orphans, indentured child servants, served their caretakers and masters in every way. Perversions R Us; rampant long before now and long before Jews compromised any American officials with corruption and/or sex secrets.

Smith believes 9-11 was at the hands of a Jewish Zionist mafioso perverted cabal. But it's the same club of thugs that has made mankind serfs, slaves, and slobs for centuries. Smith says other world governments, such as some in Europe, are not supportive of the current US thugs and "pus bags." I disagree. All the European heads back what's going on today (it's in their best interests); the reluctant couple or three are show tokens. For centuries it's been the global (white) elite, doing what they've always done: murder, rape, torture, incest, pedophilia, usury, war, slaughter, and production of propaganda which they manipulate with ease. Most of these truth tellers seem to think the problem is the "current" cabal, and long for more recent good white people types, before the Jews or immigrants or current corrupt pols took over.

If you surf around on the links above you can listen to Smith - be forewarned the interviews are interrupted by numerous commercials. But the talk radio is interesting and delivered with passionate theoretical talking points, the current "alternative truth" manifesto.

These internet "radicals" agree the US is becoming a totalitarian state. Becoming? The masses have always been led by a hierarchy and subordinated to the State. Becoming a police state is not what's really happening – that's what has always been. What's "becoming" is more middle and upper middle class whites feel totaled, as they're squeezed down and out. Heartland white folks are "becoming" very angry at being "treated like niggers." Bush still has a big racist base here, and some of the bigger blogs will tell you the powerful are trying to fan the fires of racism in order to initiate martial law. But face it, if the American public had a backbone they would have been in the streets long before now. When the public rolled over for election 2000, for wars, for 9/11 coverups - that said all the government needed to know about the masses. Everyone now knows any movement of size in the streets will sign the death warrant on our national fantasy of government for the people, by the people.

I've watched for years a few of the bigger sites many of us surf to for headlines and opinions, and to witness some go from devout "freeper" to Bush bashers is interesting to say the least. Some harp on the Jewish/Israel angle, some still advocate dancing with Democrats will save us all, and some are as divisive as the "evil cabals" they accuse of being divisive. Without naming names, there are popular "left" sites run by those who still believe in white superiority. They drop subtle and probably unintended clues to that effect. And there's the third party idea which I believed in until recently. However, a new party is not going to rescue America. It will enter the scene with the proper "left" rhetoric and very quickly face the big DC machine – and play along or die.

Smith and those like him appeal to armchair radicals. Heating up the quiet desperation in the veins of Joe C. Potato. Simplifing elaborate theories of evil versus good (just like the government does) with a name for the target (Jews, cabal, etc). They tell Joe which expert is impeccable and who to trust, who to shun. They tell Joe the who, what, and why of "covert attacks" going on around him, always groups and individuals rather than the perversion of capitalism. Joe can understand it being Bush fault, Jews fault, even this or that corrupt corporate fault, but it must never be the fault of the almighty system, whatever system – they all eventually choke on their own "ism."

Thirty years ago I might have hooya'ed and earnestly repeated the words of guys such as Smith, Hufschmid, and other popular "alternative" biggies. Today I know I've heard it all before and now, as then, their truth movements are going nowhere but to the bank; no further than alternative political conversations and chat rooms. Some couldn't have been better chosen by the powers that be, to represent dissent. All address the theory of BushCo corruption, Israel/Zionist control, but none tell of world problems being the predictable result of manufactured mass stupidity, brought about by the usual decay of an "ism" for the few.

In the past year blogging I've noticed blog "popularity" is highest when writing rabid anti-BushCo, and/or blogging support for the mainstream Left's heroes or bashing their villains. The "left" just as the "right" tolerates few if any detractors from the party line. Therein lies my skepticism. If I have to rah-rah with the band on Sheehan, Murtha, Cole, Chomsky, etc. and repeat the Israel made us do it, tricked us, then I'd rather just sit back and watch the swirling Bowel Movements from both sides, and hope to hang on after the elites flush.

More Crock in the News

AIM (Accuracy in Media) claimed Saudi billionaire Prince Al-waleed manipulated Fox News coverage of the France riots. As a shareholder of Fox he influenced a change in the story from one of Muslim riots to riots due to poverty and inequality. AIM (rightwing stink who support Pinochet) is calling for a "full inquiry." AIM claims to be a "grassroots, watchdog citizens group who critique [initiate] botched and bungled news."

However, the Left's esteemed professor, Juan Cole, among others, agree with the Prince in that the riots are the result of poverty and discrimination. Cole also says of the French rioters : "The young people from North African societies such as Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are mostly only nominal Muslims. They frequently do not speak much Arabic, and don't have "proper" French, either. They frequently do not know much about Islam and most of them certainly don't practice it."

The alarm AIM is sending is : Arab controlling US media coverage and brags about it. But looks to me like Fox, for once, substituted truth for propaganda, an act that bewilders and frightens the Right. Not a happy moment for blame Islam firsters.

Ho Ho Ho

News, some unfit for print or comment. There was the Merkel "gaffe" regarding Condi Rice on torture. First reports read Rice admits to US torture and apologizes - quickly subsequent headlines denied it. Merkel is, like Bush, a bumbler of words, a gaffster. The Rice gaffe was not Merkel's first nor to be her last. Of course Rice would never admit to such and anyone reporting otherwise is either using minimum wage interpreters or pulling stories out of dark places on their person.

GW allegedly, in one of his terrible 2-year-old tantrums said "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed … "It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!" Supposedly in response to an "aide" who said some provisions of the Patriot Act could undermine the Constitution. No more undermining than these stupid stories circulated for those who operate on knee-jerking rather than thought. The report comes from Capitol Hill Blue, a rag consistently keeping us up-to-date on GW's wobbling frame of mind. Constitution thumpers are outraged. Whether true or not doesn't matter. The story fits the Bush the elite want portrayed now, now that his performance, as the Joe Average you'd drink a beer with, is over. (If you asked some of us between 1776 and the 1970s it was just a goddamn piece of paper.)

There is news that Iran will soon trade oil in Euros. Recall that Saddam supposedly was trading oil in Euros and at the time was one of the theories as to why we invaded Iraq. To save the dollar. The idea being we must keep OPEC from pricing oil in Euros instead of US dollars as the dollar would fall and bring great economic woe for the US. It makes little difference if OPEC countries deal in Euros or U$. If oil producing countries wanted fewer dollars they could sell their dollars on the exchange market. But the euro/dollar theory doesn't have to be true, only has to sound logical to Joe Average. As his government handout ends, taxes rise, and his standard of living drops he'll work on the global plantation, and get really pissed because he heard it on the news, those Arabs are not trading in his dollars.

Tookie Williams, founder and former Crips gangster, awaits clemency from Arnold in California. Williams denies the murders. He was prosecuted on what some claim as "shoddy forensics." Nominated 9 times for the Nobel, for literature, peace, etc. Should Stanley "Tookie" receive clemency to life in prison? Probably. My list of injections would have a few in line before him. There's Susan Smith, Andrea Yates, Charles Manson and Family, politicians and officials who lie.

Australia had a major "race riot." Thousands of drunken white youths attacked police and people they believed were Arab immigrants at a Sydney beach on Sunday, angered by reports that youths of Lebanese descent had assaulted two lifeguards. Some 5,000 white youths, wrapped in Australian flags and chanting racist slurs, fought with police, attacked people of Arab appearance and assaulted a pair of paramedics at Cronulla beach in southern Sydney, police said. Police fought back with batons and pepper spray. See, white folks riot too (although usually described as a melee, angry crowd, a disturbance, or youthful mob.)

And Media Matters has listed under Hot Topics Jeff Gannon - Guckert/Suckit whatever, hot between War on Christmas and CIA Leak Investigation. I've no idea why anyone thinks Jeff a hot topic or that it matters.

San Fran Hams

Video scandal rocks S.F. police - 20 officers ordered suspended -- mayor condemns 'sexist,' 'racist' films, vows probe of department.

"About 20 San Francisco police officers will be suspended because of their alleged involvement in what the mayor and police chief describe as videos that mock minorities and treat women as sex objects, the officials said Wednesday night."

…. "is shameful. It is offensive, it is sexist. It is homophobic, it is racist, and we're going to make sure it ends."

Is this article a joke or real journalism? Most offensive is being so politically correct that no one laughs anymore. It may be a good day to burn that video #2 son made a few years back of him and friends on base (also using Bad Boys theme music).

White House Xmas Card

As seen on readers letter page at http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/letters/.

Found Bytes

I don't know about the rest of you but the news isn't doing much for me these days. Who cares if the Saddam look-alike is on trial and throwing tantrums. And how in the hell does a prisoner refuse to show up for his own trial?

There was a recent buzz about a " FOX 9/11 News story - Pulled, Then Restored - Pulled, Then Restored. I think it was the "Lose Change" video and a Fox News affiliate gave it a 5 minute story. Should you take a day to encourage and thank Fox News for real journalism? The propaganda process of confusion. Now you read it, now you don't, now you do, Fox News shining a light on the real 9/11 culprits. Lord, dangle something shiny in front of the crowd will you. Tom Flocco gave "Loose Change" they type of review once assigned to Michael Moore - "explosive, you'll never feel the same about 9/11," etc. "Loose Change" does the "missile hit the pentagon" along with other disinfo. No question in my mind why Fox gave coverage. In the end the conspiracy crowd will only appear more loony.

Is anyone really interested in Con-dee-People Rice jetting around assuring European liars that American liars are not torturing anyone when everyone knows all nations use torture at their whim and have since man crawled out of the mud. We'll continue the alligator tears for a few hundred foreign detainees while 2 million American prisoners commit horrors on one another, and the public feels no guilt that it's done "in our name." Don't they deserve whatever they get, afterall they're in prison, along with the mentally ill and retarded we throw away because we've nowhere else to put them but prison.

Does anyone really believe the latest BBC Bin is Back. "Osama Bin Laden is still alive and leading a "holy war" against the West, according to a videotaped statement by his right-hand man. Ayman al-Zawahri speaking in a message posted on the internet and then broadcast by al-Jazeera." Bin has dozens of right hands and never a mention of the left upper extremity. We know OBL is dead and the only question is when and if he'll ever be taken off ice and who the capturing hero(s) will be. We should be most grateful to the BBC and almost-bombed-by Bush al-Jazeera for keeping us up to date on OBL.

And are you really interested in sending an opponent or two to Fed Med prison for a few months after a token fine for illegally redistricting or making false statements when we know the perps are guilty of much worse. How many Americans wouldn't willingly sit a few months in jail for cronies who put a few million in the hidden bank account? Every decade has a few "losers" in the political fray, but they aren't sent to Marion or Attica. They write books, play experts on TV interviews; the worst become preachers or get their old jobs back. Maybe Saddam will write a book : Son of a Bitch : But For Awhile, I Was America's Son of a Bitch.

How about all that good economic news? Despite a housing slow down there will be no recession. We're entering the period where millions over the coming few years will lose their homes and those with capital will buy at bargain prices. A smorgasbord of property. The feast began in my town three or four years ago. A local realtor quite frankly told me the city is in the process of "driving out the undesirables." The Black and the poor. Buying low-end housing and bulldozing. Theory being no place to live, the "undesirables" will move on and out of the area. A slower method than Katrina but same effect. Do you really think we have a truthful death toll from Katrina?

Ah well, I've got a closing on a house to go to today, and I see our "way of life" is still being safely and "explosively" reported. Ever notice any similarity between the words dissent and dysentery?

Objects in Rearview Mirror Appear Closer

John Murtha, warhawk dances with cooing doves, makes no sense. Murtha without war/defense money is impossible. Defense pork made him, made the 12th district. He has said himself that without defense spending Johnstown would be a ghost town.

Murtha claims the army is "broken" and worn out. He claimed armed services recruiting is dwindling but not according to the DoD.

It appears Murtha may be going more these days for homeland pork security so perhaps he believes the military will be needed at home. Murtha this past June joined officials from Booz Allen Hamilton in that group's announcement of a new office at 1 Pasquerilla Plaza, in Johnstown. (Pasquerrilla is a Pennsylvania republican mogul who helps keep Murtha in office.) Former Pentagon comptroller Dov Zakheim, recently joined Booz Allen. Rabbi Zakheim is considered by some to be a rabid Zionist, part of the "neocon cabal" who ran the 9/11 operation. Birds of a feather ...... no doves.

And then there's 9/11 flight 93, downed a few miles from the John Murtha-Johnstown Airport. Supposedly there was an "anti-terror meeting" 9/10/2001 at that airport. Some theories have floated around that Murtha knew more about 9/11.

"Despite claims of some researchers, it is not clear, who and how many of the White House officials had been actively involved in the whole 9/11 plan, but some of them, who have, had strong connections to Douglas Feith and the PNAC think tank.

One of the key persons outside the White House, which obviously had prior knowledge about a pending attack, was Rep. John Murtha in Pennsylvania, who had a huge address book with military contacts."

Former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz called support of politicians like Murtha for the Pentagon as ''wonderful." In the 2004 VP debate, Cheney said ''One of my strongest allies in Congress when I was secretary of defense was Jack Murtha."

With Murtha's strong ties to the Pentagon and past and present wonderful "allies" like Wolfowitz, Cheney, Zakheim, all the biggest and many smaller defense contractors, makes me ask what's really going on. To think Murtha wants an end to war doesn't ring true (he wants to jockey the troops around the region). War spending made him, owns him, and as he said himself - he'd be sitting in a "ghost town" without the Pentagon.

He can schmooze the public with telling the public they're "way ahead of congress" but what's the real agenda? You don't really believe the Pentagon has a dovish unit singing "war, huh, good gawd y'all, what is it good for" do you? Murtha may have "sparked a debate on Iraq" (DNC talking point) but it's not an honest one. He just lit another smokescreen; probably burning that address book of contacts.

More Murtha Muck

On my quest to understand why a defense hog like John Murtha is speaking up now against war, I can only conclude he's on his way out. After decades of loving war and lucre he can afford to be a "radical" or play one on TV. A lifetime of supporting every atrocity that came down the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton pike. A "leading proponent" of many wars. Supported Vietnam, Central American wars, Genada, Panama, Bush Wars 1 and 2, Kosovo, Serbia, and now he says no. Like a hooker who cries rape – kinda hard to believe, maybe the whore just didn't get paid.

The Republicans point to Murtha being named an unindicted co-conspirator in the FBI's Abscam in the 1980s and the left gloats that Murtha turning down his suitcase full of sting money - conveniently ignoring the fact that as he was telling the sheik he was "not interested" in the cash he invited the sheik to invest a few million in his hometown, where unemployment was at 25 percent.

Some may think Murtha's stinging behavior, turning down the $50K and suggesting he and the sheik do business later, is forgivable. Or as has been suggested Murtha exhibited overwhelming concern for the plight of his constituents and was attempting to get something real accomplished such as an Arab factory. Robin Hood Murtha. Or it could be some old congressional porkers know a sheik in the hand is worth more than $50K in instant cash.

Murtha has brought home pork for academia and defense. The late David Hackworth wrote over a decade ago of Murth's use of defense pork :

"The 1994 kings of congressional pork are Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, but there are dozens of others who, behind closed doors, add on and earmark their own favorite parochial projects, turning military beef into blubber. The 1994 kings of congressional pork are Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, but there are dozens of others who, behind closed doors, add on and earmark their own favorite parochial projects, turning military beef into blubber.

Because of such shenanigans, money meant for the Pentagon, not the Department of Health and Human Services, is being spent on such things as breast cancer research ($230,000), AIDS research ($160 million) and bone marrow research ($37 million), according to the GAO report. Billions more are being spent on projects that have nothing to do with war-fighting.

Murtha has scored the biggest hits: $70 million for the University of Pittsburgh, $50 million for a National Drug Intelligence Center in his hometown and $65 million for Centers for Metalworking and Environmental Excellence."

How is it that for decades Murtha, Porkchop King of bringing home billions in defense and porking much of it into other blubber, doesn't think his funneling abetted in sending our troops to Iraq in aging flack jackets, short of bullets, and scavaging landfills for scrap metal?

In May 2004 the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) came under investigation because an "anonymous statement released by employees of NDIC accused not only Justice Department officials but Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha who represents Johnstown and was instrumental in getting the center located there in the early 1990s, of ignoring repeated complaints about a "hostile" environment in the agency. "Employees have been in fear of retribution for speaking out," they said in the statement. "For over two years, employees have communicated their concerns to Congressman Murtha's office."

Today reports are that Murtha claims the Bush Generals are afraid to speak out. As scared as the NDIC employees in Murtha's hometown. Yep, all those chest metal heavy Generals are afraid; little wonder Iraq is a mess, led by brass who let pResident Smirk and Dick the Sneer strike fear in their hearts.

When wandering around the left side of the www there are comments from bloggers praising Murtha's military heroism - along with snide remarks that anyone who joins the military today is out of their mind. But how can that be, when Murtha signed up, and even argued to be sent to Vietnam in 1967; wouldn't that make him out of his mind too?

Europe to the Rescue?

Ar Rustamiyah, the top military academy under Saddam Hussein's regime, called Rustumia College [Ar Rustamiyah], is in eastern Baghdad. Iraq's West Point. Also known as Iraqi War College. On March 31, 2003 American warplanes bombed the barracks of the main training center of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in eastern Baghdad's Rustamiyah area.

On July 25, 2005 graduation ceremonies were held for the first 24 hand-picked graduates of intense NATO in Iraq training. "The course has been specifically tailored to Iraqi requirements, and the students carefully selected from a large group of applicants." I'd like to know what are the specific Iraqi requirements. The graduates will teach/train officers for the Iraqi security forces, the new old republic guards that our own Republicans believe will step up soon so the US can step down.

In September 2005 NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Supreme Allied Commander, General James L. Jones, visited Iraq to mark the enhancement of NATO's training mission. The NATO flag was raised over the new NATO Training Mission Headquarters inside the International Zone of Baghdad (formerly know as the Green Zone b/c war=$$$). Along with the Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Jafaari, he also opened the Iraqi Joint Staff College in Ar-Rustamiyah, on the outskirts of the capital, where officer training will take place. Ar Rustamiyah or the West Point of Iraq is back in business.

In August 2004 Eurocorps took over for the NATO led ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan. NATO and ISAF's mission is to help create "the conditions under which Afghanistan can enjoy a representative government and prolonged peace and security."

Originally created as a Franco-German Eurocorps' the mainframe now includes Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain, so don't believe the stories of certain European heads being against the Iraq War. Germany's Gerhard Schröder has said his country will not play a military role in Iraq. But Germany does train Iraqi police and soldiers in the UAE. And Ms. Merkel will likely do more than support a cop shop on the border.

Eurocorps now a "High Readiness Force" today includes in its membership : Austria, Canada, Finland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. "The type and size of units needed by the Eurocorps have to be determined depending on the assigned mission, likely employment and the expected operational outcome. In the case that all the earmarked national contributions are committed, the Corps would number approximately 60,000 soldiers."

With the We$t Point of Iraq back in bu$ine$$, more UN and NATO $upport, and a growing Eurocorp$ - is the defeat of "terrori$m" on the horizon? Nah, the Anglo world ha$n't gotten all the po$$ible mileage yet in winning the War on Terror, but for public acceptance may have to re$ell it as A$$i$ting the $ecurity & Peace (ASP).

Invisible Children

In 2004, Bobby, Jason and Laren, three guys from Southern California, went to Uganda in search of a film-worthy adventure. Instead, they found a story that permanently changed their lives. In Northern Uganda, they encountered the thousands of children fleeing the brutality of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). They experienced first-hand the fear and pain that enslaves the Acholi people - fear of abduction, death, mutilation, rape and permanent separation from their families. This 60 minute documentary tells the invisble children's story through interviews with Ugandan politicians, social workers, adults and the children themselves.

Invisible Children trailer and home page.

Climate of the Innocent

From Independent headline: Cheney 'created climate for US war crimes'. "A leading aide to the former secretary of state Colin Powell has accused Vice-President Dick Cheney of creating the climate in which prisoner abuse could flourish, and implied that he might have committed war crimes."

As much as I dislike Dick "The Sneer" Cheney the above sort of headline and story disgusts me as much. No one man "created a climate" for "abuse to flourish." You wanna know what has produced this abuse/torture kill kill criminal mentality? We the people.

Decades of an educational system that does no more than draw funds for a population of teachers who want only a steady paycheck and days in Wal-Mart. Not to mention teachers who seduce students or convince them to murder a husband who has become inconvenient. A federally funded warehouse with babysitters, where smoking dope and the kids having sex on the school bus are ignored by the driver because he feels he isn't paid enough to care that much.

Decades of parents who think parenting includes doping the kids as society says it's okay. Children who will slaughter classmates or the rest of the family for a little attention, or to see if they can feel anything beyond the numbness of too much of nothing too often, which mom and dad work so hard to give them.

Decades of desensitization through the media. Decades of children exposed to print and video violence (and often violence at home). Decades of dry-f*cking, prime time, late night, daytime, programming and ads - so endemic one would have to be dead to escape the feel good do it message.

Communities pretending they offer everything but are all show and no substance, where neighbors can lie dead for days before anyone notices. Neighborhoods where success is measured by making someone else look bad. Employers and employees who don't hesitate to get over on one another because they feel they deserve whatever they can get away with.

A society more interested in the latest manufactured pop celebrity or the pinched pursed lips of Bruce Willis posturing on Iraq. Group think, where too many think seeking truth is finding other mules braying the same theory, to validate whatever head-in-ass concept they adopted this year. Everyone convinced they're well-informed, because they have a 6th grade reading level and tune in to Fox, CNN and the internet.

Cheney alone didn't "create the climate." A sadistic, shallow, self-absorbed nation of rotten kiddie-adults living on their urges did, and did so lucratively, knowingly, and willingly. But what the hay, if the country can believe Cheney "created" the climate, we the people, as usual, are not responsible. Dick made US do it.